John Rampton says, “Stalking your competitors’ reviews can be an extremely effective technique for getting new customers. That said, it’s a strategy that’s more art than science, and must be done very carefully.Responding directly to negative feedback left for your competitors is generally a very bad idea. It can make you look like a jerk, and will more than likely make your competitors pretty unhappy. So, how can you leverage your competitors’ negative reviews to generate leads?This post will come at the issue from two different angles: How to find your competitors’... [...]

Raymond Wong says, “I’ve got a little secret: I haven’t seen ads in my Instagram feed in more than a year. You’re probably wondering how that’s even possible. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure why it works, but it does, and here’s how you can (or at least try to) banish them from your Instagram feed as well. SEE ALSO: 12 awesome Instagram features you’re probably not using When I first started seeing ads or “sponsored” posts in my Instagram feed, I immediately knew it was a sign of worse things to come. What started out as a few unobtrusive... [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “The mad men and women of the ad industry have plenty of reasons to toss and turn at night. Money is increasingly trickling from television commercials to digital media — a market that Facebook and Google currently have in a duopolistic chokehold. Inter-agency competition is at a fever pitch. Unconventional upstarts are eating their lunch. If Don Draper were around today, there’s a good chance he’d work at Facebook. But it’s not internet advertising giants that keep the industry’s top chief up at night. Nor is it his three-month-old daughter. It’s…Amazon? “It’s... [...]

Sohini Mitter says, “WhatsApp might be working on a business feature for small enterprises that will soon pilot in India, its biggest market, according to reports. WhatsApp for Business, a version of the app, will help enterprises with 10 employees or less to manage their clients better. This is also the instant messaging giant’s first attempt at monetization after eight years of ad-free, subscription-free existence. It comes soon after WhatsApp hired its first COO, Matt Idema, who was reportedly brought in to monetize the platform, three years since Facebook’s $22-billion acquisition. The... [...]

Josh Steimle says, “Interview after interview with top performers tends to reveal similar daily habits: an early wake time; a regular exercise regimen; and a designated time for reading. Reading a lot won’t necessarily make you a great leader, but it seems great leaders tend to read a lot with rare exceptions. Great leaders read because it’s the most efficient way to gain the condensed information, guidance, and insights they need to excel at their jobs. Who wants to reinvent the wheel when others have provided the blueprint? This is especially valuable in the marketing world, where... [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “Next time you seek out customer service through a Twitter message, you may find yourself talking to an actual human rather than a corporate account. The social network now lets brands display avatars and names of individual employees in direct-message conversations, while still operating through the company’s main profile. The new tool will also more clearly indicate when you are talking to an automated bot. The feature launched Wednesday with T-Mobile signed on as the only advertiser partner. The move is grounded in Twitter’s market research that shows personalized... [...]

Emma Hinchliffe says, “Sending money on Facebook is finally international. A new bot released on Facebook Messenger on Sunday lets users send money to and from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or Europe. Powered by TransferWise, the bot completes money transfers and guides users through the process. TransferWise customers on the company’s own app already send and receive almost $1 billion a month. The app boasts that it allows transfers without the usual fees charged by banks or hidden in exchange rates. Instead, TransferWise uses the current exchange rate and... [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “Starting next year, you’ll no longer have to sit through a half-minute of advertising to watch a YouTube video. On Friday, the Google-owned video giant announced that it will no longer offer its 30-second pre-roll ad format without a “skip” button in 2018, Campaign first reported. It will, however, continue to show 15- and 20-second ads without the option to bypass them. “We’ve decided to … focus instead on formats that work well for both users and advertisers,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The change is part... [...]

Kerry Flynn says, “You may scroll through something so fast on Facebook that you don’t notice it. But Facebook wants every moment to count — at least in what it presents to advertisers. The company announced Friday they will provide millisecond-level data for ads on Facebook, Instagram and its online ad ecosystem Audience Network. Now, for the first time through Facebook, advertisers can see how long their ads were seen by the millisecond. That includes how many milliseconds overall the ad was on a screen and then broken out into how many milliseconds 100 percent of the ad was on... [...]

PayPal team says, “The world of entrepreneurship is a tough one to crack. You know that to be a successful entrepreneur you must dream big, take risks and be prepared to fail. Countless budding entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality with the help of enablers such as PayPal providing a gateway to receive payments internationally. PayPal has been working to enable hundreds of thousands of local Indian businesses of all sizes to expand their businesses across borders, reach a global network of 192 million active customer accounts in 200 markets, and receive payments faster via PayPal... [...]