Total US mobile and social media revenues—including business and consumer content, access, and advertising and marketing—reached $45.38 billion in 2011, up 30.2% from a year earlier, according to new data from PQ Media. more

To say that marketing execution has changed dramatically over the last 10 years is about the grossest kind of understatement. Then why do all the models of the marketing function look about the same as they always have? more

Consumers use various digital devices—smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers—at many points along the purchase path, from researching product information and pricing to finding retail outlets or completing transactions electronically, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos for Google, which explores consumers' shopping behaviors during the 2011 holiday season. more

More than one-half (55%) of social media users in the US say they are uncomfortable sharing credit card information with a known brand via secure payment on a social networking site such as Twitter or Facebook, according to a new survey from Digitas. more

Facebook ad spending among clients of Kenshoo Social grew 109% in the fourth quarter of 2011 over 3Q11 levels, dwarfing the 27% growth recorded in paid-search spending over the same period, according to a report by Kenshoo. more

Fully 40% of all US mobile subscribers, or 97.9 million people, owned a smartphone during the three months ended December 2011, as Google Android expanded its dominance in the market and Apple gained ground among handset manufacturers, according to data from the comScore MobiLens service. more

Super Bowl XLVI is only days away—and so is the debut of those iconic ads that run during the big game. Learn which industries led the way in ad spending last year, and which ad was named the best Super Bowl ad of all time by Forbes.com readers. more

Ad campaigns that target consumers on the basis of their social media activities and interest-based connections—or Brand Graph—perform better than ads without such targeting capabilities, and they generate large gains in brand lift and key direct-response metrics, according to a study by 33Across. more

In a post at the Renegade Search blog, Lindsay Atkinson ponders the clichéd adage that content is king. "I can't say that I'm a fan of using this relatively grating term, but I can definitely defend its power," she writes. "Having fresh and unique content is an increasingly important factor ... more

When searching for the best holiday deals, one-quarter (25%) of surveyed consumers say they prefer visiting brand websites over other channels such as print media (15%), email newsletters and notifications (13%), and Facebook (3%), according to a survey from Crowd Science. more

"When consumers hear of a local business that is not well known, it's only natural that they conduct some research before making a purchase," writes Nathan Hanks in an article at MarketingProfs. And when they do, they're most likely to choose results that appear first. "Thus," Hanks continues, "'owning' the first page ... more

In today's noisy business listing landscape, it's important that your online anchor be consistent and visible throughout the local search ecosystem. Here are five essential rules to keep in mind when managing your online listing. more

Tech brands Microsoft and Motorola generated the most Twitter buzz at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held January 10-13 in Las Vegas, each accounting for 5% of #CES-tagged Twitter mentions during the annual event, according to a study by Simply Measured. more

"While Google has ended its Realtime Search deal with Twitter, search engines are still using social media sites for ranking purposes," says Jillian Stira at the Scholes Marketing blog. And Twitter remains a critical part of your search strategy, she notes: "Twitter has pulled ahead of many other social media platforms, ... more

We've all seen them—those disastrous ads that make us cringe as marketers. Here is a detailed critique of one ad—gone terribly wrong—that'll help you avoid a host of pitfalls in your ad copy. more

Paid-search spending among high-tech and consumer-electronics advertisers grew 28% in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the same quarter a year earlier, and up 7% over strong spending in 3Q11, according to a report by Covario. more

Despite continued business volatility, global executives plan to increase corporate spending cautiously in 2012—particularly the areas of IT (information technology) and marketing—according to a survey conducted by Doremus and the Financial Times. more

US retail e-commerce spending for the first 46 days of the November-December 2011 holiday season reached $30.9 billion, up 15% from the corresponding days in 2010, according to data from comScore. more

Group deals are gaining popularity among local businesses: 12% of surveyed local merchants say they have offered a group-deal promotion, up 33% (3 percentage points) from the 9% who said so in June 2011, according to the seventh annual MerchantCircle Confidence Index. more

The Saturday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed Small Business Saturday, a day for customers to shop small—at their favorite local stores—and help fuel the economy. How can you use this shopping day to your advantage? more

Interactive marketing budgets are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% over the next five years, but not all industries will invest at the same pace, according to a new report by Forrester Research. more

Tablet users spent nearly 30% more time per session than desktop users watching online videos in the third quarter of 2011 and they were twice as likely as desktop viewers to complete those viewing sessions, according to Ooyala's Video Index Report. In addition, Facebook was the most popular way to ... more

Need help boosting your landing page conversions? Learn six landing page optimization principles that helped one website nearly double its conversion rate... more

People who are exposed to radio ad campaigns demonstrate high levels of engagement with brands at all stages of the purchase funnel, and particularly across metrics such as brand affinity and advocacy, according to a study by Ipsos OTX MediaCT in partnership with Katz Marketing Solutions. more

If the 2011 holiday shopping season follows the trends of the 2010 season, consumers are likely to start searching online for holiday gifts early this year and Cyber Monday will edge out Black Friday as the most profitable day for online retailers, according to data from Marin Software's 2011 Online ... more