It’s no secret that the world went online during lockdown. No matter your industry, product or service, if you’re in business, a digital presence is the new norm.

There are plenty of options of advertising online, so where should you start and how do you get started?

For SMEs, KingSt Advertising recommends a combination of Google Search and social media, two channels that not only achieve a lot with a little, but do complementary tasks to reach and engage with your audience.

We grab some quick tips from their media team, Kwan Ng (Media Director) and Nicole Cochrane (Digital Manager), around these channels.

How has COVID-19 affected the digital advertising space? What are some trends to come off the back of COVID?

Many businesses experienced periods of boom and online media consumption went through the roof. 21% of Australians and New Zealanders surveyed are spending more time browsing and researching online before visiting stores. Google has also noted that eight in 10 Australians (closest data to New Zealand) expect to continue their increased media consumption habits post-COVID-19, so we will see more users browsing and actively searching, as well as buying online.

Why should search and social media be an integral part of your marketing strategy?

Search is often the first port of call in the investigation/discovery phase of decision making so it’s important to be in your customer’s line of sight at this stage. From there, the next most important thing is to pay off the promise and message in your advertising with an effective and well-designed website. If it’s not easy to navigate and find information or products quickly, you run the risk of people clicking off (more on this below).

As for social media, it’s well documented that Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc are now a mainstay of media use for a wide audience group. As well as providing strong reach, social media is a good way to gain feedback on your business, and build a community around your business and brand.

What role do they play i.e. what should you use them for?

This depends on the nature of your business. As far as search goes, some businesses need to have search ‘always on’ to make sure they keep up/stay ahead of the competition, for example trades. For others, it can be more seasonal or tactical, such as retail or hospitality.

Social has two layers: Organic and campaign. Organic needs to be worked on all the time, while campaign social is all about a layered approach with other activity and based on a planned programme.

What are some of the biggest myths about advertising on social?

• Social media is all you need to build a brand.
• You can gain strong reach without too much spend.
• My customers are not online, especially those who are older.

In fact, through a number of our recent campaigns in both the tourism and telecommunications sectors, those aged 65+ have been the most engaged in terms of the numbers visiting the site, as well as the number of sessions they have conducted.

• Users online don’t click on ads.

Each platform reports on the total number of clicks tracked, which gives insight into whether they are browsing images on the ad, viewing more ad copy, or clicking back to the businesses profile.

What is also valuable is the link click metric, which allows us to dive deeper into the number of people clicking through to the site from the ads. Clicks, click through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC) are all important metrics which work hand in hand with each other.

What are some of the biggest myths about Search?

• Advertising across Google Search is expensive.
• Google Search campaigns generate instant results.
• The more keywords, the better.

How does your website play an important role alongside S&S?

It’s THE most important element. Having a strong website ups your chances of getting the result you’re after – whether it’s more sales, enquiries etc. A poorly designed and structured website will have the opposite effect. By negating the promises that you made in your advertising by providing a bad web experience, you’re wasting a lot more money than what you’ve spent earning the visit, and potentially done some damage to your brand’s credibility.

To help make it easy for SMEs, you’ve created a Search & Social package (S2). How does the S2 package work for small to medium business owners?

It’s a retainer model aimed at giving SMEs full access to our talented and experienced team. We start by getting to know the business, auditing existing assets and activity, providing advice on best practice across all aspects, then putting in place the appropriate activity. It’s like having your own in-house digital team!

Anything else you’d like to add?

We are passionate about all things digital. Our team love drilling into the data and working out how users behave and where it is best to engage with them. The digital sphere is fast moving, but incredibly exciting at the same time. We would love to work with more SMEs, bringing their business to the centre of the galaxy with our S2 retainer service.

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