Yesterday, Google launched a new services called Insights for Search.   It builds off of Google Trends, but allows you to dig deeper into the search query data to compare search patterns by location, categories, and time frames.   

The tool works by first having you select how you want to compare the data.  The options you have are by Search Terms, Locations, or Time Ranges.  You can then filter the results by the two selections that you did not choose as well as by specific categories.  This allows marketers to get very granular data - specific to who their target audience is and where they are located. 

The tool also shows you search phrases that are currently seeing a spike in search phrases -  that ultimately, relate to the search phrases your currently researching.  This will help PPC managers find new keywords that they can potentially capitalize on before other marketers begin to bid up the costs.    

Overall, it seems like an interesting tool that will provide excellent data that can be used by marketers to bolster their search campaigns and better understand searcher behavior.

…You’re supposed to say “Wednesday”… you know… so I can say “Webinar!” and then… Oh forget it.

Throughout the month of August, Serengeti Communications will present a weekly, one-hour Webinar every Wednesday (say that five times fast). We’ll be covering various Web 2.0 and marketing strategies each week and helping your business get just a little bit better at using that new-fangled thing called the “Internet.” (All the cool kids say it’s going to be the next “sliced bread.”)

So, what are these Webinars going to cover? I’m glad you asked.

And, all this for only twenty-seven easy payments of nothing. But wait, there’s more…call right now and you can get your whole team to attend for nothing. That’s right just twenty-seven easy payments of nothing. That’s nothing for you, nothing for your co-worker, and the extra special low price of nothing for your great-uncle Ted.

So, invite your co-workers, your bosses, and obscure relatives to The Wednesday Webinar Series. Operators (i.e. Stacy) are standing by so Register Today.

What’s the most common reason brands find themselves on the “ouch” side of social media?  I started thinking about this after reading Jeremiah Owyang’s list of brands that have been punk’d by social media in the past few years.  As I made my way through Jeremiah’s list and began adding some of my personal favorites, my mind sorted each incident into broad categories:

• Brandjacking for nonprofit cause (Louis Vuitton, Starbucks, Chevy Tahoe)
• Brandjacking for fun
• Silly PR firm gaffe (nothing deceitful, just not terribly smart…like the Johnson and Johnson Baby Camp example on Jeremiah’s list)
• Sneaky, underhanded behavior designed to deceive (Walmart, Sony, Whole Foods, Burger King)
• Poor quality (products that don’t work properly, bad service, mistreating customers, etc. – Dell, Kryptonite, Delta, Ted, AOL, Best Buy, Panasonic, Comcast)

Sadly, deceitful tactics like fake Blogs are the reason for a big chunk of the social media problems companies have experienced.  Hopefully enough of these incidents have been exposed to frighten big brands (and their PR firms) into better behavior in the future.

But the biggest category, hands down, is the last one on my list:  Poor [fill in the blank].  In the days of Web 1.0 (i.e., the digital newspaper, the uncomplicated landscape of “one to many” communications), companies didn’t have to worry too much about trivial things like product quality or making customers mad by holding them hostage on a runway for ten hours (Delta). 

Those days are obviously over.  Today, if you abuse your customers (by selling them a poor product, not delivering the customer service you promised, or letting rats run rampant through the kitchen you use to cook the food you are selling), chances are, you’ll be busted in a big, very public way. 

It really isn’t that complicated (Bull Durham: You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you run around the bases), but some companies seem to be having a hard time grasping the new realities of a Web 2.0 world.  Perhaps, come to think of it, this is why we’ve seen so much deceitful behavior.

Here’s a thought: Instead of hiring a PR firm to create a fake Blog and convince America that the Blog is real and that people really love, love, love you, why not…

Play fair.  Clean up your own mess.  Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.  Share/give back. 

Oh, wait…those rules are for kindergartners, right?

No company can protect itself from the ”ouch” side of Social Media completely.  However, if you focus on delivering what you promise and treating your customers with respect, you’ll go a long way towards mitigating the risk of being punk’d.