The fact that both aid campaigns and news follow-up regarding the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş that shook Turkey on February 6 were made mostly on social media revealed the power of digital platforms. Making a statement on the subject, Yasin Kaplan, the Founder of the Digital Marketing School, said that companies that reduced their advertising activities by 90 percent due to the earthquake turned social media into an advantage.

Pointing out that companies providing earthquake relief have taken a fast position in digital marketing, Kaplan said, “However, the purpose of these advertisements was with the aim of reaching more people for donation campaigns.”

The earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and caused great destruction in 11 provinces on 6 February became the number one item on Turkey’s agenda. While more than 47 thousand of our citizens lost their lives in this process, aid campaigns were launched across the country to heal the wounds of the region. Social media provided the greatest convenience both in keeping the disaster that stifled Turkey on the national agenda and in the rapid implementation of the campaigns launched for the earthquake zone. Saying that we once again saw the power of social media during the earthquake disaster, Founder of Digital Marketing School Yasin Kaplan said that companies turned digital platforms into a great advantage in this process.

“Both digital and TV commercials have come to a standstill”

Pointing out that companies took a fast position in digital marketing by launching donation campaigns through social media in this process, Yasin Kaplan said, “With the earthquakes that caused great pain to all of us, many brands stopped not only digital advertisements but also traditional and TV advertisements. In some brands, it continued on its way with a softer social media communication instead of a more intense strategy. However, the purpose of these advertisements was to reach more people for donation campaigns and to collect higher amounts of donations in this sense.”

“We have seen the dark side of social media along with its power”

Indicating that social media is used very intensively by both individuals and institutions after the disaster, Kaplan said, “In this process, fraudsters started to appear on social media channels and search engines. For example, we had a process to clone sites similar to AFAD or other donation establishments’ sites and defraud those who want to donate to these sites. In order to prevent such situations, one of the issues to be considered is that the URL opened on the link you click on Twitter matches the site of the institution to which the donation will be made. Another dark point we encountered regarding social media during the disaster period was the sharing of inappropriate content and unfounded denunciations, which led to investigations against many people.

Social media is at the top in news follow-up with 73 percent

Emphasizing that there has been a resurgence in digital marketing strategies as of March, Kaplan said: “According to the survey conducted by the IPSOS Research firm in February, 73 percent of the participants state that they follow the news about the earthquake on social media. The platform most preferred by the participants for following news is Instagram with 74 percent. Next comes Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, respectively. Particularly, public institutions and NGOs highlighting their cooperation with companies on earthquake relief through social media can be cited as one of the reasons for the high interest in this medium. Again, the emphasis on social media by those who wanted to show their reactions to some global brands that remained silent against the earthquake was one of the reasons for this increase in interest.

Source: (BYZHA) – Beyaz News Agency