What are the new developments in digital marketing and how will they affect your business?

@annstanley

The Future of Digital Marketing 2012

What are the new developments in digital marketing and

how will they affect your business?

Ann StanleyMD Anicca Digital Solutions

February 2012

@annstanley

@annstanley

1) Clash of the giants• Facebook

– Approaching 1 billion users and are set to go public after their IPO earlier this year– Introduced new ‘Timeline’ feature to increase user time on site (and ad impressions) –

which will soon be available to brand pages– New advertising features like ‘Sponsored Stories’ were introduced (now over 24 ad formats

are available through specialist agency partners)– Rumoured to be working on their own smart phone

• Google– ‘Panda’ update to algorithm had dramatic impact to search results pages– Introduced new social network, Google+, and +1 buttons– Google+ has now been integrated into search results as ‘Search, Plus Your World’– Google’s Android mobile platform is now the most popular smart phone operating system– Chrome browser rising in popularity

• YouTube– The biggest video site and still the second most used search engine– In the last 12 months YouTube has developed new features such as; ‘pay as you go’ movies

and TV shows– More promoted videos and ad formats (via AdWords)

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Top UK sites - week ending 11/02/2012

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2) Google Panda update and need for ‘good quality content’

• In 2011, Google implemented a rolling algorithm update known as ‘Panda’, which ‘penalises’ sites that host poor quality content and/or provide a poor user experience

• The effect of the Panda update was widespread and, with every update, Google becomes more sophisticated at judging the quality of content on a site

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What is ‘poor quality content’?• To understand what may constitute poor quality content and

make sure you avoid penalisations, it is important to understand why Google implemented this algorithm update

• Google’s main ‘product’ is its search results. Therefore the sites Google lists in response to the search term need to be as relevant as possible to the searcher – otherwise the searcher may look for the information somewhere else and decrease the amount of ad impressions and clicks on Google

• To ensure the ‘product’ is as good as possible, Google’s algorithm is geared towards promoting sites that are relevant and offer a good ‘user experience’

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Optimise for the user – not search engines

• Making sure a site is optimised to provide a rich, relevant and rewarding experience for visitors is the best way to avoid Panda penalties, which means:– No duplicate content– All pages to have unique, relevant and useful content

(even the 1000’s of product pages on ecommerce sites!)

– Good levels of interaction on site (low bounce rates, inbound links to ‘deep’ pages, social mentions etc…)

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Ecommerce optimisation – unique content on category pages

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User generated content• User generated content, or UGC, is still a great way to add unique and

relevant content to web pages – especially product pages in the ‘post-Panda’ search environment:

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3) Video and other rich media• Use of rich media on sites is now becoming required, rather than

recommended• Media rich content is also a good indication to search engines that

the page/site offers a good user experience• Search engines, especially Google, are actively seeking rich media

like videos and photos to display as ‘rich snippets’ in search results; for example by using Schema mark-up language (Schema.org)

• Rich media can be embedded (i.e. Videos from YouTube, music from SoundCloud) which can add a social sharing ‘layer’ to the content

• Media can also be hosted on the sites own server and promoted via Video Sitemaps

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Video integrated with product pages

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Use of Schema.org and rich snippets

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4) Personalised and ‘social’ search• Search engines are increasingly using data from the

‘Social Graph’ to influence search results, as well as users locations

• This provides users with a much more personal search experience, and is expected to increase user interaction (clicks) with search results and ads

• Due to this, participation in social networks is becoming more and more of a requirement for online businesses

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Localisation of search results• Place pages are now the de

facto result in Google for any location specific search term (often as “blended results”)

• Places data is also now integrated with AdWords accounts to provide more information and encourage clicks (blue flag on map)

• Searches on mobile devices are increasing all the time – which puts even more importance on having well optimised Place pages

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Google ‘Search, Plus Your World’• Results from Google+ are

very prominent within the search results

• Search, Plus Your World is currently being tested on Google.com – but is expected to roll out soon

• It is recommended that online businesses become active on Google+ to ensure traffic is not affected by this change

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Facebook integration with Bing

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5) Importance of Social Media• As well as their growing influence on search results,

social networks are also very much a marketing channel in their own right

• Facebook and LinkedIn have their own ad platforms, with Twitter currently testing different ad techniques

• As well as ads, all the major social networks provide ‘brand pages’ to enable businesses to interact directly with their target audience

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Facebook Ads• These are displayed throughout Facebook – on user’s

walls, Timelines, photo pages, messages etc…

• Because of the data users provide to Facebook on a daily basis, ads can be very targeted – can you guess this Facebook users favourite football team and what industry they work in!?

• Facebook ads do not achieve a high click-through-rate when compared with other PPC ad platforms like AdWords, however with a CPC of around 50p they can be a cost effective alternative or addition for some sectors

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Facebook brand pages• Brands are now using their Facebook

presence as a stand alone marketing channel – encouraging more followers and then providing multiple opportunities for followers to ‘interact’ with the brand on Facebook

• Custom tabs can be created on brand pages to promote different services, products and competitions

• Brand pages can also be used to interact directly with followers – posting on their Wall’s, answering brand and industry-related queries, responding to complaints etc. – which all helps the brand build a relationship with prospective customers

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Google+ brand pages

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Integration of social ‘buttons’• As well as using social networks to build relationships

directly with an audience, they can also be utilised to help ‘spread’ your content

• Every social network provides ‘buttons’ for webmasters to incorporate onto their site – either as links to profile pages or as quick links for users to post, tweet and recommend the page as well as comment on the content via various social ‘plug-ins’

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Integration of blogging and social bookmarking

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Other social ‘channels’• Success in social media is no longer limited to

the big networks like Facebook and Twitter• An increasingly diverse audience requires a

diverse approach – focusing on a range of different social networks and bookmarking sites

• Social sites like Pinterest, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Digg are currently enjoying huge growth and can be utilised to promote brands as well as aid SEO campaigns

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• Pinterest is a social platform that allows users to ‘pin’ images and videos they like into pre-determined categories or ‘boards’. Since it’s launch last year Pinterest has become the fastest site ever to reach over 10 million monthly unique visits. Therefore, if Pinterest is not part of your social strategy – it should be!

• There are many social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious that are currently enjoying record traffic (Reddit recently announced it has tripled in size over the past year and now serves 1.6 billion pageviews per month). Again, with these kind of figures, if these sites are not part of your social strategy then perhaps they should be!

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TweetDeck and Hootsuite• These are both platforms that allow users to monitor

multiple aspects of different social media accounts on one screen

• This includes Facebook ‘likes’, comments, messages as well as Twitter mentions and timeline activity

• These tools are essential to stay on top of your accounts across multiple social networks

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6) Innovation in paid search • Bing paid ads (and search results) feeds into Yahoo – well it is

promised!

• AdWords recent and new features– Growth of Remarketing (display of ads on display network to customers who

have visited your site) - AKA stalking– Social ad extensions (linked to your Google+ page)– Product Listing ads– More YouTube ad formats and growth in “promoted videos”– Bid-on-calls (coming soon)

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Ad Extensions, Local Listings (map) and new Product Listing ads

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7) Effect of different devices

• Use of Smartphones, netbooks and new generation of tablets for browsing the internet

• Use of games consoles and Internet or Smart TV• Growth in advertising opportunities/formats e.g. TV,

mobile apps, mobile/tablet (already here) • Range of browsers and screen resolutions – does

your website work with all of them?

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Internet enabled Smart TV

• Many users are now networking their PC’s to their TV screen and using it as a large monitor

• For users who do not have a PC you can pay approx. £100 extra for a Smart TV that is already Internet enabled, e.g. LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony

• They include traditional TV channels as well as integration with YouTube etc… to provide a rich viewing experience, and also allow users to visit sites and social networks directly from their TV

• Internet TV is strongly regarded as the ‘new frontier’, with both Google/Sony and Apple offering online TV platforms/browsers or set-top control boxes

• This will provide new challenges/opportunities to webmasters to ensure their content is TV-ready and accessible

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Mobile phones• Increase in use of Smartphones for accessing the internet

– 62% of searches for restaurants on Valentines Day 2012 were on mobile phones

– Google Says “Local Intent” is behind 1/3 of mobile searches– www.everymenu.co.uk 32% of visits (out of ~250k) from mobile phones in

final quarter of 2011 compared with 17% in final quarter of 2010• Development of Apps and other mechanisms for engaging customers (556,044

iPhone Apps are currently available on http://appshopper.com)• Mobile advertising including click to call (from AdWords) • Use of mobiles to make VOIP calls (Skype, Google Chat and new services)• Mobile access to the internet is the only access for many developing countries• Is your website mobile compatible (screen size, operating systems and

different browsers)?

