Transcript:

Welcome to another Emarketeers live video.

Today we’re talking about effective ways to use Twitter search. This can be carried out in a variety of ways be it via twitter.com or using Twitter API tools such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite for example.

For now we will use twitter.com and I’m using the search bar at the top.

For now, we are going to search for conversations about restaurants in the UK.

Remember, with millions of tweets happening every week, it’s important to use Twitters search function to refine our search so that we get relevant results quickly and easily.

I’m going to carry out a search initially for “restaurant”.

[search]

As we can see, I get the latest tweets when people have mentioned the word “restaurant” in their tweets. Not especially useful at this stage as its too broad.

Now if I’m a restaurant brand looking to better understand consumer needs, I need to search using more appropriate search terms.

I’m going to search for “anyone” and “restaurant”. This will bring back tweets of people asking questions or looking for recommendations. I could also add a question mark [?] to ensure that the results also contain questions rather than statements.

[search]

As you can see, the search results are much more relevant. But they aren’t all local to me. So, if I want results of local people tweeting I can add a region or city by typing the search command near:”scotland”

[search]

The results I now get are more focused on tweets around that region.

Sometimes it’s useful to filter out all tweets with links as these can sometimes include businesses promoting their services.

If I’m a phone supplier looking for any tweets worldwide of people looking for advice on the iphone 4S I can search for “iphone 4S advice”  adding “-filter:links”.

This will filter results ensuring I only see conversations rather than promotions.

[search]

As you can see, nearly all of the results I get contain people looking for help or advice without businesses pushing their own messages or products.

Of course, it’s now up to me to engage with the relevant tweeters to better understand their needs.

I have always had an issue with brands or domains that are ambiguous in their spelling or interpretation. I don’t think it helps consolidate a brand identity and for that reason I feel it’s something that branding or design agencies should note.

According to the trending data from the last 30 days, Google Plus trends higher than Google+ in search. The trend reverses in the news index where website content refers to it the correct way rather than as Google Plus.

Geographic Trends

When it comes to geographic differences, there are some distinct trends.

In countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, Google Plus trends higher. Whereas Far Eastern countries such as Taiwan and Hong Kong refer to the correct spelling.

Correlations

When measuring correlations using Google Correlate, Google+ correlated strongly with Google Plus in the US.

However in the UK, Google+ correlated most strongly with Dobara - a Hindi film, and Zelda Williams, daughter of comic actor Robin Williams!

We’d love to hear any explanations of that correlation!

In the late 90′s and early noughties, we were firmly in the grip of Web 1.0. Websites were often one-dimensional brochures and the word “brochureware” was often cited - a term which I loathe nowadays.

Such online brochures were less likely to be multi-faceted and integrate 3rd party technologies or mash-ups; nor did they usually require much in the way of complex interaction between the user and the website – bar ecommerce websites.

Managing web 1.0 projects was often a relatively straightforward affair. If the scoping phase was carried out sufficiently well, with no hidden surprises, and if the technology and user-interaction was understood from the outset, then all being well the project was delivered successfully.

Web 2.0 Defined

Roll on to 2004 when the phrase Web 2.0 was born. Web 2.0 refers to websites or web applications that are more participatory, be it information sharing, technology sharing (via mash-ups), or heavily focused on user interaction.

Web 2.0 requires significantly more sophisticated user-centricity, including features such as social sharing, ratings, user generated content (UGC), commenting and other social actions, which is why web 2.0 is sometimes paired with the “social web”.

Rising Up To The Challenge of Web 2.0

The complexities around Web 2.0 mean more web project management challenges.

Working on web projects such as social sites, web apps or cloud based software, where user interaction cannot always be predicted in advance, makes the traditional or Waterfall method of project management almost impossible.

Waterfall says scoping and requirements gathering should be carried out up-front, followed by technical specifications, sitemaps, wireframes, design and production in a sequential manner.

While Waterfall can work well in more predictable situations, it has limitations when trying to factor in user-centered design or when deploying innovate ideas or technology. In the latter situation, Agile can be more effective in running projects successfully and guaranteeing a better outcome for the user.

