Why now is not the time for brands to go dark on social media
It’s already clear that the impact of COVID-19 on many industries will be significant.
Airlines, tourism and hotels. Events and conferences. Restaurants.
Even those we may not have initially suspected, like private medical practices, are temporarily suspending operations so we can all shift resources and supplies towards the fight against this deadly virus.
If your business has hit the brakes on normal operations and you have nothing to sell right now, it may seem like a logical next step to hit pause on your marketing, too.
And for many businesses, it probably is. After all, it’s not like you can readily serve any new customers those campaigns would bring in.
But before you pull the plug on everything, remember this:
Social media has a role to play in your business that is much larger than just marketing.
Now, more than ever, social media platforms are an essential tool — a basic utility, even — for communicating with your customers, for connecting with them emotionally, and for inspiring them into action.
Now is not the time for brands to go dark on social media.
Now is actually the time to lean into social media.
Here’s why:
1. Many businesses will go under as a result of the pandemic. You won’t want people to think yours was one of them.
Brands that suddenly stop posting leave behind the digital but palpable sense of a ghost town.
With nothing fresh at the top of the page (and yes, dates show us when you last posted), it can be very obvious which businesses are active and which skipped town.
And with operations disrupted for nearly every business, many are turning to social media first to learn who’s still serving customers and who’s not — even before they look at your website.
Fresh, real-time, relevant content is how people know for sure that you’re still alive and with us. Timely responses to questions and comments let people know you’re still around and you still care.
Don’t let us form our own assumptions to the contrary!
2. You’ll lose all the momentum you worked so hard for — and find yourself struggling, right as you’re ready for a comeback.
Social media algorithms are particularly unforgiving where “going dark” is concerned.
Brands who suddenly stop posting for extended periods of time will find that when they return, not only will they be posting to the sound of crickets, but they may even lose followers as they start communicating again.
That’s because people who once had a reason to follow you may have forgotten they were doing so — or even that you existed. Once they see you in their feed again, they may feel inspired to hit the unfollow button.
Instagram is particularly notorious for punishing accounts that go dark.
That’s because its algorithm is constantly learning and updating based on real-time user activity and behaviors.
If you haven’t been posting anything for users to react to, Instagram thinks that no one cares about your account. If it thinks no one cares, it won’t show your content as readily to even those who already follow you.
This is why consistency is so important for social media.
Showing up regularly is important for real-life customer relationships - and it’s true on social media, too.
3. Facebook and Instagram ads are cheaper than ever.
The increase in the amount of time people are spending online, combined with a marked decrease in overall ad spending on Facebook, mean that right now, social media advertising has never been more budget-friendly.
Brands with something timely and relevant to say can now spend relatively little to make sure that their messages actually reach the right people on Facebook and Instagram.
Even if that message isn’t “buy now”, remember that not every ad should be. This could be an important time to warm up your audiences so they’re ready to buy from you at some point down the line.
That’s especially true because…
4. This is an opportunity to gather powerful data to leverage for sales later.
With Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel tracking installed on your site, everything you do now can yield data that, if not useful to you at this moment, certainly will be later.
With Facebook Pixel, for example, you can create a Custom Audience for people who engaged with your content recently — or watched your video, or visited your website — and later target those same people with an ad that more directly invites them to buy.
You can even take those Custom Audiences and create Lookalike Audiences — in which Facebook identifies people who are similar to those already within your orbit in some specific way, providing you with potentially even more new prospective customers.
This kind of retargeting and sequential messaging allow you to move your prospects along in their journey to becoming a customer.
Not only is this closer to the way we actually make decisions (when was the last time you bought something the first time you saw an ad for it?), it also leads to a lower cost per result.
This means that even when the social advertising market normalizes, you’ll continue to run high-impact, cost-efficient ads.
Your competitors who hibernated? Not so much.
5. Moments like these are where social media really gets to shine.
Many of the most creative, impactful social media campaigns focus not on aggressive, buy-now language. They’re not even focused on sales at all.
They tell inspiring stories. They entertain us. They rally us.
They spark those parts of our brains to light up when we learn something new and fascinating and we just have to tell someone else.
They create feelings of connection and significance, of being part of something bigger than ourselves.
These campaigns bank on the fact that attention and emotional connection now will lead to sales and revenue later.
Brand storytelling is not a “nice-to-have” luxury of brands with big budgets.
It’s the linchpin of any strong marketing strategy — whether that’s through the sense of loyalty it creates among customers whose values align with your own, the way it can strengthen memorability and brand recall, or yes, the role it plays in future retargeting.
In the age of social distancing, we know that more people are spending time online and on social media right now than ever before.
As humans, connecting digitally is all we have.
So don’t go dark on us.
Instead, dig your heels in and go deeper.
For more advice on emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever, read “7 ways to strengthen your digital marketing before the crisis fades.”
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