ROI Is Top Concern for Marketing Execs by Erik Sass

The inability to measure return on investment is the biggest problem facing social media advertising campaigns, according to marketing and advertising executives surveyed by an independent research firm on behalf of The Creative Group. Out of some 500 marketing and advertising execs polled on social media, 40% said measuring or defining ROI was the biggest challenge for their agencies or firms. ...Read the whole story

  • AdRoll Raises $15 Mil To Up Real-Time Reach by Gavin O'Malley

    AdRoll just raised $15 million from some top-tier investors, including Foundation Capital, Merus Capital and Accel Partners. AdRoll plans to invest in increasing real-time inventory reach and rolling out more intuitive products in mobile, video and social. ...Read the whole story

  • research Get Ready For Retail 'Showrooming' by Aaron Baar

    According to a survey conducted by Capgemini of 16,000 shoppers around the globe, consumers expect the traditional model of brick-and-mortar stores carrying inventory to be purchased immediately to take a backseat to a new idea of "showrooming." ...Read the whole story

Oracle Buys Involver, Extends Social Spree by Mark Walsh

Oracle has acquired social media marketing startup Involver as it continues to expand its presence in the market for social media services. It marks the third acquisition in the emerging area in the last two months. In June, Oracle snapped up social monitoring firm Collective Intellect, and in May bought Vitrue for a reported $300 million. Both companies are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. ...More

  • Rovio Tops Social Video Brand for Week; More Fun Social Video Stats by Daisy Whitney

    I love numbers. I love statistics. I love any and all benchmarks for online video. Digital advertising is a business that's differentiated by its ability to adroitly measure virtually any aspect of a campaign, a brand, a trend. So if you dig charts too, then bookmark SocialBakers.com, a social monitoring service that measures which brands are ticking up on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google + and other social sharing venues on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. ...More

  • NBC's Olympics Deal With Facebook -- Or, The Deal That Wasn't by Catharine P. Taylor

    The line that stood out to me in Tuesday's New York Times write-up of NBC's Olympics deal with Facebook was actually the sentence that declared it wasn't a deal at all. It read: "Facebook and NBC Olympics executives said the arrangement was not an advertising deal, and they indicated that no money was changing hands." It's enough to make the Social Media Insider ask, "What's the point of that?" ...More

  • Leveraging Social Platforms by Jack Loechner

    According to Burst Media, with 2012 social media spending at an estimated $4.8 billion (BIA/Kelsey), brands are looking for new ways to capture the fragmented attention of consumers. The Burst Media survey of online adults aged 18 or older to learn how independent web audiences interact with and use social media, how blogs and bloggers influence purchase decisions, and the impact of socially enabled display advertising revealed that both advertisers and publishers have opportunities to leverage social platforms to further engage with their followers and consumers. ...More