As a tourist, part of your excitement comes from exploring the area, learning about the culture, and experiencing new adventures.

As a local tour guide, you know that you need to utilize social media as a necessary tool. Marketing your business using every means possible is vital and in turn, will help increase your guided tours and attractions business.

With an estimated 2 billion people on social media, it has become a necessary part of online marketing. However, simply creating a few profiles isn't enough to propel your brand onto the social scene.

Building strong relationships with your followers, like any real life relationship, takes work, dedication, and commitment. However, if you're like many busy professionals, making and maintaining a great social media presence can seem overwhelming for dozens of reasons.

SEO is constantly changing and it can be difficult to keep up with. Originally, keyword stuffing and massive amounts of inbounds links—even those that were unrelated—did the trick of getting a website ranked.

Today, and in the foreseeable future, the best way to optimize will be through creating top-notch content. With Google Rankbrain and other updates, content that is relevant seems to be king, rather than keyword focused.

Don’t get lost in the crowd. There’s a few guidelines to help make sure that your site pops up for the searches you want.

You’ve set aside time daily to post, interact and engage on social media. You know where to find all the files and you know the message you want to convey.

Now you can spare yourself valuable time by consulting our cheat sheet below, compiled with the help of Hubspot's blog post. All data is given in width by height unless otherwise stated.

Nowadays, businesses in the tours, attractions and tourism industry deal with competition from not only local competition but also companies located around the world.

With social media’s ever expanding reach, your tourism business has 2 choices.

As one of the most powerful marketing tools available, when used as part of your overall content marketing strategy,  white papers can yield a number of successful outcomes.

A good white paper can help to generate leads for your business by enticing visitors to download valuable information with just a hint of persuasion, but a great white paper can also help strengthen brand image, highlight your level of expertise, expand your mailing list, and improve your social media presence.

The question is, how do you take your white paper from good to great? Here’s our surgical breakdown.

Social media has become the focal point of society. Everyone from high schoolers just getting their first accounts to the leader of our country seems to be plugged in, sharing, and talking online.

It is the truth of marketing and sales that a business is expected to have an online presence. Unfortunately, not all companies have the time to dedicate to creating and cultivating an online presence. For the most part, social media operates as an afterthought.

Perhaps your company has decided to take a look at their social media and digital presence. The results haven’t been great unfortunately. There is good news for you though; all hope is not lost.   

There’s no profound mystery in the process of improving your social media content.

A company's marketing campaign should be attracting as many customers as possible. However, it is nearly impossible for marketers to reach and engage everyone.

Marketers must launch targeted campaigns designed to interact with potential customers. Using the array of marketing tools available to show people how a company's products can solve their needs can position the company as an expert in their field.  

But when and how should this be done? That is where buyer personas will come in.

As one of the largest social media platforms in the world, LinkedIn often loses out to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in search engine optimization publications by all but the most professional social media agencies.

Unlike the other popular social outlets, LinkedIn has managed to maintain a decidedly professional bearing, where the businessperson can expect to find targeted connections.

As a business owner, it can be intimidating to see all of the successful campaigns already going from your major competitors. It can also be tempting to copy them and try to capture lightning in a bottle twice. Unfortunately, this can often be a losing proposition for businesses when developing a strategy.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important factors that your website can rely on. When you are creating or maintaining your website you need to make sure that you are following all of the best practices recommended by Google and other search engines.

With ever-changing best practices, it is important to stay up to date on what works and what doesn’t. When optimizing your website, it is important to use caution as some previously used techniques now have the ability to get you severely penalized.

[Updated May 21, 2019]

For any business to survive it must continue to innovate and grow year over year. Following trends and keeping up with new technologies are just some of the ways to gain and keep customers. Because of this, lead generation should be the number one priority of businesses, regardless of the industry.

SO, you're trying to pass the Hubspot Certifications.

We've been there. These tests are difficult to pass the first time. However, we do have 5 important tips for you to make it easier!

Unfortunately, no matter what industry you work in, it’s impossible to make everyone happy. With today’s technology however, it’s easier to have a small situation blown out of proportion and plastered all over social media sites.

No business is immune from negative reviews. It’s frustrating, yes, but how you respond to them can make a big difference in how other customers – and potential customers – perceive your company.

