Major brands like Ford, Starbucks, Bravo and Zappos were all prepared to embrace social media and take a proactive and innovative approach to using it, and were successful in identifying future trends just as they were about to sweep the internet. Having the foresight and taking the risk has had massive benefits, beyond what they could originally have perceived.

One of the most significant advantages that these companies have gained is continuing, strong relationships with the media. As pioneers in the field, media firms look to these companies for information on new developments and news, and can call on contacts for quotes and statements, which they can pass on in their own publications and articles, generating massive free publicity.

When Twitter launched Promoted Tweets, it used a screen shot of one of Starbucks’ Promoted Tweets as an example of how to use the service, and subsequently every mainstream and new media article that has been written about Promoted Tweets has mentioned Starbucks. This is an incredible piece of free advertising for the coffee chain.

In a similar way, a company, digital agency or an individual can refer to these early adopter brands when presenting case studies about social media. For example, clothing retailer Zappos, which used Twitter in a new and innovative way to promote it’s association with happiness, became a widely used case study by many speakers in the industry.

Car manufacturer Ford, also took full advantage of social media during their recent financial struggles, which made for a great example for presentation.

Location-sharing service Foursquare, is another example of a brand which has experimented with trends happening now in a new and innovative way, and by working with firms like Starbucks, Lucky Magazine and City Of Chicago has provided another interesting case study.

On top of this, by showing innovation and willingness to try new ideas, new companies have more chance of building brand partnerships with the really big players on the internet, and getting the edge over other start-up businesses. It can give them access to far greater media coverage and publicity, by being part of a respected inner circle.

Firms still need to ensure online campaigns still target traditional SEO techniques and online lead generation, but by using social media optimisation, thinking outside the box and being prepared to lead rather than follow, it is possible to gain massive rewards.

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These statistics suggest that it is highly important for brands to sign up internet users and send regular emails.

Gary Collins, CEO at Status Media, a specialist online advertising agency based in the UK, stated, “Brands such as Optical Express and The Hospital Group have been extremely pro-active in acquiring customers to “opt in” to receiving further information and offers about their products and services.”

Building relationships with customers early in the “buying cycle” gives brands the opportunity build trust and push specific offers to a potentially “warm” database of interested consumers.

The lead generation industry has exceeded a billion dollars and, aware of the data protection issues, the IAB has introduced self regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising, which can be found at http://www.iab.net/insights_research/public_policy

Companies in the UK are using a variety of lead generation channels, these include email marketing, co-registration, search and affiliate channels.

Email marketing and co-registration are proving popular amongst personal injury companies in the UK as competition increases to reach a pool of internet users likely to have a valid claim. Whilst gaming companies, including online casinos and bingo offers favour email marketing working on a cost per acquisition basis, the gaming sector being risk adverse following the exclusion of the US market.

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With Google’s domination and control in online advertising, a move by Google to offer a lead generation model could seriously affect the shape of things to come.

There has been blog coverage for weeks in the USA about Google’s potential entry into loan lead aggregation, as this would enable finance companies to combine online advertising, branding and customer acquisition in one. However, the effect to other lead generation aggregators, as Google leverages its’ revenue stream to enter the lead market, could be dramatic and could harm competition especially if it uses its’ power to undercut competitors.

Of course, Google could also look beyond homeowner lending and expand a lead generation model into other areas of financial services. Mortgage leads could just be the start of new things to come.

Potentially, Google would be entering the market at a time of growth and quality improvement for online lead generation.

Gary Collins, CEO at Status Media, a UK based specialist in online lead generation, said, “The number of leads supplied through online aggregation is increasing, and conversions rates are improving as companies learn to handle different sources of sales leads. Lead generation companies are experiencing rapid growth as online marketing managers look for more accountability for their online marketing spend. When times are hard major corporations seek least risk sales strategies, pay on performance and risk reward deals become more attractive when budgets are tight.”

Google could potentially bring value to the table for advertisers but whether this makes for a healthy competitive market is another question.

In Google’s favor is the fact that consumers of financial services products already go to search engines to start their search for the best offers and deals. Annette Tirabasso, Deloitte consulting, confirms that online research pays dividends for consumers and is reported as saying, “Originating loans online can reduce cost by as much as 80 percent compared to a branch or call center”.

In 2008, Google Merchant Search reportedly launched a test in the UK which allowed users to compare products and services in a comparison engine. In an FAQ link, Google stated, the service was “only available for secured loans from financial services providers”.

Despite all Google’s advantages there could also be challenges, especially since lead aggregation is not Google’s core business. Analysts say the launch of a Google aggregation website would require the company to switch to a “cost per lead” business model instead of its’ current “pay per click” system used on Google Adwords and worth an estimated $21 billion. Lenders could shift budget away from Adwords advertising if a CPL (cost per lead) model was available instead and this could be risky.

The speculation around Google’s plans emerged as Lending Tree, a US based loan comparison website was reported to file a lawsuit against software company Mortech, which alleged that the mortgage technology provider was selling its’ technology to Google in defiance of a contract between Lending Tree and Mortech.
Whilst it is unclear as to whether there is any official comment from Google, Google is reported to have stated it is “constantly looking for new ways to help people find what they are looking for on the Internet. As part of that effort, we are currently working on a small ad unit test that will run against a limited number of mortgage-related search queries in the U.S.”

We will have to see as things progress in the USA but if Google does enter the finance market with a cost per lead business model or a loan comparison engine, this could make things tricky for existing aggregators and online sales lead providers. It could drive down costs of acquisition for loan providers and lenders.

You can learn more at http://leadmarketwatch.com

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