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Mobile Mania in Australia – Mobile Internet Usage Statistics

October 23, 2010 No Comments

Last week I attended a mobile marketing breakfast held by Citrus in Melbourne. This was timely as AIMIA had also released their latest mobile study. With so many facts, figures and trends circulating it is therefore time to review and interpret just what this means for marketers.

Fact 1) AIMIA stated iPhone now represents 21% marketshare in Australia whilst a Telstra survey indicated ownership of iPhone was approx 10%.

Handset manufacturers globally and locally are very coy about releasing statistics related to handsets shipped to individual markets. As a result it is difficult to gain actual figures on handset ownership. What is however obvious from the above statistics is handset ownership of iPhone sits somewhere in the realm of 10 – 20% share in Australia. So what other manufacturers are dominating the landscape? Nokia still retains a high level of share with ownership above 40% but does seem to be slightly diminishing, whilst what is on the rise is the share of Android phones.
What this means is we have 3 to 4 dominant players which are battling for share and to quote the GM of Technology of Citrus “When creating mobile strategies don’t think handset think mobile capability”

Fact 2: 40% of smart-phone users in Australia are over the age of 40 (Source: AIMIA)

Like with social media locally and globally usage of smart-phones is becoming less generational. When mobilising your site it is therefore important to consider that it may be utilised by people of all ages thus how can you best cater for an array of individuals from different age groups.

However despite greater uptake by the older generations, it seems heavier usage still exists for younger demographics as well as for males – according to the Telstra Smartphone Index.

Fact 3: 41 per cent of consumers have installed a mobile application and of those 43% have installed less than 5 apps (Source: AIMIA)

When many organizations think mobile strategy they think apps. However these statistics show that whilst many consumers are using smartphone they are not all downloading applications. And those that are, many do so in small quantities. Therefore if your budget is small you need to decide where it will be best spent. I believe these statistics really crystallize 2 things;

1) Mobilise your existing site and build an app second
2) As app development can be expensive – do your research and your numbers and ensure that if you go down the application path that you build something unique otherwise your return may be minimal.

Fact 4: Mobile eCommence has grown in some areas and has been fairly static in others.

Statistics from AIMIA showed;
• 24% of respondents used their mobile phone for banking at least on a monthly basis, compared to 19% last year.
• 17% of respondents used their mobile phone to make payments at least on a monthly basis, compared to 12% last year.
• 12% of respondents used their mobile phone to buy things for their mobile phone at least on a monthly basis, compared to 10% last year.
• 9% of respondents used their mobile phone to buy things not for their mobile phone, at least on a monthly basis, compared to 8% last year.

What these statistics show us is that more convenience type transactions like banking and mobile payments are increasingly becoming important to mobile users. Whilst transacting for general goods seems to have remained rather static year on year. This could be because of the lack of m-commerce sites in Australia as many retailers still struggle to establish an eCommerce presence.

Fact 5: One in five use mobile search sites like Google, Yahoo and Bing daily. (Source; Telstra Smartphone Index)

In addition to the above trends, statistics from Google suggest mobile search has tripled in the past year. Trends such as these reveal the importance of creating a mobile search strategy and in particular optimising for local search.

Fact 6: Mobile advertising expenditure will reach $76m by 2015, growing at 46% a year (Frost & Sullivan)

Mobile advertising in Australia has reached $9.1 million in 2010, small compared to the projection of the next 5 years. As it is projected that mobile internet usage will surpass desktop by 2013, organisations need to ensure they are investing their marketing budget in channels where their audiences are spending their time. In Australia we have witnessed slow uptake of shifting spend from the offline to the online space and therefore organisations who exploit the trend early will benefit from low advertising rates and higher cut-through.

Related Video: Australian Mobile Marketing

Uncategorized

5 Ways Local & Global Brands Are Using Foursquare

August 16, 2010 No Comments

Locally and globally Foursquare is taking off. Whilst the platform is yet to go mainstream, its now 2.6 million users (reached in mid August) is rising fast and unlike when Facebook / Twitter growth begun – intelligent marketers are already starting to unleash the platform to achieve a range of marketing objectives. This article covers 4 different ways brands have used Foursquare locally and global to connect with their audience;

Foursquare For Retention: Wagamama’s (Local Example)

Wagamama is using the geo-location service to drive repeat patronage to its stores in the local market. Wagamama’s offers visitors instant offers such as a complementary soup with every main meal for every 5th check in to rewards its loyal consumers.

However it is not just repeat purchases that are giving Wagamama’s the edge. Through its marketing on Foursquare, Wagamama has access to range of real-time information about its customers including who has ‘checked in’ to its noodle bars, when they arrived, the male to female customer ratio and which times of day are more active for certain customers, who the most frequent visitors to the restaurant are etc. This provides Wagamama’s with a new level of insight into its consumers – as well as a mechanism to monitor satisfied or unsatisfied consumers.

Foursquare For PR Stunts: Microsoft (Local Example)

In June this year, Microsoft organised a mayor meet up in Sydney to promote the launch of their new Office 2010 product. 141 Foursquare users checked-in to Martin Place where the event was held. Whilst the number of individuals involved is relatively small this campaign created a buzz in the media as it was one of the first of its kind in Australia.
Read more here; http://mumbrella.com.au/141-turn-out-for-microsoft-mayor-swarm-as-vibe-gets-into-foursquare-too-28302

Foursquare For Upsell: Domino’s (UK Example)

In the UK, Domino’s credits much of its revenue growth to its investment in social media – namely Facebook and Foursquare. Domino’s launched a check-in promotion, which enabled consumers to receive a side dish when they spent £10 or more at a Domino’s store. Since it launched its ongoing Foursquare check-in promotion Domino’s have received 10,000 check-ins, 3,500 of which are unique.

Foursquare For Acquisition: Gap & Ann Taylor Discounts (US Example)

On the 14th of August 2010, Gap utilised foursquare to drive foot-traffic into selected stores. Titled the “The BlackMagic Event”, Gap offered patrons who checked into Foursquare a 25% discount off selected clothing. However this is not the only promotion of its kind other fashion retailers in the US have used Foursquare to drive both acquisition and retention. Ann Taylor offered 25% off to Foursquare mayors and 15% off to each customer on his or her fifth check-in. These deals are great for retailers because those Foursquare users’ friends would see that they’re checking in, giving the stores some exposure.

Foursquare For Brand Engagement: Jimmy Choo & Barbie (UK & US Example)
Jimmy Choo the world renowned footwear brand launched a treasure hunt on the streets of London. Rather than utilise a discount style promotion, Jimmy Choo created a social game in the real world. Jimmy Choo utilised a pair of their sneakers as a Foursquare user and these shoes checked into venues around London and the first Foursquare user to find the sneakers at the latest location would win a pair of their own. And it seems that Barbie has now followed in Jimmy Choo’s footsteps. To coincide with the launch of the new video Barbie, Mattel has launched a Foursquare scavenger hunt across 4 US states – requiring participants to complete location based tasks to win 1 of 14 prizes.

Read more here: http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/foursquare-jimmy-choo/
Read more here: http://www.thedefectorsblog.com.au/communications/barbie-doll-foursquare

There are many other campaigns launched by brands around the world click here to find out more click here –
http://www.pathinteractive.com/blog/2010/06/top-ten-foursquare-campaigns/

Watch: How to Unlock Your World with Foursquare

Digital News & Trends, Digital Trends, Social Media

On The Digital Politics Campaign Trail With Some Clever Little Lemons

August 8, 2010 No Comments

Since my previous post it seems that both political parties have really taken their online marketing efforts up a notch. Julia Gillard’s Twitter following has ballooned in a short few months – growing to 36,000 followers, and both parties are adopting paid search to educate the Australian public about their stance on the big issues.

What however initially struck me about the marketing efforts (both online and offline marketing) of both political parties, is that political marketing hasn’t really changed over the past decade. We see the same ads on TV ridiculing the opposition and the same brash push marketing tactics that attempt to scare us into choosing 1 party over another. Well so I thought anyway.

Labour Lemons YouTube Video’s

It is refreshing to see that at least 1 party is leveraging the online channel in a way that is engaging the Australian public. The Liberal Party has decided to use YouTube as 1 of the channels in the marketing mix to market itself and they are doing so in a unique way. Liberalparty.tv has released a series of humorous and entertaining videos – featuring what they term the “Labour Lemons”.

With 3 videos released so far – the Labour Lemon video series seem to be making a few waves on YouTube. Together the 3 videos have received over 130,000 views and with the 3rd released as late as last Friday the 5th of August, this is sure to increase. These videos have outperformed the standard propaganda style marketing video content so often seen in politics and I no doubt believe given the success so far that we will probably see 1 more released before election day.

