5 Ways to Stay Productive During MCO & Social Distancing

By Julia Koh & Syira Junaidi
April 2020

Staying indoors and maintaining social distance are the best things to do to combat the ongoing pandemic. But as Malaysians are stuck indoors due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), it’s a continuous challenge to stay productive and mentally-healthy. It’s easy to lose track of time and day with binge-watching, over-sleeping, and managing bored, crazy kids.

Many are taking this chance to self-reflect, learn and try new things, and improve on existing skills and knowledge. So, here we have ways for you to keep your mind active during this downtime. These are things you can learn to improve your digital marketing skills, and some new skills to dive into now that you have time.

1. 1. Do a Quick Audit of Your Marketing Activities
      Now’s the perfect time to look back at all your marketing ventures and evaluate their performances. You can start auditing your social media posts on Facebook by looking at the insights. See the kind of posts that get the most engagement and shares. What time of day do your posts get the most reach? What else can you do to improve the numbers?
      Next, you can evaluate your web analytics, email campaigns, and other things where you can measure and audit what works and what needs improvement. Since business is a little slower these days, it’s helpful to step back and look at your whole operation. Then, you know what to improve using the resources in the next points!

• Sign Up for Free Online Courses
  There are a few free courses on digital marketing, SEO, content marketing and other essential business skills:

1. 1. • Facebook Blueprint: Facebook offers many courses on how to market your brand on Facebook and Instagram, two giant social media platforms. So, you would want to know how to use these social sites to its full potential and leverage it to your brand’s advantage. Apart from courses, Blueprint also publishes reports, trends, and insights that help you understand your target market.
      • Yoast Academy: Yoast is a trusted brand when it comes to SEO and all you need to know about search engines. There’s a free version that allows you to learn the essential topics on how to build a strong website, copywriting using SEO, and many more.
      • Quick Sprout University: It’s not really a university, but a platform by Quick Sprout for anyone who wants to learn everything about digital marketing. They have a long list of course outlines, so get ready for some serious learning.

• Brush Up on Marketing Know-How with Articles & Blogs
  There are also online articles by marketing experts that answer your marketing queries. There’s how-to’s, hacks, secret sauces, and video and infographic content that you can refer to.
  We too, have a blog page filled with articles on marketing tips and tricks. From topics ranging from search engine marketing, marketing trends, B2B social media marketing, to content marketing, rebranding and more. You can peruse the articles and take your time reading them all.

• Subscribe to Marketing Guides
  Newsletters are a great way to get updates on current trends, reports, and new things that are happening in the marketing scene. That’s why we recommend that you subscribe to our newsletter. Our subscribers often receive free guides and reports as well as updates on current trends. It’s free, easy, and you’ll get lots of resources. Just refresh this page and you’ll find a pop-up about a free e-book. Enter your email and we’ll send you a copy to get you started.

• Learn From Other Marketers on Social Media
  Since everyone has a little more time at home, why not follow other marketers on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Many marketing gurus are sharing their wisdom in forms of short posts, long blogs, videos and other mediums. We recommend following our Facebook page and LinkedIn to get latest updates on branding and marketing, as well as sharing with you useful tips on growing your business.

In Conclusion

Many are calling this ‘the new normal’ where we have to adapt to working from home, pivoting our business direction and building digital capabilities. This impact affects every business globally and change is inevitable.

Therefore, always keep productive during periods of MCO and downtime. It’s healthy for both body and mind to have an objective, a schedule and something to do. A good marketer is a life-long learner, ever curious and adaptive. So, happy learning and happy social distancing. Remember to stay indoors, stay healthy, and stay sane!