Geary Fresh

How will Twitter Impact Holiday Shopping?

Will Cyber Monday have a banner year with the growing adoption of Twitter?

It’s quite possible.

Online research and purchases are a large part of consumers’ holiday shopping process. The social and interactive aspects of it make it a great avenue to gather information, purchase and ship gifts easily. Will this tradition spike this year, as consumers and brands are engaging with one another via Twitter? I think so. Now more than ever, consumers expect to hear from and interact with brands online. If I want to rave about an inspired purchase, I used to go to a review site. Now I send out a tweetcast.

One key difference between Twitter and social shopping sites is that consumers can proactively engage with brands. On a blog or review site, content is geared towards other shoppers, but on Twitter users elicit responses directly from brands.

How do you think Twitter will impact holiday shopping? Here are a few speculations:

1. Shorter limited time offers/ sales

2. Brands will dedicate handles to customer service

3. Lower traffic to product review websites as this will migrate to Twitter

4. Users will ask followers for feedback/ review before a purchase

Social Media is not a Fad. Here’s the Proof.

Social media is a force to be reckoned with–we all know this by know. Watch this video to see the magnitude of this force. As the title implies, it will blow your mind. Here are a few highlights:

1. If Twitter were a country, it would be the forth largest.

2. 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 brands link to consumer generated content

3. If you were paid $1 per Wikipedia post, you would earn $156.23 an hour

4. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world

5. 1 out of 8 couples married in the US this year met via social media

Case and point = social media is not a fad

Source: http://socialnomics.net/

Geary Interactive Wins Second Consecutive MIXX Award

Geary Interactive is proud to announce its second MIXX award win in two years. We were honored in the search engine marketing category for our on-going campaign with Covad Communications. The 2009 campaigns added a new persona-driven marketing component and refined its geotargeting focus. Combined, these strategies ensures Covad reaches qualified prospects within its service areas.

Persona-driven marketing: After identifying distinct, viable persona groups, paid search and landing page copy was tailored to resonate with each group. Tone, verbiage and depth of information was customized to give each group the right message that would help aid their purchase decisions.

Geotargeting: Covad refined its targeting strategy by creating technology to further microtarget locations. The goal was to ensure that every dollar spent was within a Covad service area. This completely re-formulated Covad’s search campaign, creative efforts and conversion tactics based on these two strategic pillars, creating a tightly focused customer-centric campaign that drove the best and most efficient results Covad has ever experienced. To read about the MIXX Awards, click here.

Are Online Retailers Ready for a Winter Boost?

In South Korea online shopping numbers have spiked because people are avoiding crowded places–like malls–so they’re less likely to contract the H1N1 flu. With cold weather on the way and holiday shopping just around the corner, are consumers going to opt for online shopping? Will American shoppers avoid malls to keep healthy and warm?

For me, online shopping augments in store purchases. I have never thought, “Geez, I am going to buy product XYZ  online because I just don’t feel like leaving the house.” Weather is not a factor in sunny San Diego, but in other parts of the country weather is a huge factor in what can be accomplished in a day. In this light, I imagine that online activity will spike as temperatures drop.

Is your online revenue channel ready?

Winter window shopping, online purchases and shipping in perilous weather are all about to hit home for digital retailers, so make sure you’re prepped and ready. Promote reliable shipping, price comparisions and winter goodies because as cold weather approaches, your consumers are going to need a break from the elements.

Google the Lead Generation Killer?

There is drama brewing the in the lead generation industry!

If you didn’t catch the news that LendingTree has filed a lawsuit against one of its key service providers, Mortech. Whats dramatic about the lawsuit is not really the lawsuit itself. Let me explain:

Everyone should know who LendingTree is, but there is a good chance you do not know who Mortech is.  Mortech provides real time loan pricing data from 100’s of banks to the mortgage industry. There happens to be a number of different companies that provide the same service, but in this case LendingTree chose to partner exclusively with Mortech.

The drama begins to unfold when LendingTree learns that their exclusive partner is allegedly speaking with Google about providing the same services. The LendingTree suit claims that Mortech infringed on their contract and broke their confidentiality agreement by discussing a similar, if not the same, service that is provided to LendingTree. The drama is not necessarily about the specific lawsuit, but rather the fact that Google is looking at bringing a mortgage pricing engine/lead generation platform to their search results.

