At F8 back in September, Facebook announced the launch of the Open Graph initiative, which was engineered to allow users to share the news stories they were reading with friends. It’s proven to be an immediate success, with top newspapers like the Guardian and Washington Post gaining 4 million and 3.5 million subscribers respectively. The publications are pleased too, as it has given them access to a younger demographic. The Guardian has had strong uptake in the under-24 age group, and 83% of Washington Post app users are under 35 years old.

Some users greeted Open Graph with some derision, as the automatic sharing of news stories they are reading isn’t something they wanted. Many still share stories using the more familiar copy/paste method, giving users more control over the articles they choose to share.

The most popular story shared on Facebook this year came from the New York Times; a collection of interactive satellite images of the after-effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March. This story was shared over 600,000 times. The second most shared story was a CNN feature on “What teachers really want to tell parents”, which was shared 586,000 times. The top ten was rounded out by a variety of stories including animal tales, feminist themed editorial and two stories on zodiac signs. The top 40 is available as a note on www.facebook.com/media. It’s clear to see that humorous and political pieces are the most often shared types of story on Facebook.

The volume of articles shared and uptake on news apps is further proof that social sharing is a massive influence on the way we consume news today. More and more current events are shared on Twitter before the mainstream news catches on, meaning more people turn to their social networks first when looking for the latest updates. Just this week a video of a woman in the UK having a racist rant on a London tram spread like wildfire over twitter. By the time BBC News caught on to the story, it was to report that the woman had already been identified and arrested. The line between traditional news media and social media is blurring by the day, and it will be interesting to see how this trend evolves in 2012.

Micrositez: SEO and Social Media.

BBC news, facebook, Guardian, Open Graph, social sharing, twitter, Washington Post

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Facebook are preparing for an IPO in spring 2012. The world’s largest social network aims to raise $10billion during the public stock offering, which would value the company at an incredible $100billion. If this expected valuation is correct, the company started by Mark Zuckerberg in a university dormitory will be worth double the valuation of PC giant Hewlett-Packard.

The IPO will raise enough money to keep Facebook evolving and developing for a few years, but analysts are concerned about what outsider influence could do to the company. Mark Zuckerberg is notorious for keeping a tight rein over the company’s direction and any major changes and developments. This is one of the reasons he controls an extra seat on the board of directors. Relinquishing some of that control to outside investors could be a big problem for a company innovative as Facebook.

Changes that niggle users – as the newsfeed did when it was first introduced – could be discouraged by stockholders to avoid temporary dips in the stock price. The ad-less Facebook mobile site and free smartphone apps will doubtless be a bone of contention to outside investors, keen to see advertising revenue rise without real thought for the user experience. For Facebook to avoid a future of banner ads, sponsored stories in the newsfeed, and other potential irksome changes, it needs to find a way to balance outside investment with the level of control and identity it currently maintains.

In other tech IPO news, the recent public offering from Groupon has quickly gone from success to mediocrity. Stock is currently trading at $15.24, around half high price that investors paid for stock at the offering earlier this month, and below the initial $20 price Groupon itself set. For the stock to fall so quickly in the space of a few weeks could show that initial excitement about the company has worn off. Groupon’s failure to profit from the momentum around black Friday and cyber Monday has also disappointed investors.

Micrositez is an award winning Digital Marketing Agency.

Advertising, facebook, Groupon, mark zuckerberg, social media, Tech IPO

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are three of the biggest shopping days of the year in the US. Today is Cyber Monday across the pond, and while the UK equivalent isn’t for another week, we thought it was still a good enough reason to check out how businesses are using social media to promote their big deals this year.

Cyber Monday falls on the Monday following thanksgiving, and is the busiest day for online retail of the year, as families prepare for Christmas. In the UK the busiest day for online retail is usually the first Monday in December. US retailers often offer massive discounts, similar to Black Friday deals and will be competing with each other to lure shoppers to their sites.

This year, more than ever, social media is being used to spread the word about deals, offer exclusive discounts and attract customers. According to shop.org, 29% of American consumers will check out the Facebook pages of retailers when deciding where to shop this year. More than ever, it pays stores to have a social media presence.

