April 23, 2020
On a call this week I said I felt as though I had developed a split personality, one that’s motivated, encouraged by great client feedback and what we can do for brands right now on social ( ) and another that’s wistful, dreamy and engaging only in the creativity of which fancy dress outfit to choose for this call, or that call with friends and colleagues ( ).
With the UK data showing that 33% of workers are furloughed and 44% of workers agree their business is well equipped for remote working (source: GWI), the “new normal” we’re adjusting to may be likely to last longer than lockdown.
Choosing your quarantine character
— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) April 5, 2020
Now, more than ever, our audience on social is split, distracted and befuddled. The worst thing we can do as brands is to disappear from view, not be helpful in some way for our audience, but… it is a challenge.
So, let’s have a reminder of some considerations when we think about our audience on each channel. I’ve included some examples of what I’m personally spending time on for each, just for context.
The professional one… yes, but the lines are as blurry as the line between home and work-life (or, if you’re like me, the only line there is is the 0.1m worn carpet trail between the sofa and your makeshift dining table desk). We’ve been writing for the last few weeks about being helpful as a brand, but more than that, be human – perhaps you can brave a video rather than a blog? Offer words of support – and try not just to broadcast your message, but take some time to engage on others posts as well.
And, hey, it’s OK to ask for engagement, too. Tag some likeminded individuals, or ping them the link to your post and let them know you’d value their input.
What am I doing on there? Getting the latest insight data releases. Following competitors to see how everyone is doing. Sharing the profiles of friends who are looking for work.
Are you angry? Are you funny? Do you want a chat?
That’s it, really. Twitter is still the place that users go to complain the most, it’s still the one where that very dry British sense of humour really hits and it truly is the easiest place to have either an open or a closed conversation on a tracked topic using hashtags.
Beware, though, it’s far tougher to get high reach on Twitter…
The bar to post on your personal Instagram feed is the highest of all the social media platforms.
No one does it for the book
No one does it for the twitt
No one does it for the snap
No one does it for the link
They only do it for the gram— Matthew Kobach (@mkobach) April 22, 2020
What am I doing on there? Retweeting funnies which also relate to business. Muting complainers. Avoiding the news.
The channel that your family is all on these days, by far the one with the least personality, too. If I’m not being tagged in a 10-day photo challenge, I’m avoiding the fake news about 5G. The best thing about Facebook at the moment is the ability to build communities and groups for support during a crisis. Every post I get from the local town group detailing how a group of neighbours, friends or restaurants are somehow helping the NHS or our older residents gets a big thumbs up.
Video is where it’s at for Facebook – 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day (source), and 20% of them are Live streamed.
What am I doing on there? Posting videos of my singing to an open mic group. Sharing local community news. Checking which of our favourite local restaurants and shops are open and delivering.
Cooking, baking, pasta making. Then working out to work it off.
It’s pretty simple here, stories are HUGE right now – yes, the dedicated brands and influencers are still posting on the feed, but we all know that the algorithm here means that your post might be seen 3 or 4 days later by your desired audience (they are testing, though, apparently) – the audience is savvy to this, too, so watching stories ensures they get the most up to date release.
What am I doing on there? Reacting to my friends’ stories. Tuning in to live streams of crazy 80’s dance workouts. Sharing my husbands’ step-by-step recipes.
(Disclaimer: That’s not my husband)
What about Pinterest, Snapchat and TikTok? Well, interestingly although the time on app for these is highly likely to have grown in recent weeks along with overall web usage, the audiences are behaving in the same ways they always have.
To summarise – the online audience is growing, but the user mindset might have shifted on the channels you’re posting content on. If you haven’t refreshed your content plan to reflect that or started your H2 brand planning, this is your friendly reminder.