Increase search and visibility
With news that Apple is entering the local search maps market with iOS 6, there’s increased attention on how and why marketers need to focus on the management of local search business listings for better online brand visibility across major search engines and social sites.
This includes Google, Bing, Facebook, and
now Apple.
According to the Local Search Usage Study
conducted by comScore, business listings are
the most trusted search results for consumers, over sponsored and paid search listings.
Therefore it’s imperative that brands have
an ongoing local search strategy, due to the
growing complexity of the search landscape.
This strategy must include keeping their core
identity—name, address, and phone number
(NAP)—for their business locations up-to-date
and accurate.
Marketers can start by following a few tips:
First, when submitting online business listings to local search and social sites, do not
Jeff Beard
President, Localeze
“Remember that paid
search results do not
supersede or replace
local search results.”
deviate from core (or NAP) details. Other-
wise, inconsistent versions of a store or anoth-
er business location could permeate the local
search ecosystem. These conflicting listings
make it challenging for local search platforms
to verify the true identity of a local business
and in turn make it difficult for customers
to find the information they need. This not
only includes a phone number and address,
but social content (e.g., Yelp reviews, Four-
square check-ins) that tethers a local search
business listing.
Pin down Pinterest’s value
Every big social media platform that’s attracted the eye of numerous busi- nesses has a moment where it crosses
the threshold from being something that companies sign on to out of curiosity, to a channel that becomes part of their overall business
strategy. Is this Pinterest’s moment? Certainly
from all the buzz you would think so.
Pinterest is an easy-to-use platform that
enables users to capture images from around
the Web, or upload their own, and “pin” them
to “boards” as a way of visually telling their
community what they are doing and thinking about. Users can also follow the activity of
fellow “pinners” and comment, “like,” tweet,
and share pins in various ways across the
social Web. But as we’ve seen from the failure of Facebook stores to gain much traction,
engagement doesn’t always translate into purchases. And even if they did, right now users
can’t purchase directly from Pinterest.
Currently, Pinterest has more than 20 mil-
lion users, an impressive milestone given that
it only had 1 million users in July 2011. In
fact, it surpassed the 10 million mark faster
than any other social platform to date. Inter-
estingly, 83% of its domestic users are women,
with 3% reporting an income above $100,000
annually. Specifically, Pinterest’s sweet spot
appears to be women ages 18 to 34, living in
households with incomes between $25,000
and $75,000 per year. But while this may be
where Pinterest is best at driving engagement
and sharing, the platform does not yet have
an e-commerce component on the site.
This is in contrast to another social compet-
itor, The Fancy, which has taken a major step
towards fusing and curating social media and
commerce. The Fancy allows users to pur-
chase directly from the site, and it just recently
announced that it will reward users whose
recommendations result in purchases. It will
be interesting to see how this plays out, as
Pinterest already has something valuable in
Dan Opallo
Director of social media
services, StrongMail
the social universe: millions of users.
I’ve looked at brands currently leveraging
Pinterest, and two immediately caught my
eye: Bergdorf Goodman and HGTV. Pins
from the former are a mixture of products
from bergdorfgoodman.com, as well as Web
images chosen to appeal to its customer base.
Images for the latter subscribe to HGTV’s
self-described pinning strategy of “creating a
team atmosphere and being inspirational.”
Both brands seem to understand the
importance of a coordinated cross-channel
approach to retail that includes social plat-
forms, and also that building brand affinity
leads to intent to purchase. This is a good
reason why businesses (especially those that
have visually distinct products) should con-
sider setting up a Pinterest account and get-
ting involved at the entry level.
But, as I’ve said earlier, engagement and
even intent to purchase doesn’t always lead to
a completed sale. The final piece of the puzzle
that Bergdorf Goodman, HGTV, and others
need to solve is: “How do we entice consumers to buy what they pin?” When that
question does get answered, Pinterest could
indeed prove to be an extremely valuable
social channel. n
