Digital Marketing Blog

How will PPC Marketers Use Google Modified Broad Match?

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Google recently developed a new AdWords keyword match type called Modified Broad Match. It's triggered by using a "+" sign immediately next to a term: +marketing. Affectionately becoming known as BMM, or Broad Match Modifier, this new match type is being positioned "between" standard broad match and phrase match in terms of volume and performance. Search engine PPC marketers will need to quickly understand the ramifications and practical applications for this new match type. Here are some of our thoughts following Google's Webinar on this topic.

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What do you think? Please comment below. We'd love to read your opinions and especially hear about any real-world results you may have seen with BMM.

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Visualizing Modified Broad Match Type Volume

We always ask: Why? (Sure, it drove our parents and teachers crazy raising us but also serves us well as professionals.) So why did Google implement this new match type?

In looking at the surface area of this image from Google, you can see the answer. Modified Broad match greatly enhances the footprint volume of phrase match. This alternative helps bridge the two match types.

Why use Broad Match Modifier?

Google has noted three primary reasons for using this new modified broad match type:

1. If you want more volume from your phrase match terms
2. If you turned off poor performance broad match terms in the past and want to re-try those terms; this may be the push they need to gain positive ROI
3. If you turned off or never used certain broad match terms due to difficult negative match type management

We agree with those reasons for why you should try modified broad match. To us, #1 is probably the most important and the first area we'd attack. All of our PPC campaigns are hyper-targeted to meet strict performance metrics so we're always looking for ways to increase volume while maintaining those target cost per returns.

But perhaps the biggest reason we see for using BMM: The + modifier eliminates synonyms that are part of the standard broad match type. So if you sell only cowboy and work boots, under the standard broad match type boots would have triggered shoes, sandals, sneakers, and more. Under the new Modified Broad Match +boots will only trigger stemmed variations and mispellings, thus dramatically eliminating the -negative match guessing game you would have to play with Google under standard broad match.

What BMM Can't Do

While you can "combo" other keyword match types within Google AdWords, from what we saw in the webinar we attened modified broad match can't be mixed and matched with others. We could be wrong on this, so please share if you know otherwise. We captured some chat and moderator Q&A that seems to say combo match examples won't work with BMM:

• Incorrect BMM Use Example: +women's "formal shoes"
• Acceptable BMM Use Example: +women's +formal shoes

Final Thoughts on Modifed Broad Match Type

If the chasm between standard broad and phrase match is simply too large, it hurts the effectiveness of both match types. So to that extent modified broad match may help. It's PPC's answer to the gap wedge; for you golfers out there that get our primitive analogy. We can't wait to see more real-world numbers and we certainly welcome more options (more the merrier), so thanks Google! But at the end of the day the skeptic in us says: This is a way for Google to generate more CPC volume, or revenue, and its impact for PPC marketers is yet to be determined.

Read More: If you haven't already, we recommended checking out Google's blog post on Modified Broad Match Type; and sharing your commments below.

Nike #1 on Top 10 Viral Videos for May 2010

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On the heels of its May run where Nike saw three of its videos ranked in the Top 10 of GoViral's monthly list, Nike followed up in May by claiming the #1 spot for this "Write the Future" soccer (er, football) video:

Originally released only on Facebook and nikefootball.com, "Write the Future" from Nike features global soccer stars and has received more than 11 million views worldwide.

What do you think?

We want to know if you saw any of the videos from this month's Top 10 GoViral List:

1. Nike - Write the Future, agency: Wieden & Kennedy
2. TomTom - Behind the Scenes of Darth Vader's Voice Recording, agency: Pool Worldwide
3. Olympus - Pen Giant, agency: DSG
4. Hi Tec - Walk on Water (Liquid Mountaineering), agency: CCCP
5. Arriva Movia - Mukthar's Birthday - Better Bus Ride, agency: bybird/cadaver
6. Toyota - Toyota Sienna "Swagger Wagon," agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
7. Sony - 3DTV, agency: Anomaly
8. Nissan - Urban Bowling, agency: TBWA/G1
9. Stella Artois - Up There, agency: Mother
10. Google Chrome - Speed Tests, agency: BBH 

Which one(s) did you see? Which do you like best?

More importantly, for marketers, what common themes can we take away from this list to help us and our clients strike gold with a Viral Video campaign of our own?

