Everywhere you look in the traditional media industry, you can see signs of turmoil and disruption: to take just a few recent examples, the New York Times is fighting with its union over cutbacks to benefits, The Guardian is looking at forced layoffs to cut costs, and the Journal Register Co. recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time. And yet, there are still some industry leaders who question whether newspapers and other outlets should be focusing on “digital first,” something that journalism professor Paul Bradshaw argues is a waste of both time and energy, at a time when the industry needs those things the most. He is right — the question isn’t whether digital should be first, it’s whether those who aren’t focusing on “digital first” will even be around to participate in the debate for much longer.

via Digital first isn’t an option for media — it’s the only way forward — Tech News and Analysis.

A slight majority of digital news consumers get their information from web-native sources like the Huffington Post or the Drudge Report, while 43% use digital versions of established news sources e.g., the New York Times, CNN, according to research conducted for The New York Times by Knowledge Networks and reported by Poynter in October 2012. Some 19% of digital news consumers rely upon search engines like Google and Bing as news sources, and 15% use social media to get their news fix.

via Majority Of Digital News Consumers Turn To Web-Native Sources.

Content marketing is becoming increasingly popular among B2B and B2C marketers, finds a pair of studies released in October. 84% of B2B marketers are planning to increase their content marketing over the next 12 months, reports Optify [download page], while 9 in 10 B2C and B2B marketers and agencies say they believe content marketing will become more important in the next year, according to Econsultancy. Both studies find that lead generation is a primary objective of content marketing activity for B2B marketers.Yet despite the importance attributed to content marketing and near-universal use 91% of Econsultancy respondents, just 38% of in-house marketer respondents both B2C and B2B said they had a defined content marketing strategy, and only 13% of agencies said their clients had one.

via Content Marketing Getting More Attention; B2B Sees Lead Gen Potential.

The key to lead generation and sales? Creating engaging, compelling content

B2B marketers often turn to content marketing for lead generation and prospect nurture throughout the lengthy sales process. An August 2012 study from Holger Shulze, author of the blog Everything Marketing Technology, pointed to a growing number of worldwide B2B technology marketers turning to content marketing for more brand-based goals, namely boosting thought leadership and brand awareness.

Findings from BtoB Magazine echoed Holger Shulze’s top three objectives and also identified additional content marketing objectives commonly pursued by US B2B marketing professionals: Sales and customer acquisition were each cited by 29% of respondents.

via B2B Content Marketers Prioritize Lead Gen – eMarketer.

As social media becomes increasingly used for customer engagement, social media users from around the world report a willingness to collaborate with companies they like in a variety of areas, finds InSites Consulting in a September 2012 report. Among those willing to help (who make up a large majority of the social media users surveyed), some 64% from 19 countries around the world report being interested in helping companies improve an existing product or service, and 64% are also interested in helping companies improve customer service. Other identified areas in which a majority of these respondents are interested in helping are in the development of a new product or service (59%), feedback on companies’ overall strategies (52%), and feedback on companies’ communication about the market (51%).

via Social Media Users Willing to Collaborate With Brands.

Visually-focused content may be on the rise, but a catchy headline is still the biggest factor enticing Americans to read an online or print news article, according to new research released in September. Harris Interactive asked more than 2,000 adults what factors would make them more likely to read an article, with a catchy headline (54%) coming out on top, beating an interesting picture with the article (44%) and interesting data or research which supports the article (43%).

There was some variety in the responses by age and gender. For example, while those top 3 factors maintained their order among Echo Boomers (18-35), Gen Xers (36-47), and Baby Boomers (48-66), interesting supporting data or research took top billing among Matures (67+), ahead of catchy headlines and interesting pictures (55% vs. 52% for each of the latter).

Looking at the gender breakdown, catchy headlines are more likely to lure women than men (58% vs. 50%), while interesting data or research proves more appealing to men (47% vs. 40%), and in fact is more likely to draw men than an interesting picture (43%).

Infographics More Appealing to News Junkies

Despite the proliferation of infographics, overall, just 28% of the adults surveyed said that an interesting infographic would make them more likely to read an article, with this result relatively consistent across age and gender.

There was more variety in response when segmenting by news interest. Self-described news “junkies” – for whom news is a favorite leisure time activity – are far more likely than the average to say that an interesting infographic will pique their interest in an article (40% vs. 28%). By comparison, infographics appeal to 29% of people who have a moderate interest in the news, and just 17% who aren’t interested in the news.

via Catchy Headlines The Biggest Draw For News Article Readers.

National magazines are adopting mobile action codes at ever increasing rates, and it appears with good reason, according to new research from Nellymoser. Looking over 12 months at 7 titles that used its Companion App to both create the magazine’s mobile application with scanner and the campaigns that were scanned in the magazine, the company found the median response rate to be 4.5-5.9%, with visitors keeping the app open for about an average of 10 minutes.

The average response rate, weighted by circulation and removing the highest and lowest scores, was 6.4%.

Visitors Return, View Several Pages

On top of their strong response rates, the mobile action codes proved highly engaging. During the average 10 minutes that an app was open, visitors viewed roughly 19 mobile pages, though there was a significant range among the titles, from 2.6 to 62.9.

via Magazines’ QR Codes Said Delivering Strong Response, Engagement Rates.

Now we are merging Insights for Search into Google Trends, wrapping it all up in a clean new interface to give you a clearer view of what’s on the world’s mind. The new Google Trends now includes features from both products and makes it easier and more intuitive to dig into the data. We’ve updated the line chart and map using HTML5 based Google Chart Tools so you can now load the page on your mobile devices, visualize the results without scrolling, and get Hot Searches not just for the U.S., but also India, Japan, and Singapore.

via Insights into what the world is searching for — the new Google Trends – Inside Search.

The company has purchased data on 70 million U.S. households from Datalogix, which culls information from loyalty cards and programs from more than 1,000 retailers, according to The Financial Times. Datalogix matches emails and data associated with those cards and programs with emails and information required to set up a Facebook account, according to the report. Using this information, the company can say whether a consumer purchased an item after seeing it advertised on Facebook.

via Facebook Now Tracks Consumers’ Retail Purchases.

Who could forget former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, whose tweeted crotch-shot set a new standard for political pratfalls in the social media age? Then there’s actor Woody Harrelson, whose epically failed Reddit AMA spawned a derisive meme and undermined the very film he was aiming to promote.Among brands, there’s the Red Cross employee who accidentally tweeted about “#gettingslizzerd” from the charity’s official account rather than her personal one. Ragu, Nestle and Kenneth Cole have all showed some Twitter or Facebook ineptitude of their own as well.But not every high-profile gaffe has to end with embarrassment or alienated fans. Handling a blunder smoothly with humor and class can actually reflect well on a celebrity or brand, turning negative into positive. The Red Cross did just that, for example, by addressing the erroneous tweet head-on — but in a lighthearted way — and partnering with a brewery for a blood drive.

via Social Media’s Biggest Screw-Ups [INFOGRAPHIC].