Social media also serves the customers well. Dedicated Facebook and twitter accounts have popped up seeking out deals for customers (searching “Cyber Monday” on either site yields a large number of new accounts). Individual retailers are also offering exclusive deals to fans. Great techniques include inviting fans to “events” at their online store (Hudson Jeans), updating fans with new offers in real time on twitter (Best Buy, Kmart), and deal alerts to customers’ mobile phones by SMS (Amazon).

On Small Business Saturday – a US only event which encourages shoppers to buy their festive goods at small, local merchants – American Express customers who synced with Foursquare got a great deal: a $25 dollar voucher towards purchases at the small businesses of their choice. Etsy, as a collective of small merchants selling handmade wares, was a perfect fit for Small Business Saturday, and used their blog to showcase deals available on the day.

At Micrositez, we can’t wait to see if UK retailers are as keen to use Social Media to get our attention next Monday.

Micrositez: SEO and Social Media.

Cyber Monday, facebook, Foursquare, online retail, social media, twitter

Welcome to part 2 of what’s next blog series that aims to highlight key topics and trends taking place in the world of digital marketing over the next few months.

We talked yesterday about the integration between SEO and social media, and touched briefly on how social media is affecting search, by its popularity and personalisation. Today we’ll look at two more areas;

1. Personalised search

We are already starting to see changes being made by Search engine giant Google, to take a more local search approach where studies have shown an increase in the number of users making choices based on Google place listings. So if you haven’t got a places page then, we recommend you get one, and make sure you fill in those details correctly, to be easily found. The more recommendations you gather from aggregators will also help build your online presence, so don’t miss out and gather. And finally, to fully take advantage of this growing trend, make sure you are clearly labelled, and include relevant links back to your site.

2. SEO for mobile platforms

With more users jumping on their mobiles to surf the net, whether that person is in transit from place to place, or sitting in front of their TV screen with their laptop and smart phone in hand, (studies have shown this to become more common). It stands to be the case that as more searches are conducted on mobiles now than any other device, marketers and businesses must adapt and adjust their SEO strategies to become SEO mobile friendly.  According to one study Google currently own a 99% piece of the mobile search market pie. Just this week, Google adapted their search options to offer a mobile app filter that enables users to locate apps from popular app providers including, Apple iTunes App Store, Google Android Market and many more. These apps are already being indexed now too.

3. Search v Display

Just a brief point we thought would be worth mentioning as these two separate areas normally compete with each other. We believe next year there will also be integration between search engine marketing and display advertising, something we’ll cover more in next week’s blog, which focuses on PPC.  Combining both could potentially produce very interesting results, utilising the strengths of both and putting them together could create one very powerful source – one to watch out for.

Micrositez Digital Ltd is a Search Engine Marketing Company.

Google, organic search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, search engine optimisation

The ARC Stars basketball team is currently sponsored by Micrositez Digital Marketing Agency. Thanks to the success of the ARC Stars basketball project, and the ARC Stars basketball team itself, they have been awarded Glasgow’s Good Practice Award! Micrositez would like to extend their congratulations to the ARC Stars programme and all of the ARC Stars players.

The ARC Stars will attend a ceremony in the Glasgow City Chambers along with four other projects who have achieved the merit this year. Micrositez, being both the sponsor and supporter of the ARC Stars, have also been invited to attend the event on Wednesday 18th January and support the ARC Stars while their presentation is made.

In an extra bonus, the players have been granted a day off school by the education minister Michael Russell MSP, which we’re sure they’ll enjoy. For Micrositez staff it will be business as usual, optimising our clients’ sites for the best search engine results.

Micrositez is an award winning Digital Marketing Agency.

ARC stars, community sponsorships, Glasgow, Glasgow city chambers, Good practice award

This week’s ‘What’s Next’ blog will take a look at what’s current and what’s still to come for SEO in 2012. We can’t cover it all, but we will offer up a few snapshots of what’s taking place within the world of SEO and worthwhile keeping an eye on for 2011 going into 2012.  If you’re a business with a website, then an SEO campaign is something you should either be aware of and weighing up, or something you already participate in.

