COVID-19 has brought a lot of distress in the world, many layoffs, and has left many industries temporarily non-functional. As for the content creation and digital publishing industry, although it has brought many challenges, we’re still standing strong.
Even though it depends on the niche, the main benefit of content creation is that it can be done from home. As such, many of the content creators we work with were already home-based. As for the MetDaan team, we were office-bound until eight weeks ago when, for the safety of our staff, we started remote working, too.
Although it has taken time to adapt to this new normality, this situation has not lowered our team’s morale, and we continue every day to create and publish fun, creative, uplifting content… just that we do it from home now.
So, you can say we’re fighting coronavirus, too—one smile at a time.
The Pandemic’s Impact on MetDaan as a Digital Publisher
This new “world order” has altered the way we live and the way we work. Many events, trips, conferences, and weddings have been canceled, which means jobs such as photographers, cake makers, and hairdressers have been canceled, and as a result, scheduled content regarding them has been canceled, too. However, instead of complaining, we might as well get creative. We’re in a creative industry, after all.
So yes, outfit ideas turn into loungewear ideas, hair dyeing is done taking into account social distancing, and DIY videos have a new angle, now showing creative ways to make face masks and hand sanitizers.
Maintaining brand tone
We believe digital media has the power not only to entertain but also to inform, raise awareness, and influence people’s behavior for the better. This is what we aim to do all year round, but especially in hard times like these. We want to pave the way for building empathy, inspiration, and innovation. And this is why our brand tone has not changed during this situation. We continue to deliver content for which we were followed in the first place.
In-house video production
Although MetDaan’s video production team is now a bit limited when it comes to producing new content, we are still finding ways to make it work by producing content from our homes. As they say, creativity has no limits.
Adapting coverage to the global situation
The social media world in general works around trends. We deliver what is searched for and what people are concerned with. Therefore, we have adapted our coverage to be relevant to the global situation, yet sticking to our brand. So, apart from publishing our usual entertaining content to get the COVID-19 crisis out of people’s heads for a while, we also offer informative videos on advice about how to stay safe at home and DIY tools to easily make at home.
The Pandemic’s Impact on Content Creators
The coronavirus outbreak has brought mixed emotions to content creators. While people staying more at home brings increased video views, the fact that people are out of work means buyer intent has decreased resulting in advertisers pulling back budgets and brands canceling content deals.
Moreover, these uncertain times also affect the creators’ emotional health and motivation. MetDaan has all these factors into consideration when it comes to the 600 creators we have partnerships with, and tries to support them now when they most need it. It’s time to get together, even though from a distance.
How it affects them emotionally
Whether they had their business shut down, have a family member sick, or are generally worried about the situation, this is a hard time for all. However, there is a sense of unity among the community that we’re all in this together. So, basically, almost all communication starts with “Hope you’re safe”, and ends with “Stay safe”, as, at the end of the day, health and safety is what matters the most.
Creating as a distraction
For many, content creation is a way to escape reality. “Making videos has been a great distraction!” a partner of ours shares. Indeed, while the world is anything but normal, keeping busy and maintaining our content creation routines gives some normalcy to our daily lives and of people who wait patiently for our videos.
As the author Luigina Sgarro once said:
“We discover our greatness when we find ourselves in a situation bigger than we are, and we manage to grow and become bigger than the situation.”
Canceled brand partnerships, closed (non-essential) businesses
Beauty and lifestyle bloggers have especially been hit hard by the situation as many brand deals have either been canceled or postponed. And canceled brand deals mean canceled paychecks.
Moreover, many content creators and business owners have also had their (non-essential) businesses closed down as an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. These closings have a tremendous impact especially on beauty professionals who have had their salons shut down and along with them, their source of income.
How MetDaan is helping
While people can help by buying gift cards, purchasing their products, or opening GoFundme fundraisers, MetDaan is using its platform to give creators a source of income, now that many have lost theirs.
We know content creators do their work with love and dedication. However, although producing content is fun and fulfilling, we believe content creators need to be rewarded and compensated for their hard work. Moreover, we want to motivate them to continue working during these tough times. This is why we collaborate with hundreds of creators, share their content on our social media channels followed by more than 110 million people, give them their due credit and their share of ad revenue from the videos.
One of them shared:
It is always awesome getting shared from MetDaan as some shares definitely bring in good income which is great around this current time.
So, yes, let’s wash our hands and practice social distancing, but let’s also do what we do best: creating, publishing, and making people happy now when they need it most.