Covid’s Impact

Studies show that the pandemic has directly impacted the way companies advertise their offering. With face-to-face interactions cut off, everyone relied on technology to get the information they needed. This led marketers to increase their social media spend by 74% over a 5 month period. 

In 2021 marketing departments need to utilize social media for experimental purposes. HBR points out that “statistics indicate that marketers are implementing new, improvised strategies frequently, but without fully understanding their effects.” Instead, marketers should take advantage of the opportunities available on social media platforms to test and receive direct measurable feedback. Understand what your target audience is responding to before moving ahead with a completely different strategy or implementing the latest tool. 

New Tools

Speaking of new tools, when you are ready to try something new, there are many options. Social media platforms have launched new features such as Instagram Reels, Guides, LinkedIn Stories, and TikTok for Business. These were released in perfect time with the knowledge that people are interacting online more than ever (especially since the start of the pandemic) and people love to watch videos. 

With social media becoming a huge part of most organizations’ overall marketing strategies, it should be integrated into the strategy, align with your business goals, and be given the appropriate amount of advertising dollars. 

As you consider how to develop your marketing strategy during and post-pandemic, it’s important to strike a balance. You should be posting content that reflects our current reality but not boring viewers with another virus post. For example photos or videos with large gatherings of people could be seen as outdated or insensitive, but posting more information about the virus may fatigue some audience members. 

Key Points

There are so many ways the pandemic is shifting the way organizations communicate with their audience, but the key points are:

  • Experiment with Social Media

  • Measure results with new strategies

  • Keep up with new tools and features

  • Integrate your social media strategy into your overall marketing strategy and allocate resources accordingly

  • Content creation should be timely, and reflect our current reality

 

Gray Digital Group is here to help you with your digital strategy development. Let us know if you’d like to learn more about how we use data and research to build comprehensive strategic plans.

 

Source: https://hbr.org/2021/01/cmos-adapt-your-social-media-strategy-for-a-post-pandemic-world