We're all in this Together: Social media in times of crisis
(15 minute read)
author: liane abrams
Coronavirus (or COVID-19) is making its way across the country. Triggering mild hysteria and panic-buying of toilet roll, COVID-19 is taking its toll on individuals, communities and businesses.
With experts warning that the UK could be placed into quarantine within weeks, what does this mean for small businesses and startups? Should marketing take a back seat?
For us, the biggest lesson we’re taking from this situation is the importance of a strong, resilient brand. Brands who are only ever concerned with immediate conversions and demonstrable ROI (return on investment) in the short-term are likely to be hit hardest by the pandemic, while brands who have focused on building an engaged audience will be able to better weather the storm.
An engaged audience isn’t a by-product of Tweeting a similarly-worded sales message 7 times a day for the last 6 months, nor is it a by-product of funnelling all your funds into paid advertising designed to generate instant conversions. An engaged audience takes time and focus to build properly. Brands only succeed by being consistent in their tone of voice, generous and valuable in their messaging, and viewing their conversions as secondary to a loyal audience.
People are loyal to people, which is why brands who speak directly to their community and acknowledge that sales-messaging alone isn’t going to be successful are better-placed to sustain their efforts during this crisis period.
Shifting Strategy: Sales vs Brand Building
With so much uncertainty on the horizon, there’s no escaping the fact that we’re likely to see falls in conversion rates in the coming weeks or months. But, that doesn’t mean that your social media should take a break.
Instead, your social media strategy just needs to be altered. We’ve seen it happening already: big brands are shifting focus away from “visit us” messaging towards “this is who we are”. Instead of posting about the benefits of visiting that one specific coffee shop, brands are instead getting back to basics and talking about their core values, their suppliers, their partners - all the little things that contribute to who they are not what they do.
This shift is clever - and will likely pay off in the long term.
During this period, we’re all likely to be spending more time on our phones. Those of us who are self-isolating and unable to work have an extra 16-hours every day to spend online. And even those of us who are able to work remotely will likely be spending a lot more time on social media, checking the latest news updates.
Your potential audience is growing rapidly during this time, with more new people likely to come across your brand. These people aren’t likely to convert into paying customers during a quarantine, but they are a captive audience waiting to be engaged by your brand. And if you’re successful in engaging them, they’ll likely to continue being loyal once the crisis has dissipated.
Invest in brand building now and reap the rewards later.
Brand Building Tactics
In general, brand building on social media requires a more strategic, long-term and broader approach than promotional strategies. This means that the focus is less about what your company does, and more about how you do it, who you are, and why customers should choose your brand.
This is the perfect opportunity to take things right back to basics and draw from your brand values - the things that drove you to start your business and the things that set you apart from your competitors. One tactic we’ve seen work well is to approach things as though your audience doesn’t know who you are at all. It forces you to take a step back and consider how you want to present your brand online.
Try planning a series of social media posts about your suppliers, or about your founder(s) - things that only you can post about because they’re unique to you. Approach all of your social media activity from the perspective of storytelling. At the end of the day, if quarantine does happen, you’re not going to get any immediate return from your social media activity - but you can increase your audience, reengage your followers, and give them something positive and enjoyable to detract from the rest of the doom-and-gloom out there.
Brand Responses To COVID-19
Already, even though there are still so many question marks about the government’s next steps in response to COVID-19, we’ve seen a number of brands making public statements about their actions during this period.
With such a highly-charged context and widely differing opinions on the best course of action, this is one of those times when you are unlikely to be able to please everyone. But, you can act sensitively, positively and helpfully.
Brand responses that do nothing but try to make money from the situation are shot-down by people instantly. We’ve seen small businesses, who stand to lose the most from the crisis, fail spectacularly here: one example we stumbled across on Facebook is a carpet cleaning company highlighting how long viruses can live in dirty carpets for, then offering a COVID-19-related discount code. The general consensus is that it’s an inappropriate time to be benefitting from the situation, and responses like that are completely off-kilter with the general feeling around the situation.