As usual, over the course of today and tomorrow we will highlight just a few important SEO topics we believe you should be aware of. Today, we will cover:

SEO v social media

The integration between search and social data will continue to be a big part of SEO’s future, as the power of social search in power networks such as Facebook, Twitter and open source content management systems like WordPress and other blogging  platforms puts pressure on search engines to produce the freshest, most relevant results in real time.

Just a few weeks ago, search giant Google announced a bunch of algorithm changes which reward fresher content – A clear move by Google to ‘adapt to survive’ from the rising power of social rivals such as Facebook and Twitter as ticker and timeline feeds becoming an favourable alternative to search.

Does this mean the end for SEO? Not at all, statistics have shown that people are still more likely to buy in to search results offered up by old timer search engines such as Bing, Yahoo and Google. That being said, as the integration between SEO and Social media continues to merge search engines will be pressured to make changes much like Google are introducing at the moment, and more.

Still wondering what Google means by raising the bar for fresher content?

Ultimately, this will be relevant for bloggers and businesses that should all by now have a blog integrated within their website. We should all be striving to produce fresh and engaging content as good practice anyway, which ultimately impacts your rankings too. Google has been building on its on-going effort to make recent events, and more popular content appear higher up in search results. Demanding higher quality of content from our CMS will also mean less risk of your fresh content being duplicated too.

This is definitely new ground for search and social as the pair can no longer be separated. Both hold exceptional influence over search rankings and as we move towards a world that’s much more consumer-driven both will hold equal importance when trying to achieve a personalised online experience.

Join us tomorrow for part 2 in our ‘What’s Next for SEO in 2012’ blog series, where we will be looking at Search v Display and Mobile Search.

Micrositez: SEO Marketing Company

search engine optimisation, Search Engine Optimization, search engines, SEO, seo packages

Visitors to Yahoo! Site Explorer are now greeted with the message below, confirming that the service is no more. Although plans to discontinue YSE had been public knowledge for around five months, search engine marketers have noted its passing with some sadness. As a leading provider of Search Engine Marketing solutions, here at Micrositez we know the value YSE provided.

(screenprint of http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/index.php taken today, 23 November 2011)

The move follows completion of the algorithmic transition to Bing across global markets (excluding Korea), and YSE itself has now been merged into Bing Webmaster Tools. The YSE page recommends that webmasters use Bing’s tools for search traffic monitoring, but there are alternatives out there. While Google Analytics and Bing Webmaster Tools give you a wealth of information about your own site, they aren’t as helpful to companies doing an initial report for a client or checking out competitors.

Free alternatives include SEOMoz’s ‘Open Site Explorer’ (although information is restricted without a paid subscription) and ‘Searchmetrics’. Toolbar plugins like ‘SEOBook’ and ‘SEO for Firefox’ are also helpful. More information, as expected can be found in paid tools, such as ‘Link Research Tools’, ‘Linkdex’ and ‘Who Links To Me’.

SEO resource sites such as Search Engine Watch and SEO Round Table have also expressed their disappointment at the loss of YSE. Writing for Search Engine Watch, Frank Watson expressed hope that Bing would repackage YSE under the Bing brand and relaunch the tool.

Micrositez provides award winning Link Building Services.

Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, search engine marketing, SEO, Yahoo! Site Explorer

The rise in tablet traffic online has been closely watched by analysts and businesses. Companies are optimising their sites for tablets to take advantage of an increasing market, and recently released figures seem to imply they’ve made the right decision.

