Social Media Roundup
December 15, 2009
Lately there has been a plethora of articles and posts published that focus upon trends and predictions in social media marketing. We’ve rounded up some of the most interesting in terms of restaurant marketing here:
- The folks at Twitter are beta testing new features specifically for business use of its platform. Stay tuned; TwoTables will report the best uses of these rollouts as they happen.
- Marketing Profs has conducted in-depth research for their latest report “The State of Social Media Marketing.” They report, among many other stats, that just over one third of food and beverage companies participate in online communities.
- If you are among the two-thirds of those food-industry companies that haven’t yet tested the social networking waters, Heidi Cohen posted nine questions to ask yourself as you are preparing your social media strategy for 2010. These are some great points to consider if you’ve been overwhelmed at the thought of adding social media marketing to your mix.
- Li Evans gives some examples showing how implementing a social media strategy will help in local search platforms in the months ahead.
- Privacy has been the hot topic in social media for a while, but it hit a frenzy when Google announced that it will begin integrating information from Twitter, Facebook and other social networks in its search results. Erik Qualman offers some interesting thoughts on how social networks are requiring us to be more transparent and play to our strengths, both as individuals and as companies.
That’s it for today. Here’s wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday season!
Microsoft & Yahoo Strike a Deal
July 29, 2009
Search marketers are abuzz this morning with the news that perennial also-rans Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to a 10-year deal that “will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry.”
Here’s the skinny on the deal:
- Microsoft’s “Decision Engine” (Bing) will replace Yahoo!’s search algorithm and power organic search results in both engines
- Microsoft will have full license to integrate Yahoo!’s search technology into it’s platform
- Microsoft Adcenter will be the paid search platform for most advertisers. “Premium” advertisers will be serviced by Yahoo!’s sales force
- “Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.”
TwoTables’ take on it? We’ve long found Yahoo!’s products and service lacking so the fact that at some point we won’t have to deal with Yahoo! (“premium” advertisers, we’re not) brings smiles to our faces. Bing is new, however there is potential for it to develop into a decent search engine and as long as Yahoo! doesn’t “innovate” the user experience on their own portal too much, both Yahoo! and Bing users could see improvements. Will “Microo!” overtake Google as the search engine behemoth? Probably not.
There will be plenty of time to dissect what this means for all involved; the companies estimate that implementation will occur two years after regulatory approval. Read the full press release here.
Google Rolls Out Location Extensions to Paid Search Ads
July 27, 2009
On Friday, Google announced that advertisers will now have the ability to dynamically include their business address in Adwords ads. This is an exciting addition for restaurants because, if done correctly, this feature appears to offer the best of Local Business Listings and pay-per-click advertising.
According to Google’s Location Extension Overview, this new functionality will offer users the ability to link their Adwords campaigns to their Local Business Center account. Once linked, the physical address of the business will be dynamically added to standard Adwords text ads, as in the ad example at left. Google will also allow the manual addition of a business address directly to a text ad by editing the ad copy within the Adwords account interface.
It’s a bit early to make a determination, but at first glance location extensions appear to be that rare feature that benefits both the searcher and the advertiser. The searcher is provided with more relevant information than was previously available with the 70-character limitation in Adwords copy and the advertiser can combine location information with compelling descriptive copy and a call to action within one pay-per-click advertisement. Google plans a gradual roll out over the next few weeks.