Sometimes, even the simple act of reading and responding to a negative review can change a customer’s “I’m never coming back here!” to a lifelong customer. While rare, with the right response, anything is possible.

[Updated May 2019]

The HubSpot Academy is comprised of 12 separate certification courses, each designed to specifically elevate your inbound marketing strategy to help grow your business.

Technology has become an ever-present aspect of our lives. From smartphones to smart TVs, such gadgets are almost never more than a few inches from our grasp. While this proliferation of technology has a lot of benefits, there are some major drawbacks. One aspect big tech corporations like Apple Inc. have been under heavy criticism for lately is the very addictive nature of these devices.

The marketing funnel refers to the multi-step process of converting your leads into sales. Prospective customers go through the following stages before they become paying customers:

If you want to reach more customers and boost your interactions with your existing customers, your social media accounts are an invaluable resource. With social media constantly evolving, you need to know what to expect this year. Here are a few social media trends to watch as 2019 progresses:

If you want to boost your company's sales, predict your customers' behaviors, optimize scheduling, and increase the functionality of your operations, adding machine learning to your business can help you accomplish all these things and more. Here’s everything you need to know about machine learning and how it can benefit your company:

It is increasingly common for consumers to do research on most events, places and products they’re interested in. This applies to extended trips like vacations, and shorter activities, such as an evening spent at dinner and a movie. Below are a few reasons consumers want to be as informed as possible before embarking on a planned experience and what this means for your marketing campaign and digital content. It is important to recognize the customer intent behind a search query and adjust your message to match the purpose behind the search.

The end goal of any marketing strategy is to sell a product or service to a willing customer, but your success depends highly on how well you generate interest in the product and convert those leads into actual sales. Lead generation is an integral part of this strategy, and it can take many forms.

An effective app or website needs to be accessible to everyone, including individuals with disabilities. If visitors with disabilities can't use your site or app, they're unlikely to purchase from your company. Remember, your content creation process should consider multiple disabilities, including:

Web design trends are constantly evolving. Whether you’re building a new site or want to ensure your existing site is up-to-date, consider utilizing some of these tools destined to be the most popular web design trends of 2019:

Did you know 77 percent of the American population has at least one social media profile? Around the world, over 2.34 billion people use social media, and this number is expected to continue growing. Therefore, it comes as no surprise social media is one of the most effective marketing platforms for virtually all types of businesses. 

Consumers are dropping their once universal habit of conducting local searches by typing the words “near me” in the browser. They now expect searches to automatically produce results near them. It’s time to update your SEO strategy so you capture more local searches.

Today’s consumers engage with companies through many different channels, including physical stores, apps, social media, television commercials, websites, catalogues, and more. For any online content, they could be viewing from a computer, tablet or phone. Omni-channel marketing seeks to provide customers with a seamless and integrated experience, no matter which channel or device they are using. In order to achieve this, everything across these channels should be consistent and complementary.

To post or not to post. That is the question – at least when it comes to your Instagram account. 

A targeted marketing campaign focuses on those who are most likely to use your product or service. Though you can target your campaign based on demographics, another detail to consider is whether your marketing efforts should appeal to households or individual members of the household. Targeting the right audience is a simple way to boost your sales and promote awareness of your brand. 

For small businesses, your website may be one of the most important ways to keep up with the competition, both big and small. However, for it to be effective, there are several elements that cannot be overlooked. Whether you're starting your site from scratch or just want to be sure your current site is up to par, check out the below list of essentials for your small business website.

If you want to create a new website or revamp your existing site, one detail to consider is how much content you should place on your site's homepage. The answer varies based on a few different factors. Some homepages benefit from longer copy, while others thrive with a short copy design. Here are some of the details to help you determine your homepage copy:

With so many types of digital media readily available on the internet, it is important to produce content that instantly grabs the attention of prospective customers. To ensure your content is captivating enough to immediately attract your audience, follow these guidelines:

You already know the way people consume their content has changed. Instead of CDs or iPods, people are listening to their favorite music through streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. Instead of renting movies or sticking to standard channels, people are using streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. In short, more and more people are utilizing streaming services, and thus, that is where you as a business want to be. This is especially important because advertising on streaming services is more sophisticated and more likely to ensure you hit your target market, particularly when you compare with how traditional advertising works.