To view all of the videos in the series click here – http://www.youtube.com/user/LiberalPartyTV

Getting the most out of video

YouTube if leveraged in the right way can provide political marketers with a valuable channel to get their message to the masses. YouTube receives over 12 million unique Australian visitors per month and is obviously one of the ideal mediums for political parties to communicate their message. In this instance the “Labour Lemons” video series lends itself well to the social space – as content that is interesting or entertaining enough moves virally through popular social networks.

However I do feel there is more that the Liberal Party could be doing to gain maximum reach for their video content in the run up to the election. The first is utilising YouTube’s promotional opportunities to increase awareness and eyeballs to the content. Just last month we saw Cadbury trial a 1 day homepage buy out on YouTube – an opportunity which provides a brand with exposure to millions of Australians visiting YouTube daily. In addition the Labour Party is using sponsored video links in YouTube search results to promote its video’s on YouTube – an opportunity that the Liberal Party is yet to explore. Through greater awareness of these video’s, the Liberal Party would most likely see the viral effect treble.

Aside from online activity – it would be great to see the Liberal Party using these video’s as part of their TVCs to adopt a more integrated approach. Earlier this year we saw ANZ very successfully extend the reach of their offline “bank world” TVCs through YouTube.

With that said, I applaud the Liberal Party for trying something a little bit different and breaking the political marketing mould.

Have you seen some interesting and unique ways that either political party is leveraging the online channel? If so please share them below.

SEO, Social Media

4 C’s To Build Compelling Content Online

August 1, 2010 No Comments

It has been said that the brands that will succeed and thrive in the coming decade will be those who become publishers. Content is becoming one of the key pillars of any online strategy as it is utilised to drive organic search tactics, forms a key part of social media activities and is also being used to position brands as experts and a trusted source in their field. This content wave is one that has not gone un-noticed by Australian organisations.

The importance organisations are placing on content is is reflected by the increasing demand for content specialists and producers. Content generation is however is more than hiring dedicated resources to support the cause and deliver tangible outcomes. So if you are contemplating content as part of your strategy – here are my 4 Cs to produce interesting content online. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but rather is some of the major factors that can be the difference between a successful content strategy or no more than online dribble.

1. Content Trending & Monitoring

Monitoring what is topical in your industry and forecasting what will be topical in the coming months is one of the keys to producing relevant and timely content for your audience. Social news and bookmarking sites as well as social media monitoring tools enable us to determine what is popular and what our audience is likely to be seeking content for. Content trending and monitoring is also about learning from the content your users are consuming. What kind of articles and topics do your users respond well to and how can you give them more of it? Both of these sources of intelligence form an integral part of any content planning and creation process.

2. Cutting Edge

The content arena is vast and often your organisation will be competing against a mass of content related to your product / service or industry. One of the fundamental things to therefore consider is how are you going to build cutting edge content that will keep people coming back for more? When I set out blogging there were 2 key things that defined my content position / edge in the market;

– Local Statistics & Trends; Stats and trends for Australia’s digital market were and still are difficult to come by. Searching for them is time consuming and they are rarely found in 1 single source thus my first edge was to deliver marketers with this source on an ongoing basis to support business case development.

– Client Side Marketing View; Many of the digital blogs that are written are done so by agency professionals who experience very different challenges to client side marketers. I wanted to cover the topics and issues that client marketers face to enable them to make more informed decisions in their role.

Defining your content edge requires you to define boundaries for topics – to identify what you will and will not cover. To do this you need to effectively scope your market and find your edge. Aside from this the other key to producing edgy content is to ensure that you are not simply re-gurgitation the same news and content as everyone else. If its topical use it as a base and re-package it to add new information and value to your users.

3. Content Fatigue

One of the hardest things about developing strong content online is maintaining a constant flow of quality content. The first 6 months is the easy bit, it is after this time where it becomes more difficult. A solid content strategy must consider source and define avenues for content generation and contribution. Below is content source diagram which defines some of the key avenues I use to create compelling content beyond the honeymoon period.

4. Content Distribution

Great content is only great if people can find it and it supports the achievement of your organisations goals. Like any marketing a creative idea is never enough – it is as much about the distribution as it is about the idea thus what is your distribution strategy?

