Tracy Stokes says, “Is this the long-awaited year of mobile? Last week, Facebook announced that its quarterly profits had more than doubled, driven in large part by mobile; 62% of Facebook’s ad revenue now comes from advertising on mobile devices. Forrester forecasts that mobile will be the fastest-growing digital marketing category in 2014, increasing 47% in 2013 over the prior year. And Forrester believes that we are witnessing a mobile mind shift — “the expectation that I can get what I want in my immediate context and moments of need.” But mobile’s marketing moment has not... [...]

Lane Sutton says, “Today, people expect a lot of brands on social media — studies have shown that 42% of consumers expect a response within one hour when they contact a brand on social media. That’s an incredibly demanding turnaround time, especially if you’ve got a lot of other things on your plate. The good news is, companies that are successfully using social media for customer service are reaping the benefits. According to NM Incite, 71% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand that provides a quick and effective response on social media — and we... [...]

Danny Chadburn says, “In early 2011 I put together a simple video for a friend’s band for a song they made referencing a certain (lonely) dictator. It was uploaded to YouTube and had been seen by a handful of people; however on December 17 that year the viewing figures suddenly skyrocketed. The despot in question had died, and I was the unexpected beneficiary of some web traffic. Something I had long forgotten about was suddenly being watched by thousands of people!”. How to breathe new life into old content ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols says, “Ever since LibreOffice split off from the troubled OpenOffice in 2010, this open-source office suite has gotten better and better. With this new release from The Document Foundation, LibreOffice 4.3 has established itself as the best non-Microsoft office suite. The new LibreOffice 4.3 brings many new useful improvements and features to the program. These include: Document interoperability: Support of Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML, aka OpenXML) Strict, OOXML graphics improvements (DrawingML, theme fonts, preservation of drawing styles and attributes),... [...]

Oliwia Berdak says, “”When will Google launch a bank and what will it look like?” is a question I frequently hear from our banking clients. Google’s activities in digital wallets and payments, as well as its reputation as one of the most disruptive firms in the market, have obviously left many banking executives worried. Unfortunately, they’re asking the wrong question. I’ll leave aside the issue of whether Google or perhaps Apple or Amazon should be the focus of this increased attention. Each of these players has its unique strengths and growth plans, and some of these... [...]

Todd Wasserman says, “In an effort to compete with other online shopping destinations, namely Amazon, Google announced it was adding customer reviews to searches on Thursday. Searches for terms that could be construed as products, like “blender” or “lawnmower,” will now include reviews on a five-star scale that are aggregated from merchants, third-party sites and editorial sites”. Google Adds Amazon-Like Ratings to Searches Mashable  [...]

Pete Prestipino says, “Minimalist Web pages have been popular among designers for quite some time, but the trend is evolving in some elegant and sophisticated ways.  Today, for example, you might see standalone websites use video backgrounds on these often sparse pages. One incredibly lightweight (coming in at just 3.6K) jQuery plugin to check out, if a Web page video background appeals to your design sensibilities, is Vide. The plugin works on all modern desktop browser (including IE9+), and while it has some trouble working on iOS and Andoird devices”. Create a Video Background... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “Congrats! You’ve sold your client on the idea that a new website — one that provides a more user-friendly experience and increase sales and opportunities. Actually making this vision a reality is a whole other story, though. To make this happen, you need understand how your client’s future visitors will see and read the information and visuals you’ve worked so hard on. Will the visitor ignore that compelling call-to-action on the sidebar? Will your fancy navigation only confuse prospects? What information will people remember after they leave?”. Introduction... [...]

Aubre Andrus says, “Regardless of whether you’re self-published or have a Big 5 publisher behind your book, all authors are doing the same thing: promoting themselves and their book. While marketing takes away time from what we authors do best — writing — it’s a necessary evil. Luckily, there are more than a few fairly simple and efficient ways to get your title out there to all corners of the great wide interwebs and maybe even into the hands of new readers”. 10 Quick and Easy Digital Marketing Tools for Authors Mashable  [...]

Ryan Skinner says, “Pundits’ take that Facebook has “solved” mobile advertising after its home run last week hid a bigger, behind-the-scenes story: We’re finally seeing branding and direct response marketing merge in a meaningful and measurable way; Facebook is just one place where it’s happening most demonstrably. Here’s important context: Facebook’s quarterly earnings beat projections last Thursday, driven by the 62% of its ad revenue that comes from mobile. Also note that Facebook’s only ad revenue from mobile is its in-feed ads (or native ads, or whatever you want to... [...]