Over the recent past, both private and public institutions have been using social platforms for communicating with their employees. These tools enable instantaneous, two-way and cost effective way of communicating messages to others in an organisation. This study sought to determine the role of social media in municipalities' internal communication strategies especially given the lockdown conditions that arose as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The excellence theory is used to understand and analyse social media use for internal communication in South African municipalities. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this study, with quantitative data being collected through an online questionnaire and qualitative data through telephonic interviews to adhere to lockdown regulations. The study shows that social media applications, particularly WhatsApp and Facebook's use, increased significantly and are the most