the

mAGAzinE

jon baron | tagman

“2012 the year when attribution will move from being a topic ofdiscussion to a mode of reporting.” See inside for Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google’s predictions for 2012.

miki clarke | debenhams

“The online channel is a major traffic driver for Debenhams. In 2012, our challenge is to continue achieving more with our budget.” Read more from Santander, BSkyB and Dreams.

adam bunn | greenlight

“It’s time to stop thinking of SEO as a bubble, and time that SEO becomes more than SEO, more than just links.” Read more articles from Greenlight’s Directors.

Predictions for 2012 Edition

november 2011 | Issue 02

orIgInal cover IllustratIon by arnold bryant

THE GREENLIGHT BOARD

Andreas Pouros | COO

Andreas has been involved in search for 11 years, joining Greenlight in 2003.He is an expert in both business and technological principles and directsGreenlight’s client services and implementation teams. Andreas also plays a pivotal role in product development and business growth strategy.

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Alicia Levy | CMO

Alicia has worked in digital marketing for 12 years and joined Greenlightin 2003 to set up its paid search division. As managing Director ofPaid Search, Alicia was at the helm of Greenlight’s PPC technology launches including the multi-award winning Adapt. in her current role, Alicia provides a strategic lead in product development, marketing and training.

Warren Cowan | CEO

Warren has worked exclusively in the search marketing industry for over 13 years and founded Greenlight in 2001. He has developed unrivalled search knowledge and a unique perspective on the growth and movement of the industry, whilst actively directing and driving the company’s 100 strong team in its global growth and product development.

FOREWORDAndreas Pouros | COO

Another similar prediction, one that was inarguably made but apparently misunderstood, is attributed to Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital EquipmentCorporation (DEC) who said, in a meeting in 1977 of the World Future Society in Boston, that “...there is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home”. He apparently meant computers that controlled everything in the home, not PC-type machines. Sounds like a poor attempt to cover up a blunder to me.

it obviously came to pass that both of these alleged predictions were exceptionally wrong; not only would every person on Earth want a computer in their home, two billion of them now exist and if that were notimpressive enough, many of us also own portableadaptations for vital tasks like playing Plants vs.zombies whilst commuting into work. if ThomasWatson had said that only five people in the world might not want a computer, he’d have been vastly more accurate.

So predictions are funny things - even the experts can get them wrong and routinely do.

That said, the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine once said that more predictions are correct than we might immediately assume, but it’s the ‘when’ that they miss the mark on. Greenlight’s own predictions this time last year for 2011 are a good case in point. Whilst most of our predictions for 2011 actually came true - from the emergence of display type ads being tested in Google’s results to QR codes making their way into above the line advertising - several of our predictions haven’t, but may quite feasibly materialise in the next 12 months, such as our prediction that Google and Bing will offer some type of ‘app search’ functionality in their search results.

Upon reflection therefore, the first rule in makingpredictions seems to be that you should only predict a year ahead, two years tops if you’re interested in being right, otherwise you’re making it incredibly easy for the universe to effortlessly embarrass you down the line. The second rule i’ll appropriate from Alan Cox, therenowned British computer programmer, whosaid that if you’re intent on makingpredictions, you should...

make lots of them, because that way some of them will actually come true. And the third rule would be to make sure your prediction isn’t immortalised in print, otherwise it might be difficult to convince people that you were ‘misunderstood’.

With these rules in mind, we asked a reassuringly-sized group of notable experts to share with us, and with you, their predictions on what they believe will come to pass in the world of search and social in the relativeshort-term, i.e. the next 12 months. To that end, in the pages that follow, we have contributions from some of our own experts, as well as those that constitute the fabric of our sector – Google, Yahoo, Tag man andmicrosoft. Last but not least, we have contributions from those at the frontline of online commerce -Catherine Daniel at BskyB, miki Clarke at Debenhams, matt Reid at Santander and Gary Robinson at Dreams.

