In an effort to quench an ever-increasing thirst for trending news and content, Twitter and search engine powerhouse, Google, have teamed up to begin providing relevant and trending tweets within Google search results. Through their partnership, they hope to deliver "unique real-time content" to Googlers of the world.
Bridging search with social itself isn’t a new concept. Services like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Angie’s List, among many, many others all provide topic-specific search results and recommendations to shoppers based on user reviews. What is significant is that Google, the go-to search engine for about 68% of the US population, will begin to integrate tweets in it’s mobile search results from now on and thus will presumably drive traffic to many a Twitter page. This could be a serious game changer for brands and retailers, especially those less actively engaged on the Twittersphere.
Considering that about 88% of internet users and shoppers are regularly researching products online before purchasing, and another 46% of Millennials and 26% of Boomers will do a search while actually in a store, brands and retailers with a stake in online business (almost everyone, right? It’s 2015!) should consider the effectiveness of their Twitter strategy moving forward. Staying topical and engaging will be even more critical as shoppers consider the recent tweets that now appear in their Google research and ultimately could influence their Pre-Tail® decision making. Though shoppers have always had this opportunity on Twitter, real-time access to a brand’s basic informational content as well as recent social content, successes, or failures is now easily accessible and highly visible in Google search results.
Best of luck to all as this new factor (and potential curveball) in shopper’s research unfolds and gains momentum in the coming months!
To test this out for yourself: google Taylor Swift or #taylorswift on your mobile phone’s browser or google app (this search/twitter integration is coming to desktop soon, but is currently only available on mobile.) In your search results, you’ll find the expected links to Taylor’s website, iTunes albums, YouTube page, and Wikipedia page. Now shoppers will also be able to easily sideswipe through both her most recent tweets and tweets from other Tweeters about her when considering whether to buy her new “Bad Blood” single.
Photo Source: Adweek