Some of the best examples of brand responses we’ve seen so far have been to acknowledge the situation, reassure customers that necessary precautions are being taken, but that business will continue to run as usual until contrary advice is issued by the authorities. While this may not be satisfactory for some people (those who believe we should all be self-isolating and social distancing as a precaution, even if we haven’t knowingly been exposed to the virus), it does satisfy most and allows the brand to continue building an engaged audience without too much alteration to content.
Other positive responses take a slightly different approach, choosing to step back from the logistical impact and focus instead on wider issues - and cleverly tying those in to storytelling around the brand’s values. Here are some of our favourites so far:
Grind - it’s happening, but we’re on top of it
Grind, a coffee shop/restaurant chain with a number of locations across London, stands to lose a lot from the threat of coronavirus. Coffee shops are likely to be the hardest hit by people choosing to distance themselves from others, and will definitely be closed should the country go into full quarantine mode.
However, Grind have taken a positive approach to the threat - acknowledge, reassure, continue.
Their full statement, posted on Instagram over the weekend, reads:
“(COVID-19)
Hey Grind Gang,
We are very aware that concern regarding the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) is continuing to gain momentum.
We can assure you that Grind is following local healthy authority and WHO guidelines to protect both customers and our team in an effort to reduce the risk of exposure at our cafe-bars and restaurants.
In the meantime we will continue to be open as usual, but if you can’t make your reservation please take the time to let us know, and cancel your booking.
We will be taking extra care to minimise the impact of COVID-19.
There will be a temporary hold on serving drinks in customers’ own reusable cups and we will be going cashless at all of our locations for the foreseeable future.
We are being proactive in encouraging employees who feel under-the-weather to utilise sick days and stay at home and have put in place heightened cleaning, sanitizing, and anti-contamination protocols for all of our locations to prevent the spread of germs.
Stay safe.”
The Ethical Butcher - this crisis is bigger than any of us
The Ethical Butcher, direct-to-consumer providers of ethically-farmed meat from across the UK via an online store, have taken a slightly different, but incredibly effective, approach.
Instead of responding directly to the health aspects of the crisis, The Ethical Butcher have stepped back from the immediate crisis and considered the wider impact - which is completely in line with their ethos and serves to underpin everything they stand for.
In a post shared on Instagram this week, their Founder is quoted:
“Our world is changing.
Unforeseen circumstances have presented individuals, communities and businesses with challenges they simply weren’t prepared for. What the outcome will look like, we can’t know for sure, but we do know that current events have proven just how connected we all are.
What do we need now? Support, understanding and connection.
Support for each other, for our communities and for independent businesses that are feeling the impact.
An understanding of how nature works and why we must learn to respect and work with it, not against it.
Connection to provenance and our local resources.
Our world is changing and we don’t have control over many of those changes but what we can control is the way we react to them.
It’s time for each of us and the nations to become truly united.
“Adam’s children are limbs of one body
That in creation are made of one gem.
When life and time hurt a limb,
Other limbs will not be at ease.
You who are not sad for the suffering of others,
Do not deserve to be called human.”
Sadi Shirazi
Here’s hoping that when we see the light at the end of the tunnel we’ll be a world of more supporting, understanding and connected individuals, communities and businesses.”
For followers of The Ethical Butcher, this is a perfect response. It’s not raising alarm, it’s not highlighting any of the logistical issues, but it is perfectly highlighting the connection between COVID-19 and their general ethos of becoming more connected with nature.
The Ethical Butcher’s response is setting the groundwork for a shift towards brand building over the coming weeks or months - and this testing of the waters has gone down very well with their audience.
BrewDog’s James Watt - the world will change, hold fast
Though not the official stance of BrewDog (who are yet to make an official statement on social media), James Watt’s LinkedIn post is another great example of a positive response to the pandemic.
