Everyone's talking about it so I may as well too! The iPad look sexy and I think will do the job very well. Although I'm a little confused on how I would personally use it, I think we've just potentially seen an evolution in portable computer technology.

The Yolk were asked by BusinessLink to deliver a presentation on Social Media for businesses this morning. It was based at the Forum in Norwich, Norfolk. First I've been there but a great setup for presentations. A highly recommended venue!

There will be a video of the presentation shortly. In the meantime, please see the presentation below:

If you are interested in developing your Social Media presence, please see our website or follow us on Twitter:

• Visit The Yolk website
• The Yolk on Twitter

The Yolk is a new digital agency that is the result of a merger between specialist agencies Sticky Panda (Digital strategy and online performance) and Blue Hat Technologies (Web and software development). My role in this new exciting venture will be as the Customer Engagement Director. I'm very excited about the new prospects and will update people on forthcoming news.

The Yolk is due to officially launch in January 2010 (straight after the New Year) so if anyone has any questions, please let me know. Alternatively, visit The Yolk's website to sign up to our newsletter or follow us on Twitter.

Related links:

• The Yolk
• The Yolk on Twitter

I've added a new resouces page which now contains a glossary of terms being used within my posts, as well as a downloads area for useful whitepapers and resources. This area will be constantly growing so if you need a digital library, remember to check here first!

If you have any recommendations, requests or questions, then please leave me a note!

I'm sure that you've heard the buzz about real-time search launched by Google... and good work guys! I looked into the real-time search options from Mashable's original post and realised that when I Googled "Phailanx" (the name of this blog incase you hadn't noticed!), my realtime tweets were appearing  despite a limited pilot on the functionality - I'm obviously taking that as a personal compliment from Google.

The real-time functionality adds a completely different dimension to how users can search, especially on the way in which they look for opinions, reviews and customer feedback/opinion. The ability to now showcase user communication via search becomes an important factor in corporate communication, reputation and commercialisation. With 28% of Shoppers saying that Social Media has influenced holiday purchases, real-time search instantly lifts the need for businesses to maximise social media marketing. Encouraging consumers to discuss brands is going to be a massive contribution to increasing conversions online, so businesses must get as much conversation going as possible. Just remember this basic rule:

Customer engagement + Simplicity = Success online

Related links:

• Mashable's full post on Google real-time search
• Follow Phailanx on Twitter

Recently I've noticed that Digital marketing seems to be a little more streamlined in approach and businesses are matching the needs of their consumers. With Social Media turning the traditional marketing methods on its head, there are a few companies that are starting to embrace the changes and meet their customers on the platforms of their choice rather than bring them in.

Social Media Marketing has changed the way in which businesses need to communicate and reach their customers. Not only does it allow businesses to manage their corporate reputation and start a discussion on a different level, but it is encouraging them to meet and greet their customers in their own comfortable environment. Almost to the point where customer service is reaching out to a new level and letting the customer know that they are the customer.

More and more TV adverts now contain Facebook urls instead of their own... driving consumers towards critical mass, engagement and discussion. The returns then arrive from this discussion as it is viewed as a longer term investment into acquisition.

So, is your company successfully penetrating the social sphere?

Related links:

• Facebook page for Liv
• Create a Social Media Marketing strategy

Over the past few years, High street retailers have been conquering online only retailers with regards to levels of traffic despite online retailers have the higher performance levels. However, this year online retailers are on the up - this time last year, high street retailers had 25% more traffic than online only retailers. In 2009, Online retailers have closed this gap to 18% which is a massive leap forward that is starting to start to blur the line on digital brand equity vs high street presence.

Ref: www.hitwise.com

It looks as though online retailers (being more specialised in online sales) have been focussing their digital efforts to maximise communication and marketing tools such as Social Media, online customer service and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Related links:

• Hitwise report/blog post
• Improve your e-commerce performance

A recent study from Hitwise has shown that searches for "Games" have overtaken searches for Mobile phones on the week ending the 14th November 2009. With Christmas approaching it will obviously have an effect on the results, but it is showing the power of gaming in today's market.

Ref: Hitwise

With the ongoing launch of some massive single and multiplayer games, is there a marketing opportunity being missed by companies to partner or attach themselves to this market?

Related links:

• Go to the Hitwise website

Of course it is. It's Google doing search. The new Google Commerce search is the new e-commerce search engine designed for retailers.

A recent post by Econsultancy mentions that a lot of consumers choose to skip search functionality for e-commerce sites as they tend to be well below customer expectations (and ultimately dilute the user experience). This is apparently why Google has entered this market to help retailers who want a robust on-site search but without the setup issues or outsourced assistance. I would have to disagree with Econsultancy as while I was working at a few of the top online retailers in the UK, site search was the most used forms of navigation on their sites. Up to 60% of users used the search function from the homepage and then that number increased on subsequent pages when regular streams of navigation failed. Although I disagree with the customer behaviour insights of the Econsultancy blog post, it still leads to the same result and shows the importance of having a good search function on your website and the potential market gap spotted by Google.

Is it just the same as regular Google site search?
No, it's specifically designed for retail sites. For a start it allows retailers to "promote" and adjust results based on promotions and data/information. It also has advanced filtering/sort functions available which have become a necessity in shopping online. Finally there is also the ability to change result view types so that the search is a little bit more personalised to the customer.

How much does it cost?
It's not cheap starting at £50k. However, for this price you get a very powerful search function with Google's 24/7 support and experience to back it up. There are other competitors such as Fred Hopper and Mercado (taken over by Omniture) who provide some very good alternative solutions. However, they must all now be worried (even if they don't admit it) that Google has launched this product... as not only is it what they do best, but as expected, it also seamlessly integrates with all the other Google packages such as Adwords, Analytics and Checkout.

Related links:

• Find out more about Google Commerce Search

Sticky Panda was recently asked what we thought were the best and worst things about Social Media; here's our list...

Top 5 best things in Social Media

1. Engagement
   The ability to engage users with new technologies and interaction
   
   
2. Communication / Corporate Reputation Management
   Social media allows businesses to have two way conversations with their customers meaning that it becomes much easier to manage your corporate reputation
   
   
3. Positioning
   Engaging with Social Media shows that your company is with the times and able to communicate with consumers at all levels. It gives the opportunity to present yourself as an authority in your related field
   
   
4. Simplification
   Social media has made using the internet (and work) easier with the opportunity to use new technologies that simplify many different processes
   
   
5. Collaboration
   With the introduction to new age social media (e.g. Social Commerce, Social Gaming, Social Learning), collaboration online has become much easier and a part of everyday internet use.

Top 5 worst things in Social Media

1. Cost - It’s free
   It’s free price tag is a hook for customers, but it is also the Achilles heel for businesses. The free options make the market saturated and businesses assume that because it is free, that is how much it costs to invest in Social Media Marketing. Understanding the premium services and how to optimise this is what will make a success of Social Media in business and knowing when to invest money will also have a massive impact on the scale of this success
   
   
2. Time
   Social media is time consuming and resource intensive when done correctly
   
   
3. Diluted presence
   With there being so many platforms online, it is inevitable that your digital presence will start to become diluted. There are products that can help manage this but none have been perfected as of yet. It is important to manage this as effectively as possible within an integrated Social Media strategy
   
   
4. Monitoring
   Monitoring can be expensive to use the best tools. Basic analytics can be found in most mainstream packages, but specialised measurement can be expensive
   
   
5. Monetisation
   It can be very difficult to make money in Social Media. It requires the right research, the right functionality as well as a little luck in timing/customer behaviour. This is on top of a sound and robust platform