Let's build this "Viral Video Top 10 Musts for Marketers" List together! Tell us what you think each video has in common. Humor?  News-worthiness? Please share your feedback and we'll follow-up with another blog post on this topic.

Facebook Advertising: Top 9 Reasons Why Digital Marketers Fail

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We recently blogged about reasons why Search Engine Marketer's typically do not achieve their campaign goals when running an ad campaign on Facebook. We have further explored the common mistakes companies make when venturing into Facebook advertising for the first time.

Here are the points we mentioned in our first Facebook Ad Best Practices for Search Engine Marketers POV:

1. Facebook is not a Traditional Search Engine
Facebook is in a category of "people search" and "social search".

2. Campaign Objectives: Alignment
The typical experience by a search marketer who tries to port an Adwords Campaign into Facebook advertisements.

3. Having a Custom Facebook Page
Serve custom content the Facebook social network with a Custom Facebook Fan Landing Page.

Here are some additional Best Practices for creating a successful ad campaign in Facebook:

4.  Target Demographics

"Who is my ideal customer/target market?"

Most Search Engine Marketers (myself included) are so obsessed with keywords, ad copy, landing pages, budgets and bid management they've completely lost sight of the Marketing part of Search Engine Marketing.

Best Practices for Profiling your Target Markets'

Demographics:

• Survey your Existing Customer Base
• Analyze your Site Traffic using a
  3rd party tools (Quantcast, Hitwise, Compete, etc)
• Run Facebook Ads on "broad match"
  (i.e. no demo targeting selected); pull some Demo reports after-the-fact

5.  Audience Targeting

"Where do I enter my Keywords?"
Hint: It's a trick question folks keep asking themselves. (See the Facebook Ad Strategy Download)

We have to preface this by saying Facebook Targeting is extremely more sophisticated than traditional search.

Facebook enables you to laser target based on over a dozen settings at the Ad Level instead of campaign:

1. Location
• City
• State
• Country 
2. Demographics
• Ages 13-64+
• On Birthday
• Gender
• Interested In (Gender)
• Relationship Status
• Language(s)
3. Likes & Interests (formerly known as ‘Keywords')
4. Education & Work
5. Connections/Friends of Connections

6.  Ad Testing

"I thought Multivariate testing was only applicable to landing pages?"

Search provides the ability to A/B/n test ads at the Ad Group Level for optimization while Facebook enables you to Multivariate test several variables at the Ad Level.

Best Practice: test these variables using individual ads:

• Title
• Body Text
• Image
• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Likes & Interests

Hint: Name your ads w/these same variables to keep track of them when you pull some performance reports.

7.  Creative Burnout

"My ads work great for a couple days, then...nothing!"

Best Practices:

• Have lots of ad variations in the cue for testing.
• Refresh creative (ads) as soon as you start seeing diminishing returns (daily, weekly, or monthly basis)

Run out of ad ideas?

Here's how you can create over half a billion ad variations in < 5 minutes using variations of those same variables:

• Titles: 10
• Body Text: 10
• Images: 10
• Ages: 50 (Age 13-64, separately)
• Location: 50 (states)
• Gender: 2
• Likes & Interests: 11 (None + 10 specific)

Do the Math: 10x10x10x50x50x2x11= 550,000,000

Hint: frequent ‘refreshes' are required!

8.  Day-Parting

"My ads seem to blow through their budget."

Hint: Running ads during peak usage time(s) actually creates performance derogation (this is counterintuitive to the traditional maximize ‘reach' mindset, it's best to reach users when they are less engaged w/socializing). That's all we have to say for now as it's not a fully accessible option to most Advertisers.

9.  Bidding Strategies

"What does CPM stand for again?"

Not gaining any traction when purchasing clicks on a cost-per (CPC) basis? Try CPM!

 
Download More Facebook Advertising Strategies
and Best Practices

Best Practice: Backing into an effective CPC using CPM based pricing has proven to be more efficient and scalable

Need help with your Facebook Ad campaign?
877.736.4321

Facebook Advertising: Why 99% of SEMs Fail the First Time

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The reality: after 10+ years of an industry experiencing exponential growth, traditional pay per click search networks have become crowded, over-priced and extremely competitive. Furthermore, in a quasi auction-based marketplace, often the only companies ahead of the game are the media moguls themselves.

