The Intersection of Search and Social Media

Last night I attended the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association’s monthly meeting event. The speaker was Brett Tabke who is the founder and CEO of Webmaster World and Chairman of PubCon. What a wonderful opportunity to hear first-hand commentary from one of the web’s most well-respected contributors. Here are just a few snippets I found interesting:

Google Places: With the resurgence of small to medium sized business investing in online marketing, a Google Places listing is carrying more weight in SEO. Location data is important to Google.

Sentiment: Positive sentiment has meaning. Earlier this year Google purchased sentiment analysis start-up fflick and we’re seeing the results on the SERP. Popular sites with positive sentiment are reaping the rewards.

Purchase Data: 90% of all purchases are made within a 90-mile radius of the consumer’s home. This means only 10% of all purchases are made online. If we’re researching online and buying in brick and mortar stores then as online marketers, we’ve only scratched the surface with a 10% market penetration.

Google Factoid: The search engine knows A LOT about you. Consider that over 70% of business are using Google Analytics and you know the Google data collection is incredible. How incredible? Google can even detect your level of education just by the typing speed of your search query says Tabke.

Social Graph: We’ve seen the launch of Google+1 and we know Klout scores have an impact. Targeting your results to your personal social graph is smart since 78% of us trust recommendations from friends vs advertisers.

Tablet Boom: 1 in 3 people use a tablet more than they watch TV. No wonder Time-Warner is launching an app to make it easier to watch TV on your iPad. Tabke reports that 28% of people say their tablet is their primary computer. They are so easy to use they are making huge strides in the senior market. The power of tablets lies in the apps. Tabke’s prediction? Look for tablet apps to encroach on web use and users to search for information within the walls of an app. How does that impact YOUR search strategy?

This is only a small sample of Tabke’s presentation. I think I just may need to attend Pubcon this year.