local-social search « Yellow Pages Association Blog

Posts Tagged ‘local-social search’

BIA/Kelsey: Digital Offerings to Account for 39% of Global YP Revenues by 2014

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

All year, we’ve talked about the growing importance of digital and mobile in driving new revenues and opportunities for our industry. Recently, we’ve watched as major Yellow Pages companies have acquired a variety of online directories and vertical sites; launched SEO/SEM programs, online video, and local social search destinations; created new iPhone, iPad, and Android apps; and partnered with top search engines and new local search players.

Today, BIA/Kelsey released new forecasts for our industry which reflect the increased role that digital is playing in our business. According to a mid-year update to BIA/Kelsey’s Annual Global Yellow Pages Forecast (2009-2014), digital offerings—including Internet Yellow Pages, video, SEO/SEM, mobile, social and reputation management—will account for 39% of global Yellow Pages revenues by 2014.

The report found that while digital growth is occurring globally, it’s doing so at varied rates and with different emphasis in regions around the world:

U.S. – Digital revenues in the U.S. will grow at a 17.2% compound annual rate (CAGR) as a result of publishers selling a wider array of digital products. BIA/Kelsey expects significant growth in reputation management, SEO, social and mobile, as well as websites, SEM, and video.
Europe – Digital revenues will surpass print revenues across Europe by 2014, and even sooner in several markets.
Latin America – BIA/Kelsey estimates that digital will grow from 6.2% of total revenues in 2009 to 11.8% of total revenues by 2014.
Asia/Pacific Rim/ROW – Online directory revenues will grow by $446 million from 2009-2014. Many emerging markets such as China are expected to adopt a more vertical and mobile approach, bypassing print and Internet Yellow Pages as significant product categories.

BIA/Kelsey’s findings confirm our industry’s ability to adapt to today’s changing media landscape and create new opportunities to grow in the years to come. That’s great news for Yellow Pages, our clients, and consumers around the globe.

More information about today’s announcement will be available at BIA/Kelsey’s upcoming Directional Media Strategies 2010 (DES ’10: Yellow Pages and Beyond) conference, which is scheduled for Sept. 14-16 in Dallas. Yellow Pages Association is a sponsor. Visit here for more information on DES ’10.

July 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: BIA/Kelsey, Data, digital, DMS, growth, Internet Yellow Pages, iPad, iPhone, IYP, Kelsey, local-social search, mobile, online directories, online video, SEM, SEO, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

What Do Facebook Privacy Concerns Mean for Future of Local Social Search?

Monday, June 21, 2010

Now that a lot of the backlash about Facebook’s privacy changes have died down, I think it’s a good opportunity to consider what it means for those of us in the local search business.

If you didn’t see, there’s been significant criticism of Facebook after it introduced a new privacy policy and additional features that extended Facebook’s network to additional sites on the Internet. A vocal group of users objected to how the changes affected the ability of subscribers to keep their private information on the social network just that – private.

On “Quit Facebook Day” on May 31, about 35,000 users closed their accounts in protest, according to The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee requested additional information from Facebook on its privacy efforts to date – and even the Federal Trade Commission said it was getting involved.

While this isn’t a statistically significant number of users (The Wall Street Journal reported that protest involved less than 0.009% of the total Facebook population), it’s symbolic of a desire for control of information among social network users.

And it will impact advertisers who use social networks. Access to information is key to targeting the right customer. It also affects word of mouth, as users limit access to their posts covering opinions of local businesses.

But the momentum supports continued local search growth within the social space. Bloomberg reported that the number of advertisers on Facebook have quadrupled since the start of 2009, according to the company. That high statistic conveys the notion that businesses are increasingly committing their advertising and marketing resources to a medium that they believe is viable and will demonstrate real growth over the long-term.

As local search and Yellow Pages companies consider how to incorporate social tools into their advertising offerings, we have to be aware that while the opportunity is there,concerns over privacy and access to personal information are strong. And whatever platform we use – Facebook, Twitter, or our own proprietary ones – we must treat users’ information with sensitivity and a high regard for privacy.

June 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: Facebook, Local Search, local-social search, privacy, SNS, social, Twitter, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

Yellow Pages Group Integrates New Facebook Social Plugins

Thursday, April 22, 2010

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines from yesterday’s Facebook f8 conference in San Francisco, which talked about the social network’s new plan to introduce a comprehensive set of social features that can be easily integrated into websites.

Starting this week, developers can begin including the Facebook “Like” button on any content on their sites, whether it be a photo, article, video – or for our purposes, a local business. Users will also be able to view which of their Facebook friends have visited a certain site and what content they liked.

