The Elephant In The Room

And with fame and success and news, comes the ‘talk’. Yes, the talk! In much the same way as that ‘elephant in the living room’ talk – the one that apparently everyone seems to want to take part in, but no one actually initiates.

But this time it may be different, especially for the search marketing industry, as experts are essentially taking active interest and participating in how Google Instant may be an attempt to conceal Google’s flaws – the relevancy problem!

As Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan puts it. He argues “Google survives because, for the most part, “a few good answers are good enough.”
And that relevancy goes out the window (most times) once a user scrolls down further form the top 3 search results.

And given how Google has painted a pretty picture of monitor and control for it’s advance search model, it generally seems to lag when it comes to nabbing scrupulous affiliate marketers and SEO experts who still opt for ‘black hat’ methods get ranked higher. And Google should pay heed, as rankings to better and faster search results may not count much toward catering to users who have no requirements for such information in the first place.

The fact remains that with Google Instant, the search giant has not really revolutionized search in any way in that it still has not improved the quality of the search results, just the response time for a user input criteria. Which begs the argument whether, in fact changes by Google merit any ‘instant’ appeal.

If you fall under the category of folks who believe they can do more with their B2B ads, then read on to find out the basic statistics on how women and men behave when they come across B2B ads. Maybe this can guide you toward a proper internal redesign of strategy or implementation.

The question revolves around how business people interact with online ads? The extract of the matter is that each gender behaves differently as a target category with women clicking more than men, and men acting more than women. And that’s not all. Each gender behaves the way they do, do so at varying different times of the day and night.

A survey conducted between January and July of this year and undertaken by Bizo, an online ad targeting firm, studied over 80 million business professionals, and they found that when it comes to B2B ads, women tend to have a higher CTR than men, but men are more likely to register for free trials, download, or even buy than women.

The study further observed that men more often click at 3:00am (EST) and end up acting at 4pm, whereas women prefer to delay their clicks till 5am, and act at 11am.
The survey also showed that most business people who click are either from publishing, accounting, drug stores/pharmacies, veterinary services, or agriculture sectors, while business people in the least likely to click category tend to be from the car rental, aerospace and defense manufacturing, media/music,

boats and marine, manufacturing, or higher education sectors. Business people from business services, media/internet, hospitality, and advertising/marketing are more likely to act on an extended offer, whereas business people who are least likely to act are mostly from the same sector as those who are least likely to click. The survey rounded off with top clickers from operations change management, IT, database, government sales support, and operations compliance categories, whereas those with the most actions were mostly from the C-Level executive class, IT, medical/health, Marketing/Advertising sectors.

In conclusion, the above data may provide some insight into B2B campaigns, and perhaps help you in your online B2B strategy.

But it would wrong to think so. As with it’s a change, some would argue an improvement, from Google, and with that change comes a change for SEO. Considering it’s a change in the core services of Google search, this change may impact SEO more adversely than positive. And this has got the experts talking.

And as per the eye-tracker data provided by Google at the Google Instant launch, it was evident that users are drawn towards the top search results immediately below the search box, whereas no further activity was observed with regards to the right side of the screen/Google page where most sponsored text ads are placed.

But whether this behavior remains constant or not is still debatable as most of Google’s revenue is generated by that same text ad model (AdWords). However, this strange behavior may be just what Google wants in pursuit of providing quick search results to users. Yet, this does not concern Google, as the company estimates that users globally will save 11 hours per second because of Instant. Looking at it from another standpoint, would this, then, not mean that those 11 hours are the same that is taken away from looking at text ads?

Apparently, it would be sensible to assume that Google must have definitely run the required tests and researched by other means to figure this out, and validate the launch and the benefits of Instant. And possibly the company would have made sure such a functionality does not make it to the final release.

However, the possibilities of AdWords CTRs being affected remain great, even though not much change has been noticed thus far.

As Google Instant is in a real world scenario now, with real time feedback, advertisers and publishers both will just have to wait and see just how the impact will affect them, whether for AdWords or for organic Google Traffic.

As no amount of data can truly harness what the real world has in store for Google Instant.

