Google Talks Marketing Implications of Social Search

It’s no secret that Google delivers personalized search results on a user-by-user basis. In fact, software engineer Bryan Horling reportedly said at SMX West in Santa Clara that Google personalizes as much as 20 percent of any user’s web searches, which would be one in five searches. One way that Google personalizes search results is with its social search feature, which it launched in January. At SMX, WebProNews discussed this feature with Google’s Johanna Wright.

If you follow the search industry very closely, you are probably aware of what social search does, but in case you’re not, it simply injects content from people within your "social circle" into your search results for relevant queries. For example, if you searched for "iPad," and you had a friend who recently posted an iPad review to his/her blog, there is a good chance that would show up on the first page of your results. This is Google’s way of placing relevance on who you know. If you know someone, you’re more likely to trust their content than that of a stranger (or at least trust yourself on whether or not to trust them).

WebProNews asked Wright what kind of implications social search has for marketers. She says there aren’t many, but she would give more general tips like making good content people want to read, following Google’s webmaster guidelines, and using webmaster tools to make sure you’re indexed. She did also suggest going to code.google.com and checking out Google’s Social Graph API if you have social elements on your own site. That is explained in the following clip.

When Google’s social search launched, I recommended businesses consider the following tips, as social search could be considered just another part of your social media marketing strategy. It means staying connected with customers.

1. Make sure you have all of your important links on your Google Profile.
2. Make as many connections as possible.
3. Encourage customers to follow you via social networks.
4. Participate in social media so people will engage with you.
5. Encourage sharing of content (there are plenty available social media buttons)
6. Include social network info on business cards/signage, etc.
7. Include social network info in your online advertising
8. There are probably many more worthwhile tips (if you have any, share them in the comments).

Probably the most important thing to remember here is that people are always likely to be seeing different search results when they perform searches on Google. Getting good rankings just isn’t as cut and dry as it used to be. Social search is only one way Google personalizes search results. Location is another. I would expect Google to continue looking at ways to make results more relevant to individual users as time goes on.

Do you take social search into consideration for your strategy? Discuss this here.

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A New Start With VideoBlogging

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

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Terry Detty loves these Internet Marketing Services including some Directory Submission resources. Great results are seen when using the right Main Keyword Phrases as well.

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A New Start With VideoBlogging

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10 Most Effective Questions for Take-Action Testimonials

Client testimonials can make or break a web site. They are a vital factor in establishing a relationship of trust with new visitors to your site. Visitors want to see that others just like them have hired you or purchased your products and have successfully overcome some hurdle or some issue. Better yet, when the testimonials specifically note how the client’s life or business has been enhanced by buying your product or service, the visitor then begins to believe that it will help her overcome a similar issue, as well.

Several years ago I updated one of my sites. I continued to get phone calls from potential clients who wanted to hire me, but the calls were much different than I had gotten previously. The difference was that I spent the duration of the phone call in sales mode to convince them to hire me, which is something I hate to do. I’d never had to do that before. Typically when someone would call me, they were already sold on the concept of hiring me and just wanted to know when we could get started.

I racked my brain to try and figure out what in the world was going on and what had changed with these prospects. Suddenly it hit me that in the update of my site, my client testimonials had gotten lost in the process and weren’t on the new site. This gave me the motivation I needed to get additional testimonials from satisfied clients and determine how to best display those testimonials for maximum impact. Once I added those to my new site, things returned to normal and those rave reviews did all of my selling for me.

So, now you know that testimonials can serve as an important sales tool on your web site. How do you go about getting testimonials that say something more compelling than, “Jane is great to work with!”, which is useless for all practical purposes.

Here are ten questions you can ask your clients to get results-oriented testimonials for your online business:

1. What factors made you to choose my business to assist you with ?
2. What were your preconceived notions about using . For example, “What were your perceptions about working with an accountant before we started?”
3. How has that perception changed since you hired me/bought my product?
4. What do you like most about working with me/using the product?
5. Did you expect it would work as well as it did?
6. Did you have any objections/hesitations before you decide to hire us/buy the product? If so, what were they? How did we overcome your hesitation and objections?
7. What are the three biggest benefits of working with us/using the product? OR How has your life changed/things changed since you began using our service/product? Please be as specific as possible (i.e. we increased sales by 25% in 3 months; I lost 15 pounds in 20 days; I doubled my income last year). You may also want to ask this as a before/after question, i.e. “How are things different now after hiring us than they were before you hired us?”
8. If you were to recommend me to a colleague, friend, or business associate, how would you describe the way I provided my service to you (or, the way I helped you achieve a certain result)?
9. Is there anything else you’d like to add that I haven’t yet asked about?
10. Can I share this information in our marketing materials?

