While it might be considered a cliché, it still does happen: The marketing analyst/manager walks into the office of the VP of Marketing, and tries to sell him on social media. The seasoned VP takes a minute to review the information provided, and decides to cautiously test the waters. Unfortunately, due to the lack of commitment, the social media initiative receives little attention and thus fails to show any tangible results.
On Monday December 7th, Google released its new real-time search feature. This new addition puts posts from Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools at the top of a user’s search results. That way, the user can examine this new content before going into the more “established” search results. For a complete description, please see Google’s video:
So what is the marketing analyst/manager to do?
If following the principles outlined here by Chris Brogan have not worked, now you can simply state the following: “Google has just unveiled a new addition to its search engine that will soon provide real-time results next to the traditional search results.” After the marketing executive gives the up-and-comer a long blank stare, he/she can follow with the following: “we can make sure that our newest offers are displayed first in people’s Google search results” (see how Hubspot has used this capability here.
So what are some of the implications this new tool will have on the grocery industry (or other major retailers)? Initially, probably not many. Not all search terms trigger this capability, and thus enough news about a specific company (artificially created or not) would have to occur for this to happen. But eventually, a tweet such as “the long lines at retailer C in Somerville, MA” might be enough to keep some (or many) of your customer at home that day (or worse yet, have them go to another supermarket to purchase their weekly groceries).
What are some other implications that this new tool will have?
Tags: customer feedback, Customer Service, Grocery marketing, monitoring buzz, monitoring customer reviews, Social Media
