2012: Think Social Business, live Community Centric Strategy

2011 was a great year for Social Business!

Social Business got the right attention and awareness. And those companies which thought that “social trend” might go away, found themselves in business meetings, workshops, seminars, webinars with me, or conferences where people gave me the honor to be the moderator. After all, the feedback was such that I can definitely summarize the 2011 Social Business success with the opening statement.

What happened in terms of Social Business in 2011 and what is the outlook for web marketers in 2012…?

Well, first of all companies spend more time and resources understanding the challenge Social Media and Social Networking from a business perspective. We got the proof that European bosses don’t have to be persuaded to see the benefits of Twitter, that Social Media is a big internal topic, and that Social Business is critical to future business success.

ROI aspects are still key for Social Business performance. Nevertheless CMO’s were often lacking the right plan even for their Social Media efforts – and often CEO’s doubt their business credibility.

Job offerings spread around Europe, although sometimes clients asked me whether the offering is correct from a capabilities point of view. Often these openings were meant to be Social Business, in terms of a team-orientated or community-centric positions, but ended up being a “one-man-show-responsibility”: the Social Media Manager – although we all know about the importance of a multi-layer framework to set up a proper Social Media strategy.

From a client perspective companies were still very much in the broadcast or advertising mode. And the perception gap could easily be made out. Although communities were their targets, and many companies and brands tried their best to generate engagement around their business, many of them were still in an advertising scenario and mindset, instead of trying to think about change management in terms of culture and people.

Ultimately, companies have a massive opportunity in 2012 to change their perspective and become Social Business driven with the right teams…
- Teams that work with customer market intelligence.
- Teams that scale the business with social commitment.
- Teams that crave content for leadership and insights.
- Teams that understand business touchpoints in new context.
- Teams that leverage synergies between companies and brands with an appropriate plan.

And these teams don’t work internal or external. These teams group together cross-channel through Community Centric Strategy by understanding the 5C’s as the engines of Social Business: Competition – Commitment – Content – Context – Collaboration.

Finally, Google+ started listing brand pages in organic search results. One of my successful posts from November appears in the first page of the organic search results (see picture last entry).

Status updates will become a game changer in the social ecosystem and boost brand awareness. If companies and brand are blogging they should consider this in their SEM/SEO and keyword strategy when posting your topics on Google+. Marketers should consider this and watch out if this should not affect Facebook and Twitter marketing activities. Maybe it is time to invest more in content marketing…

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All roads might lead to Rom – not many to lead to a Social Business. Companies that will work with the Community Centric Strategy in 2012 can close the perception gap between consumer and customers on their journey to companies. Social Business is about people and culture. The 5C’s of the Community Centric Strategy is a new way to Rom… but it will leave the “customer chariot” at home.

Google: Re-living 2011 from a search perspective

Last year, Google told us how the world searched throughout 2010. Now, we get to see the Top 10 search terms of 2011, and some more interesting global search analysis. And maybe we can learn something for our SEO capabillities.

However, we all know: New year, new challenge! This is the spirit of the end of a year: We all love to review it! Google doers that with their search re-living videos and their Zeitgeist 2011: One year in a review video. If you want to do some deeper analysis on it, you can go to Google Zeitgeist 2011 website and dive into your country analysis, zoom in and out the aggregation of billions of search queries people typed into Google in 2011.

This video is a short summary and nicely captures the spirit of 2011…

Study: Three mindsets of search categorize peoples’ seach mode

According to a new study conducted by the New York Times Co.’s About.com in collaboration with Latitude there are three kinds of search behavior: “answer me,” “educate me” and “inspire me”. Thus, the study identifies some distinct human behavior search patterns which will help marketers connect and understand the target groups they are heading for.

So, how do these three search pattern types differentiate in the study that surveyed 928 Americans, age 21 to 54 with household incomes of $50,000 or higher?

“Answer me” searches accounted for 46% of all searches, the study found. People searching in this mode simply just want exactly what they ask for. They don’t want any value add. Their typical search is looking for beauty, fashion and entertainment.
Advice for marketers: The option to capitalize on an “Answer me” moment by featuring product benefits front and center, in addition to aligning content that presents quick, easy-to-find answers, offers a massive opportunity to marketers to generate leads.

“Inspire me” searches accounted for 28% of all searches. This is the typical browsing mode. Usually, people in this mode look for travel as well as home and garden.
Advice for marketers: For those consumers in the “Inspire me” mindset, creativity and different inspirational information sources will be wanted by consumers.

