Social media is the top channel in external communications, Ragan survey reveals
Seventy-eight percent of survey respondents tout social media as the most important external channel, while press releases win the loyalty of 54%. Here’s a look at how you should be using social media in these uncertain times.
What is your organization trying to accomplish on social media in a time of COVID-19, civic unrest and other crises?
For Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, it’s simple. Show he’s a real person, and he’s there to help, says Micah Laney, the retail giant’s senior manager for social media strategy.
McMillon and Walmart have been engaging with an online community for years, allowing it to adjust quickly to pandemic-related crisis communications. The company also learned crisis social media lessons after a gunman killed 23 people in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, last summer.
“With the COVID-19 situation, we’re taking those particular lessons and applying them every day,” Laney says.
Not every organization is so assured, a Ragan Communications survey revealed. Many communicators are frustrated, from proving return social media’s investment to getting executive buy-in, according Ragan’s State of Communications 2020 survey of nearly 800 professionals. For example, getting executives to use social media remains a significant challenge for 27% of communicators.
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