5 Marketing Insights from the last week under lockdown

introduction

Amid the current situation, Facebook will now be running a weekly COVID-19 webinar, called COVID LIVE. As a Facebook Premier Partner, we are provided with weekly updates and consumer trend insights which we will summarise and circulate with our current customer base.

Please find below the key developments from this week below.

1. Consumers are spending more time on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube

Last Tuesday Facebook reported a 70% increase in traffic due to COVID-19, consumers are spending more time online and watching longer videos. In conversation with our Facebook Account Representative last Monday, she shared that they are seeing the lowest CPMs since 2018 due to decreasing budgets from big brands and an overall less competitive auction. This does present a key opportunity for most SME’s to experiment with Facebook advertising, especially with messaging that will meet their current needs.

2. New Consumer Behavioural Shifts

Media is surging

Facebook reported a massive shift in consumer media usage: in the countries hit the hardest, total messaging has increased more than 50% over the last month
Voice and video calls have more than doubled on Messenger and WhatsApp
Instagram and Facebook Live views doubled in a week
Messaging increased over 50% and time in group calling increased by over 1000% during the last month

A massive shift in people’s app usage

CityMapper has seen a 70-80% usage decrease
Uber rides decreased by 60-70%
Germany saw a reduction in the usage of trams, trains, and buses, with only cycling remaining unchanged
All home media usage has been increasing across Europe with the graphs below highlighting an increase of usage in the UK and Germany

This shift is driven by younger age groups, with 18-34 pivoting more quickly.

Media is surging. So what? It is a great opportunity but we have to consider how different audiences behave.

3. Creators are adapting and leading the way

With more people staying at home, the question is ‘how do you make more out of this time?’
Based on the global data, Instagram post engagement has increased, with home cooking seeing a 569% increase WoW and fitness classes seeing a 223% increase WoW

Other initiatives include online concerts, meditations, West End Shows and School Lessons. Creators are adapting and leading the way. So what? We need to learn from how creators are pivoting for our category and audience.

4. High street loss isn’t necessarily online gain

With physical stores closing and experiencing financial losses, we would expect online to pick up. However, both physical and online claimed expenditure reducing.

With people becoming wearier about their spending, even categories which we might have expected to see an increase, have suffered.
Groceries have seen an increase, showing how people’s priorities have changed but entertainment and clothing categories have both declined.

Ordering food delivery also sees claimed reduction in spending as more and more people turn to home cooking. This shift is again driven by younger age groups.

High street loss isn’t necessarily online gain. So what? We need to adapt to a world of sustained uncertainty.

5. As a brand, change your messaging and marketing plan, fast

Much is unknown, therefore we would like to provide some key insights into what is currently known. What consumers need has changed rapidly, and therefore as businesses, we need to change our messaging, product offering and budget focus fast.

eCommerce

Stay top of mind:

Instream standalone to reach consumers where they are
Poll Ads to understand consumer’s preferences
Host live stream events to stay engaged with consumers

Enhance business results

Run consideration campaign for Pre-order promotion if not having enough stock
Run conversion campaigns promoting health care products
Retarget health care product buyers with dynamic ads to increase discovery of other products that may also meet consumer needs