{"id":30069,"date":"2021-01-21T14:25:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=30069"},"modified":"2021-01-21T14:25:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:25:46","slug":"communication-in-uncertain-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/communication-in-uncertain-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Communication in Uncertain Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the turbulence of 2020 many of us turned to social media for breaking news and live responses to the pandemic. Ignacio Mendiboure<\/a>, a Senior Marketing Manager at Twitter<\/a>, spoke recently to EU Business School students about these online conversations, which he described as \u201cshaping\u201d the events of last year. He also delivered some practical advice for brands who wish to adapt their communication strategies for our current time of crisis. \u201cIt\u2019s all happening on Twitter\u201d was the key message that Ignacio conveyed. 2020 was a growth year for the online platform, which is primarily used for sharing ideas and for people to see what\u2019s happening around their interests. Ignacio\u2019s job is to help brands to tap into these conversations in order to generate greater sales and brand engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where <\/strong>C<\/strong>an Brands Connect <\/strong>T<\/strong>o Culture?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Research from August 2020 showed that tweets about sports made up 3% of tweets on the platform. In comparison, 13% of tweets were dedicated to political topics. This suggests politics is the best topic brands can use to reach their customers. However, Ignacio emphasized that percentage was not the only consideration brands should take into account: engagement is also important. For example, sports tweets generate 2.4x the impressions that tweets about politics receive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other popular topics of conversation were home and family, gaming, music, television and COVID-19 itself. Within these categories, Ignacio explained that marketers should look at trending topics to see which conversations are commanding most attention<\/strong>. Recent sports conversation has focused on the return of professional sports leagues. He described the Twitter trending topics as replacing the roar of stadiums that are now empty due to pandemic restrictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the gaming category, games like Animal Crossing and Fortnite generated unprecedented levels of interest on Twitter. One of the biggest music topics was Taylor Swift\u2019s surprise release of her album Folklore, which was the focus of 3.7 million tweets. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. election dominated political conversations happening on Twitter; however, the Black Lives Matter movement also made a strong impression online. Within the television category, there was a steep rise in Twitter \u201cwatch parties\u201d due to social isolation measures, and new releases from Netflix became exciting online events that stimulated conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these subjects represented opportunities for brands to connect with a greater audience and achieve cultural relevance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Twitter Promotes Healthy Conversation for All<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has stated that he wants to \u201chelp increase the collective health, openness and civility of public conversation.\u201d In order to achieve this, a number of initiatives have been introduced: <\/p>\n\n\n\n