Marketing Trends 2011: Merging Search and Social Media

Mike Hanbery - 12.14.2010 7:54 AM

One major area of our business is achieving optimal position for relevant Internet searches for our clients. Another is improving online reputations.

It's not difficult to see how the two complement each other. The pursuit of positive comments, "check-ins," the change in Websites from billboards to interactive information hubs is evident in the marketplace of nearly every industry, especially in the B to C sector.

Just outside of the mainstream media, but easy to monitor for those of us who...well, who make our living by staying abreast of this stuff, is the increasing trend in consumers using their Internet social networks as search engines. Product- and service-specific search is on the steady increase within Facebook, LinkedIn and other communities. Why? Because people trust what their friends and colleagues have to say about your business much more than what you say about it.

Somewhere in between those two developments is the appearance of "Tweets" being indexed by Google and appearing in search results. (This is what is happening in the highlighted area of the attached image.)

The line between search engine and social network is continuing to blur.

What this means for your business

By the time we're blogging about this in December, 2011, consumers won't be satisfied--and Google knows this--with relevant search results. We will expect those results to be accompanied by a list of people to whom we are connected on Internet social networks and what they have to say about the product, business, etc. in which we are interested.

Engagement in the social web is increasingly crucial, knowing what you're going to say and how you'll track results equally so. Establishing the pipeline and the customs are , however, half the battle at best. They won't make up for a poor customer experience.

But now we're into another topic altogether, aren't we?

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