The coronavirus outbreak affects the lives of every single person in this country and around the world. What’s the only other thing that connects everyone on the planet in the same way? Social media.
So naturally, social platforms have become the prime way to share what’s happening with this situation, and how we deal with it as individuals and businesses.
While empathy reigns supreme in a time where customers and businesses alike are struggling, staying relevant through social media is as important as ever. So what platforms should your business focus on right now, and what tools are most useful for connecting with distanced audiences?
What are people posting and what gets attention?
The mundane has suddenly become exciting during this time. Feeds are getting filled up with posts of people making their morning coffee or sitting down to watch the news. These are things we all did before, but this time of isolation has encouraged us to show how we spend our time at home.
In place of group selfies on a busy downtown street, we’re posting photos of our home office setups and home-cooked meals. Join the trend and humanize your business by showing what your life is like during a self-quarantine.
The impact you’ll make on your audience is even more powerful than your traditional product or service posts you normally share. People are interested and excited to see the face behind their local business making the same lifestyle shifts that they are.
Be proud to show your janky video call set up. Show off your tiny chair and desk you cobbled together into a home office. Because in a time where going out and doing interesting things with people is shamed, everyone is finding new things to brag about.
Share what you’re feeling and what you’re seeing
Staying active on social media during the outbreak means more than just talking about yourself. No matter what area of business you specialize in, you can be a source of information to your audience.
As you spend your lunch break tapping through your instagram stories for the day, share what you’re seeing. Showing that you’re staying connected to the world will remind your audience that you’re valuable for more than just what you sell.
The overwhelming sentiment around the coronavirus on social media is negative, with most posts showing some sort of fear, according to Brandwatch. Decide whether or not this tone fits your brand, or if you want to use this unprecedented circumstance to shape your image.
There’s a delicate balance between stoking the flames of fear and making light of a difficult situation. Find ways to make something positive out of a fear-driven post. If you have the financial capacity to donate or support institutions fighting the virus, announce that to your community. Maybe even ask them to show support alongside you.
Which social platforms are best for business right now?
Everyone wants to be a part of something greater than just themselves. And we all know that everyone is a part of this crisis. Nothing shows off this collective struggle better than shared stories.
Both Instagram and snapchat are a hotbed for shared coronavirus stories. Instagram recently launched a “stay home” collective story tag. This tag works as a sticker users can throw onto their story post. Social media users engage with the idea that they’re doing their part to prevent the spread of the virus. 
Users can view all stories around the world that have this sticker applied, which can allow you to reach a wider audience than before. As a business, you can use this sticker on posts that share work-from-home tips.
Fitness centers, for example, can use this tag on a post demonstrating at-home workouts. Restaurants can share clips of cooks preparing takeout meals. Anything you’re doing to support the “stay home” cause is worth sharing with this tag.
Snapchat has launched creative tools that help anyone share best practices for staying healthy and preventing spread. The service is featuring a worldwide filter, which is similar to Instagram’s shared story tag, that includes safety advice.
Snapchat’s discover page has always been the home for businesses looking to reach new audiences. So this feature certainly shouldn’t be overlooked right now, even though its not a new feature. Snapchat curates the content on discover, especially news information. This means that users trust this page and know that they aren’t just being fed targeted advertising. If you want to find out how to be a part of the discover page, click here.
Go live on social media
If you want to lean fully into the idea that the mundane is now interesting, make use of live streaming tools. This doesn’t have to be anything complicated like streaming on YouTube or setting up high quality equipment. Facebook and Instagram have you covered when it comes to a DIY live streaming setup.
On Instagram, if you see pulsating bubbles at the front of your story feed, that user is currently live! And after that live stream ends, it can be viewed through that user’s story.
Live streaming to your followers doesn’t have to be justified by doing anything special or performing anything people would normally come watch in person. People simply like the idea of hopping into a live stream to see what they might be missing out on. If the streamer isn’t talking about anything or doing anything worth watching, they’ll pop into the next stream on their feed.
As a business, you can use your stream to chat with your followers in the same way you would if they came to see you in person. Talk about all the normally mundane things mentioned before. Whatever it is you’re doing from home, or in your closed office, to keep things running, do it live. Tap into the fear of missing out that so many people are feeling right now.