Covering off the third rule - making sure there’s no physical evidence of our predictions - is a tad moredifficult, particularly with all these computerseverywhere. So contributors, thank you for yourcontributions, good luck and no pressure!

On behalf of all at Greenlight, we hope you have aprosperous holiday season. - AP

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Possibly my favourite prediction of all time is attributed to Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM in the 1940s. He allegedly stated that there was a global market for ‘maybe five computers’. Computers at the time were the size of entire homes, let alone capable of sitting discretely on your coffee table, so you can see how he’d have come to that statement, if indeed he actually made it.

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We asked some of our clients and partners to put pen to paper and tell us what they think 2012 will bring. Read contributions from Debenhams, Tagman, Google, microsoft, Yahoo, Santander,

BskyB and Dreams and find out what they think the key industry trends in 2012 will be for search and social. Amongst other important themes, find out what our contributors think will happen in

the year ahead for Google Shopping, Augmented Reality, Apps and multi-channel strategies.

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Catherine DanielDisplay SEO and PPC

“An essential for 2012 is amultiple device, cross channel strategy. Customers areconsuming content/products across numerous platforms andengaging with brands across many different channels.“

Consumers don’t consciously think that they are switching channels and many may consume several at once or in a very short timeframe. in the space of a day a customer might see a Sky Bet ad on Sky Sports, Google it, register via a PPC link on their laptop pre match, check out predictions on Twitter or Facebook, then later search on their iPhone, come through anorganic listing and bet live in play using their mobile. it’s important that the strategy is aligned across all of these touch points to make the users’ device transition as smooth as possible.

Products such as Google+ that work to integrate digital channels willbecome increasingly difficult to ignore. An aggregation tool that can monitor sentiment, influence organic and paid search, pull in articles from across the web, allow users to share content and stream videos and also act as a social media platform could become very powerful, very quickly.

As social media channels become more powerful and start to genuinely influence other above the line spend (notably PPC and SEO), i think we will start to see social media budgetsbecome more of a businessopportunity, rather than anafterthought. As a result social media will no longer be allowed to besomething brands are sure they should do but are not exactly sure why. it will instead need to be ameasurable activity that delivers return on investment.

Miki ClarkeSEO Manager

Miki Clarke SEO Manager at Debenhams, shares a snapshot of the exciting things thisleading high street retailer has been up to - from GoogleShopping to Augmented Reality, and why in her view, 2012 will be the year of exploring new ideas in search and social.

2012, will be the year ofexploration and experimentation in search and social. The online channel is a major traffic driver forDebenhams and as we head into 2012, our challenge will be tocontinue achieving more with our budget. Both search and pay per click (PPC) are becoming morecompetitive. This year, Google has made frequent updates to itsalgorithm. This meant we had to change our marketing

strategies and tactics to line up with them - just one of the otheradjustments we have had toroutinely ‘build in’ to ensure wemaintain our competitive edge and convert on what is already a limited pool of demand.

User signals and retargeting toengage and convert

User signals are becoming more important for natural search and with the paid quality scores, bounce rates are something we are focusing on. We are looking at ways to better engage users once they get to our site and improve these, by increasing conversion rates whilst we have the prospects’ attention.

User signals and social will continue to grow in importance as people’s engagement with brands develops. Google+ is one approach to trying to ramp this right up and getting brands on board – this is something which i expect Google will really push and start to incorporate into its algorithm more.

Retargeting, an area still in its infancy, is proving hugely effective and a channel where results can clearly be seen. it is one we will continue to look to develop. However, a lot will rest on the final outcome of the recent EU privacy rulings surroundingcookies which could significantly impact retargeting activity. it’s a hot topic, one we will continue to follow closely in 2012.

Google Shopping – where local and mobile search are heading

Debenhams was one of a limited list of launch partners of Google Local Shopping which launched back in September. i expect it to take off and become more widely used by both brands and consumers in 2012.

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Retailers provide Google with an inventory feed which shows local stores and corresponding stock availability.Searchers using Google can then return a list of retailers with the corresponding number of products and items - they have in stock. At the moment Google Shopping is still very much a hidden feature in Google. it is very hard to track whether people actually go into the store and buy something on the back of having seen availability online. However, this will continue to bedeveloped and ways of getting this data will beestablished.

Google Shopping currently works well for White Goods. With clothing however, there are different options and variations that need taking into account such as sizing and colour. But overall, this is the foundation of where both local and mobile search are heading - Google trying to map against searches and the physical world through the browser, perhaps leading to a greater emphasis on ‘reserve and collect’. Ultimately, if a checkout service is provided within this, then all you need is Google!Additionally, this approach is potentially addressing the all too familiar green issue – sourcing locally is better for the environment all round, surely? And this result will leave retailers happy too.

Augmented Reality, multichannel Retailing andExperimentation

2012 will be the year when we see multichannel retailers growing at a faster pace than pure-play. Data suggests that retailers who have embraced it are profiting from it and capitalising. There will always be certain products consumers will want to physically see or try on before purchase, so multichannel is the way forward.

For Debenhams, next year will see a lot moreexperimentation, particularly in the areas of mobile, and use of data and learnings - using evidence of what the customers like best and running with that.

We have also tested augmented reality with our virtual pop up store, combining geolocations with augmented reality via a clever little app designed by GoldRun which runs on iPhones or iPad2 devices, incorporatinggeolocation know-how. Shoppers were able to view ten party dresses (only available at a particular location), virtually try them on, order them and get them delivered to an address of their choice. So we for one are trialling all sorts, and this is set to continue.

in summary, retailers like Debenhams will be investing in

mobile and other channels that work – it’s going to be a year of exploring new areas.

TagMan Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder Jon Baron discusses his predictions for managing complexity in today’s online marketing world and the future for attribution.

One of our predictions for 2012 would be ‘complexity managed’- that’s to say managing the complexity and vast array of new tools available. The last couple of years has seen an explosion of technologies and services, all of which deliver advertisers greater efficiency in their online marketing activity (Data management Platforms, Exchanges, Demand Side Platforms, Ad Verification, Online Customer Service, Attribution management, Retargeting etc.). 2012 will be the year advertisers start to make sense of all these new services - not only in their minds, but also technologically - using platforms like our own (Tagman) to house and integrate them to build a single view of their online audiences, delivering amanaged approach to actually acting on that view.

We also envisage 2012, as the year when attribution will move from being a topic of discussion to a mode of reporting. in other words, more advertisers will plan their spend and optimise their campaigns based on attribution analysis of consumers responses to marketing andnon-marketing channels (direct to site, online chat, call centre activity from web). Using this, we should, for example, expect to see the bidding of search and display start to work in harmony. in general, display has the most to gain as full channel attribution analysis willdemonstrate that banners do work as an upstreamchannel, which will redefine development in the display sector away from its current uncomfortable chase for the

Jon BaronChief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder

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“I’m going to start myprediction by winding back the clock a bit, to July 2009, when Google launched its so called ‘brand algorithm update’(officially titled ‘Vince’ for the trivia buffs amongst you).”

search for can tell search engines about the strength of a brand,because the strength of a brand directly influences those searches.

What is the best means ofinfluencing brand perception online? Right now i would argue social media. At the same time, more and more marketers are cottoning onto the fact that social media can dramatically catalyse SEO campaigns, byincreasing the speed of accrual and volume of natural links pointing to a site, as i wrote about at length in the last issue of Greenlight’s magazine.

All of this is known information, so here’s my prediction: next year, the confluence of user signals influencing search engines perception of brand strength, and everyone being on the “social media helps us build links” bandwagon, will make 2012 the year of social link building.

You could argue that this has already happened, but i don’t think i’m alone in believing that collectively we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible when SEO and Social are properly integrated. Sure, people have been creating infographics and promoting them virally for two or three years (to the extent that many infographics these days are starting to seem a bit “me too”), and the idea of link bait of all stripes has been around for considerably longer. Don’t get me wrong, that kind of activity is still important as part of a campaign, but what i’m talking about are full blown, off the wall campaigns that integrate innovative content,competitions, blogger outreach, social, PR... the lot. in fact, why stop at online? make TV shows! Throw events! i know from some of the stuff being planned with our clients that we will be, and i’m very excited about it.

it’s time to stop thinking of SEO as a bubble, it’s time that SEO becomes more than SEO, more than just links. it’s SEO = Digital PR. SEO = your brand. next year marketers who think like that when planning their campaigns will win, and those who do not will be “also-rans”.

This update attempted toincorporate user search behaviour and click patterns directly into the algorithm, so that searching for keyword X, not finding anything of interest, then immediately searching for a particular Brand Y, would help Brand Y rank for keyword X even in the absence of the usual ranking signals. As it happened, at the time Google turned this new algorithm element up too high, resulting in too much emphasis being put on user search behaviour and causing some very strange search results, such that Vince was rolled back in fairly short order.

What does any of this have to do with SEO in 2012? Well, even though Google bungled the implementation of Vince i think the intention was pretty clear: what users

last view. Also, clients who start toexamine the mix between paid and natural search will find ‘targetbusting’ efficiencies in both - if Google lets them.

Adam BunnDirector of SEO

Matt ReidHead of e-Marketing

“The media landscape is everchanging, but the next few years will see significant developments in how organisations buy and plan their media to meetconsumer demand.”

investments in more traditional awareness channels, be they TV,Outdoor, Sponsorship or indeeddigital display, are all valid andimportant parts of media plans. But many companies are going to have to think hard about these, as there are significant changes in the way that brands are perceived, and the product evaluation process for customers.

We have seen a phenomenal growth in price comparison sites. now, thesecompanies themselves represent some of the biggest budgets in the UK, some passing theeye-watering £100 million mark.

Equally, customers have less in their pockets, and aredemanding more. Often this includes turning online to look for vouchers, best buy prices, or just the latestdiscount offer. The proportion of full price paying customers at zizzi’s and Pizza Express, for example, is decreasing each year.

The key question is where is this heading? Whilst price comparison is growing, i think this is just a sign of things to come. many of the items we buy and use arerelatively commoditised – the exceptions become less every year – perfume, Apple hardware, and some items of clothing remain dominantly brand oriented in thepurchase process, but these are at risk of beingcompared if the distribution sources cannot becontrolled.

Arguably, only Apple truly falls outside this at themoment – with manufacturing, pricing and distribution clearly locked down and controlled. This stacks up whilst differentiation is there, although many will argue that this is not sustainable in the long term.

Google have tried a lot of things, and arguably onlysucceeded in a few well documented ways. it’s ability and capability is at the heart of the changes we have seen. This is the ability of a customer to see what the best results for their needs are.

Growth of comparison, coupled with real time customerinput and feedback will commoditise many brands.Value for a business is hard to find, and will not get easier.

For a company in the UK, spending more on awareness will not necessarily improve things, and is harder to justify as budgets get tighter.

What will help businesses to succeed, is to realise that times have changed and to accept that there is still much more to come.

“Search is about to change quite radically. For more than a decade, search has been stagnant: the core product has not changed much. Users have changed radically in that time frame. Even though the kind of content users consume isdifferent, search engines are still focused mostly on web pages.”

One aspect of all the major engines’ Search Results Pages that has remained constant over the years are the blue links. in 2012, we could start to see less and less real estate being taken up by plain blue links, as engines move further into the realms of rich results.

This supports the belief that 2012 will bring aninnovation arms race, more competitive than it’s been for a long time. Yahoo! and microsoft are expected to execute the Search Alliance in the UK next year, and this should bring with it a range of product innovations from both companies.

it’s difficult to write predictions for 2012 withoutmentioning mobile. Advertisers will see increasedconsumer confidence in purchasing big ticket items through their mobile devices, especially considering the 2011 impact of tablet computers. in the first six months of 2011, UK mobile web users grew by 25%, but this wasover-indexed by the 40% growth in mobile searches (ComScore 2011). So 2012 may perhaps not quite be the fabled ‘year of mobile’, but then what exactly are we expecting when we say that?!

Some other predictions worth a thought are:

4 innovation in new ad formats will result in rich ad adoption increasing. continued on page 9

Simon TurnerSearch Business Strategist

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Greenlight’s Online Search & Social Interaction Platform (GOSSIP)

The GOSSIP platform:

is a managed solution designed to allow global organisations to respond to the search and social demands of modern online business.

Provides a home for all your media assets – press releases, videos, Twitter and blog posts, guides, surveys, forums, polls, widgets, graphics, podcasts, promotions, voucher codes, and much more.

Empowers marketers to engage more effectively with journalists, social networks, and consumers by giving them direct, rapid publishing power for the first time.

Responds directly to the very real danger that big brands will be left behind due to their relativeinability to be dynamic in the online search and social spheres.

Essentially, brands are often great at being corporations, but need GOSSIP to build leadership in thefast-paced world of real time search and social media.

Greenlight’s solutions are used by many of the world’s best known brands to enhance their performance

why don’t you join them?

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4 Consumer behaviour will be more influenced than ever by their online social environments. This may mean more research before purchase, and higher bounce rates.

4 There are around one million mobile and tablet apps in the Apple and Android stores. App search currently available, is akin to web search back in 1996 – unreliable and unstructured. Advertisers want it to be easier for consumers to find their apps, so we’re likely to see advancements in app search. Yahoo! seem to be leading the way in this particular space.

“2011 has been a busy year for the search industry withGoogle acquiring Invite Media and Teracent.”

As we head into 2012, Google is about to officially launch itsDoubleClick Search V3 platform - DS3 - a bid management programme which will combine Yahoo! and mSn into an AdWords type interface, and significantly invest in the DoubleClick platform, specifically DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) and the Exchange. As advertisers will we

really need to invest elsewhere when Google could potentially provide it all? Hannah Kimuyu, Director of Paid media explains.

One of my predictions in 2008 was that Google would, by 2009, have expanded into display advertising following its acquisition of Double Click. in 2009, three of my five predictions for 2010 hinted at a new wave of display, pegged ‘performance display’. Two years later the Double Click acquisition and some incredible developments such as Remarketing and Placement Targeting have turned a once struggling Content network (AdSense to the Publishers), into a success story - one we now know as the Google Display network (GDn). Google’s noteworthy acquisitions and investments this year combined with the mighty AdWords suggests that by the end of 2012, not only will 90% of advertisers search budgets be in AdWords but also that this trend is set to be the case for display as well.

Where does this leave other networks such as Yahoo!, if Google canpotentially provide it all?

The last ten years is evidence that when Google sets its sights on expanding and changing the digital space, it does it properly. However, if Google is creating a one-stop-shop for all digital advertising, where does this leave the other networks? And as advertisers do we really need to invest elsewhere when Google could potentially provide it all?

interestingly, in the last 12 months, Yahoo! has finally woken up to the integration of search and display. it now strategically places its two teams together, making it easier foradvertisers to get into the Rightmedia Exchange (RmX) and the Direct Response (DR) networks. Also with the Search Alliance finally hitting the UK in 2012, this should improve

Hannah KimuyuDirector of Paid Media

Yahoo! and Bing’s combined search efforts. However optimistic this may sound, it is obvious there is a long way to go before Google starts to see a dent in its market share.

Assuming Google and Yahoo! pull this off; i believe this will support another big subject being debated by online marketers across the UK –attribution - one of the biggest buzz words for 2011 and definitely a hot topic for 2012. if all of myadvertising budget can be spent in one place (this one-stop shop scenario) then surely it makes my attribution modelling easier and more transparent.

What is clear is that thedevelopments Google has made in 2011 and the past few years should see it become a serious authority - if not the leader in display, overtaking Yahoo!, as well as search by the end of 2012.

