State of Social Media Marketing

a Year After COVID

The trends that reveal a changed marketing landscape

 Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Social Media Advertising Trends 3-8

Global Social Media Ad Spend

4
Social Media Ad Spend by Region
5

Facebook Ads Reach

6-7

Global CTR 8

Vaccine Trends 9-12

Sentiment Towards Vaccine Makers

10-11
Healthcare Brand Hashtag Usage 12

Marketing After the Pandemic 13

State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 1

Introduction

The Report Summary

It’s no exaggeration that the previous year tested even the most experienced
marketers. As businesses had to shift to adapt to a predominantly digital
environment, many faced hurdles and challenges to create marketing
experiences that successfully that adapted to new consumer expectations.

The data in this study reveals the magnitude of the shift to the digital
marketing environment. For example, Facebook ads reach worldwide grew by
30%, including increases of nearly 100% in some regions (North America
and the Middle East).

Businesses had to reinvent their customer journeys, find new opportunities,

and adopt new marketing tools to succeed in changed environment. Social
media played a key role in this wave of digital transformation and as a result
social media ad spend skyrocketed to record highs.

The report further looks into the data surrounding the pandemic, including an
analysis of the sentiment trends for the companies making the vaccines that
are being distributed and engagement trends for the key affected industries.

State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 2

Social Media
Advertising
Trends

State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 3

 Social Media Advertising Trends

Global Social Media Ad Spend Trend

The following data from Socialbakers shows median Facebook ad account spend in parallel to key pandemic events.

Sept. 14 - Pfizer and

BioNTech expand to

Phase III trials

Dec. 21 - UK announces
Spend (in USD) new strain
Sept. 28 -Global

March 11 - WHO July 14 - Positive deaths pass

classifies COVID-19 as a results from 1 million

pandemic, major sports Moderna Phase I/II

organizations suspend trials

events.

Jan. 15 - Global

Sept. 17 - Europe
deaths pass 2 million
July 22 - reports rapid rise in

Vaccine cases
Dec. 11 - FDA
agreement announces

with Pfizer and EUA for Pfizer,

BioNTech
Moderna
Jan. 21 - The first
cases of COVID-19 May 21 - US and
reported in US, Taiwan, AstraZeneca agree

and Hong Kong. to vaccine deal

Nov 2019 Jan 2020 Mar 2020 May 2020 Jul 2020 Sep 2020 Nov 2020 Jan 2021

Source: thinkglobalhealth.org State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 4

 Social Media Advertising Trends

Confidence in Advertising

Grows Across Regions Facebook Ad Acount Spend by Region

3 000

While each region dealt with the coronavirus pandemic in its own way, the
data on ad spend shows that they followed similar trajectories.

Median Ad Spend (in USD)

2 000
After an initial decrease in spring, most regions started to reach
pre-pandemic spending levels. Occasionally outside events affected that – for
example, the sharp summer decreases in Northern America because of 1 000
online protests – but overall marketers not only returned to digital spending
but invested more than ever.

0
In many regions, the YoY holiday peak spending doubled. With people often Dec
Feb
 Apr
 Jun
 Aug
Oct
Dec Feb

forced to remain indoors, digital channels became the optimal way to reach 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021

audiences.

East Asia Northern America Southeast Asia South America

And looking at 2021, YoY comparisons show that spending is still increased Southern Europe Western Europe Central America
early in the year. Even as regions open up more, habits have been changed
and digital is going to remain strong.

Chart Time Range: November 04, 2019 - February 28, 2021; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 5
 Social Media Advertising Trends

Facebook Ads Reach Jumps Around the Globe

Ad Reach in 2019 vs. 2020

Median Monthly Facebook Ad Account Reach

Latin
North
Middle
Southeast
Western

Worldwide Africa
America America East Asia Europe

2019

+30% +38% +45% +96% +96% +12% +19%

2020

Chart Time Range: January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2020; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Ad Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 6
Social Media Advertising Trends

Why Has Ads

Reach Skyrocketed?
According to Socialbakers data, the worldwide average for Facebook ads
reach increased by 30% in 2020 compared to 2019, with regional increases
ranging from 12% to 96%. This is a significant metric to follow for marketers.

It signals that while in some regions like North America there’s some concern
about user growth slowing down, the users that are on the platform are easier
to reach through your advertising.

There are a number of factors that could be causing this uptrend. One
possibility is that increased spending by businesses on Facebook is driving
more advertised content on the News Feed. Another possibility is that this
could be signaling a change in consumer behavior; it’s possible that consumers
are more likely to engage with advertising, which makes it easier for the
Facebook algorithm to find users to show your adverting to.

Whatever the specific reasons, this trend shows both the resilience of digital
advertising through the pandemic period and also its effectiveness.

CX Stats and Trends to Know in 2021 7

 Social Media Advertising Trends

CTR (in %) by Week in Global

CTR Consistent
Median Ad Account Values

During Pandemic 1.20

1.00

According to Socialbakers data, the click-through rate for all brand ad

0.80
accounts remained remarkably consistent throughout a tumultuous year.