According to Affiliate Window’s M-Commerce white paper, on mobile commerce in 2011, the average conversion rate for Apple’s iPad in August was 3.82%, compared to 1.9% for desktop devices. This means people are more than twice as likely to purchase goods online from their iPad as from their desktop computer. The value of the purchases made is also greater; the average order value made from an iPad is £69.94. When you compare this to Android (£43.76) and Blackberry (£32.50) it’s clear to see there is real value in optimising for the iPad. The data used for Affiliate Window’s research involved 81.9 million visits to online merchants, and recorded 1.57 million sales. The positive conversion rate does not take into account in-app purchases, which is money spent within an application by a developer or retailer. The figures concentrate on iPad statistics only, but as the dominant force in the tablet market (generating over 88% of tablet traffic) this is the device e-commerce is most interested in for now.

The tablet market is expected to experience massive changes in the coming year. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Asus are planning to exit the tablet market, after weak sales of their Android powered devices. There are new entrants to the market in the shape of Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet (both in the USA only for the time being). These new devices, from Amazon and Barnes and Noble, are priced far more competitively than iPad and, instead of current tablets, are marketed as e-readers with a little extra. While not as technologically advanced as the iPad, analysts are expecting huge sales and subsequent traffic from both.

Both Samsung and Nokia have announced their tablet plans for 2012, and both companies are developing tablets optimised for the Windows 8 OS. Windows has failed to make any real entry into the market so far, and will be hoping that teaming up with these smartphone manufacturers will help them enter the tablet market and compete with Apple.

Micrositez is an award winning Digital Marketing Agency.

android, Apple, ipad, online retail, tablets, Windows 8

Here in Scotland, it has been reported that footfall in shopping areas has dropped 9% compared to this time last year, and the Christmas period isn’t looking too jolly for the high street. Online retailing has bucked the trend, and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) has forecast a bumper online spend this year.

It has been said that online shopping is killing the high street, and IMRG’s forecast of a £7.75billion “spending bonanza” in the UK this festive period appears to support that. The smarter high street retailers are taking advantage of their existing brand loyalty, and investing in their online stores. A year on year increase in online sales of 13% for high street stores has been their reward, and this is expected to swell even further this Christmas shopping season. Online retailers without a high street presence have seen even more growth, a massive 16% compared to this time last year.

eBay are piloting a new approach to online shopping this year, opening a pop-up store with no tills in London’s West End. Customers will browse goods in the store and pay by scanning QR codes with their smartphones. The online retailer’s 200 most popular products will be available, and delivered to customers’ homes once they order. The plan, say eBay, is a Christmas shopping experience with “no queues, no bags, no stress”. House of Fraser, an upmarket high street department store, has also tried a different approach this year. They have opened a store in Aberdeen with no products, just some friendly assistants with iPads and plenty of free coffee.

The most common reason people will give for getting their Christmas wares online is the price. This Friday, bargain hunters can take advantage of Amazon’s Black Friday offers again this year, with products on deals expected to sell out just as quickly as they did in 2010. Black Friday is an American tradition; the day after Thanksgiving most stores open early to hold large scales sales with heavy discounts, and across the pond people have been filling Christmas stockings with Black Friday bargains for many years. The name originated in Philadelphia, and refers to the period of the year when retailers would start to become profitable (or be “in the black”). Official figures have shown Black Friday as the busiest shopping day of the year in the US every year since 2005.

The Christmas shopping experience has changed completely in the past few years, and with people spreading word of bargains and good customer service across social media more than ever, it pays for retailers to get off the high street and on the web.

Micrositez: Social Media and SEO.

Amazon, Black Friday, Christmas Shopping, eBay, online retail

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s the veneer – that designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs

Continuing on from yesterday’s blog, what’s next in Web Design in 2012 part 1, we have listed a further three trends for any website owner, designer, or business looking to create or improve the success of their website.

1.Illustrations and graphics over photos

As important as social is to media, illustrations and graphics are to websites. Following in the ‘social’ trend, which encompasses user experience and user engagement, graphics and illustrations will be one of the main vehicles used to give websites that unique feel. With much more appreciation given to hand-drawn designs, animations, and interactive design used to grab the users attention.

