Ginny Marvin says, “E-commerce sales for U.S. retailers grew 13.6 percent to $261 billion in 2013, up from a revised $229 billion in 2012, according to the latest annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Taken from a compilation of survey data, the E-Stats 2013: Measuring the Electronic Economy report shows retail sales accounted for 5.8 percent of total sales in 2013, up from 5.3 percent in 2012. Total sales increased by 3.8 percent to $4.5 trillion in 2013 from a revised $4.3 trillion in 2012. The largest retail merchandise category for e-commerce sales in 2013 was Clothing and Clothing... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “This week, Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, released her annual Internet Trends report. It’s the 20th edition in a series spanning back to 1994 — the year Yahoo launched and three years before Google.com was registered. This year, internet growth rates are slowing down, but the re-invention of how we use the internet is accelerating. For example, the report reveals how much mobile has been changing internet usage. The services we use to buy our homes, rent cars, order food, get a hotel room, and shop are inherently mobile. In... [...]

Aaron Agius says, “We all know content marketing is today’s de facto digital promotional strategy, but do you know just how big it is? According to a 2012 study from AOL and Nielsen, 27 million pieces of content are shared every day, and this volume is only expected to continue growing as more brands recognize its value. However, while content is a very valuable component of any marketing campaign — online or otherwise — many brands have discovered that increasing quantity isn’t always an effective way to improve results. KISSmetrics, Skyword and other content marketing... [...]

Carly Stec says, “Does it feel like your Facebook Page‘s organic reach is slowly slipping away from you? You’re not alone. According to Ogilvy, organic reach for brands on Facebook has seen a shocking 49% drop from peak levels in October 2013. While it’s easy to point the blame at the Facebook News Feed algorithm and assume there’s nothing you can do to buck this trend, there are actually a few ways to get back some organic reach for your Page. Check out the following infographic from QuickSprout to learn some actionable tips for combatting the effects of Facebook’s ever-changing... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Twitter is making it easier for advertisers to tap into Amplify, its video clip focused ad product. Amplify is a two-year-old product that has been one of the cornerstones of Twitter’s video advertising efforts. It allows advertisers, publishers and brands like the NBA to serve Twitter users with near real-time video clips from events. The idea is to reach people on their second-screens while they are watching a televised event — an NBA playoff game, for instance — or to entice people not watching the event to tune in. Now Twitter has given Amplify a self-service... [...]

Mario and his business partner, Cameron, say they have developed a process that is so exact and predictable that they can create a website for a local niche, rank it on page 1 and sell it for thousands of dollars every time, a 100% success rate. And Mario says he does it and gets paid, all in under a week. He wants to show you how he does it and lead you through the steps to copy his success in his new training, Local Lead Gen Machine. All local businesses need a website, and the smart ones know it. After Mario and Cameron build a site in just a few hours, they are able to rank it above other sites... [...]

Gary Lipko says, “Like a heavyweight contender, video has been rising through the ranks of marketing media, waiting for its title shot. In 2012, we learned that 76% of marketers plan to add video to their sites. In 2013, we learned that 93% of marketers were using video somewhere in their campaigns and 70% planned to increase their spend. At the end of 2013, that 93% was corroborated by another source, and a year later, MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute found that 76% of B2B content marketers were using video, and that it was highly effective for them. Then, on the eve of 2015,... [...]

Jodi Harris says, “Content creation can be a challenging endeavor in many respects. With so many techniques, formats, and channels for your content efforts, it’s easy to become paralyzed by indecision when it comes to executing your carefully constructed content marketing strategies. On the other hand, even if you know exactly what types of content you want to create, you may find it difficult to distinguish your brand and ensure that your efforts are heard above all the noise in a crowded landscape“. 7 Tips We Learned Analyzing 75 Content Marketing Examples Content Marketing Institute  [...]

Matt Assay says, “Your mobile strategy is all wrong. Perhaps “all” is too strong a word. If you even have one, you’re already ahead of the game. Less than a third of North American companies have a mobile strategy that goes out at least 12 months, according to a new Econsultancy/Adobe survey. But for many of those organizations, that strategy often begins and ends with “fitting our website into a mobile app,” or goes only a few steps further, showing some key functionality within a mobile app. Neither is enough“. Got A Mobile Strategy? You’re Probably... [...]

Facebook and YouTube both have their strengths, but each has its weaknesses, too. In fact, they complement each other and the marketer who uses them in combination reaps the reward of higher sales. Displaying your YouTube videos inside Facebook doubles your chances of finding and persuading people intrested in your offer. FB Tube Pro is a WordPress plugin that shows YouTube videos on your blog, and also shows them on Facebook. You can build a whole gallery of videos on Facebook very simply with this plugin, using its easy integration with Facebook and with YouTube. Then place the gallery on your... [...]