Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category

Google Search Plus Your World – Reactions & Business Strategy

January 23rd, 2012

Web marketers and those with online businesses everywhere just got a huge boost from Google. A kind of back door has just been opened into Google search results; although, it’s safe to say that Google didn’t intend to do such a thing, and those without plans to run an active Google+ account may not see any direct benefit.

Here’s what happened: On the 10th of January, Google made a change that has altered the type of search results that many of us are already seeing. If you’re a Google+ user, the change concerns “your world” – so to speak – and you may have noticed a slight difference in the kinds of results you’re receiving on a number of different types of searches. What’s happening is that Google is elevating information that has been shared in Google+ (or +1′d) into the upper-end of the search results pages. Google calls this new development “Search, plus Your World” (which we’ll call Search Plus).

 

google-plus-searchSearch Plus is the latest search results treatment by the folks from Mountain View, California. Some may ask “why are they doing this?” A fair question. A few experts in the industry have stated that Google is seeding Google+ data into search results because they want searchers with Google+ accounts to contribute to Google+ more often. Others claim that Google is acting on the idea that “personalized” search results are more relevant results.

Google, to no one’s total surprise, is putting a positive spin on the new development.

From Google Inside Search: “Search has always brought you information from across the web. Now, search gets better by including photos, posts, and more from you and your friends. When signed in with Google+, you’ll find personal results and profiles of people you know or follow. You can even expand your world by discovering people related to your search.”  

What this boils down to is that when you’re logged in to Google+ and perform a Google search for a product or service – those results that have been shared by a member of one of your circles or +1’d by a friend are likely to rise to the top of the search results. In other words, if you’re looking for a new messenger bag and one of your Google+ friends has +1’d products from Timbuk2 – bang – there it is at the top of your search results. That’s a significant development.

Consumer Reaction

The market is having mixed reactions. Some search users say that it’s a radical departure from traditional search: Why would Google think that I want to see search results from my circles of friends? Facebook has already told me all about what they like or don’t like.

Others have labeled it a puzzling transformation: There’s no reason to strip out all of the relevant search engine results in favor of results driven by social media.   

And while it’s interesting to hear some grumble over how search is being altered, search marketers and savvy business owners are watching how Google+ is already populating search results. As businesses benefit from social proof, there is good reason to be excited.

Already, businesses are touting their products, service, brand and corporate identity through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Pinterest. Google+ pages are the next logical add-on for any web marketing strategy. But the difference here is that the results of their marketing efforts can be seen immediately in Google search.

What happened to Google’s “Don’t Be Evil”?

Now, some would say that Google (and search as a whole) has forced the hands of many marketers and business owners alike. Let’s face it, if you’re in business today, you have a web marketing strategy (at the very least) in the planning – so that you can be in business tomorrow. That said, yes, the changes in search (including Google pulling keyword data out of Analytics) will change your web marketing plan from quarter to quarter. And this quarter is all about leveraging the power of Google+ to get your foot in the back door to the top of the search results pages at Google.

The other part to consider is the wrath of larger companies like Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps the most interesting item to stem from all this is a new website created over the weekend: http://www.focusontheuser.org/. The YouTube video (below) from the site anonymously outlines how Facebook and Twitter provide more relevant results but Google chooses their own social network first to rank.

The video is so simple to follow even a US Congressman should be able to follow it:
Focus on The User

Tags: Algorithm, Facebook, Google, Social Networking, Twitter
Posted in Facebook, Google, Google+, SEO, Social Networking, Twitter | No Comments

Google+ Rolls Out Pages for Businesses

November 11th, 2011

It seems like Google+ Pages for businesses have been a long-time coming, even though Google+ was released into “invite only” field testing on June 28th of this year and just officially rolled out to the general public on September 20th.. That’s not even five full months at this time. Weird, huh? But it really seems like businesses have been waiting forever.

The reason it feels so delayed is that the need for businesses to leverage social networking is so great. Additionally, many businesses feel the there is a significant benefit in being an early adapter to any fashionable technology. Google+ created an enormous amount of buzz in the social market and businesses have been clamoring for commercial access. And while the benefits of social media – as they relate to commercial endeavors – are generally quantifiable in many situations, there are those who claim that Google+, for all its initial fanfare and hype, is seriously lacking in the race behind Facebook and Twitter. Some say that Google+ is poised to fail (following a reported 60% drop-off in day-to-day traffic from early October) and that the addition of business pages has been in response to ailing dwell time and loyalty.

So, what does Google have to say for itself in this matter?

“So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people,” said Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra in a recent blog post. “But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about – from local businesses to global brands – so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

Based on his response, it’s a fair assumption that Mr. Gundotra knows something that he’s keeping to himself. It’s also a safe bet that he’s been pondering a little-known mathematical formulation known as Reed’s Law (and this is where it gets interesting). Developed by Dr. David Reed, an Adjunct Professor at the MIT Media Lab, Reed’s Law asserts that the validity of a social networking site ultimately depends on how well it promotes the formation of groups. In other words, it’s not all about making connections between individuals. Whether your interest is in the businesses you favor, brands, products, artists, causes, or entertainment, the groups and fan pages that support those interests will drive dwell time, growth and loyalty for a social networking site.

Need proof? Look how easily Facebook battered MySpace into near obscurity.

