Social media during COVID-19

Unsurprisingly, social media activity surged during the global pandemic. It helped users keep in touch and informed, seek out lighter moments of happiness and relieve the stress and anxiety we all felt.

While it is still difficult at this stage to measure the full impact of COVID-19 on the marketing landscape, it has never been more important to keep up to date with current trends and best practice.

So, what’s changed and how will you pivot your social media strategy?

TRENDS & FEATURES

Nearly 1 in 4 people spent significantly longer on social media than before lockdown.

Facebook usage soared with an average of 1.73 billion daily active users in March, an 11% increase year-on-year.

Instagram unveiled new features to support small business with a suite of stickers for Stories which enable audiences to discover gift cards, online food orders and fundraisers.

YouTube switched its default setting to standard definition streaming (480p) to alleviate worldwide network strain.

Zoom reached 200 million daily active users – approximately 20 times more than pre-pandemic levels.

SOCIAL HITS

Audi

In a bid to promote social distancing, the German automaker cleverly revised its iconic logo by separating the four rings, together with the tagline “Keep Your Distance, Stay Together”.

Nike

One of the masters of emotional branding, Nike encouraged people to “Play inside, play for the world”, with the tweet shared by high-profile athletes including Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Jordan.

Lush

Taking the opportunity to promote basic hygiene, Lush helped fight the spread of COVID-19 by inviting passers-by to visit in-store and wash their hands for free.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

• Keep active. With more people online than ever before, it remains the perfect opportunity to stay connected with followers, capitalise on existing relationships and reach new audiences.
• Address the situation. Where appropriate, add context to posts to ensure you are acknowledging the current climate while also appearing authentic and on-brand.
• Provide value. Strongly consider the type of content your followers want to see, particularly in light of your industry and how it has been affected.

Do you have questions of your own? Such as “How often should we be posting” or even “Which social media platform delivers the most bang for my buck?”

Learn how Aruga can work with you to develop and deliver tailored social media strategies to help you in the current climate and beyond. We develop and deliver social media strategy that is unique, transparent, easy to understand and delivers on real business ROI. #nailedit