Monthly Archive for February, 2010

Searching Google, Bing and Yahoo At The Same Time

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 26, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Here is a tip for those who are still jumping around from Google to Bing to Yahoo seeking to have the best results for a keyword search.

Yabigo is a “gadget” in which individuals may submit a query into a single search interface with the objective of having access results from all three search engines on a single page.  Figure 1 presents the results for the search query, “Foreign Direct Investment” + Canada.

Figure 1: Results For Query, “Foreign Direct Investment” + Canada
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

As seen in the image, the results from Yahoo are posted on the left, Bing in the middle and Google on the right.  By doing a scan of the overall results. it can be seen that the rankings for each result differ amongst the search engines.  Yabigo does inform users of  how many common results per page are found for a query.   In the case of the query, “Foreign Direct Investment” + Canada, there were four common results on the first page and one result for the second page.

Yabingo can apply to a search for images and video content as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Images and Videos Results For “Foreign Direct Investment” + Canada

At the end of results page, Yabigo provides a keyword cloud (Figure 3) associated with each query to facilitate finding relevant information.

Figure 3: Keyword Cloud Associated With The Query, “Foreign Direct Investment” + Canada

One element that is missing from Yabigo is the advanced search function.

Yabigo is available at www.yabigo.com

To improve your online research skills, attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies“

Why Use SlideShare As A Part Of Your Economic Development 2.0 Strategy?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 24, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Investment Attraction and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 1 Comment

You have decided to implement a marketing strategy for your region for investment attraction purposes.  As a part of  the strategy, you have selected to use social media marketing applications. After concluding a benchmark of sites that are using Web 2.0 tools, you have created a list of the following applications that should be used in the strategy.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • RSS Feeds

The list seems to be pretty complete however; there is an application that does not come to mind when discussing social media marketing tools.  The application is SlideShare.

SlideShare is a tool that allows individuals to place documents in various file formats (i.e, .ppt, .doc, .pdf) on web.

The use of SlideShare in a marketing context is very practical.   Here are the advantages

1 - Avoid reinventing the wheel

There is a good chance that you may have promotional material in .pdf and or PowerPoint already in your agency that can be easily placed online.  Instead of spending a portion of your budget on new promotional content, use what you have and upload it to SlideShare.

2 - Reinforce Your Search Engine Optimatization Strategy

Having a presence on various Web 2.0 applications will enhance and reinforce your search engine optimization strategy for your website.  SlideShare is an efficient tool to accomplish this goal,  Each word of the document on the application is indexed and allows it to appear on Google’s result page quickly and within the first couple of pages. (if you are creating a new document to be place on SlideShare, keep in mind the keywords that investors are most likely to used to find information regarding investment attraction along with the name of the city, region, province / state or country.  Good examples of keywords would be: “Invest in”, “Investing in”, “Incentive” or “Doing Business In”.

3 - Be Visual

Using Slideshare to publish Microsoft Powerpoint presentation is a very powerful strategy.  The medium allows agencies to communicate facts about their region visually.  Figure 1 is a page from the Chesterfield Economic Development (Chesterfield, Virgina) presentation on SlideShare.

Figure 1: Chesterfield SlideShare Powerpoint Presentation

This particular slide is effective to help sell the region as a location of  growth in terms of the value of new commercial construction by using the ascending set of bars in the chart.

Some may consider SlideShare as the poorman’s YouTube when it comes to delivering content visually however; it can be efficient tool to aid in obtaining your marketing goals for economic development initiatives.

SlideShare is available at www.slideshare.net

Thinking about creating your Economic Development 2.0 strategy?  Attend Intelegia’s seminar,  “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications“

Gathering Twitter Intelligence With TipTop

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 22, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Web 2.0 Search
. 1 Comment

Searching social networks has afforded online researchers to get a pulse of what individuals are doing and thinking.   An application such as Twitter allow individuals to share their thoughts / opinions, (good or bad) with followers and users of the web for research purposes.

One challenge that presents itself when using Twitter Search is the tool’s inability to sort the “good tweets” from the “bad tweets” when it comes to a product. service or a region for economic development purposes.

The search tool, TipTop, attempts to solve this problem.

TipTop takes results for a keyword search on Twitter and displays them into the following three categories:

  • Tip tweets (Highlighted in green) - “good tweets”
  • piT tweets (Highlighted in red) - “bad tweets”
  • Other tweets (Highlighted in blue) - “neutral tweets”

Figure 1 presents the results for a Twitter search for “Google Buzz”.

