Local Marketing Online: Part 6: Share Content

Posted on May 5, 2011

In Part 5 of this series: City Sites, Reviews & Recommendations, I discussed the impact of customer reviews on your local marketing search results and your online authority. Just as reviews and ratings are a form of recommendation, sharing your optimized, highly focused and strategically developed content by posting it to other social media and networking sites also functions as a recommendation.

You will recall in Part 5 that I discussed the Facebook ‘Like’ button that allows users to share your content on Facebook with Friends in their social circle. There are similar tools that make it very easy for you and your targeted readers to share your content on a variety of social media platforms.

Share Buttons: There are many widgets and tools that you can have implemented on your web pages that allow you and your readers to do just as the tool implies: share your content with others by email or via a variety of popular social networking platforms. Two of the most commonly implemented tools are the ‘Share’ button developed and provided by AddToAny and the ‘ShareThis’ widget by ShareThis.com. Simply by clicking on the desired destination, such as Digg or StumbleUpon, for example, you or your readers can post the content directly to the other platform for others to interact with. Typically you or your readers must register with the destination social media site first before having access to post content. Once registered, a simple process of identification and classification of the type of content being posted is all that’s required to share it with others.

It is to your advantage to register with all the social media sites you feel are likely to reach your targeted audience groups so that you too have the opportunity to share your optimized, highly relevant content. You probably invested a lot of time and money to develop the content so why not get the most mileage out of it that you can. If you have prepared your content the right way by making it topical and ensuring it contains the search terms that are part of your authority building strategy, then it is likely to be found by your targeted audience groups on the other social platforms as well. The more your content is accessed, commented on, and shared, the greater your authority score and your chances of achieving top rankings for the terms important to your strategy.

Here are some social networking sites you should consider registering for:

Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Bebo
Google Buzz
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Orkut
Technorati Favorites
LinkedIn
DailyMe
FriendFeed

A lot of these sites have login associations with Facebook, Twitter, and a few other popular social networking sites. This allows you to use your already established login, say your Facebook login, to access some of these other platforms. One thing to keep in mind: it is important to separate your business and your social accounts so you can accurately monitor results. For example, if you use Twitter for yourself, either socially or professionally, then establish a separate account for your business to market and promote it. Be attentive when you are making posts that you post to the accounts associated with your business so you can develop Friends, Followers, and Subscribers that will help you to build your online authority and improve your search engine rankings.

Tweet: Exclusive to Twitter, the Tweet button can be implemented with your website, blog, and other social media content, allowing users to Tweet a link on their account to your content as well as make comments that are publicly viewable. The Tweet button also publicly displays the number of Tweets your content has received by other users. Many Twitter users have also linked their account with the professional networking platform LinkedIn, which means your content will appear on two platforms as a result of a single tweet.

Sharing content is a form of recommendation that works to build your online authority and improve your search listing results by demonstrating the interest others have in it.

In Part 7 of the Local Marketing Online series I will talk about email marketing and how you can strategically follow-up with reader interest to turn Followers into Customers.

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Local Marketing Online: Part 5: City Sites, Reviews & Recommendations

Posted on May 4, 2011

When developing your local marketing strategy it’s important to include local city sites, the vast array of consumer review sites, and the variety of user recommendation tools in your marketing plan. The significance to you of these platforms and tools is the influence they have on your search listing results and your online authority.

As part of the paradigm shift away from the website owner and toward the website user, search engines are using consumer comments, reviews, star ratings, and the various voting tools such as the Facebook ‘Like’ button and Google’s +1 button, to identify and determine popular sources among users for information or shopping sites that are relevant to a user’s search. Once again, the idea is that what comes “straight from the horse’s mouth” is most reliable and hence, most relevant, to others searching for the same things. So the first thing to do is to ensure you can be found on the sites where your market research has determined your target audience groups spend time.

City and review sites are a hybrid of web directory and social networking. These include CitySearch.com, Yelp.com, Foursquare.com, Local.com, Yahoo Local, Google Places, and many more. You are generally given the opportunity to ‘claim your listing’ (see Part 2: Web & Map Listings), select the categories appropriate to what you offer, and fill out your profile with your optimized contact information, description, and an image or two. The local aspect of your listing corresponds to the address of your physical location. Some of these sites will charge you a nominal yearly fee if you want to include a link to your website, additional images, and other profile items useful to marketing to your targeted audience groups. Depending on the volume of traffic the site gets relevant to your objectives, it may be worth budgeting for a few listing upgrades, particularly if you are targeting consumers.

Shopping sites and cart tools like Amazon.com and Google CheckOut, two of the many available, allow for customer reviews and ratings. Google CheckOut actively encourages users to provide a ‘1 to 5 Star Rating’ of their experience with the online merchant. Amazon solicits customer reviews, which are willingly provided as seen by the number of reviews available for items sold by the shopping site. These reviews and ratings are aggregated by search engines and not only factored into ranking of search results but often are attached to the search result via a link, making them readily available to users as they search. Particularly if you market to consumers, you may benefit greatly from the collective power of these online giants. As you have probably witnessed, Google groups relevant shopping results and posts them towards the top of the first page of the search results. The more popular your item is among consumers and the better their online shopping experience was with you, the more likely your item will appear in the top listings for relevant searches.

Recommendation tools such as Google’s recently introduced ‘+1’ button and Facebook’s ‘Like’ button are simple ways for users to recommend your products, services, or company simply by clicking the button. The Facebook ‘Like’ button is a tool that you can have implemented on your other web content such as your website, blog pages, and other social media posts. The Google ‘+1’ button works much the same way. Acting as a counter that tallies the number of ‘votes’ your content has received, the Google ‘+1’ and Facebook ‘Like’ buttons provide information to users and search engines about the number of people who have recommended your content. Although the recommended content on the Facebook and Google platforms is accessible to users within the social circle of the person who made the recommendation, the Facebook ‘Like’ button offers the additional benefit of sharing your content on its platform as well. Obviously the more recommendations you get the better the overall effect on your search ranking and traffic results.

The lesson to take away here is that the opinions of others matter not just to consumers but to the search engines as well. Users now have an easy way to share their experiences with limitless others online. So you better make sure your website and all the content you present meets their needs and demanding expectations. The power of word-of-mouth via these numerous recommendation and rating sites and tools affects your online business results now more than ever before. You want to be present and encourage positive customer response. Good or bad, online word-of-mouth spreads faster than a bush fire in California on a hot August afternoon!

In Part 6 of the Local Marketing Online series I will talk about how you can Share Content and encourage your targeted readers to do the same as part of your strategy to boost your online authority and rankings.

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Local Marketing Online: Part 3: Google Places

Posted on April 28, 2011

In Part 2: Web & Map Listings, I explained in detail the importance of claiming and managing your web and map listings. Well, Google Places is chief among those listings that you need to claim or ‘verify’ if you expect to enhance your local marketing search results.

For those of you who still may not know what it is, Google Places for Business is a free service that allows business owners to update and manage their physical business location information. Updating and managing this information ensures that it will post accurately to correlated services such as Google Maps as well as associated Google properties and search and Display Network sites that make up Google’s vast advertising network. If a general search in Google’s engine is either location-specific or made using a mobile device platform like iPhone or Android, local results are displayed along with the other results.

For the same reasons you ask site visitors to complete an online form so that you get the information about them that you need, your Google Places page, which is really a mini website, acts as a verification tool for Google (hence Google’s request to ‘verify’ your information) to ensure your company is being indexed the right way. Google will aggregate listing information it finds on other listing sites about your company to see if the content – profile description, local phone numbers, and addresses in particular – matches up. If it does not, it could hurt your chances to list prominently in the search results for the terms corresponding to your listing.

All of the preparation work I mentioned in Part 2 of this series is used to develop your Google Places page as well. Google, as well as Bing and Yahoo, are looking for consistency across the web. As I have stated previously, you are trying to establish your authority for the search terms that correspond to what you offer. So you must ensure your Google Places page includes as much of your optimized company information as can be added, including images and video if you have them. Because Google indexes these items, they could also appear in a relevant search result below your local listing information.

In order to get the most mileage out of your Google Places page remember to encourage your happy customers to leave reviews. Customer comments and reviews are published and heavily factored in search engine results ranking. Double lucky for you if you happen to be a local business that is also using Google CheckOut for online orders. If customers are giving you 4 or 5 star ratings on Google CheckOut as well as positive comments on Google Places you are greatly strengthening your chances for organic top ranking and lead generating.

The last item I want to mention is paid advertising. Surely you are all familiar with AdWords – Google’s pay per click search engine advertising program that displays your relevant ads in Google Search, Google Maps and across Google’s vast Display Network based on competitive bidding and the number of clicks your ads receive. Well Google has introduced a similar program called Boost. Google Boost is a form of pay per click search engine marketing that delivers an enhanced version of your Places listing in relevant Sponsored listing results on Google search and Google Maps (including Mobile). The ad content includes:

Name of your business
Address and phone number of your business as specified in your Google Places account
Short description of your business (Google will automatically generate an editable description based on your Google Places listing description)
Snippet from the Place Page detailing the average star rating and the number of reviews
Link to your business’ Place Page

I have helped many clients verify and develop optimized content for their Google Places page that has worked to achieve better rankings for local search. If you haven’t done so yet, verify your Google Places page. Remember to be consistent. Stick to your optimization plan!

In Part 4 of the Local Marketing Online series I will explain the inter-relationship between Search and Social Media and how you can improve your rankings by building and managing your authority score for the search terms corresponding to what you offer.

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Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 4: 3rd Party Website Advertising

Posted on April 22, 2011

Many third party websites offer online advertising opportunities. These include professional organizations, online directories, blogs, newsletters, online magazines and journals, news sites, and a variety of informational sites. Online advertising programs for these types of websites are varied and may include banner only (i.e. graphics), text only, or a combination of media which may also allow for video.

In Part 4 of this series, Online Advertising and User Intent (see Part 1: Intro, Part 2: Social Media Advertising, and Part 3: Search Engine Advertising), I hope to show how to apply the concept of user intent to online advertising on third-party websites.

3^rd-Party Website Advertising

Your understanding of the intent of your targeted audience groups, or the reason they visit these third-party sites in the first place, provides you with the information you need during your campaign selection, planning, and development process. With some programs, such as Google AdSense, the content network is so vast and diverse that your selection process for where your ads will appear is somewhat restricted. Nonetheless, it is imperative you evaluate each advertising option carefully to avoid wasting your budget and to ensure you meet your goals.

Just as you have profiled your targeted audience groups to identify the characteristics and interests that allow you to develop an impactful advertising message, you must also profile the third-party websites you are considering to ensure your message reaches your intended audiences.

During your evaluation process, here are a few questions to help you along:

What does the website offer?
Who would be interested in what it offers? (Look at the substance of the content presented.)
What type, or types, of audiences are attracted to the content: consumers, business professionals, engineers, purchasing agents, etc?
In what age range might visitors be?
What may be the education level of visitors?
Are they sophisticated readers, highly educated on the subjects offered, or new to the material?
Does what you offer logically fit with the content on the site?
Could the content detract from what you offer?
What do visitors generally do at the site? (i.e. post comments, ask questions, research, relax, play games, etc.)
Is there a particular page or type of content most likely to attract your targeted audiences?

By carefully evaluating these considerations you can make assumptions about the intent of site visitors who frequent the sites you want to place your ads on. With a profile of both the advertising venue and the intent of the visitors it attracts, you have the information you need to select the right sites and to develop your highly focused advertising message. Make sure you are clear about:

Whom you are addressing
What they will be doing while you are trying to attract their attention

To summarize, advertising on third-party websites follows the same logic as advertising on social media sites. In order to attract the attention of your targeted audience groups, you have to understand and respect why they came there in the first place. By making accurate assumptions, you can develop an effective ad that:

