Analyses: Are You Up-to-date to Capitalize on Major Web Events?
Updated – Feb. 27, 2011
February has been an eventful month for the Internet and marketers. Developments include the major players – Bing, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Are you positioned to capitalize?
Here’s an update:
Google. Because it’s the longtime mega search engine, let’s consider Google first. Depending on which research firm you prefer, such as ComScore or The Nielsen Company, Google has about a 66 percent search market share. So whatever innovations it makes, it’s important.
Google has made a major change in how it ranks search results probably because it’s been under siege for being manipulated by certain Web sites.
The vaunted Google algorithms – its tools that determine how it ranks Web sites – have been fine-tuned to reward publishers of original content. Unique valuable information, if you will. That certainly includes in-depth thought leadership. Google says it involves about 12 percent of search queries. That might not sound like a lot, but 12 percent of millions and millions of search queries is meaningful.
You might recall numerous recent news stories: JC Penney, for example. The 2010 $17.8 billion retailer was chastised for dubious Internet practices. The retailer denied it approved spam-like behavior by its search-engine optimization company, SearchDex. But right after the story broke, SearchDex was fired.
Indeed, it must have been an eye-opener to the search giant to be labeled as the “tropical paradise for spammers and marketers” by a U.C. Berkeley scholar, Vivek Wadhwa. Hence, its algorithms upgrade.
Another search development: The Google Chrome Web browser now permits sites to prevent other sites from appearing in their results. (Its competitor, Blekko, does the same.)
So, Google has taken action to disallow Web sites, with little or no unique value, to dominate in search results.
My sense: The jury is still out on Google’s changes. In my sampling, I haven’t seen a positive noticeable change, especially in its key word results. Otherwise, if successful, Google is to be commended for dealing with a crisis confronting its quality of relevant search and its image. (Candidly, as a business-performance consultant, I’ve always advised clients on the importance of frequent, strong informative content.)
Bing – social search. Bing grew to a 13 percent market share at the start of this month. But it’s created new buzz by adding Facebook “likes” that allows Internet users to see the results that their friends like.
Here’s how it works: Pictures of your friends appear when you search after you connect with Bing with your Facebook account. You can disable it easily if you choose.
Bing now includes related Twitter features (so does Google).
My sense: The new development in the Bing-Facebook partnership is unique and it affects word-mouth-marketing – as businesspeople and consumers make buying decisions. This helps to make marketing fun. It’s also a reminder that content, search-engine optimization and social media should be synergized and orchestrated in your overall marketing.
This includes:
- Listening to Internet-user preferences
- Interacting with them to maximize your opportunities
- Continually measuring results
- Fine-tuning your approach
From the Coach’s Corner, Bing’s partnership with social-media giant Facebook should remind you to capitalize on Bing search.
Here are valuable tips: Get Busy With Bing Webmaster Tools.
Surprise? Facebook and Twitter Increase Odds for Sales
March21, 2010
New research confirms what might be obvious. Products with a presence on Facebook and Twitter are favored by users of those social media, according to a published report in WebProNews. The study, by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, indicates marketers benefit in word-of-mouth and direct sales.
WebProNews eporter Mike Sachoff wrote that 79 percent of tweeters and 60 percent of Facebook users recommend such brands to their friends.
Sixty-seven percent of tweeters and 51 percent of Facebook enthusiasts are predisposed to buying the products themselves.
Another conclusion: If a brand is not promoted on the two social mediums it is viewed in a negative light by users as not being contemporary.
And there were other interesting numbers, according to WebProNews, the 1500 respondents were asked: “What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook or Twitter?”
The reporter listed these results:
- “It’s expected that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.” (Females 50-54)
- “Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method.” (Males 35-39)
- ”It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers.” (Females 18-24)
- “If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the ‘electronic’ people.” (Females 55-59)
My Biz Coach conclusions: in terms of cost-effectiveness, there’s an obvious upside for businesses to use Twitter and Facebook. With the exception of the cost of advertising on Facebook, it only takes time to create messages on both of them.
But for the more sopisticated palate, my sense is Facebook will be more influential and will outlast Twitter as a trend. Here’s confirmation: Compared to Google, Facebook Users Favor Online News Sites.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are three other related Biz Coach topics:
- Achieving Strong Results on Google Now Easier with Social Networking
- Facebook Clips Google – Is Google’s Bloom Falling off the Rose?
- E-Mail Marketers Plan to Greatly Increase Use of Videos, New Study
Will Social Media Take Driver’s Seat in Search?
A study shows about one in five Internet users now use social media instead of portals and search for their online navigation. That’s the finding of The Nielsen Company, www.nielsen.com, in an online panel survey of 1800 respondents in Aug. 2009.
“While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure,” wrote Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics at Nielsen. “And as social media usage continues to increase (unique visitors to Twitter.com increased 959 percent YOY in August), I can only expect this figure to grow.”
What type of Web sites do the respondents use for search?
- 37 percent - search engines
- 34 percent - portals (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, AOL)
- 11 percent - specific sites
- 9 percent - Wikipedia
- 5 percent - blogs
- 4 percent - Facebook, Myspace, Twitter
(The latter three, totaling 18 percent, are considered social media.)
With vast number of Web sources of information, Gibs indicated Internet users feel the effects of consumer overload.
“Socializers – those who spend 10 percent or more of their online time on social media – feel this effect more than others do,” he wrote. “When asked, 26 percent feel that there is too much information available on the Internet, compared to 18 percent of people who predominantly use portals and just 5 percent of people who primarily use search engines.”
