Get More from Search - Trends in Search & Social Media

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.

Tweet This  Post by Jennifer Gosse.

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.

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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.

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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.

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The economic downturn has decreased revenues in nearly every sector of business, including digital advertising. Yet, because of the shift, the digital sector has quickly become a haven for more traditional ad budgets. The Internet is viewed as the most measurable medium and its performance-based ad models are becoming increasingly attractive for offline campaigns that lack the deep metrics and engagement factor that digital media provides.

Local advertising deserves ample attention in this shift since it accounts for 55% of all ad spending. The total ad market in 2009 was over $235 billion; more than $130 billion of that was spent on local ads, as reported by BIA/Kelsey in its new report: “U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast.”

By 2014, local advertising is predicted to account for 25 percent of all digital media advertising. A “steady shift toward digital media” will cause online spending to increase to $37 billion by that time, up from $15 billion in 2009. While local will grow, the BIA/Kelsey report also foresees larger than previously forecasts declines in newspapers and direct mail.

Mobile will drive a good deal of the local advertising growth. Most people now have Internet access via their mobile devices and when we’re on the move, we’re thinking and engaging at a local level. Thus, cohesive mobile campaigns will not only help businesses, it will serve the mobile subscribers directly or indirectly seeking local products and services. As more mobile ad formats are delivered, the mobile ad market could see even greater gains.

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Social media isn’t just for students anymore. Some schools are utilizing Facebook, Twitter and blogs to keep in touch with parents, community members and alumni. Since it is easier to reach these constituents where they are instead of getting them to visit the school websites, schools are realizing that the simplicity of social media status updates and opening up two-way communication are additional benefits that social media platforms provide.

In an interview for the Washington Post, Adrian Murphy, a teacher at Green Acres in Rockville, MD that is responsible for the school’s new blog stated: “If you can read a blog and can see pictures and watch video clips, all of a sudden you have some insight into what’s going on. You’ve been invited to the conversation, and you can participate on your time.”

Reading a blog about interesting goings-on with the students and school can take as little as a minute or two, but getting parents to visit the school for a parent-teacher conference is very time-consuming. The instant and always-on nature of social media enables better, more consistent communication while preserving the precious commodity of time.

“It’s what the kids and parents are at home with, and it’s really important to be able to meet them where they are,” says Marlene Nesary, a spokeswoman International Society for Technology in Education, an Eugene, OR based nonprofit group that supports the use of information technology in learning.

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