The rapidly evolving threat around the COVID-19 virus is impacting investors and business communities around the world. The global and interconnected nature of businesses today poses a serious risk of disruption for global supply chains, which eventually results in a significant loss of revenue and adversely impacts global economies.

Multiple cities across the world are under lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus and more than 50 million individuals are prevented from leaving their homes.

In these conditions, social media serves as the only reliable way for people to communicate with the outside world. People are eager to share their stories and document their daily lives. People are watching viral videos, reading blogs, and engaging in live video sessions from the isolated comfort of their homes. With this being the scenario, many businesses are looking forward to building sales pipelines through social selling.

Social selling is a method of selling that uses social media to research a prospect to understand, connect and nurture them by building meaningful relationships. The first key to social selling is being an active social listener. More people are spending their time on social media right now, making it easy for sales reps to research their prospects. Pay attention to your prospect’s behavior on social media platforms. This information will help you craft a personalized message while also building a rapport. Before reaching out to the prospect, make sure to have checked their social media pages for any mutual connections.

Do it right! Plan your nurture sequence using the information that you’ve researched.

For example, when initiating your first interaction with your prospects via social networking you can mention and compliment a blog they shared on their site. Doing this can add a valuable personalized touch.

While under quarantine people are actually looking forward to engaging in conversation to alleviate their feelings of idleness. According to a March 16th IPSOS poll, adults age 18-65 responded overwhelmingly that there is still a desire from customers to hear from helpful brands – even during the global challenge we’re all currently facing. This makes it a unique time for you to jump in front of them and let them know you appreciate what they have to say on social media. Keep reminding them of how valuable of a resource you are. Your initial goal should be to build a healthy rapport – not to offer sales.

With the economy drastically heading downwards, many of your prospects may have either been laid off of their jobs or may have changed within their organization.

Send them a quick note to let them know you’re there to support them. Make good use of all the social selling tools available as they can help you keep track of things like turnover and promotions. Engage in community chats online to increase your response rate. Simultaneously keep an eye on the quarantine advisements in your geographic business areas. Since every region is on a different timeline, as well as different restrictions, by keeping track you can be proactive with your communication once things get back to normal.

As this quarantine period during the pandemic is expected to be temporary, visitors will likely have some highlights from the pre-existing content. Lean into human stories and let your principles set the tone The good news is that by taking advantage of the situation now, you may find yourself in a position of advantage once things return to business as usual. Times like these, when you’ve done the work to create a brand strategy, can be valuable and remind us all that feeling productive – and like we add value to the world – is very meaningful.