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

Performics Weekly Research Recap

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

Hello Everyone!

Highlighted below are some emerging trends and insights that maybe of interest to you from October 7th: United States

Channel Insights

Social

-Facebook unveils a new type of advertising unit and measurement tool to help brands communicate better with users. (Facebook)

• The new Insights is designed to let administrators of Facebook fan pages see the total audience their content and ads are reaching, going beyond impressions and "Likes."
• Four metrics will be presented at the top of the page: Total Likes, Friends of Fans, People Talking About This, and Weekly Total Reach.
• "There's a shift taking place inside Facebook where marketers will not only look to connect with their fans, but look to influence the friends of their fans. Enabling word-of-mouth marketing at scale is a huge opportunity for marketers and for Facebook."

Performics Weekly Research Recap

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

Hello Everyone!

Highlighted below are some emerging trends and insights that maybe of interest to you from September 30th:United States

Channel Insights

Social

- Google+ Lays the Groundwork for Business Profiles (Google)

• Google+ will soon be unveiling business profiles that will permit companies to create pages and circles like those of an individual user of the social network.
• Currently, GM and Ford are in Beta testing even as the unofficial profiles and squatters spread across platforms.
• "Given Google's strong track record, both +1 and Google+ are platforms that [retailers] are closely watching. [Retailers] are most interested in +1 because of its potential impact on search."

Trend: New Big Sitelinks Present Natural Search Domination Opportunity

Google continuously innovates with the goal to make search more efficient.  The most recent innovation is the expansion and improvement of sitelinks.  Google recently announced on its blog, “Sitelinks will now be full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text—similar to regular results—making it even easier to find the section of the site you want.” Google additionally upped the maximum number of sitelinks from eight to twelve.  This allows for top-ranked sites to dominate the natural SERP above the fold, especially for brand queries.  Not surprisingly, brand searches are currently more likely to yield the new sitelinks—because branded search greatly exposes searcher intent. 

Take Nike for example.  When searching “Nike Shoes,” a twelve pack of sitelinks appears below the top natural listing, allowing searchers to jump to the most relevant area of the site:

 

TREND: Video Chat—for Brands

With Google+ Hangouts and Skype for Facebook, the world is becoming more connected than ever. While currently available simply for social purposes, the new technologies hold many opportunities for companies and brands.  With so many customers liking/following brands, imagine how video could efficiently improve the customer service experience. 

In the near future, a customer could visit a brand’s Facebook or Google + page to:

• Connect with customer service via video quickly about an issue
• View interactive product demonstrations
• Receive assistance via video for setting up products and troubleshooting problems
• Meet with a sales team face-to-face for advice

Innovations like these could soon unfold as Dell sparked the conversation, publically stating its desire to use Google+ Hangouts for customer service purposes.  Keep an eye out as these technologies become available, so you can adapt your customer service strategies to better meet customer needs.   

TREND: Google Hotel Finder

Hotel searching just got easier.  User-friendly and convenient, the Google Hotel Finder helps searchers find exactly what they’re looking for.  Using Google Maps and Google Reader-type interfaces, the Google Hotel Finder allows hotel seekers to refine the search by:

• specific location (through drawing a box on a map)
• dates
• price
• class & user rating

After viewing high quality hotel photos and reading user reviews, users can “shortlist” (bookmark) favorites and then book easily through the provided sites.

 
Though currently just an experiment, the Google Hotel Finder has potential to make a splash in the hospitality industry.  Along with the recent purchase of ITA Software, Google has its sights set on the traveler niche.  Because of this, it’s important for hotel marketers to:

• make sure each of your hotel locations are optimized for search
• utilize hotel price ads
• keep information fresh and accurate
• encourage positive user reviews
• offer competitive advantages over other hotels

TREND: Spotify and the Digital Age

Spotify, the music streaming service that has taken Europe by storm, is now available in the United States.  With so many other music services out there, how does Spotify compare?

 
Though each service has unique features, Spotify outshines the competition.  With the most songs, access, and social sharing—not to mention the flood of chatter and positive feedback—Spotify is well on its way to becoming the music market leader. 

Spotify also demonstrates a shift in behavior, showing the preference of access over ownership.  Movies and books have also displayed this trend.  With today’s technology, like cloud storage and streaming online content, people pay for instant access instead of physical products.  In our digital age, people expect to receive what they want, when they want it, without ever actually owning it. 

