Karissa Bell says, “Google’s Hangouts app just got smarter. The search giant updated Hangouts on Wednesday with a new feature that allows you to share your location within conversations. It also added stickers, video filters, timestamps and better integration with your phone’s contacts. Typing “Where are you?” (or other variations) into Hangouts triggers a prompt to share your location with Google Maps. “Hangouts can now understand what you need and offer to help,” the company wrote in a post on Google+“. Google adds location sharing to Hangouts app Mashable  [...]

Jason Abbruzzese says, “Mobile advertising will account for the vast majority of growth in the global ad market in the next four years, according to a report released by eMarketer. A new projection highlights the importance of digital devices in the world’s advertising industry, the growth of which is projected to come primarily through mobile phones. Of the more than $150 billion in global ad market growth projected through 2018, $118 billion will come via mobile, according to eMarketer’s new projections released Wednesday. That growth means mobile spending will soon become the dominant... [...]

InTheGrid says, “securing your blog is not an easy task and however at the same time it doesn’t have to be a complicated task and should be one that you take very seriously. If you’re doing any level of business or you plan to grow your blog and you haven’t considered security yet, then now is the time to sit down and make things happen. The last thing you want to do is put tons of time and effort into a system only to lose it all because you didn’t take some simple precautions that can take under less than an hour to implement. Below is a list of some of the top security tips you... [...]

Mary Wallace says, “For hundreds of years, marketers have tried to get the right message to the right person at the right time. And for most of that time, there was little change in how this took place. But in the digital age, this paradigm has shifted drastically. With the internet, buyers can and do their own product research. They are no longer reliant on the slick product information provided by marketers and the madmen of Madison Avenue. Prospective buyers gather information via a multitude of different media, weigh their options, and make informed decisions. Progressive marketing... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “I had great fun presenting our sales enablement (SE) execution landscape to Forrester clients last week in our regular client webinar service— an idea partly based on a report we published in September. That report introduced the concept of “the supply chain for successful sales conversations” and categorized about 45 different vendors and service providers in terms of six SE business goals, as shown below. We see these goals as the bridge between marketing automation and sales operations processes. The vendor list was the state of our knowledge when we submitted... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Twitter today announced that it’s giving mobile app advertisers a way to fine tune their ad targeting, allowing the creation of audience segments based on app actions such as install, purchase or sign-up. The basic idea is to help advertisers focus on reaching people who are most likely to engage and enable the exclusion of people who already are interacting with a company’s app. Product manager Kelton Lynn explained in a blog post: Tailored audiences from mobile apps can help you drive the highest possible ROI in your app install and app engagement campaigns. You... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Last week, Google released new research on factors that impact ad viewability, whichwe covered here. There was one particular data point that raised eyebrows: 56.1 percent of impressions served across Google’s display advertising platforms, including the DoubleClick, aren’t viewable. Wow, Google, the company that dominates the display advertising market, just admitted that over half the served through its platforms are never seen by the people advertisers are paying to reach. Zing! Right? There are several reasons why this isn’t the huge bomb it looks like at first... [...]

Erin Hogg says, “Selling a product online that customers would most likely prefer trying on in a brick-and-mortar store is a challenge. Felix + Iris, an online prescription eyewear retailer, provides a free home try-on option for its products with its Fit Kit. However, getting customers to take the plunge to try on glasses at home was a challenge, especially because the brand is new having launched in September 2014. Right from the get go, Jon Corwin, User Experience Lead, One Click Ventures (parent company of Felix + Iris), implemented A/B testing and optimization into every aspect of the Felix... [...]

Ratko Vidakovic says, “It is universally acknowledged that the ad tech industry is complex. Some would sayoverly complex. As a result, you will often hear people in the advertising world throw around terminology in embarrassingly incorrect ways. I don’t want you to be one of those people, so I’m writing this series to shine some light on the fundamentals of modern ad serving. My goal is to provide some clarity as to how most of the phrases we hear today — like programmatic direct, private marketplaces,open auctions, and so on — fit into the big picture. Since ad serving is where... [...]

Neil Patel says, “When people talk about “optimizing content,” they’re usually thinking of it as a technical task that requires “SEO best practices” and “relevant keywords.” In today’s content-driven world of digital marketing, I see it differently. In my experience, there are other factors that are far more influential in optimizing content. Optimizing content is less a matter of keyword presence and metadata and more an issue of trust, intent, quality, and authority. In this article, I will explain a six-step process that you can use as to create perfectly optimized content... [...]