I absolutely love coming across quality content that you just want to tell people about and this video does it for me. It’s an insight into the future of digital and it’s aptly named: Digital Life: Today & Tomorrow. Now whilst there is nothing anyone in the industry probably doesn’t already know (we know it’s all about local, we know it’s all about smartphones and media devices and less about desktop computers) but it doesn’t matter because this video ties everything together nicely and gives everyone a glimpse into what we can expect in the coming years…

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

Here is a great infographic which displays just how hot the tech bubble is right now. As you can see from below, Twitter has the highest current revenue-valuation ratio which is one remarkable feat. Facebook is scheduled to go public in the next 12 months.

With this, I have one question and it’s the same one that is on the infographic. Are investors buying potential or are they strictly buying users? I personally believe they are buying potential. Without potential and more importantly, without functionality you won’t get users as people want to be able to use things that will help them, it’s the basics of business - identify a need and solve a problem.

Facebook identifies a need (great for keeping in touch with friends/family especially whilst travelling!), Twitter identifies a need (it’s a micro blogging platform - I love Twitter and I find it’s incredible for finding people in your industry, connecting with them and sharing thoughts and ideas and it’s superb for breaking news), LinkedIn identifies a need in that it’s a social network for business professionals and it’s also an extremely popular recruitment tool by HR professionals worldwide. Recruiters use it heavily to find what they call “passive candidates” who are open to new opportunities but not actively looking.

The point to take away from this is that without a good product, you won’t have users so of course they are buying for the potential of the product because just like AOL discovered with Bebo, users can come and go very quickly when the next best thing comes along.

Check out the infographic and leave your comments below.

Social Media TechBubble Infographic

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

Google have A LOT of blogs scattered all over the internet. If you’re involved in online marketing, then you need to read these or at least check in occasionally.

So here it is, here is the essential list of official Google blogs for online marketing professionals. I’ve broken it out under Search, Analytics and Mobile. I also have a miscellaneous section too. Feel free to add your favorite Google blogs in the comments below. If you want a tip, just subscribe to the RSS feed and then you can check in on your mobile device or computer any time you’re online and have all the latest and greatest news right at your fingertips

Search

DoubleClick Search Blog - Great if you use DoubleClick Search!

Inside AdWords - Nice way to keep up to date on everything to do with AdWords.

YouTube Blog - The official YouTube blog - and since it’s the second biggest search engine in the world…

YouTube Blog – U.K. - Official one for the UK market, good for trends a little closer to home.

Google Ads - Innovations - Everything new and cool to come out of Google will end up here under a variety of categories.

Inside Search - The Official Google Search Blog

Analytics

Google Analytics Blog - All about tracking what visitors do on your site.

Google Webmaster Central Blog - Anyone who is familiar with analytics implementation knows these two work together quite closely.

Conversion Room - The place to visit for tips on tracking and improving conversions online

Mobile

Mobile Ads Blog - Latest news from Google about Mobile Ads!

Google Mobile Blog - Mobile in general.

Miscellaneous

Official Google Blog - Writter by Googlers, provides insights into technology, products and company culture.

Google Barometer Blog - U.K. Insights, tips, and tools for planning marketing campaigns. Great for trend spotting for Ireland.

Agency Ad Solutions Blog - Google tips and tools to help you manage client accounts

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

I wrote a post in September 2010 on my blog about how Google Instant Will Change The Way We Search. Here is an infographic of that post basically which explains in a nutshell just how Google Instant works and the amount of time it saves users.  I’m a big fan of infographics - sometimes they just make perfect sense. The credit behind this infographic goes to NineByBlue.com, you can check it out after the jump below…

It’d be great to hear your thoughts on Google Instant.

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

Optimising A Website For Mobile Devices

2011 is the year when mobile internet will exceed the number of desktop users globally depending on who you talk to with 2013/2014 the more likely year. Having said that, the popularity of mobile is growing at an exponential rate and businesses need to adapt. Already, almost 20% of bets with Paddy Power occur on a mobile device with a bet occurring every 3 seconds on a mobile device.

Read on after the jump…

The main reasons behind this tremendous growth is down to a number of factors.

1. Computing Power is getting more powerful
2. Portable media devices and smartphones are (excuse the pun) getting smarter
3. 3G and connectivity nationally is on the increase
4. Costs are decreasing *cough* Law of accelerating returns *cough*
5. Mobile Cloud Computing - Essentially refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device from which an application is launched i.e. this is basically the future of mobile in a nutshell.

