Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens

We tripled AOK’s Insta followers and got their blog posts purring

Food and shelter are traditionally defined as a human’s basic needs. But while Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens agrees on the former, it believes that we can largely do without the latter – at least when the sun shines and the weather is fine.

South Australia’s premier alfresco lifestyle business, AOK (as it’s known to its friends) builds stunning kitchens and lifestyle products that bring the indoors outdoors.

But while the business offered gorgeous (and by extension very marketable) wares, it had a problem: it wasn’t gaining the sort of traction it hoped for online.

“I wanted to do something different to reach potential customers,” says Justin Shepherd, captain of the AOK ship. He understood the power of digital marketing, but lacked the time and expertise to turn the brand into a dominant online force.

So he gave Ninki the keys to his content, and let the girls drive.

The aim

Justin knew that a homeowner will spend hour upon hour browsing home improvement inspo online. Platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and Google cop a hammering from people looking to turn their humble abode into a royal-ready palace.

AOK’s goal was simple: to capitalise on this interest. It wanted to generate more exposure, more leads and more business by going big on social media and climbing the Google rankings for outdoor lifestyle-associated terms.

A content-focused team of creative marketers and marketing creatives, Ninki knew how. After gaining a clear picture of AOK’s current online presence and the customers the business was targeting, Ninki developed a deliciously effective content strategy.

The approach

At a base level the AOK strategy was simple: craft and publish content that would attract more eyes, resonate with the right type of homeowner, and frame AOK as the go-to brand for anyone looking to enhance their outdoor area.

The content came in two main forms:

Targeted blog articles

Ninki created a blog content plan that focused on questions that AOK’s target audience was asking, designed to make the brand more likely to be featured as a rich result on the Google results page. Each handcrafted blog was written in a style that would capture that specific customer’s attention and would channel readers toward the ‘money’ pages on the AOK site.

Engaging social content

Until Ninki took control, AOK’s social feeds were almost exclusively filled with product shots. While the subject matter was certainly photogenic, Ninki added some spit-and-shine to these product-focused posts, and worked to diversify the content by adding valuable lifestyle and home improvement tips, glowing reviews, behind the scenes footage and more.

The results

The perks of a more targeted blog strategy were quick to show. As AOK’s souped up articles began to be published, its website began to rank higher. In fact, the brand made it to the first page of Google for targeted terms within one month.

This improved visibility, combined with the more relevant, purposeful blogs, saw clicks increase big time. Today no less than 62% of AOK’s web traffic comes from their SEO-optimised blog articles.

“Ninki’s blogs not only helped increase our site’s visibility in Google, but drove enquiries to our business,” confirms Justin.

The impact of Ninki’s social media content strategy was just as seismic. The newfound beauty, diversity and consistency of posts on social feeds kept AOK top of mind for potential outdoor kitchen owners, and the captivating content connected the brand with plenty of new admirers.

The social media content proved incredible at driving enquiries. In fact, Ninki’s posts became AOK’s main source of new leads. The brand’s Instagram follower count has more than tripled since Ninki came on board, building to 12K fans, and between Facebook and Instagram AOK has secured over two million impressions in the last year.

With AOK now blessed with an online presence that we rate officially poppin’, the team can focus on what they’re good at: building kitchens and products that lure people out of their homes and into the great outdoors.

“I highly recommend Ninki's services,” Justin neatly surmises. And for the record, we highly recommend AOK’s too.