Distribution extends well beyond social sharing buttons. A content strategy should be integrated within your existing communication strategies such as your email lifecycle and also be used to drive sign ups to your database. Your content should also be optimised for search and even paid search may be used as a form to drive users to the content. Your content may also feed into your social profiles – however ensure that this is not the sole purpose of your social profile.

Australian Examples

So with that said – just who in Australia is delivering a good content strategy. Below are 2 examples;
– Blackmores; For a little while now Blackmores has been delivering quality content in the form of health and weight-loss advice to their users. The value delivered through content has been one of the key online value propositions used by Blackmores to build a substantial database of existing and prospective customers.

– Coles; Coles have developed an online content strategy in line with their offline activities. Their content strategy revolves around recipes and cooking tips from Curtis Stone. Coles has tapped into Australia’s cooking obsession and provides hints and tips as well as recipes to cook like a professional or on a budget. This is enabling Coles to build a sticky onsite experience and get people back into Coles supermarkets – a tactic which I am sure is delivering success for the supermarket giant.

I would love to know of more organisations using content to support the achievement of online objectives – thus please share them below.

Ecommerce, SEO, Social Media

End of Financial Year Performance – Digital Style

July 18, 2010 No Comments

There has definitely been staggering growth in the Australian digital space during the 1st 6 months of the year. With a new financial year upon us I have no doubt that companies in Australia will continue to shift funding from offline to online. Thus I felt it timely to release a compilation of general digital statistics from the first half of 2010 to assist marketers and agencies alike to build their business case for online marketing initiatives. Enjoy!

eCommerce & General Internet Usage

1. Online Internet Usage in Oz – According to Nielsen, Australians spend an average of 17.6 hours a week online, making up 33 per cent of their total media time.
2. Online retail spend in Australia – eBay-owned payment company PayPal predicts online retail spending to reach $33.8 billion in Australia by 2012 – a significant increase on the $24 billion generated during 2009.
3. Loss of online sales to international providers – 40% of Australians online spend is going to overseas stores. Compare this to the US who are losing 10% to overseas counterparts and this crystalises the impact of delayed online investment by Australian retailers.
4. Average consumer online spend Australia – According to Frerk-Malte Feller, Managing Director, PayPal – in the last six months alone the average consumer spent $1,223 online, an increase of $130 from the second half of 2009.”
5. Retailer online investment in 2010 – According to a Forrester report released in July “online retailing in Australia 2010: Marketing, merchandising and customer service”, 69% of retailers are planning to invest in improved site content and 66 per cent will spend more time on online marketing to drive sales & growth.
6. Online purchasing frequency – According to the ACRS’ latest report: “Value and Optimisation in Multi-Channel Retailing”, approx 36% of Australians are making purchases online at least once a month and 6% are buying online once every week.
7. Online / Offline Channel Effect – According to the ACRS by 2012, nearly half of all retail transactions are expected to be executed by consumers crossing channels – making multi-channel retailing essential.

Social Media

8. Social Network & Forum Usage – According to Hitwise Australia social networking and forum usage increased 36.1% in the past year and overtook search engines as the most visited industry by Australian Internet users in March 2010.
9. The power of online WOM – According to a survey conducted by RightNow 16% of Australian consumers said they had stopped doing business with a company because of a social media discussion they had seen about how the company treats customers. Another 16% stated they had also seen a positive consumer discussion about a company and had gone on to make a purchase.
10. Influence of Online Reviews – A study by RightNow found more than half of respondents (58 per cent) deemed customer reviews and feedback online to be the most important source to influence decision making, of least importance was advertising in any shape or form.
11. Online Community Usage – Australians look to communities of interest such as parenting or sports sites as a key channel for social media discussion – 62 percent of Australian Internet users visited a message board or forum in 2009.
12. Online Video Usage – Australians have a huge interest in online videos and this continues to grow. In January 2010 alone, Australians consumed 33 million videos online daily.
13. LinkedIn Members – LinkedIn has seen one of the fastest growth trends amongst social media sites in Australia, with unique audience numbers increasing by 99 percent from July 2009 to May 2010.
14. Twitter Users – According to Tribalytic Twitter subscribers in Australia are estimated to stand at 2.5 million.
15. FourSquare Members – According to socialmedianews.com.au Sydney FourSquare users have reached the 60,000 mark.

