With Social Media The Truth Comes Out

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Marta Turek

It must be said that the travel and accommodation industry are probably looking at social media and thinking of their business counterparts: ‘You poor bastards, you never stood a chance!’ The truth of the matter is that TripAdvisor has been providing user generated travel reviews since 2000, making the travel industry veterans in the business of mitigating poor customer experiences voiced in the form of online reviews. That is not to say that every hotel knows how to manage its brand & reputation online, but with over +1 million business reviews and nearly +2 million candid traveller hotel photos uploaded on the site, it would be difficult for the travel industry to stick its head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.

Wakey Wakey

For a microblogging take on company reviews, jump on Twitter Search and type in keywords such as ‘shit company’, ‘worst company’, ‘crap company’ and you will find some eloquently vented frustrations of the dissatisfied customer. Consumers have never been more dangerous. Negative word-of-mouth (WOM) has gone viral. The traditional definition possibly no longer even completely communicates the awesome duplication effect of WOM online. It is certainly no longer a case of one dissatisfied customer telling 8 to 10 people of their experience.

Perhaps ‘viral word-of-mouth’ should have its own definition rather than being a sub-category of word-of-mouth. It would describe:

‘The mass online duplication of a positive or negative consumer experience by viral communication through social media platforms and relevant websites’

The consumer is empowered, they like the fact that their dissatisfaction may cost a company a few thousand or millions of dollars a year. Though it must be said that consumers are also more than willing to share the love when they have a stupendous tale to tell of customer service excellence. If it were not for this keen desire to share their experiences, Yelp.com would have a large hole in their business model. To the contrary, the site is expanding as their reader base continues to grow and share ‘what’s great and not so great’ in their area.

The beauty of this online chitter chatter is that the truth about companies starts to come out and those with dirty closets filled with skeletons will not be able to hide their secrets for very long. Consumers have always felt like the little guys in relation to the large, evil, polluting corporations, so now that David can take on Goliath, David comes out in full force. The sling of choice – social media.

Avoid Getting Fired on Facebook

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Marta Turek

Human resources experts and recruitment agencies have been handing out quality recruiting advice by the boatload, making it freely available online for many years now. We seem to take heed of this advice during the interview process and when in ‘job hunting’ mode, but as soon as we have secured a job, somehow we seem to throw caution to the wind and begin our tirade, and it’s often about the boss!

Back in the day, prior to social media and the ability to tell countless millions of people how we feel about our day, or the fact that our dog is sick, or how we hate working late, we would let off steam at a private face-to-face rendezvous with a close friend. But, how narcissistic we are, how we love to share our thoughts with others in order to receive sympathy or encouragement. We are ‘till the end, social creatures, for better or for worse.

So, when we have that irrepressible urge to tell our boss how much we hate our job or publicly call him a ‘wanker’, it would serve us well to remember whether we added him as a Facebook friend or not!

What to do? What to do?

Most interview tips will clearly state NOT to bad mouth your employer, former or current, in any way whatsoever. So, why do we think it is okay to do it when holding down a position with the current employer?

So, here are a few options to review when that unmistakable urge hits you to slander your boss on ANY social media platform:

1. Think – before you post anything ludicrous, potentially damaging to your own reputation or someone else’s think about the potential consequences.

Remember that this is in fact the Internet and the information is readily available to everyone, it is not just your private broadcasting centre set up for you to vent your daily frustrations.

If you can help yourself, don’t do it! Smash a glass against the wall instead! Though messy, it will not be nearly as messy as being fired for saying something so damaging the consequence of which could only be losing your job.

2. Do not be ‘friends’ with your boss – there’s LinkedIn which has been specifically designed to further professional relationships and then there’s Facebook – the audience and the interaction vary significantly.

Do not mix your personal life and your business life too extensively. Know where to draw the line. We seem to have moved into a new era in which there almost is no line between personal and professional, which can be a problem if you forget that your boss is in fact your boss, and not just that really cool guy that can take a joke.

3. If you have to be friends, be ‘Limited Profile’ friends – if you absolutely have to accept your employer’s invitation to be friends on Facebook, there are options to limit how much of your profile can be viewed. Investigate the security and profile settings on your social media platforms! Facebook in particular offers a number of options from limited profiles to outright blocking people so that as far as they are concerned, on Facebook, you do not exist.

There are options, you simply have to take some control over your social media accounts. Do not simply adhere to all the default settings because they may simply not be in your best interests.

What follows is a step-by-step account of how to either block someone or give them a limited view of your Facebook account:

Scroll over the Settings tab,
next to your Log out button
and select Privacy Settings

On the next page that appears, you will see the first jewel – the ability to block people. In a nutshell, by blocking someone, you no longer exist to them on Facebook, nor do they exist to you. This extends as far as not being able to find that person in a Facebook search. Anyone with an –ex could fit well in this category, ex-boyfriends, ex-friends, anyone who has little business knowing the details of your personal life.

