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Search and Rescue: How to Become Findable and Shareable in Social Media

Posted by cgseo under Social Media

Search isn’t an isolated experience. The act of looking for information is now fused with validation, which means the socialization of search will unite discovery with context and relationships. It all begins with where we purposely search for relevant content and also where we respond to interesting information that crosses our path. ComScore ’s most recent search engine ranking report offers new insight that will make us rethink how we publish content, increase its findability , and facilitate sharing. In comparing February to January, Google remained on top with 65.4 percent of all core search activity. Yahoo followed with 17 percent and Microsoft ranked third with 11.3 percent. Things become interesting when we analyze search queries as opposed to core search activity. The landscape broadens beyond traditional search. Just behind Google, but ahead of Yahoo, YouTube ranks second for search inquiries overall. In 18th and 19th place, Facebook and MySpace also make appearances in the top 20 list respectively. Perhaps most intriguing is that neither Facebook nor MySpace offer true search functionality — but they still account for increasing search activity. Facebook is up 10 percent between January and February. What does this all mean? As social networks gain in prominence, the amount of relevant information within each ecosystem increases in value and, as such, we deliberately seek content within the networks in which we engage . It’s the Journey That’s Important, Not the Destination Destination sites across the board are losing traffic and ultimately favor, simply because destinations are obsolete as intended or designed. The days of the traditional “start page” are coming to an end, only to be replaced with the “ attention dashboard ” — a dedicated application that aggregates the activity of those we follow in social networks into a series of digestible streams. TweetDeck, PeopleBrowsr, Seesmic, HootSuite, Brizzly, and Facebook each represent a new generation of attention dashboards as they funnel social feeds into one clickable view. These streams look a lot like slot machines as information flies through dedicated columns, almost blurring the text beyond legibility. But this is where attention is focused and the content that appears within it represents the future of the information life cycle. So how do we compete for attention if attention itself is learning how to adapt to a new media landscape? Our job is to ensure that information travels outside of our domains and to the communities of interest in order to create a bridge back to our hub. And, content must adapt based on consumption and sharing patterns with our existing and potential stakeholders. This is an important point and one that can’t be ignored. Social activity indicates that we are already moving away from the act of proactively traveling to traditional sites as a source of new content. With the dawn of social media, the activity that brings social graphs and networks to life is quickly changing how we discover, learn and share and it is also forever reshaping the idea of online destinations as they exist today. It all comes down to attention and understanding where it’s focused and how it is tempted, lured, or distracted to click away from it. The socialization of information is changing everything. Connect with Attention Where Attention is Focused Competing for attention is paramount. We lose most of the battles before they’re begun because we’re working against years of behavior that now represent the complete opposite of tomorrow’s consumption and sharing patterns. Everything begins with identifying where attention is focused, combined with the new laws of attraction. Gigya reviewed data from Compete from November 2009 and observed that some of the top media properties were already realizing a dominant effect in traffic from social networks. For example, USAToday receives upwards of 35 percent of its referral traffic from social networks and just over 6 percent from Google. People Magazine receives 23 percent of its referrals from social networks and 11 percent from Google. And, CNN earns 11 percent of its referral traffic from social versus 9 percent from Google. Peer-to-peer activity strongly influences the resulting behavior of impressionable nodes defining social graphs, much in the same way we rely upon trusted referrals from our real life contacts. The more something appears within the attention dashboard, the more likely it is that someone will click through. In addition, the more intriguing it seems, or the stronger the reaction it engenders among peers, also increases its enchantment and thus beguiling spectators to willfully lunge towards a shared experience, most likely triggering a public response that continues the social effect . Social Architecture and Connecting the Dots Information is already socializing and changing the behavior for how people search, find, react, and curate. The difference between our present and future is defined by the roads and bridges we build between relevance and prevalence. As content producers, our responsibility is to connect information and stories to existing and potential stakeholders. It’s also essential to package and optimize our content as social objects in order for them to work for us in our absence, when individuals actively seek content through contextual searches. In part two , we’ll look at 11 steps for optimizing your brand for sharing and social search. Originally posted in Search Engine Watch . Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Search and Rescue: How to Become Findable and Shareable in Social Media