Mobile Statistics

16. Australian Mobile Internet Usage – Australians’ ownership of internet enabled phones now sits at 43 per cent, with 29 per cent regularly using it to search, email, find maps and share their lives on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
17. Mobile Internet Behaviour – Internet searches are the most popular online activity on the phones. Some 73 per cent of mobile internet users users conduct online searches by mobile now, compared with 30 per cent a year ago.
18. Mobile Device Share – Nokia has 35% share of handsets in Australia vs Apple’s at 28%. Apples share is expected to reach 61 per cent this year, according to MediaSmart.

Search

19. Search Engine Market Share – According to Hitwise for the week ending the 10th of July 2010, Google’s market share in Australia equated to 92.52%, Bing was 3.44% and Yahoo was 2.39%.
20. Political Term Search Growth – Given the upcoming election this last one is a timely. Political related search terms are on the rise – Yahoo recorded a 6829.44% rise on the search term ‘Julia Gillard,’ a huge 8164.49% increase on the term ‘Julia Gillard biography’ and a 2600% increase on ‘Julia Gillard pics,’ from Wednesday 23 June until Friday 25 June. Additional search terms on the rise at Yahoo! included, ‘Australian Labor Party’ (2597.72%), ‘Tony Abbott’ (3107.65%), ‘Kevin Rudd’ (3106.67%), ‘Kevin Rudd biography’ (2042.72%) and ‘Julia Gillard MP’ (1334.60%).

Watch: The growth of eCommerce and eBusiness in Australia in 2010?

References

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=C9356544-1A64-67EA-E489E8D76F64ADA4
http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/aussie-advertisers-yet-to-take-bite-of-apple-20100708-102ej.html
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/australians-take-to-mobile-internet-20100429-tszn.html
http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/foursquare-has-60000-users-in-sydney-business-urvey/

Consumer-Electronics

http://www.insideretailing.com.au/Latest/tabid/53/ID/8517/Australia-reaches-customer-experience-impasse.aspx
http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/articles/articles-news/online-retail-grow-40-percent-by-2012-1785.html
http://blog.tribalytic.com/2010/05/13/how-many-australian-twitter-users-are-there-and-where-are-they-from/
http://www.hitwise.com/au/datacentre/main/dashboard-1706.html
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/351204/search_engines_running_hot_gillard_krudd/
http://www.buzznumbershq.com/2010/australian-social-networks-and-forums-usage-increased-36-1-in-the-past-year/
http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/view/consumers-go-multi-channel-for-retail-2238

Mobile Marketing

On The Move – Mobile Marketing

July 9, 2010 No Comments

Just a week ago I was reading an article which was regurgitating the same old line – is this the year of the mobile? For those working in the industry, we all know that mobile internet has received strong enough penetration to consider it an important digital channel – one which cannot be ignored.

In fact in a recent report from Mark Meeker’s, from Morgan Stanley it was declared that by 2014 mobile will become the primary device for accessing the internet reinforcing just how big a role mobile will play in our digital strategy in the coming years. However just like social media the mobile space is moving rapidly and organisations are beginning to innovate in the space. So what are some of the trends emerging beyond those that we have already witnessed like Augmented Reality. 5 of the most interesting I have come across are detailed below.

Comparison Shopping – Mobile Style

The introduction of applications like ShopSavvy will provide consumers with new ways to compare and shop on the move. Named a potential game charger – comparsion apps combine location with traditional comparison technology to enable consumers to do online research out in the field. By scanning bar codes users can compare prices of the products in the area simplifying the process of “shopping around”.

Jeffrey Grau a senior analyst from eMarketer recently said “Until now, researching online and buying in a store have been sequential activities that take place hours, days or even weeks apart. But customers who bring their Web-enabled mobile phones with them into a store can do online research at the point of a purchase decision.”

mCommerce

Gartner analysts are predicting an explosion in mobile transactions this year, with the number of such purchases likely to increase by over 50%. The data, compiled by Gartner, showed the Asia-Pacific region to be the leader in mobile transactions, with 41.8 million users in 2009 – a number which is expected to rise to 62.8 million by the end of 2010. However with Australian retailers behind on the general commerce front it will be interesting to see how quickly retailers will embrace mobile commerce opportunities.

