Transparency, TikTok, and trust - How COVID changed viral content

This month saw us reach the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown. Yes, you read that right - the pandemic was announced half a decade ago. On March 23rd 2020, we switched on the news to hear Boris tell us to “stay at home” (despite his previous estimation that the virus would be gone in 12 weeks). Two days later, the official UK Coronavirus Act received Royal Assent, and on the 26th, lockdown measures came into legal force. 

Today, the years that followed seem surreal. Dystopian or science fiction, even. Imagine counting down the hours until you could next put on your mask and head outside for your government-allocated 60 minutes of exercise! And the brave ones amongst us could do this with a friend - if we kept a safe metre apart, of course. We grew accustomed to our new, strange daily routines, but at the same time, we grew increasingly isolated. And it’s often when a nation feels lonely - scared, even, that community grows stronger than ever. But how does a sense of community grow during a national lockdown? 

It’s the 21st century. Community grows on the internet, of course. We began to seek human connection through the online world more than ever before. An increased reliance on the internet led to some significant changes in social media trends - many of which have changed our approach to marketing, even five years on:

A shift to the short-form video

Whilst platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels were growing before the pandemic, lockdown truly served as a catalyst for the short-form social media video. One survey revealed that 84% of 16-55-year-olds said they spent more time watching videos of under 10 minutes during COVID than before, with their favoured being comedy clips, cooking or baking, and DIY or crafting. Consider what was happening in the wider world, and these categories are not surprising. Not only did days spent at home (or “working from home”...) leave us with more time for indoor hobbies (does the word “sourdough” come to mind?), but this style of video also made for lighthearted viewing, providing a distraction from the far heavier-heaver hitting flood of news. Yet we didn’t forget about TikTok once lockdown had lifted. The platform hit almost 1.6 billion users last year, compared to 689 million in 2020.

Partnerships with “normal” people

Influencer marketing is a powerful technique; a brand can draw on the popularity of a celebrity by paying their audience’s favourites to promote their products. However, during lockdown, we saw a shift in collaboration trends. Although celebrity “collabs” will always be popular - take Nike’s iconic partnership with Michael Jordan, “micro-influencers” began to take centre stage. ASOS, HelloFresh, and Airbnb are just a few of the big names that advertised through less-famous faces. Micro-influencers have relatively large social media followings - around 10,000 to 100,000 - but are nowhere near as well-known as the likes of Michael Jordan, and they tend to have an audience with a specific niche interest, which creates a sense of community. So they rose in popularity for two reasons: our social isolation made us crave these communities, and the strangeness of COVID and social isolation made us enjoy watching people who felt more like friends than celebrities simply going about their daily lives. We wanted to see normal people during an abnormal time.

The rise of e-commerce

Brought about both by the ban on leaving the house and the increased use of the internet, online shopping soared during lockdown. Even anti-online shoppers were forced to turn to digital stores. E-commerce sales rose by 55% - the biggest growth in over a decade - and on the flip side, stores without online sales platforms struggled. Primark announced that it lost £1 billion in 2021. Social media platforms adapted to this shift, with Instagram Shop emerging, and sites like Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, and Depop seeing a surge in downloads from those who preferred to buy secondhand. And our love of one-click purchasing continued beyond lockdown. Even TikTok now offers online purchasing; TikTok Shop was launched in 2023, driving trends like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.

Trust gained through transparency

One side effect of social media’s rise was the spread of misinformation - or “fake news”. Many of our feeds were full of conflicting reports, conspiracy theories, and misleading health advice. If we couldn’t trust our news outlets, then who could we trust? The general public became more sceptical, and so both brands and influencers had to become more transparent. Those that communicated openly with online followers, whether about supply chain delays, pricing changes, or even employment - earned trust. We also, overall, had a greater awareness of global hardships. Thus we became more concerned about sustainable business practices and where our purchases came from. Transparency remains a recognised marketing technique; Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles, for example, displays exactly how their clothing impacts the planet, and more than 80% of us say we have to trust a brand before buying from it.  

And to conclude… be ready to PIVOT!

All of these changes show how important it is that brands and their marketers can adapt. The pandemic altered public, and therefore our audience’s, behaviour almost overnight. Those who were quickest to embrace new trends, whether in the form of video content, micro-influencer collaborations, e-commerce, or transparency emerged from the pandemic in one piece (or even stronger, in some cases), and those who didn’t adapt fell behind. Whilst it's hoped we won’t experience another global pandemic anytime soon, one thing is certain: you have got to be ready to PIVOT!