Post by sumiseo558899 on Nov 7, 2024 0:52:00 GMT -6
We are all facing a similar situation for the first time: the departure of many Western companies from the Russian market, the multiple growth of the exchange rate, the shutdown of some Internet promotion tools. We decided not to stand aside, but to figure out how things are in reality.
Questions about what awaits Russian internet marketing in the foreseeable future and how to proceed in the new conditions worry not only representatives of the digital sphere, but also businesses. We discussed the most important issues with experts — experienced marketers from different companies. Here's what they think about it.
What has changed in the content writing service
company's online marketing activities over the past month?
We have been working with SEO and contextual advertising for a long time. Even during the most critical period, when the dollar was 130-150 rubles, we, on the contrary, increased the budget for effective campaigns. As a result, we did not drop sales and reached a plateau. Despite the fact that we were forced to raise prices for our devices, we did not collapse sales, but reduced them smoothly. As if creating a parachute effect.
In terms of SEO, nothing has changed in principle, but the context, of course, has suffered. Yandex provided more coverage, but Google brought us a higher-quality audience, that is, leads from Google were more profitable for us, because these were mainly B2B orders with a higher check. And from Yandex, we received and continue to receive mainly applications from individuals.
In the context, the situation has changed, including some keywords. For example, if we take our sphere (production and sale of workwear), people were still looking for a quality product that met their requirements a month ago, but now price and availability are important for most people. Accordingly, we had to change the creatives. We waited two weeks, looked at how the market had changed, and completely rebuilt the advertising campaign.
Alexey Akhmetshin
Head of Marketing Department, Motorika Company
Overall, the flow of lead generation has changed: at the time of blocking, our traffic suffered by 2/3.
If we talk about digital tools, we constantly purchased advertising on TikTok, Facebook*, Instagram*, YouTube, but now these channels are not working. Our entire focus has shifted to VKontakte, myTarget and Yandex, we tested many hypotheses and found successful combinations, as of the end of March, the indicators have been restored.
How did your company react to the blocking of some sites?
Maya Novikova
Head of Content Marketing, YuMoney
We have a division by advertising platforms, with which different teams work. For example, SMM and PR used targeted advertising and integrations with bloggers on platforms that were stopped by decision of Roskomnadzor. Now we have stopped working with accounts on these platforms, but we have made sure that the audience does not lose contact with the company and the support service.
In our profiles, we have left links to our websites and other channels through which users - both individuals and entrepreneurs - can contact us and get help.
Of course, the shutdown of these platforms changes a lot on the scale of the Russian SMM niche. 35% of the traffic generated by advertising on these platforms drops off, the social demographics of the audience changes. Some formats of special projects, for example, image photo shoots, are completely rethought, since their concept is not suitable for other platforms. But it is more correct to assess the consequences of such sudden circumstances in the perspective of several months.
At the same time, historically it turned out that more than 52% of our SMM traffic came from domestic platforms - VK, OK, Yandex.Zen, because we have always been involved in their development.
Andrey Kaimanov
Digital Director, iBOX
We didn't cut budgets, on the contrary, in some places we even increased them. And we even hired an SMM specialist who knows how to work on VKontakte, and there was active movement there too. Now we see the effect: the videos that we re-uploaded to VKontakte are gaining views at a crazy speed. People are flocking there. Also, our audience is very strongly correlated with the audience of Odnoklassniki. We tested targeting in OK - it works. We have increased our work with Telegram and will soon start working with Admitad. By and large, we have not lost anything except Instagram*.
Damir Plotnikov
Head of Online Promotion, MONOPOLY Group
After closing Instagram* and Facebook*, we started using the traditional remaining traffic sources — VK and myTarget. We also discovered ICQ — a seemingly forgotten traffic source. We conducted research — our audience is there, actively using this communication channel, including for work purposes. Now we are still at the testing stage: we are developing a strategy for native advertising and attracting leads from there.
There were problems with software for autofunnels, for example, with SendPulse. Some services left our market, so we are testing new ones. For us, a deeper study of the remaining traffic sources came to the forefront. Something that we never had time for before - mastering complex mechanics, quality of study.
Whose hands are implementing internet marketing activities today?
Alexey Razuvaev
Digital marketer, FIRST company
Our marketing department includes almost all specialists with a staff of more than 10 people. We do all the work ourselves, but in some cases we delegate some tasks to freelancers, because for us in some projects it is cheaper than loading our specialists. They, in turn, are busy with other things.
Andrey Kaimanov
Digital Director, iBOX
We very rarely hire third-party agencies. Only if we understand that we do not have the necessary competencies. Practice has shown that it is better to work in-house. We have a fairly complex technical product, and there are a lot of nuances in how to promote it.
We have a very strong team with a lot of expertise. I am responsible for digital marketing and content. There is also a contextualist, a marketing analyst, an SMM specialist, 3 designers, 2 people who deal with reviews. And a content manager.
We also don't work with agencies because we have enough of our own specialists. We recruited all the strongest ones we could reach in Kazan.
Damir Plotnikov
Head of Online Promotion, MONOPOLY Group
A couple of years ago, we ordered services from an internet marketing agency. Now we have a completely autonomous in-house. We are not saying whether it is good or bad to work with internet agencies. Everything depends on the task you are solving. If, for example, you need to quickly process a large number of reviews, and the in-house team is short of hands, it is better to contact the agency. If we talk about quality, then here it is either symbiosis or in-house processing of tasks.
What challenges does a company face when working on digital marketing?
Maya Novikova
Head of SMM Department, YuMoney
Perhaps, in the current reality, the biggest challenges for digital are the changed capacities of advertising channels, increased auctions and audience migration. It is important to remain flexible and keep your finger on the pulse of all traffic sources in order to understand in time where to leave and where, on the contrary, to strengthen.
