Every year, Ad Age ranks the top performing U.S. search marketing agencies based on the previous year's U.S. and worldwide revenue. This year, the top three agencies held their 2012 report rankings, with iCrossing, 360i and iProspect coming in at No. 1, 2, and 3 on the list of largest U.S. search marketing agencies. 360i was responsible for the fast-thinking Oreo tweet during the blackout at this year's Superbowl. The agency also received a Facebook Studio Award for an Oreo social media marketing campaign. iCrossing recently received a Shorty Award for their Maker's Mark #CocktailParty2012 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Features: Analysis | Magazine | Search Ads | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing | Search Marketing: Branding | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: Awards | Social Media Marketing

Earlier this month, local search marketing leaders from the U.S., Canada and 12 other countries gathered in Las Vegas for the Local Search Association’s 2013 annual conference, "Search Starts Here." Over several days, attendees engaged in informative discussions about the numerous opportunities and challenges facing our industry, ranging from the growing importance of original digital content to the rise of mobile and social media. In this month’s column, I will highlight my key takeaways from the LSA conference, which are focused on both the strides I believe local marketers should [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: AdWords: Enhanced Campaigns | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | SEO: Local | SEO: Mobile Search | Social Media Marketing

I began working for a particular type of traditional business industry recently, and I noticed that a great many of the small businesses operating within it were still proceeding as though it were pre-Internet days. They did promotions as though they were a one-way transmission instead of a dialogue. Unfortunately, that's not the only industry where this mindset persists. In order to achieve better sales, attract more potential customers, and, yes, improve your search engine rankings, you need to incorporate "Conversational Marketing" as a primary tactic. The Cluetrain Manifesto came out [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | How To: Social Media Marketing | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | Social Media Marketing

The rapid growth of social media has meant that search engines now invest a significant amount of time into innovating how content discovery works on the Web. Recent projects such as Facebook Graph Search and the growth and adoption of Google+ signify the developing relationship between search engines and social media platforms. Search engines are increasingly using social media activity such as Likes, Tweets, Shares, and +1s to determine which pages are most relevant for keyword searches and to provide a personalized search experience. Meanwhile, social networks are rapidly developing th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | Social Media Marketing

You've likely acquired a respectable number of fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter, and that's good news - but how do you scale your efforts, taking your social marketing campaigns to the next level without throwing excessive time and resources into the effort, and possibly alienating your current loyal following? Our panel of experts speaking on Supercharging Reach & Engagement On Facebook & Twitter at SMX West will share proven tips and tactics that will help you amplify your presence and impact on social media networks. They'll discuss some of the key tenets and practic [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX | SMX & DMD Alerts | Social Media Marketing

I have been astounded at the number of social media jobs brands large and small have created over the last year. With each month, more brands realize that Social media isn't an afterthought; it's something that takes time, strategy, attention and even aggression to keep ahead of the pack. With all of these new positions come a large number of employees who are making their first foray into the world of Social Media. They may have been promoted from within, from another department, or maybe they previously handled SEO or paid search ads within the marketing department. Many companies ta [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | How To: Analytics | Search & Social | Social Media Marketing

Search marketer ears likely perked up to hear that Facebook launched search advertising this week. But anyone who's expecting it to be similar to AdWords or adCenter is going to be disappointed. Actually, it's more akin to other forms of Facebook advertising, despite appearing in search results. Consider these typical AdWords ads: They appear above or to the right of search results. In contrast, the new Facebook Sponsored Results appear within the search box, as suggestions when you type: Beyond placement, Facebook's search ads can't be targeted to keywords, as can Google's ads, nor c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Google: AdWords | Social Media Marketing | Top News

Social media has a direct and indirect impact on SEO but few large organizations are integrating the two as well as they should. At the enterprise level, the two disciplines actually have a lot in common beyond the strategic and tactical crossover. Like SEO, social media cannot be segmented as a separate activity or fully owned by any one department. Yet social media is often siloed within an organization, making it more difficult to effectively coordinate social and SEO. In addition, for every way that social media initiatives can support SEO, there as just as many ways they can create [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Enterprise SEO | Social Media Marketing

For a local business, localized search results are lifeblood to them. Focusing on a local SEO strategy can often have a bigger impact on their business model than focusing on the full organic results. A lot of smaller local businesses aren’t blessed with an extremely large marketing budget and could have potentially resorted to tactics that caught them up in the Penguin filter. There are ways to take advantage of the local space without spending an extraordinary amount of money, while leveraging your social community at the same time. When Google+ integrated local places in May and sta [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | Social Media Marketing

One of the biggest challenges to delivering an effective social media campaign for big, multinational brands is executing the strategy on a practical level: you'll have multiple networks, profiles, languages, and social media managers to control across different countries. Implementing your social channels effectively is critical for search optimisation these days, so getting on top of your global campaign at a local level is more important than ever before. [caption id="attachment_118738" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Social means different things in different countries aroun [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search | Social Media Marketing