What is Agile Project Management?

Agile is an umbrella term for a set of project and development techniques designed to ensure that web or software projects (sometimes the same thing), meet the needs of end users in a cost effective, high quality manner.

The techniques are designed to enable a project to respond to change by delivering in short increments, rather than going through detailed planning and requirements phases and then delivering everything in one go (as seen in Waterfall).

Agile is responsive not predictive and encourages learning and feedback during the project in order to build features that exactly meet the needs of end users. With complex web projects that heavily involve user interaction, burying your head in the sand and avoiding change will only result in unhappy users; so a responsive method is actively encouraged for better user-centricity.

Typical Agile methods include: Kanban, eXtreme Programming, Scrum, DSDM, Crystal Methods, each with their own nuances.

The Key Parts Of Agile

1. Incremental delivery

Projects are planned in micro stages termed increments or iterations. Increments contain multiple user stories or features which are a single requirement for the project. These are usually expressed as a single sentence or short paragraph. Features cannot be partially completed. If one feature is not completed, it’ll move to the next increment.

2. Prioritisation

Features or user stories are planned according to priority. Higher priority features must be implemented first, giving the project owner or stakeholder an early return on investment and positive revenue generating features quickly.

Sometimes higher priority features can change over the course of project, based on user feedback, so incremental delivery offers the most flexibility and greatest chance of meeting user needs quickly and with the least budget spent.

This is a real plus for Web 2.0 projects as they often demanding on user input (take Facebook or LinkedIn for example), so adapting to user needs during the build is critical to get right.

In Waterfall, we have the “MoSCoW list”, a way of prioritising requirements by listing them as Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Would Have. Whilst this is useful task to carry out, it doesn’t compare to Agile’s prioritisation and incremental delivery as the MoSCoW list is often drawn up at the start of the project.

From a Web 2.0 perspective, MoSCoW still requires the project team to understand user behaviour from the outset – no mean feat with complex user input and output.

3. Timeboxing

Agile tends to focus on variations in scope rather than time or cost. Each increment is a fixed length – often 2-4 weeks in length. Timeboxing refers to a fixed increment length within which a set of features is delivered.

As mentioned above, if features are not completed, they move to the next increment. The increment doesn’t change in length and it is therefore timeboxed.

4. Test driven delivery

In Agile, production quality features are built right from the start. Quality is not negotiable. Test driven delivery is an Agile technique where tests are written before an activity takes place and the activity is only completed when the tests are passed. At the end of each increment, tests are carried out to ensure production quality features are produced.

Continuous testing is all part of a user centred design (UCD) process, and with Web 2.0, user interaction needs to be understood and tested throughout the entire length of the project.

If you’d like to learn more about deploying Agile techniques and how to bring agility to your web projects, check out our Agile Web Project Management training course.

By installing social extensions, all your +1′s from your Google+ Page, your AdWords ads, your website and search results will get added together and thus appear as a single total. It means that consumers will be able to view all of social recommendations outside of Google+.
Last week Google announced that it was giving AdWords customers the ability to connect their Googe+ Pages and AdWords accounts using “Social Extensions”.

By installing social extensions, all your +1′s from your Google+ Page, your AdWords ads, your website and search results will get added together and thus appear as a single total. It means that consumers will be able to view all of social recommendations outside of Google+.

Prior to the roll-out of social extensions, AdWords ads only showed +1′s when people had +1′ed the landing page relevant to that ad, which meant that there was significantly less likelihood that someone who viewed the ad also had a colleague or friend who recommended it.

With the failure of Google Buzz and the relatively recent launch of Google+, it’s no surprise that Google is pulling out all the stops to increase its “share of social”. We know that the power of social advocacy or recommendation plays a huge role in consumer decision making and Google is utilising all of its assets, particularly search and search advertising, to encourage this. In the long term, this will improve customer experience and encourage better value from advertisers.

Furthermore, it wouldn’t surprise me if Google eventually aggregates +1 data and uses it as part of its quality score algorithm as it knows that sentiment analysis is a critical factor to consider.

