Mirror mirror on the wall, stuck in their houses, who got them all? Covid 19; the evil stepmother. It has taken over the land; frightening the children, killing the old, and spreading horror. We were forced to stay home and away from our loved ones.

*Play I need a hero by Bonnie Tyler*

But as Albus Dumbledore said “happiness can be found, even in the darkest places, if somebody just remembers to turn on the light” and I’m sharing my light by quoting one of my favorite songs; Dancing on My Own: “So far away but still so near”.

This applies to how we felt during the pandemic peak; but thanks to the technological advancements of the modern world, we remained few buttons away from our loved ones, although we were physically far. Not to mention our other loved ones... Our businesses, which we were able to manage through social media. Now enough cheesiness. Let’s get down to business and discuss marketing.

What is Social Media Marketing?

To begin with, let us define what Social Media Marketing (SMM) is. SMM is the utilization of social media to promote and market a company’s products or services. It helps us in:

Increasing traffic;
Increasing brand awareness;
Distributing content easily and quickly;
Regularly allowing target audience interaction.
Add to that, the access to a broad audience and close interaction with customers which reflects on the number of leads you may gain. 

Social Media and Marketing

Before creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business goals hence a social strategy. Here are some important questions to ask before starting a campaign:

• What are you trying to achieve?
• Who is your targeted audience?
• How would your targeted audience use social media?
• What is the message you are trying to send?

Let’s take for example an e-commerce or travel business. As it depends mostly on visual content, it will be efficient to use Instagram or Pinterest in your campaign. On the other hand, a business-to-business would find more leverage in Twitter or LinkedIn.

A few suggested tips for SMM include the following:

• Social media content planning;
• Great content;
• A consistent brand image;

How did social media change pre-covid and post-covid?

Social media was a part of everyone’s life even before Covid-19. Whether it is uploading a photo of yours, contacting your friends, or even promoting your products. With the dawn of the global lockdown, using social media has shifted from being solely a source of entertainment to an immediate source of news, an instant line of communication to an escape of reality, and the main channel to promote products.

The lockdown, brought by the evil stepmother, has brought a huge uncertainty to businesses and people, but to the rescue came social media. Free space was introduced to the masses where they can manage their businesses almost cost-free, moreover, people resorted to online shopping thus an opportunity has been introduced to change the landscape of marketing and promoting products. E-commerce platforms turned to be mandatory web solutions and social media campaigns turned out to be product promotion.

SMM during Covid-19

During the lockdown of Covid-19, the marketing process has changed. Using social media as -businesses were hibernating- became a necessity. Through social media, businesses were able to reach out to customers, this had many advantages, one of which is strengthening the customer relations, businesses started posting more content. The content varied from posts, videos to creating engaging content such as competitions. The social media platforms varied from Facebook, Instagram to Tik Tok.  

Technological advancements and cultural changes have transformed the way people acquire information. As the situation mandated social distancing, the usage of social media has increased. The customer has realized a need for a product, they then sought information on how to satisfy the professed need thus the use of social media has increased drastically.

Conclusion

The ever-changing world of today has affected us in many ways. Factors such as a pandemic or some climate change-related catastrophe can drastically change how SMM is perceived, used, and implemented but it's in us to adapt and to find the optimal solution no matter how short our resources are. The key is to utilize SMM in a smart way where one can manage their business, promote their product, and interact with their loyal customers whilst attracting new ones.