“If 2011 was the year thattechnology really started todeliver the promises ofreal-time bidding, mobile and social advertising, then 2012 will be the year when we start to see the beginning of hockey stick spend growth in these spaces.”

Recently at iAB Engage, Appnexus

Colm BrachenGroup Search Manager

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CEO, Brian O’Kelley predicted that by 2015 over half of the global display spend will be auctioned and sold through exchanges. mobile advertising, particularly in search will accelerate even more quickly as smartphone penetration hits 50% in the UK.

One of the most profound recent changes to digitalmarketing will occur on TVs. in the past few weeks, Xbox announced that a new era in TV will begin this Christmas as nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainmentproviders will begin rolling out new entertainment services worldwide to Xbox 360. in the UK, these will include the BBC, Channel 4 and LoveFilm. This will open up a world of opportunities for advertisers as more and more digital entertainment will be consumed on TVs.

The next big thing in search for 2012

Without question, search is undergoing a lot of change in how relevance is being determined. At the heart of this change will be the humanisation of the searchexperience, as more and more social signals arebeing used to personalise search results. The power of social graph data will be used to create search results that vastly improve the personal search experience. Therefore, optimising social media strategies will play a large part in ensuring a brand is found on Bing and other search engines.

A key theme will emerge around the “appification” of the Web, and in particular in the search domain. Bing will continue to find new ways to help users complete tasks and not just return information. it will be more a case of “Search and Do” rather than “Search and Find”. Finally, how we search will change. Search need not solely be about typing keywords, but rather the potential to search using sounds and images. With Bing on Xbox, the mango release of Windows Phone 7 and Siri, voice search has shown us how much more naturally we can interface with technology.

Will we see an increase in budgets for both search and social in 2012?

indeed we will. Search may have taken a step out of the limelight with the recent innovations we’re seeing in Real Time Bidding (RTB), mobile and social. But, new exciting rich ad formats are enabling advertisers to do brand campaigns. in what will be an uncertain economic climate in 2012, the value of search advertising will once again be sought after. The supply of social mediainventory will increase with the arrival of Twitter, offering advertisers yet another headache of figuring out

where to spend their budgets.

Social media spend should be focused on whatever the desired objective and audience is for that advertiser. This has always been the case and should be nodifferent for social. if you’re looking to find a very specific type of person, you can achieve this using very advanced targeting that’s on offer. if you’re looking to broadcast to a large audience, then this is also available to you. if you’re looking to reach an audience across multiple entry points, then social (and search) has more to offer than most.

How will internet usage and habits affect the way your business operates?

For us, our big challenge is to connect advertisers with the right consumers as they increasingly adopt newtechnology and react to challenging economicconditions. We will continue to innovate across devices to enhance the user experience but also provideadvertisers with really engaged audiences who are interacting with advertising in ways we could only have dreamed of in the past.

Gary RobinsonHead of e-Commerce

“As an online advertiser, we at Dreams havebecome reliant on our spend levels in Google, and to a lesser extent Yahoo and MSN. Over the years however, more and more advertisingoptions have become available to us to help avoid saturating the traditional paid search providers, specifically Google, and leaning on it.”

Social media advertising options, such as Facebook and Linkedin, show promise of being able to deliver branding as well as sales at competitive continued on page 12

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At Greenlight, we pride ourselves on being the pioneers of thought leadership within the search industry. From our Sector Reports to our Greenlight Academy training

programmes, we strive to offer companies and individuals the unique opportunity to gain contemporary and relevant insight into the search industry.

The Greenlight Academy is our training division through which we offer the most advanced and comprehensive search training courses in the country.

Our programmes are designed to meet the needs of business’s or individuals interested inunderstanding and using search and social media. Our courses on offer range froman ’introduction to SEO and PPC’ to ‘Link Building masterclasses’.

“i recently attended the Social media for Business course hosted by Greenlight’s Social mediaDirector, Anna O’Brien. it was absolutely brilliant and i would recommend it to anyone looking tobroaden their knowledge of Social media for business in the online marketing space.”

