How social can impact search, display efforts

Kristina: eMarketer released a forecast recently predicting that search and display would
remain online ad front runners through 2015; why the continued interest in these 'old' ad options?

Anthony Joseph, Vice President, Marketing & Customer Experience, Optify: Search and display continue to be popular mediums because they are the primary means buyers search and discover products and services. Even for inquiries that don't end in online purchases, search remains the predominate channel that shoppers use to research, and learn more about products and services before they consider buying them. Marketers use display to reinforce brand awareness, and drive top of mind presence for customers and prospects alike, and so the shift has not fully occurred.

Kristina: There has been a correlation between search and display for a few years now; is social becoming another connector - meaning is social feeding search (and vice versa) for marketers?

Anthony: Absolutely. Social channels have already been using a form of this type of qualitative input collection mechanism to rate content and pages (e.g Facebook Likes, Twitter retweets, etc). Generally, the best content is already determined by groups of people (whether it's by clicks, bounce rates, inbound links, social mentions, etc). When one person/organization games any of these signals, Google has made it clear that you expect that website's results to be impacted. The integration of SYPW elements into search is another point of evidence of the integration of search and social media, where inputs from the community help determine what is considered 'good'.

Kristina: How can brand(s) integrate sexier options - social sharing, mobile, video - into the old standbys?

Anthony: Brands can apply a holistic approach to their online marketing by including a number of new tactics within a more traditional means. Companies can add social sharing to promotions, content pages that offer information about its products, and videos to increase its relevant and vibrant content, which in turn will increase their SERPs ranking. Initially offering the ability to share, like and +1 brand and content pages will make it easier for others to find their pages.

More from Optify and Anthony tomorrow - including his top three tips for optimizing social marketing.

Tags: online advertising, Optify, social integration, social marketing, social networks, social sharing