COVID WHIPLASH IS REAL by Shannon Ferguson WHAT’S NEW WITH FANSAVES F or far too long now, many businesses have been stuck in the past and unable to adapt to the changing digital landscape. The
recent pandemic brought this realization to the forefront and left many small businesses around the world scrambling for ways to reach their customers in a time when it was impossible to connect face-to-face. At FanSaves, we saw this firsthand as we pivoted and launched our Gift Certificate Program, helping over 630 businesses across Canada sell gift certificates because many didn’t have the capacity to do it themselves. We got to know hundreds of amazing business owners during their most challenging times and learned about their stories. We noticed there was a common theme amongst so many of them. They all loved, lived and breathed their businesses but had never really thought about their digital footprint and how much wider of a net they could be casting. It seems that the biggest thing holding some business owners back is not a lack of knowledge but instead an abundance of fear. Scared to try. Scared to fail. Scared to learn. When in fact, learning is the cornerstone to improvement and adapting to change is the best way to grow… or stay afloat during a pandemic. But what is a digital footprint? What are digital assets and inventory? And why is it all import- ant? Since I work in the tech space, these things all seem second nature to me but what Covid opened my eyes to is that these things aren’t second nature to so many people and that’s okay because fortunately, there’s time to learn.
When some business owners hear digital, they automatically think Facebook. They believe that because they have a Facebook page (and only a Facebook page) that they are good to go. They are adamant that they need nothing more and that their business has embraced the change to technology. While this is definitely a good way to dip their toe into the vast sea of technology, I cannot urge business owners enough that there is a nice, big, fascinating world beyond their Facebook page that they are simply missing out on. Yes, social media is a brilliant tool to get your business and its products or services out into the world. Whether through Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok or one of the many other engaging platforms out there these channels are a great tool but then what? What happens when someone likes what they see, do you have a call to action? Do you have a way to keep them engaged?
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SEPTEMBER 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2020
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