If you don’t have any client testimonials on your site, it’s not to late to go out and solicit a few. Use some or all of the questions noted above to increase the trust visitors have in your services and products and increase your sales dramatically!

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Online Business Coach and Internet Marketing Strategist Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online businesses that they love. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

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10 Most Effective Questions for Take-Action Testimonials

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Keys To Great Email Strategy

The foundations of strategy don’t change, but transferring it to email require a different level of thinking these days.  I was teaching my daughter backgammon and talking about the strategy of the game. She very simply said, “My strategy is to win.”  After laughing, I said “Winning isn’t a strategy, it’s a result.”  But she had a good point; we seem to think very cause and effect in our business.   We either think too narrowly in determining what winning means — or we think so long-term that we lose sight of the strategic things that really worked.

Strategy to me is an evolving thing that includes establishment of goals, objectives, tactics, and an iterative methodology that allows you to create dimensional approaches across many segments, products and channels.

To be successful in email strategy doesn’t start with a communication strategy.  It starts with a framework for how you’ll make decisions.  Here are some elements that should be included in this framework:

1. What are your monetary goals and objectives for your program, and how do they change by segment and/or product mix? This isn’t just a revenue view; it’s a profit view, a cost of reach, direct and indirect value of response, and the variables associated with the cost of running your program.  These are all critical levers you’ll have to make decisions on “in-motion.”
2. What are the consumer actions and motivators that drive a purchase decision?  Not just, why do they buy? But, what motivates them to buy, what type of information do they need in what part of the lifecycle?  How does it evolve by segment?  What type of support does your site, call center, or sales force play in this?  What are the tasks your customer must take to complete a purchase — and how does your operations support those?
3. What competitive considerations are important to your business — and how do they impact the ways your customers make decisions?  This isn’t as simple as saying, we offer a better product or our competitors offer a competitive product cheaper.  You must develop a strategy that can react quickly to market conditions and competitive promotions and adjust to consumer demands.  How will you gather this competitive insight, consumer response and make decisions on this information? It’s critical that you set some business rules upfront for how you will react to competitive considerations.  This includes creating “and/IF” scenarios and outcomes. If you don’t create strategy around this, you will find yourself in reaction mode without well-thought-out plans, ultimately distracted from your program and strategies.
4. How you create customer segments is critical to effective strategy.  You’ll quickly find that if you make it too complex, you’ll never develop a complete strategy that is doable.  It’s critical that you create actionable segments that can be catered to in-program.  Just because you can create dynamically driven segments and event-driven communications doesn’t mean you will have the time or resources to truly optimize all the segments.  Your strategy should define the core primary and secondary segments and prioritize each.  I typically put them into “high value,”  “low value” and “invest” categories, allowing for variations in approaches and techniques.
5. Lastly, your framework should include simple hypothesis-driven testing. Sounds simple: You want to learn something, so you test it and get a result.  But anyone who’s worked in this space long enough knows that test results are rarely “pure” and rarely tell a complete story.  At best they inform direction, not tactics.  Your strategic testing framework should include how often you’ll test, what hypothesis you want to solve, and what are the actions you’ll take once you’ve proven or disproven this thinking. (it may be frequency, it may be price sensitivity, types of communications that drive what actions etc..).  It’s critical that you lay out this framework early in the year.  If you wait till the campaign brief to form thoughts around testing, you’ll end up learning little, creating unneeded complexity and generally confused about what works.

Strategy is something that needs investment and fresh perspective.   I’ve seen lots of tactics, some that worked and some that didn’t — but I’ve seen very few strategic plans that were set up properly for email marketing or eCRM.   With a well-planned strategy, you’ll see fewer and fewer obstacles.   “Obstacles are those fearful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals” — and goals begin with a foundational strategy.

