Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Account Manager

You can find Facebook pages for everything from consumer packaged goods and retail outlets to upcoming movies and well-known bands. Yet you have to wonder, are all of these pages successful? And, if so, what sets these pages apart from one another?

Here are some of our top tips for creating a successful company profile page on Facebook:

Define Details

• Give a comprehensive description of who you are on the “Info” tab of your page. Be sure to include a URL to your website and consider making it unique for tracking purposes.
• By default, your page should be publicly searchable. If you search and can’t find your page, go to the “Edit” Page, click on “Settings,” and set to “Published (publicly visible).”
• You can create a welcome page that invites users who have not yet engaged with your page to “like” it and inform them about offers and special news pertinent to your social media campaign. The default landing page for users who already “like” your page is the wall, though your custom landing page can still be accessed in the tabs on your page profile.

Create Content

• Keep in mind that customers don’t want to talk about and engage with your brand unless the content is compelling, interesting and helpful.
• Creating an editorial calendar for your content will help define the frequency and theme of your messaging. You can plan content out by day, week, month or quarter – the option is yours to manage according to your campaign goals.
• Once your page is up, consumers will begin interacting with it and on it. Be prepared in advance with a response plan to handle consumer-facing communication. A great example of a very detailed response plan is the Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment.

Integrate Tactics

• Promote your Facebook page on your blog, e-newsletter, email signatures, website and any other marketing channels where you can reach potential Facebook users.
• Incorporate the “Like” and “Share” button into your product and advertising mix, if appropriate.
• Include RSS feeds, YouTube videos and other social content on your Facebook page.

Remember that cultivating a following on Facebook takes time and patience. Integrating these tips is a great first start, but make sure to pay attention to how users are interacting with your page and optimize accordingly.

Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Account Manager

Earlier this month, Microsoft submitted a patent application for “search queries with shifting intent.” The patent specifies that the Bing search engine will be capable of delivering results based on the intention of the searcher and the seasonality of the query. So, what exactly does this mean, and how is it different than how search engines currently deliver results?

Based on the patent application, it appears that Bing will evaluate the frequency of specific queries, and determine if there are shifts in dates when these searches occur. For example, if someone is looking for “last minute Thanksgiving flights” in October instead of November, Bing might assume that the searcher is looking for Canadian Thanksgiving offers, whereas if the query is submitted in November, it could surmise that the searcher is looking for U.S. Thanksgiving offers. Similarly, results for a basic query like “King Tut” are primarily historical and informative, but if a King Tut exhibit is underway, Bing may return results for museums where the event is touring.

To define when search queries are no longer temporal, Bing will be monitoring for changes in click-through rates, bounce rates or results-based query changes.

As Bing gains market share, it is becoming increasingly important to stay informed of algorithm changes. If your site’s organic traffic is impacted by seasonality, stay ahead of the game by optimizing with temporally related content. Aside from considering the impact seasonality may have on your organic listings, it would be wise to start brainstorming ways you might modify your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategy as well.

For more information, visit: Axandra.

Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Project Manager

Yahoo’s Vice President and General Manager of search marketing, David Pann, recently discussed shifts that the company is making to lower costs for paid search campaigns.  Some companies may be seeing PPC clicks discounted as much as 15% depending on the industry.  Pann said that Yahoo has been evaluating cost-per-acquisition numbers for advertisers and that they are now working to change the marketplace so that CPCs are priced “accordingly with the value they deliver to the advertisers.”

Although Yahoo is making swift innovations in search marketing, it may be too soon to determine the importance of their changing pricing structure for paid search.  StatCounter reports that Yahoo’s market share continued to decline in October falling to 8.91%, down from 9.4% in September and 10.5% in August.  With falling market share shifting paid search campaign budgets to Yahoo, to save a few pennies on the dollar may not currently be a wise marketing decision.  Only time will show if Yahoo’s PPC advancements will make a lasting impression on the industry as well as impact the pricing structure for Bing paid search campaigns.

Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Project Manager

What if the price of an online advertisement was based on if people liked the ad or not?

Well in June Digg began plans to implement a process to do just that with a new form of contextual advertising.  The new advertising platform called Digg Ads allows users to either Digg or bury sponsored ads.  Sponsored listings began appearing in August and are still in limited rotation as the platform becomes adopted by both users and by the site itself.

Ads are designed to look and feel similar to regular Digg content, falling in the stream of stories, but are noticeably marked as paid assets.

Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Senior Marketing Coordinator

Search engines are becoming increasingly competitive in trying to detect and respond better to search query intent.  As Google states in their corporate information, they are striving to “understands exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want.”

Each search engine is able to provide query-specific information based on their unique search algorithms.  When you are launching a search engine optimization strategy it is important to consider each engine’s algorithms and their key factors in deciding search relevance.

Google relies on more than 200 signals including hypertext-matching and PageRank technology to assess the importance of webpages.  The recently launched Bing appears to place greater importance on a smaller number of factors including content, keyword placement, inbound links and strong site structure.  Yahoo also places a strong emphasis on content, in addition to XML sitemaps and the age of the site.

Knowing that each search engine has a different search algorithm may leave you questioning how to develop a search engine optimization approach that meets the needs of every search engine.