What really happened to the world nowadays? The used-to-be busy streets are now silent and almost empty. The business towers no longer give some lights at night. Yes, it’s coronavirus all over again. Many business owners have started cutting corners with their budget and going for other impromptu plans. Restaurants have taken delivery orders more seriously nowadays. On the bright side, the world is resting, but still business has to be on the move. Not only offline businesses, coronavirus also impacts social media world. Did you finally find the friends whom you thought were good people, revealing their true colors? Well, I’m not just talking like this as a person who provides social media services every day. I’m saying as someone who uses personal social media account. However, if you ask me whether coronavirus does impact brand engagement on social media, the answer is of course yes. Why? Keep reading this article to find out!

The positive impacts

Before you brace yourself to read the negative impact, I’m going to reassure you a little bit with this positive outlook when we look at the bright side. Since people are strongly suggested that they should stay home, most of them spend the rest of the days at home. Some of them work, some of them do nothing but cook and just spend more time with their family. However, since businesses start crumbling a little bit due to the lockdowns, most of them finish their work early, resulting in them having no activity other than staying at home. This, of course, prompts them to use social media often to either kill some time, chill or check what’s going on with the world. Have you noticed those inactive-on-social-media friends of yours starting to use social media more regularly than usual? Yes, aside from your friends and my friends, brands have started focusing on social media engagement. Not only will this help them get to know each other with their customers, but this can also help their customers kill time. Yes, most brands even make mini games on social media, increase delivery orders, focus on online interactions, and online content to improve engagement with their customers or potential customers. Even all-you-can-eat restaurants have started opening delivery orders. If there was anything we could learn from this virus outbreak, it was the realization of how important online interactions for brands and its users.

The negative impacts

Yes, it goes without saying that this outbreak is not looking good for businesses. Some even went bankrupt and some had to reduce their employees’ salary. However, if you want to reduce the effects from the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown, start looking at online interactions and engagement. That’s the key. Indeed, some interactions may be lower on social media sometimes. After all, social media users are humans and they are likely to be infected, which could also impact social media use. However, businesses have to have plan B in everything, including this situation.

It’s a confusing and scary time for brands and consumers alike right now, and there’s no one correct way to act on social. The best thing marketers can do is be as sensitive as possible to the current health crisis when creating any social media posts or strategy. I also encourage you to look to data and benchmarks to lend context to what’s happening on social around the globe instead of guessing. Always plan and make another plan too. That way, you can keep up with what’s happening in this world and deal with it successfully.