The year 2020 is going far worse than what we had expected while celebrating New Year on 31st 2019. On the other hand, businesses that use social media marketing services to reach their customers now need to follow certain etiquette while posting about their products, services, or general awareness. Every day seems like a new struggle with increasing pandemic cases, crumbling economics, and rising crime rates. In such a hassle, social media platforms that used to be a means of entertainment have become the ground for discussions and arguments over the health crisis in different parts of the world.
While some people consider social media platforms a boon- for providing tips and tricks to stay safe in the current situation, others just find it a curse to spread fake news. What people need to understand every piece of information available on social media is not reliable.
The impact of Covid-19 on social media engagement
As people adjust to the new reality of pandemic, whether it is related to work or home, it has changed their buying behavior as a consumer. During such a difficult time, they focus only on essentials and cutting down the expenses and investments they used to make before the pandemic crisis. Now, the question is, how has it affected social media engagement?
According to the three months of pandemic data in hand, the US market has recorded;
- The lowest engagement rate in the last 5 years
- The downward trend of marketing
- The posting rate on social hit the lowest in between March and April
Here the point you need to pay attention to is that people are spending more time online, but the engagement rates are going nowhere.
Related Post: What Content Should Be Posted On Social Media
How people are utilizing social media during a pandemic?
You all may agree upon the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has made a huge impact on our day-to-day life. People who used to walk at least 2km in a day, attend multiple meetings while sparing some time to catch dinner dates with their loved ones are now living in isolation. As a result, the utilizing of social media has increased, and it is solely for two reasons:
- First; people want to bridge the gap made by pandemic
- Second; they want to entertain themselves and fill the void
In both of the cases, social media platforms turned out to be supporting source people were looking for. Let’s take a closer look at the top social media channels to learn how people have responded to the pandemic crisis.
As per the survey on 25000 participants from 30 different countries, the kantar found that the usage of messaging and video calling services grew as the severity of the pandemic started to increase. In the beginning, they recorded a 27% growth which increased to 41% in the middle phase and reached 51% in the final phase. The results send the indication that people who are living in isolation are dwelling into messaging and video calling to bridge the physical gap created by the pandemic.
Being one of the most popular apps in the world, Facebook witnessed an extreme spike in the usage- all thanks to the pandemic. However, the upsurge was limited to only two main segments-private messaging and video calling. Unfortunately, these are services of Facebook that don’t monetize. As a result, the profit margin is going down, and business is struggling to maintain the communication tools.
Twitter- the social media platform that has gained popularity for its aiding and disaster management processes. Used by some of the known world leaders, Twitter has helped countries to obtain and spread information about the COVID-19. However, despite its good deeds, the CFO of Twitter Ned Segal explained that “the yearly revenue that used to generate through advertising has been affected due to the Corona pandemic.”
It is indeed a challenging time for both brands and customers, and right now, there is no correct way to act on social media channels. The next few months are going to be totally unpredictable, and even if it means customers will spend more time on social media, it will be challenging to compete with the utilization of news and entertainment. The best possible thing marketers can do right now is to keep a close eye to data and benchmarks to come up with posts to capture the customer’s attention.