Staggering usage data from facebook

Derek Clark — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:46:17 +0000

Last year Google confirmed something that many of us already suspected: Facebook is the most visited site on the web. We’re big analytics geeks around here, so we started wondering just how much people are using Facebook, in terms of web analytics. We know that a site like Facebook has high engagement, so couple that with huge volume (and a market that’s collectively expanding thanks to the boom in internet connected devices) and you have a website that’s entering completely new territory for usage and overall engagement. But could we find data?

After sniffing around the web we found pieces of information published by various research agencies, blogs, and, in some cases, Facebook directly. We played with the numbers a bit to tease out some interesting facts that really drive home the scale of Facebook’s power:

Facebook.com is likely receiving over 1 trillion pageviews a month as of July 2011.
There are more active Facebook users than 1) dogs in the world, 2) people alive over 65
Most users visit the site more than once a day.
Users spend an average of 23 minutes per visit (normal site average = 2 min).
2 out of 3 Americans between the age of 18 and 35 use Facebook
30 billion links, images, or updates are shared a day
10,000 comments are posted every second; many are identical
More than half of Internet users visited Facebook at least once in 2011.
750 million pictures were uploaded in a single night in early 2011
The typo “fecebook” is Googled more frequently than “myspace”…
At an average of 31 minutes a day, Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do participating in sports, recreation, or exercising.

These numbers are only as good as our sources and for some of our facts we inferred from partial data. But even the erroneous data probably isn’t too far off the mark and, at the least, food for thought. Or, kindling for some sort of Orwellian panic attack.

Bonus: There’s a 20% chance you’re already logged in, so….

Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://www.kenburbary.com/2011/03/facebook-demographics-revisited-2011-statistics-2/
http://www.avma.org/reference/marketstats/sourcebook.asp
http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/facebook-obsession/
http://www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t01.htm

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Improving organic CTR with semantic HTML

Maya Joshi — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:20:23 +0000

A visually compelling search result can influence click-through rate (CTR) by 10-30%. ISM decided to investigate exactly which types of structured markup Google looks for when generating CTR-friendly “rich snippets”

Not all search results are created equal. By now most of us are familiar with presence of rich snippets on Google search results:

Paradox: Five Star = Four Stars

Google relies on the usage of Semantic HTML to generate results like the one above. Generally speaking, semantic HTML is any markup that is written in a way that indicates the meanings of–and relationships between–elements on a web page. There is no absolute standard for semantic HTML, but various online groups have worked together to establish markup standards that define HTML patterns and element properties for common types of content on the web.

Semantic HTML & Search Marketing

Semantic HTML helps search engines identify objects within a web page, a pivotal aspect of deciding when and how to render dynamic, query-driven snippets. In the example above, Google correctly deduced that my search, “five star pizza”, was submitted in the pursuit of ordering a pizza (and not simply looking up information about Five Star Pizza, the pizza chain). Having made this deduction, Google generated a snippet that used customer-friendly Microdata it discovered on the source site, Yelp.com.

In fact, Google used multiple structured markup standards to generate the rich snippet from our example:

Reviews (data source: “hReview” microformat)

The hReview microformat is the most commonly used format for reviews. In the example above, Google determined the 4-star rating from Yelp’s usage of hReview-aggregate, a broader version of hReview.

Breadcrumbs (data source: Microdata markup)

Yelp copied Google’s example of breadcrumb Microdata character for character, choosing to hide the breadcrumb text per their design preference:

Rich Snippets and Higher CTR

On a less sophisticated level, rich snippets help click-through simply by decorating search results with more attention-grabbing visual components. More importantly, however, they provide pieces of information that are relevant to potential actions underlying the user’s query, establishing a critical competitive advantage over generic results.

Conservative estimates suggest that users click on results with rich snippets 10% more frequently than generic results. Search marketer Paul Bruemmer recently reported that he witnessed 30% increases over a handful of large retail websites.

Which Markup Standards Does Google Recognize?

There is no official standardization for semantic markup on the web (as declared by the W3C), nor are there official statements from Google about which standards it interprets. However, some standards are more popular than others, most notably the following (each of which is known to be interpreted by Google):

Each of the preceding sets forth standards for integrating semantics into HTML. We should note, however, that microformats define precise markup patterns while Microdata and RDFa more loosely define data schemas, properties, and naming conventions (for context, a microformat could contain Microdata, but not vice versa).

