Tim Peterson says, “Snapchat’s reported plan to take full control of ad sales from publishers in its Discover section isn’t simply a bad thing for those publishers because they can’t package Snapchat inventory into their pitches to brands, or a good thing because they’ll get content licensing money from Snapchat. It’s a mix of pros and cons, just like it is for advertisers. Right now, the biggest con for advertisers and their agencies is that Snapchat hasn’t said much, if anything, to them about the ad sales change. “This hasn’t been their best communicated rollout,” said... [...]

Polly Allof says, “When done correctly, surveys (and polls) provide a way to quantify user opinion. Mobile app surveys can be used to gauge user satisfaction, get feedback on new functionality, understand why a feature isn’t being used, or simply to collect feedback quickly. Conduct surveys the right way comes down to aligning with these five best practices: 1. Segmenting the audience To generate results that are useful and valuable, segment the users to survey. For example, if your survey is about feedback on a new feature, survey, only the users who use the new feature and initiate... [...]

Nick Hammond says, “Although it is nearly seven years since Time Magazine observed that Facebook was ‘the site that ate the internet’, in the intervening years the social network has only increased its influence in the digital space and beyond.  In the 2016 Interbrand ranking of world’s most valuable brands, Facebook climbed eight places up the list to 15th, and is the fastest grower, with its brand value up almost half (48%) to $32.6bn. On a daily basis, developments at Facebook take up a large amount of digital news column inches; but what do all the recent changes mean for... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “LinkedIn released its Q3 2016 earnings report, showing a 23-percent year-over-year increase for the quarter, with $960 million in revenue. According to the announcement, the site grew its member base by 18 percent year over year and now stands at 467 million members. LinkedIn says its member page views were up 27 percent in Q3, and that more than 60 percent of all traffic to LinkedIn is now on mobile. “Mobile continues to grow at more than double the rate of overall member activity,” claims Linkedin. The site broke down its revenue gains by product, highlighting a... [...]

MOZ team says, “From your top-level nav to your seal-the-deal content, there are endless considerations when it comes to crafting your ecommerce page. Using one of his personal favorite examples, Rand takes you step by detailed step through the process of creating a truly superb ecommerce page in today’s Whiteboard Friday”. How to Craft the Best Damn E-commerce Page on the Web MOZ  [...]

Steve Bernstein says, “Positive word-of-mouth (WOM) has long been documented as a powerful tool for growth. Happy customers stake their reputation on recommending your product or service; that fact became the foundation for the Net Promoter System (NPS). On the flip side, unhappy customers can spread negative word-of-mouth. The threat of negative WOM can be much more daunting and is difficult to control. The good news is that unlike our B2C brethren, we B2B marketers can strategically manage word-of-mouth. Especially because B2B is marked by ongoing relationships between customer and supplier,... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Fat Face has recently relaunched its website with a brand new design. Having previously suffered from slow load times and clunky filters – it now looks and feels far more streamlined. On an initial browse, apart from being an improvement on the old site, nothing majorly impressive stands out. However, there are a few features that are worth a mention, which certainly contribute to a winning user experience overall. Here’s a roundup of the new site’s best bits. Seamlessly integrated video The decision to include such a large video on the homepage is a bold move. However,... [...]

Timothy Carter says, “Blogging is challenging — don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But as they say, nothing worth having comes easy. If you’re going to take the time to launch and grow a blog, you can’t afford to give up prematurely. Here are a few reasons why people give up — and what you can do to stay on track. 1. Uninterested in subject matter “You need to enjoy your subject matter,” entrepreneur Neil Patel emphatically says in a blog post. “Nobody is forcing you to pick a topic that you loathe. Pick something that energizes you, excites you and keeps you going! Here’s... [...]

Cliff Condon says, “Wall Street followers found much to be concerned about in Amazon’s quarterly earnings. Shipping costs went up 43%, operating costs are up 29% overall and the company’s operating margin fell to a ghastly 1.8% (down from 4.2% the quarter previous). In light of all this, the stock is down 6% in after-hours trading. Which makes the stock a buy, in my book. (Disclosure: I’m not a financial analyst, I’m a consumer market analyst, so don’t take my investment advice. Oh, and I don’t own any Amazon stock outside of mutual funds.) Amazon’s... [...]

Michele Linn says, ““The latest issue of CCO didn’t arrive. Can you please verify that I am still on your list?” While this comment may seem problematic, I can’t think of a better compliment. Someone is missing the content we are publishing. Today’s post is a post we published last year, but we wanted to update and bring it back — and add more examples from our community — because it’s something you need to be thinking about. How would you answer this question? Would anyone miss your content if you did not publish it? This is a question Joe Pulizzi has asked — and it’s... [...]