When you visit a website, you may see a pop-up with information concerning the use of cookies (information generated and saved by the page). This pop-up is known as a cookie consent notice. It informs visitors what information the page gathers and briefly explains how this data is used. Users can then consent to or refuse the site's use of cookies. 

One of the first things many travelers do when planning a trip is pull out their smartphones. The smartphone now serves as an invaluable device for practically every stage of a vacation, from the early planning phases to the trip itself.

The internet has made shopping easier than ever, and up to 84 percent of Americans are shopping for something at any given time. The widespread use of Wi-Fi and smartphones has given both consumers and marketers more opportunities to get what they want, but shopping across multiple categories of products can be overwhelming. Effectively using marketing tools like SEO for online shopping is vital to make the research process and shopping experience as easy as possible.

Instagram stories have quickly grown in popularity since the feature was first introduced in August 2017. Despite its popularity, many companies dismiss this feature due to the fact that content expires 24 hours after it is shared. But, while its duration may be short, the impact of Instagram stories on your social media marketing can be tremendous. Here are four ways you can make your company’s Instagram stories stand out from the rest:

Nailing down the definition of branding can seem tough, but once you start applying the concepts of branding to your products and assets, it becomes clearer to see. In a nutshell, branding is how you help consumers identify your company, your products and your services as distinct from your competition. It is how you convey everything you want people to know about your company in an instant.

In today's society, it takes time, effort, and ingenuity to expand your tour-based business. Instead of depending on traditional marketing strategies, check out the following alternative solutions to reach more customers and grow your company:

Personalized TV is an increasingly popular way for consumers to enjoy their favorite shows and movies. This innovative media form combines television with features of internet videos. Researchers expect it to revolutionize the TV viewing experience.

Video marketing used to be a primarily passive experience for potential customers. Once the audience viewed the video, there was no expectation of immediate action. However, research now indicates that prospective customers may prefer video marketing campaigns that incite them to act, be it by taking a poll or subscribing to a newsletter. If you are ready to implement a direct response video marketing campaign or need to make tweaks to an existing one, here are three things you can do to make your advertising as effective as possible:

More and more people are using their personal voice assistants to enhance their everyday lives. Personal voice assistants have proved they have more than novelty value, as users are now asking Alexa or Siri for assistance with products they wish to purchase or services they want to utilize. Prepare your pay-per-click (PPC) campaign for voice optimization by following these three steps.

It is no secret that voice assistants, like Alexa and Siri, have revolutionized how we use our phones and smart devices. However, they can also transform the model companies use to market their goods and services to prospective customers. Voice assistants are capable of everyday tasks you can use to market your product and expand your digital advertising campaign.

Inbound marketing is a digital marketing strategy that works to attract potential customers via your online presence. Instead of trying to fight other similar companies for potential outbound leads, inbound digital marketing requires you to create valuable online content that encourages customers to further explore what your company has to offer.

As a service business, your job is to help your customers or clients be the very best they can be. You help them look better, present themselves more professionally, and provide tips to propel them to the next level of awesomeness.

YouTube videos are some of the most exciting content you can create for your business – energizing your employees as much as your customers. While this surge of energy is still crackling through your business, capitalize on this natural momentum by optimizing your videos to ensure it captures the attention of a larger audience and raises the curtain of opportunity.

Social media is a prominent part of society today, but the personal information you share may put you at risk for identity theft, fraud and other incidents. Reuters reported that up to 87 million Facebook users may have had their information exposed to a firm called Cambridge Analytica. The breach has users worried about what may happen to their personal information if it lands in the wrong hands. Whether or not you are affected by this data breach, be aware of any information you share online, especially if it is sensitive in nature.

As a financial consultant, you have very specific marketing needs. The stakes are higher because you're dealing with people's money and financial security, and before they trust you with these commodities, they must consider you to be honest, credible and an expert in your field.

Customer experience refers to the impression a customer receives after engaging with your company. Whether positive or negative, these experiences significantly impact how customers feel about your product and your brand. Here is an overview of customer experience and how you can use it to benefit your company.

Is your sales team wasting time on leads that are still getting cold feet on making a purchase? Rather than spending resources on these leads, marketing and sales teams should work to better qualify leads so they are confident their prospects are on the path to making a purchase. Here are five ways to qualify leads.