Location Based Marketing & CRM for Mobile

Globally in markets such as the US and UK, mobile is providing a key tool to drive traffic and sales to traditional bricks and mortar retailers – bridging the gap between online and in-store purchases. Mobile coupons are one of the key ways in which retailers such as Subway and Target are using mobile to drive consumers in-store. This presents a significant opportunity for Australian retailers who are yet to be convinced about the value driven through investment in online channels to drive sales in-store.

A newer opportunity is also surfacing and could also revolutionise mobile marketing and that is Geo-fencing. A geo-fence is a virtual field around a location that is used to shoot a mobile message to a user when they come into or leave that area through applications. For brands who have engaged consumers in the mobile space, geo-fencing presents an opportunity to communicate to their audience in a timely, relevant manner – based on their location. By doing so retailers will be able to drive repeat patronage in store and potentially increase share of wallet from its consumer base.

Appvertising

Both Google (AdMob) and Apple (iAds) are heavily investing in networks to monetise the increasing number of applications being loaded into app stores. Unlike other forms of advertising networks, mobile networks can combine location based data with user profiles to deliver a new targeting capability. And whilst statistics of mobile advertising vs other forms show market share is still relatively small the opportunity is significant. The Apple iStore alone has experienced over 4 billion downloads for free apps – and this sheer volume of consumer usage and engagement is one which many marketers will be looking to leverage – particularly early on. Like any newer form of media, consumer interaction is high partly due to lower advertiser saturation rates and noise. Statistics currently show that that appvertising campaigns are delivering response rates of between .3% – 6%.

Location Based Social Media

Location based social media is one other area that is significantly on the rise. FourSquare, Gowalla, Google Latitude and others are rapidly innovating and consumer take up is rapidly increasing. A month ago I provided a full overview of these networks and how they are changing the mobile and social landscape along with the opportunities they will present to marketers.

What other trends do you see emerging in the mobile space? Share them below.

Digital News & Trends, Digital Strategy, Digital Trends, SEO, Social Media

The Next Big Thing – Social Search?

June 27, 2010 No Comments

There is no doubt that over the past few years search marketers have turned their attention to social media as a key channel to support the viral creation of links and to dominate SERPs onsite and offsite. However whilst most of our attention has been focussed around ranking in Google – many of us have failed to see the search opportunity that has grown within social networks and now many social networks such as Twitter search channels in their own right.

The sheer volume of users on social networks has even Google shaking in their boots and for good reason. Over the past few years Google’s direct search competitors have attempted to take on Google in the search race without denting their share. However in the meantime an unlikely competitor has risen to the top. Facebook has captured the attention of users on the internet and is now dominating the users internet experience attracting more visitors than Google in the month of May. And whilst the primary function of Facebook and other platforms like Twitter is not to search – social search is becoming significant. In fact according to a recent Nielsen study, social media sites such as Wikipedia, blogs, and social networks account for 18% of where searches begin. If this is the case social search is much bigger than Bing and Yahoo search combined in Australia.

Why is this so? In a recent article on Search Engine Watch – Mark Drummond put it nicely – “Facebook brings an entirely new opportunity for flavored search: ranking search results using the social connections between people, as captured in the open graph. What Google lacks is intimate knowledge of our interests and plans to proactively deliver information to us and this is precisely the advantage that Facebook has over Google.

Social Search Facts For Facebook & Twitter

Facebook

Facebook racked up over 600 million searches in May 2010. Compare this to January 2009 where search volumes were a mere 161 million and it is obvious to see that Facebook search is becoming a sizeable opportunity. A significant portion of searches are obviously related to people search as the average query length on Facebook is 2 words – however search is starting to evolve to cover topics related to fashion, electronics and travel. What is however most interesting is that Facebook are actively focussing on improving search within its eco-system with the launch of Open Graph. By leveraging content from its “LIKE” feature combined with sites actively integrating with Facebook ie like TripAdvisor, Facebook has started to collate content to serve up to users when they search for a particular theme or topic. Whilst still in a very premature stage – get it right and this could significantly move the goal posts in the search landscape as content is served up on the basis of user popularity. For more on Facebook search – refer here.

Twitter

It is hard to pin point accurate statistics for Twitter search with reports ranging from 350 million to 18 billion searches per month. Regardless of this, the numbers are sizeable. Combine this with content that finds users – rather than users searching for content and there is no doubt that Twitter presents a significant opportunity for businesses. But this doesnt come without a high level of competition. Twitter reporting more than four billion tweets are sent using the service in a given month – that is a lot of content that could appear within the SERPs thus optimisation is key.

