OPPO

I first heard of OPPO from my close friend Eric, who happens to be a music and film aficionado. After watching a movie on my home theater system, Eric turned to me and said, “Loved your movie and your home theater. But you have to check out OPPO.”

The words of a respected high-tech lover shared with me in private (as opposed to this very public blog post) were like a tantalizing invitation to join a little club. OPPO did not advertise. It did not need to do so. Eric acted as OPPO’s recruiter.

With Eric’s assistance (and note his role throughout the decision making process), I found a Blu-ray player with some specific features I sought, such as the ability to play Blu-rays, DVD-Audios, and Super Audio Compact Discs (which are collector’s items that play music in high-definition).

The moment the product arrived, I knew I was in for an experience. Most consumer electronics arrive in a boring box. My OPPO unit was housed in a durable black cloth package (like a pair of Allen Edmunds shoes) that doubles as a carrying case. An HDMI cable (which you typically need to buy separately) was housed in a sturdy black box, like a piece of jewelry. The owner’s manual was embossed with raised type on the cover and printed on sleek paper stock.

Since the day I unwrapped my OPPO Blu-ray, OPPO has deepened its relationship with me by providing me hours of movie watching and music listening pleasure in high-definition. I won’t bore you with the details, but the unit is an incredible workhouse, with a nice upconverting feature that even make lower-end DVDs look good. A connected experience starts with the product.

But whenever I’ve had a question or encountered a hiccup, I’ve also gotten great service. I’ve been able to call OPPO customer service and find a knowledgeable human being without having to endure painful phone trees. OPPO’s technicians know a lot about the entire movie watching experience, not just the OPPO player. I once called because I could not get the 500 Days of Summer Blu-ray to work, and the technician alerted me to a bug plaguing editions of that particular movie (rather than take me down a rabbit hole diagnosing the unit itself, which was unnecessary).

OPPO is a cult for the high-end set. I’m a happy member.

Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

David Deal is iCrossing’s vice president of marketing

Creating Connectedness through Visibility

For months leading up to this season’s premiere episode of Mad Men on March 25, AMC began an aggressive visibility campaign. The “Mad Men Is Back” campaign flowed seamlessly through social networks, online videos for each character, and even integrating current AMC programming with its commercials. I know I watched the “Joan Is Back” video a handful of times (girl crush!), and actually laughed out loud while seeing the “Mad Men Survivors” commercial during the final episodes of The Walking Dead. This exciting, constant messaging increased the level of anticipation for the latest season with each new message.

Engaging with Viewers

Not only is the content of the show enough to draw me in obsessively every week, but AMC’s Mad Men website features unique, exclusive content to engage the show’s viewers like never before. After each episode airs, highlights and the “most talked about scenes” are posted, as well as photos from the episode itself. But the content doesn’t end here. There are episode-specific trivia games, as well as online chats so viewers can join together and talk about what they just saw. And Mad Men continues to engage its viewers by offering interactive online games such as the “Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Job Interview Game” and “Mad Men Yourself,” where you can actually create Mad Men-ized characters of yourself and place them in thematic situations. For diehard fans of the show, like me, this site is the place to be to fill that weekly void left by the show after it airs on Sunday nights.

Other than continuing to produce great storylines and complex characters, Mad Men succeeds by connecting its viewers through all media channels. I get my Mad Men fix daily through Twitter, on its website any time I need to see a video or play a fun game, and definitely while watching the award-winning series on AMC every week.

Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

Dana Notman is a search engine optimization strategist at iCrossing

Before I moved to San Francisco last year, I was a brand loyalist of Starbucks. When I lived in Chicago (especially in the winter), a Starbuck’s Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte was my saving grace on the walk to work each morning. All of this changed when I moved to San Francisco. Not because of anything Starbucks did (I think Starbucks is an incredibly loved and connected brand). Simply because I discovered Philz Coffee. (The iCrossing San Francisco office is conveniently located near one.)

