5 Content Marketing Ideas For Human Resources Companies During COVID-19
So much is happening in the world right now, but marketing your business is still important. Companies still need to move forward because if they don’t, they are solidifying the fact that their business won’t survive this current pandemic. As an HR company, the best thing you can do is provide stellar resources and ideas for companies struggling with work right now. I am going to share five general content marketing ideas you can use in your business, along with some specific examples of how this might work in your industry. Let’s get started!
Note: Do you need some help bringing these ideas to life? Check out my one-off blog project rates and workflow.
Related Reading: Fifteen Effective Human Resources Blog Post Topics
Focus On Providing Valuable Information
Above all else, you should focus on providing valuable information to your customers and potential customers right now. How can you offer something that will inform and entertain them during this time of need? Everyone is dealing with COVID-19 together, and no one knows precisely when all of this will be over. Dealing with COVID-19 is everyone’s life right now. Your goal should be to help people:
Feel not so alone.
Help their employees.
Stabilize their income so they can stabilize your income.
Let’s get into some ideas that can help the companies on your roster during this time.
1) Remote Work Tips
Many companies are being forced to work from home right now, and it’s a hot button issue for everyone. Working from home isn’t as easy as it seems, and this is coming from someone who works from home already. Providing tips to employers and employees about how to work from home is a great way to support your potential customers with an issue everyone is dealing with. What out of the box tips or tricks have you seen or used when it comes to working from home?
You can focus on providing tips for new employees, big teams, parents, specific sectors, etc. You can also focus on sharing the tools your team has been using to connect while remote. If you already had a somewhat remote or fully distributed team, your advice will help others even more. What are you doing to go remote within your own office?
For example, I recently wrote an article for WorkBright about helping employees shift to remote work. It’s a general article, but it gives anyone making that transition some food for thought as they start making a move to online work.
Bonus: Tips For Essential Workers
So much focus online has been given to remote work, and not enough tips and tricks have been shared with essential workers and the employers who are over them. Many HR companies can work from home, so I understand this push for remote work tips. Take a look at who uses your products and information, though. If a large number of your customers still go to work every day, you need to spend some of your time focusing on those people, too.
What do these employers need to keep on hand to make sure their workers healthy during this time?
How can these companies keep up energy during a time where they might be working long-shifts?
Show your appreciation for these companies by sharing articles devoted to them and the stellar work they do for the community or world at large.
2) Tips For Bringing Work Activities Online
Next, you might want to give suggestions for bringing work activities online. This idea is different from remote work tips. In this set of articles, you are giving practical advice for bringing the activities we do every day to the online world, not sharing information on how to handle remote work.
Think about all the HR processes we do offline or partly offline. How can we bring those online? For example, you could talk about recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, performance management, etc. How can companies who are used to recruiting offline bring that experience online for their teams? If you are the solution to their problems, that will make you stand out even more.
As another example, I wrote an article for WorkBright about onboarding employees while remote. This is a task that many companies are used to doing while in an office building. The article I wrote for the team at WorkBright helps people digitize the onboarding process and connect with new employees even when they work from home. WorkBright is all about digitizing the onboarding process and making it paperless, so this was an obvious article to write for them.
3) Human Resources News Features
The world of HR is changing rapidly right now. Every day there is a new story that affects the way we work. It’s harder for HR professionals to keep up with these changes since they aren’t in the office much right now, and so many people are tuning out the news. As a company, you could dive into this news and share the most pertinent information with your audience.
Here’s the thing about news features, they aren’t evergreen topics. News changes every hour and every day. You could post something today that won’t be relevant in a few hours. If you want to dive into news coverage, you need someone ready to keep news stories up to date.
One company that does a fantastic job at this is the Society For Human Resources Management (or SHRM.) The SHRM team is continuously adding stories to update employers on new laws being passed that they might need to adhere to. HR is changing rapidly right now, and these news stories help companies understand these changes.
4) Anxiety, Mental Health, And Stress Relief Ideas
Anxiety is at an all-time high for many people right now. If you can, offering some simple tips or ideas for reducing anxiety and getting rid of stress will help everyone right now. If you can relate this to work, even better.
For example, you could talk about how to check-in with your employees as they are dealing with COVID-19 stress or share some stress relievers for work at home parents. Who reads your blog? How can you help those people deal with the fear and uncertainty we are feeling every day?
Another example from WorkBright was the recent post I shared on their website about how to create a healthier workplace for remote workers. I shared ten ideas to help workers that all cost various amounts, whether you want something cheap or something that will cost the company a bit more money. While these ideas are things employers can do, you can easily make a similar list of what employees can do to manage their health while being remote.
5) Customer/Company Spotlights
Last but not least, you can spotlight your customers and the company who use your products and software. Are there any company’s doing amazing things right now? How can you share that with your audience via blog or social media content?
Check-in with all of your customers to see how they are fairing right now. Let them know you want to put together a round-up featuring them and what they are doing for their employees right now in light of COVID-19. What does your audience need help with that your customers can shed insight on?
One company that is doing amazing at this right now is The Muse. They are sharing the companies who use their platform on social media and in various blog posts on their website. These posts give some excellent press for the businesses who use their tools and help the people who go to The Muse for career advice. You might also want to think about how Forbes and their Human Resources Council handles round-ups.
Bonus: Pivot/Recession Creation Case Studies
Many people are pivoting during this time to keep their business open and workers employed. For example, airlines are carrying cargo and freight, medical shows are sharing their supplies with hospitals who actually need them, and restaurants are selling taco kits with toilet paper and eggs. There has been a tweet going about startups who were founded during the last recession like Slack and Pinterest. Economic growth and amazing businesses can come out of this current time. How can you showcase these stories on your company blog? Do you have a story of how you made it through the last recession or something similar? Share that on your blog!
Conclusion
You can create content that supports your audience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is not the time to stop supporting the companies who depend on you for interesting and helpful content. Lean into content creation during this time to create something that your audience can use. Everyone is struggling right now, so your content can give people ideas they would never have considered. Once things pick back up, your company will be top of mind for your potential and current customers.