Future of Structured Markup

Google continues to openly recommend the usage of structured, semantic HTML to help them better understand content and generate more engaging snippets for search results. In a post from Google’s official blog last week, an update to rich snippets was announced:

“We improved our process for detecting sites that qualify for shopping, recipe and review rich snippets. As a result, you should start seeing more sites with rich snippets in search results.”

Additionally, the emergence and adoption of HTML5 (which introduces a variety of new tags that help standardize the markup of common types of content) will increase the competitive importance of using structured, semantic HTML in non-HTML5 markup.

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Advertising on corporate blogs: good or bad Idea?

Maya Joshi — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:00:34 +0000

A client of ours recently asked, “Should we put ads on our corporate blog?”

If I could sum up my answer in one sentence, it would be something along these lines: If the revenue from ads on your blog or site are essential to your success as a company, keep them—but if you’re a major brand (vs. an individual) and your blog doesn’t get that much traction, it’s probably not worth doing.

Now, I realize this might seem like a simplistic answer to a question that merits a more thought out, scenario-specific response. But (full disclosure here if it’s not already obvious) coming from an agency perspective rather than a business perspective means user experience and brand credibility will almost always win this battle.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m going to try to be as objective as possible. Technically, there aren’t any “wrong” or “right” answers to this question, but there are a lot of grey areas and this is definitely not a decision that should be made based on a whim. Thinking about how ads might affect some of the components outlined below is a good place to start:

1. Usability

There’s nothing more annoying than a pop-up, splash page or any additional barrier/obstacle in the way when all you want to do is read a blog post. Overly-animated, fancy flash banners may either piss off readers OR cause them to leave your site as a whole.

How to do it right:

Chose ads that aren’t too obtrusive or distracting. Additionally, try to ensure ads somewhat mimic the look and feel of the site…but be careful. There’s a fine line between ads blending into the site/blog and ads deceiving users into thinking it’s actually a natural part of your site. Users won’t be particularly thrilled when they learn they’ve clicked on an ad when thought they were answering a poll about puppies (because who doesn’t love puppies?).

It might be difficult to do a perfect test given the sheer number of variables involved, but try capturing engagement stats before and after putting ads on your site. If you notice a higher bounce rate, decreased time on site, or fewer pages/visit it could be an indicator that the ads are hurting the user experience.

2. Credibility

You have to consider the fact that people visit your blog because they want to see what your brand is up to (usually highly engaged/frequent visitors), they found your blog through an organic search (demonstrates intent and contextual relevancy) or they got referred to your site through another source.

How to do it right:

Hand select ads that complement your blog content and fit your audience. I wouldn’t rely on Google or any other ad network to pick ads based on what they consider to be “contextual relevancy.” Their methods don’t understand tone (sarcasm) or intent like humans do. The last thing you want is a questionable ad that’s not related to your content or demographic. In other words, opt out of Google’s (or any other) content network if you’re the publisher, especially when automatic placements are involved.

3. History

Some people don’t like change. Similarly, your subscribers might freak out if there’s too much change. If your blog never had advertising on it and suddenly the look and feel has changed to accommodate ads, they may not like it. It’s probably unlikely that you’ll lose them as a whole, but it’s possible that some followers will become slightly disgruntled or disengaged. If you start a brand new corporate blog with advertising, users will feel “less shocked,” but the other two factors above will still need to be considered.

Other Tips if you do decide to advertise:

Be Picky

It’s your blog and your brand/reputation at stake. You have the right to be picky about what ads go on your site. To minimize impacts stated above, consider only accepting “branding” ads, or ads that have the ability to effectively serve their purpose based on impressions—in other words, they don’t require a user to “engage” or click on the ad. This setup also allows you to charge on an impression basis or flat fee.

Hold on to Your Link Juice

This one is especially important for SEO: Make sure you add “nofollows” (rel=”nofollow”) to all advertising links. This rule goes beyond advertising. If there’s anything on your site that you don’t want to “vouch” for, why pass link juice to it at the expense/loss of your own domain strength? Beyond that, if it’s not a “natural” part of your site, it’s the best way to let search engine know.

Get creative!

Try getting your advertisers to come up with a “giveaway” instead of a standard ad. This is really a win-win-win (yes, triple win!):

• If the product complements your brand, users will feel like you’re doing them a favor by giving them a chance to “win” something.

