As a creative writer, I have been drawn to products and stories that connect with my life story on an emotional level.  Thus, I understand his rationale for creative directors to ensure this does not go by the wayside.  However, emotions fade after an initial reaction, then consistency becomes important in measuring the success of a campaign. Focus groups and metrics ensure that human behavior is captured on a balanced scale. Quality storytelling, then, drives the campaign home as icing on the cake.

To conclude, metrics and creativity are like dance partners who need to reach a serendipitous point where chemistry takes over. In a business environment with declining revenue, agencies need to be more fiscally responsible yet connect on an emotional level with their clients.  A difficult task, but far from impossible.

When you are not logged in, you are identified through anonymous cookies. The problem is,  these two (logged in & no logged in) are treated as different identities with different search behaviors. Therefore, you might see different results in different log in situations, different places, and with different search behaviors. So, if you think that the shuffling of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) is another Google Dance, then you are wrong. Have a look at the video from the Google guys to verify.

To turn off Personalized Google Search

Google has given an opt out option for you to turn off the personalized Google search. However, there is another way by using “&pws=0″ parameter after the search query URL. e.g. http://www.google.com/search?q=blueliner+interactive+marketing&pws=0. In some cases, it was found that, this parameter doesn’t work. But, I guess Google is still working on it.

How Personalized Search is Changing SERPs?

Once your are doing a personalized search, you may see some biased results. For one of our clients, here in Bangladesh, I was seeing the URL in 55th position for one of their important keyword. i.e. the site is pushed to 6th page. The 6th page phenomenon also worked for countries like: Germany, UK, Italy when I started to use some free proxys to search.

Since, the site is hosted from Culver City in California, I  guess it will rank closer in USA. Here is what I found using a handful of online free proxys:

• From a Brea, California server, I found it in 45th position
• From a Chicago server, found in 41st position
• From a Woodstock (Near Chicago), found in 42nd
• From a Huston Proxy Server, found it in 46th position
• From a Pennsylvania Proxy server, found it in 45th

So, the site is actually jumping in the 5th page in USA. This means that, there is not much difference when you are in the same country. But, it matters when you are in different country and showing different search behavior.

Except for the first proxy, you can observe that, the ranks are steadily moving down when go from the east coast to the west coast. So, can the distance also be a great factor in personalized search?

As the panelists introduce themselves and their backgrounds, we see a wide range of digital professionals, all talking about how businesses can not only be involved in social media, but make money as well.

Social Media landscape: Where should you be?

Toby Daniels recommends ignoring the moderator’s image. Says it’s too confusing and you should focus on customers and what they’re saying. Don’t worry about the specific sites just yet.

Arman Rousta says companies should integrate their social presences into their sites and customer relations efforts first.

Daniel Luxemburg brings up a very real concern. What if no one is talking about your brand?

Scott Cherkin says travel sites shouldn’t push deals out through Twitter. Agree?

Great question from the audience. “All this touchy feely stuff is great, but the client wants to know what are the metrics? What value does this offer?”

Ed Spiegel talks about how his company RentMineOnline.com drives ROI through peer recommendations.

Cherkin says, “I don’t believe social media will always be based on ROI. I think this is about brand building, not as much about a CTR.” “We’re seeing Facebook as one of our top traffic drivers, right under Google.”

New question! How do you measure success with social media?

Spiegel - We measure success on conversions and ROI.

Rousta says metrics are more akin to PR. Each social site has it’s own set of metrics. You need to build awareness in these areas to drive conversions in the future.

Daniels talks about Pepsi pulling ad spend from the Super Bowl and launching Pepsi Refresh. Investing in ideas and social movements instead of ad spend. They have no idea how they’re going to measure this and they’re ok with it.

Cherkin talks about the opportunity to move share above the bottom of the funnel. Brings in example from Travel Ad Network about reaching people in the research phase, not just targeting people on Google. Measuring success needs to be how many people ended up buying, not just how many fans and comments.

Luxemburg makes a really interesting point about how many conversations and WOM about businesses happens in private that companies can’t see. How to you incorporate that?

Question from the audience? Should you charge users to use social media?

Daniels uses Craigslist as an example. It’s successful because it’s frictionless for people to use. Super simple, incredibly effective, and free. It starts with focusing on fixing a problem before focusing on a business model. Also talks about how display ads will be a small percentage of the future of the online economy.

Cherkin makes a good point, “Finding people who really want to engage in your brand is hard.” I guess it really depends on who and what your brand is.

Luxemborg talks about technology (aka Facebook Connect) breaking down barriers, reducing friction and allowing people to easily join new branded networks.

Kanalley: If it’s difficult to build your own social network. Huffington post uses Facebook Connect to build community 16% of all comments are through Facebook Connect.

Daniels brings up social graph optimization. Says optimizing people’s social graphs will be huge in the near future.

Rousta talks about social search. Google displays results from your social network. Talks about Twitter’s upcoming advertising platform.

Spiegel is giving a run through of his company to highlight how social lead generation can work and how his company is utilizing the social graph to generate business.

Good question from Cherkin. Do you worry about backlash from people getting paid to promote the products like what happened with Pay Per Post? An equally well thought-out answer from Spiegel. People aren’t getting paid to promote something they’ve never used. This is basically the same thing as receiving a referral fee for bringing in a friend to rent an apartment in your building, which is the same program that has existed for years.

New question for the panel. Let’s talk about money. How do you make money in social?

Rousta brings up the Dell example of over $3 million in sales from Twitter. Also brings up the great example of the Red Cross using social and mobile to raise funds.

Luxemburg talks about mobile social and how big of an opportunity exists there. Geolocation is huge and will continue to grow.

