In today's social and mobile media landscape, confusion reigns regarding who in the organization controls the customer conversation: 58% of C-level executives say the CEO is responsible for customer communications via social and mobile channels, but only 28% of middle managers agree with that assessment, according to a report by ... more

In April, the McKinsey Quarterly published "Demystifying Social Media" for businesses. The article illustrates how using social media right can enable "targeted marketing responses at individual touch points along the consumer decision journey." Here are four steps to take to meet consumers along the way and achieve social touch-point engagement: Monitor. Make learning what's said about ... more

Long-form content—defined as videos lasting longer than 10 minutes—accounted for more than one-half of the total time people spent watching online video across all connected devices in the first quarter of 2012, up from 25% six months earlier, according to Ooyala's Global Video Index Report. more

Americans are in love with their tablets: 91% of people who own a tablet say they take their device to bed with them, and 15% say they would give up their car in order to keep their tablet, according to survey from Yahoo and Ipsos MediaCT. more

Once upon a time, notes Ryan at the MarketFish blog, email was the pinnacle of cutting-edge online technology. But that was then and this is now. "While there [are] a bunch of really cool companies driving innovation in the email space, as a whole, email still lags behind the breakneck ... more

Think mobile is for consumer audiences only? Think again, B2B marketers! Learn why mobile marketing is ideal for B2B marketing, and how three simple words—better, faster, easier—can help you win over your B2B audience. more

Though people use a variety of social channels to log in to third-party websites, Facebook still dominates social login, according to a report by Janrain. Facebook accounted for 45% of social logins in the first quarter of 2012, followed by Google with 31%. more

Growing numbers of smartphone owners are using location-based information services: Nearly three-quarters (74%) say they use their smartphone to get real-time location-based information, up from the 55% who said so a year earlier, according to a study by Pew Research. more

Ah... mobile mania. It's everywhere. Whether your target audience is B2B or B2C, your marketing needs to go mobile. Here's a three-step framework to help marketers effectively integrate mobile into the marketing mix. more

We've shared how-to's about Pinterest from a brand perspective, but its biggest users are women (especially mums!) who have a super-useful perspective on how to maximize this powerful visual network. Here's an abridged version of MomAdvice's tips on becoming a Pinterest superstar. (We highly recommend reading the full article because it includes ... more

Mothers are more present, more active, and more engaged users of social networking sites than other women, according to a study by Performics. Moreover, moms are 45% more likely than other women to say they have made a purchase as a result of a recommendation via social media (42% vs. ... more

Like any marketing campaign, a mobile marketing campaign can be well thought out, meticulously planned, and perfectly functional... but still produce limited user engagement. Why? A subpar call to action. more

At MIPTV in March, YouTube's Joe McDermottroe introduced the company's latest Creator's Playbook—a bible of video production gold—by giving away tips on how to make the best of your own YouTube video content. While of course it's up to you to produce unique content that captivates users in the first few seconds, ... more

Though Hispanics use smartphones to help with in-store shopping, most tend to visit stores with friends and family, relying more on the opinions of their companions when making purchases and less on user-generated reviews and ratings via smartphone, according to a study by Sensis and White Horse. more

Small businesses that were early adopters of mobile marketing have begun to earn tangible returns on their mobile investments, according to a study by Web.com. Even so, most small businesses haven't embraced mobile marketing yet. more

More than two in five surveyed global executives (43%) say they "use many apps" on their smartphones and tablet devices with news and weather apps among the most popular, according to a survey from Doremus and the Financial Times. more

Let's say your small business doesn't have the resources to hire a professional copywriter for email campaigns. That means you—or someone on your overtaxed team—is trying to create effective messages without a solid knowledge of what works and what doesn't. So, what must you know? In a post at his blog, pro ... more

We've mentioned why Pinterest is a great resource for reaching users, and the social space is now brimming with case studies. Cases in point: GSD&M used it to create an SXSW survival guide for the conference's attendees. The British airline bmi started a Pinterest lotto campaign to enable eager Repinners to ... more

Smartphones, Wi-Fi access, and social media have liberated business executives from the confines of their offices; however, the flip side of that freedom is that very few can separate themselves from work after hours, according to a study by gyro and Forbes Insights. more

We have updated you on some of the major changes to Facebook’s Brand Timeline pages. Now that you feel more familiar with the medium, it’s time for your Community Manager to step in and do her due diligence. (Don’t have one of those yet? Here are tips for hiring one!) Social ... more

On April 9, 2012, Facebook announced its billion-dollar plan to acquire Instagram, a hugely popular photo sharing network with more than 30 million users. Traffic to Instagram's website had already been increasing steadily over the previous 24-week period, reaching 3.8 million visits as of April 7, over 55 times the ... more

Tablets are fast becoming the mobile shopping device of choice among consumers: 64% of tablet owners say they have made at least one purchase via their device in the previous six months, compared with 48% of smartphone owners who say the same, according to a new survey by Local Corporation ... more

B2B social marketing isn't an easily intuitive process because social has oft been perceived as consumer-focused. (For the most part, anyway.) But here's some good news: Social Media B2B—a great resource for B2B strategists—has made life a little easier for cautious B2B socializers by publishing 10 Tweetable Twitter Tips for B2B ... more

Google Android continued to widen its lead in the US smartphone market in February 2012, crossing the 50% threshold to capture a majority share for the first time in its history, according to data from the comScore MobiLens service. more

"With the increase in smartphone adoption, there's been a lot of talk lately about mobile email," writes Anthony Schneider of Mass Transmit. "Some of it is brilliant. Some of it's baloney." In the latter category is the notion that teenagers are the only ones reading email on mobile devices. Not true, ... more