“Educate me” searches accounted for 26% of all searches. People searching in this mode expect to find multiple perspectives on a topic. The top categories of most interest are health and finance.
Advice for marketers: In the “Educate me” the contextual search mode marketers offer might help consumers with creating informative, multiple messages.

From a brand marketer’s point of view, the study explains that ads can be relevant to search. When nearly 90% of respondents “enjoy when brands stop trying to sell you something and focus on teaching you something,” this tells them that putting your bets on search is defenitely not the worst tactic.

Furthermore, most respondents agreed on search advertising terms…
- the best ads are the ones that work with the information source to help you get what you need (88%)
- that ads can be useful when they are very relevant to their search (77%)
- that ads have helped them find great options, deals or discounts (64%)

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However, marketers can take their advantage from this study, being successful with the findings is still a challenge. What is the best way to identify in which mode a user is? The easiest option will probably be to have some ads for each of the categories. Still, this means to have the right content when consumers are clicking through to the landing page. If you think about it, you will understand why content marketing is seen as a major trend from CMO’s.

SEO study: Measurable results are key, but without strategy…

Would you like to know what tactics B2B and B2C marketers use to achieve a powerful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy? Well, then you should read the latest MarketingSherpa „2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report – SEO Edition“. But only if you have time to read a 202-page paper. If not, find the latest insights in brief on SEO habits and effectiveness according to more than 1.500 respondents.

Although SEO is one of the main topics in meetings with clients these days, marketing decision makers tend to ignore the strategic approach. The study shows the discrepancy between what marketers want and are willing to invest…
- Developing a SEO strategy is a top challenge but ranks as bottom objective
- Organic SEO via Content creation is a winner but costs many resources
- Established SEO processes generate future investments in SEO
- Incremental SEO improvements add up to large profits
- Local business listings tactics are underutilized

Many organisations are not challenging a strategic plan. The tactical approach still rules the daily business with clear focus on fast tactical objective turnarounds (i.e. leveraging website traffic, lead generation and measurable ROI). Understanding and evaluating digital assets from a SEO point of view is still not a strategic topic in businesses. Only 27% of companies surveyed responded they consider planning an effective SEO strategy an important objective.

However, companies put massive importance on measurable results. The study claims the benefit of Inbound Marketing by some helpful numbers…
- Use Social Media – Revenue goes up 114% and Leads 30%
- Find and test niche content: Organic traffic increased by 40%
- Revamp and optimize web content – Doubles lead conversions

The graphic below illustrates the value if various tactics and how to position them for your strategic efforts.

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The above numbers sound as if SEO needs to become a strategic focus of your web strategy – and yes, it should. However, content marketing as an inbound marketing tactic stays a challenge for marketers, especially if it shall be authentic, story-telling and benefitial for users. No wonder it is one of the most difficult processes. BUT it is still considered to gain best returns. Nevertheless, the best SEO strategy needs to have the right approach from data capture to generating leads through to good landing pages, leverage mobile and finally do lead nurturing. And it needs to take into account the right follow up process from customer service and sales to complete a SEO strategy.

Travel industry marketers like Twitter… and not Facebook?

Finding benchmarks for online marketing practise and business system structures was the idea of an internet-based survey by Verma and McGill. They polled 426 senior marketing executives in lodging and destination organizations looking at budget levels, marketing strategies, and organizational structures.

Twitter seems to be quite popular amoung the travel marketers. 80% of respondents stated they produced Twitter campaigns and Social Media promotions in-house versus pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SSEO) which are in most cases outsourced. However, there is a fine difference between accommodation firms and destination marketers: While accommodation firms often outsource all Social Media activities (i.e. Twitter campaigns and pay-per-click management), destination marketers prefer to handle those activities in-house.

“Each year well over 700 marketing executives gather for TravelCom, which is a high level marketing conference that was held this year in Las Vegas” (…) One major theme this year was online marketing, but we realized that there was no overall knowledge of where the industry stands in this area. This study provides those benchmarks.” Cornell Professor Rohit Verma, Executive Director, Center for Hospitality Research (CHR)

The bigger portion of the respondents (two-thirds) said their 2010 e-commerce budgets had increased compared to 2009. 71% of destination marketers and 60% of accommodation marketers see again an increase for 2011.