• You get the gratification of making them feel that way

• The advertiser gets a lot of brand recognition (or even traffic depending on the type of ad).

Although the example on the left from I Heart Organizing’s blog, wasn’t an ad, it’s relevant to the users. Also note that her ads are clearly labeled under “my sponsors,” yet the ads match the look and feel of the site. Note the clever Amazon advertisement at the top as well. All the products she mentions can be bought there, making the add relevant and useful to her readers. Such an approach makes the advertising much more “natural,” if there’s even such a thing.

Develop Partnerships

“Upsell” your advertisers with the prospect of more formal relationships if they’re companies that you could potentially form long term partnerships with. Think of this as a PR opportunity. Maybe you can work together on a new charity event? Or exchange product/service giveaways across user bases? With a little imagination, the sky’s the limit!

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jolante

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Integration 101: the fundamentals of SEO, PPC + social synergy

Leslie To — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:50:25 +0000

You’ve probably already heard that SEO and SEM efforts should be integrated. But why should they be integrated? And what are the benefits of synergy between them? And with social now becoming a larger part of the picture, where does that fit in? I was recently at the BrightEdge Share11 conference and there was a big emphasis on campaign integration. Their stance was pretty much the same as ours, plain and simple: PPC, SEO, and social campaigns should not be divvied up into three separate campaigns, run by three separate non-communicating departments. Now before you write this off and say to yourself your search campaigns function fine as separate efforts, there is credence to this claim. Here’s why.

Understanding the dynamics, strategy, and pace behind both SEO and PPC, it’s understandable why many businesses choose to separate them. But if your teams aren’t communicating, they’re missing out on some key opportunities to improve online marketing performance as a whole.

For example, from an SEO perspective, using the right keywords is the foundation to strategy and ongoing implementation (everything from meta descriptions to link building efforts center on a cohesive and comprehensive keyword approach). This is where paid search becomes crucial—generating some of these keywords. Using paid search data, you can better understand user search trends and use the data to produce a much more concentrated keyword strategy that targets the right audience. Asking these three questions can be a good place to start:

1. What keywords lead to a high bounce rate?

These keywords may not be right for the SEO strategy. Maybe they’re not considering the intent of the user. Maybe your business should create content that more closely matches the relevance of the keyword and the intent of the user. For any content that needs to be added or modified, you’ll inevitably need to go back to the SEO roundtable. You may come up with more questions than answers initially, but it will get your mind going in the right direction—and the answers you might have to dig up are likely going to be illuminating.

2. What keywords had high engagement?

Those keywords could be incorporated into your social media profiles and posts.

3.What keywords lead to high conversions?

These are keywords that should be dominant players in your SEO strategy, especially for sites where leads or conversions are essential. Keywords with high engagement are worth considering for brand SEO campaigns as well.

Using paid search to your advantage when you’re improving your site for SEO purposes can be the difference between a conversion and a bounce.

Now on to social. Although advertising in social media is a relatively new initiative for most brands, it is nonetheless an ever growing and evolving practice in search marketing. If you liken a company’s social campaign to their digital presence and overall reputation on the web, then you can see why it is often in the hands of PR agencies (larger companies) or CMOs (smaller companies). But what gives agencies like us an edge, is a clearer understanding of how to optimize these assets based on algorithmic trends. More importantly, as Google and Bing continue to catch on to this trend and really understand the role it plays in digital branding, social influence itself will continue to become a larger part of their overall search ranking algorithms—especially with the advent of Google+ pages for businesses (not to mention Microsoft’s relationship with Facebook).

Less than a year ago, SEOmoz did a test to see whether backlinks (SEO strategy) or numerous tweets (social strategy) to promote a given page would rank better in search engine results. With both pages being nearly identical, Page “A” had 646 links from 36 root domains and was tweeted twice. Page B had one link from one root domain and was tweeted 522 times. Page “B” ranked in position 4, while Page “A” wasn’t even on the first page of results. Surprised? Although this wasn’t a scientific test by any means, it adds credence to the theory that sites like Twitter and Facebook can be a valuable part of your SEO/social/brand strategy—and it also makes the need to post better quality social content more apparent (better posts/tweets = more likely to be shared, re-tweeted/re-posted = more likely to rank in organic search results).

Instead of having competitors dominate important search real estate, why not maximize your brand presence by optimizing the brand site and social profiles through SEO and promote any contest or promotions through social networks simultaneously? It’s a two birds with one stone thing. Add paid search into the mix and it’s three birds.

