Why I’m not social distancing

By Tom Flynn, Director, Digital

Over the past six weeks I’ve had dozens of conversations with clients and potential clients about whether they should be paying to promote content on social media during the lockdown.

In most cases, my advice has been that if your content is appropriate, there is no reason not to be advertising right now. Your audience is spending more time on social media and has adjusted to the ‘new normal’ of working remotely.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily apply if your social media is consumer facing. For those who can’t supply customers at this time, it is right and understandable that they aren’t advertising. For everyone else, the vacuum creates an opportunity.

My team runs a lot of advertising on social media channels for our clients, so we notice it quickly when there are fluctuations in audience engagement or cost. Social media ad platforms are run on real time auctions, so the cost per impression varies hugely depending on who you’re trying to reach, who else is trying to reach them and the price other advertisers are willing to pay.

What we’re seeing is a dramatic reduction in cost for Facebook and Instagram advertising and increased engagement on Twitter and LinkedIn. From huge public facing campaigns to ultra-targeted Westminster engagement, the results are outperforming our expectations based on years of experience running advertising on behalf of clients.

Large numbers of us will likely be working from home for a while. Normal office life isn’t coming back any time soon.

Your audience is adapting and carrying on as best they can. Make sure you’re letting them know that you are too.