Brand Communication during the times of Crisis: Social Media and COVID-19

While the entire world is battling the pandemic, COVID-19, brands are stuck in a moral loop – How should we continue to market ourselves or should we market ourselves at all?

It is a difficult question which most of the businesses are facing right now. 

With social distancing becoming the new norm, Tech Crunch reports that Facebook and Instagram have seen a 40% increase in their usage in the last one week, with Instagram and Facebook Live getting almost double the views compared to before. People are spending more time online to keep themselves entertained and stay in touch with the news, their families and friends. Thus, it gives the brands a great opportunity to stay connected with the consumers online. Brands have an opportunity to build deep relations with their audience and increase brand affinity. 

But the real question is what kind of communication strategy should one adopt? 

This is new territory for all marketers and there is no playbook to abide by. However, there are a few guidelines we think can help your business communicate in the current scenario. 

Open communication with your audience 

Communicate openly with your customers about how your business has been impacted. 

You could have closed your business temporarily or changed your operating hours or even adopted a temporary business model to survive. Let your consumers know about your decision. If you as a company are taking steps to help your staff or the society in these dire times, spread the word. Your company could be working from home completely and struggling to adjust, let your audience know about it. If you have some amazing work from home tips, share that too. 

Spread positivity 

All of us are surrounded by news related to the virus at the moment, which is impacting our mental health as well. In such a situation, consumers are looking for moments of positivity. Know your audience well and cater your communication to them. Is your audience primarily students or employees or a different category altogether? Try and address what they might be facing right now and let them get some positive vibes in their life right now through your communication. 

Show empathy 

People are feeling a mix of emotions right now, try to gauge that and create content accordingly. User-generated content can be of great value here. Ask them how they are feeling and try to help them deal with it. Your followers will feel a part of a community, which in turn gives them added strength to deal with it as everyone is facing the same situation. You can address how social distancing is changing our lives and what are the ways people can deal with it and keep themselves occupied. 

Increase your organic value 

Instead of focussing on directing your audience to your website, now is the time to increase your engagement. Give out fun challenges for people to try out. Talk about your knowledge in your respective industry which you generally miss out on. Communication points of a blog post can be presented in the form of a post or story. You can go live and give some online tutorials as well or share DIY activities to do at home. 

The overall objective of this constant communication is to stay on top of our consumer’s minds. Now is the time to work smarter, not harder. For more tips on dealing with social media communication during times of crisis, drop us an email on hello@meraqi.in or message us on Instagram (@meraqi.digital).