by avalanchemike | Feb 27, 2011 | Advertising, News, Web 2.0, Wordpress
Google Places – The Reality
Posted on February 7, 2011 by Jim Farnsworth
Google Places is being hyped as the foremost source of local search. Sure, it’s been around awhile, previously as Google Business Center. People are familiar with the format: the map of local businesses that meet the organic search parameters. Placing the listings smack dab in the middle of the organic listings is genius. Google realizes that the majority of people are looking for local businesses.
I first became aware of Google Places last year through the standard email solicitation. The more I learned about the email, the more excited I became. Millions of businesses are not even aware that they have a Google Places Page, which opens up an incredible window of opportunity for consultants to get their clients to Page One of Google WITHOUT expensive and time-consuming SEO. All you have to do is 1.Claim your listing. 2.Add Photos and Citations, and 3.Get Reviews. The more of all three you have, the higher your ranking. The ultimate goal is to listed in the coveted ’7-Pack’…the list of 7 local businesses on Page 1. Simple.
But, Wait a minute, Scooter. In spite of what some ‘gurus’ are saying, it is NOT that simple.
Google Places is still a work in progress. There are still big inconsistencies in its reporting. Places Pages that have not been claimed, with no reviews, photos, or little in the way of information, regularly outrank Pages that are properly optimized. My research shows that the Google Places listings are still pretty arbitrary. In fact, I’m trying to get listed for ‘Akron Internet Consultants’. That search turns up a 3-Pack. The third listing is a ‘Siding Contractor’! The site is not claimed, with 0 photos, 0 reviews, and only 2 citations…neither of which even mentions the word, ‘internet’ Go figure. By the way, I AM on the map for that search.
OK, I signed up for the course touted by the email, and began to learn about Google Places. But when I started to do my own research, I found that the instructor was grossly simplifying how Google Places rankings work. For example, the instructor claimed repeatedly that not claiming your listing could hurt your listing position. There is no proof that claiming or not claiming your listing has any effect on your position. It is certainly a good idea; until the listing is claimed by SOMEONE, it could be claimed by ANYONE. For the sake of security, claim your business listing NOW!
My research was simple. I did searches for various terms; Chiropractor, Glass, Assisted Living, Tree Service, Pest Control, and others. I then took the information of the local 7-Pack businesses, and plugged it into a spreadsheet; Is the Listing claimed; How many Reviews, Photos, Videos, Citations? The results: there was no pattern. Google Places rankings are still quite arbitrary. Listings that have not been claimed frequently outrank sites that are claimed; One site with 33 Reviews, 61 Citations, and 5 photos was #7…behind unclaimed sites, and sites with no reviews or photos, and less than half of the citations.
So, the question you’re probably asking now is, if it’s so arbitrary, why bother?
Because, it will eventually sort itself out. I expect 2011 to be a big year for Google Places, and I see a lot of effort being made by Google to tighten things up. Listings will begin to make more sense, and those accounts that are ignored, are going to get left behind. The 7-pack has room for only 7 businesses. Those businesses that have taken the time NOW, to optimize their listings, to encourage customers to submit reviews, that start adding citation sites, will be in the 7-Pack; those companies that ignore Google Places will be shut out.
If your competition has 5 reviews, you’re going to need 15 to get ahead of them. If you have 25 citations, someone else will need 50 citations to get ahead of you. The 7-pack for Clearwater, FL Dentists have 3 listings that have 116, 89, and 54 Reviews. Get the picture? Get started TODAY!
by avalanchemike | Jan 24, 2011 | Advertising, News, Web 2.0
The day an advertising agency’s creatives (art directors and copywriters) truly “get” social media and how to communicate ideas through social channels, is the day said agency becomes a relevant player in the new marketing landscape. Trouble is, in my experiences, advertising creatives are often solitary, anti-social types, content to focus on their art and craft even at the expense of changing with it.
Certainly I don’t infer that all creatives are this way. Many have made the transition from “working on my book” to creating compelling communications. Many more have gravitated from nice print and outdoor pieces to providing creative direction for simpler methods of transmitting messages, like sales letters, Pay-Per-Click ad copy or even blog posts.
But the transition of the advertising creative to be able to include compelling social activations in their traditional communications concepts has not been an easy one for many. When you think about it, the media creatives typically deal with are known and, thus, uncomplicated. We understand that a billboard is stationary, can’t be too dynamic or distracting to the audience (lest it causes accidents) and must communicate a compelling, memorable message in art and copy that takes less than 10 seconds to comprehend.
Conversely, a piece of content you would provide to your audience on Facebook can be more complex in language, include dynamic or multi-media elements, but is also rather unpredictable in that the audience can respond to it. In fact, good creative execution on Facebook compels the audience to do so.
Now the creative concept must truly live outside a prescribed box of parameters. If the content is good enough, the audience will demand more and fast. Reactions or comments on the content may open new avenues to explore in conversation with your audience.
Facebook content potentially has a never-ending life of its own. A billboard gets taken down after a while because everyone who will see it, has.
The reason creative executions of social media campaigns work, like the Old Spice response commercials, is because the creative team took their thinking outside the confines of a set of parameters. The elements of size and duration are erased, even flipped to have the creative expectation ever-present and always changing.
In years past, an advertising campaign may evolve and have a life of its own, but there are typically weeks, even months in between the first set of commercials or placements and the next iteration that continues to tell the story.
In social media the time to press for phase two is often minutes.
Since first trying to communicate the importance and dynamics of the social web to the wonderful creative teams I worked with at Doe-Anderson to the custom training and education sessions I do with advertising agencies and PR firms today, I’ve been searching for that switch to flip and illustrate what can make a traditional creative understand how to approach social media marketing successfully. I haven’t found it yet and it will likely take collaborating with a creative to really nail something relevant.
But I’m understanding more and more that the roadblock has less to do with the personality of the art director or copywriter in question and more with the space and time differences in digital and social versus traditional executions.
Your ideas? How can we facilitate understanding and advancement within the traditional agency environment to help our creatives produce compelling communications that are persuasive, but also social? What are your agency creatives doing that compels you in this space? As a creative, what differences in approach do you find helpful in producing communications that work online?
Your thoughts will help shape our understanding of the conversation and contribute to a better environment for us all. the comments, then, are yours. BY JASON FALLS