TREND: Interactive Preview Windows in Natural Search

Have you ever clicked on a link on a search engine results page only to discover that the site is not at all what you wanted? A new innovation prevents this dead-end clicking.  Instant preview windows have been available on Google and Bing for months, but new add-ons now provide for a more interactive pre-click experience.  Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have adapted these add-ons:

Cool Previews for Mozilla Firefox: mouse over any link and a preview of the site pops up.  Unlike an instant preview snapshot, these previews actually allow for an interactive media experience.  Fully customizable, searchers can control the settings of preview pages.  Bookmark and stack the preview pages for convenient searching:

 

ezLinkPreview for Google Chrome: an “EZ” icon pops up when you mouse over a link.  Clicking on it shows the page in a separate, dragable and resizable box or a split screen.  These pages can then be bookmarked or sent to a Google Reader: 

 
 
As interactive preview window add-ons gain popularity, search engine marketers must consider how their pages are appearing in the windows.  This is often the difference between whether searchers visit your site or not.  Marketers should marry landing page optimization best practices with SEO to engage searchers to interact with a page.

TREND: Mobile Shopping Apps Change Shopping Experience

With the back-to-school season quickly approaching, shoppers can take advantage of a variety of mobile apps to enhance their shopping experiences.  Innovations in mobile shopping apps include:

  
Barcode Scanners - Comparison shoppers delight in smartphone apps such as Google Shopper or eBay Mobile.  These apps include a barcode scanner so people can actually scan the barcode at the store and find product reviews and deals online. 

Virtual Mannequins - Why waste time trying on clothes?  The app Divalicious allows shoppers to upload an image of themselves and try on products virtually.  This app serves as a “personal shopper” as it also suggests outfits and accessories.

Location Based Deals - Don’t go far for the best deals.  Using your phone’s GPS, apps such as Groupon, Placecast, and WHERE Deal Alerts determine the user’s location and display relevant nearby deals.     

Self Checkout - Never wait in a line again! Sounds too good to be true, but the app AisleBuyer actually allows for shoppers to checkout anywhere in the store using the scanner on the app. 

Rewards Programs - Get rewarded for just walking into a store. Shopkick gives you “kicks” (rewards) every time you shop.  Redeem these kicks for gift cards, restaurant vouchers, movie tickets or donate the money to a cause. 

 

Participatory Search: Bing’s Social Search Enhancements & Advertiser Implications

BACKGROUND

Bing threw the latest punch this week in its ongoing battle against Google to socialize search.  On Bing, searchers who sync their Facebook accounts can now see personalized search results based on their friends’ opinions.  Bing’s enhancements—which come on the heels of Google’s launch of the +1 Button—showcase Microsoft’s powerful partnership with Facebook.  Bing’s search engine results page (SERP) now highlights “Liked” results from people in the searcher’s Facebook network.  For instance, the below search for “Threadless” shows that three of the searcher’s friends “Like” Threadless:

 
 
Bing is also using “Likes” as a ranking signal for natural search results, pushing sites “Liked” by the searcher’s friends higher in the natural results.  Thus, each searcher can see different, highly-personalized results.  Even if a searcher doesn’t have friends who have “Liked” results for a particular query, Bing will surface collective Facebook opinions from the entire Web.  Other enhancements include the Bing Travel Wish List, which allows people to compare trips with Facebook friends; and Shared Shopping Lists, which allow people to build, compare and discuss shopping lists with Facebook friends.

IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVERTISERS

Both Bing and Google have been squarely focused on socializing the SERP to make it more relevant.  When a searcher sees that other searchers—particularly their friends—have “Liked” a certain result, that result is perceived as more relevant and will garner more clicks.  Everyday, people are exposed to an overwhelming flow of advertisements.  The social SERP is unique in that it allows searchers to break through the clutter.  Highly-relevant search results—those recommended by friends—float to the top and stand out with friends’ pictures and the Facebook “thumb” symbol.  It’s easier for a searcher to find exactly what he’s looking for with some help from his friends. 

Mobile-Minded Search Strategies

Part 3 of a series on mobile/local marketing

Posted by Daina Middleton, CEO

In my last post, “Get Local Fast & Effectively with Mobile Search,” I outlined a few benefits of embracing mobile paid search now. These include booming growth projections for mobile search, growth of mobile as a portion of overall paid search and mobile paid search as an easy entry to mobile marketing, and word is spreading quickly.

Performics’ 2011 Mobile Insights Study released earlier this year showed overwhelming participant satisfaction with and adoption of mobile search. Seventy-five percent of respondents said mobile search makes their lives easier, while 63 percent said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information. Not surprisingly, marketers are starting to take note and according to the latest SEMPO State of Search Report, fourteen percent more companies considered the rise of the mobile Internet to be highly significant or significant in 2011, compared to 2010.

 

In March, mobile paid search grew to at least ten percent of impressions for all paid search campaigns managed by Performics. This double-digit threshold often marks the tipping point at which new technologies gain more widespread adoption; so marketers shouldn’t expect the growth of mobile paid search to slow down any time soon.