Social media marketers are much more likely to also use SEO in their marketing efforts than PPC, according to a new survey out today. Social Media Examiner announced the results of its fourth annual survey, which this year had replies from more than 3,800 social media marketers around the world. When asked what other marketing channels they use, search engine optimization (SEO) was the No. 2 response behind e-mail marketing. Paid search -- or "online ads" as the survey called it -- was far down the list at number six. Sixty-five percent of social media marketers say they use SEO, compare [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Search Ads: General | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: Stats | SEO: General | Social Media Marketing | Stats: General | Top News

As an Internet marketing professional, I love the power, influence, and reach that social media has to offer. Online venues such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ enable a level of instant human outreach that is unparalleled in history. For example, if you are a fan of a TV, movie, music or sports celebrity, your ability to interact with that person (or at least see them outside of their normal context) is fascinating. Social media enables us to easily find long lost friends, old flames, and remote cousins you never knew you had through the Internet, and renew relationships with these people. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social | Social Media Marketing

The good folks over at Stone Temple Consulting released an in-depth interview with Bing's Principal Group Program Manager for Bing Social Search, Paul Yiu.  The Bing social search team integrates social content and indicators into the search results to add both personalization and relevance to the search results.  Bing currently ties in data from both Facebook and Twitter to improve the overall quality of the results.  In contrast, Google only ties Google+ data into their search results pages. Eric Enge performed the interview for Stone Temple and didn't pull any punches on social indica [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Microsoft | Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Social Media Marketing | Twitter

The Pew Internet & American Life project  polled over 2,250 Americans to find out why exactly they use social media platforms.  The results pointed to one common answer: keeping in-touch with acquaintances or reconnecting with former friends they may have lost touch with.  Some of the lowest motivators include using social media to create new friends, find dating partners or follow celebrities. Hands down, the most common reason for using social media was "Staying in touch with current friends" as 91% of respondents agreed it was a 'minor to major' reason they embraced social medi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Social Media Marketing

Today being Wednesday, the odds are better than any other day you'll share this post with someone else. Or so say the stats from social sharing service AddThis, one of several it compiled into an infographic. Other interesting stats? People tend to share the most around 9:30 Eastern Time (so we cunningly timed this post for just before that peak moment), 75% of clicks on a share will happen within the first day that the content is shared Most users click within 2 minutes of a share Copy-and-paste to share can be used up to 10 times more than those social sharing buttons out there [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Infographics | Social Media Marketing | Stats: General

Early bird rates for SMX Social Media Marketing expire next week on November 12! Save up to $350 on your All Access ticket by registering now! Join us December 5-6 in Scottsdale, AZ for an intensive dive into successful social media marketing tactics from leading internet marketing experts. The agenda features laser focused sessions on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, viral marketing and location services. You’ll have face-to-face speaker access, engaging Q&A and plenty of networking opportunities with all conference constituents. And with a program 100% dedicated to social media, you’ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX | SMX & DMD Alerts | Social Media Marketing

Paid Discovery campaigns on StumbleUpon will be getting smarter as of today.  StumbleUpon has announced the addition of something called "interest optimization" that will help advertisers reach relevant audiences.  Previously advertisers had the option to choose categories manually, or set up automatic campaigns (where StumbleUpon would choose set categories for you.)  With 'interest optimization' campaigns won't be stuck to just the categories that are chosen.  Optimization will occur to find other relevant categories that may have been missed by advertisers. For example, if we submit [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Social Media Marketing | StumbleUpon

We’re doing a brief survey on how the Search Engine Land audience markets on Facebook. This survey will take less than 30 seconds to complete. Please take the survey here and we’ll share the results when you’re done. Thanks! [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Social Media Marketing

A recent study by InSites Consulting revealed the flourishing global social media scene, how different countries and continents use social networks and the stranglehold that Facebook has in the market.  InSites surveyed more than 9,000 respondents about social media usage, tendencies and thoughts. American Social Network Usage The study revealed that 76% of Americans use social network sites, a higher adoption rate than that of European countries' 73%. To no surprise, Facebook topped the list of social networking sites with 70% usage in the United States. Some other staggering Facebo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Social Media Marketing

The SMX Social Media Marketing agenda is now posted! Check out the full agenda and register before Super Early Bird rates expire next week, October 8th. Attend SMX Social Media Marketing December 5-6 in Scottsdale, AZ and get expert insights and real-world-proven tactics that yield results instantly…and continue delivering for months and years to come. Register now and pay only $995 for 2 days of exceptional content and invaluable networking. The SMX Social Media Marketing agenda features laser focused sessions on Facebook, Google, Twitter, viral marketing and location services. And [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX | SMX & DMD Alerts | Social Media Marketing