Posts Tagged ‘Social media’

Has Facebook killed the birthday card?

April 15th, 2011

Here’s a scenario…

It’s the morning of your birthday. You hear the post arrive through the door and rush out to gather up all the pretty pink, red, blue, green envelopes that are waiting for you on the door mat. Lovely cards picked out by friends and family who have been thoughtful enough to know your birthday is coming up, picked out a card with you in mind, and even found a stamp so it gets to you on the day of your birthday. The birthday card; a little indulgent treat to open while you enjoy your first cup of tea of the day (tea that presumably someone else has made for you, since it’s your birthday!).

But wait. This birthday morning there is but one card – from your mother of course – a utility bill and a bank statement. ‘Where are all my pretty envelopes?’ you cry at the departing postman who doesn’t even flinch as he walks away. He’s seen it all before.

So you chin up, walk it off like a brave soldier and head to work, where surely someone in your team will have remembered and perhaps even bought a cake. You’ve been dropping hints for days, so the odds look good. Turn on your PC, you have 87 new emails. How can that be right? You checked them last night at 9pm and it’s only 9am now! Sort by sender. 80 from Facebook. Facebook? That’s odd, you average about one interaction a day? You log in and see that everyone from your best friend, to your dentist, and of course your mother have posted on your wall ‘Happy birthday’… ‘Have a cracking day’… ‘Hope you have a wonderful birthday’. Ahhh that’s nice. People haven’t forgotten after all. Warm fuzzy feeling. Like.

It was one member of our team’s birthday this week and the day after her big day she recounted her tale, albeit in a slightly less Bridget Jones fashion than the one above, of having received a woeful lack of birthday cards. ‘Facebook has killed the birthday card’ she declared.

This launched us in to a conversation about people no longer feeling the need to remember birthdays as The Book of Dreams does it for them. They no longer feel the need to post a card as they can make a much more public declaration of well wishing on your wall. Where will this end, we wondered, will soon a private message on Facebook count for the same as a phone call? Does liking someone else’s birthday wishes count as having wished someone well yourself?

In short, no. This may seem shallow, and perhaps it is, but our feeling was that it’s all just a little bit too easy to say happy birthday to someone on Facebook. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, just that it shouldn’t replace actually thinking about people and planning to do something nice for them. Now, those that remember to send a card gain more brownie points than ever before (well done, mum).

Interestingly, our debate on the death of the birthday card took an unexpected turn the following day. That morning, two days after her birthday, my colleague received a handful of birthday cards through the post, all with the post mark dated on the day of her birthday. Our hypothesis – people saw on Facebook that it was her birthday, and rushed to get a card in the post asap.

So perhaps Facebook is actually the saviour of the birthday card?

Blog post by Penny Anderson, Consultant at Reform

You’ve got the most beautiful and intelligent and relevant online brand presence – but nobody knows you’re there…

September 3rd, 2010

I am constant amazed that some of the most intelligent people I know believe in the power of Google to such an extent, that they even credit it with the ability to discern between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Google does have it’s own in-built ‘quality control’ i.e. human beings looking at stuff, but the algorithm and spiders are as yet unable to make any genuine decisions about whose online web presence is more relevant and interesting to you, the user.

Take my personal example. My household is what’s technically known as ‘in market’ for a replacement for our five year old 4×4. However, recently I have become increasingly concerned about our carbon footprint, and feel that any new car that we buy needs to be as environmentally friendly (as well as comfortable, fuel efficient, able to take the six of us plus suitcases, have an iPod stand, fully adjustable seats and as many safety features that you can shake a stick at) as possible.

However my primary criteria, before any of the others, is the new car’s environmental credentials. How can my current marque know this, unless I go out of my way to tell them? Online car brands that want my business need to have a presence when I am looking for information on environmental cars of course, but I don’t want a ppc ad for my local dealer – its annoying and irrelevant. I want quality information that is going to persuade me that their marque are ticking all my new eco-friendly boxes, as well as tickling my brand loyalty mojo… In a nutshell, they need a ppc, seo and social content dissemination strategy that makes sure all that beautiful, interesting and intelligent stuff they have online is findable – and better still, they have to make sure that it can find me.

Blog post by Mary Keane-Dawson, non-Executive Director of Reform

Who searches for who?

July 9th, 2010

In a world dominated by social media and the Facebook generation, brands are – naturally enough – focused on making sure they are in front of people.  Search techniques are sophisticated and complex.  Billions in revenue has flowed into Google.

Behind all this activity, however, lies a huge shift in how we use media.  Profound in its consequences, the shift from the broadcast age of ‘the big shout’ to the digitally enabled, always-on narrowcast ‘big conversation’ is with us.  Even a cursory consideration of what is going down points to huge changes in the way any brand needs to reach out to customers and encourage their purchasing behaviour.

