14 April 2020
COVID-19: Impact Analysis by a Full Service Digital Agency
In our blog three weeks ago Bury’s top full service digital agency wrote about the potential impact of coronavirus on the digital marketing industry. At that time we were ‘bracing ourselves for ‘the thick of our part of the outbreak’… Well, that time is here now – and along with it, real-world data. Having that data now allows us to analyse the precise ways in which our industry has been affected – but what makes a full service digital agency like Seek Social the best kind of organisation to carry out such an analysis? Well, we offer all of the individual services that make up ‘digital marketing’… Search engine optimisation, web design, online advertising, content creation, social media marketing services and more. As such, we’re uniquely placed to run the rule over every part of the sector.
So, join us today as the leading full service digital agency in Manchester take a look at the actual situation ‘on the ground’, discuss our top five trends and issues that we’ve observed, and what you should do about them…
1) Website traffic & searches are badly hit
Reviewing our analytics and those of our clients, the Seek Social team are seeing a decline in website traffic of around 75 percent. Keyword search volumes have taken a similar big hit. As a result, it might seem like search engine optimisation can take a back seat for now. However, our own experience tells us otherwise. A lot of companies are using their time working from home to work exclusively on search engine optimisation. They’re making sure they’re ready to capitalise when the traffic does come back… And this full service digital agency knows that means everyone else must do so as well.
2) Leads & conversions are similarly down
This could be one of the reasons why search engine optimisation is still so important. Because there’s less traffic to go around even a full service digital agency like ourselves has to fight for everything we can get. The way you fight is with search engine optimisation. However, none of this negates the fact that traffic is down, and that will take a toll on your leads and conversions too. Our data shows that lead flow is down by 80%, a close correlation with the drop-off in traffic. Likewise, conversions and conversion rate are affected by similar amounts – something that started to take effect in March.
There are reasons for optimism on social media, however. The data from the best full service digital agency bury has to offer shows that Facebook marketing and other social media marketing services might weather the storm better than a traditional website and online store. We’ll go into the reasons why in more depth later in this blog, but for now, if you don’t have any social media marketing services set up (such as Facebook marketing), it might be time to change that.
3) Cybersecurity concerns
This was something Bury’s top full service digital agency hadn’t expected… Nevertheless, our analytics tell us that there has been a major increase in the number of cyberattacks coming from China. Our data shows that this number is currently at least 10,000 times what it would usually be. Fortunately for Seek Social, this volume is nothing we can’t handle, so we – nor our clients – need to worry. However, it could be a concern for those with smaller servers.
4) Content remains king
It’s not all doom and gloom though – page views for content have remained steady. So, all you content creators should keep doing what you do. The leading full service digital agency in Bury would probably attribute this to people being home, and needing things to pass time with rather than anything to do with what’s going on with search engine optimisation or the other things that we’ve talked about above. Whatever the cause though, it should be business as usual here, and in one other key area of the internet…
5) The situation on social media
That area is social media. The leading full service digital agency in Bury would remind you that right now there are a lot of people out there looking for a distraction, or something to kill time with. And where do a lot of people go when they’re in that situation? Social media. Our data shows that our post reach and levels of engagement have been holding steady throughout the outbreak. In fact, they might even be on a slight upturn.
This full service digital agency knows that it could be good news for businesses too. As we predicted in our last coronavirus blog – selling online could indeed be a lifeline for many smaller retailers. The lack of dropoff there shows that social media – and not your website – is the place to do this. So, as we mentioned earlier, the advice of the team at Bury’s only full service digital agency is as follows… Look earnestly into Facebook marketing and other social media marketing services. They can’t hurt your business any more than the issues we discussed earlier, but the data shows that they might certainly help you ride out these hard times.
And finally…
If you need any help finding a solution to your business’ unique problems, setting up for Facebook marketing, or any other area of digital marketing… Call the expert team at Seek Social. We’re all still working hard from home, and doing our best to help business owners pull through. So, if you need some support, call 0161 761 1800, or get in touch via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
(Note: This article was written on April 8th, 2020.)
