Future-proof your User Journey: Leverage a 'Search Everywhere' Strategic Approach

By Ashley Liddell

Search is evolving. Having a good presence on a SERP isn’t going to cut it for many brands in the near future and today I want to look at why this is. In short, the answer is the utilization of a concept called “Search Everywhere”.

A "search everywhere" strategy is a comprehensive, holistic approach to search that involves optimizing your brand presence across multiple platforms and channels in order to increase visibility, engagement, and conversions. It’s a concept that hasn’t been led by brands but more by the reactivity of brands to the changes and evolutions of their target audiences in how they are behaving online.?

In this blog, we'll explore what a "search everywhere" strategy is, the benefits it can bring to your brand, and how to implement it. We will also take a look at ASOS and their #AYSAUCE TikTok trend which piqued the interest of this writer in learning more about this concept.

With this knowledge, you'll be able to take a more holistic approach to your ‘search’ and future-proofing your user journey in the process.

Understanding a ‘Search Everywhere’ approach:

A "search everywhere" strategy is a comprehensive, integrated approach to online marketing that involves optimizing your brand presence across multiple platforms and channels, including search engines, social media, YouTube, online forums, and other online platforms. The goal of this strategy is to increase visibility, engagement, and conversions by reaching your ideal target audience in the places they are consuming media, searching for information, and ultimately buying products/services.

One of the key elements of a "search everywhere" strategy is to make sure that your brand is easily discoverable on all the major platforms where your target audience is active. But more than just being present, the best brands lead the industry, acting as forward-thinkers who truly understand their audience's online behaviors, appearing on a platform before their competitors, showing that they truly understand their audience, and developing and nurturing that relationship.

This typically sees brands leveraging search engines such as Google and Bing, social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram, and other platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn. By having a strong presence on these platforms, brands can reach a wider snapshot of their audience across various stages of a user journey and begin or continue developing the relationship between the brand and community. Ultimately, this can increase their chances of being found, used, and loved by potential customers.

Additionally, a "search everywhere" strategy also includes the idea of being present where your customers are, in the way that they expect, so that you appear seamlessly on a platform.

It's not only about being visible on different platforms but also about understanding the behavior of the user and their content expectations on each of them.

For example, a brand on TikTok would stand out for all the wrong reasons if they created contrasting content to what users expect - short, video-form, entertaining, informative content. This may work for a 1-in-a-million solution that leverages parody, but typically, users have their expectations.

This means tailoring your marketing messages and content to the specific platform is vital as part of a search everywhere approach. And whilst repurposing content is part of this approach, ensuring that content appears native and looks part of the platform is essential.

Overall, a "search everywhere" strategy is a powerful tool for businesses looking to increase their online visibility, drive more traffic to their website, and ultimately increase conversions and sales.

How a 'Search Everywhere' strategy can help you stay ahead of the game

In today's highly competitive digital landscape, brands need to be constantly looking for new ways to improve their online presence and stand out from the crowd. A "search everywhere" strategy is an excellent way to do this, as it allows brands to take a more holistic approach to online marketing, by considering all the different platforms and channels that users use to find information and services. By having a comprehensive presence across multiple platforms, brands can improve their chances of being discovered and increase their visibility.

One of the key benefits of a "search everywhere" strategy is that it helps brands to stay ahead by allowing them to reach new sub-sections of their target audience and expand their reach. By optimizing their presence across multiple platforms and channels, brands can reach a wider range of their preferred user and increase their chances of being found by potential community members.

Additionally, a "search everywhere" strategy also allows brands to stay ahead of the competition by providing them with a more effective way to track and measure their marketing efforts. By using data and analytics to track the effectiveness of their strategy, brands can make data-driven decisions and optimize their approach to better reach their target audience.

Furthermore, by understanding the behavior of their customers on different platforms, brands can tailor their marketing messages and content to the specific platform and audience, making them more relevant and relatable to their customers.

Another advantage of a "search everywhere" strategy is that it allows businesses to reach customers at different stages of the buying process. By being present on different platforms, businesses can reach customers who are just starting their research, as well as those who are ready to make a purchase. This allows businesses to connect with customers at the right time and in the right place, and increase their chances of converting them into paying customers.

#AYSAUCE by ASOS opened my eyes to Search Everywhere

1.6 Billion Views, 480,000 videos created by their community of users, 167,000 unique audience members creating that content, and a staggering 15.7% engagement rate on TikTok, it’s clear to see that the #AYSAUCE trend was a resounding success for the brand in the goal of developing brand awareness for the ASOS brand.

