Like: The Search for Relevance

I’m tired of Google search. It’s had a nice run. But I just can’t rationalize betting my marketing budget on a technology that uses yesterday’s math and a formula that is so easily gamed. Why would I trust that when the best form of marketing (i.e. word-of-mouth) has been digitized via social media?

So, if you're marketing partner is going to perpetuate the lie that “organic search through link backs” provides the truest measure of page relevance then just go ahead and buy your links from the 10 or 12 places that are spamming search today and get it over with. But sooner or later your prospects and customers are going to cut through that and look for a community of web users who share their preferences and how many users “like” a product or service will be the trusted result for their search query not its page ranking. I for one am not going to compromise the future integrity of my brand for the sake of today’s search engine ranking. Bring on the “like” results. They are the most genuine ones.

It’s not just my opinion. When looking for new customers, 91% of small businesses surveyed by Constant Contact this fall cite the value and importance of word of mouth. Add to that the discovery that businesses have increased their use of social media tools and plan to focus more on those efforts in 2011 and you begin to get some measure of how many people are realigning their strategies.Nearly two-thirds (63%) of small businesses cite Facebook as an important tool for marketing, up from 50 percent earlier this year.

In addition the survey indicates that small businesses now see Facebook as equally important as face-to-face interactions; 62% cited face-to-face interactions as important. And you can’t get anything close to face-to-face interactions through traditional search but you can through social media.

Ah yes, interactions. Remember that word. When likes become the new links of search you’ll need to create content that inspires interactions. Interactions are responses to quality posts demonstrated by a user offering a thumbs-up, leaving a comment, and retweeting or sharing the post or posts with their friends. My proposed formula is the C x I = R (content times interactions equals relevance). And Relevance is something we can all Like.

Find me www.twitter.com/timbigfish or visit Bigfish as www.facebook.com/gobigfishgo