@annstanleyGrowth in mobile access to www.everymenu.co.uk

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Data from AdMob

Report can be found at http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/

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8) Integration of marketing channels• Creation of content for use across all channels e.g. offline PR, online PR, blog, article sites• Importance of blogs

– Blogging as a way of increasing SEO content on the site– Blogging and social – create blog post and promote it across social platforms– Blogging and email – e.g. using Feedblitz or Feedburner– Google Fresh update is actively looking for, and prioritising, new and unique content

• Export from ecommerce database– Google Merchant Centre (Google shopping results)– Integration with AdWords ads and Product Listing ads– Feeds to shopping directories e.g. Kelkoo, Shopzilla– Use of Multi-channel management e.g. ChannelAdvisor for Amazon, eBay and other channels

• Use of Schema mark-up language to create rich snippets• Offline and online integration

– Offline to online – offline marketing driving traffic to website or Facebook pages e.g. TV, radio, press etc…

– Online to offline - website or email to drive sales in a shop using vouchers e.g. Groupon (check small print)

• Website to phone calls - tracking of calls down to keywords e.g. “Origins Call Tracking”

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Integration with Google Merchant Centre

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Growth in mobile vouchers and deals

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9) Need for more measurement• Essential to use Analytics or other web stats packages to measure effectiveness of your

site• Analysis of user demographics, behavioural and interests – e.g. Audience Guru• Focus on conversion optimisation rather than traffic generation, e.g. landing page

optimisation, shopping cart abandonment• Inclusion of campaign and offline measurement by using:

– URL tagging– URL extensions – Call tracking technology– Tracking pixels and container tags

• Social marketing effectiveness e.g. Facebook Insight, Topsy, Klout, Anlaytics• Mobile phone metrics for Apps• Conversion attribution modelling; first click, last click, effect of display (impressions), path

analysis• Analysis of all sources of leads to a website, whether online or offline e.g. Dart, Atlas,

Omniture

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Dynamic phone number creation and call tracking technology

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Analytics URL builder – are you using it?

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Top paths to a conversion (Analytics - Multi-Channel Funnels)

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Social monitoring tools• There is now a wealth of options when it comes

to research, monitoring and tracking social media• Anything from the volume of mentions for a

particular account or keyword (Topsy) to levels of influence (Klout, TwitterWonk) can be measured

• Activity on multiple accounts can also be controlled and monitored using tools like TweetDeck and Hootsuite

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Topsy Analytics• Topsy can be used to

measure the amount a certain keyword, account or URL has been mentioned in a given timeframe

• This can be used to track the effectiveness of a particular campaign, as well as research popular social media topics

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Klout

• Klout assigns a score of ‘influence’ to everyone with a social media profile – whether they have signed up or not

• As well as tracking your individual Klout score, it can be used to identify the leaders in particular topics who can be targeted as ‘brand advocates’ and link building opportunities

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FollowerWonk

• FollowerWonk is a detailed Twitter analytics tool – allowing users to monitor and track Twitter profiles and identify relevant accounts to follow/interact with

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10) Technical specialisation• Polarisation of web agencies –

– 1-man bands and small agencies using open-source software– Larger agencies using in-house technologies and focussing on high end or

high specification websites (e.g. database or ecommerce)• Huge growth in Social and SEO agencies• Rapid change in pace and innovation means that each digital marketing

channel is becoming increasingly complex and technically difficult – so you need to use specialists for each channel

• Make sure agencies have the necessary expertise and experience – check references and accreditations

• Traditional marketing managers need to up-skill– Lack of formal qualifications – Need for constant updating of knowledge

@annstanleySEOMoz study on agencies http://aytm.com/press/IG/SEO-cost_1.png

UK Agency services (81) Hourly rates charged

USA UK

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Accreditations

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Summary1) Clash of the giants2) Google Panda update and need for ‘good quality content’ 3) Video and other rich media4) Personalised and ‘social’ search5) Importance of Social Media6) Innovation in Paid Search7) Effect of different devices8) Integration of marketing channels9) Need for more measurement10) Technical specialisation

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Thank [email protected]

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Download presentation at

www.anicca-solutions.com/blog