From the same page, you can tweak the privacy settings under these titles:

Profile
This is where you control who can see things such as your personal details or photos tagged of you, your status updates and links etc. If you wish to create limited profiles, simply click on Customise in the drop down menu and from there you can limit who sees your specific profile information.
Search
This section is more important than you think. Not only do you control who can search for your name on Facebook but you can also opt out of the Public Search Listing which controls whether your Facebook profile is searchable in the search engine results.

If you do not want employers to use Facebook to measure your compatibility with company culture, do not make your Facebook page easy to find, particulary in search engine query searches.

News Feed and Wall
This controls which Facebook actions others can see – if you do not wish to advertise all your Facebook activities such as adding a friend, writing a wall post or changing your relationship status – this is where you would tweak this visibility.

Applications
If you find yourself frequently using applications on Facebook, it would be worthwhile reviewing the privacy settings to see exactly how much personal information an application can view. Of course, the default will be that the application can access all your information, so you have to manually restrict this by logging into the privacy settings.

Take control of your Facebook privacy settings with the same zest with which you proclaim your daily sentiments in your status updates. This small endeavour may save you from consequences that would have you grumbling about your current jobless status in what would still officially be termed a recession.

As another reference point, this is a great post on how Facebook will be rolling out new privacy settings in the near future.

Oh, That’s Right, We Don’t Need SEO Standards

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Marta Turek

What is SEO?

“Suppose it’s got something to do with when doing a search, getting the most and best hits back, i.e. no crap.”

“A practise that improves performance and relevance of result sets for search engines. Never heard of it as a service.”

“No understanding at all…is it something that makes Google work better?”

“My guess is that you pay for a good position on the search engine.”

That is how 4 of 33 respondents in a closed study defined SEO. This very basic study was conducted among tertiary qualified professionals to provide a snapshot of the ‘general public’s ’ understanding of search engine optimization. All respondents were asked not to perform any research prior to answering the questions.

Interestingly, quite a few people (30%) considered SEO to be a practice performed by the search engines themselves, such as changing the algorithm to improve performance and deliver more relevant results.

In addition, a surprisingly high number of respondents (42%) had a basic idea of the practice of SEO, citing that changes would need to be made to a target website to improve its ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Putting a PRICE on the SEO service was a problem

SEOCostExpectations

There was a very wide gap in pricing expectations:

46% of respondents had ‘no idea’ how much they could expect to pay for search engine optimization services

A collective 21% expected SEO to be either FREE (9%) or to cost less than $1,000 (12%).

21% proposed a performance fee structure based on increase in bottom line generated through the SEO. Notably these were professionals from tertiary service industries such as banking, public relations and consulting.

Observation 1: If most people have no idea what to pay for the SEO service while a proportion would hand over potentially $1,000s in percentage based fees this indicates a significant gap in client expectations.

A website offering services at $200 is as believable as one providing the service for $2,000, because people literally do not know what to expect.

For SEO to be considered among other professional fields such as law or medicine, the SEO industry has to deliver its services at a certain benchmark standard in order for those services to be valued at a particular price.

Searching for SEO
Overwhelmingly, most respondents would use Google (64%) or a search engine (15%) to find out more information about SEO.
So, if people are using Google to research SEO, what do they find?

Sample of some of first page SERP results on Google.ca for phrase ‘search engine optimization’:

- Guaranteed Page 1 or Pay Nothing, Page 1 in Seven Days $69.95/Month
- Search engine optimization is the way to pull massive amounts of free traffic
- Get listed on 200+ search engines in 8 hours!
- 300+ Top 10 And Top 3 Rankings In Every Search Engine For $179.95

Observation 2: Guarantees! Promises! Refunds! First page Google rankings for a $100 per month! Free search engine submission to hundreds of search engines!

Search for a lawyer or dentist online and you will not see this type of price undercutting. The focus is on quality, expertise, value and years of experience.

The SEO industry is diluting the value of its own service with this type of advertising. Searchers form the opinion that SEO is a cheap; easy-to-implement service offering that any SEO business listed on the SERPs can perform.

Cognitive dissonance begins to form between client expectations and perceived value of the service. Clients expect top rankings to be delivered at a low price point.

Final Thoughts
Though the basic study that has been discussed was small and from a statistical perspective has limitations, the insight that just 33 respondents provided is significant:

- If most people would search on Google for SEO, where can searchers find quality information that will assist them in developing their expectations of SEO services?

- SEMPO does feature in the SERPs for some search terms and though the website is a valuable resource, does it adequately help shape a searcher’s understanding of why they would pay $100 for one SEO service and $10,000 for another?

- A standard definition of SEO would help the public understand what to expect from SEO and more effectively find services that suit their business requirements and budget.

- SEO standards would assist in setting a minimum benchmark for SEO service delivery, which would ultimately increase the client value perception of these services, and so many SEOs would no longer have to feel like they are working for FREE!