Ok so you get why mobile is something to pay attention to but how do you know if it’s worth your while optimising your site for mobile devices? You’re going to need to do it in the future (regardless) but how do you know if you should do it right now?

Below are four steps you can take to see if you should optimise your website for mobile devices.

Step 1) Check your Analytics !

You can access this data by clicking on the Mobile button under the Visitors drop down in Google Analytics as seen below.

Check Your Analytics

Of course you can also run an Advanced Segment within Google Analytics to get this data.

Mobile Analytics - Advanced Segments

Step 2) Check your AdWords

You can segment your clicks in AdWords by device easily and quickly to give you a quick indication.

Segment By Device

Step 3) In the Google Keyword tool you can check the keyword volume for searches performed on mobile devices.

Step 4) Borrow a smartphone if you don’t already have one and see what your site looks like. If you’ve flash on the site then it won’t work on an iPhone which is a pretty big deal considering they make up a huge chunk of the mobile and media devices market at present and since they toppled Google as the number 1 brand, you can expect this domination to continue.

So there you have it, you’ve now got the information you need to make a decision as to whether or not your business needs to get a mobile optimised website or if you can afford to wait a while. My advice on the matter would be that there’s no such thing as too early and to get involved and start testing what works and what doesn’t so you’re in the best possible position for the future.

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

Search Query reports were introduced in May 2009 and they’re a really great addition for search marketers. Google loves sending high quality, relevant content to their users and with the help of search query reports, advertisers can find additional keywords that they might have missed out on which can in turn be used to get a higher quality score, a lower CPC and result in more relevant ads being displayed to the user.

Below are four top tips to ensure you get the most bang for your buck in Google AdWords

1) Filter Out Irrelevant Negative Keywords

With search query reports, you can find irrelevant keywords that you are accidentally bidding on which are driving users to your landing page. By removing these unwanted negative keywords, you can improve your quality score, lower your CPC and increase your click through rates. You’ll also decrease your landing page bounce rate as you’re no longer sending people to your site that don’t want to be on your site in the first place…win win !

2) New Ad Groups

The search query report can also be an excellent way to unearth new ideas for ad groups in your campaign. You may find additional relevant keywords to use in your account. The best thing to do here is to create a new tightly knit ad group, with focused keywords and then some optimised ad copy and before you know it, you’ve once again increased your quality score and your click through rate.

3) Capture Ancillary Terms

You can unearth additional acronyms and abbreviations that your customers are typing into Google. You may wonder what the point of this is if your keywords are already on broad match. If you’re only using broad match then you’re wasting money and your quality score is not as high as it could be. I personally prefer to use the broad match modifier followed by “phrase” and [exact] match types only.

Users also typically enter URLs and domain names into search engines - this is a great way to really get a grip on the account and ensure that it’s as integrated and relevant as possible.

4) Increase Return On Investment

One of the main benefits of advertising online is the fact that you can measure absolutely everything. The search query report can help you find keywords that don’t ever convert and that are just useless for your account. The best thing to do with poor performing keywords that don’t convert or give you the results you expected is to just delete them! By removing keywords that don’t convert, you’re increasing your return on investment.

In conclusion, before making drastic changes to any AdWords account, be sure you’ve tested for a long enough time frame. I’d normally recommend testing for a week to see how an account performs before making any hasty decision. Then after the week, you’ll be equipped with enough data to know what’s working and what’s not from a keyword and budget perspective.

Feel free to leave your comments below and any search query report tips I may have missed out on.

Aindreas Phelan works in the Search and Analytics team in Radical and is a Google AdWords Professional and Google Analytics Qualified.

New Facebook page layout on the horizon

The change in layout to Facebook pages isn’t fresh news but the changes are due to take effect permanently on March 10th so if you haven’t got your head around the new layout yet, now is the time to do it! If you use Facebook for a brand you will be familiar with how it can be utilised to promote your business and create a community of fans. Keeping up with Facebook has become an important part of this community management and marketing so therefore cannot be ignored.
Facebook has big plans for their interface with deals and sponsored stories just two of the big products about to launch in Ireland. We thought we would give you a four minute, four step guide on how to get accustomed to the new layout and ensure your brand continues to get the most out of Facebook.