Much search activity is driven by ‘big shout’ thinking: testosterone-fuelled, high energy masculine ‘make them buy this’ thinking.  But if we accept that we live in a world of a ‘big conversation’ where power is flowing to the savvy, demanding consumer then we must be ready to earn respect through how we behave as much as how we succeed in getting in front of people.  We must tell the story of our brand with passion and honesty.  We must allow our customers to participate, and listen to them with skill, attention and deep understanding.

As any author will tell you, good stories demand an innate, even intimate understanding of the audience.  Then the story can be told with passion and intrigue.  The audience can participate, question and feel that they are receiving special attention – that they are party to a little magic.  Brands have to learn this skill.  Rather than so much emphasis on the ‘shout’ perhaps we will see more time, energy and resource devoted to the ‘listen’ part of the conversation.  Who is saying what, to whom, and are they being listened to?  Who is influential, and who is merely shouting into a bucket?  Search can be used to answer these questions, too.

Might we see the telescope of traditional search being turned around?  Isn’t it about time the skills of effective search are harnessed by brands to listen to and interpret what is being said about them?  And wouldn’t that put a premium on intelligent search practitioners?

Blog post by Mary Keane-Dawson, non-Executive Director of Reform

Search Engine Marketing in Russia – International Search Review Issue 2

February 16th, 2010

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the first issue of Reform’s International Search Review. Issue number two is now available, as we move north into Russia.  Like China, Russia is a large market where Google is not the search engine of choice, playing second fiddle to Yandex.ru.  As a result, SEO and general search marketing strategies from international companies looking to expand into Russia often find obstacles here.

For instance, it can be difficult for foreign companies to do PPC advertising on Yandex. Their PPC service is known as Yandex:Direct – which has a user interface for accounts that is entirely in Russian. Unless you have a fluent Russian PPC person on your team (and even then), potential advertisers are advised to let Yandex manage the PPC accounts on your behalf. This is known as the “Yandex.Direct Carefree account” – which their site says will provide you with a dedicated, English speaking account manager who will help you create and run your campaign (assistance with keywords selection, composing the ad text and advertising strategy consulting).

The initial take up of broadband was behind the pace of many other markets, but in the recent years Russia has started to really experience a steadier increase, becoming one of the top countries in regards to take up and usage of Mobile internet usage and Social Networking.   Russia is currently the eighth largest country in terms of internet user population, and is set to overtake the UK into seventh place.

Download a copy of the full “Russia Search Review” issue here

Take a look through the PDF and hopefully we can answer any questions about the search market share in Russia, along with the habits of the local internet user population there.

We look at the Yandex natural search algorithm, along with recent changes in Gogo.ru and Mail.ru, which had made an agreement with Google to use their natural search results, but instead opting to build their own algorithm first and using Google’s as a back up. Gogo.ru and Mail.ru do however use Google’s PPC results, which has helped extend its reach (and earnings) there. Considering Google had a 5% market share in Russia only 4 years ago, it has come a long way. But like in China, there are many factors which will try hard to make sure it never crosses the 50% line.

The overall search market share in Russia currently (along with other key stats from the PDF include):

- Yandex – 54.5% (62% when including Mail.ru) / Google 34.5% / Rambler – 1.9% / Bing – 0.4% (Source: Comscore, August 2009)

- 42,000,000 Internet users as of Jan 2010 and only a 33% estimated internet penetration.

- The average user in Russia spent 6.6 hours per month on social networks (highest in the world out of 38 countries that were reported), compared to a worldwide average of 3.7, 4.6 in the UK and 4.2 in the US. (World Metrix / Comscore: July 2009). The top choice of social network was Vkontakte.ru, followed by odnoklassniki.ru and mail.ru – while Facebook was a distant seventh.

- Twitter integration into search results was done on Yandex first in 2009 (before Google or Bing), yet Twitter usage in Russia is still relatively low, holding less than 0.5% of the overall global Twitter market share.

To get more details on this and everything else, download a copy of the full issue here – and let us know any comments / feedback.   Contact us, and we’ll get the next issue out to you before anyone else gets it!

You can also leave a comment below too.

Blog post by Niall Madden, SEO Director of Reform

Search and Social Media

December 3rd, 2009

There was a really interesting article in the Nov/Dec issue of B2B Marketing called “Search and social media go hand in hand” by Tom Chapman. It discusses the importance of tying up search and social media efforts. However, it got me thinking about how there are very few businesses doing this at the moment, and very few doing it well enough to get anywhere near maximising their performance in each channel.

Part of the problem is that search marketers have traditionally operated in silos, coming from agencies where IP and data can be jealously protected to ensure the agency’s own longevity on the business. As such, the methods used to identify what people are searching for and what sites are ranking on those searches are rarely shared, let alone fed into a social media strategy. Further to this, as most of industry’s knowledge of search is confined within the walls of agencies and the search engines themselves, the focus has been on using the available data solely for buying decisions. To drill into this information and use it as a way of understanding consumer behavior, and the view of a market sector that a consumer is presented when searching, requires a different mindset.