In the words of Ian McAnerin: ‘Standards? We don’t need no stinkin’ standards. But the public does. I think it’s time we grew up and took responsibility for our own profession, before someone does it for us.’

Originally published as an entry in Marketing Pilgrim’s 4th Annual SEM Scholarship Contest

My PPC Ad Position Has Moved, Again!

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Marta Turek

Angry SEM Client There’s a great deal of advice out there about selecting the right SEM agency so that your business reaps a positive return from the online marketing, but what about the SEM agency getting the perfect client?

As difficult as it can be for clients to work with agencies, there is a plethora of clients that give agencies significant headaches with continuous phone calls, repetitive questions and unrealistic expectations that impact the success of the project. Are you expecting your SEM agency to deliver PPC miracles on an unrealistic budget? Have you set SEO ranking expectations on an unrealistic timeline?

If you are one of those clients who constantly check their PPC sponsored listings, you should be aware of some of the factors that may affect your PPC ad positioning. So, before you pick up the telephone to scream at your SEM strategist because you typed in some important keywords but only the competitors’ ads come up, consider the dynamics that may affect your PPC ad position.

Performance of Your Ad, Relative to Search Query
The relative performance of the potential PPC ads that could be shown for each search query are dynamically evaluated by the search engines. What this means is that the performance of your ad will be measured against:

CTR of your ad relative to the specific search query – what is your historic click-through-rate for that ad variation?

The performance of competitive ads relative to yours for a search query – how well have your competitors’ ads performed relative to yours?

CTR performance for each keyword in your ad groups – what is your historic click-through-rate for individual keywords?

What you need to bear in mind is that each search query is dynamically evaluated, which means that if you type in a keyword for your business now and check the results, in all likelihood when you check that same keyword query in 5 minutes the ad positioning will be different. A number of elements interplay dynamically to determine the ad rank of each competitive ad vying for a ranking on a particular keyword.

Maximum Bid
Maximum bid is the single most influential factor under the advertiser’s control that drives ad positioning. If you would like your ad to be at the top of sponsored listings in the number 1 position, setting a high enough maximum bid on keywords can ensure this.

Why? Maximum bid and Quality Score are the elements of Ad Rank, i.e.:

Maximum Bid x Quality Score = Ad Rank

Of course ranking in the number 1 ad position just for the sake of being number 1 cannot even be considered a bidding strategy. Your ad positioning should be driven by business metrics such as desired maximum customer acquisition (CPA) and it should be within the limit of your maximum CPC. Simply bidding up for higher rank positions may very quickly render the PPC efforts unprofitable for your business.

So, if you are one of those clients that obsessively like to see their PPC ads in the 1^st position on the SERPs, stay calm if you see your ad in the 3^rd of 4^th positions. This may be the optimal position for your ad based on driving the highest level of relevant traffic to your site, within budget and at an acceptable cost & conversion rate within your business model.

Geographic Targeting
Be mindful, that if a specific campaign is targeting a geographic region that lies beyond the physical location from which you are checking your ad positioning, it is a good thing if you do not see your ads appearing!

Specific geo-targeted campaigns allow for tighter location-based targeting of your market. For this type of PPC campaign to be successful, campaign settings need to be set up so as to minimise “leakage” of ads appearing in non-relevant geographic regions.

Dayparting by You & Your Competitors
Avoid embarrassment – if your target market is in the B2B buying space and your customers are known to be the most active during business hours, then give your search marketer credit if they are rotating ads during specific hours, instead of ‘freaking out’ because the ads are not showing at 7:00am.

Also, bear in mind that the dayparting bid strategies of your competitors will affect your positioning. If a few competitors, with higher bids start appearing at a set time while your ad is showing, it may serve to drop your ad rank positioning. The greater the number of advertisers competing for a keyword, the more variable ad positioning will be.

A/B Testing of Ads
If you are testing your ad variations, which you should be, invariably there will be a weaker ad and a stronger ad. The ad with the higher CTR and greater perceived relevance may then have a higher ad position than the other one. When you type in a search query into the search engine, you cannot control which ad will be shown for that query.

Nebulous Search Engines
The fact is that the search engines have their unique algorithms according to which they may practice random testing, ad rotation, algorithm adjustments and Quality Score allocations. Not everything affecting ad position fluctuation can be explained according to a checklist of possible causes. Sometimes, the cause of a rank drop is due to the cumulative effect of a number of elements, some of which the advertiser can influence and others over which the search engines maintain exclusive control.

So, before you pick up that phone, consider that your SEM agency’s time would be better spent managing these dynamic elements of your PPC campaign, rather than having to explain the fundamentals to you, again!

SEM Street Cred

An Objective Perspective

Monthly Archives: August 2009

Avoid Getting Fired on Facebook

Oh, That’s Right, We Don’t Need SEO Standards

My PPC Ad Position Has Moved, Again!