We'll continue with The One-Grand Smart Marketing Plan soon; meanwhile, here's a timely look into the short-term future of online marketing.

I’m sure you’ll agree that business – and the marketing of businesses – is changing at warp-speed as technology continually advances. Today, almost no enterprise – company, organization or group – can hope to compete without smart use of websites, email, blogs, wikis, social media like Facebook and Twitter, Skype, YouTube and on and on.

 And many of these now-crucial tools didn’t even exist five years ago.

 Seeing ahead to the important changes most likely to happen in online and online marketing could give you serious strategic advantage in the coming year.

Since my business is helping clients improve their strategic marketing advantage, I constantly research the trends, predictions and rumors of the cyber-marketplace. Over the next few posts, I'll make five predictions of the biggest potential changes that will impact real-world enterprises such as yours in 2010:

1. Real Danger From Real-Time Search

Google is the 800-pound gorilla of web browsers (as well as gobbling up dozens of other web-maximizing businesses: automated email programs, RSS feed providers, web advertising systems like AdWords and etc.)

When Google changes the way it delivers search results, it can change the entire marketing landscape in a second. In December, Google introduced Real-Time Search. Simply put, when someone types in a search word or phrase, Google will instantaneously search the entire Web – including social media like Facebook and Twitter – and bring back the most CURRENT references to that name or phrase.

Here’s the official description from the Google blog:

Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we'll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.

Try searching for your favorite TV show, sporting event or the latest development on a recent government bill. Whether it's an eyewitness tweet, a breaking news story or a fresh blog post, you can find it on Google right after it's published on the web.

Sounds kind of groovy until you consider the danger. If you or your company is suddenly inundated with negative publicity – or even a dissatisfied crank complaining about you on Twitter – it could immediately be added to a potential customer’s search results – if “fresh” enough, it could be the first item.

So, one of the big benefits of social media like Twitter or Plaxo that was touted in 2009 – you can track public opinion of you or your company or products and respond personally, showing your dedication to close personal service and perhaps nipping a negative wave of publicity in the bud – is now potentially gone.

With Real-Time Search, companies may not have time to react – the negative messages are fully public and searchable instantly.

My suggestion: Proceed with caution in the marketplace. Any misstep can be public in a matter of minutes. Continue to monitor the “chatter” about your enterprise on social media (and blogs.) Respond in an honest, open and courteous manner.

But now, check you businesses keywords on Google several times each day – to make sure no negative word is being broadcast about you.

Some suggested tactics from Small Business Trends:

• Use Twitter Search to track mentions of your name, your competitors’ names, important keywords, locations, etc.

• Use Comprehensive Google Alerts to track blogs and news sources talking about your brand.

• Use Social Mention or WhosTalkin to track anything the first two may have missed.

• Start work on owning your Google 10 to neutralize anything bad that may pop up.

If you want to read more about Google Real Time Search, here’s an overview from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/12/07/google-real-time-search/

More important predictions about Online Marketing in 2010 next time – subscribe now for $0 and you won't miss a single post.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites