Transcript WWW: New Consumer Marketing Medium

The Canadian Online Travel Conference
Calgary, Alberta
May 13-14, 2008
WWW:
New Consumer Marketing
Medium
Getting Results Online
WWW:
New Consumer Marketing
Medium
WBN Meeting
March 4th 2009
Search Behavior - Integrating Online
Marketing
www.acoupleofchicks.com
New Media Sound Bites
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‣
The Facts
Trends
What Now?
The Facts
‣
Consumers are
interacting differently
with websites.
Customers are visiting
websites, search
engines, Chat rooms,
Blogs, playing online
games sharing photos
and more!
Source; eMarketer.com
Marketers aren’t Leading –
They are following consumers online
Internet represents 21%
of weekly media usage
Yet only 10%
of ad dollars spent
News-
Internet
21%
papers Magazine
4%
Broadcast
TV
3%
28%
News-
Outdoor
papers
2%
Magazine
7%
Broadcast
TV
21%
35.4%
Radio
20%
Cable TV
22%
Radio
14%
Cable TV
Internet
10%
10%
Source; Yahoo! Canada
Research Occurs Across
Multiple Channels
Source: Yahoo
Content: Articles, News, Press
Releases
Personalization: My Yahoo, My Google
Community: Facebook, MySpace
Search Engines:
The Landscape is changing
Organic Search...
Positions are Disappearing
Sponsored Advertising
is taking the
premium positions
Local ads on sponsored
search and Google Map
listings-top spots
Google Local and Maps:
Paid Search Marketing Opportunity
Trends to Watch
‣ The changing face of Organic Search makes SEO strategy and content more
important than ever, with videos and Local Search ads taking up valuable real
estate.
‣
Social Media – The landscape of Consumer Marketing has changed.
‣ Consumers are looking for their “Twinsumer” who is like them with the same
interests - the new “Word of Mouse” based on similar experiences.
‣
Growth of Online Communities – i.e. My Space, Facebook has added
another few steps to the research cycle or has replaced others.
‣ How is Social Media Affecting Marketers?
-Be aware of Blogs (Tripadvisor) and other forms of online discussion groups
(www.Blogpulse.com)
-Viral Marketing (YouTube, Break.com)
‣ What Now?
-Use these channels to communicate with your customers
AND to be aware of the “conversations” about your brand – don’t jump in to
become part of the conversation without a plan and purpose.
Beyond the Website
• Web has become Personalized and
Interactive
•Consumers have shifted from “going online”
to “being online”
• Research and understand how channels
Are used BEFORE you play
• All new media might not be right for your
business
Trends: What’s New?
Web 3.0 and Beyond…what it
means to Marketers
Media Evolution
The We in the Web
Mass
My
We
Media
Media
Media
• The Web Connects people with
other people, and with
information.
• Gives mavens a platform to find
information and share their
knowledge and opinions,
Expanding and building
communities and beyond.
The Web magnifies the reach of
Millions of people have recognized the potential;
influencers
It’s time for marketers to join them.
New Media Applications –
Beyond the Website
‣ Blogs
‣ RSS Feeds
‣ Online PR Channels
‣ Social Media (Facebook, MySpace)
‣ Video and Photo Sharing
sites (YouTube, Flickr)
‣
Mobile Marketing
…Oh My!
Blogging: To Blog or not to
Blog…
• Blogosphere – Threads of content and
conversations occurring through Blog posts
and social networks.
• The brand is no longer what you say it
is... it is what your customers say it is – they
are using Blogs to say it! (ie.Tripadvisor)
• Your customers are reading & writing
Blogs!
• Measure and participate in conversations
So How do we Track and Measure
the Buzz?
• Sites such as Technorati, Blogpulse.com, Bloglines, Tailrank,
track interconnections between bloggers.
• These sites can follow a piece of conversation as it moves from blog to
blog - Tracks the Buzz – Viral flow of Conversation
So How Does this all Work?:
RSS (really simple syndication)
RSS is a family of web feed
formats used to publish
frequently updated digital
content, such as blogs, news
feeds, video feeds or podcasts
- Wikipedia
*In a recent Yahoo! survey people who were identified as
RSS users by their Clickstream when asked about RSS 82% did not even know they were using them.