Really interesting point from the audience. US is incredibly behind when it comes to mobile. People in Europe are paying for parking and shopping with their phones. “Our phones are our wallets. I can’t believe how far behind the US is.”

OK, the moderator lets us know that we’re now out of time. Check back next week for video of the panel. Thanks for reading.

Near to Here - The #1 Travel iPhone App!

I’m happy to report that a recent Blueliner collaboration has lead to an incredible result. Within 80 days of its launch, the iPhone travel application “Near to Here” has risen to the #1 spot simply with a word-of-mouth marketing strategy!

Harvard graduate, Near to Here creator, and De La Plata Enterprises founder, Zak Tanjeloff (age 23!!) is smiling. “We are both surprised and thrilled at Near to Here’s recent jump in ratings! Normally, ratings for any app peak soon after the app’s release and then slowly taper off. However, Near to Here’s popularity seems to be growing as people begin to realize its usefulness and pass the word along to friends.”

Here’s the offical Press Release from near to Here…

NEAR TO HERE iPHONE APP LAUNCHES TO #1
Travel App Jumps From 100+ Rating to #1 in One Day

March 3, 2010 – New York – Near To Here, the iPhone travel app by De La Plata has made an incredible jump in ratings at the Apple App download store. The app was not on the rating charts as of Tuesday morning, but jumped to become the #1 Travel App in the Apple App store in just a matter of hours.

Only the Top 100 apps are rated in the Apple App store. Near to Here debuted in December and peaked shortly after with a rating of #23, but soon fell off the charts. Tuesday afternoon the Near to Here app reappeared in the Top 100 list, swiftly climbing to #1. It has maintained its spot in the Top 5 apps ever since, beating out Travel App heavyweights such as ZAGAT TO GO and Kayak. The previous #1 Travel App had held the #1 spot for 188 consecutive days.

The Near To Here iPhone application became available on December 18th, 2009 in all Apple App stores for just 99 cents, and uses reverse geolocation to provide users with information about interesting landmarks around them. Users do not have to enter their city, country, or location—just simply turn the app on while wandering around a familiar city or touring a foreign location. The app automatically sends Wikipedia information to the user’s phone as the phone’s GPS tells the app that the user is near a place of interest.

About Near To Here:

Using reverse geolocation look-up technology, Near to Here knows exactly where you are and what interesting stuff is around you. As you pass by landmarks - both renowned and obscure, you will be alerted with the Wikipedia entry of whatever is near - allowing you to discover and learn as you wander through new or old places. Brought to you by De La Plata Enterprises.

In the 20th century, distribution was more of an art form.  Trailers, posters, stickers, and samples were used to elicit certain emotions in consumers to purchase a product or service.  Google, with its revolutionary search algorithm, takes marketing strategy to a new level.  Nowadays, your website must be optimized for search keywords.  Otherwise, your content will not make an eye blink.  Social media and mobile marketing also are rising factors in strategy, along with good web design.  Through the 7 Pillars of Marketing, Blueliner delivers all these elements at a high quality with a reasonable price point.

The internet, as we know, is a thrifty way to distribute content to the masses.  We also know that the internet has a lot of content to keep minds busy.  How do you get through the clutter? I believe that segmenting your demographic with steady content is a good start.  You don’t always become an overnight sensation, but you build a client base.  Advertisers like client bases since they increase the chance of realized revenue gain.  Small firms should have a budget for technical upgrades.  It doesn’t make sense to start up a business without reserve capital for technological improvements that catapult revenue gains. Before anything else, though, you need a staff with energy and imagination.  They collaborate to produce the content for a mass demographic.  If a firm can deliver high quality distribution at a good price and quality, then they shine above all.

Tomorrow, CEO Arman Rousta will speak at a panel discussion at the Andaz Hotel on Wall Street. It’s a nice week of promotion for the firm.  Stay tuned here for updates.

Websites need to be critiqued on a formal basis with strong templates.  Then, and only then, can the design be evaluated.  Professionals use this template.  Space, line, color, texture, form, shape, value, and style all make up the basic elements of design, with color taking a precedence.

Color’s stimulating properties are dependent on its relationship with light, form, and space, The spectrum of shades and hues must be integrated properly in order to display a symmetrical portrait. Many designers often miss these facts when created a web page, and as a result, web browsers will move on from a website if their gut reaction is not stimulated.  For marketers, it is hard to quantify gut reaction, so creating a unified design template is tantamount.

The holy grail of quality website design often takes time to reach, through constructive criticism.  For example, several users of Facebook were critically negative of the website’s new layout at first.  Reactions were explored.  With time, users have respected the new design for its improved efficiency, especially with posting links and accessing applications from the home page.

Web designers must also be prepared to articulate their process for discussion, which leads to insightful tips.  This is easier said than done, but not impossible.  D. Keith Robinson of Smashing Magazine goes into more depth.

• One in five have posted a video of themselves online
• Nearly four in ten have a tattoo
• Many of them have privacy boundaries online for cyber predators and other dangerous agents
• Nearly one-in-four have a piercing in some place other than an earlobe, about six times the share of older adults who’ve done this

The prevalence of smartphones, coupled with our growing comfort with mobile devices, is helping to grow
m-commerce. This is big news for companies involved in
e-commerce as it gives them a new channel to reach potential customers. As the general public continues to adopt m-commerce, watch for many more companies to shift dollars to mobile advertising.

Mediapost offered further analysis of the report from Millenial Media.

If the search engine does take off, it will be a revolutionary tool for businesses. They can conduct searches for job applicants, then analyze their consumer bases for more nuanced segmentation, which leads to greater market efficiency. SEO media agencies stand to benefit the most, as traffic reach will expand like never before, integrating merchants and communities. The Google blog takes you into the philosophy and methods of this intriguing enterprise.