Best Practices for Social Media

Social Media Will Increase In Importance To Search

 
That's Why Real-Time Search Isn't Just a Buzzword

Today, the most widely discussed topic regarding the Internet is Social Media and its interaction.

Social media may play a bigger role in search engine rankings than many realize, and according to Charline Li in her recent address at the SES conference In San Jose it will even become more important in the future.

Here's the thing. Searchers want relevant results. It's all about relevancy. That's all the search engines strive for, and that's what users want. As Li says, "There is a new type of relevance called engagement." People must be at the center of your search strategy.

There's a reason that real-time search is such a hot topic. Some think it's just a buzzword, but it's more than that. It's an ever-growing element into what people want to know.

Now we're not talking about real-time search taking over traditional search. Right now is not always more relevant than something from three years ago. In many cases, it is more relevant though. User intent might be considered the Holy Grail.

There's a reason Google is working toward updating its algorithm called Caffeine to incorporate a faster indexing speed.  People want freshness. That's why Twitter has become such a hot source of buzz that seemingly all radio and television programs cling to these days. It's up to the minute info about what people are saying.

Facebook is attempting to do it now too and Li mentioned the importance of this in her keynote as well. One very important thing to keep in mind is that outside search engines aren't indexing the information that can be found in Facebook updates.  Facebook is huge now, by the way - way bigger than Twitter. We're talking up there in Googleland in terms of users.

Social is an important element of search. We still have to look at it as a thing of the future though, because we are still so early in the evolution of the social web.  The major search engines are still trying to make sense of it all.  Li noted that the real time web presents many challenges to search engines, because how do you place value on things like retweets, @replies, short URLs, etc? There are a lot of new elements to consider.

Now think about search engine advertising. Li asked, "What if search engines augmented my search ads based on knowing who I am?"  Think about data like influence, and number of friends. The number of influential friends could influence search results and search engine ad targeting. Viral Advertising has been around forever – one friend telling another – but now with the 21^st century communications that can be instantaneously, Social Media / Social Networking / Social Marketing we see Viral Advertising on Steroids.

The web has largely become a very social environment, and will continue to become even more so. This is why marketers should also focus on people in addition to keywords. If you want an example of how this plays directly into Google results already, Li mentioned how the YouTube video called "United Breaks Guitars" ranks number 4 in Google when you search for "united". United doesn't own that keyword anymore, because people have lifted this video up.  Of course this is an anomaly, but never the less you get the point.

The synopsis of Li's book reads, "Right now, your customers are writing about you products on blogs and re-cutting you commercials on YouTube. They're defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you on social networking sites like Facebook. These are the elements of a social phenomenon."

Well, it's the truth. You've got to engage out there. There are watchers, sharers, commentators, content producers, and curators. Focus on the sharers and the watchers. Focus on people and relationships, and listen to customers. 

Li says you should also get you back end data in order. By this, she means having a single place where people can sign in to your site, and integrate off-site behavior and data. Figure out the value of specific visitors. Integrating social into your site is a good way to do this.

"Prepare to tap into 'chain of intent,'" she says. "Google now combines chains of searches to determine intent." (Emphasis added.)

Know that customers can take their social networks anywhere with them at this point. Thanks to all kinds of tools from the networks themselves, as well as browser plug-ins, etc. people always have their social functions a click away. You're going to have to accept this and realize that you have less control over your brand than ever. That's why you need to deepen relationships and get engaged. It's even important than ever for search.