So far, no platform has fully met our previous expectations. We are waiting for quick responses to business requests from marketing platforms.
Questions about what awaits Russian internet marketing in the foreseeable future and how to proceed in the new conditions worry not only representatives of the digital sphere, but also businesses. We discussed the most important issues with experts — experienced marketers from different companies. Here's what they think about it.
What has changed in the content writing service
company's online marketing activities over the past month?
We have been working with SEO and contextual advertising for a long time. Even during the most critical period, when the dollar was 130-150 rubles, we, on the contrary, increased the budget for effective campaigns. As a result, we did not drop sales and reached a plateau. Despite the fact that we were forced to raise prices for our devices, we did not collapse sales, but reduced them smoothly. As if creating a parachute effect.
In terms of SEO, nothing has changed in principle, but the context, of course, has suffered. Yandex provided more coverage, but Google brought us a higher-quality audience, that is, leads from Google were more profitable for us, because these were mainly B2B orders with a higher check. And from Yandex, we received and continue to receive mainly applications from individuals.
In the context, the situation has changed, including some keywords. For example, if we take our sphere (production and sale of workwear), people were still looking for a quality product that met their requirements a month ago, but now price and availability are important for most people. Accordingly, we had to change the creatives. We waited two weeks, looked at how the market had changed, and completely rebuilt the advertising campaign.
Alexey Akhmetshin
Head of Marketing Department, Motorika Company
Overall, the flow of lead generation has changed: at the time of blocking, our traffic suffered by 2/3.
If we talk about digital tools, we constantly purchased advertising on TikTok, Facebook*, Instagram*, YouTube, but now these channels are not working. Our entire focus has shifted to VKontakte, myTarget and Yandex, we tested many hypotheses and found successful combinations, as of the end of March, the indicators have been restored.
How did your company react to the blocking of some sites?
Maya Novikova
Head of Content Marketing, YuMoney
We have a division by advertising platforms, with which different teams work. For example, SMM and PR used targeted advertising and integrations with bloggers on platforms that were stopped by decision of Roskomnadzor. Now we have stopped working with accounts on these platforms, but we have made sure that the audience does not lose contact with the company and the support service.
In our profiles, we have left links to our websites and other channels through which users - both individuals and entrepreneurs - can contact us and get help.
Of course, the shutdown of these platforms changes a lot on the scale of the Russian SMM niche. 35% of the traffic generated by advertising on these platforms drops off, the social demographics of the audience changes. Some formats of special projects, for example, image photo shoots, are completely rethought, since their concept is not suitable for other platforms. But it is more correct to assess the consequences of such sudden circumstances in the perspective of several months.
At the same time, historically it turned out that more than 52% of our SMM traffic came from domestic platforms - VK, OK, Yandex.Zen, because we have always been involved in their development.
Andrey Kaimanov
Digital Director, iBOX
We didn't cut budgets, on the contrary, in some places we even increased them. And we even hired an SMM specialist who knows how to work on VKontakte, and there was active movement there too. Now we see the effect: the videos that we re-uploaded to VKontakte are gaining views at a crazy speed. People are flocking there. Also, our audience is very strongly correlated with the audience of Odnoklassniki. We tested targeting in OK - it works. We have increased our work with Telegram and will soon start working with Admitad. By and large, we have not lost anything except Instagram*.
Damir Plotnikov
Head of Online Promotion, MONOPOLY Group
After closing Instagram* and Facebook*, we started using the traditional remaining traffic sources — VK and myTarget. We also discovered ICQ — a seemingly forgotten traffic source. We conducted research — our audience is there, actively using this communication channel, including for work purposes. Now we are still at the testing stage: we are developing a strategy for native advertising and attracting leads from there.
There were problems with software for autofunnels, for example, with SendPulse. Some services left our market, so we are testing new ones. For us, a deeper study of the remaining traffic sources came to the forefront. Something that we never had time for before - mastering complex mechanics, quality of study.
Whose hands are implementing internet marketing activities today?
Alexey Razuvaev
Digital marketer, FIRST company
Our marketing department includes almost all specialists with a staff of more than 10 people. We do all the work ourselves, but in some cases we delegate some tasks to freelancers, because for us in some projects it is cheaper than loading our specialists. They, in turn, are busy with other things.
Andrey Kaimanov
Digital Director, iBOX
We very rarely hire third-party agencies. Only if we understand that we do not have the necessary competencies. Practice has shown that it is better to work in-house. We have a fairly complex technical product, and there are a lot of nuances in how to promote it.
We have a very strong team with a lot of expertise. I am responsible for digital marketing and content. There is also a contextualist, a marketing analyst, an SMM specialist, 3 designers, 2 people who deal with reviews. And a content manager.
We also don't work with agencies because we have enough of our own specialists. We recruited all the strongest ones we could reach in Kazan.
Damir Plotnikov
Head of Online Promotion, MONOPOLY Group
A couple of years ago, we ordered services from an internet marketing agency. Now we have a completely autonomous in-house. We are not saying whether it is good or bad to work with internet agencies. Everything depends on the task you are solving. If, for example, you need to quickly process a large number of reviews, and the in-house team is short of hands, it is better to contact the agency. If we talk about quality, then here it is either symbiosis or in-house processing of tasks.
What challenges does a company face when working on digital marketing?
Maya Novikova
Head of SMM Department, YuMoney
Perhaps, in the current reality, the biggest challenges for digital are the changed capacities of advertising channels, increased auctions and audience migration. It is important to remain flexible and keep your finger on the pulse of all traffic sources in order to understand in time where to leave and where, on the contrary, to strengthen.
So far, no platform has fully met our previous expectations. We are waiting for quick responses to business requests from marketing platforms.