Google’s Air First Search Commercial During Super Bowl

This past Saturday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt tweeted that Google would be airing its first ever television ad as one of the Super Bowl's wildly anticipated commercials. Although the ad has been on YouTube for the past three months and initially intended for just the Internet, Google’s affinity to this particular ad and its positive reaction from viewers has convinced Google to share it with a wider audience, instead of just utilizing social media marketing (SMM) techniques. What better way to do this than air it during the Super Bowl? Below is the aired ad called Parisian Love.

Google integrated its own sponsored ad in the usual Pay-Per-Click (PPC) area, which links over to their YouTube account and their lesser-known" TV Ads – AdWords" feature (a great cross-promotion strategy since they are anticipating users will use the search term "google tv ad"). Furthermore, of the search queries shown during the commercial, almost all the ads were taken out. The Super Bowl & Google publicity has already made one website take action for future tourists.

Although Google had other advertisements in radio, newspapers, and television in the past, this is the first commercial that featured what Google is prominently known for: their search engine. This TV spot can be seen as a counter-attack to Bing’s recent “search overload” commercial series.

SearchEngineLand.com says,

"Google’s never really had to market itself to consumers, to trot its stuff. The recently held 'Searchology' event didn’t cover anywhere near the range of what Google offers. But if the praise for Bing keeps largely rolling in — if people keep discovering features that aren’t necessarily unique to Bing — Google may find it has to step up."

SearchEngineLand.com surveyed many major companies, such as CNET, Wall St. Journal, and CNN Money, about the Google ad that aired during the Super Bowl and many have given positive reactions. CNET called the spot a "breath of fresh air," while the Kansas City Star called it a "winner" that was much more satisfying than the typical "sophomoric" Super Bowl ad.

If Google is already widely known for their search engine, why spend so much money on advertising it? Well, the advertisement, as said, was intended for the wider audience and meant to create online buzz. The cheaply made, though still expensively marketed, commercial has not only stirred up some buzz, but should cause Bing to become extremely nervous.

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Written by Chris C.

Ecommerce 101: Answering Your Most Frequently Asked Questions

Many business owners want to expand their businesses online, but do not know where to start. Listed below are the top ecommerce questions and their respective answers:

Q: What are the different ecommerce platforms? (Note: this is only limited to Cybertegic’s ecommerce platform offerings)

A: First is Volusion, which is an entry-level ecommerce platform, great for small businesses and startups. It has a basic web store interface and an easy-to-use dashboard control. 

Next is the Channel Advisor, a multi-channel e-commerce platform that works best for selling across multiple selling channels such as comparison shopping sites like Amazon, Nextag, eBay, etc., marketplaces, and paid searching. The user has the ability to manage all these channels under one comprehensive ecommerce platform. 

Third is the Microsoft Aspdotnetstorefront, the most advanced Microsoft ASP.net based ecommerce platform available. This is suitable for businesses that need a customizable ecommerce store to complement its existing business. It contains hundreds of customizable features such as Wish List, Gift Registry, and more. 

Last is the Netsuite, a completely integrated ecommerce system perfect for managing the entire Internet business. This ecommerce platform is great for mid to large sized businesses that are looking for a scalable and customizable reporting capability. Some features include accounting, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and more. 

Q: Which ecommerce platform offers product date feeds that can be used for comparison shopping site feeds?

A: The Volusion and Channel Advisor ecommerce platforms are equipped with pre-integrated product feeds; while in Aspdotnetstorefront and Netsuite, the feeds need to be customized.

Q: Which among the ecommerce platforms is the most SEO friendly?

A: All ecommerce platforms chosen by our company are SEO friendly.

Q: Would it be possible to modify our existing website to integrate a new ecommerce platform?

A: Yes, but sometimes, it is more difficult and costly to modify an existing website than to create a new one. Websites should first be evaluated carefully to determine which course of action to take. Things that need to be taken into consideration are: the exact scope of what needs to be done, the existing technology and platform being used, the level of access, and the client support.

Q: Should products be imported one by one?

A: If there are more than one hundred products, a database import efficiently creates product pages. Otherwise, a manual import will suffice.

Q: What is Cloud Computing?

A: “Cloud” means “Internet” and “Computing” means “computer technology,” meaning it is an Internet-based development and use of computer technology. Some examples of Cloud Computing companies are Volusion, Netsuite, Amazon, Salesforce, Google, and Microsoft.

Cloud Computing is divided into (1) IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service, which is am evolution of web hosting and virtual private server offerings; (2) PaaS – Platform as a Service, which provides all tools and facilities needed to support the complete lifecycle of building and delivering web applications and services over the Internet; (3) SaaS – Software as a Service, wherein a provider licenses an application for customers to use as a service on demand. 

Coke’s Combination of Traditional and Social Media Marketing

he news that Pepsi had decided to completely eschew Super Bowl ads in favor of social media marketing was pretty big, to say the least. In each of the past 23 years, the soda company had chosen to air commercials during the game, evolving to the point where the two had almost become synonymous with each other. Consequently, many interpreted this shift in Pepsi’s policy as a mark of how far social media marketing has come, and how powerful it has the potential to be for a business.

