Social distancing has become the new norm these days, but when it comes to social media, more people are online than ever. In fact, at this moment there are over 25M posts sharing #stayhome on Instagram and 6.1M posts using #socialdistancing. And by the time you read this, there will probably be millions more.
In an uneasy time, people are turning to social media to communicate with family and friends—sharing memories old and new. But what does that mean for brands? And more importantly, how can brands best navigate social media and join the conversation?
Pivoting Your Social Strategy
It may be necessary for a brand to shift goals and pivot their approach during a crisis. For instance, if a brand’s goal usually is to drive eCommerce, that’s probably not going to work during times of economic difficulty. But they can find success pivoting to something else that’s still relevant for the brand.
We’ve seen brands address the current COVID-19 crisis with PR statements on social, personal videos from CEO’s voicing their stance, as well as “We’re here for you” and “Here’s what we’re doing” messaging. While it’s good for brands to acknowledge the crisis, it’s even more powerful to help in a way that makes sense for followers.
The solution will be different for each brand. The key is to understand your customers and do what you feel will resonate with your online community. Here are some strategies that have stood out to us.
HARMAN Professional—Offering Support through a Free Live Workshop Series
The way our client HARMAN Professional approached the crisis was perfect for their brand. They put together a message offering support for their customers and launched a new Live Workshop Series offering free live educational classes, allowing attendees to ask questions and get real-time responses. Understanding who their audience is, they knew that focusing their strategy around sound engineering and audio visual education would resonate well with their online community as a whole.
LEGO—Offering Support Through LEGO Foundation to Children in Need, Making PPE for Front-Line Workers, & Launching #LetsBuildTogether
Iconic brand LEGO is working hard to help children, families and front-line workers. That’s why they’ve donated $50M USD through the LEGO Foundation to support education for children in need and have even started making visors for healthcare workers out of their factory in Denmark. Plus, their new social media campaign #LetsBuildTogether is helping inspire fun ways to play and learn from home.
Universal Audio—A Letter From CEO + Music Charity Donations
The CEO of audio recording brand Universal Audio voiced how he’s navigating the crisis in a very open way, mentioning that everyone is all in this together. Knowing that there are so many musicians being affected, he pledged for UA to do everything they can to support their music community through charities and relief funds.
Shifting Your Social Media Content Strategy
Should your social media content strategy change during a crisis? Most likely yes. But before you dive in and change everything, take a look at current campaigns and delete or tweak, so you’re sensitive to the content you are sharing.
For example, an event company that continues to post about going to parties and people gathering together in one place would be a major don’t in this situation, but sharing a blog about how people are coming together on video to host virtual events from home would be a definite do.
Take a hard look at your existing content and if you’re having to double-think it’s placement in this sensitive time, it’s probably best to just not use it at all. If you can tweak without having to completely delete campaigns, that’s completely okay if it still is relevant for your brand to do so.
We’ve seen a lot of content that’s working well on social media. Live streams, educational sessions, at-home lifestyle, and of course, giving back to the community are all types of content that have strongly stood out to us. We’ve also noticed brands shift from product-focused content to up-lifting community-focused content and ways they can make a stronger connection with their audience. We’ll stick to our earlier brand examples to dive deeper into the content that’s currently being shared now their strategies are in place.
HARMAN Pro—#AKGatHome and Working From Home Focus
Aside from the Live Workshops, HARMAN Pro is creating a wide range of content around working from home. The tag #WFH has hit over 1M on just Instagram alone, and HARMAN Pro wanted to make sure they were a part of it—especially during this uncertain time. They’ve created blogs to provide helpful tools and resources for working out of your home office and even launched a new UGC (User Generated Content) campaign for people to share their own work from home setups.
LEGO—#LetsBuildTogether Campaign
The heart of LEGO’s #LetsBuildTogether campaign is about creating happy memories during an uneasy time. They are showing families and friends playing together while at home making special moments of their own. Nostalgia, happiness, and creativity all wrapped into one great campaign—pretty impressive building blocks if you ask us!
Universal Audio—#ShelterinMusic UGC Campaign & Giveaway
The strategy that UA has set is all about helping out musicians, producers and sound engineers, and the content they are sharing is perfectly cohesive with that messaging. Their #ShelterinMusic UGC campaign that launched earlier this month, gives their fans the chance to win a free UAD plug-in by sharing their home studios and tagging the brand.