And search experts are of mixed opinions. Since Google Instant does as it’s name suggests, any search criteria put into the search box will automatically give out suggestions. With that suggestion comes the first name – which means that for some folks, PPC is going to cost a whole lot more.

It is therefore crucial that brands are careful when bidding on terms that can show up first or even too soon in the search process.

Because Google Instant has the potential to provide enough challenges to search marketers, there is a possibility that many may switch over to Bing.

With a much bigger impact anticipated for paid search, impressions start counting with that three-second pause while typing in a search criteria. And should any paid search criteria not get suggested for the first three search terms (natural search and paid search are pushed down by suggested search terms), then paid search adverts can wave their impression-based campaigns, and the resulting click-through rates, goodbye. Users will possibly click earlier if they see relevant results before they complete their long-tail query.

One expert is of the opinion that Goggle Instant may actually draw attention to suggested searches because eventually those suggested terms will mirror certain long tail phrases.
To counteract, another expert suggests monitoring suggested queries as and when they happen. And it becomes important for search marketers to understand the three-second delay in suggestions, the return key/backspace action, and how the implied impression will affect Click-Through Rates. By checking target keywords, search experts can see if there is an interstitial search triggering a more Universal Search result. This can help in studying the suggested terms during the three-seconds delay.

On the other end of the spectrum, one expert does not believe the suggested terms is going to have a drastic impact on the strategies and tactics deployed by search marketers. Although, Google Instant will require you to revise your choice, as well as the sequence of your search keywords.

But how this all effects partial word ranking in the future remains to be seen, especially if predicted searches in Google Instant maintains focus on unique personal history.

As most recent experience shows, when someone starts typing in a search phrase, there is a very high probability they may never complete the phrase. This half-way gateway to accepting a search result by the user happens in a time delay of three seconds. And most times, the search results suggested are good enough to be clicked on by the user. By studying this phenomena, SEO experts and paid search advertisers can now directly target the intended search in order of typing.

A keystroke brings up suggestions, as deemed relevant by the Google Instant system, and the more letters you input, the more the suggested options, taking the user toward sort of a preferential term search. Additionally, search suggestions continuously change with each space added in between words.

But even if a preferred combination term search is opted for by search experts for key-letter targeting, there aren’t many options available but to end scrolling further for results that may be of interest.

As more and more preferences come up in the predicted search, search marketers will need to surgically approach targeting criteria in order to make sure their clients are benefitting from this concept. Much work for the search experts, you ask? Definitely! Of course, do keep in mind that with the given system at hand, it is also crucial to devise a strategy for pricing, as chances are, targeting terms in this system will cost a tad bit more than regular PPC.

With the given combination of preferential term targeting and the relevance of each keystroke in Google Instant, it will be wise to start optimizing your search campaigns accordingly, as the last thing you would want is to wait until some cunning search experts beats you to it. And as one expert stated, “It presents challenges for SEO, as we have to broaden to a new long tail of shorties.”

One thing is for sure, though. Linear targeting is here to stay for paid search and SEO.

And as part of this same plan, the past year saw constant improvements and overhaul in the portal’s strategy for it’s content creation business, huge investments in talent, and quality improvements, all of this in order to attract more advertising dollars. The Wall Street Journal thinks so too. In it’s report on the matter, the journal said that “… the new ads will do a better job of grabbing and holding the consumers’ attention… which can boost AOL’s momentum in generating ad revenue as it tries to transform itself to an ad-supported digital-media business.”

Project Devil, the codename given to the new – and larger – ad formats, aims to draw more reader attention from readers, creating greater revenue dollars for the stakeholders. With up to four times as large as the current display inventory on AOL’s properties, the ads will carry a photo gallery, a video, coupons, Facebook or Twitter updates or maps, with a few including 3D product view capabilities as well as a click-to-buy functionality.

AOL may well need this plan to succeed, as in the last quarter itself, AOL’s advertising revenue fell 27% year-on-year. And with The New York Times too implementing premier roadblock ads, the industry needs these strategic plans to work. However, that remains to be seen, as big advertising inventories that are launched barely keep up the interest in the end.

But with new formats, and especially with display ads, there is always the concern of banner blindness, which may be somewhat neutralized by the added functionalities incorporated within these larger ads.