Although both of these things are undoubtedly true, people seem to be forgetting how useful social media can be when used in conjunction with traditional advertising. Much to Pepsi’s likely chagrin, however, Coke hasn’t made that same slip.

In addition to the usual Super Bowl advertising that Coca-Cola has planned, the company is also taking part in a social media campaign using its Facebook fan page. Coke plans to raise up to half a million dollars for the Boys & Girls Club of America by offering gifts on the site that can be sent to other users, and the company will contribute $1 for every gift purchased.

Though the proposed donation is an already benevolent gesture on its own, Coke is also offering a 20 second peek at its Super Bowl ads to users who purchase one of their gifts. As you can probably imagine, this combination of traditional and social media marketing is generating a considerable amount of buzz for Coca-Cola as a company.

In doing so, Coke has essentially provided a near textbook example of how to properly integrate different types of media into one shared campaign. The Super Bowl ad allows them a more traditional branding opportunity, while their social media campaign not only invites users to become active participants, but also rewards them for benefitting a good cause.

Consequently, it shouldn’t as too much of a surprise if it turns out that Coke wins this bout of advertising. Over 2500 Facebook gifts were given out during just the company’s announcement of this advertising project alone, and between now and the Super Bowl, it seems almost inconceivable that Coke won’t reach its goal of 500,000.

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Written by Kenny K.

Social Media and its 4 Fundamental Traits

Amybeth Hale was offered the opportunity to discuss with several of the most well-known players in social media. Of all the attributes they’ve mentioned, there are four key concepts that have helped them become successful in social media: developing relationships, become a digital trendsetter, take risks, and give back.

· Develop Authentic Relationships

o As we've mentioned before, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, encourages his employees to actively contribute and engage with the company Twitter account. Such actions show commitment, which is often times hard to come by. In a sense, developing authentic relationships is like networking. If people remember you for something such as providing advice, they’ll inform their other friends and so forth. It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you.

· Become a Digital Trendsetter

o In this day and age, people are always talking about the latest craze, like the Apple iPad. Although it’s good to be up-to-date, it’s more important and beneficial if you stay ahead of digital trends. Learn the direction that social media is taking and pursue it. By staying ahead of the curve, you will be perceived as a leader.

· Take Risks

o There is a risk in every choice you make, there’s no question about that. But it’s the degree of the risk that determines the reward. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Laura Roeder states, “We need to be brave, get out of our comfort zones, and go to places where people may be skeptical of social media, and of us. We need to evangelize.”

· Give Back

o And of course, give back. Ken Burbary, Ernst & Young’s Director of Social Media, gained attention from his peers by promoting other analytics and data from other social media professionals. Giving back, or “pay it forward”, shows sincerity and, in turn, many will show appreciation in different ways like mentioning you to their peers.

However, it should also be noted that social media shouldn’t be generalized as something only for the younger generation or other specific traits. In fact, the social media successors Hale interviewed with have come in a wide variety of traits such as being self-employed to working for a large corporation, having a graduate degree or learning from life, and people in their 20’s or 40’s. Such negative implications that are typically perceived for social media will only confine you from growing and possibly becoming a social media virtuoso.

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Written by Chris C.

Google Working on their Social Media

Although we may know Google for their search engine and successful efforts in areas like mobile devices and applications, one area that may have been overlooked are their attempts at social media. Google actually has its own social network called Orkut. It was associated with Google Friend Connect, which helped develop OpenSocial and Google Profiles. Google was hoping that these networks would become something like Facebook, where people can share photos, ideas, and converse with one another. However, it didn’t receive so much feedback or attention as other social networks Facebook and Twitter.

One of Google’s social networking successes is YouTube, where users are able to subscribe/follow, favorite videos, respond, and comment. However, Google has also suffered its fair share in acquisitions, evidenced with its recent fallout with Yelp.

Google’s has recently approached social media marketing gurus Chris Messina, Will Norris, and Joseph Smarr to be a part of their social media team. Even though one of Google’s main focus for 2010 is social media, it may be quite the difficult feat since social media is constantly and rapidly changing. Priorities are constantly shifting and new companies, like Foursquare, are becoming wildly popular. “Although Google has tried to venture into social media, there hasn’t been much success," says Smarr. "Social media can’t be conquered by building supercomputer, but it requires innovations, nurturing, culture, and brand.”

As we’ve mentioned in the past, Google’s shift in incorporating real-time/latest tweets and posts from social networking sites like Facebook are adhering to the growth of social media on the web.

A former Google employee states, “The challenge with Google is that it isn’t in [its engineers’] DNA. It’s not that they don’t care about [social networking]; they don’t even see it. It’s almost invisible to them because their world view is so analytical and so computational.” If Google hopes to take on this challenge and overcome the social media requirements, they will need to invest time, commitment, and resources, as they’ve already done with their newly employed social media team, to juggle all that social media currently and will have in the future.

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Written by Chris C.