Another problem is the continuing focus on using search and social media for dealing with negativity. When most people hear “search” and “social media” together they tend to think of all of the negative comments that could be showing when people search for their brand. Then they set about figuring out how to knock them off the first page rankings. This is just one (and perhaps a short sighted) example of how search can work with social media.

Using search query volume data to inform social media content development, tracking trends and rising searches to allow you to analyse the effect of your social media strategies, analysing rankings to show you where there are gaps in rich content listings that you could target to drive traffic to your social content, are more positive examples. Optimising your social content is the next big step, ensuring that everything works in tandem with your SEO strategy. There are a whole host of things you can do to inform your social media strategies, to get even more value out of your investment, and to hone how your brand is presented to consumers.

The barriers that we face to having the channels working together in true synergy are compounded by the elevation of social media to the latest “big thing”. The fact is, it’s not so different from everything else we do; social content development decisions should be driven by the same data and thought processes as all other content.

In Digital, we tend to specialize in different channels and think of them independently. The consumer doesn’t see separate channels though, they have one all encompassing experience. Specialists from each channel need to rally together to pool their knowledge and work harder together to align their efforts, not say “oh yes, we can do that” when a client asks about a different channel if it’s not their core specialism. Communication, open mindedness, and a willing approach will help us get these channels working better together, helping us unlock the true value of both.

Google and Bing to Add Twitter Tweets in Search Results… Is That a Good Thing?

October 22nd, 2009

News came out yesterday that claimed both Google and Microsoft Bing are going to include a bit more tweets from Twitter in their search results.  The search marketing world was abuzz, with comments and ideas for how they can expand their search marketing capabilities and how Bing and Google will benefit greatly from these “real time” updates being integrated in their search results.

Really?  This is good news?  Perhaps I should tweet it to the contrary.  I say, hold on a second.  How relevant are most people’s tweets to the general public anyway?  Lets have a look.  Bing is already doing a beta of this in the US.  All I can say is that it’s good that it’s separate from the real results. 

Google’s blog at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/rt-google-tweets-and-updates-and-search.html tells me that with Twitter integration, I can now find up to date snow conditions at my favourite ski resort.  So I tried to look for the “weather in Chamonix” and “weather in Whistler” on Twitter Bing (http://www.bing.com/twitter/).  Which by the way is the same as http://search.twitter.com for the most part.

One had no results, the other had ONE.  And it wasn’t even of any use.  No real time info, just some person tweeting that the weather was nice…. yesterday – so much for real time.  

Lets try something more commercial then… what’s more commercial than insurance!!  Here the results are split between blatant sales pitches (that came from automated twitter accounts and have links that redirect to affiliates) and people’s every day lives – such as one that reads “I just got car insurance, what up yall!!!”  True story, not mine.

Don’t get me wrong, Twitter has a lot of use for people that already know you or your company, your brand, etc, and want to know more or be kept posted – such as our Reform Digital account that lets followers know the second this blog is posted (quite ironic I know).  But if you’re a complete stranger that happens to query something related to this page’s content, I’d rather you find this posting in the search results and not the much briefer condensed tweet – which will of course put this lovely page an extra click away. 

While I know many brands have taken advantage of Twitter, to launch unique offers to users who “follow” them, in some ways like the email lists of old – putting this sort of thing on the regular search results sort of defeats that purpose.  Brands lose out from the quality of direct connections that are more likely to convert, and users lose out by seeing a wave of search results that get valued by the engines, but don’t really have much use in most instances. 

From the user end, will it open more Twitter accounts?  Maybe.  Critics such as Steve Rubel of Edelman Digital believe that Twitter already has the users who want to use it.  For the most part, he feels “everyone who wants to publicly tweet is already doing so”.  And I agree.  But, I do think there will be a wave of new accounts and more traffic for Twitter with this search engine integration. 

Brands, advertising, just like the profiles that went astray when mainstream media looked at MySpace and Facebook as revenue generating opportunities.  Its one thing to make sure your brand reserves their presence, and I’m all for proactive campaigns – but there’s a difference between a Tweet about a product offer from a person I know and a search result featuring a tweet from a stranger that tries to befriend me.  Can I really trust the latter? 

One positive that Bing’s Twitter integration claims to have is that it will only expose the tweets from the last 7 days.  This is a good start, as the last thing I want is an archive of tweets muddling up the index in Bing or Google for that matter.  On the other side, all the tweets I see in the results are pretty irrelevant.  Only time will tell I guess.   Twitter can be easy to spam also, which is why I liked the fact that it wasn’t fully integrated in search.  And it’s very easy to post an article and just get loads of accounts to link up to it.

Some articles cite that you can get real time weather, news opinion from regular people and sports information now that Twitter will get integrated on search.  Hmmm, I could get that stuff online already.  This just makes sure I get to see everyone who bangs on about it and thinks I care.  Lets see how Google fares. Good luck.

Blog post by Niall Madden, SEO Director of Reform

Update: Here’s what the US version looks like (for those that can’t see it).

Bing Twitter Homepage in US