Impacts of COVID-19 on Social Media Marketing of Businesses

COVID-19 has made a significant impact on social media with the constant digitization of entertainment and commerce, and changes in customers’ lifestyles. This dangerous disease has caused fear and worry across the world. Governments in almost all the countries declared a complete lockdown to prevent the spread of this infectious disease. Almost every business and company across different sectors except for the healthcare industry came to rest during this pandemic.

Non-medical companies have experienced a reduction in their development, operation, and profit generation. Moreover, stock markets have experienced a loss of up to 25%. Not just that but the world economy has also faced a challenge. Fortunately, there is an alternative to the internet and social media, which work as a life savior for many businesses whose tangible operations were stopped during the lockdown.

Internet and Social Media Is a Boon for Businesses.

COVID-19 has changed businesses and also caused various challenges for many companies and industries. So many companies transformed their entire business model and opted for online operations because their employees were working from home.

Internet and social media have remained undisturbed during the pandemic. With most of the countries being in lockdowns, internet usage worldwide has increased since 2020. Organizations have taken advantage of that to survive in a pandemic. Many working groups other than frontliners are working on their computers or laptops throughout the day to perform their professional roles. The internet has allowed many brands and organizations to keep working, although limited by performing essential tasks online.

The COVID-19 is Not a Business Opportunity to Gain Profit.

The COVID-19 was the difficult time for many people across the world not just in terms of health issues and job loss but in many more ways. So, using this situation as a business opportunity is completely unresponsive and inhumane. There is nothing wrong in constantly selling products and services as long as you maintain kindness and empathy. Using the pandemic as a marketing window is unacceptable if it is done to gain business profit by making fun of the flaws of other people.  

Boost in Social Media Engagement During this Pandemic.

Since the majority of the world’s population was quarantined, the overall access to social media platforms has increased. This means more people than ever before are using social networks daily. Remote working has transformed the daily routine of so many people. This can be a great opportunity for businesses to promote their products and services on social media platforms because they are allowed to keep performing their business operations online.

According to a study report, 233.5 million active Facebook users were found in March only in the US, with a rise of 2.5% from that of February. Reaching out to around half of this audience base can improve your chances of reaching the potential customers than what you are likely to receive when advertising physically or using traditional marketing methods. 

For example, if you are running a business related to sports equipment, leveraging sports social media will be the best strategy for promotion and business growth rather than posting it on fashion social media channels.

How Does COVID-19 Pandemic Transformed Social Media Marketing Today?

Social media marketing has benefitted so many brands and companies in multiple ways during this global pandemic. Let’s understand how the social media marketing of brands has transformed after COVID-19.

1. Brand purpose or philosophy

During a pandemic, many people created several campaigns and activities for human welfare. When building a business, most businessmen launch their business startup with a brand philosophy or purpose to reach socially responsible customers. Not all organizations can meet their brand purposes, primarily when they gain popularity and reach a huge customer base. Sometimes, it can also be possible when consumers are no longer getting their products because of their certain brand purpose.

Therefore, to reach and retain potential customers, it is essential for brands to remember their purposes and put in their best efforts to achieve them again. Other than this, businesses can also create a new purpose as additional support for the present health calamity. Companies can show their purposes through social media posts and blogs. The appealing and descriptive images, videos, text, and other forms of visual media can better showcase their contributions.

2. Product and service changes in social media

Businesses most often used to announce numerous product and service changes in their social media accounts, websites, and other digital platforms to improve the efficiency of their best-performing tasks. Generally, they tend to provide amazing discounts, special deals, and great offers on their products to win the customers’ trust because many people became unemployed during the pandemic. Businesses modify their products and services to contribute to movements and campaigns alongside paying attention to the present financial condition of their customers.

For example, an enterprise makes a social media post, showing that they will donate 5% of their monthly earnings to provide PPEs (personal protective equipment) for medical frontliners. This type of social media marketing will be effective as long as they honestly contribute to a specific campaign.

Some companies also use their profits to provide accessibility of their content to everyone. For example, companies that provide free online classes or courses to help learners get a quality education when all schools are closed and students are quarantined at home. These companies earn money from online visits of the students without requiring any subscription or one-time payment from them. 

3. Improve customer service and support

While working from home, the major responsibility of employees is to remain online to provide personalized customer support and service. Timely responses to customers’ concerns and questions have a good impact on the purchasing experience of buyers. Businesses understand that most customers are nowadays using online platforms for shopping and accessing information, so they inform their employees to focus on online service and support. By satisfactorily catering to the target customers, some employees got compensation during COVID-19.

Since some company employees share their experiences on social media platforms, customers will more easily identify which businesses don’t consider supporting their workforce. To better support target customers, some enterprises have increased their customer engagement. For example, they engage with prospective audiences through social media posts and website blogs, driving more customer interaction. Asking customers for their feedback and suggestions can help businesses take the quality of customer support and service to the next extent.

Conclusion

So, this is all about how COVID-19 has impacted the social media marketing of businesses across the world. It has created positive and negative effects on this mode of marketing. At the bottom line, establishing a business should not be considered a money-earning project. Instead, companies must consider it as catering to the customers with the related actions and purposes.