Corona and social media: What you have to know right now

One thing’s for sure: The coronavirus is currently putting the world’s economic systems to a harsh test. Short-time working, general cuts and struggle for survival are omnipresent. So what should you do if your company is on the verge of collapse and money has stopped coming in? The answer is simple: Do not cut your marketing budget! The corona crisis also harbours opportunities, particularly when it comes to social media. Read on to find out about these opportunities and what to keep in mind!

Social media is massive right now. No kidding! People are looking for a distraction. They are looking for ways to engage on social media and for things to do with all the time they suddenly have on their hands. Time to get inspired, time to do online shopping or to plan their next holiday after the crisis. This means that frequency of use as well as dwell time are increasing. According to official Facebook reports, social media use has increased by 50 %. Accordingly, you really shouldn’t cut down on your corporate social media activities – although you should definitely adjust them to the current situation. 

After all, it must be said that users are not in a spending mood right now, meaning that they are not planning any major investments or shopping for luxury items. On the other hand, users are looking for ways to shop locally and support small companies in their region. This makes social media communication in times of COVID-19 even more relevant.

One thing’s for sure: We can’t just pretend the corona crisis didn’t happen. Nobody can say for sure how the situation will change over the next weeks or months. So social media posts without a strategy or plan are really not a good idea right now. After all, users are now more than ever looking for brands they can trust. Accordingly, what’s important for your social media presence right now is the following:

1. Adjust your communication and develop a strategy: At first glance, it might seem easy to update your editorial calendar. All you have to do is keep those posts that are still relevant and kick out those that could be misinterpreted, right? Well, not quite. Instead, you should draw up a comprehensive corona strategy for the upcoming weeks.
2. Be careful how you treat your customers in this situation: Use your strategy to define exactly what you want to communicate and what you want to leave out. Be careful how you talk to your customers right now. Bad marketing decisions can have long-term negative effects on a brand!
3. Strengthen the ties to your customers: “We can do this together!” Many brands seize the current situation to strengthen their customer relationships. And that’s a great idea! After all, most users will remember which brands and companies helped them through the crisis, whose posts were the most creative and who offered them added value.

4. Be authentic and honest: Without a doubt, social media users are looking for brands they can trust right now. The most important rule is to stay authentic. Your audience is used to your tongue-in-cheek style of communication? Then don’t drop it now – although you might want to tone it down a bit.
5. Be creative: It takes a fair amount of creativity to keep your audience entertained during the corona crisis. Whether it’s how-to content, challenges or live streams – there are countless opportunities. However, don’t just follow any old trend and try to stand out from the crowd.
6. Community management is more important than ever: It’s a fact that community management becomes all the more challenging the longer we all have to stay at home. Social media users are getting cranky and irritable. They are not looking for default messages but for authentic content. It’s important to treat your customers’ fears and problems with respect and sensitivity right now.
7. Boost your e-commerce: Many stores are still closed and especially smaller shops have to come up with new ways of distribution. One of them is e-commerce. The big winner so far in this field is Amazon. However, smaller companies who already have an online shop should definitely seize the chance and tell their target audience about it on social media!
8. Make use of social media monitoring: To see if your corona strategy pays off, you should monitor your social media activities and draw up reports. Which of your activities are successful and which are not? Take a look at your metrics on a weekly basis. This also helps you to cut down on unnecessary costs – and we all know that this is particularly important in times of corona.

So don’t stop your social media activities right now, but seize the opportunity to make the most of this special situation. There will be life after corona – and we’re pretty sure you want your users and customers to remember you in this life.

Are you looking for more information? Then why not follow punkt & komma on Instagram? You need help with your strategy? Our content heroes are always there for you – even if they’re working from home right now!