How long are you expecting your customers to wait for your mobile website to load – 5 seconds? 10? Or is 15.3 seconds, which is the amount of time it takes for most mobile websites to load? That's a long time in a society that has come to value instant gratification above almost all else.

The travel industry has long been an early adopter of digital technology, having helped travelers find and book trips online as soon as it was possible to do so. Technology has changed dramatically since the first days of online booking, though, and travel companies must continue to incorporate new advancements into their marketing strategies if they want to remain competitive within the industry – the latest being machine learning and artificial intelligence.

No matter how common or convenient it is to complain about them, Millennials are vital to the success of almost every retailer. The Millennial Generation now spends a collective $600 billion a year and are the largest living generation. The digital natives are now in their high spending years between 18-35 and if retailers want to connect, they must increase their digital investments.

The Retail and Manufacturing Industries are at a crossroads. Traditional retail and malls are failing across the country – and the globe. If retailers have any hope to survive the coming years as the market evolves, they must change as well.

More and more marketers are being lured by the value offered by Marketing Automation Platforms. No Manual Processes! Traffic! Leads! Conversions! We here at ADTACK are a certified HubSpot partner and speak highly of it as a deeply powerful tool.

But once marketing technology of any kind is in place, many companies struggle to realize the return on their investment. Is it the platform’s fault? Or could it be ours as marketers?

The stability and growth of any company relies on the ability of customers to find and purchase goods and services. Your customers’ ability to quickly and simply find those services and to learn about your company has never been more important. Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how it is evolving is critical to succeed in today’s marketplace.

For a long time, creativity was the driving force in the world of marketing. In another life, advertising was the king of marketing and nearly 100% of that occupation was driven by the task of creating interesting commercials and print ads that appealed the masses. 

Many business owners think of design as something artists conjure up out of their creative depths -- that coming up with the right color scheme, choosing the best font and lining up the best graphics are things that can only be inspired by creative minds.

While there is a bit of inspired creativity that goes into web design, there’s a lot more science involved than you might think. Here are a few scientifically proven ways to get better results from your website.

"Where do you see yourself in five years?"

It's a question you may have asked applicants a hundred times during the interview process, but when's the last time you asked yourself that question? It's just as important to know where you want your company to be in the future as it is to have your own personal goals and aspirations. After all, if you're not looking forward, you could easily find yourself stuck in the past. 

As a marketer, could anything be better than getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a successful company? If so, it must be a glimpse that also reveals how that company is reconciling challenges just like yours.

L'Oreal, the global cosmetics company, offers a tantalizing glimpse into how it is integrating consumers' preference for mobile, digital interactions – meaning, both information and purchases. You may wish to take a page out of L'Oreal's playbook if you share its goal: “We recognized that digital couldn't continue being its own channel,” Chief Marketing Office Marie Gulin-Merle says. “It had to be a part of everything we do.”

Ah, the evolution of the internet. 

First came the websites, text-heavy and full of header tags, paragraphs and links. Then table-based sites and online page builders emerged, allowing for the introduction of multiple columns and text-based design. 

There was a time around the turn of the century (the one in 2000, not 1900) when leading marketing professionals could pretty much just go with their guts when it came to making decisions. 

Ah, the joys of ad targeting on Facebook. 

It's a practice that puts your ads in front of the people who are most interested in what you have to say. It works for businesses large and small. It allows you to focus on location, age, gender, interests, demographics, behaviors, connections or a combination of them all. 

Capturing people’s attention is the foundation of all advertising. But what is able to grab a person’s attention? Today, we are turning to technology to find the answer. Algorithms are being used to track every click a person makes. They study what appeals to the person in order to better predict what they might click on in the future. There is no question about it – artificial intelligence and big data are changing our understanding of attention.

How do you measure success? 

If you're like a lot of companies, you focus on the moment when a prospective customer converts to a customer by clicking on the "buy button." 

And while that might provide some insight into your short-term success prospects, it probably isn't going to tell you much about whether or not you are positioned for long-term, sustainable success. 

Maybe you've noticed that consumers have grown impatient, almost to a fault. As a marketer, it can help enormously to know what they're so impatient to find while they work their cell phones into a frenzy.

The dominant search engine in the world, Google, shares some consumer data insights that can help marketers refine their offerings so that “hurry up” consumers can find what they're looking for the second they demand it.