What To Do About Social Search?

Some of the normal rules still apply such as effectively tagging content, using descriptive keywords and the rest but what else do you need to consider?

Optimisation for Facebook

Facebook has released documentation to effectively embed tags onsite for open graph. By doing so you turn your web pages into graph objects, which will enable these pages to become part of the eco-system. For more information on the important tags that should be utilised refer to the below link;

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph

Optimisation for Twitter

In the 2nd half of 2010, Twitter is planning to launch Twitter annotations. The full benefits of this feature is not clear however it is believed to provide the ability to augment our 140 characters with other useful information to assist Twitter to more effectively understand the content its users are sharing. With this I expect a series of key optimisation techniques to emerge to improve your visibility within Twitter search. I also assume this will be combined with an improved search engine on Twitter so users can filter and sort information to find what they are looking for.

Have you begun to optimise your site for social search? If so share some of your experiences below.

Digital Strategy

Highlights & Low Lights In Politics – Online Of Course

June 16, 2010 No Comments

As an election draws near the political discussions, debates and even slagging has already began as this is hotting up to be one of the more interesting elections of my time. Mining tax, emissions trading scheme, growing population, paid maternity leave and the general state of the economy has the pollies battling it out for the publics vote – but who is making most of the online opportunity? In 2007 Kevin Rudd utilised online mediums to connect with the public, but with every vote looking like it is going to count just what are political parties doing online – and what are they not doing. Below is the highlights and low lights that I see from our Aussie pollies.

Low Light – Search Engine No Show

Whilst KRudd and Tony Abbott are building their social presence, the absence of strong search rankings is an obvious flaw in their online political push. The sheer volume of searches surrounding the main contentious topics is significant – yet neither of the Liberal / Labour websites are to be seen within the top 10 results for many search terms related to contentious issues. With real time search, news search and traditional search there is a significant opportunity for either party to take the SERPs by the balls and use it as a key channel to educate the general public on their stance on the big issues.

Aside from this it is interesting that neither party is tapping into paid search of any form to tactically “be there” when new issues break or new legislation is passed. Whilst the pollies are spending millions offline in TV and radio I am surprised they have not taken this online to people with an interest in a particular policy.

Highlight – Liberal Party Site Strategy

The Australian liberal party has built interactivity and personalisation into its website through a range of tools. Two of the key features that sets the site apart from the Labour website are the drop and drag tag cloud and the crowdsourcing functionality. The tag cloud enables users to quickly and easily personalise their experience by selecting the key issues / policies they are interested in learning more about. Whilst the crowdsourcing feature allows users to contribute their ideas and have other users rank and comment on them. This provides the Liberal Party with some very sticky content and also allows the Liberal party to learn from the public and use this information to guide their political campaign by focussing on the issues that are important to their potential voters.

Highlight – Social Media

Social media seems to be one channel that both parties have embraced. Both parties have created Facebook groups, Twitter profiles and even YouTube channels mostly branded as the individuals – Tony Abbott & Kevin Rudd. From a Facebook perspective, the Labour party has used its fan page as a central source of content integrating videos from its YouTube channel and photos from its latest events to provide another hub and place to connect with the public outside of their own website. Whilst the Liberal party has established a similar strategy but utilises a “Get involved” tab to acquire users to their site. From a Twitter perspective KRudd obviously has a significant advantage when it comes to reach with over 1 million followers, which makes Tony Abbots profile look amateur. Both are using Twitter as an information hub and are also utilising the channel to humanise their public profiles.

Low Light – Email Acquisition

One of the highlights of Obama’s online campaign in 2008 was the prominent call to action to sign up to the Obama site. By doing so the Obama communications team was able to develop a robust communication strategy to keep Obama’s loyal followers up to date on his views, policies and successes on the campaign trail. Both parties seem to be falling short of exploiting this onsite for different reasons. The ALP has built a somewhat confusing sign up process whereby it is not really clear as to what the user is in-fact signing up to. Whilst the Liberal party on the other hand has hidden its email sign up below the fold on the home page – which would make it very difficult to acquire users. Add to this a lack of sign up features at key touch points on the site (ie within the latest news section) and this signifies a significant opportunity that has been lost to build an ongoing relationship with their potential voters.

