DMS ’10: 3-D and Social Boost IYP Engagement
The final panel of this week’s DMS conference rounded up many of the things that were hot topics all week — how to drive more consumer engagement around online local search.
Group buying is clearly a hot area of development (and quickly crowding), and social media continues to become a key element of every online product (nothing new). This panel focused more on 3-D mapping and search.
Matthew Bottomley, director of new media product marketing at Yell U.K., demo’d a new 3-D mapping engine built into Yell.com. These have been around for a few years but are beginning to pick up more — especially in Europe where a greater share of the population is in urban areas.
Though Moore’s law, bandwidth and consumer demand will make this more or less ubiquitous among local search sites in the next couple of years, the inception and rollout doesn’t come without challenges for publishers says Bottomley.
“The hardest part is deciding if you should do it,” he said. “It’s rather expensive.”
The ROI assessment comes into picture when looking at the IYP session lengths that are boosted as a result. Yell hasn’t directly monetized the new feature but it could add new ad formats based on this interaction.
EveryScape meanwhile has lots of calls to action in its 3-D maps such as OpenTable reservations and other directional content. This will continue to evolve, said EveryScape CEO Jim Schoonmaker, including various types of targeted and dynamically placed display advertising.
But Google could be the X factor here. As part of the Google Places launch, SMBs are offered free in-store photography. Connecting the dots with its acquisition of Quicksee this week, it could be moving toward interior virtual tours — the very thing that sets EveryScape apart.
But Schoonmaker sees this as more of a supportive influence than a threat. Google’s entrance to the space could shed mainstream light on the general concept of interior virtual tours. This could help EveryScape in its marketing and exposure, Schoonmaker believes.
