News and Analysis
What’s Behind Google’s Fake Review Problem?
In an analysis of more than 4 million store reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, Uberall and The Transparency Company found that Google has the highest average percentage of inauthentic reviews across business categories. More than one in 10 reviews on Google’s platform was identified as fraudulent or fake in Uberall’s analysis. The category with the highest percentage of fake reviews was locksmiths, while pharmacies came in as the category with the lowest percentage of fake reviews.
Why Are So Many Chatbots Missing the Mark?
The use of chatbots for retail customer service has been on the rise for years. According to a report by Drift, use of chatbots as a brand communication channel increased by 92% between 2019 and 2020. Nearly one quarter of consumers used chatbots to communicate with a business last year. But how many of those interactions were positive, and how many customers left those interactions feeling like their issues were resolved?
November Theme: Hybrid Holidays
Sometimes, a theme is so central to the conversation in martech, retail tech, location intelligence, and the other subject areas Street Fight covers that we double down on it, focusing on it for two months in a row. That is the case this November, when we will be concentrating on the hybrid holidays for a second consecutive month.
Commentary
5 Questions Brands Must Ask Their Agency About Location Data
Advertisers are unknowingly wasting 30 to 50%, and as much as 80%, of their location-based targeting spend on inaccurate, poor-quality data, some of which is fraudulent. They are being told by their partners that “everything is fine,” but the answers to a few questions could reveal a very different story.
Here are five questions brand managers should be asking their agency partners about location data. The answers will help vet the quality of the data you are purchasing.
Behind the Rise of Data Transparency
As technological capabilities accelerate and data regulations increase, brands should home in on data privacy. Focusing on data transparency will ensure you stay out of legal trouble while also earning more loyal, trusting customers. Consumers understand that you have data — it’s how you use it and share your practices that can make or break these important relationships.
To Share or Not to Share: How Gamification is Swaying the Modern Consumer’s Loyalty
Although 94% of C-suite leaders consider customers’ data to be of paramount importance, privacy continues to be a hot-button issue. Data privacy practices have come under increased scrutiny with the passing of regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation, aimed at protecting individuals from the misuse and exploitation of personal information. Even as consumers continue to debate the tradeoff between convenience and control, one thing is clear—they are craving a more intuitive and personalized experience. How, then, can companies reconcile the differences and walk the tightrope as they acquire a 360-degree view of their audience?
Gamification is one path forward.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Voice Takes Center Stage at CES, Pizza Hut Bets on Self-Driving Future of Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Marketers Are Racing to Reach Rapidly Growing Audiences on Echo and Google Home… Pizza Hut, Toyota Team Up for Pizza Delivery in Driverless Vehicles… Vox Media Takes a Measured Approach in Growing Its Programmatic Marketplace…
Why CMOs Will Be the Most Important Executives in 2018
To today’s consumer, products and brands are plaited into a single entity. Thus, a company’s “product” now encompasses a consumer’s brand perception, interaction with its products, and affinity for its communities.
‘SMB OS’: Expanding the Local Pie
SMB OS isn’t a new concept, though it’s now emerging and crystallizing in new ways. Advancing it are supporting technologies like cloud computing, mobility and cash-flow friendly SaaS pricing. Much of this trickles down from enterprise world, as it often does.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Dives Deep on Video Ad Data, Uber Gears Up for 2018
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Releases Research Examining Complexities of Video Ads… Uber Powered 4 Billion Rides in 2017. Its COO Explains How It Will Do More in 2018… Could Snap’s Unusual and Generative Structure Also Be Its Breaking Point?…
Raise Report: New Funding for AxleHire, Digital Genius, Happy Returns
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new funding for SendBird, TrendKite, Rubikloud, and Dahmakan.
Street Fight Daily: How AMP Beat Instant Articles, AI Shapes Brand Relationships
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How Google AMP Beat Facebook Instant Articles… How Invisible AI Shapes Our Brand Relationships… Video-Streaming Service Customers Widely Pan Use of Ads…
Why Even Top Local News Sites Can’t Compete With Facebook on Ads
Facebook isn’t going away, and it shouldn’t, for local news providers. But news providers will use their own resources to engage the fraction of traffic that chooses to make its way to the narrow part of the funnel and into the subscription revenue pot.
Simpli.fi Leverages Unstructured Data to Target Auto Buyers on a Granular Level
Using a local business’s inventory management software to serve dynamic ads in real-time sounds good in theory, but the process can quickly get gummed up. In an effort to streamline that process, Simpli.fi is releasing an upper funnel dynamic creative solution that leverages unstructured data to target buyers.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon to Collaborate With CPGs on Alexa Ads, Snap Yields Results for NBC News
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Discussing Alexa Ads for 2018 with P&G, Clorox, and Others… NBC News Got 4 Million Subscribers in 5 Months to Its Snapchat Show… Location of Things Market Growing to $71 Billion…
Will 2018 Be a Tipping Point for Voice?
“There may only be 6-7 ‘commands’ that we use regularly with voice, though I’m willing to bet that as people get more and more accustomed to the interface, the horizon of possibilities expands,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem