mary meeker's internet trends 2016.

2016 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

bing ads presents the art of advertiser science.

brands with personality: old spice & taco bell

Brands should have personality. They should have a voice and allow us to connect with them on an emotional level (and when a brand is truly connecting they create a Lovemark). We love it when brands respond to our posts, tweets, etc. but let's be honest, it is even better when two brands interact. Here is the fantastic exchange between Taco Bell and Old Spice on Twitter that takes this idea to the next level...

red bull: the content marketing machine

Mashable recently did a fantastic feature on Red Bull. You may have heard of them. Little blue and silver can? The kids mix it with vodka? Right. You know what else they make that you can consume besides an energy drink? Content. Lots of content. In fact, they have an entire division (more like a company) dedicated to this content. The Red Bull Media House churns out bite sized morsels of content goodness. They produce print, television, online, mobile, music, games and feature film content.

Their dedicated website for content is called the Red Bull Content Pool and it is aimed at producers, editors and journalists looking to quench their content thirst. What they have done a masterful job of is putting their product second, a distant second. The real focus is the content which in turn builds brand loyalty which eventually equates to sales.

The Mashable piece also highlighted a solid report by the Altimeter Group. They have done a great job of categorizing what stage companies are in with regard to content marketing using an exercise analogy (stand, stretch, walk, jog and run). Check it out, it is well worth your time.

nearly half of all website traffic comes from natural search.

Conductor just completed a fascinating study where they analyzed traffic to 30 websites across six industries. They looked at inbound traffic over a one-year period, analyzing over 310 million visits in total. And what they found was that natural search drives the most traffic of all channels (47%). What this demonstrates is that SEO is still king when it comes to driving traffic. It is interesting to note that social comprises 2%, which might not seem like a lot but I bet this an increase over the previous year. And if they conduct the same study next year I bet there would be slight increase again.

video on instagram.

mary meeker's 2013 internet trends.

Always a treat...

The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report finds continued robust online growth. There are now 2.4 billion Internet users around the world, and the total continues to grow apace. Mobile usage is expanding rapidly, while the mobile advertising opportunity remains largely untapped. The report reviews the shifting online landscape, which has become more social and content rich, with expanded use of photos, video and audio. Looking ahead, the report finds early signs of growth for wearable computing devices, like glasses, connected wrist bands and watches – and the emergence of connected cars, drones and other new platforms.

2013 state of inbound marketing (via hubspot).

Hubspot has conducted their annual state of inbound marketing survey and the results are in. They surveyed 3,339 marketing professionals from 128 countries. I wouldn't go as far as to say that these are discoveries that will disrupt marketing forever (as Hubspot does) but the findings are worth noting. Among them:

• 100% more website conversions result from inbound marketing versus outbound tactics
• 11% of executives lend full support to inbound marketing and 1 of 4 companies align marketing with sales (it is unfortunate these numbers are not higher...but you have to start somewhere)
• 200% cheaper costs-per-lead were driven by organizations with formalized marketing-sales handoffs

HubSpot's 2013 State of Inbound Marketing from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software

what's the future of business? (by brian solis).

seth godin: how to get your ideas to spread

An oldie but goodie. Worth making a remark about.

what your instagram filter says about you.

Here is a fun infographic created by Column Five and Marketo that takes a look at the which types of folks use which filters on Instagram. While it is difficult to discern exactly how they put the profiles together, other than their source list, it does provide real insight into which filters are the most popular, how many active users there and how many photos are uploaded each day. And for those marketers looking to reach the 18-24 demographic, it appears that 54% of Instagram users fall into that age bracket. What brands do you think are making good use of this channel?

twitter and customer service.

Twitter is fast becoming a go-to line of communication for people seeking customer service help and brands are realizing this. According to Simply Measured, 30% of top brands are investing in customer service on Twitter. As more people realize Twitter is an option for help, more brands will devote greater resources to this channel and since Twitter is such a public place it is very important for brands to protect their identity and keep their customers happy in front of everyone else. My experience has been good to date. I have had interactions with Square and Uber CSRs that have led to positive resolutions of my issues. What has your experience been using Twitter for customer service interactions?

Twitter Customer Service Study March 2013 from Simply Measured

google glass. the future is here.

vine will be a huge success.

That is my prediction. As far as I am concerned Vine is going to be a runaway hit. The mobile video medium is already on fire and this app allows users to create the perfect short burst visual goodness. The keys to it's success are the length (about 6 seconds) and the ability to stop and start your recordings as fast as your finger can touch the screen. That's it. Its brilliance lies in its simplicity. Vines are fun, addictive and really encourage creativity.

Brands stand to gain as well as it seems only logical that eventually there will be promoted videos in people's Vine feed just as there are promoted Tweets on Twitter. In addition, brands can create accounts as they have on Twitter and Instagram and have folks follow their feeds. So there will be plenty of opportunities for brands to link up their paid, owned and earned strategies.

Although it is still in it's infancy and not even close to the size of Instagram the potential is there. It saw a huge spike in uploads this past weekend due to several events including the Grammys, NEMO (snowstorm) and NYC Fashion Week. Over 113,897 videos were posted according to SimplyMeasured.

introducing vine (by twitter).

Vine is a new iOS video app created (read acquired) by Twitter. It is a stand alone app that allow users to create short (and I mean very short) videos and immediately upload them to their social networks. What makes it unique and fun is that it lets you edit (sort of) on the go. It takes a little practice but once you have it down it is quite fun. It creates a six second video that you record by holding your finger on the screen. You stop recording by releasing your finger and continue by touching the screen again. And so on and so on until you have reached six seconds. Then when video is uploaded it loops creating a new form animated GIF or sorts. Think of it as an attempt to become the Instagram of video. I think this has a very good chance at being a huge success. Brands should find good use for this as well.

Here is my first video uploaded to Vine.

Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

UPDATE: The app has been getting a little more press than usual as it seems adult content infiltrated their video streaming service. However, they are working on banning search terms and removing users who post this type of content. There's no such thing as bad press, right?

the five elements of inbound marketing.

This infographic sums up inbound marketing quite nicely and adds a nice earthly touch to boot. Well done AXZM.

big data. big deal.

I'm sure some of you out there are over the term "big data" but it looks like it is here to stay. The term might be tired but the actionable information it can provide is invaluable. Here is a visual look at how retailers are using these vast amounts of information. (Notice I didn't say big data.) I find it interesting to note that according to research 90% of the world's data has been created in the past two years.

instagram embeddable badges.

Instagram is moving up in the world. Fast. That nearly billion dollars Zuckerberg and Co. shelled out for the photo sharing site is looking more and more like a smart buy. Earlier this month Instagram launched embeddable badges. While nothing new in the digital world, it does signal a move away from mobile, as did their launching of a web profile for users (which now enables the use of the badges). Clearly the move away from being a mobile only application is being pushed by Facebook, however, since Facebook has yet to really crack the mobile game, is it smart from them to pull Instagram over to the web so soon? Was the real appeal of Instagram (what has made it the "darling" of those who want to rebel against the fact that their parents are on Facebook) not the fact that it was only mobile and kind of "our" thing? Or is it now a numbers game and Facebook just wants to get as many eyeballs on their new property ASAP. My guess is yes, but we will see. What these badges really do is allow large corporations to place them on their sites and send consumers right over to their Instagram page bringing the service more and more exposure.

In the meantime I have added an Instagram badge on my blog, why not, right?

3 important benefits of digital public relations.

This simple yet informative infographic comes to us via Social Media Today. It does a very nice job of outlining the key benefits of integrating digital PR into your marketing mix.

the future of seo (by rand fishkin).