2. Mobile friendly Design

As smart phones, tablets and iPads continue to increase in popularity; the demand on designers will be to ensure each website is easily accessible and read from our mobile phones, iPads and tablet devices.  For the designer this means thinking about screen resolutions, which differ from our main computer screens. Using CSS3 for these kinds of sites will certainly pave an easier road for the web designers to integrate both website design and mobile technology, which they must do without losing key design elements of the original site. They will also have to take into consideration touch screen elements of these devices too, as technology will continue to move in this direction next year.

3.Social connections

You may wonder why there is a social connections section in a blog about web design, but as the internet and technology advances it is vitally important for every website to consider the social side to their website. This will include various social network add-ons, to enhance user experience, and enable users to share all kinds of content on a variety of social networking platforms at their convenience.

Micrositez: Web Design, Web Design Company Glasgow.

graphic design, illustrations, social media, web design

One more weeks closer to 2012, and this week’s instalment to our ‘What’s next’ blog series outlining some of the trends we see up and coming over the next few months. Today’s focus: Web Design.

In no particular order, here are some of the areas we think you should be aware of when building that all important website, or making improvements to your already existing website.

1. HTML 5

This revision of HTML is intended to be an update for HTML4, XHTML1 and JavaScript combined. Although it’s not new on the scene, HTML 5 is set to become a more prominent language used by web developers when structuring and presenting content for the web.Apart from improving user experience (UX) and usability for your website, HTML 5 features new semantic tags to help developers classify all kinds of content; which is great news if your site uses lots of media files, such as audio and video. As a great alternative to Flashlight, sliver and SEO friendly, HTML 5 will be greatly relied on for social gaming, apps and mobile friendly sites and providing better visuals.

2. Typography

As the demand for usability and user experience continues to grow, Typography will also continue to be an integral part of web design. In the next season, we expect to see more in the way of typography from deepening shadows, to higher line heights. Moving away from the blend fonts of Times New Roman and times where designers were restricting, and exploring a whole new world – Where custom fonts can be mixed, bold and creatively shaped to grab the reader’s attention.

3. CSS3

This updated version of CSS2 has been spilt into over 50 modules. In addition to adding new features and improving other features of CSS2. CSS3 offers a host of modules we expect to see more off in the next season for web design. Some of which include, mega drop down menus, animated buttons, multicolumn layout, backgrounds, colours and a whole lot more.

Join us tomorrow for another three up and coming trends in what’s next in Web Design 2012 part 2.

Micrositez: Web Design

ccs3, html 5, web design, website design

London became the first 4G hotspot in the UK this week, in a trial of the next generation mobile network by O2. The trial was praised by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who hailed the trail as a great example of “how firms are continuing to invest in, and develop, the type of communications services that will keep the UK at the forefront of the digital revolution”.

To run the trial, O2 have installed 25 masts over a 15 square mile area of London which includes Soho and Canary Wharf. This equipment will eventually become part of O2’s 4G UK network, and can carry more data than the whole of O2’s current UK 3G network.

It has already been well documented that smartphone and tablet use are on the rise in the UK, and it has been speculated that this rise is already having an effect on overcrowded 3G networks. With more and more people accessing online content on the go, and a high demand for constant connection, there will need to be large investment by the networks on new masts across the country. Many mobile handset manufacturers have already made it clear that they have plans to integrate 4G into handsets from 2012 onwards, in time for the proposed 2013 activation of the UK-wide network.

In the US, where 4G is already available, consumers are enjoying download speeds of around 15Mbps in comparison to the 1.5Mbps available on 3G networks, but they are paying for the privilege. For a 10GB monthly data allowance, customers in the UK are paying their networks the equivalent of £70 per month, a figure likely to make 4G usage cost effective for only a few users for the moment.

However, when increased data consumption over mobile devices is factored in, and the convenience afforded by constant access to data in smartphones, we may see a big swing away from home broadband to 4G access. After all, if the future really is mobile, why wouldn’t users choose broadband speeds at their fingertips?

Micrositez is an award winning Digital Marketing Agency.

4G, broadband, mobile internet, Smartphones

Micrositez are pleased to announce an extension to their successful working relationship with Key Retirement solutions.