(Personalization of content)
How does RSS Work?
What does RSS mean to me?
• Consumers are dealing with unwanted emails each day
• Marketers dealing with anti-spam software blocking marketing
message.
• With RSS the end-user can control the flow, both in terms of what is
received, its frequency, and whether it alerts the users to the arrival
of the message.
• RSS Feeds are Indexed in Search engines – fresh content.
Content Syndication
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Search Engines Index Press Releases.
A Press release ‘optimized’ for your target keywords with keyword hyperlinks
pushed-out or “syndicated” through online channels (outside RSS feeds) builds
relevant inbound links to your site.
Visibility across multiple online channels—connecting with consumers through
the research cycle and not just the website.
New methods will now allow us to make content syndication interactive
through social media distribution as well (video, images and social media
tags).
‣ READ MORE: A Couple of Chicks Articles
•Application: Optimized Press Releases
(for online distribution): Announcing Specials,
Renovations, Additions, Surrounding Events
Social Media: Engage your Consumer
With over 1.5 million photos uploaded daily, Facebook is rapidly become a
major player for travel research among all of the other social communities and
blogs that already exist within cyberspace.
How Consumers Research is
Changing...
• Consumers are looking to channels like YouTube to
experience brands AND Videos are now being indexed in
Organic search results.
Research is an Emotive
Process
• Increase Visibility beyond the Website
• Videos appearing in Organic Search Results
• Research process has evolved from the
the marketing message, to the
testimonial, to the images and now video –
consumers looking for the authentic
experience.
• Videos posted to sites such as YouTube as
well as website generates additional distribution.
What Now?
Engage your Consumer
What marketers can do!
Web Strategy Starts with the
Website
1) Keyword research is critical. Find out what your market is actually
looking for first.
2) Assess the competition. What do the top sites focus on? What are
you missing?
3) Follow SEO best practices and avoid the trick of the day. Focus on
content quality.
4) Avoid flash. Make sure search engines can index your content. Keep
it simple.
5) Always focus on the user experience! Focus on this & rankings will
often follow.
6) Link Popularity is King! Get quality links (votes) from 3rd parties to
your site.
7) Link Reputation is Queen! Make sure the links you do get are
descriptive.
Closing the Deal
‣
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‣
Strong first impressions and valuable content
affect your conversion ratio.
The average website loses over 60% of the
visitors right off the home page due to usability
issues and a lack of relevant content.
50% of visitors spend less than eight seconds on
a site. You need to guide your visitors to Act!
A typical web page viewing pattern
What you should do…
‣ Links are underlined (or clearly visible as links)
‣ Search box on each page (top right hand corner)
‣ Global nav on top, local nav on left
‣ Don’t let design get in way of content
‣ Clean, lot of white space
‣ No extraneous design elements
‣ Content (text and photos) rules
Reading /Writing on the
web
‣
Users don’t read, they scan
‣
Short paragraphs
‣
Bullets
‣
Simple, clear text
‣
Beautiful imagery
‣
Keep it simple
‣
Use half of conventional text
‣
Hire web writer
‣
Rewrite print text
User Testing
‣ Test, test, and test some more
‣ Test fast and often
‣ Requirements - Focus groups
‣ Test 3-5 people
‣ They will find major issues
‣ Fix and test again
‣ Test actual target audience
‣ Test on own system
‣ Ad hoc testing
Interior Pages
‣ Interior pages account for 60% of initial page views
‣ Users spend more time reading interior pages
‣ Spend time on these
Once your Web Strategy
is in Place…
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1) Establish a ‘Local Search’ Program. High value opportunity with lower
competition – especially important for a bricks and mortar business.
2) Consider ongoing SEO program, PPC (Pay Per Click) or advertising with
larger portal websites such as VCB’s and provincial tourism sites.
3) Learn to specialize. Create content for untapped niche areas in your
market place. (using articles, press releases to syndicate content – driving
traffic back to the website)
4) Be aware of the Buzz
Monitor Social Networks – or Participate – IF it makes sense to your
business.
5) Measure Measure Measure! Use tools such as Google Analytics to
understand where your traffic and conversions are coming from.
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Patricia Brusha
Alicia Whalen
Co-Founder
Co-Founder
[email protected]
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