WE BIG TRAFFIC
SOCIAL SEARCH
How this affects your marketing plan
#smwsocialsearch
@tugagency

TUG CREDENTIALS
 Established in 2006 we are a team of 30+ digital media professionals
 Creative Search & Social Marketing Specialists
• Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Display Advertising
 Global campaign experience – managed centrally and with
chosen agency partners
Our in house language skills include:
English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian, Cantonese & Korean

WHAT IS SOCIAL SEARCH?

TUG’S DEFINITION
“ Social search is the increased connection and
overlap between search engines and social
networks and the behaviours that
their users share.
”

SOCIAL SEARCH
THE TRAVEL SECTOR
Social Search: Social Search:
PPC ad has Search: Paid Search: Articles
multiple +1s or ad links to Travel article,
website where to go?
recommended by
likes friends
Typical Travel
Consideration
Search: Cycle Search:
Online Aggregator
reviews and sites e.g.
experiences Expedia
Social Search: Search: Social Search:
Friends holiday Flights and Pages linked or
hotels
reviews and liked by friends or
suggestions followers

EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL SEARCH
 Since 2003 there has been a huge volume of
social media data flooding the internet and
increasing in line with overall usage
 Previously internal search engines within a
social network accounted for finding people/
profiles
 Now search engines have to make sense of
this to help people find the data they are
looking for Social search now takes many forms, including tagging
social content, social sharing buttons to a more
sophisticated approach build into a search engine’s
algorithm

WHAT SOCIAL SEARCH MEANS TO GOOGLE
“ All the information that appears as part of Google Social
Search is published publicly on the web. What we've done
is surface that content together in one single place to
make your results more relevant. You can filter results to
see only content from my social circle by clicking "Show
options" on the results page and clicking ‘personalised
results’.
”
Maureen Heymans, Google's technical lead for Social Search

SEARCH PLUS YOUR WORLD
 When logged into your Google account,
search results and personal results are
merged, including information from
Google+
 See example for a search for travel
company “expedia”
 The use of social data to enhance natural
search listings is changing the way people use Google to search for information
 The default is for personal results to always be switched on

WHAT SOCIAL SEARCH MEANS TO BING
“ With social search, we are finally able to move beyond
“relevance” - a cold, logical place governed only by the
binary ones and zeros of the algorithm to a world of
“trust” where the warmth and richness of human intent
and instinct combines with the power of all that the digital
world has to offer.
”
Dave Coplin, Director of Search at Microsoft

BING SOCIAL COLUMN
 Bing introduced a Social Column in
their search listings in the US
 Facebook also integrates with
Bing Maps allowing Facebook Pages
to become tied to a location
 Different approach to integrating
results from Google’s Search plus Your
World

FACEBOOK MOVES INTO SEARCH
 Mark Zuckerberg announces that
Facebook receives 1bn search queries
every day “without trying”
 The top things people search for on
Facebook are other people, second to
this are Pages and third are events
Facebook arriving at social search from a different
point than Google and Bing, having world out
social first and now focusing on search
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/zuckerberg-we-have-a-team-working-on-search/

SOCIAL SEARCH IN PAID ADS
 The crossover between paid search and
social search is becoming clearer with
targeting
 Built-in aspects on multiple networks now
such as +1 and ‘like’ buttons on Google,
Facebook and LinkedIn paid ads
 Interacting with paid ads crosses over both
social media and search

GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
“ We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes
[Search plus Your World] , finding information will be
much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for
people, publishers, news organisations and Twitter users.
Official company statement from Twitter
”

PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL SEARCH
“ People increasingly turn to LinkedIn for help when the
economy is difficult, the company's global reach and focus
on professional networking helps businesses and individuals
leverage the network to search for work and find jobs.
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner
”

IN SUMMARY
PLATFORM CURRENT STATE OF PLAY WHERE THEY ARE HEADED
Social Search integration into Google+ as social lead matched
search listings with search results
Social column and integrating Roll out social column in other
Facebook territories
Facebook paid ads and Bing
exploring new search prospects
integration
Developing itself as a social and Continue to develop internal
search platform search engine
Not in favour of how social Continue to develop internal
search influences its results search engine

