How Google+ Interactive Posts Push CTAs & Deep Linking Directly Within A Post

Apr 30, 2013 at 7:34am ET by Greg Finn   

Two months ago, Google rolled out an interesting new twist to Google+ posts, the addition of interactivity. Rather than just text, images or links, Google+ interactive posts allow for calls to action or a specific “deep link” directly within a post. This allows for smarter targeting from companies and smarter, easier, pre-filled updates by users [...]

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PC Free: 46 Percent Used Only Mobile Devices In Purchase Process According To New Study

Apr 30, 2013 at 5:50am ET by Greg Sterling   

Perhaps the most potent – even shocking – finding of the 2013 US Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study is that 46 percent of survey respondents said they relied exclusively on their smartphones or tablets in conducting online research across a range of purchase categories. Nearly half of the adults involved in this study did not consult PCs [...]

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Oreo Daily Twist Campaign Wins The 2nd Annual Facebook Studio Blue Award

Apr 29, 2013 at 6:18pm ET by Amy Gesenhues   

Facebook’s Creative Council evaluated hundreds of Facebook ad campaigns submitted by brands and agencies from across the globe to select winners for the 2013 Facebook Studio Awards. This year’s top winner was Oreo, taking home the Blue Award for the Oreo Daily Twist Campaign, a social program that marked Oreo’s 100th Birthday Celebration by posting [...]

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Consumer Survey Shows Windows Phone Growth In US Market

Apr 29, 2013 at 10:38am ET by Greg Sterling   

Despite seemingly flat to declining market share for many months, Kantar Worldpanel (the market-research unit of ad agency holding company WPP) now says that Windows Phones are seeing gains in the US market as well as abroad. The chart below offers a comparison of smartphone OS share in Q1 2012 and the same period this year. According to [...]

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New Google Display Planner & Demographics Reports Launch In AdWords

Apr 29, 2013 at 10:06am ET by Ginny Marvin   

Google has launched new tools and reports on the AdWords Web UI for researching and planning Google Display Network campaigns. The new Google Display Planner functions somewhat like the existing Google Display Network Ad Planner, but the UI is much simpler.  You start by entering keywords, categories or websites you know your audience is interested [...]

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Google Viewability Metrics Prove Viewable Ads Are 21 More Times Likely To Be Clicked

Apr 26, 2013 at 12:21pm ET by Amy Gesenhues   

With today’s announcement of their viewability measurement tool, Active View, receiving accreditation from the Media Rating Council, Google released new data highlighting CTRs of display ads based on viewability metrics. According to their findings, users are up to 21 times more likely to click on a viewable ad. The viewability metric measures the percentage of [...]

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Report: Samsung Now Undisputed King Of Smartphone Realm

Apr 26, 2013 at 10:15am ET by Greg Sterling   

Not that long ago many people were speculating about when smartphone penetration would reach 50 percent. That happened relatively early in 2012. And today US smartphone ownership stands at roughly 60% according to Nielsen. Yesterday IDC reported another milestone: smartphone “shipments” surpassed non-smartphone shipments for the first time in Q1. According to the device-tracking firm, [...]

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Pinterest Launches ‘Old School’ Improvements To New Look

Apr 25, 2013 at 5:18pm ET by Greg Finn   

Launching a new UX and design is tough. Reverting to old features and functionality can be even tougher. That’s exactly what Pinterest did today with new design improvements. Unlike many social sites, they listened to their users’ feedback and rolled back some features that were lost in the new design shuffle. The notable additions that were brought [...]

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New Google Analytics Path To Purchase Report Provides Benchmark Data On 11 Different Industries

Apr 25, 2013 at 12:39pm ET by Amy Gesenhues   

Google is introducing “The Customer Journey to Online Purchase” analytics report today, a new benchmarking tool that provides insight into the various elements impacting a single campaign. Leveraging data from 36,000 of their largest advertisers across 11 different industries in seven countries, Google’s new interactive analytics tool offers advertisers a broad view of online buying [...]

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Study: Facebook Activity Correlates To TV Viewership (Social TV’s Not Just For Twitter)

Apr 25, 2013 at 10:29am ET by Ginny Marvin   

Much has been made of the symbiotic relationship between TV and Twitter and the company’s recent activity to attract both broadcasters and marketers to the platform.  Now a new paper from social advertising platform, CitizenNet, looks at how Facebook activity correlates with TV-viewing habits. For the study, CitizenNet looked the two weeks of Facebook Page Insights [...]