But in my view there’s another more political motive on Google’s part. Currently, Google+ has around 40 million users (according to Google!), something like 5% of Facebook’s user base. Whilst the demographic breakdown between both social channels is slightly different, Google still knows it has a huge task in building critical mass.

Given its massive dominance in the search marketing and online advertising space, Google wants to leverage this in favour of building critical mass around Google+. It wants to encourage AdWords customers to create Google+ pages as in the long term this will encourage better ad performance through positive social sentiment. And the by-product of this will be to increase Google+’s share of social.

Expert Opinions

We were interested to hear the views of industry experts and asked Greig Holbrook of Oban Multilingual and Matt D’Alton of Navigate Digital their opinions:

Greig Holbrook, Director of  Oban Multilingual says:

This is yet another recent example of Google shifting their focus to social metrics, try to improve the results they serve to their users. Social networks are now one of the first places that people go for recommendations on products and services, and as the Google blog post says: “71% of shoppers say that recommendations from friends and family impact their purchasing decisions”.

This aspect of their algorithm is becoming increasingly sophisticated and sentiment analysis is coming into play more and more, whereby Google can recognise good or bad reviews and rank sites accordingly.

It will be interesting now that they have started integrating +1’s and annotations into AdWords whether these good or bad reviews could begin to influence things like ad placement and quality score and leave those businesses with the worst service paying the most for their clicks.

Matt D’Alton, MD of Navigate Digital says:

In theory it all sounds like a great move from Google. It’s good for users:  rather than shoppers having to visit review sites before a potential purchase, social extensions will bring friends and family’s recommendations straight to the Google search results page.

It’s good for advertisers that have a) bothered to build a Google + page and b) have gained plenty of +1′s as this will help distinguish their ads and provide them with an extra element of credibility. Depending on the take up by advertisers there is also the potential for +1′s to influence the order in which ads are ranked.

Until now quality score in particular has been all about relevance, however friends and family recommendations could be seen as a more important factor, giving way to a different kind of quality score – “the people’s quality score”.

There is however one big ‘if’ – in order for this move to have any significant impact Google has a lot of catching up to do with Facebook. It wasn’t long ago that many offline ads contained a call to action to “search X” or “google Y” for consumers to find out more. This now seems to have been largely replaced with “visit our facebook page at facebook.com/brandname” as brands have learned the benefits of using Facebook pages to engage with their consumers.

Treading water often seems to be the most common activity within the SME; trying to solve day to day problems rather than focusing on developing the business.

Cloud computing and SaaS

We are privileged to operate in the age of cloud computing, where computer applications are made available to us remotely as a service (typically via a web browser).

The upshot of this means that we aren’t required to download and install software “locally” at our place of work. Instead, we can leave the responsibility of buying, supporting, backing-up and upgrading hardware and software to a third party. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as software as a service or SaaS.

Software as a service enables small businesses to focus on the core challenges around growing a business rather than stumbling from one operational headache to the next. Of course, SaaS isn’t a magical solution that will solve all operational issues, but any way of offloading responsibility at minimal cost has to be advantageous.

The essential cloud tools for small businesses

I’ve put together 10 popular cloud applications used by SME’s. This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are a rapidly growing number of applications in the marketplace. Equally, they all have slightly different features that will suit organisations differently. But sit back and enjoy.

But what about the people who are already part of their community? Who use their broadband, gas, electric or Digital TV services?  How do these offers and claims make them feel?

When I realised that I would be better off financially terminating my current Broadband and TV package and re-purchasing again from the same company, it made me really question these corporate strategies.

Pareto’s 80-20 Rule

Many people may well be aware of the famous Pareto’s 80-20 rule. Applied to the marketing element, this equates to 80% of sales coming through 20% of the customer base. But, in my experience, it is often the 20% that get forgotten about; yet are the most powerful allies of all.  Studies have shown that companies that reduce customer defection by 5%, could boost profits from between 25-85%.

Clearly, in these critical times, gaining new business is critical for survival. But so is gaining positive word of mouth, with the public voice that is now possible through Social Media channels.