The challenge was simple, ASOS wanted to manufacture a TikTok trend their users could search to find outfit inspiration, developing brand awareness and consideration for purchase in the process.

This was achieved by developing an Augmented Reality brand filter that users could deploy, along with creating a new, original sound, specific to this trend.

From Here? Simply let the creativity of the TikTok user base go wild as they show off their ASOS hauls, favorite brands, clothes, entire outfits, and clothing trends, and support the entire thing by leveraging influencers that resonate with the ASOS target audience.

This was SHIT HOT!

I’d love to see the Impact on conversions, ASOS feel free to share, but the results speak for themselves. Add to this that ASOS became only the 6th European brand to surpass 1 billion views and recorded a 10% increase in the brand association of ASOS and the term ‘Trendy’ as well as recording a 25% increase in brand awareness and you have a campaign that really, really hits home to power of a search everywhere prospect.

ASOS recognized the opportunity to leverage outfit inspiration content, which traditionally would happen in the form of a listicle or image gallery on traditional search (BORING!!!), in a fun and innovative way that their competitors were yet to leverage and they absolutely reaped the rewards.

This was when I sat up and took notice of the prospect of TikTok as a search platform and began to explore search everywhere as a concept.

Step-By-Step Guide: Adopt a “Search Everywhere” Approach

Now that we've covered the benefits of a "search everywhere" strategy, let's take a look at how to implement it.

?? Identify and truly understand your target audience: Start by identifying your target audience and understanding their behavior and preferences. Research the different platforms and channels, and the type of content they engage, understand their search journey and how you can impact and improve it by leveraging search everywhere and think about how you can present information and entertainment.?

?? Develop a content strategy: Develop a holistic content strategy that is tailored to the specific platforms and audience you are targeting. Create a mix of the different types of content that are relevant, engaging, and valuable to your target audience across various steps of the user journey for the platforms you have selected to go after.

?? Optimize your online presence: Optimize your online presence on the different platforms that you are targeting. This includes creating a strong profile, filling out all the necessary information, and making sure that your website is mobile-friendly BUT it also includes the deeper stuff! Learn the fundamentals of how content should be presented on your chosen platforms. EG: Trending sounds on TikTok, SEO best practices for Web, Trending pins on Pinterest.

?? Leverage data and analytics: Use data and analytics to track the effectiveness of your strategy. This will help you to understand which platforms and channels are working best for you, and make data-driven decisions about where to focus your efforts.

TikTok emerging as a staple for your audience’s searches? MOVE RESOURCE TO TIKTOK!?

??Engage with your audience: Engage with your audience on the different platforms and channels. Respond to comments and messages, and encourage customers to leave reviews and ratings - this will assist with developing that sense of community across your search in ways that you cannot achieve on traditional search.

?? Be consistent: Be consistent with your message, branding, and content across all platforms. Yes, content needs to be native to the needs of a platform, that is an absolute must BUT the style, tone-of-voice and overall messaging can be coherent. This will help your audience to recognize and remember your brand, no matter the platform they are using at that time.

?? Experiment and test: Content has to be fun! For too long I think the Content SEO world has been well… boring! Search Everywhere helps us avoid this. Experiment with different types of content, platforms, and targeting options to see what works best for your brand. If something doesn’t work, that’s absolutely fine! We learn, we pivot and we go again!?

Let’s Wrap This Up

So,? a "search everywhere" strategy is a comprehensive, holistic approach to your brand's 'search’. It involves optimizing your brand presence across multiple platforms and channels in order to increase visibility, engagement, and conversions. As 'search' continues to evolve and users' behaviors change, it is becoming increasingly important for brands to adapt and leverage a search everywhere strategy in order to stay relevant and reach their target audience effectively. By following the steps outlined in this blog, brands can effectively implement a "search everywhere" strategy and reach a wider audience, increase their visibility, and ultimately drive more conversions.

The case study of ASOS's success on TikTok illustrates the power of this strategy and how it can be effectively leveraged to achieve brand goals, even if search everywhere was only in its infancy back then. It is important to keep in mind that while repurposing content is part of the strategy, tailoring the content to specific platforms and audience is key to making it effective, you only have to look at the effort made by ASOS in how they achieved success to see the hard work that needs to always take place.

To wrap up, Search is evolving and you need to consider Implementing a "search everywhere" strategy.

It will help your brand to stay ahead of the game and future-proof your user journey.