With the introduction of Facebook Ads, Search Marketers have been given a clean slate: more targeting options, almost real-time feedback from target audiences on the relevancy of their adverts (via the ‘like' feature), and extremely cost-effective pricing (fewer competitors). Ad Quality Score is no longer a ‘black box' held close-to-the-chest by a publicly traded company's "product manager".

As a full service Digital Marketing Agency, Facebook Advertising has become an essential advertising vehicle for helping our clients exceed their online marketing goals. However, Facebook advertising does not have a direct, 1:1 correlation, to what we would consider "traditional paid search marketing" from a qualitative perspective.

In other words: your Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine campaigns running on Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft Bing or Ask cannot easily be converted to Facebook primarily due to incongruent qualitative campaign elements:

• Keywords
• Text Ads
• Landing Pages
• Account Structure

Therefore we have put together a list of things to consider when launching a new Facebook Ad Campaign:

1. Facebook is not a Traditional Search Engine 

"Just what is classifies a site as a search engine...anymore?"

According to comScore, a lot of folks are searching on Facebook. Is Facebook necessarily a search engine in the traditional sense of the word?

Well yes and no. Facebook is a search engine best described within the category of "people search".

Therefore we classify Facebook Search as one of the following:

• People Search Engine
• Social Search Engine

The key take away for Search Engine Marketers: Facebook Advertising is more closely aligned with a form Social Media Marketing than Search Marketing, treat it as such.

2. Campaign Objectives: Alignment

"I put my Facebook ads out there but didn't sell a single widget!"

Lack of direct sales is a typical experience by a search marketer who merely ports over the exact same campaigns they are running on other search engines.

Depending on what you are selling, you most likely will need to build up a Facebook fanbase first rather than taking a traditional approach to match the your search engine campaign performance measurements.

In other words, your intent should be to "fill the funnel" via building up a list of prospects (formerly known as fans - now Likes) rather than trying to pitch your wares directly via Facebook Ads.

3. Having a Custom Facebook Page

"Why doesn't my best landing page convert on Facebook?"

Growing your community online will increase awareness. Therefore you will want to serve the Facebook community with fresh content and land them on a Custom Facebook Fan Page.

The Facebook Marketing Process: think Direct Mail (DM)!

1) Build a "fan base" (list of prospects)
2) Manage relationships w/prospective customers (CRM)
3) Wait for those new prospects to "raise their hand"
4) Convert handraisers into new customers (sales!)

Best Practice for SEMs: Focus on interest-based list building/hand raisers (likes) vs. trying to sell your products/services directly using Facebook Ads.

Why? The audience's user intent differs vastly on Social Media Networks than on Search; a Facebook user is actively engaged with interacting, sharing and socialize...not Searching.

Learn More Facebook Advertising Best Practices

Download Facebook Advertising Strategies

American Idol Finale: Can We Predict the Winner Once Again?

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On last night’s episode Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze competed for the final time for the coveted title of American Idol.  Each performed 3 songs, the first was their favorite song of the season, the second was chosen by executive producer Simon Fuller and the third is the first single they will release if they win tonight.

 
For his favorite song Lee chose “The Boxer.”  The judges were pleased, for the most part, with his performance.  Simon Fuller chose “Everybody Hurts” for his second song.  The judges again gave Lee some positive feedback but Ellen said she wished he would have let go a bit more and Simon said he seemed nervous.  For his final song, and possible single, Lee sang “Beautiful Day.” The judges were pleased with his final performance to which Simon said that the competition was designed for someone like him.

For her first song Crystal chose “Me and Bobby McGee” for which all of the judges gave Crystal positive feeback.  The song Fuller chose for Crystal was “Black Velvet,” the judges were again impressed. And finally she sang “Up To The Mountain” for her last song, and potential single.  The judges also praised her for this performance.  In fact Simon said “I thought that was by far the performance and the song of the night. And since this is going to be the final critique I’m ever going to give, that was outstanding.”

In order to determine who is most likely to be named the Season 9 American Idol; we looked at social media and search data. Who do you think will win tonight?

If you have been keeping up with Season 9 please share your thoughts by commenting below. But before you do, check out the facts from search and social media data that we have gathered below.
 

Chatter about Lee DeWyze is much stronger on Twitter and Google than it is for Crystal.  Tough Crystal has  stronger showing on Digg and YouTube.