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David Baker is vice president of eCRM Solutions at Razorfish. Visit his blog at http://whitenoiseinc.com and contact him here.

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Keys To Great Email Strategy

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Sponsored Conversation and Paid Blogging Generates Enormous Buzz and Sales

Sponsored conversation is a strategy that allows companies to tap into the tempest of social media marketing. By offering compensation to publishers, marketers can enjoy exposure through Twitter, Facebook, a sponsored blog, and similar online channels. This strategy should not be approached haphazardly. Paid blogging is still misunderstood by many people and there remains a potential for stirring controversy. That said, if executed properly, a sponsored conversation can generate measurable buzz and produce scalable sales.

We will describe how paid blogging and other forms of sponsored conversation provides marketers with a seamless blend of public relations online and advertising. We’ll also explain different methods of compensation and the parameters by which performance is measured.

Sponsored Conversation: The Best of Both Worlds

The challenge of traditional advertising is that it often lacks a conversational voice. While placement and exposure are guaranteed, the message lacks authenticity. As a result, it is not uncommon for advertising campaigns to generate low response rates. By contrast, when a blogger or social media publisher mentions a particular company, his or her post is infused with an authentic voice. That natural authenticity can produce an enormous increase in response rates. The challenge is that the exposure is unreliable.

A sponsored conversation merges social media publishing with advertising to provide the best of both worlds. Marketers can take advantage of paid blogging to guarantee coverage of their brand and products through an authentic voice.

Methods of Compensating Sponsored Conversations

There are many ways in which marketers can compensate a sponsored conversation, including cash, shopping sprees, and gift cards. For example, in late 2008, Kmart offered shopping sprees to several high-profile bloggers in order to enlist their help to promote a seasonal sale. Other forms of payment may include specific products such as software, movie tickets, groceries or even cars. In early 2009, Symantec compensated bloggers with products related to their business. Because compensation can be negotiated individually, companies can easily manage the ROI of each sponsored conversation.

Sponsored Conversation Supports Flexible Performance Parameters

One of the key advantages of a sponsored conversation is the flexibility with which companies can measure results. By tracking impressions, unique visitors, or actions, marketers can calculate their ROI based upon the performance parameters they define. Advertisers can have trackable links placed within blog posts, tweets, and status updates in order to measure the effectiveness of each individual sponsored conversation.

For example, a company might wish to pay a blogger or social media publisher for each new post or status update. Or, they might prefer to pay per click based on a value they calculate for each visitor. Some marketers might wish to design a payment schedule based on post-click conversions generated on the company’s website. This flexibility in measuring each conversation’s performance allows advertisers to control marketing campaign costs while maximizing their ROI.

How to Make a Sponsored Blog Work

There are two main criteria that influence how well a sponsored conversation performs. Both are left in the hands of the blogger or publisher. The first factor is a full disclosure of the sponsorship. Few things will impact a publisher’s credibility more than hiding the fact that they are receiving compensation for posting about certain products or services. The second factor is authenticity. A publisher must have the freedom to post with sincerity. That means communicating both positive and negative thoughts (if any) to their readership. This authenticity is essential to making a sponsored conversation work. Without it, a blogger or social media publisher will lose credibility.

Sponsored Conversation: Blending Public Relations and Advertising

As long as a sponsored conversation is transparent and the publisher is given the freedom to write with sincerity, advertisers stand to yield significant benefits. They will be able to enjoy guaranteed exposure for their brand and products. Plus, they can tap into a publisher’s social media network. Each person within that network controls and influences their own network. If orchestrated correctly, a sponsored conversation can be launched to trigger a groundswell of buzz and sales. It is measurable; it is scalable; it is a cost-effective marketing solution that seamlessly blends advertising and public relations online. For many companies, it can form the foundation of long-term brand loyalty.

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With 20 years marketing and advertising experience, Rostin Reagor Smith is on the cutting edge of internet marketing. Combining Social Media Optimization with more traditional SEO and SEM methods, RRS is a consulting firm specializing in enhancing clients’ online presence and managing their public relations online. SEO, SEM and ORM, Online Reputation Management, are combined in this successful formula. http://www.RostinReagorSmith.com

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Sponsored Conversation and Paid Blogging Generates Enormous Buzz and Sales

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