Google+ Pages for businesses is the first in what will no doubt be a number of additions to Google+ that should allow people to organize better. Those sticking to Google+ will begin to create and join fan pages (communities) based on their business and personal interests. When you look at the issue from a marketing perspective, it’s all a numbers game: the greater the community number, the tighter the hold. A good example at the moment is Eminem, a celebrity with huge drawing power, who has 7 million Twitter followers and 48 million Facebook fans – but cannot be found on Google+ whatsoever. What Eminem is doing for Facebook and Twitter is invaluable to the longevity of those social networks. And you can bet that Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey love every new follower and fan that Eminem draws.

So where does this leave Google+ in the business pages mix? Time will tell. One thing we know for certain is that Google has the funding and the talent to create and grow business interests overnight. They have already started, with this YouTube video:

To get started on a Google+ Page for your business, go to https://plus.google.com/pages/create and follow the directions.

Tags: Facebook, Google, Social Networking, Twitter
Posted in Facebook, Google+, Social Networking, Twitter | No Comments

Social Media & Search Engine Marketing in 2011

August 19th, 2011

There are those who believe that social media is nothing more than chatter and noise, an unending stream of absurd prattle that is clotting our bandwidth and deafening our ears. Balderdash.

For the purposes of this article, we’re going to talk about the impact of social media on search engine marketing (SEM) in terms of measurement. Reason is: we’re all in the social media game to drive traffic to our websites, right?

At its best, social media is this: Exposure, Influence, Engagement, and Action. All of this chatter and noise should lead up to the sound of the cash register ringing. As far as social media marketing planning and goals are concerned, you need know little more.

Recent State of Search Data on Social Media Marketing:

The proportion of companies who don’t engage in any social media marketing activity has dropped from 18% in 2010 to 13% this year. In the same time-span, the number of SEM agencies that treat social media marketing as a part of their regular service offerings has grown from 48% to 54% (more than half). And although social media marketing efforts are more common for Business to Consumer organizations, rather than Business to Business, we expect to see B2B social media trend up as organizations of all types begin to see the impact that social media marketing has made for B2B social media stars like Cisco, Oracle and Intel.

Side note: Forrester Research predicts that “B2B companies will spend $54 million on social media marketing in 2014, up from just $11 million in 2009.”

It’s clear that more businesses and organizations are getting into the social media game. They’ve learned that social has a direct impact on their SEM interests. Traffic = Numbers.

Some companies are already leveraging the full potential of social media exceptionally well. For example: The Ford Motor Company uses Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and an excellent blog called The Ford Story to engage their prospects and customers. They encourage their blog readers to share their own pictures or stories and feature this content on the home page of the official Ford website.

If you haven’t seen the Hollywood megamercial video of professional rally driver Ken Block drifting his 2011 Ford Fiesta at YouTube, go watch it now. Ninjas, sharks, zombies, an ape on a rocket-propelled Segway scooter, blistering pyrotechnics, the Epic Meal Time guys, Bollywood dancers and a healthy dose of product placement for Ford, Monster Energy, DC Shoes, et al. makes for good traffic stats all around. At 3.6 million views to date, that’s good social. Respect.

But what is all this really doing for Ford? Well, against their top two U.S. competitors, Ford presently has a 2,941 worldwide Alexa Traffic Rank vs. 16,392 for GM and 21,609 for Chrysler. For Ford, that’s 5x better than their nearest U.S. competitor – for the win.

Traffic rank (over time) is just one way you can measure the effect of social media on your site. But please remember that quality of traffic often beats quantity. Big numbers for unique visitors is always nice, but time on site, pages per visit, frequency, and depth will show you a level of engagement for your visitors. You can track most of these metrics with web analytics tools like Google Analytics or the Adobe Online Marketing Suite (aka Omniture).

As a social media savvy company, Ford is doing something with their social media efforts that too many companies are missing entirely. Ford is creating exposure and engaging their consumers at the social level and converting that interest into influence and traffic numbers.

Remember: Exposure, Influence, Engagement, and Action = Revenues.

Engagement what? How is this different?

Let me be clear. Someone once said that social media should activate your customers, not collect them. We all know that brand awareness is a top objective for social media marketing, but who really cares if your Facebook page has 50,000 people who like it, or if you have a million Twitter followers. If your website isn’t seeing regular improvements in traffic numbers and traffic stats from one quarter to the next, you’ve missed the point of social media marketing entirely.

Here’s the takeaway on social media measurement:

Social media is a combination of spreading the word about your business and gaining a direct response. Contrary to the beliefs of the few, social media marketing is not some fleeting blip on the marketing and advertising radar. The effects are obvious and measurable. Although your return on investment (ROI) calculations may be somewhat different to figure, you can absolutely measure the effect of your social media efforts at the site analytics level and attach dollar figures to the details.

Conversely, if your marketing department is investing in billboards, TV advertisements or print pages in the phone book or whatever, your rep may be all-too willing to take credit for any improvement in sales you may see – when in all reality, these sales numbers may have little or nothing to do with these ads.

In the social and SEM game, performance is measured first by attribution. And any analyst can watch the traffic source stats, time on site, pages per visit, frequency of visits, depth of visit, event goals reached, URL destination hits and directly relate those numbers to money in the bank.

Chatter and noise are beautiful things, are they not?

Tags: Alexa, Analytics, Facebook, Google, PageRank, Reports, Site Ranking, Social Networking, Twitter
Posted in Facebook, Social Networking, Sweet Spot Marketing, Twitter | 1 Comment

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