Key Retirement Solutions are the UK’s number 1 choice for independent advice on equity release, annuities and other retirement solutions. They have been offering independent advice since 1998, helping over 809,000 people with their retirement options. They compare annuity and equity release deals from the best UK providers to give customers an impartial and friendly service.

We are pleased to continue working with Key Retirement Solutions, and look forward to seeing their search engine rankings soar in the coming months!

Micrositez: SEO and PPC.

Annuities, Annuity, PPC, SEO

Eric Schmidt’s letter to the US Senate’s antitrust committee surprised many, thanks to an admission from the Google chairman that there was a “serious threat” to their search dominance. That serious threat is Siri, the voice controlled personal assistant bundled with the iPhone 4S.

At the time of the statement, it may have been difficult for some people to understand why Schmidt was worried – after all, a mere smartphone application should be no match for a search engine giant – but the more we learn about Siri the more it seems that there really might be something to fear.

There are three crucial components to Siri that make it a potential challenger to Google: smartphone integration, voice control and artificial intelligence.

Having the technology enabled in a smartphone also means that users have access to any information they want on the go, and there is no need to connect to a computer to search. And because Siri is enabled by voice control, a user can search for anything that they need by merely asking. A smartphone user having the ultimate convenience of enabling a search by simply talking could be unlikely to revert to traditional search methods, such as going to Google, Yahoo or Bing on their browser. This could create problems for Google’s financial model, based partly on paid advertisement links. Because Siri is not a visual medium, users no not see any advertisements or pay per click links when they search.

Siri’s biggest strength however is the AI technology integrated into the programme. Siri’s development originated with DARPA – the birthplace of the internet – who contracted a firm called SRI International to work on what they called the CALO Project. CALO stands for Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organises, and it was stipulated at the outset that the project was aimed to be an intelligent and friendly personal assistant. Siri is just the first incarnation of this, but is already being praised for adapting to the needs of users and gradually “learning” their preferences.

The announcement of an AI based desktop discovery engine from Siri’s sister company called Trapit will have Google and others watching with interest. The integration of AI into desktop search could well be another threat to Google’s dominance.

Micrositez: Search Engine Marketing.

AI, Google, search engines, Siri, Smartphones, Touchit

Searching the web can be an overwhelming process, and sifting out the wheat from the chaff an even lengthier process when you are not sure what to believe. Whilst more and more online users are flocking to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to get their daily dose of news, there is wisdom in using more than one source. So we’ve put together three alternative search tools to help you save time and get the best search result in return.

1.Addict-o-matic

Addict-o-matic is a great search tool that pulls real time search results from a number of high profiled sites, including Google, WordPress, Bing, Twitter, YouTube and number of other news websites. The great thing about this site is that you can search a topic or trend over multiple sites at one time and Addict-o-matic will lay out your results across a single three column page, making it much easier to skim for the relevant content.  Whether you require a broad look at a specific topic, or a more refined result perhaps through a smaller number of sources, then addict-o-matic will do that for you.

2.Social Mention

Another real time social media search that also provides analytical data.

Like, Addict-o-matic you can select from a number of sources, although social media has a particular focus on social media sources and will feature a list of relative keywords, hash tags etc. amongst results page.

This site will also allow you to create free alerts on your brand, company, specific search terms, or breaking news story similar to Google Alerts, but for social media.  Once you get going, you’ll find the interface easy to personalize, enabling you to tailor your search to any particular social media source too.

3.Search direct

Search direct is Yahoo’s latest answer to real time image and video search, for the UK. The site went live today, and aims to deliver results before the user completes a search. The new feature will display top trending images from around the web, allowing full size image display; and update each search every 10 minutes to ensure the latest search trends are displayed.

Users can also search the Yahoo! image bank, which gathers pictures from Yahoo news and Flickr, through their Facebook account providing the user has synced their Facebook with the Yahoo stream.

The US search engine giant has also announced a video search results page will also be available, with the ability to filter videos of interest to the user.

