Performics Performance Marketing Blog: SEM, SEO, Social & Display

Performics Weekly Digital Research Recap

Posted by Cristina Lucero & Christina Mannarino, Performics Research & Insights Team

United States

Channel Insights

Search

-What If Yahoo! Sells Right Media? (ClickZ)

• Yahoo! may sell off some of its ad platforms. The move is seen as an alternative to investing resources needed to upgrade the platforms.
• Such a move wouldn't exit Yahoo! from ad technology entirely. The company owns a large portfolio of ad products, including Blue Lithium, Dapper, and a huge ad optimization platform - each of which has a technology component. However the sale of Right Media in particular would change the company's role in the ad-buying ecosystem.
• Performics reaction: "As an advertiser, we're less concerned about the technology and more concerned about the inventory changing. Right Media has probably the most extensive selection of high-quality bidded inventory available to trading desks like ours at Performics, so as long as they don't lose anything we're happy."
• Read the full article here.

Performics Weekly Digital Research Recap

Posted by Cristina Lucero & Christina Mannarino, Performics Research & Insights Team

United States

Channel Insights

Search

-Pew Research Center Report: Search Engine Use 2012

• 91% of online adults use search engines to find information on the web, up from 84% in June 2004
• Search is most popular among young adult Internet users, those who have been to college, and those with the highest household incomes
• Frequency of search engine use varies by age, education and income, with adults under age 50 and those with more education and higher household incomes using search more frequently than others
• Google is far and away the most popular search engine.  Fully 83% of searchers use Google more often than any other search engine.  Yahoo! is a very distant second at just 6%.
• Read the full report here

-comScore Releases January 2012 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

• Google gained share vs. last month. However, the big news is that Bing is now firmly ahead of Yahoo in “explicit core search.” But using comScore’s expanded “total core search” definition, Yahoo! remains ahead of Bing.  Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in January with 66.2 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.2 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 14.1 percent.
• Read the full comScore report here

Making the Most of Paid Search to Engage B2B Buyers

This article first appeared on ChiefMarketer.com on March 8, 2012

Posted by Leo Dalakos, VP Strategy & Analytics

Many business-to-business marketers struggle to efficiently find, segment and engage their potential customers on search engines. But most B2B marketers aren't fully taking advantage of emerging search engine opportunities and strategies.  Here's five underutilized B2B paid search marketing opportunities:

1.  Identify B2B user needs, then segment via ad extensions. There are primarily three types of B2B participants: (1) the User Buyer (who identifies the organization's need for the product), (2) the Technical Buyer (who screens/researches vendors), and (3) the Economic Buyer (who controls the budget and is concerned with ROI). These participants have different needs; therefore, they respond to different messages and content.  For example, the Technical Buyer wants content on features, reviews and product comparisons while the Economic Buyer wants information on price and quality. But, as a marketer, you often don't know which buyer is behind a certain query. So how do you appeal to all buyers? First, identify the distinct needs of each buyer. Second, build paid search landing pages that house content that speaks to each need. Then, segment buyers via various ad extensions:

• Sitelinks: Sitelinks are links below your ad that direct users to different landing pages on your site. Use sitelinks to segment user types based on needs. For instance, an advertiser could include a "Features" sitelink to engage the Technical Buyer alongside a "Pricing Menu" sitelink to engage the Economic Buyer. If you sell a product to both business and non-business users, segment non-business users with a sitelink (i.e. "Printers for Home").
• Video: Video ad extensions—like Yahoo! Rich Ads in Search—enable advertisers to embed a video within a paid search ad. Video is a particularly powerful tool for B2B marketers, especially in engaging the Technical Buyer who often wants to see your product in action.
• Click to Call, Location Extensions, and "Find Nearby": Make it easy for the User Buyer to get your product when he needs it by including your phone number and address in your ad. Additionally, Google's "Find Nearby" feature helps searchers find where a product is sold and if that product is in stock.

2.  Hyper Tailor to B2B: To run efficient search campaigns, B2B marketers must filter out unqualified, non-business-user clicks. Perform ongoing ad copy testing to uncover which messages resonate best with business users (and don't resonate with non-business users). Create landing pages that speak directly to B2B.

