In a minor stroke of genius, Best Buy created @Twelpforce, a Twitter-based means to pose tech questions and get answers in real time. Today, Twelpforce is more than 28,000 followers strong. Reviews are so positive, and its execution so impressive, that the agency responsible (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) received the Titanium ... more

It's Lady Gaga lesson-time again. After all, she is a marketer who consistently goes viral. And her results ring loud: Gaga's the first artist to hit 1 billion YouTube views. And she's turned quite a handy-dandy profit: 11.5 million albums sold in two years, including through digital media (where she ... more

Driven by gradual economic recovery, advances in digital technology, and secular shifts in business and consumer spending, total communications industry spending is on pace to increase 3.5% in 2010 and post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 2010 to 2014, reaching $1.4 trillion in spending by 2014, ... more

The Web's most influential teens are more likely than other teens to actively participate in social media and digital activities, such as updating their social networking status and sending text messages, but they are also more likely to spend time influencing their peers and socializing offline, according to a survey ... more

You spend a lot of time ensuring the best-possible experience for every customer purchasing your product or service. You've trained a friendly, knowledgeable staff, and you use customer feedback—both positive and negative—to shape the sales process and provide ongoing support. But do you know how your customer experience compares with that offered ... more

Ever wonder about the true long-range value of a tweet? Now you don't have to guess. Just plug a link, phrase, hashtag or screen name into TweetReach.com to get a sense of the reach it's achieved via tweets and retweets. The cool part: TweetReach doesn't just reveal how many users ... more

Chloe Sladden (@ChloeS) of Twitter recently said Twitter was worth more to MTV during the 2009 Video Music Awards than Nielsen was. Twitter worked with MTV to provide illustrated data on reactions as users watched the VMAs. Kanye West's interruption of artist Taylor Swift's acceptance speech made a splash: A ... more

Millennials are hard to sway using traditional advertising and media channels that don't promote interaction: Only 17.7% say their favorite TV spot has led them to purchase an advertised product, while nearly one-half (48%) say that word-of-mouth communications influence them more than TV advertisements, according to a study from Mr ... more

OK. Time to clear your mind and consider some findings from Tremor, a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble that focuses on word-of-mouth (WOM). Tremor is populated by cognitive scientists whose job is to study the brain, then apply their knowledge to marketing. Some sample Tremor tips: The brain isn't actually wired ... more

In March, MarketingProfs ran an article about brand flubs in social media, starring Southwest Airlines and Heinz. Read the tale. Now we discuss a third brand's stormy social life: Nestle. Recently, Greenpeace, which raises awareness for ecological issues in provocative ways, released a video of a guy snacking on a Kit ... more

Analytics is a messy and complicated business. Even if you're monitoring data, you probably get more than you know what to do with—and once you have it all, you still have to decide what it means. Ugh. As a result, you may seek professional help (of the data-monitoring kind). And ... more

Consumer-based word-of-mouth (WOM) information is viewed as the most reliable source of information about brands on social networking sites: 38% of social networking users say posts from other consumers are most credible, followed by posts from brands themselves (32%), according to a survey from InSites Consulting. more

Sad news: Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketers have yet to grasp the true complexity of the online communal networks they are attempting to reach, according to one new research report. Here's how the researchers came to that conclusion. They set out to track the online WOM promotion of a "new" camera-equipped mobile ... more

Point of fact: One of the most alluring things about Facebook is its infinite capacity to find us a new distraction—be it Farmville, virtual gift-giving or browsing through an old flame's recent family photo shoot (major creepiness factor, BTW). Second point of fact: Some companies know this about Facebook, and are already ... more

Music is the most popular video category on YouTube, accounting for 30.7% of all videos viewed, followed by entertainment videos (14.6%), and people and blog videos (10.8%), according to a study from Sysomos. more

In a recent Search Engine Land article, Andrew Goodman predicts that the biggest risk in 2010-2011 for search marketers may lie in working with outdated assumptions about the size and potential of target markets and the paid-search channel. As a remedy, he suggests five investment or expansion "risks" that could ... more

Nearly one-quarter (24%) of consumers say they regularly play games on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace––and contrary to prevailing stereotypes, the typical social gamer is a 43-year-old woman, according to a new survey from PopCap Games. more

Looking to make your brand trendier? Get a load of Trendistic, a clear and simple way to watch the ebb and flow of buzz on Twitter. A visit to the Trendistic homepage gives you a quick glimpse at what keyword is hottest on Twitter right now. In addition to the most current ... more

It'd be an understatement to say 2009 was a tough year for Domino's Pizza, what with the awkward employees-abusing-food scandal. A quick recap: two bored employees recorded themselves doing unpleasant things with food, and the video wound up on YouTube. Domino's responded swiftly enough, both terminating the employees and releasing an apologetic YouTube video ... more

The Great Recession has certainly not spared nonprofit organizations. With contributions down an average of nine percent, many charitable organizations have been forced to cut services. Some even face closure. Fortunately, though, the news is not all bad. "With the right marketing mix, savvy nonprofits are able to leverage social-media marketing ... more

The most significant online viral campaign of the decade was "Mentos and Diet Coke experiments" by Eepybird.com, according to a survey conducted by GoViral. more

You're probably familiar with the story of The Little Mermaid. In this classic tale of unrequited love, a girl exchanges her voice for the chance to be close to a prince. It's a parable about finding the right voice amid the melee. Faced with a plentitude of uncertainties about social media, ... more

Belgian beer label Stella Artois has added a splash of engagement to its marketing strategy with Le Bar Guide. Developed by Acrossair, Le Bar Guide is a free app that points users to the nearest bar serving Stella. Run searches by ZIP Code, or switch the augmented reality feature on—and have ... more

Last summer, a happy couple sent ripples through the Net when their video, JK Wedding Entrance Dance, hit YouTube. The video depicted a wedding entourage dancing down the aisle to Chris Brown's "Forever," concluding with the bride cutting the rubber in the general direction of her nervous, but giddy, groom. Great ... more

If your small business has earned a devoted cadre of loyal customers, you can assume they have a vested interest in your ongoing success. They want uninterrupted, easy access to the products or services they love—and, therefore, want your company to thrive. But have you given your customers a way ... more