Keeping up the Dialog: Understanding the Use of Social Media by German Mobility Companies During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The theory of crisis communication is usually driven by crises in the environment of corporations or those caused by the corporation itself leading to a loss of reputation and financial fallout. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the rules of communication strategies during a crisis. Every actor was directly or indirectly affected by the consequences that arose from the emergence of the virus. It forced corporations to establish new ways of maintaining and strengthening relationships with their stakeholders, for example via social media. This paper aims to compare corporate communications before and during the pandemic regarding the Facebook and Twitter channels of three companies of the strongly inflicted mobility sector. For this purpose, 771 posts of Deutsche Bahn, Flixbus and Lufthansa in 2019 and 2020 were analyzed. The qualitative content analysis emphasized that a crisis, which was not self-inflicted, implies more mutual understanding and comprehensibility for the situation of the respective counterpart. Thus crisis management deals less with damage containment but focuses on the treatment of arising issues (cancellations, hygiene measures, uncertainty etc.). This leads to a more personal and emotional communication and profound dialogs with customers. The paper outlines several key aspects for further research and practice concerning the handling of external crises and the general use of social media platforms to strengthen symmetrical communication.