Managing False & Malicious Online Reviews

With Yelp’s recent IPO, we thought it would be helpful to remind brands how to best manage their reputations on online review sites.  Your search engine marketing efforts are becoming increasingly dependent on what your participants say about your brand online.  Participant reviews—on Yelp, Google Places, and Citysearch—now occupy prominent positions on the search engine results pages (SERPs), especially for searches with local intent.  Whether a new-to-file customer walks through your door often depends on a review they read through a search engine.  The problem is that many of these reviews are fake.  For instance, a recent Cornell University study found that about half of all online hotel reviews are fake.  These fake reviews could be positive.  But they could also be negative—perhaps posted by a competitor looking to disparage your reputation.  And, according to B2B Magazine, one negative online review could cost you thirty new customers.

Savvy marketing strategies are often best suited to manage false and malicious reviews.  Managing reviews starts with engaging in a two-way conversation with your reviewers—both critics and fans.  This requires (1) monitoring, (2) reporting malicious reviews and (3) participating in the online conversation about your brand.

(1) Monitor

You can’t manage online reviews unless you’re monitoring them.  Every brand should designate resources—either in marketing, customer relations or public relations—to monitoring online brand reputation.  For larger brands, this may require social listening tools or conversation analysis capabilities. 

• Claim your business listings on Yelp, Google Places and other review sites so that you’re able to monitor more easily
• Monitor the conversation around your brand in real-time.  Time matters; every minute that a false and malicious review sits on your review page could cost you business.

(2) Report

It’s always worth it to report false and malicious reviews to the search engine or review site.  If the review looks like spam, the site may remove it.  To report a review in Google Places:

• Go to the “Report a Problem Link” at the bottom of your Place Page
• Place Page owners can then submit a form to Google indicating that the review contains incorrect information or spam 

(3) Participate

Performics Weekly Digital Research Recap

Posted by Cristina Lucero & Christina Mannarino, Performics Research & Insights Team

United States

Channel Insights

Mobile

-A completely redesigned Google Search App for Windows 7.5 phones (Google)

• Windows Phone owners can access the Google Search App, available in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Some of the features include:

1. Google Autocomplete: As you type in your search, autocomplete offers search predictions that often match your intended search term making search entry easier and faster.
2. Voice Search: With the voice feature, you can avoid typing all together. Simply press the microphone and begin speaking your query.
3. My Location: With your permission, Google can use your device location to provide nearby results easily and accurately. For instance, a search for “coffee shops” quickly displays the nearest places you can go to for a cup of coffee.

• Read the full Google Blog post

Social

-Facebook Warns Brands that Scale in Social Won't Come For Free (Facebook)

• To reach a sizable share of your fan base, you'll need some paid "stories"
• To encourage paid ads, Facebook unveiled a tool, Reach Generator, that will let marketers buy all the reach they want

1. The pitch is that just 16% of fans currently see organic content posted by brands: Most of it is weeded out by Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm, designed to enhance users' experience by putting only the most relevant content in their news feeds. 
2. Using the paid ad tool could increase a brand's exposure percentage to 75%

• Read the full AdAge article

Search

Search Plus Your World’s Impact on Paid Search & SEO

Topic: Google’s incorporation of social and personal content to the SERP
Opportunity: Achieve prominent search visibility through Google+ presence
Channels Impacted: Organic search, paid search, social

Google recently began rolling out its new “Search, Plus Your World” features to the search engine results page (SERP).  The update introduced two new features that significantly impact paid search marketing and SEO:

1. People and Pages: The SERP now prominently features the Google+ Pages of both people and brands—for branded and generic queries—even when the searcher isn’t logged in
2. Personal Results: When logged in, the Google SERP now shows the searcher’s personal photos and posts from Google+ and Picasa.  Personal results include the searcher’s own content, as well as content shared with the searcher.  This new content is exclusive to the searcher, so everyone’s SERP is different.

People and Pages: Search Implications

Since Google+ Pages for Businesses launched, we’ve advocated that having a branded Google+ Page is essential for your search campaigns (see Why Your Brand Needs a Google+ Business Page Now).  We noted that the primary reason to create a Google+ Page was to aid your SEO efforts.  For instance, social content from brands is increasing achieving prominent visibility on the Google SERP, especially for branded searches.  We told brands to expect to see their Google+ Business Pages in the top organic results for branded keywords very soon.  What we didn’t expect was the prominence that Google would give Google+ Business Pages.  For instance, the below search for “fashion” gives H&M’s Google+ Page visibility equivalent to a position-1 paid-search bid, even when the searcher is not signed in:

Multiply the Effect of Your Brand’s Super Bowl Commercial through Digital Integration

Topic: Digital strategies to support your Super Bowl commercial
Opportunity:  Maximize your Super Bowl commercial investment
Channels Impacted: TV, paid search, organic search, mobile, social, display

This year, Super Bowl advertisers will spend a record $3.5 million per 30-second spot.  This investment positions advertisers in front of the largest television audience of the year; for instance, Super Bowl 2011 drew a record 111 million U.S. viewers.  And this year—for the first time ever—the big game will air online (including on mobile devices).  Football fans—and commercial fans—won’t miss a second of the action, even as they run to the fridge and the bathroom.