In a sign of the Yellow Pages industry’s quick adoption of new trends in social media, Canada’s Yellow Pages Group announced that is already integrating Facebook’s new social plugins on its flagship YellowPages.ca website.

The press release notes that with a single click of the Facebook “Like” button, YellowPages.ca users can now highlight a positive experience with a local business or service directly on the site, as well as see which businesses their friends on Facebook “Like” and have their “Like” appear in their Facebook newsfeed.

The move comes one month after YPG introduced new ratings and reviews, restaurant profiles, and online coupons on YellowPages.ca and just days after AT&T Interactive announced that it is opening its new local social search site, buzz.com, to the public for testing.

Additionally, in a separate release, YPG announced that it had launched a new Urbanizer iPhone application that offers mood-based restaurant recommendations. The new app is linked with Facebook Connect so that users can share their business experiences with friends, tag establishments they’ve visited, and identify their favorites.

With so much conversation during our annual conference this week about the growing importance of social media and mobile opportunities, I’m glad to hear that our member companies are on the front lines of these new technologies. This is a really exciting time for our industry.

April 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: AT&T, AT&T Interactive, buzz.com, Facebook, Like, local-social search, social, social plugins, Urbanizer, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, Yellow Pages Group, YPA, YPG

SuperMedia Launches ‘AskLearnHire’ Lead Generation Social Platform

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Recently, we’ve discussed several exciting announcements coming out of SuperMedia, including the expansion of its successful SuperGuarantee program into mobile and its introduction of city-specific Twitter account to distribute online coupons.

Earlier today, SuperMedia made another push into the digital space with the announcement that it is beta-launching a lead generation social platform called “AskLearnHire,” which will connect buyers and sellers in category-specific communities.

“AskLearnHire” Web sites, which will initially include three category-specific communities—SuperMortgages.com, SuperHVAC.com, and SuperRemodelers.com—allow consumers who research online to make educated local purchase decisions based on online reviews and ratings and the exchange of relevant information, the release notes. Consumers can ask and answer questions about local businesses, search a library, comment on articles, rate content, inquire about hiring a business, as well as review any businesses they use.

Local businesses, on the other hand, can gain valuable exposure and attract new leads by participating in their respective communities. Businesses are able to register to participate on the sites and interact with consumers as well as post articles. Companies that actively provide content will gain more visibility on the site and a better opportunity to attract new leads.

As the local search space continues to evolve through the introduction of vertical Web sites and new social features, SuperMedia’s “AskLearnHire” model—along with other Yellow Pages offerings, such as Dex One’s DexKnows Weddings—show that the YP industry is an important player in this transformation.

I encourage you to visit one of the “AskLearnHire” sites and check out the tool for yourself.

April 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
Tags: AskLearnHire, local-social search, online coupons, SuperGuarantee, SuperHVAC.com, SuperMedia, SuperMortgages.com, SuperRemodelers.com, Twitter, vertical, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

AT&T Interactive Introduces YP.COM Rebranding

Thursday, April 8, 2010

In yet another rebranding for a major Yellow Pages company this year, AT&T Interactive announced this week that it’s introducing YP.COM as the new name of its flagship YELLOWPAGES.COM web property and brand.

According to the press release, the “new direction” with YP.COM reflects the company’s commitment to “developing local search technology that helps create stronger engagement between customers and the businesses they are seeking to discover, find, and connect with.” The move comes as the company is beta testing its highly-anticipated local social search site, buzz.com.

AT&T said that YP.COM, which consists of more than 21 million business listings, will allow local businesses and consumers to take advantage of the latest tools in the local search experience, including filtered results, video profiles, business coupons, customer reviews, sharing features, mapping capabilities, and a host of other features.

Additionally, YP.COM users now have access to expanded lifestyle content, including the ability to book business and leisure travel, find thousands of live events, search new and used cars, find and book reservations at restaurants, and find and purchase movie tickets.

AT&T said that the enhanced platform will deliver better results for advertisers. In beta testing, advertisers averaged a 28% increase in calls and clicks per search as a result of placements on the updated site.

That’s great news. Between the rebranded YP.COM and the soon-to-launch buzz.com, AT&T is joining other YP companies making major strides in the local search space. Our industry’s ability to create innovative platforms for our advertisers and users to interact will help drive our success moving forward – and so far, it looks like we’re right on target.

