Four out of five leaders at small and midsize businesses (SMBs) say the use of mobile devices by employees has a positive effect on productivity. Only 2% say remote technology has a negative impact, according to a survey by Sage North America. more

The inbound marketing industry, though still emerging, is playing a vital role in how marketers are doing their jobs, although challenges remain, according to the just-released fifth annual State of Inbound Marketing Survey from HubSpot. more

To find out how LinkedIn is transforming job recruiting, the folks at Masters in Human Resources did some research and created the following infographic. more

Find yourself some Yelp killers, LinkedIn stats, a delicious social alternative to PowerPoint, Twitter #ComedyFest, scratch-and-sniff banner ads, and GIFs... for TV! Skim to get caught up on the week's social goings on. more

Some 182.5 million Americans watched 39.3 billion online content videos in March 2013, and the number of video ad views reached an all-time high of 13.2 billion, according to comScore Video Metrix data released this week. more

Do we need yet another product category? If mobile phones became even more useful when they became smartphones, will the same happen to watches? more

As online video becomes a part of the marketing plans of a growing cross-section of advertisers, 72% of video buyers' budgets increased in the past year; moreover, 48% of those who buy online video advertising have added mobile video to their marketing arsenal. more

Jason Falls of CafePress talks about cause marketing, Autism Awareness Month, and how businesses of any size can give back to the community. more

The term "Big Data" keeps getting bandied about in business, but what does it mean exactly? And what makes data "big"? The following infographic by Wipro defines Big Data and highlights its importance. more

Even as events remain a vital part of the marketing mix, and a key channel for direct one-to-one customer engagement, marketing executives—lacking visibility into the conversion pipeline—don't have sufficiently effective methods for measuring the impact of events and tradeshows on sales and revenue (and therefore can't prove ROI). more

US social advertising revenues will grow from $4.7 billion in 2012 to $11.0 billion in 2017—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6%—while locally targeted social ad revenues are projected to grow at a 26.4% CAGR, from $1.12 billion in 2012 to $3.62 billion in 2017, according to a forecast ... more

Among online women, 75% use social media sites, whereas only 63% of online men do. To find out more about women's online social media activities and influence, check out the following infographic based on the Digital Women Influencers study. more

The Boston Marathon topped headlines this week. See how social helped salve wounds, correct errors, and reconnect people. Also, the latest on LinkedIn ads, Twitter's just-launched #music, and Facebook's Open Graph Mobile. And social case studies from the likes of Coca-Cola, stats on SMBs' and B2Bs' social use, and Jeremiah ... more

If time spent online in the US via personal computers were compressed into one hour, 16 minutes of it, or 27%, would be spent on social networking and forums, according to data from Experian Marketing Services. more

Facebook Home has been the biggest mobile story since SXSW, which is why we've dedicated an entire Mobile Minute to it. We've downloaded it and dissected it, and we're now ready to share. more

Though frequently at odds, marketing and IT executives agree that harnessing Big Data is imperative to building a customer-centric corporate culture; they also agree that a lack of alignment, rigid silos, unclear responsibilities, and a lack of leadership impede an organization from using Big Data to its full potential. more

Dorie Clark talks about the concept of personal branding, the importance of producing your own content as part of a reinvention effort, and how one goes about finding and benefiting from work with a mentor. more

Though not competing for the Iron Throne, Sales and Marketing have long warred against one another in struggles worthy of a "Game of Thrones" TV episode. Pardot has mapped out the battle between the House of Sales and the House of Marketing. more

US B2B marketers are struggling to optimize their online marketing mix, with many unable to segment and target the right decision-makers or measure program success across the entire marketing funnel, according to the results of a survey developed and fielded by Crain's BtoB magazine and business audience marketing company Bizo. more

Today's teens, though digital natives, by a wide margin prefer to shop in stores than online, and even their use of what they consider their favorite social networks is decreasing in importance for them, according to the 23rd semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey from Piper Jaffray. more

As Tax Day approaches, flustered US taxpayers head online for help filing their annual tax returns. This infographic shows how tax filers use the Web to seek help and how tax preparers can seize the opportunity to engage them. more

Death was a big social theme with the passing of two cultural icons. See how government is using Vine and how MTV's voting via Instagram and Twitter works. Find stats on Tumblr, on youth, and on socnets that still command the most attention. And, of course, get how-to advice. Skim ... more

Rather than competing, different devices—TVs, tablets, smartphones, and laptops/desktops—generally complement one another, allowing people to layer their device usage throughout the day, according to what's been termed the largest study to date on the consumption of news in the digital age. more

From releases to rumors, a lot's happening in mobile this week: Facebook's Home (something close to an OS), Apple's daunting iOS challenge, and a reminder that Windows mobile exists. more

Commercial emails opened on mobile devices are on pace to surpass PC opens by the end of 2013. As of yearend 2012, 41% of commercial emails were opened on mobile devices (smartphone or tablet), up from 27% a year earlier. more