As our daily lives have been fundamentally changed by the ongoing pandemic, social media represents a vital lifeline to friends, family, companies and even strangers sharing information around the country and the world. Traffic is skyrocketing up to 70%* on social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram, as people seek helpful information as well as uplifting or entertaining content that offers a respite from uncertainty or boredom.

For Wilbert, COVID-19 has meant quickly shifting social media strategies for our clients, from a variety of industries and on an array of social media platforms. We’ve created new types of content and launched campaigns both to help communities and to support our clients’ partners and customers. Here’s how we did it:

Taking our clients’ activities virtual

We manage social media for many mixed-use destinations and landmark office assets around the country, and with stay-at-home measures in place, many of these are closed or operating on a much more minimal basis than before. It remains important to engage audiences, even if people aren’t physically occupying the space. So, we shifted our approach to content that is helpful and entertaining. Check out this guide to working from home we created for 191 Peachtree Street, as well as these funny conference call personalities for Douglas Entrance.

For Madison Yards, we polled local Highland Yoga instructors for their best tips on working from home. At The Works, Sarah Noble of one-stop-party-shop Adelina gave us an at-home cocktail recipe that’s easy to make with on-hand ingredients. We’re planning a virtual fashion show for Alpharetta City Center.

Missing farmers’ market season? The Peachtree Center Green Market has gone virtual; we’re creating short videos so regulars can “see” their favorite vendors before they shop for local goodies online.

Looking for ways to support local non-profits

This is a critical time for non-profit organizations in local communities and around the world. For our clients who are able to give back, we worked on tailored campaigns to help in a way that was on brand and made sense for them.

For client OAK, we offered to donate to a local food bank in Oklahoma City for each comment on Instagram. The community engaged and OAK donated $500. Fenton, a mixed-use development that will break ground later this year in North Carolina, has an array of local chefs signed on to open restaurants. We purchased gift cards from their current restaurants to support their staffs and hosted a giveaway for the local community on Facebook.

At High Street in Dunwoody, we’re giving away gift cards to local restaurants who need a boost as well as highlighting favorite local spots on #TakeoutTuesday.

Making people smile

With people scrolling their feeds more than ever, it’s important to post show-stopping content that evokes an emotional reaction.

Check out Riverton’s Instagram feed, where we celebrated Easter with a fun Peeps photoshoot and created graphics with New Jersey-style jokes.

COVID-19 escalated during March, which is International Women’s Month, so while we paused some business-toned content to be sensitive, we still launched Bayer Properties’ #WomenOfBayer campaign, which became some of our best-performing content ever.

We are also working with ZVerse, a 3D printing company in South Carolina that has, in a short amount of time, produced a high volume of face shields for healthcare workers, managing their social media and generating sales of the shields to hospitals and healthcare providers.

Now more than ever, it’s important to work with our clients on creative ways to connect with audiences, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer. We have been honored to use social media to help our clients navigate this unprecedented time.

* Source: Fortune