Support, Encourage and Recommend During COVID-19

After writing the blog post Content to Publish During COVID-19 on May 5, 2020, I wanted to elaborate on the three main topics that were discussed in the article: agility, solidarity and support.

The last point to discuss is support. For me, support above all evokes the actions associated with encouragement and recommending. A web video like this one is generally short, but gives us a good idea of what support can look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecpOugxnFM.

Supporting Locally

It is important to emphasize that I am mainly addressing owners and employees of Auto Centres, and the examples are focused on this sector and its current and future customers. I want to make this clear, because to be beneficial or have a positive impact the support must have a specific target. For example, if I highlight my actions or those of my clients in support of democracy in China or Cuba, I am encouraging a cause, but the message is far from my community and the scope of this message will be very limited. Unless the Auto Centre has a lot of clients who are Cuban exiles or Chinese nationals, it wouldn’t be relevant. 

That is why you need to support locally as much as possible. This way, the chances of directly reaching your community become very high. You are sure to have an impact on several discussions and exchanges. You have to prepare for it, because to support is to take action and a position.

Communicate Your Values

This means that if you post your endorsement and values on the Web, you will create an opportunity to get mostly positive comments, but you also have to expect negative feedback. Don’t panic! Believe me, Web community management is like real life. The big difference is that some users are anonymous. They take advantage of this to make comments that are sometimes in bad taste. I like to compare a Web publication to a loud speaker: both project very far and reach an audience that exceeds what we can count and control. And the people who voice negative comments are rarely in our field of vision and tend to hide!

Don't hesitate to ask the team at Mechanic Web Services to support you in a cause that is important to you. If it fits with our values, we will be happy to endorse you. If we disagree with your choices, we will express our reluctance in a constructive manner, always with respect.