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The travel industry is in a real change mode seen from a web perspective. Web traffic to travel brand sites decreased by 8% in March 2011 versus March 2010. During the same period, visits to Facebook pages jumped 20% according to the first-ever L2 Digital IQ Index. According to a report by PhoCusWright, an industry research group, the unmanaged business trips reserved online will rise twice as fast as the rest of the market. One in three trips will be booked online in 2012 and reach a value of $313bn. If you look at these numbers it surprises me that not more travel marketers are looking at ways to use Social Media and focus more on Facebook than on Twitter, i.e. like OmniHotels offers direct bookings from Facebook now.

Just a thought…

Study: 70% of Facebook and Twitter Pages from brands don’t rank in Google

BrightEdge recently uncovered with a research project that social profiles of most leading brands don’t rank well in Google. Although many companies still invest a lot of their budgets in SEM/SEO activities, most of them forget to increase their social media presence from a search results perspective.

The research reviewed 200 of the world’s top brands for their social media presence. Most of the those brands, nearly 100%, stay on top or near the top ranks for their brand names on the SERP’s. However, a high percentage of 71% did not have their Facebook pages in the top 20 results. For Twitter it showed more or less the same result: 68% of the brands surveyed were not amoungst the top 20 results of the Google SERP’s.

“Brands today are pouring countless resources into social media channels and are creating great content that will help them engage with consumers, optimizing these for SEO purposes is a crucial way to drive exposure. Brands may be missing critical customer connection points if consumers can’t easily discover their social media pages in search.” Jim Yu, CEO, BrightEdge

Interestingly enough, there seems to be no necessary correlation between the number of friends and followers and SERP rankings according to the analysis of various social media pages that the BrightEdge surveyed. For example, the Facebook page of a leading photography brand did not perform in the top 20 search results, although more than 160,000 were fans of their Facebook page. On the other hand, a leading auto manufacturer with only 17,307 fans had a Facebook page that ranked in the top 10 of search results.

The least effective brands at optimizing Social Networking sites are coming from the finance and insurance sector. Only three of the top 43 companies had their Facebook pages rank in the top 20 search results. In comparison, retailers were much more successful: 13 out of the top 23 retailers surveyed were found in the top 20 search results.

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Brands could argue it is more important to find your homepage or branded pages for products or services in the top search results. Social Media experts might see this different as some of the main brands invest a lot of their branding activities in the leading Social Media sites at the moment. Especially, under the aspect from last year’s report that some big brands reported to loose their traffic on corporate websites to Facebook, the search impact for brands might become more and more important in the future. Would you agree?

Study: Is Social Media a traffic driver to corporate websites?

This is definitely a finding, I would like to get you reviews on… According to a recent report by ForeSee Results, not even 1% of website visits are coming at the moment from a social media site. Can we really believe that? The Social Media Value Benchmark is based on nearly 300,000 completed consumer surveys on more than 180 websites across a dozen private and public sector industries (i.e. Department of Defense, Drugstore.com, General Mills, ESPN, Express, Kellogg’s, among others).

The report suggests that 18% of website visitors have been influenced by social media. This tells us that 17% of the respondents visited the website in an approach that was not really initiated through some way of clicking on a social media link. So, the question could be: Is social media more a brand awareness topic (18%) in the future, to be evaluated under the ROI of content marketing? We will see…

The idea of the their “Social Media Value Benchmark” study was to measure social media ROI. ForeSee developed the idea to rank web visitors based on how the customer came to the site, how much they spent, how they felt about the experience and whether they’re likely to return. By surveying nearly 300,000 consumers, Foresee’s outcome is that people who were influenced by social media spend more and are more satisfied and loyal customers than those who aren’t influenced by social media. But wat happens to the other 17%?

It raises questions like: If customers spend more money than the average customer, is it worth the effort invested in social media? Social media is not a “cost-free” marketing approach. Time is the money companies are paying… And what does it mean if email is known as the influence 32% of customers bring to website?

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How do we value the report? It is questionnable if the report really delivers insights. Social Media does not have a blueprint solution for all companies. Industries are different. Customers in inustries are different. For one company it might work well and for others it won’t. Brand value, SEO power and content input in a relevant way will decide in the future. And most companies haven’t really started using the tactical finesse of social media yet. The value is in the SEO effects and those who are real friends with the brands (and stay or become a fan with it). If you leverage it properly the traffic will go up. I have tried it out, and know what I am talking about… ;-)

What is your experience and how do you see these results…? Looking forward to your questions…

Content Marketing – Insights in an emerging digital topic for CMO’s

This week, the Custom Content Council and ContentWise released their American survey “Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Content Marketing in America for 2011” that indicates the future for a young type of branding: content marketing. The study states that CMO’s are spending an all-time high of $12.5 billion of their budgets in emerging platforms for custom content marketing with virtual events, mobile, video, and educational content.

