News and Analysis
With Shoelace, Its Latest Foray into (Local) Social, Google Aims to Do for Friends What Tinder Did for Dating
Perhaps Shoelace is less ambitious than Google+. But is finding friends, or others with whom to socialize, not the most central and yet unachieved aim of social networking? One that hinges on location and would be a gold mine for advertising, as it captures users far down the sales funnel, all the way at the point where they are ready to get together to spend some time at a local business? What if, in the same way online dating has gone from disreputable to de rigueur over the course of 10 years, finding friends online is something young people all do in 10 years, an engineering problem that Tinder rival Bumble is already trying to crack?
That would be a pretty big social network. The ambitions may not be so modest.
Retailers Are Using AI for Onboarding, Associate Retention
The retail landscape is going through an evolution, with mom-and-pop stores on Main Street being replaced by e-commerce outlets that rely on sophisticated algorithms to manage virtually every aspect of business operations.
While most headlines about the transformation of retail focus on the consumer-side of the equation, there’s even more change going on behind the scenes. Competition between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar is forcing innovation in the way retailers approach the challenges that come with onboarding and retaining in-store associates.
Retailers Leverage Prime Day to Boost Offline Sales
Unlike other shopping “holidays,” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime Day is specific to a single retailer. But as the event grows, other retailers—both online and offline—are finding ways to leverage the anticipation that consumers are feeling.
Last year, 63% of Prime Day shoppers said they visited competing websites to compare prices. This is a major opportunity for online retailers to capitalize on the spike in traffic and provide consumers with personalized and targeted offerings and exclusive deals.
Commentary
Unlocking Audiences for Brands: Uniting Client Goals with Demographic Research
Uniting your client’s instincts with actionable data from social media, keyword research, content analysis, and analytics creates a hyperlocal strategy to reach their most interested clients. There are four key strategies for marketing companies that want to take their clients beyond mere traffic increases to high ROI and conversion rates.
When Breaking Google’s Guidelines Is Almost Necessary with GMB
A couple of months ago I was helping a physical therapy business on the Google My Business Forum that was filtered out of the local results on Google because of the Possum algorithm update in 2016. In this case, the culprit was a completely different physical therapy business down the street (about a two minute walk away).
The Usability Gap: Designing the Right Products for SMBs
Surely small business owners belong to the class of ordinary users. Expecting them to invest the time and energy to become power users is a good way to guarantee that your user base will remain small. This realization could lead to a very different and more fruitful approach to product design for SMBs.
Latest Posts
Spring Brand Battle: Jackson Hewitt vs. Liberty Tax
Spring’s Brand Battle was the closest one yet with a spread of just four points overall. Local advertising and SEO strategies called the winner this month, and the losing contender would have had a better chance of overtaking its competition with more focus in those areas. Find out whether Jackson Hewitt or Liberty Tax Service earned a better return on local advertising effort!
Street Fight Daily: New York Times Enters Food Delivery, Yelp’s Plans for Growth
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… New York Times Goes for Literal Snackable Content with Meal Delivery (Mashable)… More Than 146 Million People Have Used Yelp This Year (Eater)… Drawbridge Raises $25M As It Takes Its Cross-Device Tech Beyond Advertising (TechCrunch)…
Native Ads Compete With News for Audiences’ Attention — And Get It
A new Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism study find news publications tipping their revenue funnel toward native advertising. What caught my eye had nothing to do with dollars. It was all about how sponsored content could connect with readers as much as “news.” And sometimes maybe more.
Street Fight Daily: Brick-and-Mortars Crushed by Online Costs, Instagram Tests Profiles for Businesses
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Online Operating Costs Are Crushing Brick-and-Mortar Retailers… Instagram is Testing a Facebook-Like Profile for Businesses: Here’s What it Looks Like… AT&T Unwinds Web Alliance With Yahoo (Wall Street Journal)…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation