As Google Fellow Amit Singhal noted on the Official Google Blog: “We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships.” This is one of those paradigm shifts that takes us into territory where no man (or search engine) has gone before.
The implications are simply mind-blowing – and transform Google Plus from what some people might consider YASNY (“Yet Another Social Network — Yawn”) into a vital component of Search Optimisation.
Here’s what we know so far:
1. Rolling out NOW, around the world: if you’re logged in to your Google account, you get to choose whether to see search results that are shaped by your PERSONAL networks or not.
2. If you opt for Personal Results:
Say you’re looking for a vacation destination. You can of course search the web, but what if you want to learn from the experiences your friends have had on their vacations? Just as in real life, your friends’ experiences are often so much more meaningful to you than impersonal content on the web. With your world in search, you can find:
Google+ posts. You can find relevant Google+ posts from friends talking about an amazing trip they just took, whether they’ve shared privately with you or publicly. You’ll find links shared by your friends, such as activities, restaurants and other things they enjoyed on their trip.
Photos. You can find beautiful vacation photos from your friends right in your search results page. You can also find your own private photos from Google+ and Picasa, based on captions, comments and album title.
Watch the video to see how this new feature works:
3. Profiles in Search
Every day, there are hundreds of millions of searches for people. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the person you’re looking for. Once you do find him or her, there’s no quick way for you to actually interact. Starting today, you’ll have meaningful ways to connect with people instantly, right from the search results.
Now, typing just the first few letters of your friend’s name brings up a personalized profile prediction in autocomplete. Selecting a predicted profile takes you to a results page for your friend, which includes information from their Google+ profile and relevant web results that may be related to them. And you can have this personal experience instantaneously, thanks to Google Instant. So when I search for [ben smith], I now find my dear friend Ben every time, instead of the hundreds of other Ben Smiths out there (no offense to all of them!).
4. People and Pages
Starting today, if you search for a topic like [music] or [baseball], you might see prominent people who frequently discuss this topic on Google+ appearing on the right-hand side of the results page. You can connect with them on Google+, strike up meaningful conversations and discover entire communities in a way that simply wasn’t possible before.
Google is also introducing a prominent new toggle on the upper right of the results page where you can see what your search results look like without personal content. With a single click, you can see an unpersonalized view of search results.
We’re currently digesting the implications of these unprecedented developments and will update the materials in our next Marketing Through Google Plus course (starting January 25, click on the link for registration details and our Early Bird Offer for bookings received by next Wednesday).
We really can’t overstate the importance of this latest development. What do YOU think? Share your comments below.
Check out the video below, which gives an interesting overview of Google Search — where it’s been and where it’s going. A notable absence: social search, which is the most significant new development in search today.
What do you do when you’re surrounded by heritage buildings (and water) and there are no billboard sites?
We spotted a couple of innovative solutions in Venice, Italy when we were there a couple of weeks ago:
1. Venice buildings are in a constant state of refurbishment and maintenance, sometimes requiring whole sides of buildings to be covered by scaffolding. Some advertisers sponsor part of the refurbishment, and place giant ads on the protective coverings that swathe the building frontage, especially in heavy-pedestrian-traffic areas such as St Mark’s Square.
2. A somewhat more transient alternative: place your product on a boat and have it constantly cruise the canals, as Audi did in the example below.
It’s that time of year when the American networks unveil their new shows for the upcoming season (usually starting in September). Because you’re worth it, we’ve agonisingly worked our way through the various network schedules and identified the hits and misses that are likely to be hitting our screens in due course.
Here’s a sneak peek at what lies ahead (US network carrier indicated in brackets).
We’ll start with the shows that have high expectations attached:
Alcatraz (Fox)
JJ Abrams producing, Sam Neill starring in this intriguing tale of America’s most famous prison and the 300+ men who (allegedly) vanished from the island in the 1960s, only to start reappearing today. A cross between “Lost” and “The 4400″, perhaps.
Our view: If audiences can avoid the urge to scream “Not again!” as unsolved mystery piles onto unsolved mystery in the finest Abrams tradition, this one just might have legs.
Terra Nova (Fox)
Steven Spielberg gets an Executive Producer credit on this scifi extravaganza. As usual, the Earth of the future (2149) is stuffed, so colonists are sent back 85 million years into the past to build a new civilisation there. Unfortunately, the dinosaurs were already there (cue outtakes from Jurassic Park), so this paradise ain’t quite living up to its billing.
Our view: High concept Sci-Fi? Big Budget? Pretty much doomed to be cancelled after a single season, if recent examples (The Event, FlashForward) are any guide. One holdout hope: this is the sort of show that gets TiVo-ed or MySkyed (recorded and watched later) by an audience that’s sometimes larger than the original broadcast viewership. Fox has most notably renewed Fringe this year despite low broadcast numbers (because of strong TiVo numbers), so Terra Nova could outlast our predictions on the same basis.
Charlie’s Angels (ABC)
Yes, it’s a reboot of the 1970s TV series (and the more recent movies), with the usual mix of glitz and glamour but of course without the high-profile Hollywood actresses attached.
Our view: Remakes of iconic series are challenging, especially when the formula is pretty much the same as before. From what we’ve seen so far, the show has the requisite elements of sexy spies saving the world; but once you get past that, will the stories engage enough to attract a following? Not proven yet.
Smash (NBC)
You’ve seen Idol, you’ve sung along to Glee, now here comes Smash. Like Burlesque, this show tells the tale of a talented singer destined for big things … in this case, the leading role of a new musical about Marilyn Monroe. Talented newcomer S. Spielberg has his name on this one as well — who knew he could sing?
Our view: yeah, a star is born, Fame, Jealousy, Music. What’s not to like?
The River (ABC)
Yet another Spielberg-exec-produced show, this one will have you jumping (and not for joy). It’s from the makers of the horror-fest movie Paranormal Activity, and it’s been carefully honed to have you hiding behind the couch. The story in brief: a famous TV-celebrity explorer goes missing in the Amazon and his friends, family, and crew go searching for him. Who will survive the ensuing chaos?
Our view: will definitely have us on the edge of our seats.
This season’s crop of crime shows:
Unforgettable (CBS)
She’s a detective with a very rare and incredible medical condition: hyperthymesia. People with this condition can remember everything. Yes, everything. Fabulous talent for pub quizzes — not always so good for solving crimes (otherwise episodes of this series would be about five minutes long).
Our view: as useful a premise as any of the other police procedurals on television these days.
Awake (NBC)
If you can remember back to the movie “Sliding Doors”, you’ll have something of a handle on the concept: American detective seems to be experiencing two realities at once, following a traumatic car crash. In one reality, his wife died in the crash; in another, it was his son who died. He seems to be working on two different cases as well, one in each reality.
Our view: We have our doubts that the audience can relate to the split personality perspective across a full season, not just a one-off movie — but we’re open to being convinced otherwise.
Person of Interest (CBS)
Okay, this is more of a pre-crime, vigilante show (Batman meets Eagle Eye). The conceit is that, thanks to the wealth of surveillance cameras throughout urban America, it’s possible to detect criminals planning evil activities. Provide access to that information to a billionaire who wants to stop such crimes before they’re committed — then hire a suitably violent ex-CIA agent to do the deed.
Our view: just might work, especially if it taps into the right vein of paranoia.
The Finder (Fox)
A spin-off from Bones, about a man who can find anything.
Our view: Can he find an audience? Could be just quirky enough to stand out.
Prime Suspect (NBC)
Yes, it’s an American remake of that British series — the one that cemented Helen Mirren‘s celluloid reputation as a tough woman in a man’s world.
Our view: not a bad remake, at least from what we’ve seen so far. Goodness knows we’ve seen shows cross the Atlantic and end up in far worse shape than this.
Also coming your way for 2011/12:
How To Be a Gentleman (CBS)
Now we know what Rhys Darby gets up to when he’s not performing for 2 Degrees: he’s an accompaniment in this comedy of manners about a gentleman of style trying to find his way in the real world.
Our view: We’ve got a bad feeling about this. Sorry.
A Gifted Man (CBS)
Part medical drama, part supernatural thriller, part romance. He’s a dedicated surgeon, she’s his ex-wife. And dead, but that’s not stopping her. ER crossed with Sixth Sense, if we had to define it.
Our view: likeable enough cast and concept. Not sure if it’s distinctive enough to attract an audience, but we’ll see.
Napoleon Dynamite (Fox)
The surprise hit movie, now a cartoon series (voiced by the original cast)
Our view: Really? Why?
Revenge (ABC)
The unpleasant obsessions of a young woman who moves to the Hamptons (playground of the ultrarich) to take vengeance on those who wronged her family in the past.
Our view: another bad-attitude soap opera.
Pan Am (ABC)
For those who didn’t get enough of the sixties through Mad Men. The rose-tinted lifestyles of those high-flying heroines of legendary airline Pan Am, the stewardesses.
Our view: actually, we lived through the sixties and we didn’t find it like this …
Once Upon A Time (ABC)
Two producers/writers from Lost bring fairy tales to life in this drama about a woman who encounters the child she gave up for adoption years ago—at which point he tells her she’s actually the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White.
Our view: confused. This one should have stayed on the island.
Grimm (NBC)
Another series based on fairy tales. A policeman discovers he’s one in a long line of Grimms, hunters who were formed to protect humans from supernatural beings. It seems that Grimm’s Fairy Tales weren’t just bedtime stories; they were warnings, and the baddies in them are very much real.
Our view: if you go down to the woods today, better not go alone.
Secret Circle (The CW)
A companion show to the networks Vampire Diaries, this one about three teenage witches.
Our view: about what you’d expect. Should find a niche audience.
The Ringer (The CW)
Sarah Michelle Gellar finally back on network television, starring as a cute young woman on the run from the mob who takes over the identity of her wealthy twin sister… who’s also on the run from the mob.
Our view: not convinced that this one will work out.
Scandal (ABC)
A political drama about a high-profile “fixer” who salvages the damaged public images of celebrity clients.
Our view: will appeal to the sort of people who watch The Good Wife.
Last Man Standing (ABC)
Oh dear. Another show featuring a dinosaur — in this case Tim Allen, returning to network television as a man’s man in a shtick that worked okay back in Home Improvement but this time round is headed for rapid extinction.
Our view: duck, here come the meteors.
—–
There’s also the usual collection of dreary laughtrack-augmented comedies that, frankly, we don’t think you should suffer through, so we haven’t included them here.
Whilst working on our Social Media Marketing courses we’ve come across those who just want to cut to the chase — “how do I get myself set up on Facebook NOW and start attracting fans?”
For them, and for those of you who’ve completed one of our Social Media Marketing courses and now want some hands-on guidance to help you build your presence on Facebook, we’ve developed this twelve-step programme — which we’re releasing over four weeks, complete with demonstration videos, practical advice, resources and real-world examples.
The twelve steps covered in the Facebook Kickstart programme:
WEEK ONE:
1. Set yourself up on Facebook
We show you how to sign yourself up personally to Facebook, identify what information you should keep to yourself (and how to manage the ever-changing privacy settings) and what info you should make public. Then we step you through the process of creating a page for your brand(s) — it’s not easy as it looks, and there are some options which (if you make the wrong choices) can significantly limit your ability to customise your Facebook presence.
We also talk about the danger of having your organisation’s pages administered by just one individual — what if that person leaves or has an accident? — and show you how to overcome the problem.
And we help you choose your Facebook voice. How can you translate your brand personality into a consistent voice on Facebook? We talk you through the options and recommend what you need to do to make your brand come alive on Facebook — even if more than one person is regularly posting your updates.
2. Check out your competitors & your category
Once you’re established on Facebook, you need to find out what (if anything) your competitors are already doing on the social network — and what clever things others are doing in your product category, whether locally or internationally. We’ll also show you how to set up an online listening post that requires just ten minutes a day to keep you informed.
3. Create a “welcome” page
What happens when people come to your Facebook page for the very first time? You probably don’t want them to be thrust into conversations already in progress; at the very least you’ll want to welcome them, tell them what’s going on and perhaps even make them a special offer or two. We show you how to set up a welcome page and divert new arrivals there — and explore what you might like to feature on that welcome page.
WEEK TWO:
4. Add extra product pages & features
Unless your Facebook presence is purely philanthropic, your end goal is probably to promote stuff to your visitors (and perhaps even sell some of it). We explore some of the options available to you on Facebook (including setting up your own online store within Facebook).
5. Add content to your wall
Before you start attracting visitors to your Facebook pages, you’ll want to provide something for them to look at when they get there. We look at how you can flesh out your pages quickly, using materials you prepared earlier (and even other peoples’ content that you can legitimately re-use).
6. Build a simple Facebook App
Applications are a popular way to punch above your weight on Facebook. We introduce you to some simple applications that you could use to get yourself noticed on the site and step you through the app-creation process.
WEEK THREE:
7. Add a few followers
When anyone creates a new page on Facebook, the page starts out with 0 followers. We show you some smart ways to avoid the difficulty of trying to attract followers when it looks like you’re Norman NoFriends.
8. Claim your username
Once your page has 25 friends on Facebook, you can create a customised user address such as www.facebook.com/yourbrand. We show you how.
9. Use Facebook Ads to start attracting real followers
The objective of your Facebook presence is to develop a relationship with your fans and followers — but first you have to attract them. We explore some of the ways you can do that, including how to use Facebook Ads to speed up the early part of the process.
WEEK FOUR:
10. Start posting
Once you have some real customers and prospects following you, it’s time to start talking with them. We discuss how often you should be adding content to your Facebook pages and how you should structure your content for maximum effectiveness.
11. Connect & Share
Now that you have an operating presence on Facebook, it’s time to connect it with the rest of your digital world. We show you how to use Facebook Connect to link your other web activities to Facebook and how to use Open Graph protocols and metatags to share your content. We also show you how to minimise your workload by automating the process of cross-posting to and from Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other common platforms.
12. Start stalking & commenting
Marketing your brand on Facebook isn’t only about writing to your own pages. We show you how to browse Facebook and get noticed; and then attract the interested and curious back to your own social hideout.
WHAT YOU SHOULD ACHIEVE AS A RESULT OF THIS 12-STEP PROGRAMME
A working presence on Facebook, with a solid foundation for continuing to build a following through the site.
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAMME
Anyone who understands the principles of social media and wants to create an effective presence for their brand, organisation or cause on Facebook
Those who have already completed our Social Media Marketing course and now want a step-by-step programme for setting themselves up on Facebook
TIMING
The next Facebook Kickstart programme launches on WEDNESDAY JUNE 23
PROGRAMME CREATOR
The Facebook Kickstart programme has been developed by Michael Carney
INVESTMENT
This new Facebook Kickstart programme is available for $397 +GST. However we have an EARLY BIRD OFFERfor bookings received by WEDNESDAY JUNE 16: PAY JUST $297+GST.
Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment, which can be by cheque, bank deposit or credit card. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.
If you’d like to pay by Mastercard or Visa, please sign up through PayMate by clicking here.
If you would prefer to pay by cheque or bank deposit, or require an invoice before making payment, please send an email to michael(at)netmarketingservices.co.nz with your contact details.
(The service provider will be shown as Netmarketing Services Limited in your transaction and on your credit card statement).
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
1. Your booking will be confirmed by email (if you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours, feel free to email michael(at)netmarketingservices.co.nz).
2. On Wednesday June 23 you will be supplied by email with the first part of your Facebook Kickstart programme.
3. Follow-up lessons will be sent out over subsequent weeks.
The casual observer wandering through our shopping malls — or even just watching an evening’s television or leafing through retail catalogues — would be forgiven for concluding that price is the only thing that consumers care about.
“Up to 50% off”, “If you can find a lower price we’ll eat it”, “Save! Save! Save!”The price claims are deafening.
And yet, somehow, sellers who aren’t the cheapest manage to survive — and even prosper.
Once upon a time you could chalk that up to imperfect market knowledge — the consumer had no way of knowing what prices were being charged elsewhere.
That’s not an easy argument to defend nowadays — not when you can wander into a retail store, scan a barcode or type a model number into your smartphone (as an increasing number of us do) and check out competitive pricing on any given product.
Toss in the daily deal sites, the group buying sites, PriceMe, PriceSpy, Trade Me and of course global operators such as Amazon and eBay. Or, if that’s not enough options for you, check out the so-called preshopping sites such as Lasoo.co.nz or Google Shopping (just launched in Australia so NZ probably isn’t too far away) – at these sites you can do all your research online before shopping offline.
So why pay retail?
In the last quarter of 2010, McKinsey & Company asked 6,000 U.S. consumers what factors they took into account when deciding what constituted value for money. Price was only 24% of respondents’ evaluation criteria.
So what were the elements that swayed respondents?
24% Price: consumers choose a source (whether virtual or real-world) that consistently offers better prices (and occasionally exceptionally low prices)
17% Past Experience: I can easily find the specific items I want; and this retailer is the most convenient for me to shop
17% Trust: I know and trust the seller and have found that the items they sell are always good quality
12% Assortment: this source has a good range of prices and quality levels
12% Return Policy: policies and processes that are reasonable and easy to follow
11% Product Information: the retailer makes it easy to find information about items and conduct research
4% Delivery Costs: this source has reasonable delivery charges
3% Loyalty: has a loyalty programme that gives me rewards I really value
Even if we allow a healthy margin of doubt for those customers who just didn’t want to admit they’re really cheapskates, these results are reassuring news for those of us who aren’t (usually or ever) the lowest price provider in a given category.
If you want to see how the high value proposition can work in practice, take a look at the Apple retail store. In his 2009 book “What Americans Really Want … Really“, Dr Frank Luntz cited the Apple store as representing the key elements of “life as we want to live it”:
more money in our pockets because the products are more cutting-edge and last longer and therefore don’t need to be replaced as often
fewer hassles because the products do exactly what they say they do
more time on our hands because the products are quick and efficient
more choices because of constant updates, innovative new features and new applications
fewer worries, because the products never break (well, at least updated models) and
less stress, because the Apple employees take the time to sell you the right product and provide in-store lessons to answer all your questions at your convenience
Whilst we might quibble with some of the above observations, the reality is that all the practices Dr Luntz identifies contribute to the Apple experience. Toss in products that are “insanely different” and you end up with an offering that is defiantly and proudly anything but lowest-price.
Workloads at the IPAPs are about to blow out come September, if the results of a recent research study by Flicks and Ant Timpson are to be believed.
What on earth are we talking about? Perhaps a little explanation is in order.
You’re probably at least peripherally aware of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011. This recently-passed piece of legislation, due to become law on September 1, repeals and replaces the much-maligned Section 92A of the Copyright Act 1994 which authorised the use of deadly force to terminate with extreme prejudice the internet accounts of those file-downloaders who infringed the rights of copyright holders.
This blunt-instrument legislation has been replaced with a “three-strikes” process: copyright holders are first required to issue a detection notice, then a warning notice and finally an enforcement notice in regard to an alleged infringement, before more draconian measures such as court fines are enacted.
Copyright holders are required to serve such notices to IPAPs, who are then required to identify allegedly-infringing account holders and duly pass on the notices.
The acronym IPAP, which slips so nicely off the tongue, stands for “Internet Protocol Address Provider”. The term was invented to specify those Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who provide paid services to their customers — lest the usual definition of ISP catch accidental providers such as libraries and public WiFi providers who are typically unable to identify and communicate with their many transient users.
So the IPAPs (eg Xtra, Orcon, Slingshot et al) are required to warn off their customers in accordance with the provisions of the new Act.
What makes us think that their workload will become onerous?
Turn with us to the 2011 New Zealand Cinema Census, organised by movie website Flicks.co.nz and V48HOURS founder Ant Timpson – which polled nearly 4,000 Kiwis on their movie-watching and cinema-going habits.
According to that study, 51% of New Zealanders regularly download movies online — and of those 87% get them from free and illegal sources. That’s an awful lot of infringement notices.
We shouldn’t really be surprised. InternetNZ chief executive Vikram Kumarrecently told BusinessDay that it would be entirely realistic to expect tens of thousands of notices to be issued each month, based on experience overseas.
“France introduced a similar law and they were completely flooded, with 50,000 notices being issued almost instantly. In the United States it is quite routine for rights holders to send out hundreds of thousands of notices.”
One aspect of this new environment that hasn’t received much attention is the commercial implications for IPAPs. New Zealand’s Internet model is based around volume: consumers pay by the megabyte or gigabyte for data downloaded. Video content typically accounts for many hundreds of megabytes per movie or television episode, so illegal file-sharers are likely to be amongst each IPAP’s biggest customers. Every success for the copyright holders could potentially eat into an IPAP’s ongoing revenue stream.
In other words, serving cease and desist orders to your biggest customers, whilst it may be morally laudable, is not a particularly attractive loyalty or retention strategy.
We’ve come a long way from the days when articles carefully clipped from the newspaper representing the state of the art in media monitoring.
Even back then, the missing ingredient was interpretation: What do these stories mean? What are the implications for our business?
Nowadays, we’re drowning in data but clarification remains fuzzy. Thankfully, there are a growing collection of tools (typically based around collection and collation of online information). Insight becomes easier (but that outcome is not a given).
Perhaps the hottest such tools offer Sentiment Analysis — insight into consumer or influencer opinion.
One such example comes courtesy Meltwater Group, and it’s particularly topical: the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Yes, the story has been well canvassed just about everywhere — but follow-up tales have taken a curious turn, as journalists and commentators have turned their attention to what happened next.
According to Meltwater (who reportedly monitor over 130,000 online publications, enough to give anyone eyestrain):
3,000 followup stories were over concerns about retaliation
4,000 discussed the effectiveness of Guantanamo interrogations
7,000 pondered the impact on Obama’s re-election prospects
10,000 debated whether photos of Bin Laden should be released
13,000 weighed in on whether Bin Laden should have been buried in the manner he was
23,000 wondered aloud what did Pakistan know
25,000 talked about the controvery around U.S. celebrations
We’ll leave it to the political analysts to slice and dice that data in accordance with their own prejudices. One thing is clear, though: Sentiment Analysis tools provide us wih perspectives we never had before.
Of course, it’s not just news stories that can be evaluated with this new breed of analytics. Products are up for XRay inspection as well. According to a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek story, a number of companies are using new tools to mine comments on the Web to see what consumers really think of their brands — and to gather insights into how they can improve their interactions with the customer.
Here’s a cool example quoted by BusinessWeek:
Gaylord Hotels, a network of upscale, meeting-focused resorts, is changing how it communicates with customers based on sentiment analysis. Using information gathered by Clarabridge, the hotel chain concluded that it can make the most positive impact in about five ways in the first 20 minutes of a guest’s stay; previously Gaylord believed there were 80 things it had to do well during a visit to increase the likelihood guests would recommend the hotel.
For instance, the hotel discovered that guest satisfaction improved if the hotel staff walked with guests to their destination in the resort, rather than simply pointing the way when asked for directions. “Through our Clarabridge survey research, we learned that the first 20 minutes of the hotel experience was of vital importance to our guests,” says Gaylord Hotels COO David C. Kloeppel. “Our hypothesis became: If we could perfect the first 20 minutes of the experience at our hotels, we could drive positive overall guest satisfaction.”
What information would you most like to know about or from your customers? The truth could well be out there …
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