Our industry renowned sector reports are used within the search industry tobenchmark websites and brands’ visibility against that of their competitors.

Each report examines the total search engine audience size; the most visible websites in Google natural search and paid media results; paid media ad copy analysis; budget allocation strategies and social media analysis.

Greenlight Academy

Sector Reports

We have now also included a magazine at the back of our reports featuringarticles from the Greenlight Board and Directors of natural search, paid media and social media. Our latest edition focuses on the ‘Social Search phenomenon’.

Roundtables

in recent weeks, we have successfully hosted Fashion and Finance themed roundtables. Participants from major brands, including Debenhams, next, Reiss, Barclays Wealth and Google Finance gathered to discuss whatissues they have experienced with search and social within their sectors.

Our filmed roundtable discussions are designed to provide an openenvironment for debate and discussion on a regular basis.

Guusje Wentrup | Ecommerce and marketing Coordinator | miH Jeans

“The Greenlight Fashion Roundtable was really interesting for us as asmall brand. We gained insight into what larger fashion brands and retailsare doing, as well as what we can do better. We’ve learnt a lot.”

Ashish Khungar | Search Specialist | Dixons Retail Plc

For further information on Greenlight Academy please contact academy@greenlightsearch.comTo download our sector reports and view our roundtable videos, visit www.greenlightsearch.com

cost per acquisition (CPA) rates. meanwhile, display advertisingcontinues to reinvent itself, with many platforms now offering highly targeted “performance display”options, rather than the traditional cost per million (CPm) arrangements.

One advertising option that has been available for a number of years, and has rarely been utilised by themajority of advertisers to its full extent, is mobile. Since 2006, Google has claimed annually that each subsequent year will be the year for mobile. in reality, advertisers’ take up has been relatively low.

However, it seems mobile is showing very clear signs of the ‘perfect storm’. With the usage of smartphones and tablets, the volume of searches conducted via mobile devices is now significant. This is sign enough for us that 2012 is the year we will fully seek to embrace mobile search as aserious and viable channel to expand our visibility online to deliver more sales.

Finlay ClarkIndustry Manager

mobiles in the past 12 months, and we expect this number to rise even further as smartphone penetration increases. in some countries, they’ll actually bypass the desktopaltogether, and the mobile phone will be the default internet device.

As this shift happens, new types of online content and services are emerging. if content is king, context is its’ crown – and one of the most important contextual signals islocation. if you search for sushi from your mobile, chances are you’re looking for the directions to a nearby restaurant, and not for a Wikipedia entry.

Social signals are another powerful driver of behaviour. if you’re looking for a review of a movie, you might be interested in what TotalFilm or the BBC has to say about it, but you’re also likely to be interested in what three of your friends made of it. We’re still at an early stage oflearning how best to use social signals and other taste indicators to provide more personalised content and services.

The Google+ project has only been live to the public since September, but already we’re seeing ways in which you can add a social layer to web activity. Brands can now holdface-to-face conversations with customers via Hangouts from their Google+ brand pages, and use Circles to tailor specific messages withspecific groups of followers.

new technology will continue to come from nowhere right to theforefront next year, the companies who ‘leap and learn’ – dive in, try things and learn to improve them – are the ones which will stay ahead.

“The key trends to watch out for in 2012 can be summed up in three words: social, local and mobile (or So-Lo-Mo for short).”

Already we’ve seen huge jumps in the numbers of users searching on

“When I was first asked to write about my predictions for social media next year, I panicked. It seems when looking generally at the landscape there are a lot of things developing, but nothing that jumps out as the next big thing.”

Some clever things like relocation and augmented reality are still struggling to gain the full respect of the tech community let alone the generalpublic. This led to much head scratching, deep thoughts of the Jack Handey persuasion, and hours trolling blogs for some much neededpersuasion/inspiration.

