March 2010 Search Rankings Change Little from February

Americans’ usage preference for online search engines changed little between February and March 2010, according to The Nielsen Company.

Google Search Maintains Dominance
Google Search maintained its comfortable lead in search engine usage during March 2010, with 6.39 billion searches, or 65.7% of 9.72 billion total searches. Yahoo Search came in a distant second with 1.3 billion searches, or 13.4% of the total. MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search followed with 1.2 billion searches, or 12.2% of the total.

No other search engine had a search total in the billions or double-digit market share. AOL Search, the fourth-most-popular search engine for the month, accounted for 245.8 million searches, 2.5% of the total. Total searches increased 5.8% from 9.18 billion in February 2010, which is likely at least partly due to the additional three days in March.

February 2010 Numbers Were Similar
Google Search led all search providers in February 2010 with a 65.2% search share, or about 5.98 billion searches, according to previous Nielsen rankings. Yahoo Search came in second with a 14.1% search share, or about 1.29 billion searches. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing followed with 12.5% search share, or 1.14 billion searches. AOL Search, the fourth-most-popular provider last month, had a 2.3% share, or about 207 million searches.

MSN/WindowsLive/Bing experienced approximately 15% growth in its share of US searches in February 2010, increasing from a 10.9% share and 1.12 billion searches. March 2010 figures indicate this growth has at least temporarily stalled.

comScore Results also Similar
comScore’s core search rankings use different metrics than Nielsen’s search rankings, but produced similar results in March 2010. There was little change in comScore’s market share statistics of the five leading US online search providers between February and March 2010. Google Sites led the core search market with 65.1% market share, down from 65.5%. Yahoo Sites slightly rose from 16.8% to 16.9% market share. Microsoft Sites also grew slightly from 11.5% to 11.7% market share. Ask Network and AOL LLC Network’s market share rankings remained virtually unchanged in the low single digits.

Women Flock to Social Games

Nearly one-half of US social network users now play social games, according to Lightspeed Research and Trendstream’s Global Web Index. That makes it the fifth most popular social networking activity, ahead of watching videos or searching for new contacts.

Women are taking to the casual gaming environment in greater numbers than men. Among all female Internet users, 28% play games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars; men were 6 percentage points less likely to do so. Several other types of gaming, including offline and online console gaming and play in virtual worlds, were more popular with men than with women.

“Women are particularly attracted to short, casual games involving an active community like FarmVille, Cafe Wars or Pet Society,” said Tom Smith, managing director of Trendstream, in a statement. “Women also spend more time on social networks in general.”

Earlier research from PopCap Games also found women ahead in social gaming.

Q Interactive reported that 36% of female Web users played social games in January 2010. Slightly fewer than one-half of that group were used to seeing brands affiliated with the casual online games.

“Women are particularly attracted to short, casual games involving an active community like FarmVille, Cafe Wars or Pet Society,” said Tom Smith, managing director of Trendstream, in a statement. “Women also spend more time on social networks in general.”

Earlier research from PopCap Games also found women ahead in social gaming.

Q Interactive reported that 36% of female Web users played social games in January 2010. Slightly fewer than one-half of that group were used to seeing brands affiliated with the casual online games.

Social Media Aids Customer Acquisition

Many B2C and B2B companies are successfully using social media networks to acquire customers, according to [pdf] the “State of Inbound Marketing Report” from internet marketing firm Hubspot.

Major Social Media Channels Provide Leads to 4 in 10 Companies

More than four in 10 companies overall have acquired a customer from four major social media channels. Forty-one percent of companies have acquired a customer from both Twitter and LinkedIn. That figure rises to 44% for Facebook and 46% for a company blog.

 

Social Media Especially Helps B2C
When social media customer acquisition figures are broken out by B2B and B2C companies, it becomes clear that B2C companies generally obtain much more value from their social media marketing efforts. Fifty-one percent of B2C companies have acquired a customer from Twitter, compared to 38% of B2B companies. The difference is most stark in customer acquisition figures for Facebook, which 68% of B2C companies have obtained a customer from but only 33% of B2B companies.

When it comes to professional social media network LinkedIn, however, the usefulness trends reverse. Forty-five percent of B2B companies have obtained a customer from LinkedIn, compared to only 26% of B2C companies. Figures for company blog customer acquisition are closest in range, with 57% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies obtaining a customer through this channel.

Blog Post Frequency Makes a Difference
Examining company blogs closer, the unsurprising finding is that the more posts a company makes, the more success it will have driving new business. One hundred percent of companies posting multiple times a day on their blogs acquired a customer, and 90% posting daily acquired a customer. This figures declines to 69% for companies posting two to three times a week, and all the way down to 13% for companies posting less than monthly.