Google Insights:
 

Google Insight data shows an overwhelming growth in popularity of searches for “American Idol Lee,” “Lee DeWyze” and “American Idol Hallelujah,” which is a song Lee performed on the show. 

Will Lee's sudden surge in online searches and social media mentions translate into more votes?  Tell us what you think.  And don’t forget to tune into tonight to find out who wins Season 9 of American Idol!

 **If you are a new reader to ymarketing's American Idol Prediction Project, check out our past blogs to understand how our Idol Prediction Project works, and how it led to the correct upset prediction of Kris Allen over Adam Lambert in 2009.

Moving at the Speed of Social Media...

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The folks at Socialnomics have outdone themselves again. Their popular video Social Media Revolution has recorded nearly 2 millon views since it was in July of 2009. They just released an update (view video below) packed with new information like:

• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in U.S.
• 1 in 8 couples married in the U.S. met via Social Media
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest
• 50% of mobile Internet trasffic in the UK is for Facebook

Have a look at the (updated) video and let us know where you think Social Media is headed next!

What do you think? Where is Social Media headed next?

Who Does Search and Social Media Data Say Will Go Home Tonight?

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American Idol Season 9 is quickly coming to a close. With only 3 contestants left, the competition is growing in intensity. On last night's show the final 3 contestants sang 2 solos a piece, one of which the contestants chose and one that the judges chose for them.

Lee DeWyze sang "Simple Man" and "Hallelujah"

Crystal Bowersox sang "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Come to My Window"

Casey James sang "Daughters" and "OK, It's Alright With Me"

The judges praised Lee's performance of "Simple Man" and gave Crystal mostly positive remarks for her performance of "Come to My Window," but they were not impressed with Casey's rendition of "OK, It's Alright With Me."

Again this week we looked at social media and search data to determine who we believe will be going home tonight. Who do you think will make it to the finale?

If you have been keeping up with Season 9 please share your thoughts by commenting below. But before you do, check out the facts from search and social media data that we have gathered below.

 It looks like though Crystal was the clear front runner in the beginning of the season, Lee has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. Casey is clearly falling behind in popularity and will likely be the contestant to go home tonight.

According to a Tweet from Access Hollywood, Lee and Crystal are taking the lead:

 **If you are a new reader to ymarketing's American Idol Prediction Project, check out our past blogs to understand how our Idol Prediction Project works, and how it led to the correct upset prediction of Kris Allen over Adam Lambert in 2009.

American Idol: Who Will Be Eliminated Tonight? Let’s Ask Twitter and YouTube

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With only 4 contestants remaining we’re nearing the end of American Idol Season 9.  On last night’s episode (5.11.2010), Grammy and Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx returned as a guest mentor to help the final four prepare to sing hit songs from popular movies.  Each contestant sang a solo and a duet.  The judges were unimpressed with the solos but gave rave reviews for the duets.

The four finalists include: Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze, Casey James, and Michael Lynche.

Who do you think will be eliminated tonight? We want to hear from you!  If you have been following American Idol Season 9, please comment below and tell us who you think is going to be the next American Idol. But before you do, check out the facts we have gathered from our search engine and social media data.

Celebrity Twitter Endorsements:

Justin Bieber recently tweeted about how amazing one of Crystal’s performances was.

Alex Lambert, a former contestant, showed his support for Lee calling him the “next idol.”

Lindsey Lohan showed her support for Casey by simply calling him “American Idol.”

Momentum is building in Twitter and YouTube

The most compelling numbers lay within Twitter and YouTube.  While Crystal was the front runner for weeks, Lee seems to be catching momentum; making this somewhat of a 2 horse race.  Casey comes in behind both in sheer search and social media numbers but Michael seems to be trailing them all.  If the momentum continues Lee DeWyze just may take the coveted title of American Idol over season-long frontrunner Crystal Bowersox.
What do you think?  Will our actually predict the outcome of American Idol Season 9? 

**If you are a new reader to ymarketing's American Idol Prediction Project, check out our past blogs to understand how our Idol Prediction Project works, and how it led to the correct upset prediction of Kris Allen over Adam Lambert in 2009. 

Online Lead Generation vs. Search Engine Rankings? Don't Forget the Sales!

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During a new client meeting the other day, the CMO of a professional services company said to me, "Paul, my one single focus right now is to rank highly for important keywords in major search engines." I kindly replied to him, "With all do respect, if you have a single focus at the moment, it should be on generating more leads and increasing your sales."

