VisionCritical-Social-Inspired-Purchases-on-Mobile-July2013Social media-inspired purchases often occur on mobile devices, according to survey results [download page] from Vision Critical. The study looked at Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest users who had made an online purchase after sharing or favoriting an item (social media “purchasers”), asking them if any of their social media-inspired purchases were ever made on a mobile device (i.e. smartphone, tablet). Twitter purchasers proved most likely to have done so: 35% said they used a mobile to make all of their purchases.

via Twitter-Inspired Purchases Often Occur Via Mobile Device.

comScore-Smartphone-Ownership-QR-Code-Scanning-Trends-Jul2011-May2013A lot has been written and said about QR codes. Many pronounce them dead – others see a positive future for them. Often these opinions are agenda-driven. This article takes an agnostic look at recent research touching on QR codes, highlighting key statistics and identifying trends where they can reasonably be deduced, from both the marketer and consumer sides of the equation.

via Data Dive: QR Codes.

Categorizing tablets has vexed marketers since Apple first introduced the iPad in 2010. Several years into the tablet market’s dramatic expansion, the distinctions between smart devices are becoming clearer.

According to a new eMarketer report, “Key Digital Trends for Midyear 2013: The Fragmentation of Mobile,” diverging use cases on smartphones and tablets herald the end of mobile as a monolithic category. Increasingly, advertising and commerce solutions will need to respond to not just different screen sizes, but also different screen uses.

via Marketers Keep Up with Divergent Behavior on Smartphones and Tablets – eMarketer.

Thinking outside the box: Pointers for producing immersive storytelling online in ways which break the mould, based on the experiences of industry experts

via 10 tips for compelling digital storytelling | Media news | Journalism.co.uk.

It’s a no-brainer that digital technology is impacting newsgathering and reporting globally. How much? A survey of journalists worldwide by the Oriella PR Network, an alliance of PR agencies, found that 39 percent consider themselves “digital first,” meaning that they publish news as it breaks rather than waiting for the next print issue (see infographic).

via Survey Shows How Journalists Really Feel About the Digital Evolution | Adweek.

Publishers are rushing out “sponsored content” ad units in the hopes of escaping the clutches of the commoditized display ad market.

Yet there are some problems, beyond questions of whether such units blur the line between editorial and advertising. They add up to costs. Right now, publishers are pricing too high, and the process for running sponsored content is too convoluted, adding in even more costs. Add those together, compare to the dirt-cheap pricing throughout most of online advertising, and sponsored content is at risk of being just not worth the effort, even if it is more effective (not to mention sexy) than old-fashioned banner ads.

via Sponsored Content’s Got a Cost Problem | Digiday.

One obvious problem is time. Doing great work takes lots of time, which tends to not leave much left over to fill with writing about it. But everyone has that problem. The bottom line here: if it’s important, you make time. Writing case studies is important, so why haven’t we made the time? Well, it’s tough to make time to do something without having vision for it.

via How to Write a Better Case Study.

TINYpulse is a lightweight solution that captures anonymous feedback from your team to reveal insights, trends, and opportunities to improve retention, culture, and results.

via TINYpulse lightweight employee survey solution to improve retention.

That finding may sound obvious, but for marketers the takeaway may be that your money is better spent on branding ads on Facebook than call-to-action direct-response ads that may actually produce more likes and higher click-through rates. Syncapse, the firm that pegged the average value of a Facebook fan at $174 earlier this year, worked with Hotspex to interview 2,080 consumers in the first quarter about their reasons for becoming Facebook fans. While “to support the brand I like” was the No. 1 reason for fanning, there were other reasons:

via Why People Become Facebook Fans.

Whether it’s a leading consumer brand employing a celebrity as creative director or a major B2B tech firm collaborating with a psychologist on a best practice guide, co-creation is a bandwagon that the world’s leading brands are rapidly jumping onto.

via Why co-creation is the next big digital PR trend | Econsultancy.