Working together to create a buzz online
We all know the adage: Theres only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about. Not so much for brands, though. Scandals and consumer discontent have been known to cause serious damage to brand equity, sometimes forcing companies out of business. With the rise of blogs, forums and social networks online, the chances are that people are talking about your brand in ways and places you would never have imagined. The really good news is that there are now the expertise and tools out there to help you monitor the buzz about your brand and engage your customers for positive mutual benefits.
We all know the adage: “There’s only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.” Not so much for brands, though. Scandals and consumer discontent have been known to cause serious damage to brand equity, sometimes forcing companies out of business. With the rise of blogs, forums and social networks online, the chances are that people are talking about your brand in ways and places you would never have imagined. The really good news is that there are now the expertise and tools out there to help you monitor the buzz about your brand and engage your customers for positive mutual benefits.
However, managing your online reputation is not the only benefit a strong social-media strategy could bring you. Raising awareness of your brand in the social space will help bring more visitors to your website and, ultimately, more customers. Importantly, search engines keep a close eye on social media – this means that you increase your chances of appearing in their listings when your product or service is discussed in the social sphere (all the better when the dialogue is of a positive nature).
And, with blended/universal results now attracting a large part of users’ clicks (images on search-results pages receive 31% of all clicks, according to JupiterResearch), optimising your online presence via videos, images, news articles and blogs across the web is no longer a fancy add-on, it’s become marketing common sense.
In addition, the potential for even bigger returns from integrating blended results with paid search is now clear. Before blended search, Hitwise reported a 51% improvement in clicks with paid and natural search working together. Today, our experience has enabled us to observe a 240% increase in click-throughs when your product or brand appears under several forms on results pages.
The Internet attracts an increasing slice of the overall advertising cake – it now represents 15% of the total ad spend according to the IAB, and is expected to overtake TV advertising this year or next. Brands that will stand out in the crowd will be the ones which know how to listen to their customers and observe their online behaviour, in order to respond to their needs and aspirations, and interact with them on the right level, using all relevant online resources.
Search and social media are now more than ever working together – increasing the opportunities for brands and consumers to meet online.
Neil McCarthy
Chief Sales and Marketing Officer
Latitude Group
