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.

Street Fight Daily: Google Expands Into Fresh Food Marketing, Snap Expands Commerce for Brands

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Enters Deal with Carrefour to Sell Food Online in France… Snap Expands Commerce for Brands Within Stories… Report: Social Attracting Most Widespread Investment from Advertisers, Topping Search…

Street Culture: Pointy’s Collaborative Culture Grows Without Written Values

In one year, digital search company Pointy has grown from 13 to about 30 employees, moved into a new office, and seen significant growth in its product, which allows retailers to publishes their inventories online, attracting potential customers nearby. What hasn’t changed much is the company’s culture, says co-founder Mark Cummins.

Commentary

What Reviews Sites Need to Do to Prepare for Facebook’s Graph Search

It’s well known that reviews, ratings, and recommendations are a major factor in driving consumer decisions. Sourcing friends or people you know to provide advice holds even more weight when it comes to personalization and has an added benefit of trust. This is what makes the concept of Facebook’s new Graph Search so powerful…

Efficiently Selling to SMBs: Finding Paths of Less Resistance

We’re entering a more fertile environment for what I’ll call the SMB advertising “Trojan Horse.” Local companies start by targeting SMBs’ CRM systems, payroll, back office management, reputation management and payment processing. From there, local advertising can be unveiled as a “one-stop-shop” upsell…

Why the Commoditization of Local Information Is an Opportunity for Journalism

Some have seen the shift of local information — from something that was unique to newspapers to a commodity that is available from a variety of sources — as the end to local news. But I actually think it presents a great opportunity for journalists to do what they do best: put information into context and tell us why it matters…

Latest Posts

Up Close and Personal: Ex-Patcher Tells How He Went Independent

Michael Dinan was senior regional editor for Patch in suburban Connecticut when he — along with hundreds of other editorial staffers — was terminated in January as part of Aol’s deal to sell most of the community news network to Hale Global. After the blow fell, he turned around and set up the independent site New Canaanite within days — and expanded it to a collaborative network in suburban Connecticut shortly thereafter…

Openings and New Hires at Dex Media, Connectivity, GoDaddy, and Hearst

Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, moves and new openings at hibu, Google, PlaceIQ, Advance Visibility and more …

LBMA Podcast: Chuck E. Cheese Meets Oculus Rift

Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing, a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association. Top stories of the week include Metaio’s Thermal Touch, Beck’s playable poster, tipping street musicians with Bitcoin, JINS health glass — and Bubbly launches direct carrier billing…

Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Eyes Small Business, Mobile Search Shifts From Google

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyPinterest Takes on Google and Facebook With Self-Service Ads (Wall Street Journal)… Study: Mobile Search Is Shifting From Google to Mobile Apps Like Yelp (AdAge)… P&G, Pepsi Try Out Foursquare’s New App, Swarm (AdAge)…

3 Models That VCs Are Buying in Local Tech

Venture investment continues to pour into local tech, but tastes are changing. During a panel at Street Fight Summit West on Tuesday, Jared Fliesler (General Partner, Matrix Partners), Jim Scheinman (Founder, Maven Ventures) and Raj Kapoor (CEO, Fitmob) spoke about where the hyperlocal industry is heading and where they expect the next billion-dollar local startup idea to come from…

Caterina Fake: The ‘Finding a Restaurant in This Town’ Problem Has Been Solved

During a fireside chat at Street Fight Summit West on Tuesday, the co-founder of Flickr told Jeff Bercovici that the restaurant discovery problem — a hobby horse of local tech of the past few years — has effectively been solved. Earlier this year, Fake released her newest venture to the world in Findery, a service that allows users to share content, or “notes” about places across the world…

Tinder and Grindr Share Their Secret (Local) Sauce

During a panel at Street Fight Summit West on Tuesday, Local SEO Guide proprietor Andrew Shotland spoke with Tinder co-founder Jonathan Badeen and Grindr’s global head of sales, Steve Levin, about what’s working for the mobile personals industry and what other hyperlocal vendors can learn from their successes…

Street Fight Daily: Senate Revives Location Data Bill, ZocDoc Enters New Market

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyLocation Privacy Bill Gets Another Push (AdAge)… ZocDoc Tackles a New $600 Billion Market (Fortune)… iOS 8 Includes a New Location-Aware Lock Screen Button (GigaOm)…

Street Fight Daily: Yext Raises $50M, Facebook Courts Small Business

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyYext Raises $50 Million to Build Local-Business Directory (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook Courts Small Business: ‘We Don’t Want to Take a Ton of Money’ (AdAge)… What Apple’s Fingerprint ID Changes Mean for Its Big Mobile Payments Plans (Recode)…

How Brands Like Taco Bell Are Buying Into Local

As director of media at Digitas, the digital agency of record for Taco Bell, Eric Perko was the mind behind the fast food restaurant’s massive breakfast menu launch earlier this year. Perko spoke with Silk.co’s Alex Salkver at Street Fight Summit West on Tuesday about his agency’s role in developing Taco Bell’s breakfast campaign and where he think digital marketing is headed.