1.    New Layout – Photos & Tabs

You will already be familiar with the majority of the new layout from your own personal profile. The top five most recent photos (uploaded to the wall or photo album) will now be displayed across the top banner of the page. This is a great chance to get creative with your Facebook display by choosing products, or photos that emote your brand values.

The tabs that previously appeared across the top of the page will sit on the left hand side underneath the now larger profile picture.

2.    Use Facebook as a page
One of the more interesting features means that you will now be able to use Facebook as a page. To do this, click on ‘Account’ on the top left hand corner and choose ‘use Facebook as a page’. You will then be able to view your page’s own News Feed as well as comment on other pages as that page.
This provides an opportunity for brands to interact with associated brands or sponsors like never before. While this is an exciting new addition, I have yet to see someone use it effectively in Ireland but I am sure there are some great examples out there.
3.    IFrames
From March 11th, 2011 you will no longer be able to create new static FBML tab on your Facebook page. While your current FBML tabs will continue to work Facebook is encouraging users to move their FBML to IFrame applications.

An iFrame application allows you to embed an external web page in a Facebook page tab. This will allow for better branded experiences within Facebook with more advanced flash and interactive elements. The main downside however is that you will have to be familiar with technologies such as XFBML tags and SDK’s.

4.    Email Notifications

Create a Moderation blocklist for your Facebook page

You should now be receiving email alerts for each time a Facebook user interacts with your page. For larger pages this may result in numerous emails flooding your inbox but this is another tool to help you manage your expanding community.

You can now also moderate profanities as well as create moderation blocklists to automatically direct a user’s comments to spam.

Hope you found our four tips and hints helpful, they should at least make Thursday’s transition into the new Facebook layout a little less painful. We would love to hear from you and what your opinions are on the new layout. What do you think the next big changes for Facebook will be?

With communication in such a state of change and the way information is shared and consumed evolving at such a fast rate it is important that the industry take stock and reflect on the past year to see where future opportunities lie. To that end Core Media conducted a study of what the media landscape will look like throughout 2011.

The report provides you with a snap shot of the key developments we expect to see in 2011 and assesses the consumer’s mindset across all major media channels including Press, TV, Online, Radio, Outdoor and Cinema. There is no doubt that it has been a tough year for traditional media with the closure of both the Sunday Star and the Sunday Tribune but with digital set to experience positive growth of +13% we are left feeling optimistic for 2011.

Technology has had a big impact on consumer behaviour and the rise of smart phones means that retailers will have to re-evaluate the relationship between the consumer and physical retail outlets. 85% of all adults that took part in our survey engaged in at least some online shopping over the Christmas period. This shows that consumers are taking an always on approach to information consumption and purchasing decisions are made at the consumer’s convenience, putting pressure on the brands to keep up.

As you know the internet reached new heights in 2010 and is set to grow at a faster rate in 2011. Internet brands like Facebook, Google and Twitter are setting the pace and shaping the landscape of commerce in Ireland leading to fantastic new opportunities for brands. There are already more than 500,000 smart phone devices in Ireland and by 2013 it is forecast that more people will access the internet via their mobile phone rather than a PC. Tablet PC’s and particularly the iPad are being heralded as a possible saviour of traditional newspapers.

Google’s dominance in the search arena will be challenged for the first time by Bing in the second quarter of this year. Location based social networking is also set to make a greater impact in 2011 with the launch of Foursquare and Facebook Places in the Irish market. All these developments in the digital space mean that it will be the only sector to experience growth throughout the year. We anticipate a 13% increase in advertising spend to €122 million or almost 17% market share. Search will account for almost 50% of this figure followed by display at 26% and classified advertising with 24%. Overall internet penetration will reach 87%, with broadband access growing to 75%.

Both Radio and Outdoor advertising will experience continued decline throughout 2011 with a drop in advertising expenditure of 5% and 6% respectively. Both mediums have a solid history in this country but need to be re-energised and becoming more digital will be a big part of this process.

So 2011 is set to be another very exciting year for the advertising and media industries. It is the clear that the future lies with digital but that more traditional media still has its place and if leveraged in a creative and engaging way can be strong tools through which brands achieve objectives and communicate messages. Let us know what you think and if you wish you can read the full report here!

Yes, for those of you who were not aware Buckingham Palace ‘likes’ the internet and even better the social web! The British Monarchy (BM) joined Facebook in mid September 2010 and but have been active on Twitter for much longer. Last week’s announcement of Prince William’s engagement sparked my interest in their profiles again as the web was buzzing with the news. So I had another look through their profiles to see what they were up to.

