Social Media & SEO Summary January 2012

Posted by Hayden Allen-Vercoe on February 02 2012
Filed in Blog Network News, Online Marketing Tips and Advice, Online PR, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Social Networking

What a month! Dominated by the launch of Google ‘Search plus your world’ (and the other Social Network’s discontent of this Google – centric search), and the SOPA Blackout, with the big guns in full support.

Here’s what happened in January 2012 in the world of Social Media and SEO.

SEO Summary January 2012

* Google’s social search, incorporating G+ in its search results, are discussed by Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land.

* Mashable’s Sarah Kessler comments it is too much, too soon – I agree.

* Erin Everhart, also from Mashable, comments on the SEO perspective of this new Social based search

This could all kick off - The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), has called for the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to investigate the recent search changes. There are concerns that the new features favour Google’s own services over those of competitors.

CNN Money even reported that Google may be sued for the new ‘Search plus your world’.

We need to remember that, according to Google, facebook & Twitter did not want Google to crawl their content, if this had been agreed search plus your world would have been so much more relevant.

And as far as SEO goes, I think it is important to highlight these personalised results are only visible if you are logged into Google. With G+ gaining more ground daily (see below!), more people are likely to be logged in to Google – which may become an SEO issue for the future.

But….Google said facebook and Twitter did not allow access to their social graphs and that’s why Search plus your world results are steered towards purely Google listings.

By the looks of it, not true. Engineers at Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have got together and produced a tool that shows clearly that Google’s new search could have been more driven to the user and not to Google. The new bookmarklet tool, ‘Don’t Be Evil’ goes beyond G+ search results. Search Engine Land have a full write up and install instructions.

Social Search as it should have been?

Meanwhile….

* WebProNews led with Google’s stunning announcement Larry Page claimed whilst discussing their results for the 2011 fiscal year; “Google had a really strong quarter ending a great year. Full year revenue was up 29%, and our quarterly revenue blew past the $10 billion mark for the first time. I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail, and Google+, which now has 90 million users globally – well over double what I announced just three months ago.”

This was posted by WebProNews on 19th Jan. To really see how fast this Social Network is growing, the same site also revealed that G+ users have now reached an estimated 100 million users. That’s an extra 10% growth in less than 2 weeks. Is Mr Zuckerberg concerned? I know I would be, G+ now looks to be a really viable contender to facebook.

* It’s not all good for Google though. Concerns over the new privacy settings may seem searchers adopt a new approach. Microsoft capitalized on this with a blog post ‘Google doesn’t put people first’. Google responded to these claims in their own blog post.

* The huge internet campaign led by the big players saw sites blacking out sections of their pages (or even complete sites) in support of anti SOPA. Examples of Google, Wikipedia and others during the ‘SOPA Blackout’ can be found here.

Not sure what all the fuss is about? You need to know – it affects each and every one of us. Mashable cover why SOPA is dangerous very effectively. Scary reading.

But, the blackouts seem to have worked! (For now). Mashable report on Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, pulling the bill. SOPA is dead.

Social Media Summary January 2012

* Social Media Examiner mentions Google’s new social integration, as well as highlighting Twitters new embeddable tweets and a really interesting, useful and free email tool for Gmail users – Brand My Mail, where you can add blog posts, Twitter or facebook updates and much more to your emails.

* Hubspot’s Pamela Vaughan also talks about Google’s “biggest social search update yet”.

* Bharati Ahuja discusses Google+ “as a complete blogging platform” at WebPro Tech.

* Brian Solis shares 10 social media strategies for defining a successful 2012 at his blog.

* Pinterest continues to grow, with Etsy being the latest to add a pin it button.

* More social growth? Danny Goodwin of Search Engine Watch  reports that YouTube is now serving 4 billion videos a day. If you are a stat freak, click the link, there are some more YouTube related stats there!

* Pen.io continues to grow as the fastest online content publisher. Although basic, it is also very effective at publishing a web page online quickly. We like.

* Too many Social Networks to handle?!! Macworld report that Twitter have acquired social media feed condenser Summify. Summify summarizes Social content in people’s Google, Facebook and Twitter social media feeds and delivers a daily summarized version via email, a website or an iPhone.