Improve Brand Visibility with Viral Marketing – Daily Break News

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Improve Brand Visibility with Viral Marketing Daily Break News Utilize the most popular existing social networks including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook , MySpace, Dig, Delicious, Stumbleupon, Technorati and other online ... Article Marketing 2.0 – Do You Know the 3 Important Facts About Article Promotion? Daily Break News all 91 news articles

Social Networks are Touchpoints for Customer Acquisition and Retention

Posted by cgseo under Social Media

Touchpoints serve as the point of contact between a buyer and a seller. As the race to socialize commerce escalates, these touchpoints represent the nodes that define the human network , connecting people across the social Web and uniting them around common interests, themes, and movements. While the technology to connect buyers and sellers on the social Web is universal, the architecture for true engagement is antiquated. Customers are flocking to the social web to not only connect with friends, family, and peers, but also the brands that attract their attention. However, there is a tremendous disconnect between the volume of potential customers and the brands who truly understand how to find and more importantly, how to establish mutually beneficial connections with them. The roadblocks that contribute to the absence of traffic on the bridges built between consumers and brands are trivial once brands understand the dynamics of social engineering and the allure of content in order to stimulate transactions. Everything starts with an acute awareness of where existing and potential customers are discovering and sharing information today combined with a genuine appreciation for what moves them. The moment we have the insight necessary where to construct our presences, we can then engage with influencers, peers, and consumers based on a transparent foundation of contributing value, direction and resolution to each interaction. According to research conducted by ForeSee, the opportunity for online retailers is profound. In the 2010 Social Media Report , ForeSee observed that 60% of online shoppers already use social media sites and networks regularly. And, 56% of those online shoppers friend or follow retailers, but they can only do so, if the retailer is actively engaging within those networks. The study found that only one-fourth of the top 100 e-tailers (e-retailers) has yet to create a Facebook page. ForeSee found that of all the social networks frequented by online shoppers, Facebook consistently earned the top spot. 56% of online shoppers frequented Facebook, followed by YouTube at 22%. MySpace, believe it or not, ranked third with 15% and actually edged out Twitter by 4%. However, pay attention to the real opportunity. While existing users are important, over 30% reported that they do not use social sites…at least not yet. If only 25% of the top 100 online retailers maintains a Facebook page and with Facebook ranking as the most active network among online shoppers, the following data should be more than enough to change 2010 marketing plans posthaste. Over 60% of consumers follow one-to-five brands online with another 21% following six-to-ten.  10% actually reported following 11-20 brands and 8% stated that they follow over 20 of their favorite products and services. What motivates them? Affinity and allegiance are of course among reasons for following brands, but as documented late last year, consumers are also motivated by receiving invitations for events, special offers or promotions. For those skeptics who have yet to allocate funds and resources to engaging customers and prospects in social networks, perhaps this information will erode suspicion. Your customers ultimately will engage with their favorite brands where and when possible, but eventually, your absence will eventually contribute to the insignificance of the brand as competitors will ultimately step in and capture the attention and loyalty of the very people you need to reach. This research is testament to the rapid evolution of customer acquisition, retention, as well as defining the new landscape for advocacy. Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Google Buzz , Facebook — Please consider reading my brand new book , Enga ge ! — Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism : — Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Social Networks are Touchpoints for Customer Acquisition and Retention

Jambool hires marketing veteran from Electronic Arts for social app payments … – VentureBeat

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Jambool hires marketing veteran from Electronic Arts for social app payments ... VentureBeat It fits well with free-to-play games on Facebook and other social networks, where gamers can play a game for free but pay with real money to buy virtual ...

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Jambool hires marketing veteran from Electronic Arts for social app payments ... - VentureBeat

NASCAR drivers and fans embrace social networks – Martinsville Bulletin

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NASCAR drivers and fans embrace social networks Martinsville Bulletin So it's been a logical transition to see NASCAR's drivers and marketing experts embrace the Internet's social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook ... and more