Social Media’s Role in the Coronavirus Outbreak and How Businesses Should Learn from It

As a person who provides social media services, I am aware that despite so many users sign up for social media account every day, it doesn’t mean that they will be an active user as well. Many people use social media as a way to express themselves or maybe reunite with their high school friends or long-distance family. However, not everyone will go online every day unless they are a public figure, a social media influencer or a business entity. Yes, you read that right. Social media can be the best place for business to promote their products and interact or communicate with their customers. However, now that the world has been hit with the world pandemic – the coronavirus outbreak, some businesses were forced to either reduce their employees’ salary or just close their business. That being said, if they had kept going for a little longer, they would have endured this pandemic. Why? That’s because social media has a big role in this pandemic and if you own a business, you can actually make use of it to promote your brand. Well, there are good and bad in anything, but here’s what I’m going to tell you…

Social media and coronavirus: The Good!

Social media is one of the best ways to share news nowadays (it may be the only way for some people), especially if you are trying to alert people of something serious in a very, very quick manner. Whether it be coronavirus news from individual states or news on a national scope, social media gets the message where it needs to go. You’ve seen pretty much everything in terms of the coronavirus over the last few days to weeks. The number of people being affected by the illness in states, counties, and specific cities and towns come to mind. This news has made people aware of how the situation has been constantly deteriorating the sense of normalcy across the nation. Social media has also educated us about the symptoms of coronavirus – in turn, perhaps saving lives! Now, that’s not the only thing good about social media role for us during this pandemic. For business, it can be a good chance to get to know your social media followers because well, many people have time to be more engaged on social media than they ever did before. Some companies have their employees either work from home or take some leave request during this pandemic. Those who have social media but have nothing to do tend to spend more time on social media than when they were busy with work. At the same time, many people create beautiful creations such as Instagram templates and other stuff to do for social media content to keep people more engaged and also keep them from feeling bored. You should do the same so you won’t lose any customer and your business can keep going!

On the other hand, the bad side…

Well, I’m not going to lie, but every good side has a bad side, including this. To contrast the first point that I made in the section above, social media is great for spreading information and news, but some of that can be misinformation or “fake news.” Misinformation, especially about coronavirus, can cause panic. People who see misinformation on social media may think what they are reading is actually true. If it’s something as important or serious as a worldwide pandemic, you should do a little research to see if what you are reading is actually factual. Otherwise, you may be inclined to share the misinformation and fuel the fear of something that isn’t necessarily true.

Whether it is a business or a personal profile, you should refrain from posting anything that makes fun of, ridicules, or minimizes the situation. It could spell trouble for you, especially as a business. If you are going to post about coronavirus, be informative and make sure your followers know what’s happening with you, your business, or the situation overall.

Everything You Need to Know About Web Hosting Before Choosing A Web Hosting Provider

Having a business is not only about having a store and selling some stuff. There are more than just meets the eye. In order for your business to succeed, you have to grow your business both offline and online. When it comes to growing a business online, you need to have a website as well. And when you have a website, you have to consider hiring not only web designer and web developer, but also web hosting services. Why? Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website live. Think of it as the home of your website where it actually lives. Now that you understand the importance of web hosting, now you should understand some facts about web hosting before you decide to choose a web hosting provider. Keep reading this article to find out!

There are different types of web hosting

If you’ve spent any amount of time on a web host’s website, you’ve probably seen terms like shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud, WordPress, and reseller. They represent the different web hosting types, but not every web host offers them all. Plus, the hosting types differ from one another in significant ways. Dedicated servers offer close to metal implementation with little overhead, and they’ve been traditionally the go-to-solution for high performance demanding tasks. On the other hand, VPS allows clients to get a share of a physical server for a number of hardware resources they’ve paid for, and multiple clients often share one physical host machine. Cloud servers are often confused with the VPS, as both are based on virtualization and come with many of the same advantages. Much of the definition, however, depends on the particular host provider.

They say “Unlimited” but it’s not quite unlimited

Web hosts will encourage you to sign up for their web hosting plans by convincing you with the promise of unlimited storage or monthly data transfers. It’s generally not a completely honest deal. Now, I am not saying that that these web hosts are straight up lying, but the “unlimited” storage or data transfers boasts nearly always have limitations that vary by company. So, it is what it is.

