Social Media Marketing and Coronavirus – Spike in traffic

Social distancing, lockdown… we’ve all been affected regardless of age, gender, location or profession. And with all of us spending more time at home, we’ve also been spending more time on social media, not just looking to pass the time, but also looking to social media to fill the void left by the reduced levels of interaction with other people.

Never did “online community” have more meaning than now. People need people.

We’re not only spending more time on social media, our habits, priorities and digital behaviours have also changed, regarding who we follow and how we interact in the digital space, and the adoption of new channels social users had never considered before Coronavirus struck has also been accelerated.

Being careful not to be seen to “take advantage” or be opportunistic, this surge in social media traffic could be an opportunity for your business.

So now’s the time to consider social media marketing as part of your strategy, or increase its share if it’s already part of your channel mix. Whether you focus on sales or on generating awareness, below are some social media traffic statistics to support your decision:

Instagram – 22% increase in campaign impressions from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020¹

TikTok – 27% uplift in engagement on average from February to March 2020¹

Facebook – 11% YOY increase on daily active users²

Twitter – compared to January 2020, advertisers can now reach 47 million more people (that’s a 14% uplift in just one quarter)³

LinkedIn – a March 2020 survey of social media users revealed that 15.4% of respondents would use LinkedIn more in the event of a lockdown⁴

Overall, the number of social media users has increased by over 8% since April 2019 – 3.81 billion today³, so make sure all your audience touchpoints on your social media marketing hook your audience straight away, whether it’s how you present your brand communications or how you advertise your product.

Sources – 

¹Campaign, ²Econsultancy, ³The Next Web / Hootsuite, ⁴Statista