Micrositez: Search Engine Marketing

facebook, Google, search engines, twitter

In yesterday’s blog we unpacked a little of what we believe will be trending in social media in 2012. We talked about the personalisation that businesses and marketers will have to think about, and incorporate into every strategy and business model going forward.

According to a recent report by eConsultancy 64% of 1000 online companies said they have moved beyond experimentation on social media this year.

52% of companies use Facebook to address customer issues, and inquires. With 50% of companies also using Twitter for customer service.

If 2011 has been the year of global awareness of social media, where companies have grown in their understanding of what social media is and what it has to offer, then next year and the years to come will be all about touch.

• Touch

Where personalisation is all about what the consumer needs, wants and desires. Touch is all about the consumer’s experience.  A large part of touch relies heavily on devices like the iPad, smartphones, tables, and other similar devices as they become an essential tool, in which consumer’s uses to engage and interact with during their favourite TV programmes, games, music, movies and so forth.

“The smartphone is overwhelmingly deemed to be the most persuasive device for social media, according to 73% of company respondents.” eConsultancy

Social media will continue to become much more integrated with digital media and other traditional marketing practices. To incorporate this idea of social sharing, search and touch here are some of the things we will see more of:

• QR codes
• Subscription emails
• Video sharing
• Social gaming
• Apps
• Social search
• Mapping customer acquisition

Of course some of these are already happening right now, but as the frictionless experience kicks, social will become much more detailed. Peter Cashmore touched on this at week’s Mashable summit , when he referred to the frictionless experience as more than just liking something, now we can share what we’re reading, watching or even listening too.

Micrositez are a Global Digital Marketing Agency and offer Social Media Marketing.

Marketing, social media, social networking

Welcome to the first part of our two part series on what will be next in Social Media, in 2012.

If we are to sum up the trend of Social Media and put down some of the ways we believe the industry is going in two words; these words would be ‘personal’ and ‘touch’.

In this next year we believe the focus within Social media will be all about personalisation and touch. Today’s blog will look mainly at Personalisation, and tomorrow we’ll cover Touch.

• Personalisation

Personalisation is all about the consumer. It’s providing a user friendly service or product that encourages users to share and engage with. It’s no longer media, its social media.  So things like video, pictures, fresh content and innovative ideas that encourage consumers to share with their peers, that get them talking about you or your product is MASSIVE.

According to mobithinking.com:

• There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (a whopping 77% of the world’s population). China and India are the current leaders.
• Of all mobile devices in 2010, smartphones grew the strongest.

According to Hitwise:

• Google UK, Facebook, YouTube, eBay UK and Window’s live mail were the highest ranking websites who received the most traffic for the week ending 5 November 2011.

So mobile marketing and QR codes will play a bigger role as we are already starting to see them sneakily creeping onto our TV screens, billboards, business cards and even plastered across our websites, social networks and other merchandise.

Is content still king? Yes, but in 2012 we will see context become just as big and important. As the world of communication continues to evolve at great speed, businesses can no longer rely on fresh content alone, (although for SEO purposes content and the changes in algorithms fresh content is vital). In terms of social and embracing content, businesses must now look at the circumstances surrounding each campaign, and take a more holistic approach to any marketing campaign and make sure there is digital in there somewhere.

No longer will companies get by on the old PUSH marketing alone, we are moving into a new season, what marketers are calling PULL marketing, which basically incorporates social sharing.

It has become imperative for companies to have a strong digital presence that can adapt quickly to the constantly evolving changes in both technology, and in best practices.

There is massive buying power in social sharing and companies who are willing to invest time, attention and finance into the area of social media will hold greater potential. This is an extremely exciting time to be living in, and we haven’t even covered Touch in today’s blog.

