Digital Marketing During COVID -19 Circuit Breaker In Northern Ireland

As another lockdown looms over Northern Ireland, our thoughts are with everyone who is experiencing the effects of this. To the business being forced to shut and to the individuals who no longer have jobs, you are in our thoughts.  Here we offer some tips to help your business embrace digital marketing and the opportunities it can provide to support your business during this difficult and unprecedented time. 

Get Online! Mobile-first 

Can your business be found online? Having a presence online is ESSENTIAL for your business to survive, as shoppers are being directed to shop online. Even if your company does not conduct business online, customers and potential customers are expecting to see you online. Your website must be up to date with the latest from your brand. Is your site mobile friendly? Typically, whilst people are at home they tend to shop and research on their smartphones. We would encourage you to check out your website and review its performance. Focus on visibility online and converting your footfall to website traffic. Run your site through Googe’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how easy your site is for mobile users and to get some tips on how to improve user experience.  

Social Social Social! 

There is no excuse in 2020 for not having a social media presence for your business. Social is how to connect with your clients/customers. Social media is one of the most profitable digital marketing platforms that can be used to increase your business identity. To get started, create social media profiles for your business and start networking with others

 As the world continues to face history-making changes and challenges every day, people are using social media more than ever, and more than likely, so are your competitors. From huge spikes in ad impressions to engagements and more, social media is certainly getting a lot of attention right now, as people are adjusting their everyday routines and turning to social media to find new ways to fill their time. Therefore, concentrating on social media advertising is certainly a wise move right now.  

A recent study by Statista shows that 44% of people worldwide are spending more time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. This means you have an even bigger opportunity of catching new and existing customers attention through social media!  

Pay-Per-Click

You might be thinking it’s crazy to start pay-per-click advertising at such a time, but the truth is this might be a perfect time. Your target audience is online with more attention to spare than ever before, so why not get your brand right in front of their eyes? PPC advertising, when managed correctly, can offer excellent value for money and a great return on investment. If you’re already running PPC advertising, make sure you have reviewed all campaigns and ads to reflect any important changes in your business. 

To help businesses at this time, organisations such as Facebook and Google are launching grants to help small businesses get started or expanded their PPC advertising. If you’re a charity, make sure you look at the Google Grants programme, where Google offers charities $10,000/month advertising spend on Google Search. 

Content Creation 

When you create content, you’re providing useful information to your audience, attracting potential customers to your website, and retaining existing customers through quality engagement.

Use this time to create new content, brainstorm and take the time for this. In our experience content always gets the short straw as businesses are too busy, now is your time to build a bank of content for during and post COVID restrictions. Discover new ways to create content, go back to basics and make it simple for your audience to engage with your content efforts. We recommend checking out Google Trends or Answer the Public to help you come up with some new content, that people are looking for information on.

PRO TIP – As well as creating new content it would be a good time to refresh older content that is still driving traffic to make sure it is still helpful and accurate for users. 

SEO

Search engine optimisation is the process of optimising your website to rank higher on the results page (SERPS). The more time you give to this the higher your site will appear when people search for relevant terms to your business. Our SEO experts work tirelessly to ensure our client’s visibility on search engines. Unlike traditional advertising models which involve reaching out to customers, SEO is all about making it easy for your audience to find you, your business and your products or services. When people are searching for what they want, they are probably using Google, and you need to make sure your site is visible. 

COVID Updates

Right now updating your website and google my business listing has never been more important. Your customers want accurate info as everything else is uncertain at the moment. 

TIP – It is so important to update your audience with Covid related policies you have put in place. For example, do you offer curbside pickup, no contact delivery, hygienic packaging? Google My Business, is so important it is the first thing customers see before clicking on to the site. Update your GMB with the most up to date information about opening hours, business offerings. 

At GlowMetrics, our Search Engine Optimisation services are always evolving. Google’s algorithm is continually updating, which means we are continually learning. There are hundreds of different factors that determine how your website appears on Google – our job is to understand what these mean for you, our clients.

Google has released that searches for “shop local Ireland” increase by 540% as consumer support for local business soars. Google searches for “just buy Irish” peaked with an increase of a massive 3,495%, the Google search term “shop local Ireland” increased by 540% in the past week, and “buy Irish gifts” searches increased by 200%, reinforcing Irish consumers’ intention to support local businesses. This shows us consumers are waiting to shop local therefore you have to make it easy for them to find you above the competition. 

However, we always focus on 3 key things

• Increasing visibility within the organic search results
• Placing your site above your competitors
• Delivering high quality, targeted traffic to your site to drive conversions and ROI.

Remember SEO is free! It just takes time and patience and with the right expert advice, you can get to the results. Check out our client’s success with SEO.

Your Business Can Flourish

It’s undeniable that COVID-19 has had a monumental impact on business. But we need to be positive. Now is the time to connect with your customers like never before and not separate from them. Meet your customers where they are now and find a way to pivot and give your business the best chance to stay afloat by making your website easily found online through a strategic SEO, social media or PPC strategy.

If you have any questions about how GlowMetrics can help your business grow, please contact us online or give us a call.