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01/04/2008 by
22024 views

Cafeteria Google vs Trendy Restaurant Facebook

Google has disrupted marketing strategies, neutralized monopolies of large brands with huge marketing budgets and has offered small brands opportunities to compete and win.

google_snackbar2.jpg

Then why do I call Google the Cafeteria of the internet? Simply because people visit Google for a quick snack.

They enter the cafeteria, drop their coin, grab the snack and leave again. It all happens in just 15 seconds!

Let me explain why I call Google the cafeteria of the internet and Facebook the new and trendy restaurant.

Are social networks, blogs, forums, communities and video portals (together called: social media) the next step after the search decade? No, I think Google will stay powerful for brands. But not for branding!

Almost all CMO’s around the globe have discovered the power of search: Google, Yahoo! and MSN. They run Search Engine Optimization (called: Natural Search or SEO) programs and Search Engine Advertising (called: Paid Search or SEA) campaigns.

The CMO’s have not discovered this search force yet, will be in a museum near you soon!

When I speak at events and conferences many CMO’s ask me: “Igor, do you think Social Media is the next big thing after Search“? And: “What can Social Media do for my brand”?

This is my answer to CMO’s: Google is not great branding or marketing. Google is a great traffic, leads and sales generating machine. So keep up doing your SEM properly, since it will bring you ROI fast.

But Google is also the “snack bar” (see photo above) of the internet. People get in and out fast for a quick snack. Google is no destination site. People don’t stay long, so it will be difficult to engage consumers in Google.

What you as CMO could achieve with social media? Social networks and social media have other skills. They work very well for branding, engaging consumers or community activation.

Facebook is not better than Google, it has different strengths. Facebook is the trendy restaurant: a place where people sit relaxed for hours, chat with friends, meet new people and peers, while they are wining and dining.

People also spend hours watching videos at YouTube or Tudou. Video portals like YouTube and social networks like Facebook are called: destination sites. These sites have stickiness to the max!

People stay there for half an hour or half a day, during one session. So social media sites like video portals and social networks offer CMO’s great opportunities to create brand awareness, to engage consumers and to launch community activation.

Google disrupted marketing, so here are my Search tips to CMO’s:

1. Google is great for site traffic, leads and sales!
2. Google is a Cafeteria, suited for sales not great for branding.
2. Keep doing your SEO and SEA in Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
3. Search works and will bring ROI if you measure accurate. Search is a no-brainer!
4. Get the best SEM agency available.

Here are my 10 Social Media tips to CMO’s;

1. Video portals are very sticky. Use them for branding.
2. Use branded skins around videos, do not push 30 second pre-roll commercials!!!
3. Social networks are sticky and know user profiles. Use them for branding, community activation or consumer engagement.
4. Use SMO (Social Media Optimization/Natural Seeding) and SMA (Social Media Advertising/Paid Seeding) to get (viral) reach, involve, facilitate and engage consumers.
5. Use blogs, forums and social networks to ask your target group about your products and services.
6. Use blogs to engage important opinion leaders and social influentials.
7. Use buzz/conversational tracking to see what consumers feel about your brand, products and services.
8. Don’t use banners or other traditional shouting ads in social media! Advertising in social media works if you start conversations!
9. Make consumer engagement part of your marketing value chain and marketing strategy.
10. Get the best Social Media agency available.

So I hope this item was of any value to CMO’s and some of their agencies. Google is great. Social media are great too!

Try to understand the power of interactive media: the power of interactive media are interactions and conversations, that’s why it’s called interactive media. The power of interactive media do not tell you to launch another shouting banner campaign; that is called push advertising.

With shouting only, you will not get the full force out of interactive media!

What About You?
Is Google the cafeteria of the internet? Is Google’s power in building brands or driving sales? And why should or shouldn’t CMO’s use social media?