Don't get me wrong, ranking highly in search engines is a wonderful thing (I've made a great living at it), but too many business leaders get wrapped up in SEO rankings and forget they may be leaving money on the table by way of actionable data for quality lead nurturing. Search Engine Optimization is powerful; every business needs SEO and is missing out on a greater online ROI without it. But SEO needs to be a part of a bigger, comprehensive strategy working toward an efficient Lead Generation program--alongside PPC, Blogging, Social Media, Lead Nurture, and Good Looks (okay, I just threw that in there). If done right, your lead generation program can prove to be sustainable and measurable over the long haul.

It's important to have a focus on SEO and Link Building in order to optimize your site, its content, off-page SEO elements, and more. But while you continue to make improvements in your SEO program every month (on your way to massive search engine success) don't forget to generate meaningful business in the meantime.

• Where does your ideal target traffic live/visit/shop/play?
  
• What "persona" should your business employ to connect with that audience?
  
• Do you have contact forms on every page with a strong "call to actions"?
  
• How are you tracking your leads?
  
• Do you have lead nurture in place? (Don't just focus on the HOT leads!)

These are just a few of the many questions that need to be answered before anyone can operate a successful business dependent on lead generation.

Which now brings me to my point.

So after driving traffic to your site obtaining a form submission, what does that leave you? Yes, of course, a lead for you to contact, but what else? Well, if you have the right tracking in place you have... data (no, not the kid from "Goonies"). And if you have the right minds in place, sound research, the right strategies, best practices, a good team and partners.... then you may just have the winning formula; actionable data.

How data is gathered and formed into an actionable strategy is what separates the adults' table from the kids' table. We all know that the kids' table is fun to sit at, but they don't buy the meal and inevitably someone spits on your food. In digital marketing, it's important to not only value data, but value how you look at and perceive that data.

There's a million different ways to cut through numbers and statistics. Strategies are often time-sensitive but make sure you look at the data from obscure angles, not just the obvious ones.

• ASSESSMENT: Who truly is your (current) audience? Who should be your target audience?
  
• AWARENESS: What branding opportunities are you passing up?
  
• TRENDS: Where is tomorrow's traffic going and how does it impact my business today?
  

One of our partners likes to quote the famous line from Wayne Gretzky, "A good hockey player skates to where the puck is. A great hockey player skates to where the puck is going."

My new client chuckled after hearing my comment about his responsibility to generate leads and increase sales. "Let me correct myself, Paul" he said. "Ranking highly for important keywords is my second biggest, single focus."

Something tells me that he's skating to where the puck is going.

Can Google & Twitter Continue to Predict Who Will Be Voted Off American Idol?

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And then there were 6...

As the 2010 Season of American Idol comes to a close there is no shortage of speculation as to who will take the coveted title of American Idol 2010. On Tuesday night's episode (4/27/2010), the contestants each sang a Shania Twain song and America then voted for their favorite performers. The votes are now in and the top 5 will be revealed tonight.

If you have been keeping up with American Idol Season 9, please tell us who you think will be eliminated this week by commenting below. But before you do, check out the facts we gathered below.

NOTE: If you are a new reader to ymarketing's American Idol Prediction Project please check out our past blogs to understand our Idol Prediction Project works, and how it led to the correct upset prediction of Kris Allen over Adam Lambert in 2009.

What the data tells us about tonight:

After reviewing our search and social media indicators it appears that tonight Crystal and Lee will safely make it into the top 5. Michael and Aaron, on the other hand, are most likely to be in the bottom three; leaving a toss-up between Casey and Siobhan for the remaining spot in the bottom 3.

What is Twitter telling us?

AC Television said:
@AC_TV: People Get Ready Crystal Bowersox; Best American Idol Performance of All Time: Review on... http://bit.ly/9bNJZR

According to the Adam Lambert fan site:
@_adam_lambert_ Why Lee Dewyze Will Win 'American Idol': Crystal Bowersox might be the front-runner, but so was Adam Lambert... http://bit.ly/c25LgE

What do you think?

Agree or disagree with our data? What other data points would you like us to explore? Post your comment below and together we'll track how American Idol Season 10 plays out.

Put the Prediction Team to work for you

If we can use search and social media data to predict the results of American Idol, imagine what we can do to predict trends in your industry. Contact us today to find out how we can help you improve your presence online through search and social media.