Again, James’ success with this post can be attributed to him taking a step back and considering the wider implications, rather than focusing on the impact on a single business. In fact, his post doesn’t even refer to BrewDog, but merely alludes to the fact that they’re one of the brands who “genuinely stand for something and who genuinely care about their teams, their communities and their customers”.
James’ full post reads:
“Our World Is Going To Change Forever
The legacy of the tragedy that is Covid-19 will ultimately be a brave new world. A world changed unimaginably from the world we knew only a few weeks ago. Some of the changes we can predict, some of the changes we can try and influence and some of the changes will catch everyone by surprise.
We can hope, and we can try to use everything in our power to help ensure, that from this global tragedy, we can come together and build a brighter future. A future with sustainability at its core, a future where we are all far more mindful of how intrinsically linked all of our destinies actually are and a future where our common humanity creates a new era of collaboration and cooperation amongst people and nations.
And a future where brands and businesses who genuinely stand for something and who genuinely care about their teams, their communities and their customers are the only businesses that exist.
Hold Fast,
James”
Not only is this response incredibly human, optimistic for the future and engaging, it also does wonders for James’ personal brand and subtly connecting the BrewDog brand to the situation too. We’ll wait to see what BrewDog’s official response is, but if they follow a similar tactic we’re sure it will do well.
G. F Smith - an onward spirit, but realistic precautions
GF Smith, makers and curators of high quality papers, announced the temporary cancellation of one of their launch events this week.
In a statement posted on Instagram, they said:
“To our customers and community,
After much thought, deliberation and with a very heavy heart, we will be postponing the Collection launch events, due to take place this week.
Whilst government advice is not currently to stop gatherings or events, the unprecedented situation we all find ourselves in has meant that we need to think about what is the right decision for our staff, guests and the wider community.
We are, of course, still very much available to support you during this time and are open as usual. The Paper Consultants are available to discuss your projects with you. If you’d like this to be a virtual meeting we are happy to converse via Google Hangouts, Facetime, Skype or Zoom. Our customer service team are on the phone, on live chat and all of our services are still running.
If you just fancy someone to speak to in this unusual time please do give us a call. We will ensure that the service and support you expect from us continues.
When the time is right for us to launch the Collection, our community will be the first to know.
We’ve been around since 1885 and seen turbulent times in the past. We know that the one that gets us through is putting people first, looking after each other and our community.
At G. F Smith we have always had an onward spirit and we look forward to business as usual in the future.
Your support, as always, is truly valued.”
While the focus is clearly on the cancelled event, G. F Smith do incredibly well to remind us all of their longstanding business. It’s reassuring to hear that the company has survived other turbulent times, and builds another layer into their brand story, subtly but effectively.
Your Brand’s Response To COVID-19
There is no one-size-fits-all template for how your brand should respond to COVID-19. We’re in an unprecedented situation, and none of us really know the best way forward.
However, what we can do is learn from the positive responses of others and begin the shift away from promotion and towards brand building. Done right, this period of time can be immensely fruitful for your business. Once the worst has passed and we’re back to some semblance of normality, there will be a vacuum created by brands who have failed to change tactics, and a huge influx of potential customers who are out of quarantine and eager to start living life again.
The next few weeks and months are your opportunity to be creative - to engage with your existing audience, attract new followers, and express your brand values in unique ways. Do so sensitively, of course, but in the midst of all the bad news and negativity, your brand has the opportunity to cut through the noise with positivity, storytelling and optimism.
One Final Thought…
Although the future is looking uncertain, the best way we can get through this is to come together as a community. Supporting small businesses is vital during these turbulent times. Larger brands have the capacity to survive this easily; it’s the smaller, local businesses whose livelihood depends on customers who are struggling.
We love this reminder from CommonDeer on Instagram on getting #ThroughThisTogether:
If your business is struggling during this time, please do get in touch. We will help in any way we can - even if it’s just a reassuring phone call.
