When it comes to search, there are basically two types of people: spearfishers and netcasters.
Spearfishers are searchers who know exactly what they are looking for. They go directly to a search entry box, type in what they’re looking for and evaluate the resulting list of relevant search results. Spearfishers behave like long tail keyword searchers. They know what they want, for example a “Beyblade Metal Fusion Super Vortex Battle Set,” and are ready to review a specific set of results. Spearfishers rarely get distracted by sidebars, end caps and cul-de-sacs. Instead, they are savvy searchers who are already well informed about the product or service they are looking for – they just need help locating it.
Netcasters, on the other hand, are discoverers. They browse through information sources, as if window shopping for the perfect gift. They don’t always know exactly what they are looking for, but will know it when they see it. Netcasters are more open and impressionable and want to be informed along the way. Perhaps they are aware of a topic and looking to learn more. Netcasters cast a broader query than the surgical strike of a spearfisher, with the use of what I call a ‘search-based’ browse approach. Netcasters may start with “beyblade,” and perhaps then advance to “beyblade battle,” or continue to “beyblade set” or “beyblade battle set” if the initial results of their previous queries don’t return satisfactory results.
Search and Discovery – spear fishing versus casting a wide net
In the past year at Optify, we’ve tracked the near continuous evolution and convergence of search and social media. Optify has conducted research to track and study user’s behavior in response to search engine results. We’ve noticed a shift in the past year about how search engines process and present information to users on the search engine results pages (SERPS), and how it impacts user behavior.
I uncovered a key finding in the data. The fundamental difference between searchers and discoverers is the goal and psychological state of the user; with search, the user knows what he or she is looking for, while discovery is exploratory in nature and the user has only a general direction in mind. Search has become more accommodating of discovery, moving from targeting and helping spearfishers, as search engines have historically been providing for the past 15 years, to providing more features for netcasters.
Recent developments in search engines and real-time search have introduced more discovery methods that present users with features like universal search results, and improve the relevancy of search results and the user experience. These include features like, Google Instant, which provides search-based-like browsing, and real time results in SERPs, Twitter and Facebook results, which allows for serendipitous discovery of content the user would not have discovered prior to this integration. We’ve written about how the major search engines are introducing an increasing number of new features that are catered more toward the netcaster than the spearfisher.
From StumbleUpon (an extreme version of a product targeting netcasters) to the changes in the way search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! render their SERPS, to the changes that Twitter, Facebook and even iTunes are making to their search features and UI, it is evident that web browsing is now shifting to meet the needs of netcasters.
Today’s market is shifting toward a new kind of search: a combination of search and discovery.
Google and Bing have both realized the key role social can play in delivering relevant, targeted discovery-based results to users. A search result or ad related to a user’s search might not persuade the user to click through, but if their friend’s name and picture appears next to a result, the search engines are betting (and research shows) that users are more likely to click a result when this social context is present.
First, we saw Facebook roll out Like Ads and Sponsored Stories as a means of incorporating social within paid search, and now we’re seeing a similar approach from Google with +1, moving social directly into the SERP alongside both organic and paid results.
In today’s broader online marketing sphere, marketers struggle to find ways to catch both types of netizens. With the projected valuation of the U.S. search marketing industry set at nearly $20 billion in 2011, marketers are leaning towards what appears to be the easy way to capture both the spearfishers and the netcasters. By throwing a bigger PPC net, marketers hope they will reach both types of online searchers. What are some other tactics marketers can leverage, though, to ensure they’re meeting the demands of this evolving search landscape?
3 Tips to Help Marketers Appeal to Both the Spearfisher and the Netcaster
- Marketers have to understand their visitor types, as well as their behaviors. Which keywords are people using to find you? Once these users find you, are they staying on your site and viewing multiple pages or just turning around and leaving? Build a search persona for your customers. Make sure you’re taking a critical look at your visitor data and evaluating which search terms and channels (Paid vs. Organic) are driving the most engaged users on your site and who those particular users are. Studies show that organic search drives high quality visitors that are more likely to convert.
- Social matters; invest in it. Social media is an effective way to attract Netcasters, or a portion of the visitors you may not be attracting today. Search engines have clearly demonstrated their investment in social as a growing component of search over the past year and especially in recent months. Now, with features like Google +1 and Bing’s Facebook Likes, marketers can’t afford to not be a part of the social media space.
- Have a balanced marketing mix that takes both search and social into account. Make sure you’re leveraging both marketing channels in order to attract the spearfisher searchers and the netcaster browsers. While search engine optimization is key for improving your search rankings, be sure to syndicate your content across social networks like Twitter and Facebook, too, where netcasters are more likely to encounter it.
NOTE: An original version of this article was published on the Business 2 Community.com Blog on June 8th 2011.
Author: Anthony Joseph is vice president of marketing and customer experience at Optify, the leading provider of hosted, enterprise search engine optimization (SEO), real time lead generation and social media software. Anthony is an Internet veteran who spent over 11 years at Amazon.com in various product , technology and business leadership roles. Anthony is responsible for leading Optify’s marketing and customer development efforts.
