The Intersection of Search and Social Media

Last night I attended the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association's monthly meeting event. The speaker was Brett Tabke who is the founder and CEO of Webmaster World and Chairman of PubCon. What a wonderful opportunity to hear first-hand commentary from one of the web's most well-respected contributors. Here are just a few snippets I found interesting:

Google Places: With the resurgence of small to medium sized business investing in online marketing, a Google Places listing is carrying more weight in SEO. Location data is important to Google.

Sentiment: Positive sentiment has meaning. Earlier this year Google purchased sentiment analysis start-up fflick and we're seeing the results on the SERP. Popular sites with positive sentiment are reaping the rewards.

Purchase Data: 90% of all purchases are made within a 90-mile radius of the consumer's home. This means only 10% of all purchases are made online. If we're researching online and buying in brick and mortar stores then as online marketers, we've only scratched the surface with a 10% market penetration.

Google Factoid: The search engine knows A LOT about you. Consider that over 70% of business are using Google Analytics and you know the Google data collection is incredible. How incredible? Google can even detect your level of education just by the typing speed of your search query says Tabke.

Social Graph: We've seen the launch of Google+1 and we know Klout scores have an impact. Targeting your results to your personal social graph is smart since 78% of us trust recommendations from friends vs advertisers.

Tablet Boom: 1 in 3 people use a tablet more than they watch TV. No wonder Time-Warner is launching an app to make it easier to watch TV on your iPad. Tabke reports that 28% of people say their tablet is their primary computer. They are so easy to use they are making huge strides in the senior market. The power of tablets lies in the apps. Tabke's prediction? Look for tablet apps to encroach on web use and users to search for information within the walls of an app. How does that impact YOUR search strategy?

This is only a small sample of Tabke's presentation. I think I just may need to attend Pubcon this year.

Google Insights for Search

I attended the SFIMA Summit this past mid May and was blown away by Albert Chin’s presentation. Although he spoke about many topics the one that really caught my attention was Google Insights for Search.

With Google Insights for Search you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.

Trying to choose the proper advertising message for a campaign is always a slippery slope. Insights gives you the ability to determine which messages resonate best. For example, a home builder may be unsure of whether it should highlight cost, location, or square footage to market a new development. When the three features are entered into Insights, you can see which words have the most interest.

Another great feature of Insights is the ability to examine seasonality. For example, a private island in the Bahamas that offers dolphin encounters may want to find out when people are search for swimming with dolphin terms most often.

Insights can be a helpful tool in creating brand associations as well. For example, a new client comes to TenGoldenRules.com looking for a new advertising campaign. The client needs to know what competing brands are doing and how they should position their products against them. Insights allows you to compare multiple products in one search. By carefully examining the results we can better help our clients understand the competitors’ offers, thereby creating a superior advertising campaign for our clients brands.

The final area that Insights can be useful in is when entering new markets. A coffee distributor may be looking to expand into new markets. By entering in coffee + distributor and comparing the data across multiple countries, such as Canada, Italy, and France, the distributor can get a sense of where interest is the highest.

As you can see, Insights gives you some great tools to research and fine tune your marketing campaigns. If nothing else take a little time and experiment with the tools, I have a feeling you’re going to love them.