THE FUTURE
FOR SOCIAL SEARCH

SOCIAL & SEARCH MERGE
Imagine the information you provide to Google detailing your search history
combined with the profile and social data you contribute to Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn etc. all in one place
This would give companies a holistic understanding of who a user is online
based on their search history and social profile information

EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL
SEARCH @ TUG – 3 CASES

BOINC
TUG SOCIAL SEARCH 09/11

FACEBOOK OPENS API TO MUSIC
PARTNERS F8 ANNOUNCEMENT 22/09/11
OBJECTIVES MEDIA APPROACH
Search:
 Boinc wants to be part of the conversation  PPC on Search Network
 Distribute video interview of Boinc  Banners on Display Network
founder discussing F8  Forum commenting
 Establish boinc’s PoV  PR optimisation & distribution
 Build awareness pre-launch  Online news seeding
TARGET AUDIENCE Social:
 Technology journalists  Video distribution
 Music journalists  YouTube advertising
 Industry influencers  Facebook advertising
 boinc business partners & investors  Blogger outreach

WE ‘HIJACKED’ THE ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR BOINC
For a short period, competitive keywords like ‘facebook
music’ can be hijacked if all Search & Social assets are
optimised for targeted keywords.
Social Search used to position boinc as part of the
conversation Tug
Tug
Tug

TRIA BEAUTY
TUG SOCIAL SEARCH 01/12

INTEGRATING SEM & SMM
While all channels can influence your
AWARENESS audience at each stages of the
‘purchase cycle’
SEO
Target finds content through research
and surfing Each of the 3 chosen digital channels
has its core strength
CONSIDERATION
Social Integrated they can amplify your
Prospect engages with content, message and drive your audience
shares/reviews with friends
down a chosen consumer journey
ACTION
PPC
Consumer searches or surfs related,
clicks to site, signs up or buys

SOCIAL SEARCH
TRIA BEAUTY
 Tug launched a “social search” campaign for laser
technology company Tria Beauty alongside UK
product launch
 The approach was to combine PPC, SEO and social
media to drive organic traffic and sales on the e-
commerce site
 Objectives of the campaign:
1. Brand awareness
2. Establish a digital presence
3. Sell products

SOCIAL SEARCH
TRIA BEAUTY
OBJECTIVE SOCIAL SEARCH APPROACH RESULTS
Establish Social Media Awareness among 250,000
Brand awareness for UK product Communities, optimised for people via social media and link
launch search, whilst building links to building to brand mentions in
brand content SERPs
Establish clear digital ‘presence’ Increase prominence of links on Online influencer exposure from
that links all activity to the search engines and approach beauty experts contributing blogs
website influencers in the sector creating prominent links
Sales of Tria’s products through e- PPC, SEO and Social Media PPC, organic traffic and social now
commerce website combined to increase the position account for approx. 50% of all
of product pages on the SERPs products sold

FACEBOOK NOTES TEST
TUG SOCIAL SEARCH 07/12

FACEBOOK NOTES TEST
APPROACH
 Facebook notes page launched end July – optimised for ‘creative social media campaign
optimisation’ – with NO LINK BUILDING
 The Facebook note was shared on Twitter, resulting in the Twitter status ranking in #1 of Google UK
for the same keyword.
 The twitter status ranked in #1 for a couple of weeks and then disappeared from the top 10 results
 Facebook notes page still in top 5 position on Google UK
INTIAL CONCLUSIONS:
 Because of the high authority of Facebook, notes can be used to quickly rank for long-tail keywords
with low competition
 Facebook notes can be used for clients that can’t add new content to their websites
 Facebook notes pages should be used to highlight client products, services, whitepapers etc.

