Month two of social distancing has come to a close and hopefully, we are all more settled into our home routines. Overall, people are spending more time on social media, and getting creative with their free time, trying TikTok challenges and baking bread. We are also becoming more responsive to paid advertising since we have more time to see if we really want the product or not. Search demand on Google has been strongly affected by lifestyle changes as well. Today, let’s see what else is changing digitally!
A Present, Just For You
Sometimes, we all need a small win to lift our spirits. Well, nothing gets us as cheerful as a whole lot of free resources and tools. The following list has free remote communications tools, content marketing, and social media tools, resources for project and data management and so much more. For example, Hootsuite is offering a free Hootsuite Professional plan for small businesses and nonprofits until July 2020. Microsoft Teams is offering a free six-month Office 365 E1 Trial. MailChimp is doing free standard accounts until June 30th. Finally, Shopify is offering a free 90-day trial for all new customers and an extended 90-day trial for 14-day trial users. Discover the rest of the deals for yourself here.
Get Your Business Discovered with Google Discover
Google Discover anticipates user’s behavior by using two methods, Google News AI and Knowledge Graph – Google’s knowledge base which understands connections between things, places, people, and facts. Google Discover filters through infinite information to bring you things that it thinks you will like, based on your browser history and search history – recommendations for activities, recipes to try, and news pieces to read. This is a big opportunity for businesses to get ~discovered~ by Google’s users. This fascinating piece from Search Engine Journal takes a deep dive into Google Discover and how you can make it work for you.
Instagram’s New Gift Card and Delivery Stickers
To adapt to the changing environment of their users, the biggest social media platforms have been rolling out updates. Instagram is helping local businesses leverage their social media presence with new stickers for Stories – gift cards, and food orders. You can connect the “food orders” sticker with your provider, such as Uber Eats, and your customers can seamlessly place their orders through this Instagram sticker. The future is now! This is a good time to invest in your social media presence. On the other side of the coin, you can also use this feature to support your local businesses (and get some delicious takeout).
Free Google Shopping Listings
From the president of Commerce at Google, Bill Ready:
“In light of these challenges, we’re advancing our plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google.”
Search results will now consist of free listings for products, regardless of whether the business advertises with Google or not. This is a win for many merchants who may have lost some business due to the pandemic. Now they can get exposure to millions of users searching for new things on Google and the users get more choice and variety too! It’s good to see Google helping out merchants wherever they can in light of the hard times.
In short, the world has been coming together more than ever during this time – big companies adapting to help out local businesses, factories shifting their production to essential healthcare items, and local communities supporting each other. The digital world has been expanding and adapting too. Remember, you can use this time to review what you are doing and prepare for the future, whether it’s updating your website or making social media plans. And if you need any guidance, we are just one message away.