Join us tomorrow for part 2 of what next in Social Media in 2012, and in the meantime check out just some of the other trends we see taking a larger role within businesses in 2012:

• Social search
• Mapping customer acquisition
• Social gaming
• The infusion of social and news

Micrositez are a Digital Marketing Agency with a range of Social Media on offer.

social media, social networks, social search, social sharing

Adobe Systems announced in an e-mail to partners last night that it will cease development of its Flash plugins for mobile browsers.  The news appears to signal a shift in focus for Adobe’s mobile strategy; when it launched flash 10.1 in June 2010, the company had lofty plans to have Flash pre-installed on more than half of all mobile devices by 2012. Companies such as Motorola and RIM who heavily promoted the Flash functionality on their products may feel let down by Adobe’s shift in tactic, but will have to accept that mobile browser Flash just wasn’t working.

Mobile-optimised Flash has been desirable to smartphone and tablet users for some time, but has been plagued by problems since its initial launch on Android devices. Development of the plugins had been promised and delayed since 2008, and when it finally did arrive it was only available on devices running Android 2.2 and above. Smartphone users who could not download Flash were frustrated by the lack of availability, while users who did have Flash expressed frustration at bugs and functionality issues.

The news from Adobe may well have a larger impact on another company: Apple. Steve Jobs famously took issue with Flash technology, stating in his widely circulated ‘Thoughts on Flash’ message in April 2010 that “Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it.” Apple’s decision not to support Flash on the iPhone’s iOS software has been criticised in the past, and has been credited with driving some users to purchase alternative smartphones. Now that Flash on mobile is being put to rest, Apple may well have proven that they made the right decision about the technology.

A statement has been promised from Adobe, but analysts are already suggesting that Adobe’s focus will shift to development of HTML5, and focus packaging apps with Adobe AIR. People will also be watching Adobe closely to see whether this could signal the beginning of the end for Flash player on desktop browsers too.

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Google has taken to their blog once again to announce Google+ Pages – the place for companies and organisations to establish a presence on the social network.  Until now, Google+ profiles had been limited to personal profiles assigned to an individual. Now, businesses and brands can create Google+ pages and open up the potential for interaction with the growing number of Google+ users.

By allowing businesses to create a presence on Google+ the new kid on the social network block has opened its doors to those looking to build brand awareness and generate business. The immediate popularity of the new feature is apparent to anyone with a Google+ or Twitter account, as feeds have immediately been littered with links to new Pages. It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see the statistics on new accounts, and the number of Google+ users who are adding organisations to their circles.

One notable feature is Direct Connect. Taking advantage of their search dominance, Google has enabled the feature, which allows a person to find a company’s Google+ name by simply searching for the company’s name with a + symbol in front. This simple search shortcut makes a Google+ Page a must for any company looking to expand their web presence. The open nature of the Pages platform (all feeds are automatically set as “public” meaning anyone can access them) makes companies’ presence immediately accessible, even to those without Google+ accounts. The search engine giant is hoping to merge search and social in a way that means a Google+ page is the essential internet presence for a business, just as websites have traditionally been, and Facebook and Twitter accounts have been more recently.

While immediately popular, there are some issues with the new types of account. A page can only be administered by one Google account, making it difficult for social media teams to maintain a company page as they would do on Facebook. And with little ability to customise their page, there is a limit (at present) to how creative businesses can be with their Google+ presence.

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Email marketing proves to be a returning trend as the latest research carried out by the Direct Marketing Association showed encouraging results.

The results are believed to be coming from a number of successful email campaigns returning higher numbers of traffic; as high as 33% increase in email click through rates between 2009 and 2010.

The email sector saw a 35% rise in the number of emails being sent in 2010. In numbers this transfigured into a growth of email addresses equating to 90.2 million, between Jan-Mar 2010. By the end of 2010 this grew again by 11.5million, totalling 101.7 million email addresses by the end of that year.

There really is great value for companies who can produce something of interest to the consumers, and make them want to sign up. With little cost to the marketer, or the company producing the email, the benefits of a good email campaign are by far outweighing reasons not to.

Which company wouldn’t want to increase their click through rates, and enhance opportunities for lead generation?

James Blunting for the DMA’s Email Marketing Council told The Drum, “Email is driving more traffic to websites than ever before.”

As email marketers in the UK continue to build on this growing industry, the sky really is the limit for what appears to be a bright looking future.

Micrositez: Email Marketing and PPC

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