CTR (in %)
0.60
Other than the annual post-holiday dips and a noticeable decline in the early
0.40
stages of the pandemic, the CTR stayed quite steady, averaging 1.01% over
the last 16 months.

0.20

That type of consistency speaks to the confidence that marketers feel when 0
Dec
Feb
Apr
Jun
Aug Oct
 Decl
 Feb

looking at where to spend their budget. No matter what else is going on, they 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021

can find engagement on digital channels.

CTR (in %)

Chart Time Range: November 04, 2019 - March 07, 2021; Sample: Socialbakers Suite Benchmarks; Source: Socialbakers data State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 8
Sentiment

Trends Towards
Vaccinations

State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 9

 Sentiment Trends Towards Vaccinations

Sentiment Data on Facebook Accounts

of Approved Vaccine Providers

Pfizer on Facebook
AstraZeneca on Facebook

Evolution of Sentiment Evolution of Sentiment

100% 100%
Detected Sentiment

Detected Sentiment
Comments With

Comments With

80% 80%

60% 60%

40% 40%

20% 20%
0% 0%
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1

2020 2020 2020 2020 2021 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021

% Positive % Neutral % Negative % Positive % Neutral % Negative

Johnson & Johnson on Facebook

Moderna on Facebook

Evolution of Sentiment Evolution of Sentiment

100% 100%
Detected Sentiment

Detected Sentiment
Comments With

Comments With

80% 80%

60% 60%

40% 40%

20% 20%
0% 0%
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1

2020 2020 2020 2020 2021 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021

% Positive % Neutral % Negative % Positive % Neutral % Negative

Chart Time Range: January 1, 2020 - March 6, 2021; Sample: Official FB Pages of the Companies, Q1 2021 Data is Incomplete; Source: Socialbakers data State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 10
Sentiment Trends Towards Vaccinations

Social Media Data

Looking at the sentiment data on the Facebook pages of four pharma brands
that have created vaccines, we can see that the YoY negative sentiment

Reveals How People

increased or remained the same for each page while positive sentiment
decreased.

Feel About Vaccine Makers

For example, let’s look closer at Pfizer. From Q2 to Q4, negative sentiment
increased by 52% while positive sentiment decreased by 18.2%. This came
during the time period when the company’s vaccine with BioNTech was going
through testing and then was approved for use.

Why did sentiment get more negative? Some of it is due to the troll nature of
social media. Even as many people poured onto Pfizer’s page to praise the
company for its vaccine rollout, nearly the same number of people chimed in
with negativity about the company or the pandemic and vaccines at large.

Sentiment data is a good indicator of how your audience feels about you, but
it’s also important to put those feelings into context. Sometimes, negativity has
more to do with situations that are out of your control as a marketer. Still, it’s
important understand the data and, when negative comments are made in
good faith, to deal with them as a community manager.

CX Stats and Trends to Know in 2021 11

 Sentiment Trends Towards Vaccinations

Top Worldwide Healthcare

Profiles Posting About

Top 10 Healthcare Pages

Mentioning Vaccines or COVID

by Interactions

COVID-19 and Vaccines

According to Socialbakers data, Pfizer is by far the top healthcare brand
worldwide in terms of interactions on Facebook posts related to the
virus or vaccine. This makes sense as the company has been at the
forefront of the vaccine, producing one of the first options that’s widely
available.

Other accounts with a lot of posts and reactions in this area included Top 10 Healthcare Pages

Mentioning Vaccines or COVID

the US Food and Drug administration, and Eli Lilly, an American by Number of Posts
pharmaceutical company that has produced antibody drugs against the
coronavirus.

This data is looking at Facebook posts in the last six months that used
one of the following hashtags: #coronavirus, #covid, #covid19,
#covid_19, #vaccine, #covax.

Chart Time Range: September 13, 2020 - March 13, 2021; Sample: Facebook Posts of Worldwide Healthcare Brands Including Selected Hashtags; Source: Socialbakers data State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 12
What Comes Next?

Marketing After the Pandemic

One big takeaway from 2020 for marketers is the resiliency of digital
marketing. Following the initial pause when things were at their most
uncertain, analyzing metrics like ad spend and ads reach showed how much
marketers invested into social media advertising and how well it worked.

By putting more of their efforts into digital channels, marketers showed an

ability to adapt to changes and found their audience where they were at. How
much will that change going forward?

While it’s true that reopening will impact marketing budgets, shifting some
resources to other options like outdoor advertising, digital has only become
more important because of the last year. Some habits, like easier in-app
purchasing, are here to stay, and time spent online isn’t expected to decrease
at a rate that should concern marketers investing in digital.

Seamless in-app experiences, like the social commerce that’s now prevalent
in many different industries, is the way forward. That means a digital-first
mindset that requires a digital-first investment for marketers looking to build
on what worked in 2020 and take it to new levels.

State of Social Media Marketing a Year After COVID 13

Have a question regarding any

of the data in the report?

Contact us at ask@socialbakers.com

socialbakers.com