The HSE’s #ItsInOurHands, RTE 2FM’s #CreateDontContaminate and An Post’s call-to-action around #WriteNow are among the top campaigns that gained strong traction on social media during the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis, as social media remains a key communication for brands, organisations and governments through the current emergency.
In an analysis by Sprout Social, the three hashtags had a combined 26,482 mentions and nearly 120,000 likes, comments and shares on Twitter since March 16. The HSE has seen its hashtag, #ItsInOurHands, record 16,337 mentions and 58,492 engagements with sports personalities such as rugby’s Rob Kearney adding their thoughts to the conversation.
Brands are also turning to social media to connect with people at a time of uncertainty. An Post’s #WriteNow campaign will see postcards delivered to all households which can be posted free of charge to anywhere in Ireland. Since the campaign launched on March 20, #WriteNow earned 2,369 mentions and 9,623 engagements on Twitter.
STAYING AT HOME
RTE’s #CreateDontContaminate campaign is calling on people to follow guidelines of staying at home and encouraging them to be creative and expressive with daily challenges on social media. The hashtag has been used in 7,776 Twitter mentions and saw 51,559 engagements in the last two weeks. RTE has also used Tik Tok to generate viral content.
Sprout Social has published a guide for how companies can navigate social media during the crisis. The guide, which is entitled how to navigate through a global crisis on social media, has the following advice for social community managers:
- Get a pulse on the conversation: Be mindful that acting like it is business as usual could come across as tone deaf. Monitor your social audience and leverage social listening to better understand where you should focus your content and messaging.
- Determine if there’s a place for you: It’s all about relevance. Assess the current state of the conversation and determine if your audience wants or needs anything from you.
- This is not a time for promotion: Audiences can smell opportunistic brands from a mile away, so instead use this time to lean into authentic and genuine communications geared at connecting with your audience instead of selling to them.
- Lead with empathy not fear: Be careful not to market to the fear and anxiety people are experiencing. Consistency and being helpful with your social content is critical.
- For more Covid-19 marketing and media related stories, just click on https://marketing.ie/2020/
