According to the article published by El Economista, last March social media use increased by up to 55% during the COVID-19 crisis. And information consumption in Spain via channels such as Instagram and Facebook surged significantly, making them the largest provider of information during lockdown.
Furthermore, as we can see in this other article: Advertising during lockdown: the return on social media campaigns grew by more than 50% during the health crisis, ad views on Facebook and Instagram rose by 185% and the return on investment in their advertising campaigns increased by more than 50%.
Faced with this situation, many businesses are taking advantage of the major upturn in these social platforms to manage their social media effectively and even to invest in advertising on them.
How to manage social media during lockdown
As we have already noted, our lifestyle is different right now — we are not leaving home, boredom has in many cases taken over our routines, and so on. What can we do as a business? Is silence the best solution? The answer is no.
You should use this moment to: improve your business branding, encourage your target audience to get to know and become interested in your services or products, broaden your community by generating greater engagement, or grow your base of potential customers.
A good tip is that all the posts and content you publish on social media should be appropriate to the current situation we are living through, but COVID-19 should not be the star of all your content. You should show your concern for the situation and offer optimistic, motivating, and entertaining information.
What to post on social media
Post tips for healthy habits
Now is the time to empathise with your community and share content related to the preventive measures set out by the World Health Organisation.
First of all, verify your sources and avoid fake news.
The WHO has taken steps to be the most reliable source on coronavirus. Turn to it when sharing healthy tips for getting through lockdown.
Create content that entertains and distracts your followers
During these days we are receiving a great deal of negative information, and sharing videos or photos with your users so they can escape for a while can be a breath of fresh air.
Use entertaining content that is related to your professional activity, and get your followers to laugh or comment.
One way to do this is to search your sector for everything being discussed on social media through hashtags and use it to create content.
Showcase the benefits of your business
Now is the time to focus all our efforts on improving the perception of our brand, describing all the advantages and benefits of our business, and communicating to our potential customers what sets us apart from the competition.
Add value
Contribute everything you feel adds something positive in the current moment. Empathise with your audience, listen, and act in line with what they need.
Engage with your community
This can be a good time to gather valuable information for our commercial interests — run surveys, ask questions, etc. In short, interact with your followers.
Offer some kind of free service
If we can offer some kind of free service that does not represent a cost to our company, this is a perfect time to launch it.
Run webinars and live streams
Making the most of lockdown time, we can broadcast live — explaining how our services work, giving live product demonstrations, or creating short informational videos. Now you have no excuse for not having time to make your videos!
Create a link between your product and the current situation
Even though we are in an exceptional situation, we can always find a connection between our product and the situation we are living through. For example, if you run a gym and for obvious reasons you cannot open it right now, take the opportunity to explain how to do simple home workout routines, or run your own online classes.
Try new formats
Experiment and discover how your brand can engage with its followers in a different way — even if you have not dared to try before. For example, you could start creating brand content on YouTube, do live videos on social media, create infographics, and so on.
What not to post on social media: avoid explicit selling
Now that we are all more sensitive and irritable, do not treat this lockdown as a unique opportunity to sell. Try to remind your community of the importance of your product or service — honestly, without tricks or deception. This is not the time to advertise your wonderful product or service unless you have thought of something that genuinely improves the situation.
Avoid major price drops
Even if you think it might be a good time, the impression that major price drops give right now is one of urgency to sell, which can be completely counterproductive.
Be careful not to offend
Creativity is always welcome, but do not overdo it. At this moment it is very easy to cause offence — keep clearly in mind who you are as a brand and what your followers expect of you.
Avoid opportunistic communications
Try to be gracious — do not use your product or service as the centrepiece to exploit these moments of crisis. For example, everyone is supporting and thanking healthcare workers right now, but if as a company you have the capacity to donate supplies, make some kind of financial donation, or contribute to your local community in any way and you do not, the gratitude you post on social media may well backfire and work against you.
In these somewhat critical times, the internet and social media are a lifeline for many businesses. Having a presence on these channels is essential as they are being consumed far more than usual lately.
It can also be a good time to: invest in advertising on these channels, promote your business, and target your ad campaigns at mobile devices, taking advantage of the shift in user behaviour trends we discussed earlier.
