INFLECTIONPoint 2010: Search + Social = Voice of Customer

by Tiffany Feltenberger | February 3, 2010

The influence of Search from Social is undeniable, but how are you invested? It’s no longer a one-way conversation, and the more you know, the more powerful your programs’ impact can be. At INFLECTIONPoint 2010, Dennis Haugan (T-Mobile USA) advises us that we want to be able to enter the world of social media without seeming naïve, or even worse, blindsided by negative product perception. By building out your social monitoring, you can know consumer sentiment so that you’re prepared to have conversations when you start your foray into the world of social dialogue.

The first step to investing is keying in on listening reports which allow you to identify your key evangelists and key detractors. Know how to engage with these bloggers and influencers to obtain more distribution (i.e. more listings in the search engines). Design for them to fit into your overall search marketing puzzle. Are you trying to start the buzz early? Provide them with “first glances” or trial runs.

Barry Kresch, another panelist at INFLECTIONPoint 2010, thinks that Search and Social share vocabulary. Social reports also provide industry terminology that you might not currently be using in your Paid Search efforts or in content on your pages to improve SEO efforts. Keyword discovery within social can help you perform well with consumer trending.

Actionable Insights:

1) Clarify roles throughout your organization. Maura Ginty (Autodesk) suggests building a Social Policy that includes Legal, Customer Service, Product teams and Marketing, as social media has implications relative to all departments. Everyone needs to be prepared.

2) Create the experiences. Give consumers the opportunity to interact with you in an online social setting, whether through participation on your site, other large social outlets or in Industry-specific community sites.