Most Business Blogs Post Weekly
The majority of business blogs in 2010 post weekly (38%). Another 29% post two to three times a week, and 17% post monthly. Only 3% post multiple times a day. Only 58% of companies making weekly blog posts acquire a customer, meaning most companies are leaving a significant tool for customer acquisition on the table.

Bigger Business Blogs Better Lead Bringers
Business blogs begin generating significantly more leads when they have a median of 24 or more articles posted, according to other research by Hubspot.

Businesses with blog article numbers above this critical threshold are likely to have enough content to make a significant impact on search engines through additional indexed pages and new keywords with which to associate. In addition, other sites are more likely to link to a blog that offers a steady stream of content. Businesses with blogs of 24-plus articles are more likely to be committed to updating their blog frequently and, thus, are likely to generate more traffic from referring sites.

Business blogs that have 0-11 articles posted will generate a median of three leads. Once blogs reach the 12-23 posted article threshold, this median dramatically rises to 10. However, blogs with 24-51 posted articles generate a median of 13 leads, and will generate a median of 23 leads when the posted article threshold reaches 52. This represents 77% lead growth, more than twice the 30% lead growth that occurs when the number of posted blog articles reaches 24.

Twitter, Facebook Leading Social Media Marketing Tools

The Twitter and Facebook online social networks are neck-in-neck competition to be the most used social media marketing tools by marketers, according to a new survey from SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Almost 9 in 10 Marketers Use Twitter, Facebook
Responses to the “2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” indicate that 88% of marketers use Twitter and 87% use Facebook. The LinkedIn online professional networking platform follows with 78% usage. Seventy percent of marketers use blogs. All other types of social media marketing tools pale in comparison, with YouTube and other video sites having the next-highest usage rate (46%).

 

An earlier version of this survey released in 2009 indicated that Facebook was in fourth place at 77%, and blogs were in second place at 79%. It would appear that blogs, while still popular, are used less and Facebook is clearly growing in popularity as a marketing tool.

Owners of small businesses were more likely to use LinkedIn than employees working
for a corporation. Another interesting finding was that men were significantly more
likely to use YouTube or other video marketing than women (51.2% of all men compared
to only 42.6% of women).

Newbies Prefer Facebook
For those just getting underway with social media marketing, Facebook is ranked as their
number one choice (80%), followed by Twitter (71%) and LinkedIn (67%). Blogs follow in distant fourth place with 43% usage, and no other form of social media marketing reaches even a one-third usage rate.

 

Recent Vets Use Twitter, Facebook
Marketers who have been using social media marketing for a few months prefer Twitter (92%) and Facebook (88%) even more than the general population of marketers. Other preferences are generally similar to the general marketing population.

 

Experienced Hands Tweet
Among marketers who have been using social media marketing for a few years or more, Twitter usage is nearly universal (96%). Facebook follows with 91%. Social media veterans also use LinkedIn (89%) and blogs (86%) at significantly higher levels than the general marketing population.

 

Interestingly, more than half of long-term social media marketing veterans also use video sites (61%). This segment’s usage of every form of social media except MySpace (11%) is significantly higher than the general population.

Most Marketers Use Social Media, But are Used to It
A majority of marketers are using social media in their marketing efforts, but most have only been using it for a few months or less, according to other survey findings from SocialMediaExaminer.com. Nine in 10 marketers (91%) are currently using social media as part of their marketing efforts.

However, a significant combined 65% of marketers have either just started using social media (22%) or only been using it for a few months (43%). Another 31% have been using social media for a few years, up from 23% in 2009. Tellingly, only 3% of marketers have no experience with social media but plan to use it, while 0% of marketers have no experience with social media and no plans to use it.

Majority of Top Media Destinations Are Social

According to the BlogHer and iVillage “2010 Social Media Matters Study,” co-sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Ketchum, social sites are now a frequent destination for nearly three-quarters of Internet users. The study found similar rates of usage among men and women, and pegged the percentage of weekly social media users at 73% of the online population.

Respondents’ top daily media activities were social as well. Watching television is still on top, but Facebook was the next most common media destination visited every day. Among survey respondents, social media games were as popular as reading print newspapers.

 

Among BlogHer Network users only, usage was significantly higher. For example, 77% read blogs every day and 35% used Twitter.

Social destinations become more important when these especially social-savvy users are looking for information about a potential purchase. Search engines are the No. 1 starting point for information about products and services, but blogs, user-generated content and social networks were more likely to be used frequently for purchase advice than traditional sources such as magazines, television and newspapers.

Among all US Internet users, about one-fifth said blogs and social networks were a good place to find out about new products. One-quarter liked to visit social networks for advice and recommendations and more than one-third considered social networks a good media destination for general information.

“The days of relying on one source for information are over,” said Jodi Kahn, executive vice president of iVillage, in a statement. “Online peer-to-peer advice on message boards has increasingly become one of the most valuable sources for product recommendations. Marketers cannot afford to overlook this captive audience.”

Will Social Strategizing Bring ROI?

Only One-half of companies have a social strategy

A majority of US marketing professionals claim social media is now “invaluable” to their business, according to April 2010 research from online marketing firm R2integrated.

While relatively few marketers reported social was pointless and overhyped or too complicated to deal with, most are still not increasing revenues or otherwise profiting from their social efforts.

Although one-half of respondents said they had a social strategy in place—considered critical for success in the social space—only 35% thought they were making money.

Strategy does help, though. Respondents who said they profited were twice as likely to have a formal strategy. They were also more likely to have staff dedicated to managing social media.

Marketers’ main goal in implementing a strategy was better lead generation, followed by brand monitoring.

The biggest obstacle for social strategies was not having enough data to come up with a measure of return on investment. Management buy-in was also a problem, and more than one-fifth of respondents said their audience was not active on social media.

“Marketers clearly recognize the need for, and see the potential of, social media, but are still trying to develop models that increase real engagement which then leads to profitability—if that’s a goal for implementing a social strategy,” said Matt Goddard, CEO of R2integrated, in a statement.

“Despite the presence and popularity of social media, many companies remain relatively unfamiliar with its practices, pundits, and principles,” he said.

Marketing management firm Unica reported in March 2010 that strategic integration of social with other marketing efforts varied by channel. MarketingSherpa found that in late 2009 only one-quarter of social media marketers had reached the strategic phase.

5 Ways to Keep Location-Based Strategies Fresh

Geo-locational apps and social networks such as Foursquare are about to reach an inflection point - that is, a point where they become as mainstream as Facebook or Twitter, according to MarketingVox.

For marketers, this means they can no longer rely on creating buzz merely by rolling out a campaign strategy based strictly on geo-location functionality.

That point, in fact, may already be here, according to technology blog Social Thumbs. “It’s one thing to offer different technologies along the value chain of location, but sharing your location and aggregating messages by things like hashtag are two very crowded niches right now.”

Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader warns of location-based fatigue. As more and more businesses try to tap into location-based social networking consumers will tire of the trend, he says. “There’s a really good analogy here to e-mail marketing. Fifteen years ago, you got your first e-mail from a company saying, ‘Here are this week’s specials chosen just for you,’ and you said, ‘This is cool’ and ‘How do they know what I wanted?’ You read it, you maybe even bought something,” he notes. “Maybe the second or third time it was still kind of cool, but then you got totally burned out with it and annoyed.”

To keep location-based strategies fresh - or at least to distinguish them from the ever-growing number of similar apps - consider the following tips.

Build the Service Concept First
Develop the best service - and then add bells and whistles such as geo-location, according to Kevin Nakao, VP of Mobile & Business Search for WhitePages, at Mashable. “From finding the nearest ski slope on REI’s Ski and Snow Report to a nearby movie on Flixter, there are plenty of Top iPhone applications that have incorporated a ‘lead with the offer, not the capability’ philosophy into their mobile product offering to provide a better service.”

Make it Worthwhile for Advertisers, Too
Maybe marketers jumped into Twitter as it became so popular without an advertising option available to them, but don’t count on that happening with every new social media trend, according to Nakao. “With all the hoopla surrounding location, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that location’s real appeal to advertisers is the fact that with this functionality, you can reach the on-the-go user, who is ready to buy and consume,” he says. WhitePages monetizes its mobile services through a mix of premium, national display, and sponsored links for local businesses, according to Nakao.

Effective CPM for sponsored local links is $30-$50 - double the effective CPM (eCPM) rate for premium display ad campaigns from national brands, he says.

But Don’t Overload the Sites With Offers
Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow cautions that charging businesses to bring ads to users may overload location-based social networking sites to the point that many customers will stop paying attention. He suggests a model in which a company would earn a portion of revenue for purchases made in connection with promotional partnerships with other companies. “Firms need a valid return on investment for their marketing spending. They should test the impact of location-based marketing, see the click-through rates, and partner with a company to see if people actually purchased anything.”

Design Features with Battery Life in Mind
Battery life is the single biggest threat to location, White Pages’ Nakao says. “With GPS on, the phone is asking the network where it is, and this chatter can drain battery life.’ Check-ins’ help to address the issue as they offer efficient geo-triggers without having to keep battery-draining GPS features on at all times.”

Integrate It
Professor Fader says that businesses will find their marketing campaigns on geo-location sites like Foursquare will deliver higher returns if they are well integrated into other campaigns. Companies that Foursquare - or Twitter or Face book - as part of an integrated marketing strategy and in a way that makes sense for the brand, will gain the most bang for their buck.