* Google were not the only ones to reveal good financial results for 2011. Facebook has just filed its IPO for 2011 with a figure of $3.71 Billion.

So in the first month of 2012, although Google has reported huge success, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft have all expressed some negative views. This year is going to be interesting, with a few more scraps to come.

I cannot wait!

Orbital Media supports FllmAid and new trailer

Posted by Peter Brady on December 16 2011
Filed in Blog Network News

FilmAid is a charity close too our hearts at Orbital Media. Please take a minute to read below and view the new FilmAid trailer.

FilmAid uses the power of film to provide life-saving information on critical health and safety issues, helping to rebuild and sustain communities dealing with disaster, displacement and economic disparity. The international NGO is gearing up for a big year in 2012.  From the urgent famine and refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa to post-disaster rebuilding in Haiti, rural health clinics in Rwanda and refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border, FilmAid is working harder than ever to share vital information with those who need it most, through the powerful medium of film.

FilmAid is getting the word out about their work with a brand new trailer, coming soon to US movie theaters.  Watch an exclusive first look here:

Welcoming The Media Shop to the ‘Orbital’ network

Posted by Hayden Allen-Vercoe on August 12 2011
Filed in Blog Network News, Orbital Media Press Coverage

We’re very excited to announce that we have started working closely with one of the UKs leading Media Buying agencies, The Media Shop. These guys are known for their hard hitting media solutions for some of the UK’s leading consumer-orientated brands and businesses. They are rapidly expanding and taking on more staff and clients, therefore the opportunity to team up and offer a broader solution for both parties seemed like an obvious move, and one we’re very excited about.

Whilst we’re currently in key discussions with a number of The Media Shop’s clients offering a supporting role to their media buying, we’ve already started supporting a select few key clients with social media assistance to great effect, one of our recent support campaigns being a ‘novel’ launch for the World’s largest Mind, Body & Spirit publisher, HayHouse (read the case study here). We achieved a huge amount of success here and are looking forward to watching this relationship blossom further.

Want to join our business network? Please feel free to contact us if you feel your business could work in tandem for mutual benefit.

Also, check out The Media Shop’s latest e-zine here.

Jones Lang LaSalle Preferred Social Media Supplier status achieved

Posted by Hayden Allen-Vercoe on October 20 2010
Filed in Blog Consultancy, Blog Network News, Online Marketing Tips and Advice, Online PR, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Events, Social Media Training, Social Networking

Every now and then we like to blow our own trumpet and this is one of those rare occasions. We recently entered a pitch to win a place on the prestigious Jones Lang LaSalle Shopping Centre and Retail park social media supplier list.

Not only did we achieve this status after a four way pitch, but we’ve also been given the chance host the Social Media Marketing workshop attended by the shopping centre big wigs.

Possibly a little daunting to many, we’re absolutely relishing the opportunity to share some of the many secrets we’ve learnt over the past 5 years working with some of the biggest brands in the world.
After the event we’ll be sharing our presentation right here so keep a close eye!

New client – The Bentall Centre, Kingston Upon Thames

Posted by Hayden Allen-Vercoe on July 02 2010
Filed in Blog Network News, Online PR, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media Marketing, Social Networking

As we’ve been hinting for the past couple of weeks, we’ve recently started working with some rather groovy new clients, one of which is The Bentall Centre (Kingston Upon Thames), arguably one of the UK’s most forward thinking, aesthetically impressive shopping centres.

We’ve hit the ground running and launched into the online promotion of BFest, an innovative event that sees some of the UK’s most promising pop acts perform in the centre over 2 days. It’s a free event (so make sure you don’t miss out) and happens on the 7th & 8th August 2010.

We’re planning a few surprises that are set to ensure this event generates global online coverage and the Bentall brand recognised as a leading voice in shopping centre social media marketing.

We’re also managing their blog and producing engaging content on a regular basis, directly connecting with the local community and strengthening ties with local businesses wherever possible.  Growing Facebook ‘likes’ and Twitter ‘followers’ is the key objective.

Finally, we’ll be promoting events throughout the year to our broad online connections in fashion, style and mummy/baby categories.

How can you get involved?

Join The Bentall Centre Facebook page

Follow The Bentall Centre on Twitter

Want to blog for us or tell us about a local event to feature on The Bentall Centre Blog? – contact us