Believe it or not, Google is not the first search engine to try this. As a matter of fact,  AOL attempted mortgage lead generation in early 2007 with no success and then Yahoo tried lead generation later the same year, again with no success. Don’t count Google out just because AOL and Yahoo couldn’t make it work. Google is taking a completely different approach with their strategy. You can get an idea of what Google’s plans are by checking out Search Engine Lands 2008 article that covered the launch of the UK version. This beta was different then the upcoming US version in that the rates were added by humans. The US version will include real time rates posted by Mortech’s pricing engine. By doing this Google would eliminate the interaction with the brokers, post accurate rates and then be able to possible sell the inquiries on a CPL.

This is big news for companies in the lead generation industry. Its my guess that LendingTree recognizes this as a major threat and is going to do everything possible to stop or slow down the launch of this new Google service. The lawsuit, while directed at Mortech, is more about stopping Google from becoming a direct competitor in my opinion.

The launch of a service like this will easily take clicks away from companies bidding on mortgage related keywords. I don’t think that can be denied, but will it kill the mortgage lead generation vertical altogether? Of course not. A bigger question that needs to be asked is if this plan is successful will they go into other verticals? If Google can successfully generate and monetize mortgage leads from this new service what is going to stop them from moving into other verticals?

The evolution on online marketing has been slowly moving from the CPM and CPC pricing model to a CPA or CPL pricing model. Google noticed this on 2006 and launched their CPA pricing model within Google Adwords. I think this move into the mortgage lead generation vertical shows that they believe advertisers will continue to make the shift towards CPA based marketing strategies. Google will be able to integrate their own lead acquisition platform into multiple verticals and instead of worrying about cost per clicks, ad variations and conversion rates advertisers will simply be able to buy the leads directly from Google.

What do you think? Is this a long shot or exactly what Google plans on doing? Give me your thoughts.

What do you do when social media backfires?

Great companies, agencies and respected people have all been victims of social media backlash. While it seems more poignant and more rapid, how does negativity on social media differ from other bad press?

In all honesty, it doesn’t.

Pretend I am Jane Doe who has just had an awful experience with Brand XYZ.  In the days before microblogs like Twitter, I would complain to any friend or family member that lent me their ear. These people, if they agree with me, might tell their friends my saga–continuing the cycle of bad publicity.

The difference is reach. Do I reach the same amount of people by telling my friends in person or via a 140-character tweet? I would argue that while a tweet might reach more people, a one-on-one rant results in worse publicity. Without a live audience, I can use metaphors, relate it to a previous experience, and basically complain to my heart’s content.

So which is worse, a tweet with a broader reach or an emphatic personal condemnation?

Either way, brands and businesses do have to be afraid of taking flak on social media. It actually presents an opportunity to make changes and interact with disgruntled consumers. If they’re not happy, figure out why and show that you care. You would do the same with an annoyed consumer in your store or on a customer service call.

Tweet my Chest Contest Winners

We had a great time running our Tweet my Chest contest with iwearyourshirt.com. If you haven’t seen it yet, the video Jason created to promote the contest on his blog. Hilarious.

Congratulations to our contest winners, and thanks to everyone who participated.

Winner of the coveted velcro iPhone t-shirt is @8CMS13, and @Bakkerjoop and @HRbeck both won a t-shirt commemorating the contest.

Thanks again!

Web Analytics Wednesday in San Diego

What a success!

I’m happy to report that the co-sponsored event by Geary Interactive and Quantivo brought in some great individuals from all over San Diego county. We had a raffle drawing, where we gave away 2 books written by Eric Peterson and 2 $50 gift cards to the Apple store.

If you were unable to attend last night’s event, stay tuned as we plan our next event in the coming months!

What does Yahoo & Microsoft Bing deal mean for search marketing?

A year and a half after initial deal talks, Microsoft and Yahoo reached a long-awaited partnership last week (7/29).  The term of the agreement is 10 years where Microsoft will acquire the license to Yahoo’s core search technology and integrate into the Bing platform.  Microsoft will pay Yahoo 88% of the revenue it gains from searches on Yahoo’s sites.  On the back-end, Microsoft will be the exclusive algorithmic search (organic) and paid search platform, meaning the Bing technology will power all Yahoo searches.  Microsoft will handle the search support while Yahoo will become the advertising sales team for both entities.   Yahoo and Bing will maintain their brand, but Yahoo searches will be “powered by Bing”.  The deal is expected to close in early 2010 and U.S. users should  start to see the changes three months later while users around the world will see the full effect within two years.

