News and Analysis
Report: Social Attracting Most Widespread Investment from Advertisers, Topping Search
Move aside, Google. According to the results of a new survey, released by the advertising management firm Marin Software just this morning, nine-in-10 advertising professionals are investing in social media in 2018, beating the next most popular channel—YouTube/Google Display—by more than 10 percentage points.
Commentary
SMBs Have Some Major Advantages Over Brands in Social Marketing
Social media is merely a digital extension of local conversations. We talk about the weather, the 4th of July parade, the upcoming festival, local news, et cetera. SMBs need to always be thinking about how they can join/start these conversations in order to build fans, follow leads, offer discounts, improve their reputation and, most importantly, compete with national brands…
Why Mobile Ads Are ‘A Little Scary’ (And Potentially So Valuable)
Mobile isn’t a mass marketing vehicle; it’s my one-to-one, highly intimate connection with the Web. It’s a personal device, and its connection to me is private (or not), powerful, and controllable entirely by me. It is, in fact, a portable, electronic version of me, and I will not permit interruptions in the name of commerce for long…
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Andrew Mason’s Next Big Thing, Square Bets on Chips
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Founder’s Next Big Plan: Audio Walking Tours (Businessweek)…Square Bets Big on Next-Gen Credit Card Tech (Wired)… Payments Giant First Data Acquires Gyft in an Effort to Bring Digital Gift Cards to the Masses (Pando)…
The Impact of Google’s Local Update Is Still a Developing Story
Google seems to be experimenting with driving more traffic to its local competition, meaning that it’s more important than ever for a business to secure its presence across a broad base of directories. The value proposition of local SEO does not change in a fundamental way, given that Google has long used citation consistency as a prominent local ranking signal…
Study: Consumers Increasingly Receptive to Mobile Ads
A new study released by xAd and Telmetrics finds that consumer engagement with mobile ads has increased dramatically over the past few years. Nearly 50% of mobile shoppers said that they found mobile ads informative/helpful — up from 22% in 2013. In addition, nearly half of respondents who clicked on mobile ads said they went on to take secondary actions (like viewing a website or searching for additional information)…
The Data, Apps, and Science of Successful Marketing
VentureBeat’s inaugural event on the future of marketing tech — is gathering the industry’s biggest names at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco on Aug. 5-6 to uncover new case studies, insights, and strategies designed to help companies more effectively acquire and retain customers and grow revenue. Click for more info and a discount code…
Apple Will Beef Up Privacy in iOS 8 — Here’s What It Means for Local
When Apple unveiled iOS 8 last month, only brief mentions were made of iBeacon, the company’s much-hyped proximity messaging protocol. But early versions of the software released to developers in July suggest that the forthcoming operating system could include changes with implications for stakeholders across the commerce, advertising, and retail technology industries…
5 Tools for Cross-Device Ad Targeting
Ad targeting was relatively straightforward back when consumers relied exclusively on their desktops to consume online content. But as the number of gadgets owned by consumers has increased over time, ad targeting has become considerably more complicated. Here are five companies that offer cross-device tracking for advertisers…
Street Fight Daily: Zillow Buys Trulia for $3.5B, Yelp Adds Videos to Reviews
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Zillow to Buy Trulia for $3.5 Billion in All-Stock Deal (New York Times)… Yelp’s Newest Feature Adds Videos To Your Restaurant Reviews (BusinessInsdier)… Startups Uber and Airbnb Court Business Travelers (Wall Street Journal)…
The Sharing Economy Goes Behind the Counter
We tend to think of the sharing economy as a consumer movement that helps us hail a ride or find a place to stay. But the basic logic driving the shift will soon start to impact the more mundane aspects of small business, allowing merchants to enjoy some of the advantages of scale that their larger competitors do…
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AI Is Breaking Down Data Silos — Without Breaking Privacy