Figure 1: Results Sorted by TipTop For Keyword Search, “Google Buzz”

On the right hand side of the results, TipTop supplies a sentiment trend chart (More Tips) comparing the three types of results.  The chart can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Sentiment Trends Chart

Although not perfect, TipTop may save individuals time when going through the countless amount of tweets that are sent on a daily basis.

TipTop is available at www.feeltiptop.com

Making Advanced Online Searching Easier With Gdocu

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 19, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Pop quiz….

Which of the following search statements will permit you to access information in a Microsoft PowerPoint document regarding trends in the North American automobile industry?

a) flietype:.ppt, trends + “North American” + “automobile industry”

b) trends + “North American” + “automobile industry”, .ppt

c) trends + “North American” + “automobile industry” filetype:ppt

If you have selected either a) or b), it is recommended that you continue reading.

The correct answer is c)

Although it maybe difficult for some to remember how to structure a search query for a specific file format, there may be an easier way to conduct an advanced search of the web.

Gdocu is a search tool that permits users to find information in a specific file format by entering keywords and clicking within a radio button.  Using such a  tool will assist in filtering search results to locate relevant information efficiently.

Why scan through a number of pages looking for an annual report when you can easily surf through just a few .pdf documents? Annual reports are often available in .pdf.

As of February 18th, the tool can retrieve the following types of document formats:

  • PDF
  • Word
  • PowerPoint
  • Other Formats (i.e., Excel, Design Web Format)
  • Only Websites
  • All The Web

Figure 1 illustrates the search interface of Gdocu.

Figure 1: Gdocu Search Interface

Case Scenario

You are interested in finding a spreadsheet (in Excel) that contains the export levels of petroleum of Canada in 2008.  Figure 2 presents the query that is entered to find the relevant data as specified.


Figure 3: Search Query For Finding Export Data For Petroleum In Canada For 2008

By selecting “Other Formats”, Gdocu will provide only Excel files (XLS).  Results for the query are presented in Figure 4, where the most relevant result is highlighted in yellow.

Figure 4: Results For The Query:: export + petroleum + Canada + 2008
Click On Image To Enlarge

As stated on their index page, Gdoc is NOT a Google product however; it has been created by the Google Custom Search application.

Although Gdoc is a very good tool to conduct advanced web searches however; it is just the beginning when attempting an exhaustive search of the internet.

Gdoc is available at www.gdocu.com

Looking to enhance your team’s online searching skills?  Attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Advanced Business Intelligence Gathering Approaches”

Engaging Fans On Your Facebook Page For Economic Development

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 17, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 2 Comments

You have finally dipped your big toe in the large body of water called, “Web 2.0″ for economic development, what do you do now in terms of engaging with individuals who are “following” you or fans?  According to Sysomos, only 77% of Facebook Fan Pages have under 1,000 fans.

If you have selected to utilize a Facebook Fan Page as a part of your economic development 2.0 strategy, here are a few tips to follow to increase the activity on the the page’s wall and discussion board.

1 - Build Your Audience

This tip may seem elementary however; building an audience is often taken for granted.  Economic development agencies begin their adventures on Web 2.0 by just creating a fan page and expect to be found in the sea of results for the query, “economic development” and prompting users to become fans.  Practical approaches to build an audience include:

  • Word of mouth promotion when meeting with stakeholders
  • Posting a link on the agency’s website where it can be highly visible
  • Placing a link in the signature of staff members’ email
  • Putting a brief note about the page in any online or offline publications

It is important to note that you should attempt to convince individuals to become “A Fan” for reason.  Individuals will decide to join based on a specific need such as keeping informed on the economic development initiatives in your region.

2 - Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience (fans) is vital.  This type of intelligence will influence the type of content that will be posted on the Facebook Fan Page.  By taking a look at who has become fans, you should be able to know  what percentage of the audience are:

  • Citizens of the region
  • Economic development professionals (elsewhere)
  • Site selectors / potential investors
  • Generic fan followers (Individuals that do not fit into the first three categories.)

A quick look at the fan’s profile could provide you with enough information to place the individual into one of the four groups listed above.

3 - Post Relevant and Timely Content

After assessing your fan base, you should be able to tailor your post for your wall or discussion board.  In the situation where your audience is comprised of economic development professionals, you may want to consider posting a link to an article regarding a particular issue dealing with a incentive program.  Making the program the subject of discussion will encourage professionals to share expertise on the topic.