The platforms for content marketing are still ruled by a $24 billion spent on print production and distribution. It shows the relevance of print for their marketing activities. CMO’S dedicate 29% of their average overall marketing, advertising and communications budget to content marketing activities. Those custom content products and platforms are becoming increasingly important to chief marketing officers. The study reveals that 87% see content marketing is valuable, and more than one-third of CMOs (35%) believe custom content marketing is the future of marketing, an increase by 19% in 2006.

“While print remains the choice du jour for most custom media programs, new media channels are providing more growth opportunities for the custom content industry” (…) “This year’s study underscores multiple expansion areas for content. As the economy continues to rebound, the future of content looks very promising.” Lori Rosen, Executive Director, Custom Content Council

Some further key findings of the study are that for example video content is growing: 57% of marketers will produce video, (increase of 3% to last year). Website and blogs are still on of the main topics CMO’s are focussing on next to print custom content marketing formats: Website updates of articles, blog posts and other content is for 79% the main activity.

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Consumers seem to value the custom content from brands and companies. 69% like when custom content marketing targets their interests and 67% see it is valuable. An even more important finding for me is that 61% admit they feel better about brands when these deliver custom content. AND: These consumers report to be more likely to make purchases with these brands and companies. Marketers should pay attention to this development of the power of digital content marketing, especially as content curation will affect their SEO strategies of their social web activities acording to a study by Curata. Although probably most CMO’s agree with these motivations, more than 73% also admit that creating original content is the main challenge for marketers. There’s obviously a lot that content marketing could do for brands and companies in the future. As money seems to be made available by companies, it’s just depending on the usual bottle-necks: people and time.

Study: Search and Social amplify purchase decisions

One thing leads to another. Today we could transfer this quote to: One search leads to another social activity, and vice versa. And this interconnection of web-strategy tactics amplifies the user’s purchase decisions.

A new study from GroupM and comScore states that 40% of consumers who search for products to purchase are taking a social activity as a next step to finalize their buying decision. And the activity can be seen from the other direction as well: 46% of consumers who use social media are searching for products to expand the basis on a product range to take a decision.

58% of users begin their journey to purchase with search. Company websites come in at 24% and social media by 18%. The opinion of “friends” on the purchase decision is highly rated in social networks and cannot be underestimated these days from brands and retailers any longer.

The study reveals interesting insights in the time period that make the essential change in the buying decision process. The “late kick” comes 30 days prior to purchase when brands and companies have to engage with their audience – and can leave search tactics behind. A difficult topic to handle in the B2C industry but for B2B very helpful.

“There are still many brands who haven’t figured out why they’re in social media. We still talk to brands that are trying to determine if they should be in social media. The data suggests the two most important subsets in social are user reviews and category blogs, rather than sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.” Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search

Some important findings on how social and search are linked together…
- 86% see search engines important in buying decisions – Consumers use search in buying cycle as a pricing tool (research products and select purchase location)
- 45% use search throughout the buying cycle
- 26% use search at the beginning of their research and shopping process
- Social is essential in the consideration process
- 30% use social media to create a shopping short-list
- 28% say social media has a valuable impact in creating awareness for brands and products

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The study shows the impact that the combination of social and search have on the purchase decision. The challenge for companies will be to understand in which way to balance their tactics between search and social in reference to seasonal sales timing, marketing opportunities while not destroying maximum margin, and customer loyalty programs to amplify brand buzz. Another study by econsultancy also illustrates how undervalued social media and search are from a sales perspective. The study says that Social Media “gets eight times less credit for its direct contribution to sales than it should” and “Generic SEO gets credited for 14 times less sales than it deserves”.

What comes first when you take buying decisions? Search or Social? And how does it amplify your buying process? Interested in your thoughts…

Google: Re-living 2010 in search terms…

Did we not ever wanted to see how the world searched throughout one year time? Did we not all want to get insights in SEO opportunities? But hey, next year it might all change again, right…? This is the spirit of a year: We never know what happens… but in the end we love to review it!

Google answers that question with their Zeitgeist 2010: Year in review video. If you want to do some deeper analysis on it, you can go to Google Zeitgeist 2010 website and dive into your country analysis, zoom in and out the aggregation of billions of search queries people typed into Google in 2010.

This video is a short summary and captures the spirit of 2010…

PS: Twitter has also a year-in-review. I don’t know if I would call the Vuvuzela or Pulpo Paul a trend 2010 (as I think both are dead…) but it was definitely a very often mentioned term in 2010.

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