Social Media Marketing During The Pandemic: 6 Benefits

The coronavirus pandemic has hit many businesses hard. Although every industry has been affected differently, the impact of the pandemic has been seen everywhere.

However, although the pandemic presents specific challenges, it also presents opportunities.

Businesses can take advantage of the opportunities presented by the coronavirus pandemic to stand out from their competitors, strengthen their customer relationships, improve their brand image, increase their SEO rankings, and solidify a foundation for the future.

Today, I will be talking about six benefits of social media marketing during the pandemic.

I will explain why it is essential to continue with your social media marketing campaigns during Covid-19, why the pandemic presents special opportunities in this area, and how to succeed in your campaigns.

Let us get into it.

The Benefits of Social Media Marketing During The Pandemic

1. Take Advantage of the Fact That More People Are Online

The first of the benefits of social media marketing during the pandemic for businesses, in the online marketing world at least, is that more people are online.

A lot of people are working from home, from their laptops, without their bosses breathtaking down their neck, and are using social media as a distraction.

Other people are choosing to stay at home at night and browse social media or watch Netflix instead of going out to a bar with their friends like they used to.

However, not only are more people online, but many businesses have left the social media marketing scene.

Some companies have gone out of business, while others have experienced profit reductions and have cut or slashed their marketing budgets, choosing to focus on other things. This gives you an opportunity to stand out.

Did you know that 72 percent of people said their social media consumption has gone up during the pandemic?

That’s almost three out of four people. The more time people spend online, the more chances you have to reach them. Take advantage of that. While other businesses might be slashing their social media marketing budgets, take the opportunity to expand yours and fill the void.

One thing to think about is how prices might have been affected by this void. Have prices gone down because fewer people are bidding on a keyword? Or have prices gone up? It will all depend on the niche you are in and the advertising methods you are using.

2. Showcase Your Company’s Resilience

You can take the opportunity to showcase your company’s resilience.

Give examples on social media of how your company is managing in these times and how it is adapting to the new normal. Show your followers that you are resilient and that you don’t give up, even in the face of the challenges that the pandemic has brought upon you.

Tell stories. You might recount how the pandemic almost forced you to stop providing a service, but you came up with a way to continue providing it and helping people. You might even showcase stories of customers’ resilience.

3. Be the Hint of Normalcy In a Chaotic World

Social media marketing during the pandemic has been taking a lot of importance, and, despite the pandemic has been around for over a year, it’s still a pretty chaotic time. Rules keep changing every day.

Timelines for reopenings and vaccination phases keep changing. Nobody seems to know what’s going to happen next, and that can create a lot of anxiety.

Indeed, studies show that the number of adults reporting suffering from anxiety and/or depressive disorders has gone up by more than four times since before the pandemic (41 percent vs. 11 percent).

During such times, people look for any hint or sign of normalcy, and you can provide that.

You can be the business that holds steady and keeps on providing rich, informative content on social media throughout all the challenges of this pandemic. Stay with your customers and help them out. Show them that you are there for them and that you care about them.

4. Communicate Your Company’s Safety Precautions

This step is essential. People are worried about a lot of things now, as I already demonstrated, and one of those things is personal health and safety.

Not everyone has been vaccinated, and even people who have been vaccinated might still be taking safety precautions due to being in a risk category or feeling at risk.

Others might be taking safety precautions because they come home to an elderly parent and want to keep their family safe.

Businesses that communicate that they care about their customers and are working hard to ensure they are safe are likely to retain customers who have health-related anxiety during the pandemic.

Social media is one of the best ways to show how you are working to keep your customers safe. Not only does it show customers that you care, but it also makes them more likely to show up in person and purchase from you.

So, what steps can you take to ensure your customers are safe? Here are some safety measures you can put in place, depending on the type of business you run:

• Require a mask to be worn inside the facilities
• Require your employees to wear masks
• Provide free masks to people who don’t have one
• Provide free hand sanitizer gel to people coming in
• Sanitize and disinfect surfaces or products
• Use plexiglass to separate tables or customers from employees
• Use signs to maintain six feet of distance between customers
• Install better ventilation systems
• Depending on the type of business you run (such as if you run a plastic surgery center), you may require people to be
• vaccinated or get a rapid negative test before they arrive

Not all of these measures actually have a significant effect. For example, disinfecting surfaces is only a minor safety measure. However, it can install a sense of security and make customers feel safer when visiting your store.

Make sure to communicate these measures on social media so people know about them.

5. Show Your Customers That You Care

I already talked about how you can show customers that you care about their health. However, there are other ways to show that you care – health isn’t the only thing that people are struggling with now.

For example, one way to show that you care is to stop charging for delivery or to provide free delivery with a minimum order. People might not feel comfortable leaving home, and this can really help.

You might also offer other discounts or flexibility – for example, many airlines are now waiving all change fees so customers can book flights and change them without any penalties.

Another way to show that you care is to ask your customers what they would like to see from you.

How can you help them during the pandemic? Perhaps you can offer struggling customers a payment plan option.

You might create an app so people can buy from your store from their phones. Find ways to make things easier for your customers and remove obstacles from their paths.

6. Your Strategy May Even Be Future-Proof

Although the pandemic might seem to be dragging out, the reality is that it will not be here forever.

Nobody knows for sure when things will go back to normal, but eventually, it will, and with more and more people getting vaccinated in different countries, a return to normalcy seems even more attainable.

You need to have an exit plan. You need to plan for the future.

Position yourself on social media now so that when the pandemic ends, you emerge as one of the leaders in your industry, a winner who has used the opportunities the pandemic has provided to their advantage.

For example, think about how the social media marketing scene might look as things go back to normal.

Will old competitors come back into play? How can you use this time to position yourself as an authority so that when things start returning to normal, you remain an authority, and you continue to stand out heads over shoulders above your competitors?

Think about finances. How can you maintain a profit during this time so that you can continue your marketing efforts later?

There is a lot to think about here, and there is some time to plan, so sit down and create a roadmap to follow. Think about how social media has changed during the pandemic and how it might look as things go back to normal and people start going out more.

Make sure your strategy is future-proof, and you are not just thinking about the present.

The Botton Line: Social Media Marketing During The Pandemic

If you have been struggling during the pandemic, don’t despair. Look at the bright side – there are lots of benefits of social media marketing during the pandemic to take advantage of.

Now is the time to expand or at least continue your social media marketing campaigns, not slash your budget.

By advertising wisely, with a plan for the future and a focus on your customers first, you can get through this and emerge a victor.

Keep that in mind – your focus now should be on your customers, their struggles, and the ways you are helping them. It’s always wise to have a customer-first mentality, but it is crucial now more than ever.