Originally broadcast on iMediaConnection

If you’re wondering where to shift marketing dollars for smart long-term investing, take a look at where Google can’t get a foothold.

The best place to look into future computing trends right now is Korea. They’re the closest thing to ubiquitous computing and broadband access the world has at the moment. And Google has started to buy properties in the country because it can’t gain beyond 5% market penetration (yes you read that right) on Naver and to a lesser extent, Daum.

Conversational Rank will supersede Page Rank

Google has made a nice living on showing search relevance to Web pages. But is this as important as what someone like you (or your customers) thinks about a product or topic? Not even close.

Naver is, for lack of a more specific definition, Google for recommendations. More than just similar links, Naver provides similar recommendations that include links. Yahoo! is trying to make inroads on this with Yahoo! Answers, but proprietary information hoarding may ultimately be its downfall.

Where the real value of Social Media chimes in

When you take the dollars you would have spent on TV or paid search and apply those to people participating in rapid-growth social media like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, you’re not just helping the brand with good Word-of-mouth marketing. You’re spurring the creation of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands – of searchable entries recommending your product.

Searching the social graphs around your needs (as users), your company and what you sell (as brands) will far outweigh today’s one-dimensional page-ranking algorithms Google has dominated with.

This is just one reason why learning the ways your audience is using social media now is a tremendous asset for not just surviving the downturn, but outpacing competition now, and in the future demographics of your brand.

What do you think? As always, let’s continue the conversation in the comments section below, or @mleis.

Related posts:

1. DIY Social Media Monitoring Dashboards
2. Top 10 SEO Myths
3. The Three Colorful Circles of Social Media Strategy
4. Social Media User Experience: Is it the Contrast?