I was delighted to see a well used YouTube channel (The Royal Channel, of course) with over 200 uploads. Unfortunately the possibility of adding comments to a video are removed but it does have over 33,000 subscribers. The BM’s Facebook community page has over 263,000 ‘likes’ and they have over 79,000 followers on Twitter. Direct engagement is minimal on these profiles but their fans don’t seem to mind, their Flickr account is another social profile that allows fans a little more access to the royal family. However, does this add up to a whole lot of love for the British Royal Family?

After last week’s announcement there was huge feedback across the web with plenty of photos and official announcements from the profiles. According to Mashable the reaction to Prince William’s engagement on Twitter was 43% positive, 41% neutral and 16% negative. On reading the comments and feedback on the Facebook page I can say that this reaction appears to be much more positive when directed at the BM. An interesting aspect to note was that a large amount of the feedback was coming from overseas users not just those in the UK.

So it appears that interest in the BM is still burning bright or perhaps it was their approach into social media that has been its saving grace? Over here in Ireland we may not have the same affection for the BM but could the openness of social media help invigorate our interest in some of the non-governmental state offices in Ireland or at least improve our understanding of them. Would you follow Áras an Uachtaráin if they were on Twitter? Would you comment on photos of Mary McAleese at a ceremony in Cork?

Overall the use of social media in this way adds a more human face to a brand that is immersed in years of history. The BM like many brands has an abundance of older followers so the addition of social media to their communication channels can hopefully only serve to heighten their profile and affection among the British public. Here’s hoping for a live streaming of the wedding from Westminster Abbey on YouTube!

On the 6^th of October Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook announced improvements to the Facebook Interface. The announcements came via a live press conference that streamed over the internet, watch the press release here. Zuckerberg and his team talked about an intense “sixty day lockdown period” that various product teams underwent over the summer due to the high level of product upgrades and launches that were happening. These include Facebook Questions, Facebook Places, updates to Facebook chat and improvements to the photos application.

The main purpose of the press conference, held at Facebook headquarters in Paulo Alto was to announce the launch of the new version of Groups. This feature is designed so users can create spaces within their existing Facebook profiles that are more intimate and personal. So, for example, if I want to share photos that were taken on a family holiday but don’t want my 250 other friends to see them I just create a Group. This will allow me to add only my family members and anything I post to this group will be private and only visible to the group members. When I or any member of my family posts something to the Group we will all receive an e-mail notification that tells us who has posted what to the Group profile. This is no different to current settings where we receive e-mail alerts for certain actions such as when a friend has commented on a wall post.

It is extremely simple to create a Facebook Group. It can be done in two ways. The first is to go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/ and click on “Create Group”. Alternatively you can just log into your profile as normal and click on the Create Group icon on the left hand column of your homepage under “friends”.

Once this is clicked just name the Group whatever you like and add any of the people in your existing friends list. You can then choose the level of privacy you wish the Group to have. There are three to choose from:

1. Open – Meaning both the members and the content posted are public.
2. Closed – Meaning the members are public but the content is private.
3. Secret – Meaning both the members and the content posted are private.

It is important to note the default setting of every group is Closed.

Once a Group is created members can enjoy enhanced functionality. Within Groups Facebook has added a Group chat function so every member present on Facebook can join the conversation. As mentioned above Groups can be set up so any time someone posts something to the Group every member gets an e-mail notification. On top of this, Groups can be assigned individual e-mail addresses so every time a member sends an e-mail it will appear in the Group profile as a post.

Basically Groups are mini profiles within your existing profile. Because of this I don’t see how Groups lend themselves to brand pages. The goal of brands setting up social media profiles is to reach their extended user base. This is contrary to the nature of Groups which aim to create more concentrated private spaces within Facebook. However, there may be scope to use Groups as a kind of reward scheme for dedicated users of your brand page. For example if users were to spend a certain amount with a company each month they would gain access to a Group and receive special offers.

Overall I think Groups are a really good idea especially now when so many of your Facebook friends are people you rarely see or interact with in your day to day life. However, there has been some resistance regarding the fact any one of your friends can add you to a Group without your permission. Personally that doesn’t bother me too much. What do you think? Have you set up or been added to any Groups yet? Are Groups good, bad or indifferent?

Let me know what you think.

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