14 DAY TRIAL // The “Bing Bang” of the social search universe moved to the next evolutionary stage last week with the integration of Facebook data into Bing. Microsoft announced the move at the time, but it appears that the company has also invested in a marketing campaign designed to reach a broad as possible audience.
The first two video ads are already available from the software giant and users will be able to view them embedded at the bottom of this article.
“We think our fans are AWESOME – that's why we are giving you an exclusive preview of (…) our newest commercials!” Microsoft said on the Bing Facebook page.
The advertisements are set up to transmit a very simple and direct message. Users rely on their friends and family in all aspects of their life, so why not when they’re searching the web?
There’s really no way to deny that the customers’ social circle, especially now that it has evolved into a social networking circle, cannot be tapped in order to enhance the quality of results returned to queries through Bing.
The integration of Facebook data into Bing sparked from the very simple idea that users turn to their friends for help quite often, and that Microsoft’s decision engine can deliver the Like “helping hand” as well as additional information into their search engine.
“Research tells us that 90% of people seek advice from family and friends as part of the decision making process. This “Friend Effect” is apparent in most of our decisions and often outweighs other facts because people feel more confident, smarter and safer with the wisdom of their trusted circle,” revealed Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft last week.
“Historically, search hasn’t incorporated this “Friend Effect” – and 80% of people will delay making a decision until they can get a friend’s stamp of approval. This decision delay, or period of time it takes to hunt down a friend for advice, can last anywhere from a few minutes to days, whether you’re waiting for a call back, text, email or tweet.
“Bing is bringing the collective IQ of the Web together with the opinions of the people you trust most, to bring the “Friend Effect” to search.”
You trust your friends to teach you new experiences, to bail you out of jail, to keep your darkest secrets, to save your life, etc. so why not also trust them to better search and your decisions when using Bing?