If you think that search marketing is a algorithm-driven strategy grounded in analyzing real-time data and responding to a specific consumer target that you have cleverly given a cute profile name to – think again. Engaging “Ned” is not so easy or is it?

Sure, we all want to increase traffic to our websites, improve visitor experience, gain higher conversion rates, and increase sales and brand loyalty so a good web marketing and digital strategy is important. But, in the race to be the biggest, the best, the smartest, and the most profitable company, it is interesting to observe the number of times companies miss the mark. Why? The road signs are certainly there.The problem is that too many are looking at the flashy, large signs on the highway and ignoring the smaller, more humble ones.

We are living in a world of abundance based on truth, integrity, where “less is more” and where business is done when people are engaged. Search Marketing today is about engagement with the end goal being to marry your customer.

My Story: LinkedIn as a trusted social network for purchase-driven search results

While running in the Rosedale Ravine my left foot encountered a large tree root and went sidewise. There was a sharp pain and an awful crack but I kept going. A temporary setback, don’t give in, the foot is fine, I told myself. I had only 2.5 km to go to reach my destination. On arrival a hot shower and a cool ice pack seemed to do the trick. I had no swelling. Mind over matter does work I bragged to myself. So I carried on with my day, that is until the evening when the foot went numb and would not function or even take any weight. What was I to do? It was clear I needed an Xray. Was there a sports clinic nearby? I jumped onto Google – the undisputed first choice for ready-to-buy consumers – only to discover the two places I called didn’t have doctors available or Xray facilities. Now what?

It was then I decided to contact my LinkedIn network. I brought up my contacts in Toronto, selected a few and sent out a message “I’m in Toronto staying close to the Rosedale Ravine and I need an Xray”. I learned in a flash that the Sunnybrook Hospital was just down the street from where I was staying and that it was a good choice to go to.

As a ready-to-buy customer my vertical search on my social network on LinkedIn delivered a qualified target group who could assist me in an important buying decision. But the story doesn’t end there. Following my hospital visit (where I learned I had fractured my foot) I received several messages through LinkedIn. “How’s the foot?” “I know a good physiotherapist” This is business engagement marketing at work as the likelihood of me purchasing services from one of these people whom I had formed a deeper connection with because of my foot is highly probable.

Oh, and something else, I also received an invitation for lunch. (Yep, Lava Life eat your heart out).

P.S. This post is dedicated to the guy who wrote to me asking what he was doing wrong on LinkedIn. He had in a fury, like a Starbuck’s addict on steroids, collected over 800 contacts and “nothing was happening” he said. Well, while its just my 2 cents worth, engagement is about talking, sharing, and yes, risking that someone might think you are an idiot. But at the end of the day the real heart of the matter is that its about “less is more” (which is the same as saying “more is less”).

There is a most interesting division of opinion in the corporate communications field today as to whether Twitter is a viable business and communications tool. More than half (54%) of the professional communicators surveyed by Poll Stream think Twitter Marketing is a fad. Yet, the success companies are experiencing who do deploy a Twitter Marketing Strategy is hard to ignore.

• Jet Blue Airlines – share travel tips http://twitter.com/JETBLUE

• Dell Computers – update customers on deals and provide offers over several created Twitter profiles   http://twitter.com/delloutlet

• Home Depot promotes its employees ‘off-work’  http://twitter.com/homedepotcanada

• HR Block – has Q&A sessions with customers   http://twitter.com/hrbtaxtalk

These companies and others have had measurable success with their ability to integrate Twitter Marketing into their Social Media and Marketing Strategy resulting in increased employee engagement, improved customer service and reputation, and boosting website traffic.

Twitter is not a fad or on its way out. Twitter has over 20 million users in North America and 50 million worldwide, 18 million unique monthly visits, and 19 billion searches a month!  Creating a company-wide engagement strategy that demonstrates a consistent and comprehensive brand presence, builds dialogue, new relationships with customers, and generates loyalty among existing customers, is an essential job for today’s CMO.

To assist companies in taking advantage of some of what Twitter has to offer Twitter has created the “Promoted Tweet” ad platform. It works a lot like Google Ad Sense. A search on Twitter results in one ad showing up. The ad is a “Tweet” that can be “Re-Tweeted”, made as a favorite, or replied to. Some early pioneers to try the Twitter Ad Model include: Starbucks and Virgin. The cost right now is priced on a CPM basis but I would expect the real value in advertising on Twitter (in the formal sense) will be when Twitter integrates a performance-based offer on “Re-Tweets”, replied to, linked to, and hash tagging. The campaign that most engages the Twitter community should cost the most (with an “up to” value determined in advance, of course).

Social networks have struggled with introducing revenue models. We have seen this with Face book. It is because we are all so touchy about being ‘sold to’ so disrupting ‘our space’ where we socially interact is easy for a marketer to do. For Twitter users natural real-time search is the draw. To search and receive ‘paid search clutter’, especially if texted to our mobile phone, will be a turn off. Privacy settings and search (type) options will be important. For example on a Saturday morning I might want to search geographically for offers in my area (paid search) but during the week I may want to search in real-time (sans ads).

The jury is out whether the newly released sponsored Twitter Ad Model will provide an advertiser gains beyond from just interacting with customers. There are already a lot of third-party analytic tools for companies employing Twitter Marketing. However, one thing is for certain there are no signs of Twitter decline. Marketers that dismiss Twitter as chatter do so at their own peril. As a free stream of consumer data that can be mined in real-time there are few resources that are more effective at capturing consumer sentiment and unearthing real-time trends than Twitter.

