How do customers find your website? There is a trend in people entering longer search queries, defined as averaging five to eight words. These were up 7% between December 2009 and April 2010. Searches of eight or more words increased 4%*. As consumers become more search-intelligent and explicit in how they search, it's become imperative to develop a solid strategy around long-tail search queries. Driving more click volume is one thing, but engaging users who are at the end of the buying cycle translates into better conversion rates and increased profitability. Ask your marketing team how to find which search queries are applicable to your Website. * Experian Hitwise
Everyone recognizes that trust is paramount for establishing credibility in social media messaging. But how do you build trust in a medium where online identities may be little more than a logo and a few lines of copy? If you text, you already know: responsiveness. When someone sends you a text, if you want continued interaction you need to respond — and the quicker the better. Blogger Greg Ferenstein points out that when only text is available, participants judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond. So, he reasons, it is better to respond to a long Facebook message acknowledging that you received the message, rather than to wait until there's time to send a more thorough first message. Wait too long and you are likely to be labeled unhelpful or, worse, a host of expletive-filled attributions. To increase your social media responsiveness, Ferenstein suggests making sure Facebook, LinkedIn, et al, send you e-mail alerts. Then, only archive the e-mail once the message has been responded to.
Well, if you use location-based social networking services such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Yelp, among others, you might just have the newest sharing syndrome: Waldo Envy. Forbes blogger David Pell points out "…there is an increasing number of people who suffer from a major case of Waldo Envy — you're convinced people care where you are."
These location-based social networking services work by "checking you in," or marking your current location on a map, which is then placed in a social context. Many people who "check-in" on location-based social networks also simultaneously update their "statuses" with their location on other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. What many people may not realize is that, unless they have adjusted their privacy settings to broadcast their information to their friends only, it's actually broadcasted for ALL to see across the Internet.
The ramifications of publicly broadcasting one's current location across social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have been brought to light by a new website called PleaseRobMe.com, which aggregates people who publicly post their current location and points out one fact: they are not home. PleaseRobMe.com presents these people as "opportunities" and boasts a tagline of "Listing All Those Empty Homes Out There."
Hmmm…time to adjust those privacy settings?
Much has been said about utilizing social media for market research, such as mining tweets for customer input but companies can use the concept of a social network to conduct market research more actively, with market research online communities (MROCs). Sometimes referred to as "focus groups on steroids," MROCs consist of a large group of people recruited to a private online platform to participate in research activities over time. Because MROCs are on-going, there's no need to start recruiting research participants when you need feedback on a particular question. Answers can be found in days rather than weeks.
MROCs are typically comprised of a few hundred people and require an on-going commitment, as participants need to be kept engaged. This is typically done with a variety of online activities, such as online discussions, photo diaries, blogs, contests and surveys.
Some examples of effective applications for MROCs include co-innovation (involving customers in the product development process), longitudinal input (obtaining information over the whole course of the decision-making process or input about product use over time), and even identifying trends.