Wow, 2009 flew by! Staring into the crystal ball, here are 4 predictions about search marketing in New Zealand during 2010…

Prediction #1 – Paid Search Takes Off

2010 will be the year paid search marketing is finally taken seriously by the NZ advertising industry. However for many agencies it will still be given token lip service because they:

1. Don’t understand it
2. Are uncomfortable with how measurable search is & the associated transparency of agency performance this brings (‘accountability’ – yikes!)
3. The non-commission bearing nature of Google AdWords forces change in the ad industry’s traditional charging paradigm

Despite this, agencies will be compelled to include more than just token search buys into media plans because their clients will increasingly demand it. As a result we’ll continue to see growth in paid search spend at the expense of other traditional media, as has been case in Australia & UK.

Prediction #2 – More Focus on SEO

Associated with the increase in paid search marketing will be an increase in investment in SEO.

For most businesses their entry into the world of search marketing is through paid search (usually Google AdWords). Usually new paid search advertisers are blown away by how well search performs compared to traditional channels they’ve used. As a result, most wonder why they haven’t done this earlier & substantially increase their ongoing investment in search.

Smart move.

However shrewd players recognize the risk of putting all their eggs in the PPC (paid search) basket & also invest in improving their organic search performance using SEO (search engine optimisation).

Even smarter move – given that around 70% of all commercial search traffic is organic, rather than from paid search.

In 2010 NZ businesses will increasingly rely on search as a key component of their marketing mix. And those who do best will have a properly integrated search marketing strategy to maximise the synergistic benefits of paid & organic search.

Prediction #3 – Local Search Grows

New Zealand consumers will increasingly turn to using local search in preference to Yellow Pages – as is the global trend.

Switched on NZ businesses will ensure they are highly visible in local search results so they can exploit this growing opportunity. And grow it will, as more & more mobile phones are web enabled.

In fact, 2010 is likely to be the year mobile search really booms, thanks largely to the iPhone.

Of course it’s not all over for the Yellow Pages – people will still find them useful for raising the level of their computer monitors

Prediction #4 – Money that should be invested in Search will be wasted on Social Media Marketing

All the breathless hype about social media will continue & increasingly NZ businesses will feel compelled to try & ride this new wave. Unfortunately with all the hype & perceived sexiness of social media marketing many NZ businesses will waste money on poorly conceived & badly executed campaigns.

Smart businesses instead will look to the lessons learned in the more advanced markets of Australia, UK & the USA to see what does & doesn’t work.

And really smart businesses will first ensure they’ve got their search marketing strategy well & truly sorted before diluting their focus by dabbling in social media marketing.

Why? Because search marketing consistently brings home the bacon, whereas social media marketing is more of a crap shoot -  i.e. it can sometimes have astounding results, but most times is a fizzer.

OK – that’s my admittedly biased perspective on what 2010 will bring.

Last week I was a speaker at the Search Engine Boot Camp conference held in Auckland.

It was a 1 day event and held at the Hilton Hotel. The day was divided in two, with the morning focusing on SEO & PPC search marketing, whilst the afternoon was primarily on social media marketing (SMM). There was a good range of speakers & some interesting presentations which the audience seemed to appreciate.

Search Marketing Agenda

• Keyword Research
• Link Building Fundamentals
• SEO Content Creation
• Paid Search Optimisation
• Landing Page Optimisation

Social Media Agenda

• Social Media Ecosystem
• Managing SMM Campaigns (Social Media Marketing)
• Twitter Marketing Tips
• Tracking the Success of Search & Social Media (Web Analytics)
• Integrating Search & Social into your communications mix
• How do you make sure Social Media works for you

I was 3′rd speaker off the rank & the topic I was charged to present on was ‘SEO Content Creation’. In other words, how to maximise search engine organic rankings through on-page code and content SEO (search engine optimisation). I finished up with some tips which hopefully attendees will find useful.

I’ve previously attended & spoken at Search Engine Boot Camp & have to say that this was significantly better than previous ones. The audience was switched on & very engaged. Lot’s of positive feedback from people I spoke to & similar comments echoed in Twitter #sebc.