Your website can be vulnerable to cyber attacks

Hacks, malwares, and virus are common cyber attacks that can damage your business website. Sadly, many people who are just starting out with their own website may not be aware of all the associated quirks that come with maintaining a successful online presence. But once you get into the details of it all, you’ll realize that understanding the essence of secure web hosting will be hugely beneficial to your website.

As you might suspect, there are plenty of other factors to consider regarding web hosting security, and the security policies of your website in general. However, we’ve tried to outline the most important ones here, so that you have a general idea of where you should start while shoring up your online safety. For that reason, you should be careful with choosing the right web hosting provider for your business website.

Business and Conscience: Inspiring Examples of Companies Giving Back during Coronavirus Outbreak

  1. Jackson Brown Jr. once said, “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” Couldn’t agree more, right? I don’t know about you, but this virus outbreak somehow opens my eyes towards what I can’t see and what I don’t know. You only know the importance of washing hands properly and how to do it after the outbreak. You know the importance of growing your human conscience during this period and you certainly know some people are not willing to be selfless and instead being the opposite of it by taking advantage of the situation. However, if there was one thing that was mostly tested in this outbreak, I could say that businesses could be prompted to take certain actions to the next level, in a cringeworthy way. Sure, the Melbourne SEO services I have provided for the past few years might be losing some of our customers this year, but that’s actually the risk we might see coming, but not the virus. That being said, I wouldn’t start selling masks and hand sanitizers just because of this situation and I am sure my employer wouldn’t do that either. Yes, when I mentioned this, I have seen some businesses doing ridiculous things just as a way to deal with coronavirus outbreak. I mean, a restaurant that sells food and beverages could go so far by selling masks and hand sanitizers on Grab Food. Like, what the… Okay, I don’t want to curse here, but I didn’t see that coming. That being said, setting aside this kind of discovery, let’s start seeing kindness everywhere conducted by inspiring companies that give back to the community during coronavirus outbreak that can become your inspiration as well. Yes, there are people who are nice out there. If those businesses can do it, you can do it too. Keep reading this article to be inspired!

As mentioned above, here are the companies that are giving back to the community:

  • Microsoft announced that they will keep paying the hourly workers who support their campus.
  • Google established a COVID-19 fund that enables all temporary staff and vendors, globally, to take paid sick leave if they have potential symptoms of COVID-19, or can’t come into work because they’re quarantined. They have also made their video conferencing service, Hangouts Meet, available for all G-suite customers until July 1, 2020.
  • Forbes8 is hosting a free digital summit on March 20, 2020 under the theme of Business Resilience: Thriving in Crucial Times. The speaker roster includes top experts and best-selling authors such as Chris Brogan, Rohit Bhargava, and Dorie Clark. Many of the speakers were slated to speak at the cancelled SXSW this year.
  • LinkedIn is opening up 16 of its learning courses for free. Courses that provide tips on how to stay productive, build relationships when you’re not face-to-face, use virtual meeting tools and balance family and work dynamics in a healthy way.
  • Adobe is giving higher education and K-12 institutional customers of their Creative Cloud apps the ability to request temporary “at-home” access for their students and educators. This is being granted through May 31, 2020 at no additional cost and is available globally.
  • Amazon is hiring 100,000 more workers and giving raises to current staff to deal with coronavirus demands. Well, unlike some bosses who cut people’s salary with an excuse of coronavirus outbreak, Amazon is doing amazing things to appreciate their employees.
  • Starbucks has extended its mental health benefits. In partnership with Lyra Health, Starbucks is offering its partners personalized, confidential mental health care, 20 free in-person or video sessions every year for partners and each of their eligible family members, online scheduling with most providers available within two weeks, and access to a provider network of mental health therapists and coaches.
  • Dolce & Gabbana announced that it has partnered with Humanitas University to fund a coronavirus research project.
  • Giorgio Armani has donated $1.43 million dollars to four hospitals in Rome and Milan, as well as to the Civil Protection Agency.

Denzel Washington said, “At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished… it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” It’s never too late to share kindness and you are not going to be poor for that. You don’t have to give millions if you can’t afford it. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal, so whatever you have and you want to give, that’s all that matters.