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Who To Watch: The Google Glass Edition

Apr 25, 2013 at 10:15am ET by Barry Schwartz   

As many of you know, Google Glass started shipping to Google Glass Explorers last week. I wanted to share with you some of the lucky people to get Google Glass early, what their experiences have been and where to track who else is getting Google Glass. First, those getting Google Glass within the Explorer group [...]

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Silverpop Snares $25 Million In New Funding To Fuel Growth

Apr 24, 2013 at 3:56pm ET by Ginny Marvin   

Email and behavioral marketing technology provider, Silverpop, has raised $25 million in new funding, led by Escalate Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. The company says it will use the money to fuel continued growth for its marketing automation services. The funding is venture debt, possibly signalling an IPO or acquisition is on the horizon. [...]

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eMarketer: Mobile To Win 15% Of Online Retail Sales This Year

Apr 24, 2013 at 10:50am ET by Amy Gesenhues   

A new report from eMarketer estimates that 15 percent of online retail sales will be made on a mobile device this year, climbing upwards of $39 billion by the end of 2013. The majority of sales will be made from a tablet with only 35 percent of m-commerce happening via a smartphone. This year’s expected [...]

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Twitter Warns Reporters To Be “Extra Vigilant” After @AP Account Compromised

Apr 23, 2013 at 8:10pm ET by Matt McGee   

(screenshot via CNN) Twitter is warning media outlets to be “extra vigilant” in light of today’s incident involving a fake tweet sent out by hackers that had gained access to the Associated Press’ Twitter account, @AP. It’s also good advice for brands and marketers — and for all Twitter users, actually. Shortly after 1:00 pm [...]

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Apple Beats The Street With $43.6B And Higher Than Expected iPhone, iPad Sales, Record iTunes Sales

Apr 23, 2013 at 4:47pm ET by Greg Sterling   

The bears were wrong. Apple beat Wall Street financial analysts’ expectations this afternoon. The company had been steadily losing value as analyst after analyst expressed anxiety about the company’s outlook. Apple reported quarterly gross revenues of $43.6 billion, compared with a $42.3 billion consensus estimate. Second quarter revenues in 2012 were $39.2 billion. Growth was [...]

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Foursquare Packs More Information Into Redesigned Business Profile Pages

Apr 23, 2013 at 12:31pm ET by Greg Sterling   

On the same day that Facebook introduced a new mobile Pages layout, rival Foursquare is changing the look and organization of its local business pages (on the PC though not in mobile). The new design is intended to provide more useful information at a glance. Among the features of the new page design are the [...]

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Facebook Introduces New Mobile Pages Layout

Apr 23, 2013 at 12:04pm ET by Greg Sterling   

Today, Facebook is introducing a new mobile Pages layout. Page owners don’t need to do anything; all existing Pages will automatically be converted to the new format. It goes live on iOS and the mobile Web immediately. The Android version is coming soon. According to Facebook, the mobile UI has been simplified and adapted with [...]

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Does Buying Motorola Emerge As A $12.5 Billion Mistake For Google?

Apr 23, 2013 at 10:50am ET by Greg Sterling   

The consensus view is that Google bought Motorola Mobility in late 2011 for its patent portfolio. The company spent $12.5 billion, Google’s largest acquisition by far and a major bet by Larry Page. During the acquisition approval process Google said that it would treat Motorola the same way it treated any other Android OEM and [...]

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Eric Schmidt Takes Refreshingly Sober View Of Technology In His Book “The New Digital Age”

Apr 23, 2013 at 12:24am ET by Greg Sterling   

Along with co-author and foreign policy expert Jared Cohen, Google Executive Chairman is doing the rounds on radio and TV in support of their new book The New Digital Age. This evening, both were interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered program. I don’t have an advance copy of the book and haven’t read it. But, [...]

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Twitter Strikes Major Ad Deal With Agency Worth “Hundreds Of Millions”

Apr 22, 2013 at 3:21pm ET by Greg Sterling   

The Financial Times (FT) is reporting that Twitter has struck a major deal with agency Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), which is part of agency holding company Publicis. The deal, according to FT, is worth “hundreds of millions of dollars over a multiyear period.” SMG clients include major brands such as Burger King, Comcast-NBCU, Honda, P&G, [...]

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