The idea is to include these ads within existing content thereby adding value to the overall page real estate. The concept has the potential to keep balance between editorial and advertising on the pages.

With an added interest in digital advertising, the real success formula rests on the idea of these advertorials to be successful for display advertising to move forward. And the digital advertisers’ growing interest in display can hold the key to this movement. As Kantar Media reported, the recent 2010 growth of 5.3% in the display market for the first-half of the year will hopefully continue.

Given that today’s consumers are smarter, this growth can benefit from keeping in tune.

For that to happen, a social media community needs to be enticing and creative enough so that brands can develop meaningful bonds with customers, which requires a decent effort towards a sound community management strategy.

The following few fundamental steps can help you distinguish yourself and your brand form those communities that are dead in conversations, and engagement.

Focus

Give your intended online community some thought. Think of the focus that will objectify what your community will stand for.

By defining goals and objectives for your community, you can always come back to basics in case you over extend your campaign.

Open Creativity

Test and retest through initial as well as ongoing feedback from your community. After all, it is they who will eventually get to spend time there. Give them the opportunity to voice their opinions, concerns, and act on that feedback in a timely manner.

Taking time out once a period establishes your willingness to adopt the open culture that is defining the web-sphere.

Provide enough fresh content to invite casual visitors to your community for engagement. Get rid of any impediments that may curtail the given opportunity for a fair and open creative culture. Without assuming what your community may need, allow a fair amount of space to encourage feedback.

Control and Monitor Through Engagement

Always remember to cut down the hassles that go with the quality measure. Welcome active community participation for quality management and community standards.

Have quality rules and checks in place, maintained by a decent specialist who can manage, moderate, and engage with the community. Additionally, by setting timelines for when you can take part in the community, you can establish a sense of connection that is key to online community participation.

Socialize

Sharing your community discussions and articles across the web will allow you to share and spread your community’s presence far and wide. Actively allow content sharing to ratings and reviews sites like Digg and Technorati, create Blogrolls with experts, and also share content with related forums and notice boards.

Creating, governing, and growing a community is a straightforward proposition, and, if properly implemented, should entitle you to a high value community success that will complement both your brand and business.

Or do you?

Consider also that Microsoft’s acquisition list goes back to 1987, whereas Google’s only goes back to 2001. That is some fairly heavy growth, and it isn’t growth without the tinge of scandal. Google is no stranger to antitrust, or rather, being investigated for it.

You can find the full list of Google acquisitions on the Wiki page- and included in the graphic is what Google has done with said acquisitions. The list of references is pretty hefty, as well and it isn’t hard to see how busy the Google checkwriters have been- and likely will continue to be. Though lately, their eyes seem turned to local search, as well as social marketing. It is no surprise- Bing linking arms with Facebook is giving them a run for their money.

What hasn’t Google Bought?

In recent news- Groupon. Though the rumor mill had cranked into full gear- with Vader.tv going as far as to announce the deal had been done, it hadn’t.

Oh, how embarrassing for Faith Merino,  who gave the piece the tagline of:

While neither company has confirmed the story, the acquisition follows a week of buyout rumors.

Instead of following the trend that week of speculation of the so-called already in the bag acquisition- we instead posted Gazing Into the Social Media Crystal Ball. It seems more important, going back to the list of Google’s confirmed acquisitions and what they’ve done with them, to pay attention to that. Instead of questioning if they did or did not- following the trend of what they do with the acquisitions they do obtain and what they might want to purchase a company for- that’s where you find the true pulse of the changes being made.

Also, understanding why companies like Groupon and Yelp would say no to an offer from Google is important. For Yelp, it was easy to see why they’d reject the deal, though opinions between the companies apparently conflicted.

The reason why Groupon walked away from what looked like a sweet deal for a cool $5.3 billion with a $700 million earnout?

Groupon is already pulling in $2 billion a year and showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. To see why they weren’t all that keen to join the stable of 42 companies Google has actually acquired this year isn’t hard to figure out- it’s a matter of simple math.

