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Building on the themes in your digital skills training, here's this month's news:
- Long term trends: The 'Internet of Things' (physical objects getting connected) came closer with Google buying smart thermostat maker Nest and strengthening their 'Android for cars' scheme
- Ecommerce innovation: The future 'Perfect Store Online' could include drive-to-shelf with tools such as Apple's iBeacon which US retailers are rolling out to offer discounts and product information
- Media buying: Internet-style personalised targeting is going mainstream with Sky pioneering a new "AdSmart"
Videos, case studies, and full stories on click through.
And this month we're offering you a priority place on the next of our webinars as a graduate of our training workshops.
Best from all the digital strategists and trainers
Danny Meadows-Klue
President
Digital Training Academy
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February 11th: 8:30-9:30 and 16:00-17:00 (UK times)
50 spaces left. 2014 digital briefing topics include:
- Content marketing: Where do brands go wrong?
- Digital ecosystems: How to unlock more value?
- Google's changes: Implications for your ad spend?
- Where do mobile and tablet screens fit in the plan?
- Falling reach in Facebook? How to tackle it
- ... and healthchecks for your digital plans
To apply for your guest place email Tutors@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com
Web logins and conference call dial-ins will come by email.
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Facebook has updated its newsfeed with a new algorithm that means users will see more text updates from their friends and less from brands. 23/01/2014 | Full story...
A fridge has been discovered sending out spam, following a web attack that compromised a vast array of compromise smart gadgets, marking a new threat to the much-hyped 'Internet of Things'. 20/01/2014 | Full story...
Sky has signed up more than 40 brands for the new Sky AdSmart targeted advertising service, as the broadcaster looks to transfer digital advertising's real-time bidding techniques to the more traditional live TV format. Watch this presentation from agency MC&C's TV seminar, where Jamie West (Sky Media) talks through Sky's new Adsmart platform below. 16/01/2014 | Full story...
Google has struck a deal with General Motors, Honda, Audi, Hyundai and chipmaker Nvidia to integrate the Android mobile operating system for vehicles. 06/01/2014 | Full story...
The popular practice of writing guest blog posts in the hope of boosting visibility on search engines has come under fire this week, with Matt Cutts, head of Google's webspam team, declaring the tactic as 'done'. Watch this video from Cutts explaining how to get the most out of blog posts here. 22/01/2014 | Full story...
The true global scale of digital reach across the globe is hard to measure, but this new slide set from agency We Are Social attempts to create a worldwide snapshot of digital trends in 2014- showing that the North American audience still leads in most areas of web connectivity and access, while Africa lags behind. 22/01/2014 | Full story and data...
If more proof was needed that digital marketing is getting more complicated, this infographic from the Chief Marketing Technologist blog maps out some of the key players across the main disciplines- resulting in one huge chart. 13/01/2014 | Full story and data...
The latest IPA Bellwether survey indicates that marketing spend is at its "strongest rate in nearly 13 years" as worries about the larger economy fall and the internet spearheads growth. 17/01/2014 | Full story and data...
Google has bought technology firm Nest Labs, founded by iPod inventor Tony Fadell, in a $3.2bn deal that could help the internet giant rival Apple in terms of hardware. 14/01/2014 | Full story...
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Old Spice has become famous for pioneering viral video ads, and its latest campaign sees the return of Isaiah Mustafa in a series of prank ads that look set to get consumers sharing in droves. 24/01/2014 | Full story...
Following on from the success of Carrie's YouTube prank last year, the makers of 20th Century Fox's latest horror movie 'Devil's Due' have used a similar tactic to great effect- getting over 36m views in the process. See why it's our video viral of the week below... 22/01/2014 | Full story...
Lay's is running a second campaign for its crowdsourced "Do Us A Flavour" ads, this time incorporating Instagram and Twitter, as Pepsico's crisp brand looks to boost its reach on smartphones and tablets. Watch this case study from the previous US campaign. 16/01/2014 | Full story...
Vine was one of the big social success stories of last year, as Twitter applied its short-form formula to video with rather addictive results. As the app celebrates one year anniversary, the video highlights the most popular Vines of the past year, compressed into 10 minutes of oddly compulsive viewing for the low-attention span generation. 28/01/2014 | Full story...
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/online-advertising
More proof this month that digital is paying off for brands, with UK research showing that affiliate marketing pays out £14 for each pound invested by advertisers. However, brands are all too often failing to target their ads properly- with many consumers actively ditching brands (by unsubscribing or unfollowing) that serve irrelevant ads. Big moves in the agency sector saw Interpublic buy Profero- becoming one of the largest 'independent' agencies in the process. New global figures also show the scale of digital growth- outstripping TVs 4% with a huge 32% leap from last year.
