From major management shifts within the industry to buzz about the rise of content marketing, online chatter this week indicates 2011 will be full of new of internet marketing developments – and brands should keep pace to maintain a competitive edge.
The week started with news that Google remains the search leader. As Brafton reported, comScore and Hitwise data reveals that Google fields the majority of search queries by a large margin. Reports of the company’s success were supported by its subsequent Q4 revenue report, indicating that Google saw a 26 percent year-over-year increase in revenue last quarter. Success of Google sites as well as paid search revenue account for a large share of the gains.
This news was overshadowed by the announcement that Google CEO Eric Schmidt will step down to the role of executive chairman, and co-founder Larry Page will take over as chief executive officer. While Schmidt expresses his confidence that "Larry is ready," the online community is in a stir; Google Trends reveals that Schmidt was a hot search on Thursday into Friday, and Realtime results reveal that social users are still chattering about the management switch.
Of course, Schmidt is not only making headlines for his new title. A report he wrote for the Harvard Business review earlier this month garnered a lot buzz this week. As Brafton reported, in the piece, Schmidt declares that 2011 will be the year of the mobile revolution, and the mobile market will be a focus at Google this year.
Schmidt's declaration speaks to overall rising attention the mobile channel is getting in the online marketing community. On Tuesday, Brafton reported that the mobile app market is demonstrating rapid growth, and marketers might consider in-app advertisements. Notably, Google already has a presence in this market. Tech Crunch reported Apple's most popular apps of all time, and Google applications dominated the top downloaded list.
Apple was also in the news this week for a management shift. CEO Steve Jobs will be taking a medical leave of absence. As Brafton reported, some speculate this will shake consumers' confidence in Apple products, but marketers might want to take this idea with a grain of salt. Buzz about the iPhone 5 and continued online conversations about the iPhone coming to Verizon suggest Americans' love affair with Apple mobile products will continue.
Apple's iPhone and iPods may also be playing a role in promoting m-commerce. As Brafton reported on Wednesday, Starbucks is introducing a mobile payment system to users of select smartphones. This might help make mobile commerce a common practice among latte-loving consumers.
Facebook is also committed to getting in on the mobile market. This week, the company announced a new mobile app to bring Facebook to more on-the-go consumers.
The social site also made headlines because it is expected to drive social ad spend this year. Brafton covered eMarketer's forecast that social spend will account for more than 10 percent of online ad spend in 2011, with Facebook serving as the biggest player in the social space.
Reports of increasing ad budgets for Facebook are accompanied by the company's increased valuation. As TechCrunch reported, the company is estimated to be worth more than $70 billion.
Its stock among advertisers is also rising because of reports that it will expand its ad offerings and analytics. As Brafton reported earlier today, Facebook may soon offer CTR data to help brands discern which posts catch clicks, and the site seems to also be working on better local targeting.
Speaking of the local market, local deal-finder LivingSocial made headlines this week for a national Amazon deal. Could market leader Groupon have something to worry about?
If the buzz over LivingSocial doesn’t make Groupon execs nervous, perhaps the upcoming Google Offers will. Though the company hasn't made an official announcement yet, Brafton reported that leaked insider documents reveal a planned product: Google Offers – a local email offering that will help connect small businesses with consumers. Marketers should make note of this development, as Google products tend to perform well with consumers – in fact, Google sites perform so well that some wonder if Google doesn't favor itself in search results.
A report released this week from Harvard professor Ben Edelman concludes that search engines tend to favor their own sites in SERPs, and it finds that Google is the biggest offender. As Brafton reported, there are myriad interpretations of the study, and some believe Google sites take top result spots because they are popular and because Google is skilled at SEO.
Bing was not thrown under fire in Edelman's study, however, it was scrutinized for having reportedly spammy affiliates that advertise on Facebook. As Read Write Web reports, one of the leading Facebook advertisers is a dubious Bing affiliate. Microsoft defended itself, saying, "Distribution deals and affiliate programs are an important part of how all search engines introduce their product to customers."
In spite of all of these questionable reports, consumers seem to think search engines are reliable. As Brafton reported, a recent poll reveals that 89 percent of consumers trust search engines. This is likely good news to marketers, as we also covered a report that search spend is on the rise this year. Search engine marketing showed 23 percent year-over-year growth at the end of 2010.
Brands investing in search marketing shouldn't underestimate the value of content marketing and strong SEO. As Brafton reported, B2B firms in the software and computing sectors are showing particularly strong adoption of content marketing this year, with 94 percent marketing with content. Yet, their strategies (or lack thereof) can be a lesson to marketers in all industries that content marketing requires an investment of time and research.
Allocating resources to content marketing will be especially important this year for brands that want to come out on top in Google searches. In a blog post by Matt Cutts, Google indicates it will be coming down hard on spammy sites and rewarding only quality content with top rankings. “We recently launched a redesigned document-level classifier that makes it harder for spammy on-page content to rank highly,” Cutts explained.
Next week, we might expect to hear reports about upcoming developments from Apple and Google under the direction of new leadership. We might also expect the strong buzz about content marketing to continue as brands look for effective content marketing strategies. Internet marketers, stay tuned.