Alongside this  - the actual costs make economic sense.  Figures from Bain & Company show that acquisition campaigns can cost up to 7 times as much as retention activity – given the low loyalty that resonates with new customers.

Five thoughts for better customer retention:

1. Don’t operate customer teams in silos

Have your retention and acquisition teams working side by side, to ensure that all customer experiences are positive and offer something new.  Share the same objectives, challenges and performance measures. This also applies to all customer touch points,  including the customer sales teams.  Ensure they have the data and experience to deal with both types of customers – existing and potential – to deliver the right level of service and satisfaction levels.

2. Use insights from the customers you already have

Customer insight will improve whatever service it is you are offering. This will, in turn, help to improve the acquisition costs and offering.

3. Reward loyalty

Reward loyalty - not at the expense of acquisition, but at least on the same level.

4. Balance acquisition and retention rewards

Ensure the value offering for current customers remains at least on a par with the acquisition promise, so customers feel happy to be part of the community.

5. Encourage positive word of mouth by keeping customers happy

A small but critical point that will can help to drive acquisition costs down as communities have the most powerful voice of all in this new world.

The email marketing industry is actually surprisingly small, with a limited number of email service providers (ESPs) all vying for attention. If you compare their features, at a glance there isn’t a huge difference in terms of product differentiation; most of the big players supply the essentials required to run and measure an effective email marketing campaign.

However, for me, what makes Campaign Monitor really stand out is, firstly its attention to detail when it comes to its highly user-centric SaaS (software as a service) interface, and secondly, a handful of  features that add that extra pazazz (yes that’s the technical term).

I’ve cherry picked 5 features, that make me choose Campaign Monitor every time:

1. Compare Previous Email Campaigns – model your future email activity

Comparing previous email campaigns is by no means exclusive to Campaign Monitor, but I’ve chosen this feature regardless.

Email marketing is a process of continuous improvement; modelling, measuring and modifying email campaigns based on previous results can make all the difference in ‘outcomes’.

Campaign Monitor makes it easy to compare multiple campaigns offering graphical and tabular data as well as a handy export function should you need it.

2. Worldview – view your geographical reach

The Worldview screen is certainly one of Campaign Monitor’s sexier tools.

Once you have broadcast your emails, the Worldview screen presents a real-time global map with pins indicating where your emails were opened or clicked, as well as the email address of the subscriber.

The Worldview is a simple snapshot of your global performance and visually very appealing. You also have the ability to zoom in on countries or regions.

3. Social tools galore – social sharing within campaigns

Nowadays, a truly integrated email campaign will often include a social marketing element to it. To fulfil this, Campaign Monitor offers two social media tools that answer this need.

Social sharing within email campaigns

Firstly, you have the ability to embed Twitter and Facebook social sharing widgets within your emails.

This is carried out with considerable ease within the WYSIWYG editor. Anyone receiving your email then has the ability to ‘like’ or ‘tweet’ it, with Campaign Monitor providing you with a social interaction report.

Prior to this feature being available, I remember having to URL encode each social sharing link within the email, which was slow going and often prone to errors.

My only criticism is that more social sharing services should be made available, particularly LinkedIn and Google+.

Promote your email campaigns via Twitter and Facebook

Secondly, Campaign Monitor offers marketers the ability to share campaigns via Twitter or Facebook using a shortened URL .

This is a handy feature allowing the use social channels to increase reach. And, as above, uptake can be measured within the social interaction report.

4. Manage client accounts – perfect for agencies

Campaign Monitor was conceived in 2004 by Ben Richardson and David Greiner, whose web design background led them to develop a service that was ideally suited to web designers and agencies looking to run client campaigns. Nowadays over 100,000 companies (agencies and clients) use the service.

If you’re a marketing or web design agency looking to broadcast on behalf of your clients, Campaign Monitor gives you a range of customisation options allowing you to maintain a branded experience. And, furthermore you can customise your clients’ permissions from the draconian viewing of campaign reports only, to the ability to upload, broadcast and pay for campaigns with less agency involvement.

The beauty of a well designed interface is that the service works equally well for both agencies or clients, without interfering with the software’s user-centricity and ease of use. A classic case of form follows function.