Your key takeaway should be this: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Using a synergistic strategy can help enhance your marketing campaigns in ways that you wouldn’t expect; and definitely in ways that each campaign couldn’t do for your brand independently.

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The 15 best WordPress plugins for SEO, social media & site speed (2011)

Derek Clark — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:57:25 +0000

We install and manage a LOT of WordPress sites around here, and knowing about the best plugins is a necessary part of what we do. Our recommendations should help make your blog or WordPress site faster, more SEO/social-media friendly, and help enhance the overall user experience. So without further adieu, here is our up-to-date list of must-have plugins for 2011.

In no particular order:

1. W3 Total Cache

This plugin is the unrivaled solution for improving the performance and security of your WordPress blog. When installed, the plugin automatically adds a variety of performance features caching, content delivery network integration and “minifying”—consolidating scripts and stylesheets to eliminate redundancy and reduce the total # of HTTP requests sent by each page. Unbiased tests online have shown the W3 lives up to claims of 10X gains in load time when fully configured. At minimum, we advise installing it and enabling (server) caching.

2. WordPress SEO by Yoast

We recommend this in favor of the more “popular” All-in-one-SEO plugin because it’s loaded with features and maintained by one of the most respected/supported web experts, Joost de Valk. Too many features to list, but serious SEOs will prefer this plugin over alternatives (from which you can import SEO meta data into this plugin, if you’re considering switching). Among its many features and utilities, WordPress SEO handles XML sitemap generation—one less plugin you’ll need.

3. Google Analytics for WordPress

Here’s another one from Yoast. Savvy readers may be thinking, “Why do I need a plugin for this? Can’t I simply paste my tracking code in my template and be done?” Sure. But in addition to handling this for you, this plugin automatically tracks a variety of other data (such as custom variables for post author, category, and also tracking where visitors exit as Events in Google Analytics) and provides simple interfaces for adding advanced tracking features, such as custom variables, cross-domain tracking, e-commerce, etc. If you can do it in Google Analytics, this plugin probably has an interface layer for it, insulating developers from tracking problems caused by syntax error.

4. Add Link to Facebook

Let it be known that there are hundreds of Facebook integration plugins competing to serve the same purposes; discerning the best one isn’t always easy. This plugin simply cross-posts to the Facebook page of your choice (profile, group, fan page—whichever) when you post something new. It also provides options to control what data gets sent, which likely influences how the snippet will look (which thumbnail, the link title, snippet text, etc).

5. WP Smush.it

Images are usually the most resource-intensive objects on a web page, so if you’re looking for faster load times, optimizing images is a good place to start. Smush.it, a well-maintained and well-reviewed plugin (that connects with the Smush.it API), automatically optimizes image compression when images are uploaded to your media library, and provides a simple interface where you can decide exactly how big or small (file size) you want your image to be. If your website uses a content delivery network (CDN), your image will be automatically uploaded to it.

6. WPtouch

WPtouch detects requests from smartphones and loads an alternate theme for your website that’s dramatically altered to suit small touch screens. The styling mimics that of iPhone applications, so the interface will look and feel intuitive to many mobile visitors. There are other plugins like it, but this one is exceptionally popular among them. It’s maintained by an agency which bodes well for the plugin staying up to date. There’s also a paid version with a bonanza of features, including iPad support.

7. Simple Facebook Connect

This is the most popular solution for integrating your site with Facebook Connect, the API that allows users to sign up, sign in, or post on your site using their FB credentials. Simple Facebook Connect automatically adds Facebook’s OpenGraph tags (standardized markup that FB looks for to interpret and categorize the nature of “likes” – influences how previews are generated when people share your page on their Facebook profile). Otto, the developer, is also one of the most visible and prolific WordPress plugin developers. Naturally, his expertise adds a lot of credibility to this plugin.

8. Simple Twitter Connect

Yet another plugin from Otto that allows a variety of Twitter integration features, including auto-tweeting when you post new articles.

9. PHP Code Widget

For users who like to get hands-on with their blogs, this is a tremendously handy plugin for managing widgets. Typically, if you want to add a custom piece of text as a sidebar widget, you would use the default “Text” widget which let’s your provide some text for it. This can include markup—HTML and CSS—but no PHP. As developers here, we frequently encounter situations where we want to apply conditions to what renders in a simple text widget. This plugin allows you to do that, presenting itself as a clone of the Text widget that can accept PHP code to allow pre-render conditional logic for what your widget will display (common conditions may be whether it’s the home page, or if the user is logged in, etc).

