July 27, 2012

Some Optimization Considerations Regarding the Commercialization of Google Shopping

It is time to address Product Feed optimization regarding the new commercial site called Google Shopping.

Google Shopping is Going Commercial

Google Product Search in the U.S. is becoming a purely commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. This new product discovery experience is called Google Shopping and the transition will be complete in October of 2012.

Google purportedly believes that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date. Higher quality data is expected to mean better shopping results for users.  In turn, this should create higher quality traffic for merchants.

So, Google Shopping (AKA Google Product Search) will no longer be free after the 1st of October.

Consider Optimization of the Google Feed

However, an important consideration will be that the Google Feed  is optimized, which is the source for Google Shopping.

In the past, Merchants would load their entire product list into the Google Feed. Now that the service is no longer free, the merchant needs to show discretion when choosing the products that are in the Google Feed. These products in the feed should be expected have a profitable return on investment compared to the advertising costs, also referred to as ROI – or in Adwords-speak, an effective Cost per Acquisition (CPA).

The Google Feed should also be filled with effective keywords. The fields considered by Google during the match to the user’s search term should not be just filled with keywords about the product. These fields need to be filled with keywords that would be used in a search by the potential buyer. Do not believe that these are the same thing. When developing an Adword Campaign, keywords are chosen to match the search term being entered by the user. This is now the consideration for the Google Product Feed.

With a Product Listing Ad, there are no keywords, as there are in a typical Google Ad. So the Keywords that will be used to match the search term are from the Google Product Feed fields, like the Product_Type attribute. Be sure to be selective in the products you are using in the Google Product Feed and the keywords you are using in the Product Feed fields.

To learn more and get started merchants can visit: www.google.com/ads/shopping

Posted by on July 27, 2012 in Internet Marketing, Online Marketing.

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March 24, 2012

Components of a Social Media Policy

Parts of a Social Media Policy

Companies are quickly becoming aware of the risks and opportunities that the growth of Social Media is creating for their organizations.

Internal Benefits

The benefits are both external and internal. Some of the positive results of a Social Media policy internally are that the existence of the policy raises awareness for all levels of management within the organization. Executives and managers of the company are compelled to address these issues in personal employee meetings and departmental meetings with a heightened level of importance.

The employee, also, becomes aware of the magnitude of the issue. Without a Social Media policy, employees may have a nonchalant and reckless attitude regarding their actions on Social Media pertaining to their employer.

The Parts of the Policy

The Social Media policy should describe, in clear language, the expectations of the employer and the limits the employer will  tolerate of the employee.

In addition, a general statement should be made in the policy, without being definitive, of actions that may be taken by the employer if these expectations are not met or the defined limits are exceeded. The purpose here would make the point that the policy is not a suggestion, but, may have related consequences. This part of the policy, especially, needs review and the assistance from legal consul.

A Social Media policy should address:

  • Compliance issues of the industry that the employer participates, if applicable
  • The activities encouraged by the employer in Social Media regarding interactions and engagement in the name of the company
  • The acceptable Social Channels and methods used for the activities that are encouraged of the employee by the employer for the benefit of the employer
  • The limits acceptable in personal use of Social Media where the employee references the employer or its activities.

Consequently, a Social Media policy is not able to be developed by any single department within the company. The Compliance Officer, executive management, and other parts of the organization must all be involved and expected to approve the final document.

Posted by on March 24, 2012 in Social Media and tagged , .

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