Figure 1 seen below is an example of a posting of good economic news in the Chaleur region and a response of one of its Facebook Fans.


Figure 1: Link Posting On Chaleur Region Facebook Fan Page With Fan’s Comment

4 - Comment

At times, it is best to encourage a dialog amongst fans by simply being the first to comment on what you have posted.  You may post a comment summarizing the article for those who do not have the time to read it or just make a remark to spark a debate that will turn into a fruitful exchange of ideas.  Posting questions is a great way to begin to engage fans.

5 - Evaluate What You Have Done

The practice of engaging fans on Facebook is not completed as you click on the “POST” button.  It requires reviewing and evaluating what has been done and could be done to enhance the page for the fans.  Some elements of the page may include:

  • Adding applications to facilitate fan interaction
  • Including tabs for easier navigation on the page
  • Provide a news feed with relevant articles that could be the basis of a discussion

The post provided a brief list of suggestions of how to engage your audience on your Facebook Fan Page for economic development.  For more tips, read:

Are you thinking about building your economic development 2.0 strategy? Attend Intelegia’s seminar, “Optimize Investment Attraction Strategy Through Information and Social Media Applications” to learn about the key elements for a successful strategy.

Wowd…Real-Time Search?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 15, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Web 2.0 Search
. 0 Comments

The ability to collect information on Web 2.0 is a definite advantage to competitive intelligence researchers.  Lately, Google has been improving their capabilities to provide real-time search results as a part of the tool’s broad set of web results.   Google’s efforts has not scared off tools such as LeapFish, Collecta or Addictomatic from the real-time search market.

Wowd is another player in the market that intends to carve out their own space in the industry.

The search application positions itself as a way to “Discover what’s popular right now”.  Here is a look at what Wowd offers on the web. (Wowd also provides a downloadable application.)

The tool is divided into three distinct parts.

1 - Hot List

Wowd provides real-time results from the top stories on the web.  Figure 1 presents the top results on the web on February 14th, 2010.

Figure 1: Wowd’s Hot List

2 - Search

The search option allows users to retrieve the most relevant hits on social networking platforms.  Figure 2 illustrates the results given for the query, “Toyota Prius”.

Figure 2: Real-Time Results For “Toyota Prius”

Search results are updated constantly and can be sorted by what is available in real-time, “Best now” and what is available on the web, “Best all time”.

The functionalities that are common to both parts of Wowd are:

  • Sharing Content
  • Reporting Content As Inappropriate
  • Tagging Content
  • Filtering Content By Keyword
  • Filtering Content By Sources

The functionalities are available with each listed result as highlighted in yellow in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Wowd’s Content Functionalities

3 - My Pages

The “My Pages” option allows users to add pages to the Wowd application to be indexed.  This option is solely available through the downloadable version.

Wowd is available at www.wowd.com

Seeking to expand your knowledge of internet search tools?  Learn more at Intelegia’s seminar, “Effective Online Research Strategies“.

SiloBreaker : A Cool Way To Read and Analyse News

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 12, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Internet tools
. 0 Comments

Here is tool that may influence the way that you search for and use news.

SiloBreaker is a content aggregator application that delivers more than a list of headlines and associated hyperlinks.  The application collects news, blogs, research, audio, video and other digital media content from global news sources.

Search results are divided into four main categories:

  1. 360° Search
  2. Network
  3. Hot Spots
  4. Trends

360° Search

Results from 360° Search provides user with a broad collection of relevant hits.  As seen in Figure 1, the top headlines for the keyword search, “Molson Brewery“, are listed under the “Top Stories” heading.

Figure 1: Top Headlines For The Keyword Search, “Molson Brewery”

Results for a query on an individual include details such as  i) Name, ii) Title, iii) Organization, iv) Date of Birth, v) Place of Birth, vi) Nationality, and a link to a vii) Fact Sheet.   Figure 2 presents the information that SiloBreaker has for Bill Gates of Microsoft.

Figure 2: Profile of Bill Gates

Network

This particular search allow users to discover relationships amongst individuals and/or companies.   In addition, this tool identifies key themes that have common threads amongst results. Figure 3 illustrates the network that Kraft Foods may have according to SiloBreaker.