Philz Coffee embodies connectedness, or more personal relationships with audiences. When customers first walk into Philz, they are immediately greeted by the smiling faces of staff who actually want to be there and are ready to help. It can get overwhelming trying to decide what to order among the more than 20 different blends available. The staff are always willing to listen to what you like/don’t like, and then recommend a blend to suit you perfectly. Philz makes each cup of coffee one cup at a time, allowing for customized cups of coffee for each visitor. When the coffee is ready, the staff ask that you taste it before you leave to make sure it’s exactly what you want. Everyone at Philz – from the minute you walk in to when you leave – treats you like an old friend.

What I appreciate most about Philz is that everyone here consistently delivers connected experiences. Every single time I go to Philz, I know I’m going to get a great product. But more importantly, I know I will have a good experience. I do have a better day afterwards (not to mention the high of having an amazing cup of joe).

More brands should take tips from Philz to enable connectedness with their customers:

• Consistently strive to deliver high-quality experiences for your audience.

• Listen to what your audience wants and respond appropriately to those needs.

• Make people feel like they are being listened to and valued by communicating personally and in real time.

• Try to “better people’s days” more often.

For those who live in the Bay area, if you haven’t had a chance to try Philz Coffee, I’d run to the nearest location. For those who live outside the Bay area, book a flight now. Philz is that good.

Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

Kristen Deye is senior public relations manager for iCrossing

Tagging iCrossing employees is especially useful because we have an active network of employee bloggers who contribute to company blogs such as Great Finds and the Content Lab. Typically iCrossing gives employees shout-outs on all our social spaces when employees post entries to our blogs, and tagging makes the recognition more valuable:

Tagging people definitely gets their attention via the notification bar (which follows you across Gmail, Google Docs, mobile, etc) — so they’re more likely to see it and share it/+1 it/comment on it. And some other outcomes happen:

• For the people that get tagged in a post, fans of the iCrossing page may click on those tags and circle the author, increasing that author’s circle count and overall authority on the subject matter. Doing so also builds connections within iCrossing. It’s not unusual for iCrossing employees to tag each other to build their own networks. iCrossing helps employees find each other through our tags from our corporate page.

• Tagging increases the authority of the blog post of the author receiving the recognition, which is another way we can build visibility for individuals.

• Tagging is also a nice way to increase the likelihood that employees will contribute to iCrossing blogs again because of the public thanks and recognition they receive.

• Tagging may contribute to AuthorRank in the future, bolstering the author’s authority on a subject matter, and increasing the likelihood that articles written by the author (and verified with Google’s authorship markup) will rank higher as Google knows the author is credible and authoritative.

Of course, those benefits also happen when people tag each other. But we believe that when a company can tag individuals, as a brand we share goodwill: in our case, by focusing on using tags to reward employees and boost their visibility.

This post is co-authored by David Deal, iCrossing’s vice president of marketing, and Nick Roshon, iCrossing natural search strategist

I recently placed an order for a pair of shoes I needed for a wedding a few days away. Much to my dismay, shortly after placing the order, I received a personal email from Laura, a Zappos customer service rep, letting me know the shoes I had ordered were no longer available. The email apologized for the mishap but also went a step further by suggesting similar options and offering 15 percent off my next order. The email even suggested competitors’ sites that might carry the shoe. Laura then provided a number I could call to reach her if the email didn’t address my needs.

By encouraging employees like Laura to freely interact with consumers and address their needs on a personal basis, Zappos is able to form genuine relationships with its customers and develop lifelong brand advocates.

Zappos then gives these brand advocates a voice to share their reviews, experiences, sing their praises and vent their frustrations via the Zappos customer- review sections, Tweet Wall, and its numerous social media channels.

Employees at all levels are also empowered to use social media to connect with their customers and humanize the Zappos brand. The company’s Facebook page provides fans with updates on promotions, new product releases, and humorous glimpses into the Zappos corporate culture. Zappos’s content on YouTube gives a behind-the-scenes look into the headquarters, including funny outtakes and on-the-spot-interviews with employees. Zappos also has a number of blogs covering everything from the latest fashion trends to stylist video tips to more silly outtakes from Zappos headquarters.

Zappos: open, empowered and connected.

Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

Rachel Klein is marketing director for iCrossing

Exposure: You’re Already Doing It

In many cases, employees are already influencing a brand’s online visibility – they just don’t realize it. For example, groups like public relations and marketing typically produce a lot of content and distribute it externally. There are search- and social-friendly ways to do that, but are they following those best practices? Community outreach departments form partnerships and develop relationships with organizations relevant to the business. Are they maximizing available opportunities to attract and convert potential customers from search engines and social networks?

Education: We’ll Help You Do It Better

Employees want to advocate for their company. They need guidelines (see this iCrossing example) to do just that. So guide them on how and where they can publish. Guidelines are not about restricting employees, but rather empowering them to share their knowledge. From learning best practices for online writing to having resources about top keywords, linking, or social media goals, employees soak up this material. Everyone spends time on Google and Facebook daily — why not show them how they can turn that time into advancing the company’s online marketing goals? Are you enabling your employees to help strengthen the brand in a strategic way?

Engagement: Our Customers Are Asking for It

Daily, your potential customers are interacting on social networks or searching for information relevant to your industry – and finding it. Are they finding it from you or from your competitors? A recent Nielsen study found that 92 percent of global consumers “say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.” Whether you’ve earned the endorsement of Facebook friends or the implied trust that top Google results bring, it’s critical to be visible in these spaces.

In an online marketing environment where search and social media are becoming more integrated and brands are recognizing the potential of becoming publishers, successful organizations will unleash their employees to spread their expertise socially and build the brand’s search authority in powerful, enduring ways.

Jon Maxson is a director of natural search at iCrossing

Connecting People of Like Minds — Being Engaging

Etsy gives crafters a forum in which to sell their work, creating a space where purveyors of craft or custom-made items can search for and buy DIY items.

Etsy also connects buyers and sellers. If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for (and Etsy’s robust search functionality makes looking for precise items easy), you can easily contact a seller to ask about a custom-made piece. Every seller I’ve ever worked with on Etsy has been professional, accommodating and talented. Etsy has not only managed to curate quality goods, but has also developed a brand reputation based on its sellers, a remarkable feat considering how many shops Etsy houses.

Connecting Digitally – Being Desirable

Etsy curates its home page and email newsletters based on upcoming holidays, seasons or themes. The Etsy team handpicks items that fit within a theme and displays them beautifully to inspire its audience. I frequently visit the Etsy home page to see what Etsy has pulled together. And Etsy’s home-page aesthetic serves as inspiration for my Pinterest boards; my first Pins were all Etsy sellers’ valentines, connecting me to the work I so admire. The Etsy team also handpicks a seller to feature each day and tweets their featured recommendations, further connecting its audience to the immensely talented people who sell their handmade goods. I think this approach is an especially smart way to build up the Etsy brand and encourage us to buy more.

And we can’t forget the The Etsy Blog, which features posts about pursuing creativity, and curates goods to support the blog topic. I want to redecorate just based on this post about creative workspaces.

Etsy not only builds close relationships with its audiences – it helps people form relationships with each other.

Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

Christiana Henry is iCrossing’s senior marketing director

• “Never, never, never give up.”

• “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

• “It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

• “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.”

• “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

• “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Those quotes could just as easily come from a successful business leader today. Notice how many of them are about success, which I strongly believe in achieving. I’m fond of telling our iCrossing employees that success is ours to have, as I did today when we announced the opening of our 19^th worldwide office in Manchester, United Kingdom. Some 850 employees built this company together, and I want them to have them to have the courage to help iCrossing grow through our personal successes. Prime Minster Winston Churchill inspires me to lead. Who inspires you?

Don Scales is president and CEO of iCrossing

By giving fans a behind-the-scenes look into her life, Martha Stewart is creating more connected, personal relationships with them.  It’s a good thing.

What brands do you see living connectedness? Join the iCrossing connectedness conversation.

Tari Haro is iCrossing’s chief marketing officer

Enhanced Sitelinks

Since 2009, sitelinks have been a staple for any advertiser looking to showcase an array of options for consumers while also capturing more real estate on the search engine results page (SERP). Sitelinks provide up to six supplementary destinations to send people.

