Ginny Marvin says, “Google has been ramping its efforts to tie clicks on ads to store traffic for several years now. On Wednesday, the search giant said it has tracked over four billion store visits as the result of ad clicks, up from one billion a little less than a year ago. Google extended the now two-year old store visits measurement program to ads on the Display Network in September 2016 and said it had statistically significant visibility into visits to 200 million stores globally. The company says it is now set to make store visits data available to thousands more advertisers due... [...]

Blaise Lucey says, “Minimalism. As far as I can tell, it’s the art of throwing away things until your apartment looks like an Apple Store. But it’s a useful exercise — especially when it comes to prioritization and organization. Or, for a company, let’s call it reprioritization. In 2010, as the social media craze went into overdrive, there was a very real fear of being left behind by The Future. You had to hire social media experts who understood The Future. You had to focus on building out a presence on every channel so you could connect with The Future. The penalties, everyone... [...]

Brad O’Brien says, “Video is hands-down the hottest topic for most brands these days, and from my experience, I’d say it’s taken over “mobile” as the buzzword of the year. In particular, live video, disseminated on social channels like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, has brands and advertisers clamoring to get into the action. I could rattle off a bunch of video stats to support the statements above, but I’m trusting that the savvy marketers reading this post are already convinced. This post will walk through my top 10 personal recommendations on how to use live video,... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Time spent with digital media continues to grow — but that growth is all mobile. Last week, comScore released its “2017 US Cross-Platform Future in Focus” report, which tracks consumer usage patterns across digital media channels and platforms. The measurement firm found that mobile “now accounts for 69 percent of digital media time spent.” By comparison, the desktop has fallen to less than one-third of total digital media time. Mobile apps are 60 percent of the total, with smartphone apps specifically commanding 51 percent of all digital media time. Remarkably,... [...]

Greg Finn says, “Pinterest has seen a massive influx of tens of thousands of advertisers leveraging the ad platform for exposure. A new program launched today will make it even easier to advertise, thanks to one-on-one support from Pinterest ad experts. The program, Pinterest Propel, helps to teach, train and build campaigns alongside advertisers. In order to qualify for Pinterest Propel, an advertiser needs to be ready to spend $100/day on ads, and the program is only for US and Canadian participants. Those that sign up for the program will receive: phone support and customized tips from... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “Twitter is chasing the money, and Periscope is their next target. Per an announcement today, Twitter will soon allow publishers and creators to monetize their Periscope content with support of pre-roll ads within video. With pre-roll ads, viewers will receive the same user experience that is seen within Twitter videos, just now extended to Periscope. This enables brands to engage with viewers with their marketing message before the actual video is viewed. Just scroll through the Periscope feed, and all videos (live and replay videos) will start with an ad. This is a... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “UK-based location-data platform Blis is introducing a predictive ad model that will charge advertisers exclusively on a pay-per-visit basis. What that means is that advertisers will pay only for customers (or potential customers) that visit their business locations. It’s called “Blis Futures” and uses AI and audience modeling based on historical visitation patterns. A week ago, New York-based xAd introduced something similar, offering a cost-per-visit model that only charges brands and enterprises if customers walk through the door. Beverage brand Stella Artois... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “A year ago, chatbots reemerged atop a mountain of hype that messaging marked tech’s latest paradigm shift, after messaging apps Facebook’s Messenger and Kik officially opened up to chatbots. A year later, the trend has slid down the mountain into its own uncanny valley. However, that slide may provide the momentum that chatbot makers, from brands to media companies to startups, need to make it back up the next mountain and stay there. Chatbots have been on a downward slide for several reasons that seem to have snowballed together, according to executives at brands,... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “TVs are “spying” on us, and so are sex toys. The Senate also just reversed an Obama-FCC rule that imposed limits on what ISPs and carriers could do with consumer data without consent. The new administration and Republican control of Congress could bring massive change in regulatory policy and consumer protection. Indeed, many of Trump’s cabinet appointees have pledged to scale back or dismantle the regulatory frameworks of their respective agencies. The new political environment has led people to question the future of consumer protection and privacy enforcement... [...]

Nick Iyengar says, “Deriving consistent value from analytics is no simple thing. It’s common to focus on the technical challenges, and with good reason: Getting a robust, reliable deployment of analytics on your sites and apps is certainly a lot of work in and of itself. Over the years, the vast majority of the organizations I’ve worked with have had a vision of analytics as a self-serve resource that takes root once an implementation is complete and yields fruit forever after. I prefer to be a bit more pragmatic — rather than chasing a vision of “self-serve,” I try to help organizations... [...]