A Super Bowl commercial buy is the ultimate branding play.  But getting your product/service in front of 100+ million people doesn’t mean your job as a marketer is done.  Your Super Bowl ad boosts brand awareness, thus spurring people to search online for your brand or talk about your commercial on social networks.  Once this happens, you must maintain the connection that your Super Bowl commercial created with your participant.

We’ve provided five tips to strategically optimize your Super Bowl investment and position your brand to capture the demand created by your 30-second spot:

1.  Ensure 100% Search Coverage, Especially on Mobile

This year more than ever, Super Bowl viewers won’t be glued to their television screens.  They’ll be multi-viewing—using their tablets and smartphones to see online-only camera angles, in-game highlights, live stats, commercial replays and behind-the-scenes access.  Since last Super Bowl, we’ve seen an explosion in mobile device usage, and smartphones and tablets were among the top holiday gifts.  Super Bowl 2012 is the perfect time for viewers to complement their TV with tablets and smartphones. 

In particular, we expect mobile search usage to spike during the game as viewers seek out their favorite commercials.  This means that brands must support their Super Bowl commercials with paid search campaigns on desktop, smartphones and tablets.  Ensure that you have ample paid search budget allocated to support potentially huge traffic spikes—Super Bowl commercial keywords are always among the hottest Google search terms during and after the game.  Bid on brand and brand + “Super Bowl commercial” keywords on the engines and YouTube.  Align your Super Bowl search campaign with marketing/PR plans to ensure coverage and ad rank during commercial launch, as well as two to three weeks post-Super Bowl to extend shelf life.  Test your commercial on smartphones and tablets to ensure an optimal mobile experience for your viewer.

2. Beware of Hijackers

You’re the one investing $3.5 million for your 30-second spot.  But your competitors may seek to steal your thunder.  The most notorious example of hijacking occurred in 2006 when Pontiac ran a Super Bowl commercial that encouraged viewers to Google “Pontiac.”  Competitor Mazda took advantage, aggressively bidding on the “Pontiac” keyword and driving searchers to a landing page that compared Pontiac to Mazda. 

Mobile Paid & Organic Search Trends and Tips: December 2011

Mobile Search Trends and Best Practices- Dec. 2011

View more presentations from Performics

Holiday Wish Lists: Gadgets

Posted by Cristina Lucero, Research Associate

This year, many holiday wish lists include gadgets like smartphones, TVs, tablets, Blu-ray players, 3-D TVs and desktop computers.  Of all demographics, dads with young kids are most likely to want these gifts, as well as purchase them for others.  For instance—according to Ipsos—42% of dads said they were planning to purchase a smartphone this year compared to 34% of moms. 

Additionally, African-American and Hispanic parents of children aged 6–14 are more likely to buy smartphones and TVs than their Caucasian counterparts—47% and 48% respectively, compared to only 33% of Caucasian families.  Below is a table from Ipsos showing which demographic groups plan to purchase various consumer electronic products this holiday.  Some interesting findings include that 25% of Asian/Pacific Islanders plan to purchase the iPad 2, and 22% of Hispanics plan to purchase a 3-D TV:

Last Minute Black Friday Trends & Tips

Posted by Cristina Lucero, Research Associate

Black Friday is finally here!  Here are a few last minute trends and tips to get you ready for the big shopping weekend:

Trends

• 44% of participants plan to use social media sites when holiday shopping this year.  (Deloitte).  Many retailers are running Facebook campaigns to engage shoppers and promote deals.  (Internet Retailer).  In fact, 74% of retailers plan to use their Facebook pages to engage shoppers this Black Friday; up from 57% last year.  (BIG Research).  NRF reports that 17.3% of shoppers will monitor retailers’ Facebook pages on Black Friday, and 11.3% will check group-buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial.
• 40% of e-commerce transactions included free shipping in Q3 2011 (comScore)
• Apps are big this holiday, including ShopSavvy, which allows shoppers to scan a product’s bar code to see if they’re getting the best deal, and Snaptell, which enables shoppers to snap pictures of products to see reviews and prices from various stores