Figure 3:Network Mapping For Kraft Foods

As users place their mouse on a specific “keyphrase”, a window appears with a listing of the relevant news articles.  Figure 4 presents the screen shot of what occurs when a mouse is placed on the word, “Takeover”.

Figure 4::Network Mapping For Kraft Foods With Associated News Articles

Hot Spots

The Hot Spots section of SiloBreaker allows users to see where the keyword(s) appears in the press around the globe on a local, regional and national level.  Figure 5 is the Hot Spots map for the company query, “Yahoo“.

Figure 5:  Hot Spots Mapping For Appearances Of News Articles Regarding Yahoo

Users can specify how far back in the news archives that the number of articles should be mapped.

Trends

This type of query provide details on what media sources are covering within a period of time.  Figure 6 provides a look at the coverage the car, Toyota Prius, is getting over the past 30 days in comparison to Honda’s Insight and Toyota’s Vitz.

Figure 6: Trends Comparison Chart For Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Toyota Vitz

SiloBreaker is an intelligent product.  As a keyword is entered, the tool will offer users the ability to distinguish what is being sought (i.e.  company information versus information on individuals).   Figure 7 presents the drop-down menu when the keyword, “bell” is entered.

Figure 7: Drop-Down Menu For The Possible Queries, “Bell”

By selecting the correct description  (i.e.,  [City], [Company], [Person], [Publication]) along with keywords, users are able to obtain the most relevant information on the site.

SiloBreaker is available at www.silobreaker.com

SODIL Lanaudière On Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 10, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Social Media Marketing
. 3 Comments

The topic of this blog is based upon a posting on the Linkedin group, Economic Development Professionals, specifically in the “discussions” section of the group.

A group member brought to our attention a Twitter feed that offers trilingual tweets.

Figure 1 is a screen shot of SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page.

Figure 1: SODIL Lanaudière Twitter page

SODIL Lanaudière is the agency that encourages the development of the Lanaudière (Quebec, Canada) business communities by assisting the region’s SMEs with their projects directly.

The SODIL tweets are made available in French, English and Spanish.  The images in Figure 2, 3 and 4 illustrates the trilingual tweets.

Figure 2: French Tweet

Figure 3: English Tweet

Figure 4: Spanish Tweet

Having the ability to post in more that one language is a benefit and most importantly, it can be a competitive advantage.  Communicating with existing or potential stakeholders of a region in a language that they feel the most comfortable in is a critical aspect in marketing.

Google News Timeline Helping To Connect The Dots

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 8, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Internet tools
. 2 Comments

Have you taken a look at what Google has in their product / service pipeline?

Google Labs provide users with the ability to test new search applications.  Here is a nifty tool that may interest competitive intelligence researchers and analysts.

Google News Timeline is an application that plots search results of news on a dateline.  News content may come in the form of articles and video clips.  Figure 1 illustrates Google News Timeline for the query: Kraft + Cadbury.

alt=

Figure 1: Plotting Results For News Search, “Kraft” + Cadbury
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

The timeline that is provided can be navigated by clicking on the arrows located on the top left and right hands side of the page and as well as the Window sidebar.

Although the application is in the beta testing phase, it could be useful in profiling competitors’ past, present and future strategic initiatives.  By having the ability to view important strategic intelligence on a timeline, analysts can be able to anticipate a specific strategic move and how it will be implemented.

In the case of Kraft, researchers can discover that on December 19, 2009, Kraft hired an acquisition expert from Heineken.  By profiling, Jean-François van Boxmeer, competitors of Kraft can have an idea of his strategies that was used in the past and what could be put into place for the Cadbury acquisition.

Google News Timeline is available at newstimeline.googlelabs.com

Using YouTube To Promote Your Region and Economic Development Agency

Published
by
Ian Smith
on February 5, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Investment Attraction and Social Media Marketing
. 0 Comments

Below is a best practice example of how to use a social media marketing tool such as YouTube, to promote two items at one time.

In the video, “Michigan Gives You the Upper Hand”, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is able to market: 1) the state as THE place for investment opportunities and 2) themselves as facilitators in getting companies to invest.

Using testimonials by CEOs, MEDC drives home the message that they are will equipped with the incentive tools,  services and skills to address investors’ key location factors inquiries.

Does your economic development agency have a video or channel on YouTube for investment attraction purposes? Is it effective? Let us know and we will mention you and the video or the channel in a future blog post.  Please email the link to Ian at ian@intelegia.com.