FACEBOOK NOTES TEST
Two months
later – with no
link building –
we still rank
no.5
for this longtail
keyword

10 SOCIAL SEARCH TACTICS
YOU CAN IMPLEMENT TODAY

1. SOCIALISE YOUR CONTENT
 Include social sharing buttons in your
site content
 Corporate blogs becoming more
important for Social engagement and
acquisition – still have inherent SEO
value
 Distribute your content across social
sharing sites eg. Reddit
 Highlight your targeted site/blog
content using social properties

2. INTEGRATE SEO & SOCIAL
CONTENT
 In SEO, Content is King
 Objectives: Relevance & Depth
 In Social, Conversation is King
 Objectives: Interest & Engagement
 Merge your content calendar with your
conversational calendar
 Social & SEO teams to brief in content creation
together
 Content for distribution:
 Optimised for SEO
 Socialised for sharing
 Blogger targets shared
1 holidays to Florida 2013, multi centre holidays, florida villa holidays [Best Family Holiday Destinations in 2013 and 2014]
1 Cheap holidays 2013, multi centre holidays usa, Disney florida holidays [5 Best Holiday Destinations for Kids and Big Kids]
1 orlando holidays 2012, twin centre holidays usa, holidays to florida [Things To Consider When Renting Florida Villas]
1 Holidays to orlando 2014, Villas in Florida, Holidays in Florida What's New in Florida?]
1 Orlando holidays 2012, Multi centre holidays 2012, Disneyworld holidays [The Best Beaches In Florida]
1 Holidays to florida, disney holidays, holidays to orlando 2012 [A Guide To Florida's Best Villas, Theme Parks and Restaurants]
1 Holidays in Florida, Disney holidays 2014, Orlando villas [5 Things To See In Disney World]

3. USE SOCIAL FOR LINK BUILDING
 Search engine algorithms definitely take social
signals into consideration when ranking sites
in the SERP
 Link to targeted site pages from your social
profiles
NB. Source unverified. And we don't agree
necessarily with the % splits. However it’s an
 Target SEO keywords in updates and tweets
interesting way to look at the evolution of
SEO and how some of its techniques are
merging with Social
 Good way to kick start a programme or
emphasis on a new keyword

4. OPTIMISE YOUR SOCIAL PROPERTIES
 Use SEO on page techniques to optimise
the content and descriptions of your
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn pages.
 To Optimise your FB page:
 URL
 About Section – include site URL
 Company description
 Notes pages
 Define a ‘like’ statement
 Reciprocal links – site/FB

5. CREATE FACEBOOK NOTES PAGES
 Notes pages can be used to increase
breadth of relevant & SEO optimised
copy
 Promote Services
 Promote Products
 Promote Whitepapers
 Ensure you deep link to content on
your site
 Link build with relevant content to
your FB page
 Compose keyword rich Tweet with a
link to the FB page

6. OPTIMISE YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
 YouTube is the 2nd biggest Search Engine
 One of the 1st social platforms
 Optimise your YouTube channel for SEO
best practice
 Link to your targeted deep pages
 Tag your videos with relevant keywords &
optimise for themes

7. BECOME PART OF THE CONVERSATION
 For timely announcements or events
you can ‘hijack’ the SERPs for a few
hours/days
 Optimise all your search & social assets
for 1-3 focused terms:
 Video
 Images
 Articles/whitepapers
 Press release – paid for wider distribution
 Social updates
 Dedicated notes page on FB

8. IMPROVE YOUR BRAND REPUTATION
 Use Social profiles & other assets to
‘own’ top 10 listings in SERP – for
Brand
 Create social profiles to increase
positive and neutral listings for
brand searches
 Apart from Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook:
 Local directories eg. BT trade space
 Document sharing sites eg. Slideshare
 Industry vertical directory profiles
 Flickr, YouTube, Meta Cafe

9. TEST PREMIUM PAID ADS ON FB
 Test innovative ad formats on
Facebook:
 Polling ads
 Video ads
 Sponsored Stories
 Set KPIs and track conversions.
 Typically conversion rates better
within Facebook – but differs by
industry – test & learn!

10. CONNECT YOUR SOCIAL & PPC
 30 unique reviews from the past 12
months, and an average rating of 4
stars or higher on Google Shopping
– adds rating extensions to your PPC
ads.
 Create a Google+ page and link it to
your Adwords campaign.
 With +1 social extensions, you can
increase social recommendations,
be added to a consumer’s G+ circles
and improve campaign CTR.

Ben Stirling Ben Romberg Nick Beck
Business Development Director Social Media Director Managing Director
ben@tugsearch.co.uk ben.romberg@tugsearch.co.uk nick@tugsearch.co.uk
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