What to Say and How to Say It? Corporate Strategic Communication through Social Media during the Pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of corporate social media responses in Twitter.

Company	Followers	Count of tweets	Sum of Replies	Average of Replies	Sum of Retweets	Average of Retweets	Sum of likes	Average of likes
Amazon	3,300,000	6	1535	255.83	466	77.67	1662	277.00
AT&T	905500	20	562	28.10	821	41.05	1964	98.20
Bank of America	549,900	3	137	45.67	91	30.33	234	78.00
Facebook	13,400,000	9	1250	138.89	696	77.33	1826	202.89
Google	22,000,000	15	1687	112.47	12,240	816.00	27,154	1810.27
Intel	4,800,000	4	68	17.00	652	163.00	1173	293.25
J.P. Morgan	527,200	6	54	9.00	129	21.50	297	49.50
Microsoft	8,900,000	32	504	15.75	4332	135.38	13,469	420.91
P&G	213100	98	435	4.44	1310	13.37	7023	71.66
Total		193	6232	32.29	20,737	107.45	54,802	283.95

Table 2. Content category of tweets and example tweets.

Categories	Example tweets
Covid-19 related information	5 ways to help cope with stress during COVID-19: 1 PAUSE. Breathe. Notice how you feel 2 TAKE BREAKS from COVID-19 content 3 MAKE TIME to sleep & exercise 4 REACH OUT & stay connected 5 SEEK HELP if overwhelmed or unsafe
Philanthropic information	Individuals experiencing homelessness are among the most vulnerable communities to coronavirus. Thanks @globalmedicdmgffor helping our Canada team supply hygiene kits to shelters & food banks as part of their #COVID19 response efforts.
Business-related information	We’re all in this together. Just like you, we’re closely monitoring the impact of COVID-19. Here are the ways we’re supporting customers, employees, and communities during this difficult time:

Figure 1. Average tweet behavior in different phases.

Figure 2. Corporate tweet behavior during the pandemic.

Figure 3. Corporate tweet content across three phases of pandemic.

Figure 4. Media richness/Data format used across the three phases of the pandemic.

Figure 5. The ratio of tweet replies by retweets across levels of the media richness.

Table 3. Corporate social media interactivity.

Media Richness/Data Type by Corp.	Count of Sr. No.	Has #hashtag	Percentage of hashtag	Has @mention	Percentage of mention
Level 0-Text	24	17	71%	14	58%
AT&T	1	1	100%	0	0%
Facebook	1	0	0%	1	100%
J.P. Morgan	2	0	0%	0	0%
Microsoft	3	1	33%	0	0%
P&G	17	15	88%	13	76%
Level 1-Picture	28	24	86%	12	43%
Amazon	1	0	0%	0	0%
AT&T	11	11	100%	4	36%
Google	2	0	0%	0	0%
Microsoft	1	1	100%	0	0%
P&G	13	12	92%	8	62%
Level 2-Embedded link	102	74	73%	38	37%
Amazon	3	0	0%	2	67%
AT&T	4	4	100%	0	0%
Bank of America	2	0	0%	0	0%
Facebook	3	1	33%	1	33%
Google	7	1	14%	1	14%
Intel	2	0	0%	1	50%
J.P. Morgan	4	1	25%	0	0%
Microsoft	25	17	68%	5	20%
P&G	52	50	96%	28	54%
Level 3-Video	39	25	64%	16	41%
Amazon	2	0	0%	0	0%
AT&T	4	4	100%	2	50%
Bank of America	1	0	0%	1	100%
Facebook	5	0	0%	1	20%
Google	6	2	33%	2	33%
Intel	2	0	0%	0	0%
Microsoft	3	3	100%	1	33%
P&G	16	16	100%	9	56%
Grand Total	193	140	73%	80	41%

Table 4. Summary of findings.

Corporate social media communication during the pandemic
What information was communicated across different phases of the pandemic?
Social media counts	Corporations tweet more in the later phase than in the early phase
Social media engagement	Corporations have an increasing social media engagement in the later phase than in the early phase
Information communicated	Three categories of info include business-related information, COVID-19 information, and philanthropic information. COVID-19 information was delivered in the early phase; business-related information and philanthropic information were offered in the later phase.
How was the information communicated via social media during the pandemic?
Data format	In the early phase, corporations usually opt for a less rich data format to speed up the communication of information to reduce uncertainty. The richer data format is used in later phases to accomplish higher user engagement.Higher media richness data format brings higher user engagement.
Social media interactivity	Corporates tend to increase interactivity, using hashtags and mentions to engage with users when low media richness data formats are used in the tweets.

Figure 6. (a-b) Examples of corporate tweets in supporting first responders during the pandemic.