Addresses your target audience groups’ known interests
Addresses their assumed interests as they relate to their known interests (e.g. “You’re reading about kitchen and bathroom remodeling so you may be interested in the decorative glass I sell for cabinets.”)
Taps into their emotion as it relates to their known interests
Gets them to take the action you desire without having to abandon why they came to that site in the first place

Read posts in this Series:

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 1: Intro

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 4: 3^rd-Party Website Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Posted on April 13, 2011

When most of you think of social media you think of Facebook or Twitter. There are actually many forms of social media that attract a wide variety of users intent on doing a number of diverse things. These sites include personal blogs, consumer review sites, professional networking sites like LinkedIn, local city sites, travel sites, online book clubs, and so much more. This part of the series will discuss user intent on social media sites and what things to consider when developing your online advertising strategy and content for campaigns to be used on social media platforms. For those of you who are new to this series, you may wish to begin by reading Online Advertising and Reader Intent: Part 1: Intro, which explains the idea of intent and how it is important to online advertising.

To illustrate the key points, I will discuss a social media site most people are already familiar with: Facebook.

Advertising on Facebook

Facebook is a social networking site. The intent of users who frequent the site is to share aspects of their life and interests with the people in their network, who may be family, friends, colleagues, or virtual strangers they allowed to connect with them; or conversely, to learn new information from those within their network who are sharing with them. The point is they are there to share personal stuff – not to shop, not to do research, and typically not to find something specific for their home or work.

This distinction is critical to make when developing your online advertising campaign for a social networking platform. Bottom line is – Facebook users are not specifically looking for what you are offering them at this time.

Your carefully crafted message has to draw their attention away from what they are engaged in without interfering with their intent for being on the social networking site in the first place.

To demonstrate what I mean, I’ll share with you a typical offline experience I am sure most of you have had: have you ever walked into Home Depot and had a financial services rep try to get you to sign up for the store’s credit card?

Your intent was not to go to Home Depot for a credit card. Your intent was to run in, get the exact elbow pipe you need, and run home to finish the job so you can get it done before the football game starts. Right?

Well, your online ad is faced with the same scenario only you don’t have the advantage of getting someone’s attention by shouting out, “Excuse me, sir, are you planning on buying something today?” So how do you get their attention then?

First of all, you have to know whom you are targeting. Luckily for you, Facebook allows you to choose your audience by location, age, and interests. One successful advertiser targeted female users aged 24-30 who indicated they were ‘engaged.’ The very straightforward ad message spoke to the stated interests AND intent of the users: “Recently engaged? CM Photographics would love to be a part of your event. Mention this ad for $500 off.”

If we analyze this ad we see how the advertiser made use of what was ‘known’ and ‘understood’ about the target group:

Made use of known intent important to targeted users: “Recently engaged?”
Generally still establishing themselves at 24-30 years of age and faced with the upcoming costs of their wedding, the advertiser made use of the understanding that this group is typically looking to save money: “Mention this ad for $500 off!”
Most probably dreaming of the big day, the photographer included a photograph of a bride and groom kissing out in a field on their wedding day.

All of the elements of the ad indicate the advertiser understood the users’ intent and was able to incorporate accurate assumptions that served to strengthen the ad’s effectiveness. Another important point to make here is where your call to action takes users who respond to your ad by clicking on it. Ideally, you do not want to take users away from the web site they are ‘socializing’ on. Ensure the target is set to ‘open in a new window’, or better yet a tab, so that they can easily get what you offer without having to completely disengage from what they were already doing.

To summarize, in order for your online advertising on social media platforms like Facebook to be effective you have to:

1. Know whom you are targeting

2. Use your understanding of their intent to address their known interests

3. Use your understanding of their intent to address their assumed interests as they relate to their known interests

4. Include an image that indicates what you offer and taps into an emotion related to the known intent of the users

5. Include a call to action that when clicked is set to ‘open in a new window’ so that users do not have to abandon their intent for being on the social media site in order to engage with your message.

Stay tuned for Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising coming soon!

Read posts in this Series:

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 1: Intro

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 2: Social Media Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 3: Search Engine Advertising

Online Advertising and User Intent: Part 4: 3^rd-Party Website Advertising