Mobile Marketing Still Underused & How Facebook’s Sharing the "Like"

This week on the Blogosphere we’ll discuss four blog posts that examine Bing’s increasing competitiveness and influence among the Web’s most prominent search engines, Facebook’s long-term goals for the “Like” button and how marketers appear hesitant to invest in mobile marketing. Here are some of the highlights from these posts:

1. Online ad network Chitika recently reported findings that Bing generated 50% more ad clicks than Google.
2. Google Images’ new design has topped the list of many online conversations lately, with many comparisons being drawn to Bing’s Image Search.
3. Facebook now allows publishers across the Web access to “Like” data for their pages.
4. Marketers appear to be lagging in the adoption of mobile marketing, especially compared to social media marketing.

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One Bing-er Worth a Googler and a Half

Chitika | Daniel Ruby | 7-27-10

Based on user activity on their online ad network, Chitika reported findings this week that Bing brought in 50% more ad clicks than Google. Using a sample of almost 15 million impressions for the study, Chitika found Bing users to have an ad click rate of 1.67% compared to Google users with a 1.09% rate. Ask and AOL  still generated the highest ad click rates in the study, though, reaching 2.92% and 2.48% respectively. Bing-driven Web traffic has continuously increased throughout Chitika’s network, reaching 6.6% in July–up from 4.4% in April. With Bing increasingly driving more Web traffic and generating a higher ad click rate than top search engines like Google and Yahoo, the article’s author emphasizes that site owners shouldn’t overlook Bing’s influence. Chitika suggests that Bing’s success metrics can be partly attributed to their creation of the Cashback program, which specifically targets and attracts online consumers.

Main Takeaways:

• In a study conducted on their online ad network, Chitika claimed that Bing generated 50% more ad clicks than Google.
• Chitika reports seeing growth across their Web traffic analytics in 2010 from Bing, with an increase from April (4.4%) to July (6.6%).

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Should Google Be Getting More Bing-Like?

WebProNews | Chris Crum | 7-26-10

With the recent launch of their new Image Search, Google’s new look has recently become the subject of many blog posts and conversations, especially in respect to how closely the new Google Images resembles Bing’s Image Search. Google Images now allows users to scroll through and view multiple image results pages instead of having to click between pages. Users also have the ability to view a larger thumbnail version of an image just by hovering over a result. Some website owners have voiced dissatisfaction with the new layout, in that they believe it actually lengthens the path of a user’s image search before reaching their site–and most importantly, their ads–since clicking on an image sends the user to a Google landing page rather than to the actual website. Some criticize Google for their increasingly Bing-like appearance and question why Google would make such a move when they’re one of the biggest names in Search.

Main Takeaways:

• Google’s new Image search has generated a great deal of buzz recently, with many making comparisons between the new layout and Bing’s existing Image search.
• Site owners have verbalized concern over the new layout, saying that the revised Image Search pushes their ads further out of the reach of users.

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HUGE: Facebook Lets Publishers Contact “Likers”

All Facebook | Nick O’Neill | 7-23-10

Last week Facebook announced several new upgrades, which will effectively begin to put “Like” data in the hands of publishers who use Facebook social plug-ins on their sites, just like Facebook Page publishers, who have had access to this data for some time. The recent changes allow publishers to send content to the news feeds of people who “Like” a specific page, as well as place tracking parameters (via the “ref” attribute) on “Like” buttons, so as to gain insight as to where their site’s new visitors originated from on Facebook (i.e. Profile, Search, Home, Other). Additionally, Facebook has enabled commenting with iFrame versions of the Like button, meaning when a user posts a comment on the iFrame section of a “Like” button, their comment will be highlighted and shared with their friends. O’Neill emphasizes the significance of these upgrades, suggesting that as a result, “all webpages on the Internet immediately have become two-way communication channels.”

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Main Takeaways:

• Facebook now provides “Like” data for publishers of all pages on the Web (who are using Facebook’s social plug-ins), providing them with the same tools as Facebook Page publishers.
• Publishers can now publish targeted content updates to the news feeds of people who have “Liked” their particular pages, as well as add tracking parameters to their pages’ “Like” buttons.

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Marketers Slow to Integrate Mobile Tactics

eMarketer | 7-28-10

More U.S. marketers are flocking to social media than mobile when it comes to marketing strategies, says eROI, an interactive and e-mail marketing agency. eMarketer conjectures that almost 80% of Americans currently have mobile phones, yet still marketers are seemingly lagging in their adoption of mobile marketing. Just 31.6% of U.S. marketers say they believe an optimized mobile marketing experience is valued by their customers, eROI reports in their April 2010 survey. Whereas, almost 75% of respondents claimed to believe that social media is having an impact on their marketing efforts. Only one-fourth of marketers reported incorporating mobile into their e-mail marketing campaigns, yet nearly two-thirds of respondents claimed to use social media in their e-mail marketing. While some marketers are adopting mobile into their marketing strategies, some of them are overlooking important steps to keep tabs on and improve their efforts. Sixty-three percent of marketers reported that they have not calculated the number of their e-mail users who are actually using mobile to view messages, and only 23% claim to have optimized their websites for mobile.

Main Takeaways:

• U.S. marketers appear to be more readily adopting social media marketing strategies than mobile marketing, with only 31.6% of marketers reporting that they believe their customers value an optimized mobile marketing experience.
• Nearly three-fourths of respondents claim that they believe social media’s having a positive impact on their marketing efforts.

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Facebook and the “Like” Button: Google’s Greatest Competition?

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this weekly update and that you’ll share any comments or questions you might have with us. To get the weekly summary, or any other Optify updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or subscribe to our RSS feed. Here’s one noteworthy question that we’d like to hear your feedback on:

• What kind of competition could Facebook’s “Like” button and Open Graph protocol pose for Google’s supremacy on the Web, if any?