Talking about engagement and Search Marketing.

BizReport : Search Marketing : October 07, 2009

New study links search and social

Correlations have been made between display and search marketing as well as between display and social marketing. But a new report from GroupM Search and comScore shows a link between search and social marketing efforts. Researchers found that searchers engaged with branded social media were more likely to query a low-funnel term than those not engaged.

by Kristina Knighr

What is a low-funnel term and why does it matter?

A low-funnel search term is one which expresses action or loyalty such as brand product terms or campaign terms. Comparatively, high-funnel search terms are those which express awareness or consideration of a product - such as using a general product attribute or an industrialized term.

"Advertisers need to explore their social media initiatives and how they impact user engagement and performance in other channels. This data suggest that social media marketing does positively affect consumer purchase consideration, specifically through the search channel," said Todd Steinman, chief operating offer at M80.

Researchers further found that those exposed to branded social media and paid search programs are nearly three times as likely to query than those who only saw a paid search ad. And, organically speaking, consumers exposed to branded social media were 2.4 times as likely to click an organic link.

"Social media-exposed consumers are far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand's paid search ad," said Graham Mudd, vice president of comScore, Inc. "This finding provides strong evidence that investing in social media marketing can both increase initial brand consideration and drive higher conversion rates once the consumer has decided to purchase.