April 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: AT&T, AT&T Interactive, buzz.com, Local Search, local-social search, rebranding, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YellowPages.com, YP.com, YPA

Changing the Conversation from Google v. Facebook to Google + Facebook

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

In a post on Search Engine Land, Greg Sterling overviews a trending story that claims that Facebook now pushes more users to major portals like Yahoo and MSN than the leading search engine, Google – and that its share of online search is growing fast.

As Sterling points out, however, we shouldn’t rush to judgment. There’s still a lot we don’t know – are people using Facebook for general web searches or to view Facebook content, and are users going to Yahoo or MSN via Facebook search or just jumping there when finishing up on Facebook?

Regardless of who takes the official lead, the truth is that both are important today, and will be for the foreseeable future. It really isn’t an either or proposition. Instead of worrying about who has bragging rights as the most popular, we should consider what we already know – that all elements of search – including local social search, local mobile search, etc. – are continuing to evolve and grow at a rapid pace.

That’s where we step in. How do we provide our advertisers with access to these tools to reach their customers and generate leads? We should be taking advantage of all available channels – our own products, established players in search and emerging leaders. In doing so, we ensure that our clients are at the cutting edge no matter which sites or trends catch on faster than the other – or eventually win out down the road.

And we have to remember new services or technologies will continue to change the landscape, there will always be a new company ready to take over the market. How we harness that change for our advertisers is what will matter in the long run.

February 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Facebook, Google, local mobile search, Local Search, local-social search, portals, Search Engine Land, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

Predictions for the Changing Local Search Landscape in 2010

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

In an article I wrote for Search Engine Land this week, I offer my predictions for what’s ahead for local search in 2010.

Recent statistics from the National Federation of Independent Business point to a small uptick next year in key small business metrics including sales, earnings, credits and optimism. If those positive signs gain momentum, 2010 promises to be an exciting year – but not without its challenges.

My predictions include:

1. Mobile will drive local search growth: Projections show that mobile local search ad revenue and mobile local searches will increase significantly over the next few years. In 2010, the winning providers will be those who can make sense of this quickly changing platform and deliver programs that offer quality sales leads to advertisers. Already, Yellow Pages companies have launched iPhone and Android apps along with mapping technologies that deliver relevant local information to users on the go.

2. Local search providers will vie for social: Social media ad spending is rising quickly because advertisers know that significant trust exists between online social communities. AT&T has said it will launch a service that allows business to authentically tap into social networks to serve local business information to consumers. Superpages has already launched a Twitter search tool that illustrates this trend towards social.

3. Local print advertising will decline but won’t disappear: Many have predicted the death of print media for some time. However, the perception of the usage decline in the printed directory far exceeds the reality of what is actually happening. While the quantity of print Yellow Pages references is gradually declining, the quality of those references is still very high.

4. A hybrid marketing approach will win: Yellow Pages sales representatives have essentially become advertising consultants to small business, who can offer portfolios of options ranging from owned products to partner products. It’s more important than ever to consider a hybrid approach because today’s consumers get information from a multiple of places before making a purchasing decision.

You can read my full piece at Search Engine Land here.

December 15, 2009 | 5 Comments
Tags: 2010 predictions, advertising, Local Search, local-social search, mobile, print, Twitter, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

Google, CitySearch Add Local-Social Search Features

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Local-social search has been a popular topic in the news this week, with both Google and Citysearch, the local online search directory, announcing plans to integrate real-time Twitter updates and other social networking features into their platforms. Both moves are representative of the fundamental shift currently taking place in how local information is being searched and shared – something we’ve talked about frequently on this blog.

Over the next few days, Google users will be granted access to live updates from Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, MySpace, Jaiku and Indenti.ca related to their search terms. For example, users searching for a local restaurant may come across the latest Twitter and Facebook updates about the establishment. These could include anything from a tweet by the restaurant owner with a promotional message, to a negative comment by a recent diner who wasn’t happy with their order.

Citysearch is unveiling a new Twitter integration that will feature the latest tweets about a local business on its listing page. Businesses will have the option of integrating their Twitter presence into their Citysearch page and tweeting directly with visiting users. Like with Google, users will have instant access to online conversations taking place about the businesses they’re researching – whether that buzz is good or bad. Those conversations will be in addition to the existing online user reviews currently available on the site.

The opportunities – as well as the risks – to local businesses brought about by the growth of local-social search offerings are endless. If anything, it’s clear that local businesses can no longer ignore the online conversations taking place about their services. Those conversations, once limited to social media networks, are now expanding at rapid pace into the local search domain.

December 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tags: CitySearch, Facebook, Google, local-social search, MySpace, social media, Twitter, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Association, YPA

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