Patricio Robles says, “Earlier this week, Google unveiled some major changes to Google+, its social networking platform. Since it launched in 2011, Google+ has been an integral part of the Google experience, as the search giant used it to unify its disparate services. But on Monday, Google announced that it will stop treating Google+ as its digital glue. As Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Streams, Photos, and Sharing, explained: People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier. But we’ve also heard that it doesn’t make... [...]

Josh Constine says, “People aren’t using Facebook less, according to its new earnings report. Facebook recovered from last quarter’s miss, beating the street’s estimates in Q2 2015 with $4.04 billion in revenue and $0.50 earnings per share. Facebook now has 1.49 billion monthly users, up 3.47 percent quarter over quarter, which was a bit slower than Q1’s 3.6 percent growth. Analysts had predicted $3.99 billion in revenue with 47 cents EPS. However, GAAP net income year-over-year, the measure of Facebook’s real profit, is down from $791 million to $719 million. That seems to be... [...]

Isla McKetta says, “If you thought ideation was fun, get ready for content creation. Sure, we’ve all written some things before, but the creation phase of content marketing is where you get to watch that beloved idea start to take shape. Before you start creating, though, you want to get (at least a little) organized, and an editorial calendar is the perfect first step. Editorial calendars Creativity and organization are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they can feed each other. A solid schedule gives you and your writers the time and space to be wild and creative. If you’re just... [...]

Jonathan Deesing says, “The US Hispanic population is the fastest-growing ethnic segment in the country, with an expected growth of 167% between 2010 and 2050. If you haven’t begun doubling your efforts to reach Hispanic customers through online marketing, now is the time to start. And, just as when targeting any niche market, you should follow some basic guidelines—including the following—to effectively market to Spanish-speaking customers. Focus on a local campaign Traditionally, Hispanic communities are tightknit and family-led. However, because the term “Hispanic”... [...]

Greg Wise says, “Getting people to spend money online is easier than ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone. There are still plenty of consumers out there who aren’t comfy passing along financial information, no matter how secure the transactions get. One small slip, and you could turn them off of shopping with you for good. So, how can you get your visitors to trust you enough to convert to customers? Here are some tips to help. Updated Design Anyone who shops online is familiar enough with websites to recognize old or bad design. If you haven’t updated your design lately,... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “It’s as easy as switching on your computer, sitting back, relaxing and letting the software do all your work for you while you secretly read Viz behind a copy of Marketing Week. Right? Right??? What is marketing automation? Let’s take a brief look back at the recent past. Marketing automation has actually been around since the 1980s. The use of software to automatically insert names and addresses from your database onto the letters and envelopes you wish to send to consumers by mail has been a mainstay of direct marketers for decades. The difference between then... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “With millions of apps for consumers to select from in popular app stores, many companies struggle to drive installs of their mobile apps. Companies with websites frequently use interstitials in an effort to convert mobile web users into mobile app users, but according to Google, these efforts could come with significant risk. At one point, the search giant employed a full-page interstitial to encourage mobile web Google+ users to download and install the company’s Google+ app. On the surface, the results appeared to be good. 9% of visitors to the interstitial... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “To fight malicious activity in the programmatic advertising ecosystem, the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is aiming to create a master blacklist of IP addresses associated with driving fraudulent bot-generated ad requests from data centers. In the new pilot, Google’s database of data center IP addresses will lay the foundation for the blacklist. Other ad tech leaders partnering in the effort — Facebook, Yahoo, Dstillery, MediaMath, Quantcaast, Rubicon Project and TubeMogul — will add to it with their own blacklists and internal data. “Industry leaders... [...]

Adam Silverman says, “When I tell friends and family I’m researching the future of the digital store, they more often than not conjure up a certain image in their heads: robotic sales associates, augmented reality dressing rooms, holographic advertising displays, and maybe even hovercraft-friendly shopping malls (à la The Jetsons). And while components of digital stores are absolutely in line with this flashy and quintessentially futuristic vision (Samsung’s virtual fitting room—equipped with 3-D cameras and depth perception software—can virtually drape an article of clothing over... [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “Facebook revealed its latest earnings today, and they were a landmark moment in the company’s development: Facebook has cracked the hardest nut of getting you to look at ads on your smartphone. Advertising on mobile devices now accounts for 76% of the company’s total advertising revenue, or $2.9 billion. Facebook’s revenue for the June quarter surged to $4.04 billion and beat Wall Street estimates. Facebook, in other words, has learned better than any other social network how to turn your profile into space it can sell to advertisers. Twitter and LinkedIn... [...]