It’s a great way to connect with their community + gives them additional content to share as so many musicians are working out of their home studios.
What You can Do Now
Even if you don’t have a content shift laid out yet, there is something you can do right this moment—engage with the community. This is a time where brands really need to be there for their customers. We’ve seen an increase in questions with brands we manage, and it’s extremely important that there’s someone there to respond and help.
Maybe in the past you used to only spend an hour a day on community management, but this is the time to dive deeper and reach out that extra hour to nourish your community. For instance, when thanking a customer for their support, you can go the extra mile and say positive things like: “stay safe, be well!” Approach every response from a positive perspective, and try to offer solutions when you can.
Which Channels Should be Prioritized?
It’s important to analyze how each platform is being used right now and where it makes sense for a brand to be. You want to make sure that you’re joining in where the right conversations are happening. Here’s a quick breakdown of the content themes we’re noticing right now, and if we think brands should be present there.
What’s the right posting cadence?
How often should a brand be posting? It again is going to depend on what makes sense for your brand. For example, let’s say there is a brand who usually posts 2x a day on FB, IG, TW, and LI. They may want to go down to 1x a day, or even reduce to 4-5x per week, and we’d recommend pulling Twitter posts in order to leave that open for news related to the crisis itself. Just remember, that every post you put out should always have a purpose.
Working With Social Media Influencers During a Crisis
We discussed earlier the importance of analyzing the campaigns and content you have lined up. You’ll want to do the same when reviewing current and future influencer plans. If they don’t align or can’t be tweaked, then it’s best to put them on hold. If you can adjust or there are no changes to be made, then there’s no problem with keeping influencer campaigns moving or even starting new ones.
We chatted with full-time influencer Drew Rynn and multi-business owner and influencer agency manager Dillon Smith to share how they are managing social during this time.
Q: During this uncertain time, should brands continue to work with influencers? We’ve noticed some brands are starting to question if it makes sense right now. Thoughts?
Drew: Yes, most definitely! The best way to reach people is by endorsement from influencers or musicians. With the metrics from live-streams and general feed posts, the interaction is up right now while people are staying at home. As a lot of people have seen their favorite celebrities going live on different platforms, it really has become the way to best connect with a fan base during this pandemic.
Dillon: Yes, they absolutely should. And we’re helping big brands launch successful influencer campaigns amongst the chaos. They need influencers because they hold so much power for product influence—and when you have the right influencers, you can really see impressive ROI while raising brand awareness and loyalty.
Q: Have you changed your content strategy during this crisis? Did you also notice an engagement shift?
Drew: Yes and yes! This quarantine-themed video I posted on TikTok performed really well. It hit over 1.9 million views and 415.3k likes.
I also noticed a jump in my overall stats. Pre-quarantine (3/6) I had 800k followers & 9.7M Likes and now (4/7), I have 886k and 11.9M likes. Because so many people are at home, I think the content has really resonated well with my fans and helped boost my overall engagement.
Dillon: Absolutely yes. Based on content shifts, one of our influencer campaigns helped Chipotle achieve peak post performance. Utilizing traditional marketing media, the average customer conversion rate sits anywhere between 1-5%. With our collaboration and creator content, we consistently drive conversion as high as 40%.
Q: Drew, this last one is for you. Being an influencer yourself, how has this crisis helped you find connection with your audience and fans?
I have been grateful for the type of connection I’ve been making. I have been able to turn what would be a real-life concert into a virtual concert, performing music for my supporters worldwide, and still earning income from it. I am learning more about what my fans want to see from my music and social media—all while sharing with them a more intimate version of my personality and music. In some ways, the connection is stronger. People want connection more than ever right now with the distancing we’re all implementing as our new way of life. For the first time in years, I’ve found myself actually grateful for social media.
Amplify is Here to Help
We’re all doing our best to navigate territories we never would have imagined. And yes, sometimes it can feel like we’re swimming in uncharted waters. But, just remember, at the end of the day, brands are made of people talking to people and we’re all in this together. Here at Amplify, we are ready to help your brand navigate social media during this uneasy time. Whether you’re looking for a new strategy or just seeking some advice—reach out to us for a free consultation today.