According to Compete.com Facebook is the leading social media site in the world boasting over 400 Million active Facebook users. That’s a lot of friend-sharing and even more importantly, demonstrates an already established (and growing) base of engaged users. Apart from connecting and keeping in touch Facebook users actively share over 25 Billion pieces of content – including links, news, blog posts, images, etc. – with their friends every month.

During Facebook’s 2010 F8 developer conference last Wednesday in San Francisco, many updates were launched and the big underlying message was that Facebook is on a mission to be the social hub of the web with veins into all the sites and networks we actively use. Facebook calls this the Open Graph.

“It’s the most transformative thing we’ve ever done for the Web,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and co-founder during the F8 conference.

To give you an example of the power behind Open Graph, let’s say that a Facebook user hits the newly implemented “Like” button (similar to a Digg) on a specific IMDb movie page (owned by Amazon and one of Facebook’s Open Graph third party partners). That movie would then automatically be added to the “Favourite Movies” section of that Facebook user’s profile for – and here’s the important part – “everyone to see”.

Open Graph brings “Sharing” to a whole new level. This is good news for businesses and advertisers but but not for those concerned with privacy issues. Suddenly the connection goes much deeper than sharing your likes and dislikes with your friends. Millions of users now have access to your hometown, where you went to school, where you work . . . essentially everything you’ve listed on your Facebook profile. Open Graph takes your Facebook profile information and virtually shares it across the world wide web.

Facebook’s solution for opting out of “Instant Personalization” does stop applications and other websites from using your information but doesn’t stop your friends and connections from sharing things about you. To stop all potential sharing, Facebook users would need to block each application individually (a tedious task).

From a business stand-point, getting to know your customers and potential customers is now easier than ever. Likes, dislikes and buying habits are now public information and this provides advertising opportunities like never before.

Social Media Marketing all begins with Facebook. In 2008 the social media site had 80 Million users. Comparing this to the 400 Million users of today, the term “strength in numbers” now defines an unlimited opportunity to connect through the simple act of sharing. This bold new step takes us to a new level of engagement and social media commerce is now a measurable reality.

Innovation continues in the Bay Area as RedBeacon takes local search social with its latest partnerships with FaceBook and Big Tent.

It is fascinating to see the power of people when they get together to create meaningful products that add real value to peoples’ lives. RedBeacon’s simple design garnered it the top prize at TechCrunch50 in 2009. The founders – Ethan Anderson, Yaron Binur, and Aaron Lee are former Google product managers.

You could explain RedBeacon as an advanced next-generation yellow pages but with a social responsibility committed to helping you pick the best business to handle your local service needs at the time, location and price right for you. Typing in the service description and problem that you need addressed, allows RedBeacon’s system to match your request with a service provider. You get contacted with a price and these service providers compete for your service. The top three providers are then posted online where you can scrutinize the providers’ profiles, ratings and reviews. Then, you can book the job right online. No phone calls, no hassles, and the matching service is all free.

RedBeacon is so darn clever it even aggregates reviews from Google, Yelp and Yahoo.

Recently RedBeacon rolled out a new application that pings your Facebook friends for their advice. This takes local search to a social level. A Badge for RedBeacon appears on your friend’s Facebook page and if they don’t like your choice of plumber for your leaking taps they can suggest another, and RedBeacon adds another quote for consideration.

Additionally, RedBeacon has formed a partnership with Big Tent, an online community for real-world groups who gather in one place to share and organize communications online. Tapping into group advice has a powerful application especially if the poor plumber left a mess, and the “group” (or “several groups”) knows.

RedBeacon makes sense but unfortunately it services a small geographic area at this time. It takes money and people to drive these concepts throughout North America and abroad. But with early partnerships being product enhancement driven they are on the right track. This is one company to watch.

Gizmodo has a great description for the new Google Buzz released last month:

“Used on a PC or mobile, Buzz reminds us of an RSS combined
with all of your social networking—all within the existing Gmail and Google.com infrastructure.”

And as Google’s latest launch is fully compatible with Google Chat and Reader, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, and Gmail of course, Google’s approach to sharing is spreading like wild fire!

One of the reasons Buzz has gained such popularity so quickly is its Gmail integration; giving the new Buzz access to Gmail’s already established user base of over a million global users.

As well, those on the social scene love Google Buzz’s ease of use and convenience. And did I mention that it moves in real-time? Engaging, accessible . . . what else could one ask for?

A little privacy perhaps?

Google Buzz’s initial launch saw an automatic share of updates and friends lists within everyone’s contact list and essentially the many, many, other Gmail users. Although this had a “viral marketing on steroids” impact for the new release, many of the automatic Buzz users were less than pleased. (Do you really want everyone on your contact list knowing your email habits?)

Luckily, Google immediately acted on the complaints so that users could more-easily keep their friends list private.

Buzz’s solution was to incorporate an option that enables users to share publicly or only with specific contacts. Fine and dandy except that every time you post, you have to take that extra step: to share or not to share.

What do Facebook and Twitter have to say about Buzz’s real-time feeds? That’s easy to guess since Buzz has already exceeded Twitter’s user numbers.

With Google Buzz being just a few weeks old and already so popular, it’s safe to say that this is really only the beginning. Excellence is only a few tweaks away and then the launch of new features . . .

A monster of a beehive, Google Buzz has created a whole new playing field in the ever-growing world of social media.