10. WP PageNavi

WP PageNavi is the go-to plugin for controlling pagination on your WordPress site. It’s well-supported and has been around for a while. Most any sort of customization you may have in mind, whether cosmetic or SEO-minded, can be made in the PageNavi settings menu.

11. WP No Category Base

By default, WordPress automatically includes “/category/” in the URL of category URLs, preceding the category slug. SEOs (and other types of neurotic people) are bugged by this, and would rather snip that out for a shorter, more keyword-rich URL. This plugin accomplishes what is otherwise a complicated problem – just install, enable, and “/category/” will disappear. Requests to the old URL format are 301 redirected and sitemap functionality correctly records the new URLs. Works with subcategories and multi-sites.

12. Slick Social Share Buttons

We’ve noticed this plugin gaining a lot of popularity among social bookmarking plugins. We recommend it as a one-stop solution for adding those share buttons for everyone’s favorite social websites (Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, etc). What distinguishes this plugin is the “sliding” display type, which slides along the left margin of your blog as users scroll up and down, keeping it visible. No complaints about compatibility or operability issues from the WP community (so far). Lots of customization features.

13. Social Metrics

This one pairs nicely with Slick Social. Provides a simple dashboard where you can view the share totals across each social bookmark across each of your posts. Spot visitor engagement trends quickly by viewing all these metrics in one place. This particular plugin appears to be well-supported, up-to-date and well rated by its users.

14. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

This plugin received the endorsement of Google SEO spokesperson Matt Cutts, which carries more weight than our arguments for it here. Related posts plugins rely on internal algorithms for calculating the relationships between posts, so in this respect there can be a huge difference between one plugin and the next. This plugin has been receiving updates for years, which adds to our confidence level in its algorithmic intelligence. It comes with a nice suite of features, including templating, caching and options to include related posts as part of your RSS broadcast.

15. Google XML Sitemaps

If you don’t want to use Yoast’s SEO plugin, which handles XML sitemap generation, this plugin is by far the most popular choice for the job. Install it and you’re done; as new posts are added, the plugin updates the XML sitemap and pings major search engines to let them know there is new content (which may influence search engines to return for another crawl sooner).

So there you have it. Did we miss any that you just can’t live without? Feedback is always welcome. Happy Friday!

Integration 101: the fundamentals of SEO, PPC + social synergy

iSM welcomes the new (mini) sales army

Maya Joshi — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:10:20 +0000

A big (and yes, very long overdue) ISM welcome to our new superstar fro-yo loving sales team members, Annie Meurs and Ryan Larkin. Annie joined on September 19th and Ryan joined on August 1st. Some fun facts about them both:

Annie Meurs

Annie Meurs is our new Director of Business Development. Her responsibilities include identifying potential new clients and conducting initial outreach. She also works with strategists internally to move the sales process forward. Before her role at ISM, she was doing SEM sales at Meltwater Reach.

Favorite food:
Mangoes, or frozen yogurt. So maybe it could be mango flavored frozen yogurt

Favorite place to eat in the city:
SPQR (fancy) or Curry Up Now (food truck).

Where I’m from:
Fallbrook, CA (San Diego).

Where I went to school:
USC, majored in Business.

If I could live anywhere in the world I would live in:
San Francisco! I’m living my dream.

Really random fact:
I have a tomato plant in my apartment named Sammy. It’s never produced a tomato.

Translation: We said she was a superstar (she was too humble to mention she was the top sales rep in her former role), but we never said she wasn’t weird. We recommend some organic compost for poor little Sammy.

Ryan Larkin

Ryan is the new Business Development Manager at ISM. His role also includes identifying potential new clients and conducting initial outreach, as well as working with internal strategists to discuss the possible scope of work and sales strategy. Ryan previously did sales and consulting at Meltwater News, specifically in traditional media. He also has professional experience in the link-building SEO space.

Where I’m from:
Novato, CA.

Favorite food:
Tie between pizza, sushi and cheesesteaks. Fro-yo’s in there too.

My favorite sports team:
Go EAGLESS! Not from Philly, but please reference cheesesteaks above.

In college I:
Captained the Sonoma State Lacrosse team junior and senior year and played football throughout high school.

My favorite kind of music:
Old school rap. Notorious BIG all day.

What I was doing at my last job:
Sales consulting.

Outlook on life:
Don’t worry, be happy.

Me in a nutshell:
I’m a soft-hearted Aries who enjoys long walks on the beach followed by candle lit dinners. Love dogs, being active and food.

Translation: So he has a sense of humor. If you like to eat cheesesteaks, listen to Biggie and walk your dog simultaneously, Ryan is your man.

Welcome aboard, folks. Now bring us some more amazing clients to work with!

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iSearch Media CMO featured on inc.com

Maya Joshi — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:59:13 +0000

Exciting news! ISM’s founder + CMO Scott Rayden was featured on inc.com’s homepage today. Here’s where the article gets exciting:

Scott Rayden, the founder of iSearch Media, agrees that Google+ presents a prime opportunity for start-ups. He says people are still flocking to the service to check out what is new and interesting, and entrepreneurs are filling the void by posting the most interesting links and stories.

Rayden advises to engage now on the service and to be ready for when Google+ does open up business pages in the next few weeks, and to be one of the first to create a company page, bringing along those who are already following your activities.

Read the full article on inc.com. Scott’s thoughts on Google+ are on page 2 of the article.

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iSM does Sonoma: sustainability, wine tasting + team building

Maya Joshi — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:55:27 +0000

It was a beautiful sunny Friday morning in Sonoma County with a crisp, refreshing breeze cooling the gorgeous green valley. This was especially nice when considering that we left a gloomy San Francisco skyline to find ourselves in the sunny side of paradise, where the grass really was greener on the other side. Though meeting the party bus at the iSM headquarters at 8:30 in the morning was a little rough, starting the morning with some mimosas prepared us all for the rest of the day.

Not the fanciest champagne, but not too shabby for acting on a whim. Great way to start the morning!

Thanks to the warm hospitality and inviting welcome from the Benziger Family Winery and Imagery Winery, we were in for a real treat.

After a short pit stop at a local market to pick up some snacks, we got the chance to tour the winery via a trolley pulled along by a tractor!

At our first stop, we parked atop a small hill to look at the topography of the land and learned how the geography of the winery helped make the grapes grown there far different than grapes grown virtually anywhere else.

Happy grapes start from the soil. Happy grapes make delicious wine.

Situated in a bowl shaped ranch, this particular piece of land allows for many different types of climates and sun exposure to change the way the grapes taste. In addition to the special way the winery was laid out, we also learned what it means to be certified organic, certified biodynamic, and certified sustainable—Benziger and Imagery are some of the rare wineries that truly abide by all three principles.

As the hot sun started to beat down, we got an amazing lesson on biodynamic and sustainable growing practices.

When the sun started to really shine, we made our way into the Cave, where temperature is kept constant at about 65 degrees (an ideal temperature for wine to age properly). In addition to being able to get away from the heat of the sun for some time, we were also greeted by hundreds of barrels of wine. Looking from left to right, we were literally surrounded.

Can you see the excitement in our faces? At this point, it was too early to be coming from the wine. Definitely sheer happiness.

But of course, the cool environment was just one of the perks of the cave. We also had the opportunity to taste a very young tribute wine, right out of the barrel. Now barrel tastings aren’t always the most mellowed out and refined, but our first sip of wine of the day was absolutely delicious, delightful, and well-balanced for a younger wine.

Anxiously awaiting our first taste of the day.

Fast forward through some jokes, a little horsing around on the part of the iSM staff, and a series of flashes from a few cameras in the room, we headed into the wine tasting room at Benziger. One of our very own ISMers (shout out to Will Reeves) had a chance to reprieve his old role at Benziger by getting behind the counter and giving us all some hefty pours. With laughter filling up the room (I’m almost sure our party was louder than the party in the room next to us) and more pictures to be taken, the mood was at an all-time high.

From comparing the different tastes of the various wines to stuffing our faces with the finger food in the room, somehow we managed to pass the time and it was already 1:00pm. A little behind schedule and some of us already feeling the wine, we headed to lunch at Imagery Winery.

Imagery staff even made sure our wine was perfectly aerated before pouring.

After munching down on some delicious sandwiches from a local market and pretty much at my body’s capacity to handle sunlight, we headed inside to continue our festival of fun! And cue another 45 minutes (or at least, I think it was 45 minutes, don’t quote me on that one) of wine tasting, joking, and Scott telling us about his Dougie skills.

With our bus being on a schedule, we had to make sure we were back in the city by 6pm. But not before we made a pit stop at Jack London Lodge to get our fill of popcorn with sriracha (I know, I was surprised too.), a few pitchers of beer and a game of pool. As we made our way back to the city, there was still no slowing down: loud music playing, a whole lot of dancing, and a few drop offs, we finally made our way back to 300 Brannan St.

The adventures of the rest of the day varied between groups of people, but it’s safe to say that I got to spend an afternoon basking in the sunlight in Sonoma County, enjoyed fine wine, and celebrated a great day away from the city with some pretty amazing people.

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What we can learn about social media from a commercial

Maya Joshi — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:17:07 +0000

Every now and then, I come across something online that I feel obligated to share with my inner circle. It usually involves a somewhat formulaic, predictable email forward or hilarious YouTube video. Now, don’t get me wrong—People of Wal-Mart, Fail Blogs, and Chuck Norris forwards will always have a special place deep within the crevices of my heart—but maybe it’s time to switch things up a bit…

Luckily for me, I was recently introduced (shout out to Kruti Joshi) to a commercial so amazing that I’m actually taking the time to write a post about it on my company blog—yes, before I share it on Facebook, post it on Twitter and send it to all my Gmail contacts. Although it’s so brilliant that it doesn’t even need lengthy commentary from me or really anyone else, it justifiably does deserve more props than the brief “this is awesome” status update. But before I get there, don’t just take my word for it. I’ll let you be the judge. Without further ado, here it is (pay close attention):

If you don’t think it’s amazing, I have three words for you: Watch it again. Like an episode of The Office, it got better each time I watched it, with new details and subtleties emerging that I didn’t notice the first time around. Once I’d watched it enough times to fully soak it in, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how moved I was by the sheer genius of a…well, commercial—and as a marketer, it really got my brain ticking…

What did I love about the commercial? How did it work on me? What can I/ISM/other marketers learn from it?

To kick off my ruminations on the topic, I thought first about the rules of instant gratification and recognized immediately that this ad made a blatant “to hell with ‘em” statement. These days, in the midst of the golden age of technology, instant gratification is a term that we online marketers and advertisers are all too familiar with, and unfortunately, we too often find ourselves mangled up in its proverbial intestines, losing sight of what the ultimate goal of an ad campaign actually is. What makes this clarity even more difficult to achieve—there’s an unprecedented abundance of information at consumers’ fingertips and a variety of methods and devices for consuming it—from smartphones to inter-tainment to on-demand and DVR. That places an enormous amount of pressure on us marketers, as we have a lot less time to capture and hold consumers’ attention than ever before. Consumers, on the other hand, have so many tools that enable them to shut off a pitch that doesn’t interest them immediately, by clicking to the next channel, fast-forwarding through the commercials, turning the knob to another radio station; or, in our case, hitting the back button and moving on to another website or search result.

Uninspired marketing campaigns try to counteract this consumer attention deficit by shouting louder. That’s the wrong reaction. The right reaction? Blur the lines between advertising and entertainment. Make ad spots that people actually want to watch, that they post on Facebook and forward to their friends and write about on their company blog. This Epuron commercial exemplifies that (clearly, as you’re reading this now). It unwinds slowly, beautifully. It tells a story. It builds up to a powerfully climactic ending. It’s executed with a careful technical and artistic touch. Closer to a short film than a typical TV ad, it manages to hold your attention without demanding it.

It never ceases to amaze me that while the mediums used to communicate with and to people continue to evolve, the fundamentals of smart advertising haven’t changed much over the years. What makes this commercial unique, and uniquely effective, is really more about what it doesn’t try to do than what it does. Thanks to its subtlety, nuance, and taste, it did something to me that no other TV spot from a similar company or industry has done to me: It got me thinking.

Thinking? What a novel concept! But commercials aren’t supposed to make you think, are they? They’re supposed to make you want to buy something, do something, take action. The sheer brilliance of this Epuron commercial is that it does none of the above. No statistics or scare tactics about global warming, no windmills strategically placed on rolling green hills against a vivid blue sky dotted in fluffy cumulous clouds, no calls to action, no limited-time offers. Just hope. About wind energy. About possibility.