Going back to our prediction- follow the money trail. Google offered Groupon, a very new start up- one that is making more money than what they paid for Youtube a rather hefty sum in a move that many questioned. (That would be $1.6 billion in 2006)

Groupon marks the second try and fail to acquire something which would further enable Google to corner local search.

Who would know search trends better than the Search Giant, itself?

As we have been focusing a bit more on local search and its impact on social media marketing, it seems as though this follows right along in line with the trend.

Facebook Deals is actually an incredibly intelligent move on the part of the social media dynamo.

What Is It?

For some time now, users of Facebook have had access to Facebook Places. This was already a great deal for local businesses, because when Facebook users “Checked In” at a place- a clickable link takes you directly to that Facebook page- like so:

Here, you can see that actor Kevin Machate was at Gold’s Gym. Up until the roll out of Facebook Deals, this was simply one more way users could get access to Facebook Pages of businesses they might not have otherwise seen.

With Deals, however, now, there are four types of deals that the now 200 million mobile users on Facebook will have access to:   individual, friend, loyalty and charity.

These are offered by businesses utilizing the application, not Facebook itself- so you can see the benefit there. Not only can users check in, but they can also let all of their friends know when they’ve gotten a sweet deal for doing so. Brilliant.

Consider a moment the implications of mobile use, and the vast number of those users checking their phones, etc for information. Those 200 million users aren’t likely to browse sites- even if you’ve set it up for mobile, unprompted. But, they are browsing Facebook. More than that, they are using Facebook to not only talk about the products, services and events they enjoy- but now, with Facebook Deals, they are talking about it in a more direct, marketable way.

But Foursquare Already Does That

And, as such, of course, there has been speculation that Facebook Places and Deals might put a crimp in their style.

Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley isn’t worried about that.
“We have always said that the check-in is going to be a commodity, Crowley said. “The check-in itself isn’t interesting; it’s what happens after the check-in that matters.”

He seems to believe that being able to claim “mayorship” via the earned badges they get for checking in certain places. I think, “Do I want to be a fictitious mayor, or do I want to save money?” From a customer standpoint- though Foursquare businesses often announce deals, many are contingent on reaching status levels. From a business standpoint- Foursquare just doesn’t have the user base that Facebook Places has. Speculation is, that Facebook Places has 30 million users- as opposed to the 4 million on Foursquare.

This is not to say that marketing on Foursquare is pointless- it isn’t, there are advantages to using this location based service in mobile marketing as well. It’s quick, and if you’re a brick and mortar business advertising- it’s a great thing. And- if you have a look at the link above, it reveals that Foursquare users do check in more often than Facebook Places users.

It is interesting to note that even though marketing to mobile is becoming a huge thing- on a huge social network, the one group that you would think would latch on firmly- hasn’t. We explored this a bit in Restaurant Owners Ignore Hard Data At Their Own Peril and it is worth considering. All those users checking in- why aren’t more cashing in on this trend?

The new profiles were explained by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a 60 Minutes interview:

“You can see all the things that you have in common with that person, it gives you this amazing connection with that person in a way that the current version of the profile that we have today just doesn’t do.”

We mention it, not because this really changed very much- it didn’t. The new profile pages, in our experience are okay but not really all that stunning in difference to what they were. Paying attention and waiting, the usual trend of seeing the complaints didn’t come to pass- but here is what did:

If you haven’t seen it yet- you will.

But what does Instant Personalization really do?

It actually only uses the information that a Facebook user already makes public. No Big Brother Bing scare, there- if you already have the information out there, anyone can access it, anyway.

What does this mean for businesses using social media?

That depends. For businesses that utilize social media in an appropriate way that isn’t spammy or annoying to the user? It will probably incentivize things a bit more- because it will become much more visible when a Facebook friend “Likes”, comments or otherwise engages with a business on Facebook. That is a part of the new profile change- which incidentally, though is opt-in at present, will be another one of the changes where you wake up, and your Facebook page is different in the future.

In terms of Instant Personalization- businesses would be wise to pay attention to what the social aspect of social media is saying, however slightly paranoid it may seem. Users want to interact with businesses on their terms, not on the terms of the business. In other words- if you market your business the way you have always done, you will miss out on the chance to truly engage the users, which is what social media is all about.