Why Social Search Is Rotting Our Brain
Posted on 14. Mar, 2012 by John Jantsch in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media, Social Search
Why Social Search Is Rotting Our Brain
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
One of the things that I both loved and hated about the early days of search was that you would inadvertently stumble on to things you didn’t intend to find.
The results were sketchy sometimes and even humorous other times, but you would quite often learn something new quite by accident.
Today, with the reliance and dependability of search, we pretty much get exactly what Google thinks we are looking for – and I think that’s a problem.
The ramping of this idea of “social search” or giving us results based on where we’ve been before, where we are now, who we know and what our friends have +1’d is leading us further down the path where no real learning or discovery is even possible. (And this is not just if you click the social search icon, you can’t turn some elements of this off anymore.)
This idea doesn’t end with search either, it’s in news feeds and personalized results from places like Facebook as well.
The digital and social world has created an entire generation addicted to top 10 highlights, featured news snacks and stuff your friends have pinned.
Look, I know I’m as immersed in this world as any, but I think we’ve gone so far that it’s time to come back a bit – how about a search engine of that would take me to places I’ve never discovered?
I read a USAToday article recently (the original snack publication) that said colleges were concerned with the fact that attendance at college basketball games was down sharply. That seems odd given all the March Madness hype, media coverage and total fascination with being in the game no matter how much the tickets cost.
When the journalist writing the story dug into the statistics he found that most of retreat in attendance was from students enrolled in the colleges, even though in some cases student fees covered their tickets. When asked, many of college students admitted they found the highlights, tweets and video coverage a much better way to consume the content – which makes me wonder if we could just condense everything to highlights and not really ever play the real game or write the real book.
What personalized search is doing is giving people what they want and it’s turning the web, our link to entire planet of ideas and thought, into a tool that ensures we will never receive another original thought again. Into a tool that forces bite sized popular ideas onto our plate. And, into a tool that makes certain that only what our so-called friends purchase, do and say is relevant.
I talked to a researcher recently that said he was studying a group of 20 somethings and one of the questions was to identify how much time they spent online. He had to change the question because they didn’t know what he meant. Their online time was so omnipresent that they could no longer make a distinction between being online and not.
This is not going away and my guess is it will become even more pervasive, because, hey, that’s what we want, right?
Google and Facebook and every other tool that provides information doesn’t really care that you can’t see this going on and to me that’s the scary part. You’re no longer in charge of what you discover unless you take charge.
To me the new master skill is undiscovery of what you already know and this is quickly turning into something you’ll have to intentionally practice as we live our lives more and more fully online.
Hello Local, Meet Social – Learning the Basics at SES Chicago
Posted on 17. Nov, 2011 by Ashely Zeckman in Blog, local marketing, Local SEO, Search Engine Strategies, Search Engines, ses chicago, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social media marketing, Social Search
Proper execution of a local and social media strategy is still a head scratcher for many internet marketers. The session on “Local + Social: the Future of Promotion” featuring Gregg Stewart and Benu Aggarwal at SES Chicago was a must see to answer several important questions.
A Best Practices Approach with Gregg Stewart
Did you know that roughly 20% of all Google searches have local intent? When you look at mobile data that number is even higher. These statistics alone should show us as marketers how important a online local strategy is for improving engagement.
Checking the Box Won’t Work
While website All Facebook says that 96% of small businesses are on Facebook, Mashable.com says that 64% of small businesses think that social media is unnecessary. Part of what this data tells us that many companies are simply checking the box, but aren’t sure how to properly utilize social media marketing channels.
Caution: Mistakes Ahead
Stewart stated that the biggest mistake that advertisers trying to go local make is focusing on the wrong data. Often advertisers will say that the number of clicks on the website are not improving, or the e-commerce on the website isn’t that great. Consumers are looking for your business in a variety of places and they expect that information to be readily available and accurate.
Local + Social Best Practices
When implementing a local and social media strategy there are some key factors that are part of a best practices approach including:
- Accuracy
- Distribution
- Signal Strength
- Enrichment
A “SoLoMo” Strategy by Benu Aggarwal
Presenter Benu Aggarwal did a great job of highlighting the importance of of a social, local, and mobile strategy and the importance of integration between the three. A common theme for both presenters was the emphasis on consistency across multiple channels. In addition to remaining consistent what else should you know about a social and local strategy?
The Why, Who, & How of Social + Local
Successful local and social strategies are built upon a strong foundation. What questions should be taken into consideration when building a strategy?
- Why should you connect with your audience?
- Who should you be connected with?
- How are you going to connect with them?
- What is your audience talking about?
- Where are they socializing?
Participate in Active Conversations
Relevant and active participation in online conversations can go a long way. What are some examples of this interaction?
- Connect with brand evangelists in your area
- Respond to direct questions about great places to stay before your competition does
- Connect with users who have the power to influence others
Exploring Local Trends on Twitter
Twitter’s search capacity is better than you may think. What are some ways you can better utilize twitter from a local perspective?
- Reach out to users instead of waiting for them to come to you
- Explore discussions that are happening in your target markets
- Insert yourself into existing conversations in a productive manner
5 Ways to Enhance your Foursquare Business Page
Foursquare Business Pages can be tricky. Aggarwal recommends the following enhancements:
- Optimize your banner
- Use keywords and bullet points
- Link to other key online channels
- Create list of local interest categories
- Leave compelling and engaging tips on local businesses
Local + Social Media Key Takeaways
- Manage your listings effectively
- Continue to place importance on UGC (user generated content)
- Users like both search and social media
- Define your goals, target audience, and know where they are
- Leverage the most popular channels
- Optimize across all channels
- Integrate social, local, offline, and online channels
If executed correctly a local and social media marketing strategy can work wonders for gaining popularity, improving brand awareness, and increasing revenue. A main focus of this session was on consistency across channels. Are you incorporating local and social in your online marketing mix? What are some of your best tips?
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