Social media for business in a lockdown

42% of us are now working from home daily, according to the most recent YouGov Coronavirus polling, with a further 12% spending at least part of the week logging on remotely, writes Head of Digital, Tom Flynn.

With no commute, no popping out for lunch and limited scope for after-work activities (an hour of government-approved exercise still leaves a lot of evening spare), that potentially means lot more screen time for the majority of us.

But how has that changed behaviour online? Nord VPN, a provider of virtual private networks for remote working, found that the average UK employee is working longer hours and starting work earlier, putting their previous morning travel time to productive use while still finishing at a similar time to normal.

So what does this mean for your business and how you use social media at this time? Firstly, be aware that you’re unlikely to get the engagement you normally get. At the time of writing every single trending topic on Twitter is at least partly related to coronavirus. You won’t easily cut through that but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be trying if you have something important to say.

Secondly, be mindful of dwindling internet speeds and stick to static content wherever possible. No-one wants to see your two minute video when it buffers every ten seconds. And you might want to avoid pieces to camera filmed on your webcam when your audience has spent half the day on Zoom calls.

Thirdly, check your scheduled content for anything that might cause offence. Is there some piece of content you’ve teed up in your social media management tool that talks about going outside, or shows crowds of people mixing? It might be best to keep that one for another day, however proud of it you are.

And finally you might want to bring forward the early morning social media post by an hour or so to capture the early risers. Either add another to your schedule or space them out a bit more.