PerfectMarket

Understanding the “I” in Intent and the “Me” in Media

Sometimes it feels like my inbox is a virtual Christmas tree where presents come in the form of Google alerts and media newsletters. I click on them greedily, like a child tearing at wrapping paper, eager to see what lies inside.

Sadly, more often than not, I find a fuzzy pink rabbit suit.

But some days, it’s the Red Ryder BB Gun I always wanted.

Today was one of the special days, where my inbox was overflowing with great ideas and useful insights.

First, there was Chris Copeland’s gift of an article from MediaPost: “The Winning Ticket: The Trifecta of Intention Marketing.”

Copeland discusses a concept near and dear to Perfect Market’s heart, the importance of identifying and capitalizing on user intent.

“In the new-media world that has sprung from search, we suddenly have an active participant in the consumer, expressing intent through the platform and expecting appropriate responses from the advertiser. This is a key difference from the origins of traditional advertising, where the consumer was passive and, therefore, mattered much less on a one-off basis than today.”

Publishers of branded content would do well take note of this fact: Search users expect “appropriate responses from the advertiser.” The greatest opportunity lies in achieving the right mix of quality content and targeted advertising to match consumers’ intent.

But achieving this optimal balance is not the only challenge. As Copeland suggests, “Understanding the platform only matters if you can leverage it to your gain. And that gain comes from better site experiences, better brand assets and forming connections that establish your brand and work towards purchase and loyalty.”

Publishers have to wake up to the opportunity that lives within their content libraries.

In a special article for CNN Tech, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore explained the newest opportunity for better understanding and identifying user intent: “Google’s nightmare: Facebook ‘Like’ replaces links.”

With the introduction of the “like” button, Facebook has demonstrated, yet again, a deep understanding of how users want the internet to operate.

Now, thanks to Facebook, as Cashmore notes, “Any Web site can customize its experience for you, if you’re logged into Facebook: Suddenly CNN.com stories can be ranked not just by an editor but by your friends, too.”

It’s the ultimate synchronization of content and user intent.

“Facebook announced ‘Likes’ as a form of ’social links’ — better than a link because it’s related to a specific user.”

The underlying idea here is that users expect the internet to be optimized for their intents and purposes. The web has grown so big, awash in so much extraneous and useless information, that users are demanding ways to make sure their web experience caters to their interests, tasks, and overriding agenda.

Facebook understands this insight into the user’s psyche and is capitalizing on it.

Professional media have a rare opportunity. They have been slow to adapt to Google, and have suffered as a result. “As Google rose to become the barometer of all that’s worthy on the Web, publishers rushed to change their sites to appease the Google god. ‘Search Engine Optimization’ became a massive industry; a multitude of SEO consultants sprung up, offering to tweak your Web site to better fit Google’s measure of the Web.”

If Facebook’s “Like” leapfrogs Google — or, as Cashmore puts it: “To use the proper jargon: What if the Open Graph becomes the measure of the Web?” — publishers will have a unique opportunity to stop playing catch-up and instead lead the charge in identifying and catering to user intent.

Interestingly, one way Google may be able to hold off Facebook’s onslaught could be through Google Living Stories. Yet another example of the effort to leverage user experience with intent, Living Stories, according to Google, “makes it easier for readers to get the latest updates on the stories that interest them, as well as to review deeper background materials that are relevant for a story’s context.”

— Lee Glandorf

Tags: seo, google, facebook, mashable, lee glandorf, open graph, perfect market, chris copeland, search engine optimization, peter cashmore, facebook like,