By Kaliena Joy Bowen
On May 26, social media coach and mentor, Ashley France, J.D., was the guest speaker for The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute’s (ENI) livestream event, How to Leverage Social Media in a Time of Chaos. To start the livestream, ENI’s Marketing and Events Coordinator, Deniece Griffin, provided a brief introduction along with France’s background.
As many of us know, adaptability is an essential skill for every business owner to have. France finds it crucial that entrepreneurs pivot to sustain themselves through and post Coronavirus. During this livestream, she educates students on how to utilize the resources available to them to preserve their companies through the pandemic.
As the CEO of ANF Consulting, LLC, France works with entrepreneurs and creatives to establish their business and develop a consistent brand. She is also the creator of the Corporate Curly Brand, which she developed to normalize natural hairstyles in corporate America. Before becoming an entrepreneur, France worked as an in-house attorney for a Fortune 500 company.
For this event, she used her expertise and experience with young entrepreneurs to give students and alumni guidance on how to use limited resources to adjust to the modern business environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. She started by discussing the standard business practices before coronavirus and what entrepreneurs had access to. France then went on to examine the new reality of the business industry. She explained how digital spaces will be vital for conducting business from now onward.
Most business owners have lost their go-to form of communication with their clients due to their inability to connect face-to-face. To remedy this situation, France suggests that business owners use social media as a tool to network and build a community around their brands.
Since we are relying almost completely on social media to preform business operations and have discussions, platforms are experiencing “content overloads.” Businesses and individuals alike are producing more digital media than ever before. This can make it harder for accounts with smaller influences to spread their content to more people.
To avoid getting overshadowed by larger social media accounts, here’s a few recommendations from France to utilize your social media more effectively:
- Post consistently and plan ahead
- Know your audience – above all else, you must understand your customer.
- Plan your content. Content planning is a way for businesses to keep their messages and imagery consistent.
- Respond to comments in your feed. Positive interactions will help business owners develop connections that last.
According to France, there is no “back to normal” once stay-at-home orders are lifted. COVID-19 has changed how we do business indefinitely, and entrepreneurs must not only modify their business operations, but their mentalities to survive.
To learn more about finding your niche and best practices for leveraging social media, view the discussion on our YouTube Channel here and subscribe.