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Internet, outdoor and television advertising saw the greatest increases in spend throughout the first three quarters of 2013, while TV rose just 4%, according to new global figures. 27/01/2014 | Full story...
This chart shows the average US monthly visits for the top 10 web brands in 2013, as well as the percent change from the year before. Notably all 10 sites dropped in number of unique visits in 2013. Facebook, which has the second highest count of unique monthly visitors, dropped by 16% in 2013, signalling the waning popularity of the social network. 11/01/2014 | Full story...
This chart shows the top food and cooking websites in the US by both unique monthly visitors and average time spent. During November 2013, All recipe and food sites saw around 86 million monthly visitors, with 25 minutes spent on these sites per month on average. Scripps Food Network is a media company that owns the Food Network channel, the site that received the highest unique monthly views for any food related website with over 22 million views. 22/01/2014 | Full story...
Advertisers in the UK spent £1bn on online performance marketing (often referred to as affiliate marketing) in 2013; up 15% on 2012, with advertisers getting an average £14 return on every pound spent, according to new data looking at digital ROI. 22/01/2014 | Full story and data...
Global ad giant Interpublic has bought Profero for an undisclosed sum, merging the digital network with Lowe and Partners to create a new agency Lowe Profero. 23/01/2014 | Full story...
The vast majority (94%) of consumers acknowledge have taken steps to break off communication with brands that 'mistarget' them online, including automatically deleting emails, unsubscribing from lists and never visiting the site again, according to new research. 20/01/2014 | Full story...
More top advertising stories from this month:
- Yahoo COO fired by boss Marissa Mayer as sales struggle
- Health food marketing tips: Morning exposure to healthy images and text 'reduces junk food cravings'
- Yahoo revamps ads, expands into 'food news'
- Google buys UK artificial intelligence firm DeepMind
- Global design trends for 2014 (Infographic)
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/search-engine-marketing
Facebook ramped up its reach in Russia this month, linking with search giant Yandex. In fact, social search is becoming a major new area for the big players, with Twitter's founder launching 'Jelly' as a alternative search engine, letting users ask the network's 'Hive mind' of users for personalised answers to their questions. But these new investments are dwarfed by Google- this month it was revealed the web giant spends more on new markets than its 5 biggest rivals combined.
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/facebook-marketing
Facebook continues its efforts to dethrone Twitter as the leader for social news- this month saw the addition of trending topics on the social network. Despite rumbles that Zuckerberg's company is losing its audience, the site still dominates the US in terms of user engagement. Privacy issues still plague the company though, as this month Facebook was sued for allegedly mining data from private messages.
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As online consumers prepared for the holiday shopping season, most surfed to search, social, and shopping sites in November. 15/01/2014 | Full story and data...
Facebook has launched a list of trending topics personalised to each user, as the social network continues to rival Twitter as the number one source for social news. 20/01/2014 | Full story...
Facebook users have sued the social network, claiming that private messages are read and mined for data to share with advertisers and marketers, according to reports. 07/01/2014 | Full story...
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/social-media-marketing
Burberry has pioneered social media in the luxury sector with campaigns such as 'The Art of Trench', and it appears to be paying off. This month the brand revealed a 12% year-on-year sales increase. While Facebook use falls, new data reveals that its recent acquisition Instagram is actually the fastest growing social network, followed by Reddit. Meanwhile, Google appears to have learned nothing from its 'Buzz ' email privacy fiasco back in 2009.This month the web giant essentially made all Gmail contacts public by default via a simple Google+ search, as its shift towards social continues. We also look at the value of a social share - uncovering some surprising results (email is still the most valuable platform to share content).
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/mobile-marketing
Mobile advertising is growing fast as consumers shift from PCs to tablets and smartphone-s but which formats are best to reach them on these highly personal devices? This month new research looks at some of the most effective (and least effective) ways of reaching consumers on the move or using a second screen. Other recent trends reveal that in-app adverting is set for big things in 2014, while text messages fell for the first time last year - replaced by the rise of chat apps such as WhatsApp, iMessage and WeChat.
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This chart shows the breakdown of mobile phone sales by manufacturer over a 3 month period to October 2013 globally. Across the 12 countries analysed, Apple and Samsung lead the way with a 21% and 38% share of the market respectively. Apple's dominance over other mobile makers can be attributed to its incremental release of iPhone models. 14/01/2014 | Full story...
This chart shows the average monthly unique users for the top 10 smartphone apps in 2013. The Facebook app, which tops the chart, saw little growth over the year with a 27% increase from 2012. However, Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram grew the most in 2013, with an increase of 66%. 15/01/2014 | Full story...
