Ads viewed on tablet devices are more likely than ads on e-readers to attract the attention of consumers and engage them in key buying-related activities, according to a new study by GfK MRI Starch Advertising Research, which explores how digital magazine readers respond to ads on the two platforms. ... more

Though word-of-mouth recommendations still have the greatest influence on purchasing decisions among small and medium-sized businesses, online forums and blogs play a huge role in the process, too—and a more influential one than advertisements or consultations with salespeople, according to a new survey from Ivy Worldwide. more

In a post at Conversation Marketing, Ian Lurie reports on the disappearance of Google's real-time search—and consequently, the disappearance of up-to-the-minute Twitter feeds from Google. "If you're a bandwagon-driven Internet marketer, and you go diving after the latest gimmick, then you're probably panicking about now," he writes. "A little voice ... more

Google Android widened its lead in the US smartphone market in June 2011, accounting for 40.1% of smartphone subscribers, up 5.4 percentage points from the previous three-month period, according to data from the comScore MobiLens service. more

This article and video are the first in a series that lays out some best-practices not only for radio in a digital age but also for marketing and advertising generally. Many of the principles that the author discusses can just as appropriately be applied to email or social media marketing—or, ... more

Brands that conduct Facebook marketing can gain huge benefits by targeting the friends of their Facebook fans, according to a new report by comScore and Facebook, which also found that Facebook users spend 27% of their time browsing homepage newsfeeds. more

Brands are using a new and expanding set of advertising tools to reach social consumers: 67% of surveyed brand managers say they conduct some type of social media advertising and another 18% plan to implement such activities in the next year, according to a new study by The Pivot Conference ... more

Watching video online is becoming more popular in the US, particularly among rural audiences: 71% of online adults now use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, up 5 percentage points from the 66% who did so a year earlier, according to a new report by Pew Research. more

After trailing Yahoo for nine months, Google Sites was the top-ranked Web property in June 2011 with 182.5 million visitors, followed by Yahoo Sites with 178.4 million and Microsoft Sites with 173.6 million, according to comScore Media Metrix service. Amazon Sites jumped one spot to rank at No. 6 with ... more

The insurance category fetches the highest cost-per-click (CPC) rates in Google AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: nearly $50 per click, according to new keyword research data from search marketing software provider WordStream Inc. more

Ad rates on the nation's most popular social network are climbing: Median cost-per-clicks (CPCs) on Facebook grew 22% in the second quarter of 2011 over the previous quarter, according to report by Efficient Frontier and Context Optional. Meanwhile, search spending increased 8% in the second quarter over 2Q10 levels. more

Mobile is expected to be the most influential advertising medium over the next three to five years, followed by social media, according to a new report by The Creative Group and the American Advertising Federation (AAF). more

Global ad expenditure is now forecast to grow 4.1% in 2011, reaching $471 billion, the same as the peak level of spending in 2008, according to projections by ZenithOptimedia. The expected growth is just 0.1 percentage point (PP) below the 4.2% projected three months earlier. more

"Most online retailers have little insight into the performance of their transactional emails, from basic deliverability characteristics to more sophisticated behavioral data once the emails have been sent," writes Emily Keye at the Bronto blog. That is a surprising fact when you consider transactional emails enjoy astounding open rates—up to 75% ... more

SEO experts have spent the last decade preaching a gospel of optimized page-level elements and inbound links. "Those things are still important today," Jonathan Lawoyin writes in an article at MarketingProfs, "but getting real SEO results these days requires not only a technically optimized website and relevant inbound links but ... more

Mobile ads served to Apple's iOS deliver higher click-through rate (CTR) than those served to other smartphone operating systems, outperforming ads served to Google Android phones by more than 2.5 times, according to a study by MediaMind. Timing also plays a role, with overall mobile ad performance reaching its peak ... more

Online video viewing continues to grow—particularly such categories as full-length movies and TV shows—according to a study by Yahoo Insights: 57% of users now watch online video on any given day, up 14 percentage points from the 43% who did so in 2009. more

"Negative keywords can … refine your keyword list and filter out unwanted traffic for your paid-search campaigns," writes Jill Solomon in an article at MarketingProfs. "Excluding specific words or phrases that aren't relevant to your product or service can help you reach your ideal prospects, reduce your cost per click ... more

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, comprised the top-ranked online video content property in May 2011, delivering some 2.1 billion viewing sessions and the highest amount of time spent per viewer (311 minutes on average), crossing the 5-hour mark for the first time, according to data from ... more

When searching for local business information, consumers consult between two and three (2.2) media sources on average with Yellow Pages (Internet and print) and search engines among the most popular, surpassing other media sources such as store circulars, promotional emails, and social networks, according to a study by the Local ... more

Although only 22% of local merchants say they have used Facebook Ads, nearly two-thirds of those who have done so (64.9%) say they would use the service again, according to a report by MerchantCircle. Meanwhile, 65.7% of surveyed local merchants say they use Facebook for marketing. more

In a rapidly changing media landscape, social media has retained its value to consumers as a source of entertainment, whereas television and movies have lost significant share, according to a study by Edelman. more

As shoppers become smarter and more informed—using online channels to evaluate options, socialize about brands, and find the best deals— they are becoming less impulsive when making purchase decisions, according to a new survey from Yahoo. more

Business professionals working in the legal, retail, and software industries are most likely to take action—such as download a whitepaper, start a free trial, or make a purchase—after clicking on an ad, according to a study by Bizo. Those working in certain job functions, such as operations, legal, and sales, ... more

"White hat search engine optimization (SEO) principles that apply to B2B online marketing also apply to B2C, but B2B is otherwise a different animal," writes Nick Stamoulis in an article at MarketingProfs. In other words, SEO is simply not the same strategy for B2B as it is for B2C. And to ... more