The World HealthThe organization has declared the coronavirus, or COVID-19, a
pandemic. It’s an uncertain time with lots of unknowns, and while we don’t have
all the answers, we want to share what we do know and offer some guidance for
our customers and other small businesses that may be experiencing shifts in
their business.
This
pandemic is affecting the health of the public, and it’s also impacting the
economy. According to Google,
“since the first week of February, search interest in coronavirus increased by
+260% globally.” While spikes in search trends are common during events of this
scale, there have also been surges in traffic for related products and topics
as a direct response to the pandemic.
Word Stream leadership has
been watching the news closely, and we’ve responded by taking the action to
make remote work the default for all Word Stream employees. However, we’ve taken
all steps to ensure minimal disruption to our operations and our customers.
While we’ll leave the medical advice to medical and public health experts—and
would urge you to do the same—we looked to our in-house agency experts to
provide more information about what actions you can take in your online advertising
accounts now.
How are Google and Facebook responding to COVID-19?
In addition
to making it easier for people to learn more about symptoms, vaccine
information, and travel advisories, Google is removing any content on YouTube
that claims to prevent the coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment and is also blocking all ads capitalizing on the coronavirus. Similarly, Facebook is
blocking anyone running ads to exploit the situation.
Will
this affect you? The short answer is no—as long as you are not using messaging
in your ad copy that makes any claims to cure, prevent, or treat COVID-19, this
change will have minimal effect on your paid accounts.
Although
these platform policies will not likely impact your account, the pandemic and
the resulting market changes will. Here are a few recommended strategies to prepare
and adjust your accounts accordingly.
Navigate the
changing the online advertising landscape with this free small business guide to
COVID-19.
Review your accounts
It’s
important to stay on top of how changing markets might affect your paid search
and paid social accounts, from changing click and impression volumes to
changing costs.
“Paid
search reflects the market; it isn't the market itself,” says Managed Services
Senior Manager Mike Anemia. “So if people's search trends have gone
somewhere else in the moment and that Invisalign treatment or bouquet of
flowers isn't, rightfully, on their mind anymore—that's a reality. Check for
drops in traffic—clicks and impressions—in Google Analytics and Google Ads.
Those will usually signal that something is happening and will manifest into a
drop in conversions.”
Our
post on Google AdsBenchmarks During COVID-19 may help you to get a more accurate
picture of where you stand in terms of your metrics.
“One of
my clients, streaming service, started getting a number of queries on 'Wuhan
live to stream.' These searches aren’t good for the pandemic," Director of
Managed Services Zina Kayyali says, "and they’re not good for the account,
so we added additional negatives.”
You may
also need to step up your vigilance in terms of monitoring comments. “For
Facebook and Instagram,” Account Manager Tyler Ward explain, “it is extremely
important to monitor comments within your posts. There is a lot of
misinformation being spread and certain fear-based comments can detract
potential customers.”
Communicate changes
Communicating
effectively and efficiently is going to be key to maintaining your customer
relationships. “In all cases, advertisers should look to build trust with
current and potential customers through proactive communication via email
and/or information directly on their site,” Tyler
Account
Manager Holly Niemiec also recommends communicating these changes online as
soon as possible. “If your business is affected, Google recommends updating your business hours and description in your
Google My Business profile. Aside from letting people know when they can stop
by your business, you can also update your description to give more information
regarding any additional precautions you are taking or if there are changes in
services. These changes will update your business information on Google Search
and Maps.”
In
addition to updating your profile, Holly suggests updating your ad copy and
extensions to reflect any changes This is especially important if you
have any call out
extensions stating your business hours.
Adjust your strategy
There
has been a lot that has happened as a direct or indirect result of COVID-19. As
people are being encouraged to wash their hands to prevent the spread of germs,
there has been a shortage of hand sanitizer, bleach and cleaning wipes, and
other similar products. A lot of work culture will be temporarily changed as
companies start to deploy mandatory work from home policies, and travel and
tourism will be affected as our government temporarily bans travel to certain
places where cases of the virus are high.
A lot
of these changes can be stressful, but the best thing that we can do as
marketers are to look forward and to calm the nerves of consumers as best we can
by having clear, concise, and accurate messaging.
Holly
noted that keeping your ads up to date with your stock is crucial. “If your
business does sell some of the ‘hot ticket’ items that have been flying off the
shelves, make sure you are not still advertising products that may be out of
stock. In order to prevent this, you can temporarily exclude these products
from your shopping campaigns, that way you are not at risk of showing an ad for the product that you no longer have.”
For
brick-and-mortar businesses, adjusting your strategy might mean limited budgets
or pausing certain campaigns. “Some clients are worried about the decline in
leads or foot traffic that they are experiencing,” Tyler
A note
on the travel industry
If you
are in the travel and tourism industry, things are changing by the day. The U.S.
Still,
interest in “cheap flights right now” has grown by 90% over the last 30 days,
and “cheap flights due to coronavirus” has increased by 2,450%.
What
does this mean? “While a lot of people can’t travel right now,” Holly says,
“there is an increased interest to do so in the future, especially while flight
costs are low. Knowing this, focus strategy in the long term. Advertise trips
or activities in low-risk areas, and provide additional content about what
trips and activities are still safe.”
Keep checking in
COVID-19
has unfortunately affected the health and well-being of communities worldwide,
and keeping communities safe should be our first priority. Many, if not most,
businesses are already feeling the effects of the virus, and staying up to date
with information.
