In this article:

1. Create a mailing list
2. Share more content
3. Use social media as a networking tool
4. Take care of your team
5. Host immersive virtual events

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Introduction

Recently, I discovered the Met Opera on Demand and immediately spent hours immersed in a live performance broadcast in the magnificent Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy.

In her opening remarks, Soprano Diana Damrau addressed her first-time-ever at-home audience:

“Art means a bridge—a bridge to our souls. And in these terribly difficult times, music is a remedy. Music is medicine without prescription. Music and art touches our souls. That’s why we’re all so happy and grateful to come to you in your home. We don’t see you—we’re socially distanced—but we are connected.”

We’re socially distanced—but connected.

Safe to say this statement had a big impact on me.

A lot has changed in the past year; our relationships with ourselves, with others, with the world around us.

Yet, our unprecedented access to technology has been a saving grace during these difficult times. It’s technology that allows us to be safe while staying connected to those we cherish most, near and far.

From video calls that span geographic boundaries, to keeping up with friends and family on social media, to attending virtual performances at the Opera, technology has the ability to keep us connected-—and there’s magic in that.

So, how can you use technology to stay connected with your clients and community?

Our clients have been asking us the same thing. Without business lunches, team activities and events, what can be done? In a quest to develop enriching and entertaining experiences, we had to get creative.

Our latest concept is an Evening at the Met, where you and a select group of guests can take part in a private virtual tour of a current art exhibition with the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Museum tour is followed by a virtual cocktail hour with a handpicked menu of appetizers and wine delivered to each guest’s home prepared by some of our favorite local chefs and restaurants.

And we’re having a blast!

Today’s article focuses on five tips that you can follow to help you stay connected with your community today, tomorrow, and beyond.

Following each one will help you to:

• Stay top-of mind
• Build brand awareness
• Sell more products or services
• Cultivate community
• Create magic… ✨

Read on to discover our favourite ideas to cultivating valuable relationships with both your team and your clients while staying safe and sparking creativity (and dare we say, a sense of awe).

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Five Ways to Stay Connected with Your Community Using Technology

In our recent post on self-care while working from home, we touched on the importance of getting ready, getting outside, and getting creative.

But what about your work? How can you stay connected with your community? How can you leverage technology to stay in touch, stay top-of mind and get efficient? There are a myriad of ways to spend meaningful time with yourself and others while staying safe, such as:

1. Create a mailing list and send regular updates by email

Do you have important news to share? An upcoming promotion? A new product launch? A valuable tip? Having a mailing list—no matter how big or small—is an essential way to keep in touch, and most especially during this time.

2. Share more content

Blog posts, videos, social, whatever works for you. The more you show up, the more people will see you—simple as that. Publish quality content to help your business generate awareness, drive leads, and fosters community.

3. Use social media as a networking tool

Engaging is as important, if not more so, than creating content. Support your clients, your partners, your network, and be a champion for your community.

4. Take care of your team

Many professionals and their teams had to pivot extremely quickly to a remote working environment this time last year.

As someone who has been working at home for years, this shift hasn’t changed much in my day-to-day (I do miss a visiting my clients, though).

But for many of our clients, this change has been drastic, bringing up challenges they continue to work through daily.

It’s not the office they miss specifically, but the ability to stay connected with their teams. The workplace allows a unique setting where like-minded individuals can bring their skills together to build and do things that matter—there’s something powerful about a creative space like that, and in the friendships that flourish there.

It’s the small moments that count. Keep team morale up by giving space for flexibility in a time like this, and invest in things that not only makes running your business effective remotely, but that shows your team that you value their time and dedication.

During this time, we can take this opportunity to be present—to value each other and to go back to the basics. The simple things, like writing a handwritten card can let your team know that they’re valued and appreciated.

A few other ways you can let your team know how much they mean include:

• Providing virtual physical training
• Organizing a virtual dinner
• Sending small gifts and treats that can be delivered to their front door
• Sending a handwritten card
• And perhaps most importantly, providing flexibility. Technology is enabling us to work smarter, better and more efficiently. Embrace it by providing your team with the trust and flexibility to get the work done—and done well.

5. Host immersive virtual events

One of the most amazing things technology delivers is the enhanced accessibility of culture, art, and beautiful things from around the world.

During this time, one of our brand management clients came to us looking for a way to stay connected with their clients.

How could they take care of their clients, continue to cultivate meaningful relationships and deliver an exceptional experience, while respecting social distancing and health guidelines?

That is, how could they stay connected with their clients while being socially distanced? We had to get creative—and here’s what we did.

We scoured the internet high and low for the most exceptional virtual experiences. And we discovered private virtual tours at The Met Museum. Paired with an at-home delivery of wine and appetizers, we presented this event as An Evening at The Met with a private tour and 5 a 7-cocktail hour. Our clients are delighted.

As it is in with an in-person event, it’s important to us to make these events spectacular. We love putting on a great show and making everyone feel special!

From our experience, here are a few ways you can cultivate connection and deliver a beautiful virtual event by:

• Creating a custom digital invitation for your brand
• Creating beautifully written emails to captivate your audience from day one
• Curating every single detail, from the menu to the wine selection and delivery
• Delivering an exceptional performance!

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been orchestrating immersive community events for our clients, and it’s meant the world to us to be able to create such memorable, rejuvenating experiences while giving a break from everyday routines.

By taking advantage of the delicious local restaurants now offering delivery to booking private tours with some of the most prestigious museums in the world, business owners can plan custom events that provide an opportunity to learn and experience something new from the comfort of their own home.

A few special and unique virtual experiences we’ve loved are:

• Organize an at-home event: There has been a lot of skepticism around this — and while it cannot replace being together in person — when done well, with intention, the outcome is magical.
• Virtual Group Tours of The Met: A personalized group tour of available exhibits (this is our go-to virtual community event—beautiful, immersive, and spectacular).
• The Met Opera: Transport the viewer to another place and time through the Met Opera. Online, on-demand streaming of classic and contemporary performances.
• Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal: Experience the Montreal Symphony Orchestra like never before. Current exhibitions include a series of 3 webcast concerts under the direction of Maestro Kent Nagano.

**Are you a Digital Brand Management client: Get in touch with us to organize your own curated client or team event.**

Technology impacts us profoundly, making it essential for businesses to understand how to leverage it as the part of community-building that it is.

During such a time, it’s important to find ways to stay connected—not only to our work, but to the joy and beauty that exists in the world, everywhere around us. One day, we’ll look out the window, and the world will be buzzing again. We may—just for a moment—remember how much closer we became to each other while so far apart.