DEVELOPMENT OF SMM DURING THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The study evaluates social media marketing (SMM) as a new field of marketing that emerged with the advent of social networks, particularly Facebook and Twitter. It describes the importance of social media in maintaining communication between brands and their audience, ad­vertising goods and services, analyzing competitors, and gathering audience data. The article em­phasizes that SMM is an essential tool for modern businesses because social networks allow them to find their target audience and maintain communication with it, promote their products and ser­vices, attract new customers, increase loyalty, and enhance their brand. The article examines the development of social media marketing (SMM) in Ukraine before the start of the full-scale war that began on February 24, 2022. The author claims that before the war, SMM was quite active, and companies used social networks to promote their brands and products. The article includes a dia­gram that shows the ranking of the most popular social networks in Ukraine before and after the war. The author also notes that the popularity of the Telegram messenger greatly increased after the start of the war. Additionally, the article discusses the example of the company LLC «Nova Poshta» as one of the largest logistics companies in Ukraine that actively uses social networks to interact with its customers and support its brand, development, and market leadership in logistics. The article examines in detail how the company uses its social networks to publish information about its services, promotions, news, useful tips for customers, answers to customer questions, and support for its corporate values and social responsibility. Furthermore, the article discusses the peculiarities of SMM development during the war in Ukraine and the opportunities it may create for companies to express their support and increase their awareness.