• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 21, 2009

G5 Search Marketing is launching a social media tool in its Local Marketing Platform. The move aims to change local advertising by making the connection between consumers and brands more interactive.

The tool, announced Tuesday at ad:tech in San Francisco, targets new ways that people find local information. Algorithms through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) assist searchers in finding local companies, but as the Web evolves, "social relevance" through sites such as Facebook and MySpace will play a key role in local search.

The social tool kit includes advertising, tracking, measurement and analysis. G5 CEO Dan Hobin said it gives local companies such as those in the self-storage industry, a way to reach college students as they pack up their dorm rooms and head home for summer break, a method to monitor buzz and connect with potential customers.

G5 currently manages budgets for paid search campaigns for clients across Microsoft adCenter, Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing, along with Facebook. But the company has been testing integration with MySpace, Hobin said. "Our tool places ads, and tracks the click-throughs and leads generated post click, tracking it back to the source," he said.

Education also has become a priority. While the toolkit provides direction on how to apply the application and interact with customers, Bend, Ore.-based G5 also launched an educational program to guide companies. The training guide, "Quick Start Guide: Finding Local Customers with Social Media," provides instructions. Some of the direction in the guide includes monitoring the conversation about the company across the Internet.

Today, it's free, but that could change, Hobin said. "When an irate customer places a derogatory comment on Twitter, Facebook or another site, you need to be able to see and diffuse it before it gets out of hand," he said. "You monitor and listen, and learn how to react."