During my inspiration scavenger hunt my mind kept coming back to a quote by Chris Poole, founder of 4chan, that i had bookmarked a month or so ago. “[Some social sites] would have you believe that you’re a mirror,” he said, “but in fact, we’re more likediamonds.” - multi-faceted. When i first read it, it struck me. And, each time i’ve returned to it, i’ve found myself equally inspired.

i, for one, Anna O’Brien am not the same person day to day. in the words of a 90’s pop song that may be better

Anna O’BrienDirector of Social Media

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left unrevived, “i’m a bitch. i’m a lover. i’m a child. i’m a mother. i’m a sinner. i’m a saint. i do not feel ashamed…” Well, that’s not quite true. i do feel ashamed. i feel very ashamed. i am the first to admit that there are thoughts, ideas, and dreams i have that i never want anyone other than my closest friends to know. Still others that i don’t want anyone to know. Those secrets i am only comfortable sharing with strangers on the internet cloaked in anonymity. These are the juicy bits that will come in the tell-all book my brother’s sister’s cousin will write. i fear it.

What i am getting at in a not so subtle way is that, social media as it stands now, does not support the multitude ofdifferent relationships and personalities we have. While sites like Reddit and 4chan appeal to the user who wishes to share information [read troll] cloaked in anonymity, Facebook provides a mass audience with live feed that even your mother would feel comfortable reading. And she will. Often. However, whilst these sites currently thrive, they live atopposite ends of the spectrum and both only currently provide a single use view.

When mr. Poole first made his point, he was attempting to attack mainstream social sites in their approach. What he did inadvertently was attack his own in the discussion. The future of social media and the prediction i am most certain of, is that somehow one of these mainstream sites will evolve to allow you to become more multifaceted. This is more than Google Circles or Facebook friend groups. Those cater to organisation of content rather than the accurate portrayal of multidimensional identities.

What might this look like? it’s hard to say. Perhaps it will be multiple usernames underneath a single user identity. maybe it will be the ability to choose to post content to a public feed anonymously. Something tells me that whatever the solution will be, it is likely going to be much more exciting than that. And that’s a good thing. Personally, i think social media could use a little more genuine innovation and excitement these days.

14

What is your favourite social media network and how often do you use it?

Twitter and i personally use it on a daily basis.

How are you using this on a professional basis?

We are using Twitter and StockTwits because of the way they are integrated specifically for traders and those interested in the markets. We have been using these for the last three years, particularly because of the real-time element.

What advice do you have for budding Communitymanagers?

Ask a lot of questions– people love to offer advice and be asked for their opinion. Be timely – set expectations, so people know what to expect. Deliver guidelines that set out when someone contacting you can expect to receive a response. it doesn’t need to be immediate, but set the expectation of 24 hours for example as standard practice with a different response time for crisis management. Also make sure you know about your brand guidelines and that all teams are aware of them and are working together to adhere them.

60 SEcOND INTERvIEWAllan Schoenberg - Director of Corporate Communications

“Ask a lot of questions– people love to offer advice and be asked for their opinion”

What celebrities are you following on Twitter and why?

Tony Hawk – professional skateboarder! i follow himbecause he’s a Dad like me; i used to skateboard and grew up with him being in the limelight so it’s good to be able to connect with him on a personal level. i also like that he uses instagram, so you can see what he’s up to.

Who would you engage with on a social media level topromote your brand if you could have anyone retweet you?

There are a few people i could mention: matthew Bishop from the Economist, Howard Lindzon from StockTwits as well as other journalists from Dow Jones or Bloomberg – all of those that are influential within our market, but that could offer third party support for our brand.

How do you see the future of Sm within the FS industry?

We are still in the early stages and there’s a long way to go.i believe the focus will be outside of the traditionalEnglish speaking markets and locations; with a move towards China, Japan, Latin America and other emerging markets looking to build interest and awareness amongst their networks.

in September, Greenlight hosted its ‘Social media and Finance’ roundtable, which can be found on ourwebsite. Representatives from major financial institutions, including Barclays Wealth, HSBC, Currencies Direct

and Google, discussed how search and social media has helped them to market their brands in the online space.We grabbed CmE Group’s Allan Schoenberg for a 60 second interview.

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