I just got into work this morning and as I suspected someone mentioned the word, "Starbucks." My eyes widened and I immediately went to the stock, Grande Soy Vanilla Latte with Add Shot for my order. Yet I hesitated and desired something different this morning. I went to my web browser and went to www.starbucks.com and low and behold, no online menu. Are you kidding me?
(skip to "Search+ :: It's All In The Grinds" by BJ Cook)
There's no denying that link building is hard work these days. Even if you have the time and energy to create the content and offers that attract links, it can still be difficult to find the sites you should be working on securing links from. Debra Mastaler offers up a solution today at Search Engine Land: survey your customers to find out what sites they frequent when they are not using yours.
Debra explains:
The questions are written to find out where the customers go when they're not on the client's site and what motivates them to buy when they're there. I keep the survey short and simple and try to focus on finding sites they've had direct experience with but will prompt them to provide the names of any bloggers, social media, forums, and online publications they've heard of. "Hearing of" is almost as important as sites used in certain industries so I look for threads of commonality and pull sites mentioned by more than a handful of respondents. They're labeled as "authority" sites and pursued for linking and advertising opportunities.
For example, I recently surveyed an organic co-op and found 20% of the respondents paid for an online subscription to a green magazine. The magazine hadn't popped up in the client's referral logs or in the inbound link structure of the competitors I checked so I was surprised to see so many customers mention reading it. After negotiating with the magazine I was able to get an interview for the co-op's president, purchase advertising and buy their mailing list for a cross promotion that included a link incentive. In the end, almost 50 links were secured from a site that had never crossed my radar before the survey. Not too bad for asking a couple of simple questions.
It's a great piece of advice and one that even the smallest business can utilize to help making link building easier.
Chance are high that you've never heard of Yelp, so you probably have no idea what it says about you. This is a mistake. More than 1.8 million users turn to it for information each month. It also ranks incredibly well on Google for a wide range of local search phrases. That's why I'll ask you again, what does Yelp say about you?
(skip to "Can Yelp Help Your Small Business?" by Jennifer Laycock)
If you're in the loop when it comes to viral video, you've likely already watched "I'm Into Nuggets Ya'll" on YouTube or Stupid Videos. The catchy rap and beat boxing poking fun at McDonald's "honest, we're hip" approach to marketing made the rounds last year after budding improv comedians Fernando Sosa and Thomas Middleditch filmed the bit in front of a McDonald's near Wrigley Field.
I saw the spot last fall when my brother-in-law passed it on. While my first thought was "wow, that guy sort of looks like Napoleon Dynamite," my second thought was "geeze, that's catchy." The clip did make the rounds, but still only has about 150,000 views on YouTube.
Apparently, at least one of those views was from a McDonald's Marketing associate because AdWeek reported earlier this month that the Arnold Creative Director tracked down the two stars of the video and bought the rights to air the spot on television. The spot is now airing on networks on the East Coast.
Brilliant move on the part of McDonald's. First, they didn't have to take the time to plan and launch a "search" for consumer generated content like Dorito's did for last year's Superbowl. Second, the use of a clip that was created by two people simply looking to have a little fun leave McDonald's with a video that has an stronger air of authenticity. Sometimes you just can't fake the good stuff.
This story might end here as another example of the growing influence of citizen marketing on commerce and culture. But this story has a twist: When we interviewed Fernando and Thomas in 2006 for Citizen Marketers, we asked if they were fans of McDonald's. Thomas blanched. "I try to stay away from it; it's pretty bad for you? I helped this big evil corporation out -- for free. Oh, it's so bad."
That quote led to quite a bit of heat coming down on Fernando and Thomas. Many called them "sell-outs" and "shills" for taking money from a company they didn't fully support.
I find this interesting.
Apparently, many commentors on the various blogs that are challenging the ethics of Fernando and Thomas are read by people who believe that every celebrity endorsement, every paid actor in a commercial and even every marketing company that takes on a client fully backs 100% of the operations of that business. I'm fairly certain Kathie Lee Gifford didn't sign on the dotted line AFTER hearing about plans to hire sweatshop labor to create her Kathie Lee clothing line at Wal-Mart. It's pretty obvious that George Foreman didn't actually create his famous grill and somehow, I doubt he uses it to cook every single meal.
The point is, just because a commercial comes from citizens as opposed to a marketing firm doesn't mean that it's creation was an act of pure, unadulterated love.
I do have to wonder however if these recent pairings by companies like McDonald's and Mentos with citizen marketers will lead more large companies to keep tabs on the content popping up on consumer generated video sites. After all, TV executives have learned that reality shows cost a fraction of what scripted shows cost and TV schedules reflect that change. How long will it be before marketing firms decide that scouring YouTube and Google Videos is cheaper than hiring a production house?
Wal-Mart Gives Consumer Generated Content Another Go
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Wal-Mart has finally enabled consumer reviews for the products being sold on its web site. The move comes a little more than six months after a Wal-Mart sponsored blog came screeching to a halt amidst a storm of criticism when readers discovered that the blog chronicling the journey of a married couple across the country in an RV was not a work of two fans, but rather of paid professional writers.
The move to add reviews will bring the Wal-Mart site into the modern world of Web 2.0 where competitors like Amazon.com and Target have long accepted consumer feedback on products sold on the site.
The reviews are fairly standard in terms of e-com sites. They feature an overall rating, subcategory ratings that vary by product, space for a detailed text review and space for readers to rate the quality of a review. The reviews also feature a space for the reviewer to record their gender, age range, how long they've owned the product and how often they use the product. That's pretty handy information that could heavily influence the credibility of some reviewers.
Business Week notes that product reviews are being published within about five days of submission. Wal-Mart will also be sending email invitations to online customers asking them to return to the site to post a review of the product they purchased.
Overall, reviews of the move have been fairly positive so far. While some expected criticism has been logged over the five day review process, the fact that negative reviews are showing up leads me to believe that Wal-Mart is simply being cautious in their approach to a new content generator. Hopefully the retailer will speed up the review process down the road as they begin to get the hang of the system.
Still thinking about adding product reviews to your e-commerce site? I'd encourage you to push forward with the idea. Product reviews can not only help land you some nice search rankings for long-tail phrases, they can also help you convert visitors to buyers.
In 2006, 48% of those researching or buying products online described reviews as either "very useful or useful," he says, "and they often read through reviews to confirm that they are making the right decision. The whole idea is that there is wisdom of the masses."
And about 52% of those in Jupiter's survey have either written a review themselves or contributed some kind of feedback, he says, adding that customers who use online reviews are also more likely to be younger, as well as more affluent--two audiences Wal-Mart has been courting.
Sehgal says that for the most part, consumers do respect the collective wisdom of other shoppers. While retailers and manufacturers have been accused of putting in fake reviews, "it benefits buyers to have the comments as transparent as possible," he says.
