The COVID-19 pandemic has blindsided many businesses and with very good reason. Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, only the nimble and flexible have the greatest hope for survival. There are different approaches that could help businesses respond or thrive in the current COVID-19 climate and social media marketing plays a key role in the successful implementation of these approaches.

With most of the population staying at home, it is important, wherever possible, for businesses to adapt to their customers’ changing requirements and desires; to adjust their offerings to help their customers engage with their brand and products from home due to the current circumstances. This means making purchasing online or over the phone a simple and convenient process and home delivery readily available and affordable. Online shopping has become significantly important since the spread of COVID-19 in 2020. Only those businesses which could adapt their advertisements to the change of their customers' needs could thrive while others faded away and vanished.

Creating a paid advertising campaign on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram can be highly targeted to reach people within a specific geographical area, from specific age groups and with interests relating directly to your brand. Also, remember to have the Facebook pixel installed in your website so that ads can be retargeted to people who have visited your website. This is the most cost-effective way to advertise on Facebook and Instagram.

Now is the time to increase your social media activities to help and entertain customers while they are stuck at home. Creating helpful content to show customers how they can get by at home until they can use your products again is one of the best ways to strengthen customer relations.

Depending on your business, helpful content could be recipes coming from a café or restaurant, home workouts from a gym, home treatments from a beauty therapist. Of course, it needs to be relevant and appropriate for your business.

Customers will be grateful that you provided a fun and useful experience for them while they have been stuck at home. In fact, the Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report also found that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic more than one-third of consumers (82% in China, 60% in India) said that they have started using a new brand because of the innovative or compassionate way that it has responded. It also showed that in Britain, about 30% of online sales increased in February 2020, demonstrating the efficient value of social media marketing.