News and Analysis
TikTok and iHeartMedia Bring Social Discovery to Audio
TikTok is expanding beyond short-form video and into the audio world with the launch of TikTok Radio, a new collaboration with iHeartMedia that blends trending TikTok music, creator commentary, and viral culture into a broadcast and streaming format. Debuting during SXSW and now available on the iHeartRadio app and dozens of U.S. broadcast stations, the […]
Why a Streaming TV Ad Platform Is Buying Billboards
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is increasingly becoming a channel for B2B technology companies looking to reach decision-makers in the real world. As SaaS platforms compete for the attention of enterprise marketers, AI founders, and venture capital firms, some are turning to highly targeted billboards and transit campaigns in tech-heavy markets. Streaming ad platform Vibe.co is the […]
Gorilla Property Services Eyes U.S. Franchise Expansion
A leading property maintenance franchise is expanding into the United States, highlighting how home services brands are turning fragmented local trades into scalable franchise platforms. Vancouver-based Gorilla Property Services announced today that it has partnered with Franchise FastLane to accelerate franchise development across the U.S. The move positions the company inside one of the fastest-growing […]
Commentary
How To Explain AI Search Visibility to Agency Clients
The rise of AI in search is happening fast — and once again, agencies are tasked with making sense of a major shift for their clients while the playbook is still being written. Most enterprise and multi-location clients already understand the fundamentals of traditional local SEO, like Google Business Profile optimization. But when you start […]
Streets Ahead: Agentic Shopping, Reviews, and the Rise of Fresh Content
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses Google’s agentic shopping move in AI-Driven commerce, review recency and volume driving local visibility, and freshness as the new authority in AI search Agentic Shopping: Google’s Next Move in AI-Driven Commerce The News Just in time for peak holiday spending, Google has rolled out agentic Shopping in […]
Streets Ahead: Whitespark Local Ranking Factors and Local Lists in GBP
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses 2026 Local Ranking Factors from Whitespark as well as local lists in Google Business Profiles 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors: Engagement, Credibility, and Connection The News Whitespark’s Local Search Ranking Factors report remains one of the industry’s most trusted indicators of what drives visibility in local search. […]
Latest Posts
StreetFight LIVE’25: 12 Trends & Disruptive Ideas To Watch
Street Fight LIVE 2025 attracted the best and the brightest thought leaders from across the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem. We deliberately curated and invited a select, diverse group of dynamic senior executives from retail, restaurant, service, agency, and technology businesses to share their perspectives on the future trends and disruptive ideas for MULO brands in an […]
Streets Ahead: ChatGPT, AI-Generated meta descriptions and AI Mode
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses OpenAI expanding the ChatGPT ecosystem, Google experimenting with AI-Generated meta descriptions in search results and Google’s AI Mode reshaping how people search OpenAI Expands ChatGPT’s Ecosystem The News OpenAI has unveiled a major expansion of the ChatGPT experience with the launch of in-app integrations and a new […]
Survey: Voters Feel ‘Worse Off’ Compared to Early 2025
President Donald Trump has a personality problem, according to the latest Voters Trend Report from Resonate, a technology company combines big data and psychographic survey studies to develop an understanding of consumer motivations. Survey responses found that half of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with his personal behavior. Only 13% are satisfied, leaving more than a third […]
AI Is Breaking Down Data Silos — Without Breaking Privacy
The world of marketing has quickly moved away from legacy, invasive practices that took liberties with customer data, and into a new, privacy-first era. Direct collaborations based on first-party data have become the most effective way for brands and media owners to identify shared customers, develop audience insights, and plan, activate, and measure campaigns. While […]
Amperity Gets Personal with Seahawks’ Fans
The Seattle Seahawks are celebrating their 50th anniversary. A lot has changed in marketing over those years, with sophisticated systems that can reach fans at various touchpoints in their ticket-buying journey. Amperity, a customer-data platform, is enabling the Seahawks’ back-office to unify fan information from ticketing, retail, digital, and other systems to create a single, accurate […]
BOOM: First Watch is a Brand to Watch
Founded in 1983, First Watch has quietly and steadily expanded to approximately 500 locations across 29 states. The success is, in part, attributable to the ever-growing popularity of breakfast as a restaurant category. Although the brand still lags behind one of its oldest (1969) and most formidable (600+ stores in 49 states) competitor Cracker Barrel, […]
Streets Ahead: Google AI Mode , OpenAI & Commerce, TikTok
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses Google expanding AI Mode from search to transactions, OpenAI pushing into commerce and clarity around TikTok in the U.S. Google Expands AI Mode from Search to Transactions The News Google is extending the capabilities of its AI Mode with two experimental features designed to push conversational search […]
BOOM: From C-Store to Travel Center with Wawa
We can all agree that the c-store (convenience store) is evolving rapidly and has even become a testing ground for a fantastic array of new technologies. After all, it makes sense. How many other retail businesses are so focused on finding the consumer precisely at their time of need…whether it’s a bathroom break, gas or a […]
Matt Lopez: The Human Behind the Robots
Leading up to Street Fight LIVE 2025, we have been getting up close and personal with some of our speakers, encouraging them to share stories of how they found themselves in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem. How will one of our speakers, Pepper, get to Microsoft’s headquarters? Not via Uber. But he does have a human guide […]
Beyond Search: AI Visibility the New Growth Lever for MULO Brands
For years, agencies have measured local search success with a simple formula: check Google Maps and Search rankings, optimize, repeat. However, the rise of AI-driven search experiences, including Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, and of course standalone tools like ChatGPT, has fractured what “local visibility” means, with AI visibility creating both a challenge and […]
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
The Strongest Brands Don’t Copy Their Competitors