When managed wisely, sitelinks increase clickthrough rate (by providing more relevant options on greater screen space) and conversion rate (by using precisely targeted destination pages). They can be used to test phrasing, landing pages and even specific offers. They are, essentially, ads within ads. Advertisers love sitelinks. And Google loves advertisers. The next step seems logical for Google: give advertisers even more real estate with sitelinks that have more detail. In February, Google introduced enhanced sitelinks, which place entire text ads beneath a keyword ad.

Google’s enhanced sitelinks automatically amend each sitelink’s text with ad copy from the advertiser’s account that closely relates to the sitelink and uses a matching landing page. Ads are eligible for enhanced sitelinks if they show two- or three-line sitelinks, are placed in the top results above natural search results, and there are ads in the AdWords account that resemble the sitelinks. In the following Pizza Store example, each of the four sitelinks became headlines atop ad copy extracted from elsewhere in the account:

With enhanced sitelinks, the single Pizza Store ad expands into five detailed ads, benefitting all parties: the consumer gets more clearly defined options; the advertiser gets more qualified traffic; and Google gets more money. Win. Win. Win. Or at least until we consider the lack of advertiser autonomy and the traffic that SEO loses.

Dynamic Search Ads

Where enhanced sitelinks use SEM information to develop targeted ads, Google’s new dynamic search ads, or DSA, borrow existing SEO technology to crawl an advertiser’s website and dynamically create ad headlines for search queries that match to the site’s pages. Any pages beneath the targeted domain are eligible. For instance, a DSA targeting the domain www.icrossing.com might trigger an ad for the search ‘connected brands’ and deliver the searcher to the destination page.

In theory, DSA should work well for businesses lacking full keyword coverage. According to Google’s own blog, the engine launched DSA as a low-effort tool to spread reach because “even well-managed AdWords campaigns containing thousands of keywords can miss relevant searches, experience delays getting ads written for new products, or get out of sync with what’s actually available on your web site.” In short, DSA should help to advertise your full catalogue with less labor.

Well, doesn’t that sound lovely? Yes, it does – in theory. In execution, however, we have found some drawbacks. First, advertisers are able to control what DOES NOT show, but what DOES show is trickier to manage. You can reduce traffic using negative keywords and exclusions, blocking categories or pages with content unsuited to your SEM goals. These tools help to limit visitors to undesirable landing pages (such as pages showing unavailable items or contact information), and we highly recommend that anyone interested in DSA mines for these exclusions daily following launch.

The main struggle with DSA is in matching search queries to favorable (i.e. relevant) landing pages. In a lot of cases, general searches land users onto specific pages. For instance, a search for “running shoe” might yield a landing page for Mizuno Wave Nirvana Running Shoes. Google pulls the search term “running shoe” directly from the page, but if there was no interest in Mizuno or the Wave Nirvana model, then this is a poor user experience.

There are certainly advantages to running DSA. In particular, businesses that have an extensive array of items or an upcoming account launch could benefit from DSA’s quick and effortless reach without the need to achieve absolute keyword coverage. It is not difficult to launch. So any company can painlessly test the appropriateness of a DSA campaign for its website. In addition to applying exclusions, here are 5 more tips for getting the most out of your DSA campaign:

1. Add more exclusions.
2. Launch with restrictive budget caps and lift when bids and exclusions are in a good place.
3. Generate new keywords from search queries that received orders.
4. Separate high-traffic categories to directly optimize.
5. Block the Google Search Network if inefficient.

Concluding Thoughts

With each of these rollouts, Google is imposing two of its recent buzzes waves trends: dynamically engineered ads and the suppression of SEO results. Enhanced Sitelinks are dynamically created using account information without regard to the advertiser’s goals, and the gained traffic will likely be at the expense of SEO. Meanwhile, dynamic search ads actually use SEO insights to increase SEM coverage, while again driving additional traffic . . . away from SEO. Of course these features are also stealing clicks from other advertisers. In the end, the ad with the strongest positioning (sorry, SEO) and most relevant ad text and landing page – whether or not it is dynamically assigned by Google – will win.

Chad Bobren is an iCrossing media manager