Although it has been announced that scalability is the reason for the deal, it is also meant to compete with Google AdWords.  However, Google is such a big power house that the Yahoo/MSN combination still holds less than half the market share of Google.   The main factor in the deal’s success relies on how Bing’s search technology resonates within the search community.  So far, Bing has marginally increased market share, but mainly stealing Yahoo’s share.  With the ex-competitors soon to be combined, the direct effect on Google’s market share will become evident as the competition ramps up.  All in all, the deal looks to be a benefit for both companies as Microsoft wants to pry internet users away from Google, and Yahoo is interested in focusing on building up its media sites such as finance and sports.

Microsoft and Yahoo reached a partnership agreement on July 29 that concludes a year and a half of deal discussions.  Terms of the deal include:
•    10 year term
•    Microsoft will acquire the license to Yahoo’s core search technology and integrate into the Bing platform.
•    Microsoft will pay Yahoo 88% of the revenue it gains from searches on Yahoo’s sites.
•    On the back-end, Microsoft will be the exclusive algorithmic search (organic) and paid search platform, meaning the Bing technology will power all Yahoo searches.
•    Microsoft will handle the search support while Yahoo will become the advertising sales team for both entities.
•    Yahoo and Bing will maintain their brand, but Yahoo searches will be “powered by Bing”.

The deal is expected to close in early 2010 and U.S. users should start to see the changes three months later while users around the world will see the full effect within two years.

Although it has been announced that scalability is the reason for the deal, it is also meant to compete with Google AdWords.  However, Google is such a big power house that the Yahoo/MSN combination still holds less than half the market share of Google.   The main factor in the deal’s success relies on how Bing’s search technology resonates within the search community.  So far, Bing has marginally increased market share, but mainly stealing Yahoo’s share.  With the ex-competitors soon to be combined, the direct effect on Google’s market share will become evident as the competition ramps up.  All in all, the deal looks to be a benefit for both companies as Microsoft wants to pry internet users away from Google, and Yahoo is interested in focusing on building up its media sites such as finance and sports.

What does this mean for paid search?

The combo beefs up the competition for Google, making each engine continue to push the innovation envelope.  To combat this threat, I would expect to see Google engineers continue tightening up on quality and user experience, offering more beta tests for new products.

Also, two smaller engines turning into one makes it more convenient to manage paid search with more of a scalable solution.  Although the details have not yet been formulated, all MSN & Yahoo search will go through one support team.  Planners will be able to launch paid search campaigns through MSN AdCenter, which has a user-friendly interface similar to AdWords.   However, this is likely to increase ad relevancy, quality, competition, and, effectively, cost per clicks.  There has not been any announcements yet regarding Yahoo’s Paid Inclusion (AKA Yahoo Search Submit Pro), but it is possible that the service could be terminated which will be unfortunate as it is an extremely efficient search tactic for advertisers.

What does this mean for SEO?

Since Bing will be the algorithm for both engines, SEO managers will need to learn and optimize around it.  However, it is possible that the Yahoo’s results ordering, layout, sidebars, and searcher focus may continue to be unique from Bing, requiring that SEOs still pay attention to the differences in the two engines and optimize accordingly.  The deal may also have a substantial impact on the link research landscape if the Yahoo link data is removed.  Since Yahoo owns the largest two providers of link information, there would be very few sources of link information.  Links are the core of search engine attributes, so not knowing how many links one has or competitors has could severely affect SEO and link building.  This could lead to the rise of more proprietary link indicates as well as breaking several tools that use Yahoo for their link data. Also, with Yahoo out of the core search business, I would expect to see them improve their content, making it tougher for sites to compete with Yahoo’s organic rankings.

What to do?

At this time, many of the conclusions of the deal are speculation as most of the details are still yet to be worked out.  Marketers should expect to see incremental changes over the next two years and the deal is completed and should be prepared to adjust their SEM strategies accordingly.

In the meantime, I would treat Bing as if it is the new Google because it could pave the way for future search quality best practices.  SEO Planners should be comfortable with Bing Webmaster Tools to improve optimization efforts.   Either way, this deal will prove to be an exciting change for the search landscape.

Web Analytics Wednesday

To all you San Diegans–

If you are in the area, swing by this month’s Web Analytics Wednesday. Hosted at Se Hotel August 12th from 6-8 pm, the event is a great venue to get the latest information about what’s going on in the world of digital analytics.

Space is limited, so register now!

We hope to see you all there.