Low Light – Mobile Presence

As mobile internet penetration continues to rise, it is interesting to see that neither party has really invested in the mobile space. A quick search online via my mobile browser and search via the apps store shows that the mobile channel has not really been considered as part of either parties strategy. With much talk about iPhone growth, the iPad launch and ever increasing mobile browsing behaviour it will be interesting to see if either party evolves their strategy in this space in the run up to the election.

This is just a snapshot of Australia’s leading political parties online. Have you noticed any interesting campaigns or use of channels by either party? If so please share them below.

SEO

Search Down Under – SEO Cafe Learnings

June 11, 2010 No Comments

On Tuesday evening in a boardroom in Elizabeth Street MELBOURNE, 12 marketers / search professionals gathered for a roundtable discussion on organic search. This discussion was the first “trial” session for myself and my friends at internet retailing to facilitate a discussion around the topic of search in Australia.

The session was attended by marketers / search professionals from agencies and client side roles and were from all experience levels. What was great to see was the enthusiasm from those with expertise to share strategies and techniques and the thirst of knowledge from beginners. The session covered a range of discussion topics from social search through to algorithm changes, link building and measurement, and this article summarises the key learnings from the events discussion.

Googles Mayday Algorithm Changes

Google’s latest algorithm change in May termed “Mayday” has been dubbed the long tail game changer with many larger websites potentially feeling the effects of a loss in traffic from Google’s algorithm update. The session explored the impact of the Mayday change and the general consensus was that some had definitely seen a decline in traffic from long tail terms whilst others had seen steady month on month traffic.

Has your site been affected?

Through Google analytics advanced segmentation marketers / search pro’s can segment short tail and long tail terms into 2 categories and analyse the behaviour of each. For those wishing to utilise this segmentation technique refer to the following article which provides a quick link for the segment to be set up within your Google analytics profile – http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/google-analytics-short-taillong-tail-segmentation.html

Twitter & Facebook Search

The group discussed the opportunity which lies within social search, however the discussion around “social search” being a search channel in its own right delivered some interesting insight. During the discussion statistics about the current volume of searches being conducted on some of the major social platforms and the growth potential in the future were shared.

Facebook Search; comScore said search queries on Facebook grew from 395 million in January 2010 to 436 million in February 2010, a growth of 10 percent. And by May 2010, search engine watch was quoting 600 million searches.

Twitter Search Statistics; According to statistics released at SMX Australia there are 500 million searches being conducted globally per month.

Leveraging This Opportunity

Viewing social channels as search platforms in their own right provides new opportunities for SEOs. By optimising content posted / shared on these platforms to maximise visibility for relevant searches, organisations can start to tap into the potential value derived from the many searches already occurring within the social space.

Measurement – Metrics To Measure Search Performance

The discussion turned to how search pro’s and marketers are measuring organic search efforts. Whilst personalisation and localisation are playing an increasing role within SERPs it seems many still utilise ranking tools to measure performance alongside of other key indicators such as back links, indexed pages and of course traffic generated through search efforts and the engagement / conversion of that traffic.

However one of the most interesting comments regarding measurement surfaced around brand vs non brand related terms and how marketers should measure these as part of search performance. As search is an acquisition channel, should brand related searches count as a win for SEO traffic, or brand? Some within the group advised that brand terms are omitted from reporting the performance of search which is an interesting phenomenon. At the very least marketers need to consider if they should be segmenting organic search into 2 categories brand vs non brand search – as brand related searches could increase within any given month as a result of other marketing/brand initiatives and thus could skew general SEO performance.

Google’s Vertical Search Strategy & Implications

Vertical search has obviously been a key area of development / innovation for Google and Bing over the past year and it is interesting to see Google replicate a lot of filtering tools deployed by Bing in 2009. However one of the most interesting which was discussed during the session was the ramifications of the new “fewer shopping sites” filtering options on the search results page. Unfortunately for eCommerce sites, if a user selects this filtering option – it remains selected for subsequent searches – this may therefore result in many eCommerce sites dropping off page 1 of SERPs during an entire user browsing session – which could have significant ramifications on traffic.

It is difficult to quantify the impact these latest changes are having on sites. In addition it is also difficult to determine if Google have made this latest change to support the introduction of Google products into Australia and globally, however there is no doubt that this will be an topic that will be discussed in greater detail by local marketers / SEO’s over the coming months.

Thank you to all who attended the event. And for those that didn’t I hope the above summary provides some useful insight to further improve your organic search efforts.

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