Business, Post COVID-19: How to make the most of Virtual Technology to grow your business once the crisis is over.

How you use Intimate Digital Conference Room technology can set you apart from your competitors, get you closer to your clients, and leave you better off than your competitors when the crisis is over.

Canopy Futurist Advisor, John Krubski, reveals how Virtual Meetings Can Be More Effective than the “real thing.”

“It’s not about mechanics. It’s about dynamics. What we make of this moment in time can have a profound impact on the way we do business in the post COVID era." www.krubski.com

"As the business world moves towards virtual meetings out of necessity, I fear we might just miss the really big opportunity," says Krubski. "I believe that, done right, digital meetings can actually be more powerful and productive than same-room meetings. I have seen that happen over and over."

Here are three of the factors the video below covers in full that give virtual meetings an edge over their face-to-face counterparts. (Workshops and training are available.) 

1. The Safety of Digital Solitude: A virtual meeting puts up a barrier, but that does not mean it squashes the flow of ideas. Much like people are freer to speak their minds when posting to social media, employees are more likely to contribute in a bold way in front of their screens.

2. Permission to Think Out Loud: Just the presence of others makes thinking a cautious activity. Even though staff members are not alone during a virtual meeting, the simulated feeling of isolation is enough to get some creative thought patterns going.

3. Access to Collective Native Intelligence: When participating in an in-person meeting, we limit our contribution to our specific job function. Away from those constructs, people open up and open up to ideas that draw on the breadth of their experience.

Free Speech vs Responsible Speech: Why Social Media Channels Should Be Programmed To Disallow Negative Comments

Social media revolutionized digital marketing, and those who think otherwise are ignoring the stats. Over 40% of the world’s population is on social media, and 71% of them would recommend a business they’ve had a good interaction with on these platforms.

Users can interact with brands directly on social media. They can like, share, and comment, giving you real-time insights into what they think about you. But, there’s also a downside: the negative comments.

This article will take a rather unexpected approach, and argue why they should be removed.

Negative Comments Can Be Good, But They Are Mostly Damaging

First, it’s important to understand what type of negative comments should be disallowed. The negative comments that shouldn't ever be allowed on social media are the ones that bring nothing to the table, for anyone. Not the business, nor the users.

Some examples include:

• Revenge comments made by users who’ve had a bad experience with your brand, and try to trash your reputation;

• Anything from the hate speech category, which usually appears once a brand takes a clear stand on a social issue;

• Negative comments that are only marginally related to you, but disrupt the overall flow of the conversation.

In other words: if you deserve the negative comments and said comments are created in a fair way, with adequate language, then they’re fair game. But when the user turns to hate speech, insane allegations, or trolls the comments section, who does that help, other than the user posting the comment?

Free Speech versus Responsible Speech

Social media pages are seen as a public forum, and deleting or hiding all negative comments can be seen as a form of censorship, which can frustrate users.

But, at the same time, you as a business also have the responsibility to make sure this public forum, which you set up and manage, is a safe space for your followers. When a user tries to create chaos here, this can affect the rest of your audience negatively, maybe even hurt them, so why should you leave them be?

In the end, it’s the free speech versus responsible speech issue. Free speech gives everyone the right to express their thoughts about something without fear of retribution. But free speech will always include responsible speech too, meaning you cannot hurt others just because you want to express yourself.

Over to You

Telling a brand their product is bad and they should change it is free speech. It’s the user’s opinion of you, and though you might not agree, it is what it is. But beyond that, negative comments have no place on a social feed.

How Do You Connect With Consumers Who Are Disconnected?

Photo by Trinity Kubassek from Pexels

Picture this: you have a few years in the business and have managed to create a rather impressive audience, be it a social following, website visitors, or even buyers. These are all, in a sense, consumers.

But many businesses may notice that a considerable portion of their consumers are disconnected from their brand. They don’t respond to posts anymore, they don’t read your articles, or they’ve stopped buying.

So, how can you reconnect with disconnected consumers?

1. Find Out Why They’ve Left

There has to be a reason users became disconnected from you, and finding it out is imperative to get them to come back. Essentially, you have to look at the way you are talking to them or interact with them to see if something may have put them off. This has a lot to do with consumer expectations. Ask yourself, are you meeting them? Because a lot of businesses don’t. One survey showed that 4 out of 5 consumers believe businesses provide a disconnected experience. This means that the businesses are lacking in something consumers want or expect to be offered.

To find out why they disconnected, you can even send out a short survey and ask. Not everyone will respond, but even if just a few do, you will get a better sense of why people stopped listening to you. It could be a confusing strategy, too many newsletters, or an unpopular campaign. Either way, these can be fixed.

2. Incentivize Them to Come Back

People can find anything they want online, and for them, not paying attention to your brand isn’t really affecting them in any way. It’s always a lot for the brand, not the consumer.

But when a business wants to convince a user to reconnect, they have to make it worth that user’s while and provide compelling reasons to do it. This can be a generous discount, access to something exclusive or even making them part of your future activities. These incentives show a user that you really care about them, and are going the extra mile to connect with them.

3. Leverage Technology to Stay Connected

If your communications process has any type of gap, you risk losing consumers. These days, people expect to receive what they want, when they want it, which is usually right now. This is almost impossible to achieve without staying logged in 24/7 unless you are using a chatbot.

Chatbots can pick up where human resources leave off, and communicate with users at any time of day to provide clarifications, answer questions, or even help with routine tasks. It’s an easy method to ensure a consumer can connect with you whenever they want.

Conclusion

In marketing, many focus on bringing in new people constantly, which is not a bad strategy, but it can make you forget to take care of the people who are already on your side. Reconnecting with users who’ve stopped engaging is essential because these people already know your brand and services.