5. A/B tests – means continuous improvements

Continuous improvement should be at the heart of any email marketing campaign. A/B or split testing functionality is one way of achieving incremental improvements in outcomes be it open rates, click-through rates or other metrics.

Whilst A/B testing is by no means exclusive to Campaign Monitor, its interface allows easy testing of subject lines, from addresses or variations in design. Once you’ve selected your testing criteria, Campaign Monitor will serve each version to a pre-defined number of test subscribers.

A winning version will then automatically be selected based on your pre-defined criteria such as open rates, total unique clicks or total clicks on a selected link.

The software will then wait for a period of hours or days (again defined by you), before sending the winning campaign to the rest of your subscribers. Just what marketers need from an industrial strength ESP.

Well done Campaign Monitor and thank you!

During the 90 day trial, Google claims to have made 91 improvements to its Google+ platform, in particular its Hangouts.

However, since launching to the select few, Facebook has managed to update its functionality to match that of Google+. Of particular note is the upgrade Facebook made to its Friends Lists and News feed functionality, which appears uncannily like the Circles functionality found in Google+.

So, the burning question is, was Google wise to launch Google+ in beta for 3 months, giving ample time for Facebook to assess the competition and make modifications before Google+ was able to build real critical mass?

As highlighted above, since its launch the fanfare has become rather muted over the summer, and many (including myself) are questioning whether it would have been more prudent to offer Google+ to everyone upon launch in late June.

If you’ve played around with Google Analytics advanced segments (as below), you may have noticed that some of this data is already available.

But having it so readily available in AdWords is definitely a bonus as it is far more accessible.

How does it help us?

As you can see using the above example from Google, the additional data let’s us gain further insight into user behaviour in SERPS and contributes to refining our listing position strategy.

In the above case, we can see that top Google search ads have a better CTR of 2.43% versus 1.67% for side ads. In our experience, top ads tend to have a better CTR, although this depends on the sector and the competitive landscape.

What about conversion rates and cost per conversion?

When it comes to conversion rates, sometimes we can see the opposite effect where side ads convert better despite the lower click volume (see below)

As part of a listing position strategy, you may want to experiment with your ad position to see if you can increase your campaign ROI.  You may find that lower positions give you better ROI in the long run despite attaining less clicks.

Now that Google AdWords has dropped position preference, you can modify your listing position by varying your keyword bids.

What about localised search?

If your sector is very focussed on localised search, your side ads will be dominated by the Google Place search map top right.

Given the dominance of the map, it’s even more important to monitor top versus side ad performance, especially as ads disappear underneath the floating map as you scroll.

We’ve seen the launch of the Google+ project in addition to seeing +1 buttons appear in organic search results and next to AdWords ads (if you’re logged into your Google account).

This is of huge significance to marketers as there will be countless debates about the +1 button’s impact on search rank and click through rates in addition to its persuasive effect a la social commerce.

Google also announced that Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools have added new social monitoring tools tracking the impact of +1′s, Twitter tweets, Facebook likes and other social actions on your website traffic.

Google Webmaster Tools +1 Metric

+1 Metrics in Google Webmaster Tools publishes the impact +1 buttons have had on your search performance.

The search impact report illustrates the number of +1 annotated impressions by page in addition to CTR (click through rate) with and without +1 annotated impressions.

+1 annotated impressions refer to the number of times a user saw a page in SERPS with a personalised annotation. The metrics will quickly highlight the impact of social advocacy in search results.

Google Webmaster Tools also publishes an Activity report indicating how many +1′s your individual web pages have received; and an Audience report illustrating demographic and geographic data about the people who have clicked on the +1 button on your web pages.

Google Analytics Social Tracking

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, Google Analytics (the new interface) now publishes Social Engagement reports enabling marketers to see a plethora of social data such as how visitors shared your website content via social actions. This could include Google +1 button clicks, Twitter tweets, Facebook Likes and Del.icio.us bookmarks.

This is a welcome addition to Google Analytics and not surprising as Google seriously ramps up its social offerings.