News and Analysis
Paycom Taps NBA Star Jalen Williams to Put AI Answers Front and Center
B2B tech brands are increasingly turning to familiar faces to humanize complex software — and Paycom is leaning into that strategy with its latest campaign. The Oklahoma City–based HR and payroll platform has tapped Jalen Williams, an All-Star guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, to headline its new “Answers” campaign, spotlighting how its IWant™ AI […]
VIOOH and Atmosphere TV Expand Programmatic Place-Based Streaming
Programmatic video advertising is moving beyond traditional digital boundaries and deeper into the physical world. With a newly announced partnership, VIOOH, the global digital out-of-home (DOOH) supply-side platform, is teaming up with Atmosphere TV to unlock programmatic access to the largest place-based streaming TV network built specifically for businesses. The partnership expands access to more […]
Neuro-Contextual Advertising Signals the Post-Cookie Future of Attention
As cookies and identifiers continue to fade, a new frontier is emerging in digital advertising—one powered not by who users are, but by how they feel. New research from Seedtag suggests that neuro-contextual advertising, which aligns ads with emotional context and intent rather than personal data, is driving significantly higher attention and engagement across CTV […]
Commentary
Streets Ahead: OpenAI ‘Code Red’, Google Maps & Gemini, Review Extortion
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses Google and OpenAI escalating the AI platform race as Gemini outperforms GPT-5, Google Maps gaining new Gemini features, and Google responding to rising review extortion. Gemini’s Lead Triggers OpenAI ‘Code Red’ The News OpenAI has been shipping new ChatGPT features at a steady clip, but on core […]
The App-or-Web Dilemma: Where Brands Should Steer Holiday Shoppers
A shopper clicked on your Black Friday email. They landed on your mobile site, ready to buy. A full-page interstitial pops up: “Download our app for a better experience!” They closed it. Lost sale: $150. Multiply that by thousands of clicks during peak shopping days, and you’re leaving serious money on the table. Most retailers […]
Balancing Local SEO and Paid Ads Using Hyperlocal Visibility Intelligence
For agencies working with multi-location (MULO) brands, one of the hardest ongoing decisions is how to split resources between local SEO and paid media. The reality is this: local SEO and paid ads are not competing disciplines. They’re complementary, and the most effective agencies aren’t choosing between them — they’re deciding where each produces the […]
Latest Posts
The Voice Revolution: New Wave of Call Assistants
There’s a quiet revolution underway in the world of business communication—one that I find impossible to ignore. The humble phone call: an interaction so often overlooked or underappreciated, has become a hotbed for innovation. At the center of this shift? Voice agents and call assistants, tech that’s quickly moving from novelty to necessity. We need […]
Locality Launches Audience Engine
Has Locality re-engineered the foundation of local advertising to deliver performance, precision, and transparency, at scale, for advertisers? That is certainly the objective of the local video solutions provider, which launched its Locality Audience Engine in collaboration with Lovelytics, Newton Research, and Databricks. Locality and its strategic partners seek to engage local audiences by integrating […]
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. […]
Content Marketing in the Era of AI Fatigue
AI wants to help you with your content marketing. In fact, it wouldn’t mind at all being at the center of your content marketing strategy. Tell it what you need, giving it as many or as few details as you’d like, and it will crank out content for you nonstop and freakishly fast. And if […]
Buckle Up for the OOH Ad Gravy Train
Starting next year, the United States will be the center of am OOH sports bonanza. In 2026, the annual Super Bowl game kicks off in February. Then, FIFA World Cup matches will be played in 11 locations. And last but not least, the Summer Olympics returns to Los Angeles in 2028. DOOH advertisers and platforms are […]
Streets Ahead: YELP’s AI Transformation, TikTok Search and Generative Optimization
In this week’s Streets Ahead update, SOCi discusses Yelp’s AI transformation, TikTok’s search revolution and why Generative Optimization misses the point. Yelp’s AI Transformation: From Static Listings to Living Conversations The News Yelp’s 2025 Fall Product Release signaled a major leap toward an AI-driven future in local discovery. The update introduced more than 35 new […]
How Agencies Can Protect Multi-Location Brands from AI Visibility Gaps
For years, agencies helping multi-location brands with local SEO have wrestled with the same challenge: keeping potentially hundreds of listings, web pages, and other digital assets consistent. A few mismatched hours, conflicting service descriptions, or outdated images and reviews could cause one location to outperform another in local search. But in the AI search era, […]
Genius Sports Limited’s New-Found Audience Granularity
Who are your fans? More specifically, who is your fan? Genius Sports Limited’s recent acquisition of Sports Innovation Lab, promises to make both scale and granularity possible when building an audience. Sports Innovation Lab is a data, analytics, and insights leader. Its research on fan behavior through its Fluid Fan™ Graph has helped global brands, […]
In-Game Ads Play the Long Game
Just because someone is an avid gamer doesn’t make them impervious to DOOH advertising. In fact, it’s a great channel in which to reach them via geotargeting and complements the in-game advertising experience across devices. As always, DOOH is non-intrusive. So why does only 5% of ad spend target the immersive, highly focused user platform […]
MULO Brands With Soul Fall Pick: Neighborly
What’s soulful about having a toilet unclogged or dust bunnies removed from under your bed? Neighborly, the fastest-growing home services company (with 19 brands in North America and $4B+ in revenue) prides itself on offering services along with soul throughout their business, building out a culture of caring and community. In fact, their recent convention was […]
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
How Community-Focused Messaging Drives Loyalty for Multi-Location Brands