So, how does this all relate the world of online marketing? To me, it’s a lesson about taking a step back. With the nature, constitution, and even definition of social media progressing at lightning speed, we marketers are often so focused on winning the race that we fail to take some time to really think about the strategy best tailored to get us there. Just because you have brand Facebook and Twitter pages doesn’t mean that you’re actually doing social. Well, okay, maybe it means that you can tell your boss’s boss, when you’re stuck alone with him on a long elevator ride, that you’re doing social. But it doesn’t mean that you’re using social media intelligently.

The key distinction is this: smart brands use social media to engage, while others use social media to merely exist. Intelligent social initiatives are a two-way conversation between real people, not a brand shouting to the masses from the faceless company pulpit.

Let this commercial be your guide. Come up with one outside-the-box idea (instead of a dozen half-ass, mediocre ones), think it through, and execute it excellently. Rather than creating company profiles that look like every other one out there simply to cross it off your social checklist, try slowing down, and taking some time to plan, to research your audience, where they’re engaged online, how they’re engaged online, and how best to engage them further, deeper, in a more valuable way. The barrier to entry in social media is next to none, but the gateway to true social media success is like a semi-permeable membrane. If you care about coming up with the idea that’s really going to move the needle, your best bet is to do your homework.

At iSearch Media we truly believe that this is the best way to approach social. Any time we’re tasked with presenting a pitch or proposal, the first thing we do is put our heads together at the whiteboard for a brainstorm session based on the research we’ve gathered as a guide. For us, taking a big-picture approach and using our tools and knowledge to scrutinize the opportunity quantifiably vs. a “let’s set up a Facebook page and see what happens” shot in the dark is the way to tackle social, and how we set ourselves apart from other search agencies optimizing social—but this methodical approach should be a requisite aspect of any web project, no matter the traffic channel it’s focused on. To put this into perspective, it’s not much different from how upfront SEO audits lay the proper foundation for long-term SEO engagements.

While this approach may be easier said than done, the numbers, if you know how to collect and read them, tell you so much, and if you give them the time and attention they merit, you cut out a ton of the guesswork that’s an inevitable and inherent aspect to advertising until the internet started rewriting the rules. Do your data-related homework to identify and inform the creative strategy that your customers are likeliest to respond to. Put on your thinking cap and decide whether you want to use social media to engage or merely exist. A focus on the hard data followed by creative strategy development is often the difference between those outcomes.

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How to re-verify your Google local business listing

Maya Joshi — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:53:58 +0000

The Google Local team is thinly staffed, which is glaringly obvious if you’ve ever, say, misplaced the login credentials to your Local account or parted ways with the employee who set up and ran the account solo. When issues like that arise, getting some support can be maddeningly challenging, if not impossible. At one point there were no less than three “active” Local listings for iSearch Media—one for our current office, one for our previous office, and one for the first ISM office (less ceremoniously known as Scott’s former condo building). Sometimes all three would appear in the same Local result, one followed by the next. Try as we might, we couldn’t get that outdated listing removed. Why? Because to remove the listing we had to verify that we owned it, and the only option available to us for doing so was verification by postcard—which was being sent to Scott’s old condo building, which he moved out of over two years ago.

It’s an imperfect system to be sure. Anyway, this is a quick post for the benefit of others who are struggling with a similar verification issue on Google Local. So without further ado, here’s…

How you can re-verify your Google Local Business Listing

It’s actually very simple.

1) Create a new Google Local Business Listing (also known as Google Places).

2) Fill in all your business information and click “Next.” At this point Google will search current listings to see if there’s a match.

3) Assuming all things go according to plan, the listing you’re trying to re-verify will appear along with a message asking if you’re already on Google Maps. You’ll then be able to claim the preexisting listing. Here’s what it looks like:

4) Complete the listing by filling out the pertinent details about your business, then click “Submit.”

5) You should now be presented with the option to verify your listing either by phone or by postcard. Phone verification takes less than a minute; once you click “Finish,” Google will place an automated call to the listed phone number right away with the verification pin. If you pick the postcard option—and I’m not sure why you’d make that choice—you’ll need to wait at least two weeks to reclaim your listing. In some seemingly random cases (see above) the postcard is the only option available. If that’s the case for you, then, well, good luck.

6) Enter the five-digit pin and presto, your Google Local Business Listing is once again, well, yours.

6 things you can do before lunch to improve your local search rankings