To
understand why the future of social is search, let’s look at why search has
been turning its eye toward social. Search is all about fundability. Whether
paid or organic, the real goal of search is to be found by your target
audience,
and hopefully have them take a secondary action. That action may be
as simple as a share or like, or as complex as moving down the funnel into a
lead and then to a purchase. Social has provided an exceptional way for people,
ideas and content to be found.
That
said, social is a busy place. Multiple channels, millions of users, and a
deluge of content mean the days of simple social fundability are over. While
networks rush to create filters, surface content they think you’ll find
interesting, and make more relevant connections, marketers need to focus on
being found from other angles. You can’t change the algorithms that Facebook,
Google, or other organizations put in place – so what can you do?
You
can create the content that is ever-present when people search for it.
What
does that mean? Several things…
1. Focus on Phrases, Not Keywords
People
are seeing things on social media, news articles, and even billboards and
commercials and then searching for it later. Thanks to many of Google’s
advances, they’re not typing in a single word most of the time, they’re writing
an entire phrase, or even a description of something they saw.
Monitor
the phrases that are included when people talk about your products and brands
on social, and understand how it affects your content decisions.
A
good example is viewing an Instagram photo of a new jacket that has been posted
to Facebook. Later, when you are waiting in line at a store or sitting at your
desk, searching for “short gray motorcycle jacket with collar.” You may not
know or remember the brand but you like the content you saw and decided to
search for it at a more convenient time.
2. Look for Concepts,
Not Concrete Terminology
While this may sound like
a repeat of number one, you should focus on discussions relevant to your
brand. Here you will find a wealth of information to connect with existing
audiences and identify new audiences. This means you can be creating content
that touches on current topics. While many people think they’re already doing
this, I’ll point out an example of what this looks like in practice.
Let’s use Nike as our
example, and specifically Nike running shoes.
A traditional approach
will include monitoring conversations for: Nike, run (and variations like
running and runner), shoes, and cross training; as well as competitors like
Asics, Reebok, etc. In the past few years we’ve evolved to monitoring for
things such as: Marathon, trails, and road race.
The next evolution should
focus on the conversations that are happening around running and running shoes
on social, and expand Nike’s awareness on things like: Carbohydrates, personal
trainer, joint pain, weather predictions, etc. These come from tweets,
Instagram photos and Facebook posts like
this one.
For example, Nike could
do marathon-inspired recipes and content, along with shoe
suggestions for users that are searching for pre-run
meals. The company could also display store information alongside
searches for local personal trainers. Another great way to engage would be to
serve up content for cushioning running shoes when people mention
runner-related injuries.
3. Create Content That
is Socially Searchable & Consumable
Knowing people are going
to be on social channels and inundated with lots of “stuff” is only half the
battle. Now you need to make sure you’re creating content that works well for
those mediums and is also easily found when users search.
Let’s look at an example
from my company, GinzaMetrics. Each week, we do a Google Hangout called FOUND
Fridays. FOUND Fridays discuss search and content marketing, and feature guests
that are experts in various realms of the industry. Topics are gathered based
on what’s trending that week, and specifically mined from conversations being
had on social media.
The Hangout is conducted
live, giving the audience a chance to tweet questions to #FOUNDFriday. It is
then posted to:
- YouTube
- SlideShare
- Our Blog
The Google Hangout is
publicized on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to the GinzaMetrics
audience, as well as the audience of whomever is guest speaking.
The YouTube video
provides an opportunity for increased visibility on Google as well as transcription.
SlideShare is great
because you can pull key points and turn them into an illustrated, easily
consumable format. SlideShare also has great SEO value with a full transcript
included below that is findable by search engines.
The blog post includes links
to the SlideShare, YouTube video, and notes from previous FOUND Friday efforts,
as well as links to other referencing sources – garnering even more
findability. Each of these items are not only shared socially, but
findable via social media as well.
