The average value of a brand fan on Facebook in key consumer categories increased to $174 in 2012, from $136 in 2010, according to a new report. more

Education, retail, and computer hardware/electronics are the best-performing verticals in email marketing, according to a new study that benchmarked open rates, click-through rates, and churn metrics across 14 industries. more

To demonstrate how marketers have adapted to media innovations through the last century and developed measurements for them, IfbyPhone created the following infographic about the evolution of the "growth hacker" from the 1920s to today. 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

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

Online nonprofit fundraising is on the rise, with explosive growth in sustaining gifts and a larger audience of supporters reached via social networks, according to an analysis of leading US nonprofits. However, the long-term decline of email response rates is continuing, even as online revenues increase and social media audiences ... more

Despite the hype, most organizations have yet to develop and implement a Big Data strategy, and few are taking advantage of product, customer, and other data sources, according to a survey of data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia. more

This week's guest on Marketing Smarts is Tim Suther, chief marketing and strategy officer for Acxiom, a firm that Tim referred to as "the original Big Data company"; FRONTLINE called it "one of the biggest companies you've never heard of." more

To find out how businesses are handling the deluge of information that's become available to them, Infogroup Targeting Solutions and Yesmail Interactive sponsored a study, then produced an infographic to highlight some findings. more

As SXSW winds down, insights come flying: See videos on the most buzzed-about tech and startups, and learn to tell better brand stories via social. We've also got tips on ROI-effective Vines, Pinterest's new analytics service, updated mobile advertising guidelines, and the usual tidbits about Twitter, Facebook, Google... and even ... more

Testing your online campaigns, landing pages, forms, website, and so on can't be an every-now-and-again thing. Testing must be iterative and ongoing if it is to produce results. Which means, among other things, that your organization must institute a culture of testing. more

If Big Data were personified, it'd be a kid. As anyone who has children or works with them knows, kids love to ask questions. Likewise, Big Data seems to be asking questions all the time. In this infographic, Infochimps playfully compares the questions of children to those of Big Data. more

Demonstrating value is certainly a fine reason to measure our actions and their results. But discussing marketing measurement with Jim Lenskold during this week's Marketing Smarts podcast got me thinking that we may be thinking about the purpose of measurement exactly backwards. more

Every industry has its version of "buffalo chicken dip," a product or concept with big seasonal peaks. By anticipating those keyword trends and having your search marketing campaigns at the ready, you could hatch the same kind of profits as chicken farms do on Super Bowl Sunday. more

This week's #SocialSkim is especially insight-rich. Swipp gauges user sentiment for products and places; Groupon's launched an insight tool; Foursquare's mapped all its check-ins; and we have tips on LinkedIn campaigns, your social media policy, and more. Skim for smarts! more

Job prospects for direct and digital marketers have remained flat in the first quarter of 2013: The proportion of employers planning to add marketing staff over the next three months held at 47%, up only 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to Bernhart Associates' Quarterly Employment Report. more

Marketers are planning to boost spending on Big Data in 2013, hiring employees dedicated to analytics and building systems to keep up with the fire hose of information being generated by digital and social channels, according to report by Infogroup Targeting Solutions and Yesmail Interactive. more

Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye (KD) Paine, authors of Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World, discuss performance metrics and nonprofits. more

Over time, insiders in the analytics industry have codified A/B-testing to help clients understand how it all really works. This infographic by KISSmetrics and Conversion Rate Experts highlights one approach that works particularly well for SaaS businesses—and can be applied in other industries. more

Marketers usually discuss measuring the ROI of social media as a nebulous art or, worse, as an impossibility. But social media is measurable. The following infographic sheds light on that myth and others surrounding social media ROI. more

In a recent article at Chief Marketer, Beth Negus Viveiros argues that leaving direct mail out of your B2B marketing mix might be a big mistake—even in the digital age. "Done the right way, good old-fashioned direct mail can be a key part of your strategy," she says. Viveiros interviewed marketers Michele Fitzpatrick and ... more

"Email marketing can be a tricky balancing act," writes Melissa Miller at HubSpot. "You want to use copy that will get your recipients' attention, but you don't want to select words that will raise red flags with SPAM filters." So what about the word free? Once considered the reddest of red ... more

B2B marketers are spending more, using more tactics, and distributing their content on more social networks than they have in years past, according to the latest findings of a study from MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute: B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America. more

Rohit Bhargava, author and social media strategist, thinks business books need to be useful—to help you solve a problem you're facing. So it has to speak to you from the get-go, draw you in, and convince you it's going to help you solve your problem. And the best way to ... more

What grade would your CEO give your marketing organization for its ability to demonstrate its impact on the business? Today's "A" marketers demonstrate these Six A's of Marketing Performance Management: the best-practice competencies of alignment, accountability, analytics, automation, alliances, and assessment. more