Get More from Search - Trends in Search & Social Media

Love it or hate it, use it or ignore it, profit from it or have your customer service gaffes illuminated by it, social media is buzzing because it has become foundational to digital marketing. User generated content allows people around the world to share ideas with each other. Social media’s reach now outperforms traditional media outlets like TV, radio and print. And while it’s now undeniably part of our culture and marketing disciplines, the growth has really just begun.

Random Social Media Stats

• In 2010, Gen Y outnumbered Baby Boomers and 96% of them belong to a social network.
• 78% of people trusting peer recommendations on websites; only 14% trust ads.
• 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands are linked to user-generated content.
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. in 2009 met via social media.
• Facebook has over 500 million active users. 50% of them log in every day. Collectively, 700 billion minutes per month are spent at the site. 70% of users are outside of the U.S. Facebook has over 200 million active mobile users and are 2X as active as non-mobile users.
• Twitter has 175 million users, generating over 65 million tweets and more than 800,000 searches per day.
• The second largest search engine in the world is YouTube. The site has over 2 billion viewers daily.
• 73% of Wikipedia users edit the site’s content because they want to share knowledge.
• LinkedIn has over 60 million users with 12 million unique visitors per day.
• People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services  than how Google ranks them.

What Do Strangers Recommend?

Word of mouth is the most popular option for deciding on your next product of service, with 78% of people trusting peer recommendations on websites. The profound influence that strangers have on our decisions is relatively new and remarkable territory. Plain old advertising only impresses 14% of people.

Brand Rankings Succumb to the User Generated Content

As mentioned above, 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands are linked to user-generated content. The platform provided by social media combined with sheer numbers of customer contributors outpaces the content that even the world’s largest brands can generate.

This can be a very good thing if your priorities are right. If the preponderance of your customers are saying good things, they will do the marketing for you. If not, or if your company has a bad rap for lack of engagement or courtesy, customer reviews can do more damage than any failed ad campaign. Large brands typically have it more uphill battle to humanize their messages and deal with customers at a one-to-one level. On the other hand, small companies have the most success at finding new customers through social sites.

2011 – Dubbed “The Year of Facebook” for PPC Marketers
2011 will have search marketers delving even deeper as it is anticipated to be the “year of Facebook” according to Covario, a search marketing firm to Fortune 500 companies.

72 percent of active users have two social network accounts on average, with Facebook being the platform of choice with 51 percent of users having an account – the most popular by a landslide.  Integration between search and social media is priority number one for respondents to Covario’s recent search and social media survey. The allure of user-generated inbound links to product sites is a major draw for advertisers.

Paid search advertisements on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn should also see major upticks – as much as 10% to 20% of PPC budgets – as marketers aim to engage their target audience in the middle of their networking sprees.

Make Social Media a Priority

The takeaway is that consumers now have the largest impact on a brand’s messaging and it is doubtful that we’re going to cede that voice anytime soon. Social media here to stay. So, whatever your feelings are toward connecting with consumers, engaging in social media and integrating it with your digital and offline campaigns needs to a top priority for your business in 2011 and beyond.

A new global survey from TNS called “Digital Life” reveals that the Internet is the top medium for people around the world with internet access. 61% of internet users use the internet every day, while TV is used by 54%, radio by 35% and 32% read newspapers daily.

Nearly 30% of the world’s population has access to the Internet and mobile subscribers equate into about 2/3 of the world’s inhabitants and an increasing number are mobile data subscribers. Internet penetration is rapidly increasing in the developing world and its users are actually more inclined to use the internet than nations with high internet and mobile penetration rates.

Social networks are popular worldwide and mobile promises to attract more users who will log more hours than ever before. One-third of U.S. online consumers plan to use social networking sites more this year via their mobile phones.
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet, was recently quoted as saying that his hope is that everyone in the world should be a given a low-bandwidth connection “by default.” Others think that it should be a universal human right.

Time will tell but worldwide connectivity will likely be achieved by mobile. Analysts posit that new internet connections will likely be produced by the 4 billion mobile users worldwide compared to the 1 billion PC users. The Mobile web is dubbed the “next major computing cycle” with developing nations leapfrogging desktop Internet usage and heading straight for the mobile web.

In spite of global recessions and a rapidly growing middle class in China, our consumer nation is still the world’s largest advertising market for U.S. and international companies. Yet as advanced as we are, the U.S. is not the most connected.

In Ciarán Norris’ article, “A Letter to Facebook From the Rest of the World,” he notes that while the U.S. is often the test market for new technologies such as Facebook’s geolocation service, Places, there are other countries whose connectedness would make them ideal beta testing grounds.

For instance, Facebook is now the most popular media brand in the U.K. and Sweden has a 92% internet penetration rate compared with the U.S. at 77%. Indonesia is the fourth largest market for Facebook, yet only 12% of its population is online.

As stated in Morgan Stanley’s “Mobile Internet Report,” 96% 0f Japan’s residents will have 3G mobile access this year. It is estimated that there will be more users connected to the internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within the next five years. China and India lead the world in terms of users, with over 600 million mobile subscribers in China over 300 million in India with major growth rates expected by 2014.

So while U.S. consumers purchase more than other nations and marketers will continue to test and launch products and services, it is not the only market that should be considered for product feedback. Other nations have higher mobile and internet penetrate rates and house highly active users with unique perspectives on the social media services rooted here in the U.S.

Bucking the declining trend brought on by the economic decline, online advertising spending is anticipated to exceed 10% growth in 2010, reaching over $25 billion as reported in eMarketer’s new report, “US Ad Spending: How Big is the Bounceback?”

The reason? The measurability of online ads, particularly search, makes online advertising more attractive than traditional media. Indeed, the economic downturn is actually accelerating the shift of traditional ad budgets to the Internet.

Strong search spending, online video advertising and banner ads underpin the growth. Social media spending is also contributing, with marketers engaging in Twitter, Facebook, blogs, viral campaigns and word-of-mouth while improving their own websites and microsites.

Other ad segments are seeing declines but with Internet advertising being hailed a “sure thing” by more marketers, online’s growth is a refreshingly positive trend in this economy.

Long gone are the days of, “If you build it (a website), they will come.” I don’t know if that was ever really true but today, getting users to your website is a fairly complex issue. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most heavily researched, contested and coveted marketing disciplines because search is still where it’s at for attracting engaged users to your website.

Yet, search engines don’t offer us marketers a how-to guide on how to rank well in their engines. That’s why it is essential to glean your knowledge of SEO best practices from plenty of trusted blogs, forums and articles online as well as from consultants and employees who have experience and success in page one search rankings.

A recent SEOmoz post by Rand Fishkin disclosed an interesting forum thread between himself and eight other SEO sages on the subject of whether great content equals great rankings. Herein, I’ll attempt to sum up the expert’s thoughts on what relevance great content has in organic search rankings.

So, does great content equate into great search rankings? Great content is important because people generally want to read well-written, engaging content. But just having great content on your site doesn’t mean that you will rank well. Other factors like site architecture and inbound links are major contributors to rankings. Now, if all things are equal (site architecture, inbound link quality/number) and your competitors are content with stale or inaccurate content, your great content will motivate people to link to your site and share your information with others which will in effect, produce better rankings.

As Matt Cutts of Google has a habit of repeating, Google strives to provide the most relevant search experience and he encourages marketers to produce great content. But for the time, great content isn’t a ranking factor!  So while it’s only logical to provide the best content you can for your users, it won’t automatically earn you a top spot.

Google and Bing are always aiming at improving relevancy,  so it is possible that over time, the better your content, the more useful your site will be for their searchers and thus, the better quality score you’ll  get from those engines as part of the total ranking equation.  Social media is one such trend that will likely affect ranking factors in the near-term: real-time tweets and updates may affect a site’s relevancy.

However, as it stands now, it gets down to a less noble conclusion: the content that is marketed the best is the content that ranks the best. Those who have the best quality and sometimes highest number of inbound links generally rank the best.

Any worker living through this recession knows that job security doesn’t exist anymore. We are in the era of “The Disposable Worker” as dubbed by BusinessWeek in its January 2010 cover story. The recession has hastened some negative employment trends including: offshoring, declining influence of labor unions, new management techniques, regulatory changes and automation. 5% of US jobs have been lost and many of those jobs may be perpetually gone even after the recession due to the competitive drive to stay offshore and automate. Worker grievances like little pay increases, degraded working conditions and minimal job security may last for 5-10 years.  Young people are particularly affected by these trends since many can’t land their first job or their first job out of college.

So how distinguish yourself in an increasingly hostile job economy and a burgeoning global workplace? Your  personal brand – an expression of your “best self”- needs to become visible in social media.

According to a recent survey by Harris Interactive, 45% of HR professionals utilize social networking sites to research prospective employment candidates and 11% plan to implement social media screening very soon. With 35% of companies finding social media content that has caused them to not hire candidates, what you post and where you post must be given careful consideration.  On the positive side, 18% of employers have uncovered positive content at social sites that have caused them to hire someone.

Thus, social media has an increasing impact on the world’s perception of your personal brand. We’ll define four steps that will help you distinguish yourself from the pack.

First, you need to define your best attributes. You need to find your niche. This can be a challenging first step for some who pride themselves on being a jack-of-all-trades. While this can be a positive attribute, it’s subjective and should not have your sole feature.  Being great at something is more apt to make you stand out than being mediocre at dozens of things.

During the define exercise, try to quiet the inner voices that compare your attributes to others or assert aspirations that never quite come to fruition. Think of this exercise like a “features and benefits” chart that many products and services use.  Examine what you really can do, the principles that you stand for and how these attributes can benefit the world via your workplace, personal relationships and outreach.

Next, you need to network: social media is where you’ll need to build the foundation of your brand. Think of your social network as an investment in your future. You will have to be creative to stand out – this is where expressing your best self and your niche comes into play. Besides your friends, family and coworkers network, branch out and engage with people you aspire to be like, work for, or receive mentorship from. Social media is free and easy to join but its benefits can be lost on those who don’t delve into the finer details.

For instance, if you’re on Twitter, aspire up with regard to who you follow. Follow your industry’s big shots as well as the lesser-known people that post valuable insights into career and life. Look at the “following” list of people you respect and follow those same people.

Then, engage: retweet, direct message and ask questions. The big shots won’t likely message you back, but you never know when they might notice your tweet in their stream because you’re commenting on a topic that happens to be on their radar. If nothing else, learn from those who have more experience than you, a more distinct niche or habits that you’d like to emulate.

Once you’ve established a social foundation, you need to maintain your personal brand. That means you’ll need to have a good attitude, no matter who’s pulling your strings or what personal issues are troubling you. Inter-company relationships are important. Make sure your employer understands who you are and what value you provide to the company. Just because the job environment is increasingly competitive doesn’t mean you should start alienating your fellow workers. Don’t be conniving but do let the boss occasionally see that your actions towards others demonstrate concern and teamwork.

Integrity and meaningful progress have always been desirable attributes for workers, families and friends. But more than ever with an ever-changing job economy, it’s important to be transparent and evolve.

If you stumble and cause a notable offense, miss a deadline or squander an opportunity, you can use your social media profile to note your mistake and enumerate your commitment to improvement. Like we’ve seen with many companies whose product or service misses the mark, you can either ignore the rants and let the social media firestorm ignite unabated (think Ryannair or Dell) or you can face the issue head-on, express plans for reparation and direct the outcome (think Domino’s Pizza Turnaround campaign).

And as your knowledge, experience and skills progress, make sure that your social media profile expresses the positive evolution of your brand. You don’t have to always be displaying some newfangled device or talent but do keep up with advancements in your industry and cultivate efficiencies in your personal life.

Once you’ve built your personal brand on social media, persevere. This isn’t a one-off campaign; this is a evolving expression of who you are throughout the course of your life.

Increasingly, we all use the internet, search and social media to check in with and check up on the people we encounter. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to define, network, maintain and evolve your personal brand – your “best self” – via social networking.

For more a more detailed look at personal branding, download or buy Dan Schawbel’s popular book on the subject: Me 2.0.