Why this scenario?
“Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool,” explained Gibs. “This is key because Socializers gravitate towards and believe what is shared with friends and family. If your friend creates or links to the content, then you are more likely to believe it and like it. And this thought plays out in the data.”
He stated nearly 15 percent of the Socializers trust blogs and 20 percent rely on information posted on message boards.
From the Coach’s Corner, Nielsen reports higher-income urban dwellers tended to be Socializers.
“Nielsen’s online data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking website in the last year and that number grows every quarter,” said Wils Corrigan, AVP, Research & Development, Nielsen Claritas. “The rising popularity of these sites and the deep engagement consumers have with them has advertisers and marketers asking for more and more detail as to which lifestyles should be targeted for their online advertising and promotions.”
Other findings:
- Facebook users have a largely upscale profile. The top third of lifestyle segments relative to affluence were 25 percent more likely to use Facebook than those in the those in the lower third.
- The bottom third segments related to affluence are 37 percent more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.
- Users of Facebook were also much more likely to use LinkedIn, a network geared towards business and professional networking, than those who use MySpace.
5 Safety Measures to Thwart Mounting Social-Network Attacks
May 28, 2010
Sally, the accounting manager of a medium-sized business, regularly checked her Facebook account while at work. One day she received an e-mail. The e-mail said that a long-lost friend, Bob, had added her as a friend in Facebook.
There was a link in the email for Sally to follow to confirm the friend’s request. Sally clicked the link. Over the next week, cyber-thieves withdrew nearly $1 million from her employer’s bank account.
Welcome to the newest nastiest twist in cybercrime.
You see, the e-mail wasn’t from Bob and the link didn’t go back to Facebook.
Bob is on Facebook just like Sally is. That’s how the cyber-thieves found them and discovered that they might know each other. That’s also where they learned that Sally worked in the accounting department.
After that it was a simple matter to set the trap by sending Sally, a friend’s request from Bob.
“How great.” thought Sally. “An email from Bob. Let me just follow this link and we can be friends again.”
A link followed, and a Trojan Horse installed.
The unrecoverable damage: $1 million stolen.
Sally is a pseudonym for the victim. The story is an actual client-case of Dr. Stan Stahl, an information security expert at Citadel Information Group in Los Angeles. His credentials are lengthy and he is president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA-LA), a nonprofit, international organization of information security professionals and practitioners.
Dr. Stahl says the bank will not return the $1 million to Sally’s company.
No Protection for Business Bank Accounts
Regulation E of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), stipulates consumers are protected by cyber crime involving their banks. The FDIC regulation protects consumers, if they report such discrepancies in their bank accounts within 60 days.
However, businesses are not insured.
So, Dr. Stahl knows crimes involving hackers who attack social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, are a major threat to business.
When did social-network attacks become an epidemic?
Breach Security in Carlsbad, CA, reports Internet security-crime jumped 30 percent in the first six months of 2009. Breach reports 19 percent of the attacks involved social networks. Ironically, social networks were not even mentioned in Breach’s 2008 report.
“Making matters worse, many of these attacks succeed by taking advantage of missing patches and using obscure technology like ‘0-day exploits’ that get past traditional antivirus and antispyware defenses,” says Dr. Stahl.
What is a 0-day exploit? Hackers are so cunning they are able to use security vulnerabilities to their advantage immediately – the same day before protection measures can be implemented.
Dr. Stahl advocates five security precautions:
- Prohibit use of social network sites from the office. These sites can be blocked at the corporate firewall. This can become particularly challenging if employees work remotely as it may not be feasible to block access to social networks from home computers. Making matters worse, Trojan horses are like communicable diseases and Sally’s work-at-home computer can be infected from her son’s. That’s why the next four recommendations are so important.
- In addition to antivirus / antispyware defenses, add advanced defenses like intrusion detection and prevention designed to block internet-based attacks like the link in Sally’s email and 0-day exploits.
- You can block known internet-based attacks by comparing links against a database of known bad links like http://stopbadware.org/home/reportsearch.
- Keep your systems patched. This means not just Windows patching but all your applications, those you know about — like Office and Adobe Reader — and those you might not even know about — like Flash and Java. This also includes your Macintosh computers as they are every-bit as vulnerability-prone as Windows PCs.
- Finally, don’t expect to rely on technology alone. Users are often the weakest link so it’s very important to train them to detect the subtle signs of an attack so they can keep from becoming victims. They also need to be given guidance on what information is safe to put on a social networking site.
“There is no one thing you can do to keep from being victimized from a social network attack,” says Dr. Stahl. “Even doing all five of these isn’t a guarantee, just like a flu shot doesn’t guarantee you won’t get the flu. But if you are diligent you can significantly affect the odds and this should be your objective.”
(Note: I know Dr. Stahl very well as we’re both members of Consultants West, www.consultantswest.com, a roundtable of veteran consultants and authors.)
From the Coach’s Corner, are you Using Starbucks’ WIFI? Security Pro Issues Warning and Security Checklist.
Mobile banking is popular in Europe, but Dr. Stahl has long warned that it’s dangerous, consider: Our Mobile-Banking Warnings about Security Prove Prophetic.
To learn more about Internet security:
Dr. Stahl’s Web site: www.citadel-information.com.
Here’s his security blog.
For more on ISSA-LA, visit: www.issa-la.org.
“Companies spend millions of dollars on firewalls, encryption and secure access devices, and it’s money wasted, because none of these measures address the weakest link in the security chain.”
– Kevin Mitnick
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Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complementary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
