“We have to start learning to live with coronavirus” – you must have heard this at least once in the last week. It also means social distancing is here to stay. But for long, inclusive businesses have put their bets on human interventions for marketing and promotions. With these limitations, how will the businesses market their products and services to lower income consumers? The answer lies in the booming lockdown-induced use of social media.

India has witnessed a steep surge in social media engagement in the last 60 days of lockdown

According to a Nielsen study, social media activity in India grew 50X in early March. When the country is under lockdown and maintaining social distancing, social media is keeping people connected, entertained, and informed. As a result, the frequency of logging in popular social media platforms has increased along with the time spent on using them. For example, Facebook has witnessed 49% more open rates and a 62% increase in per session duration.

 But, as we move towards a “new normal” of sustained social distancing and digital proximity, the surge in social media activities will not be confined only within the top of the pyramid consumers.

In the last couple of years, affordable data plans and smartphones have played a pivotal role in digital inclusion. Today, about half (47%) of the population from the lower income groups have a smartphone, and a significant segment of them are well exposed to social media platforms. A 2017 IAMAI report says, 60% of the population under SEC C and 40% under SEC D & E use social networking platforms with about a fifth of them have moderate to high exposure. As social distancing is here to stay, we can expect these numbers to increase in the coming days. These lockdown-induced first trials and repeated consumption of social media have helped in developing a behaviour among lower income consumers which inclusive business can leverage in the coming days.

Popular social media platforms in India are also socio-economically inclusive, and of late private sector partners have started to take note of this to curate specific strategies

Do you know more than 50% of TikTok users earn less than 350 USD per month? That is 100 million users. TikTok realized this, and in 2019, it partnered with online tutoring platforms to launch #EduTok – a virtual classroom to teach English benefitting users from lower income segments. As the Government promotes e-classrooms to safeguard students from COVID 19, inclusive businesses can explore how to take inspiration from proven models like these. Similarly, more than a third of WhatsApp and Facebook users are from lower income groups, and of late private sector partners have started to build strategies to engage them. For instance, Reliance Jio and Facebook in April 2020 announced their collaboration with a primary objective to simplify business for small retail merchants.

 In the post Covid-19 era, inclusive businesses should make concentrated efforts towards building social media strategies to inform, educate and engage lower income consumers about their products and services

In the coming days, marketing products and services to lower income consumers can be challenging. Inclusive businesses have largely depended on offline marketing tactics that require human interactions, social gatherings, and practical demonstrations. With continued social distancing, these may take a backseat. However, with the frequent and increased use of social media among lower income consumers, inclusive businesses should innovate strategies that can engage, inform and educate target consumers.