If you attended, your comments on this are welcomed below.

So you want to dip your toe in the social media pool, and why wouldn’t you? After all, There are more than 30 million active users on Facebook, Twitter has an estimated 6 million active users and growing, not to mention the hundreds (if not thousands) of niche social media sites, all of which host communities of highly targetable individuals waiting to see what you have to offer.  But, before you dive in, here are a number of considerations which will help you catch the wave to social media superstardom.

1.    Pick a memorable username.

Social Media sites require users to identify themselves by way of a username. Depending on the amount of anonymity you want to preserve, the best usernames are typically your real name, a current Internet pen name, or a new name that can be closely linked to you, your company, or the topic that you wish to be identified with.

Some great examples of usernames which are easily identifiable can be found on Twitter. Professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal’s username is THE_REAL_SHAQ. Stand-up comedienne, television hostess and actress Ellen DeGeneres goes by TheEllenShow, and 7 times Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong’s username is lancearmstrong.

2.    Add an appropriate avatar.

“What’s an avatar?” I hear you say. An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself. These are usually icon like images that depict something about a person’s identity. As the saying goes “a picture paints 1000 words”, which is why the use of avatars are so popular with the social crowd. I recommend that you make your avatars a clear photo of yourself, company logo, or of an image that is easily identifiable and unique to you.

Again, some great examples of avatars can be found on Twitter with the likes of CNN, BBC, TVNZ and even Barack Obama all using easily identifiable logo’s to accompany their user profiles.

3.    Listen first, Act second.

There is nothing worse that the new kid on the block who has a bad case of verbal diarrhoea. A sure way to be shunned in social media circles is to blurt out whatever is on your mind without first listening to what is been said. Start by taking note of the key topics being discussed, the language being used, and who is saying what. Identify the opinion leaders in the group and befriend them by asking a few questions. Once you gain a better understanding of how the group interacts, you will be better equipped to successfully integrate into the group.

4.    Be active get noticed.

Once you have identified that the group you have joined is a right fit for you. Your next goal is to build your social presence. Make friends, DIGG (vote for) articles, share links to relevant content (your content), ask questions, make comments and share your opinions. By opening a two way dialog with the group you will learn a great deal about people’s perception of you, your brand, or what you want to be identified with, and you will also be able to share your message with the group.

When it comes to being active, Barack Obama’s use of social media during the lead-up to the 2008 US elections cannot be ignored. Even before then senator Obama announced his candidacy for presidency of the United States he had already began an open dialog with members of Facebook and had attracted over 250,000 fans. To put this into perspective, then favourite Hillary Clinton had around 3,000 followers and the Clinton camps line of communication was sporadic at best.

Another example of how Obama actively used social media was through Twitter. The Obama camp took the approach of following most of the twitter members who followed Barrack. In contrast, the Clinton camp did not follow any of those who followed Hillary. This resulted in approximately 970% more people following Obama.

5.    Consistency is key!

Multiple personality disorder might be kind of entertaining at first, but people generally run a mile when they’re not sure who’s going to come bounding through the door, Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde. Whilst it generally makes sense to separate professional and personal social media identities, you don’t want to have 5 different usernames for 5 different social media sites and be mixing together lots of unrelated topics. It will make it damn near impossible to define your personal brand and it will also diminish your ability to develop a network of friends/followers across numerous social media sites.

6.    Don’t spread yourself too thin.

Whilst there are a number of excellent tools which assist in communicating your messages across multiple social media platforms, it is still a good idea to pick a few sites that provide you with the most value and establish a name for yourself rather than just being present.

Contiki Holidays are a great example of a company who have not spread themselves too thin.  Contiki’s main focus has been on building a community on Facebook and they currently have 45,000+ active members and growing. They also have profiles on Twitter, but Facebook is their major social media platform and they actively promote their Facebook profile from their Twitter account and corporate website. By focusing mainly on Facebook Contiki are able to easily and effectively manage their dialog with community members.

By creating an easily identifiable persona and taking a unified approach to your social media efforts you can, gain brand exposure, increase website traffic, make friends and influence people.

Happy Socialising!