This chart shows the average time spent in minutes per-month for different demographics in the US. Mothers use their smartphones 11.4% more often than the average adult. This is especially true of mothers of children aged between 0 and 5 who spend 2,260 minutes on average a month on their smartphone. Surprisingly, mothers of young children spend 22% more time per month on their mobile devices than the 'millennial' demographic. 21/01/2014 | Full story...
The number of text messages being sent in the UK has fallen for the first time ever as more people turn to Whatsapp and iMessage, according to new research looking into mobile trends. 13/01/2014 | Full story...
More top mobile stories from this month:
- Mayer expects most Yahoo users will come from mobile in 2014
- Global mobile ad spend to hit $18bn in 2014 - report
- Apple smartphone market share down in 2013, despite 5S boost
- Google links ads to discounted taxi rides
- Top tips: 3 Things CIOs Can Learn from Snapchat
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/content-marketing
Managing YouTube comments has always been a chore, but new tools this month set out to make it easier for channel owners and brands to manage user generated content across their video portfolio. We also look at UK consumer trends for 2014, and Spotify's latest move to bring unlimited free (ad-funded) music streaming to browsers.
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This chart shows the top 10 video brands in the US based on their average unique monthly visitors. YouTube comes out on top by a long way with almost 130 million unique views a month for 2013. Perform Group is a digital sports media site that started in 2007 and saw the highest increase of monthly visitors with a 58% increase since 2012. 20/01/2014 | Full story...
YouTube has brought back tools to help uploaders control comments on their videos via a central system, in a bid to make manage social media comments better. 14/01/2014 | Full story...
The online video and mobile audience in the UK continues to grow, with Google, Amazon and Facebook continuing to prove the most popular sites across all platforms, according to the latest data from comScore and UKOM. 22/01/2014 | Full story...
Spotify has removed yet another restriction to its free offering, as competition continues to bite at the heels of one of the leading streaming music services. 20/01/2014 |
More top multimedia content stories from this month:
- BBC tests 15-second video news for Instagram users
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/marketing-through-gaming/
The days of the physical console look numbered, in favour of cloud-based gaming. The introduction of 'Playstation Now' this month- were consumers can play the likes of 'The Last of Us' via a smart TV without a console, looks set to usher in a new era of disc-free gaming. Chip maker Nvidia also boosted the potential of mobile games with a new smartphone chip capable of producing 'PS3 level' graphics. Bitcoin continues to attract attention, with big names including Zynga starting to accept the virtual currency for its games.
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Sony has unveiled 'Playstation Now' a cloud gaming service that lets users play console quality games via a web connection- and without the need for an actual console. Watch the full, hour-long presentation below. 08/01/2014 | Full story...
Social gaming firm Zynga is to start accepting the virtual currency Bitcoin as a payment option. 06/01/2014 | Full story...
Mobile gaming made a leap this week, as chip-maker Nvidia announced a new processor for mobile devices that it claims will offer better graphics than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Watch this video explaining how the new graphics chip works below. 06/01/2014 | Full story...
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/ecommerce-and-eretailing
Apple has staunchly avoided using Near Field Communication (NFC) on its iPhone and iPads, instead developing its own Bluetooth technology iBeacon to guide people in-store - rewarding them for checking specific products and offering exclusive discounts. The strategy appears to have paid off, with numerous retailers and brands (including Coca-Cola) adopting the technology. This month, Paypal also made it easier to buy from merchant sites without being diverted to a different site, and we look at the 10 biggest reasons why websites lose sales.
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Two supermarket retailers in the US have started using the latest iPhone technology to guide shoppers around the store, sending them reminders, rewarding them for browsing certain items and offering deals. Watch this video explaining how the service works. 07/01/2014 | Full story...
Coca-Cola has become the latest brand to use Apple's iBeacon in retail, a new tool that that can track and guide shoppers in-store. Watch this demo of how ShopKick is using iBeacon in retail below. 17/01/2014 | Full story...
Price and product range are consumers' top complaints when it comes to retail websites, with rising expectations driving complaints, according to new research looking into the main reasons why websites are losing sales. 21/01/2014 | Full story and data...
PayPal has redesigned its online checkout process to let shoppers complete their payment on merchants' websites, rather than go to a separate PayPal site, as the eBay owned firm ramps up competition with rival Amazon. 20/01/2014 | Full story...
More top ecommerce stories from this month:
- Retail apps: How are consumers shopping on mobiles?
- Online accounts for 20% of Christmas shopping in the UK
- Ecommerce trends in the UK: £91bn spent online in 2013
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www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence/digital-marketing-regulation
High-profile hacks in South Korea and Germany saw large parts of the population have their details stolen- as online privacy and security become ever-more important issues. Meanwhile, a landmark case this month saw a Google Glass 'explorer' cleared of motoring
offences after being caught wearing the augmented reality eyewear while driving. As wearable tech takes hold, expect to see legal boundaries tested further this year.
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