Few people enjoy taking tests, but fewer people object to a no-pressure, “eliminate the least desirable answer” quiz.

In a quiet, reflective moment – obviously, out of the workplace – it behooves you to ask yourself the source of your focus problem. The beauty of this tack is that no one but you has to know the answer; you can keep it to yourself. But once you honestly determine the source, you can take some proactive steps to regain your focus and your workplace rhythm.

When YouTube launched bumper ads in April 2016, they were touted as “little haikus of video ads” – 6-second ads that users could not skip even if they wanted to.

As a marketer with more ways to spend your ad money than you can shake bills featuring the mug of Benjamin Franklin, you may have been tempted to skip bumper ads, too.

Sometimes, marketers can find great value in listening to the views of their peers, especially if they come across experiences that mirror their own. This was the simple, “come to the table” intent of Hubspot as it asked leading marketers about the virtues of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. Hubspot was particularly interested in probing which platform marketers prefer for live engagement.

We live in a world where timing is everything. You brush your teeth at a certain time, leave the house to get to work at a certain time and have a schedule of after-work activities you must adhere to. When it comes to marketing your business, this concept is no different. While it may seem like publishing social media posts whenever you create them is enough to drive eyes your way, the fact of the matter is there are certain times of day when your posts will receive optimal attention.

Determining your optimal video length is one of the first and most important steps advertisers and businesses need to negotiate during the video planning and production stages. Video length will determine the informational scope of the included content and will narrow down an appropriate storyline and video focus. You can't, for example, run a truly informative and engaging how-to product video in a six second bumper ad. Such a campaign needs a solid minute or more to fully flesh out how a product or service works, consider this Nifty quick vid to see what we mean.

If you're on the sensitive side, you might consider it a verbal spanking – and one that stings.

But the people at Hubspot have marketers' best interests at heart and want them to catch up with social media trends (the assumption being that marketers have fallen behind the curve). It may help to keep Hubspot's agenda in mind as the industry leader admonishes:

So what do you get when you ask 10 different SEO companies to name the most common mistakes they continue to see businesses of all sizes and specialties continue to make in their quest to get noticed first?

Every marketer learns early on: no matter how robust sales may be at the moment, your product or service must be marketed to new customers at all times. New customers represent the future lifeblood of a business.

Remember when marketing simply meant creating amazing advertisements that people would love so much they couldn't wait to buy your product? In fact, you may not remember because this theory has long since gone by the wayside. Way back when, marketing and sales were essentially the same thing; professionals in this field were tasked with creating memorable pitches that would serve their clients for the moment -- just long enough for them to sign on the dotted line.

You don't have to know the numbers to know mobile advertising is exploding. Then again, a little context never hurts: advertisers spent about $72 billion on digital ads in 2016 and this number is expected to balloon to $82 billion by the end of this year and more than $113 billion by 2020.

Marketers have long considered what they do to be an art, but how they do it has morphed into a science.

This seismic shift requires merging marketing's best practices with data science and predictive analytics. And this merger might require the addition of new team members who excel at their respective specialty.

Data runs the world. It drives the decisions we make, the people meet and the things we do. To ignore it would be ignoring potential income streams; to misunderstand it could lead to expensive mistakes and missed opportunities.

Today's marketing world isn't fixed on the creative outlet it once was. Rather, it's a data-driven field where numbers and behaviors come together, telling a story of the whole brand's journey, telling customers' tales from the initial introduction to the point they become loyal buyers.

Aficionados of classic video games recognize the technique in a heartbeat: it causes background images (or words) to move at a different speed from foreground images (or words) while scrolling. As these two entities shift across the screen, the viewer can't help but be drawn in; the combination of depth and movement can be transfixing.

If video killed the radio star, then the internet is killing the television star. According to her 2017 report on Internet Trends, Mary Meeker found internet ad spend will exceed television ads for the first time this year. If you consider the speed at which internet has overtaken TV--less than 25 years--it's time to take a look at where advertisers are spending money online and what the future of digital advertising will look like.

Can your customers easily navigate your website from any device they have on hand? That includes a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, or a smart phone. If they have problems navigating your site on any of those devices, you need to upgrade it to a responsive design.

You could say that consumers are becoming needier; give them what they want and they simply want more of it.

Just under a year ago, YouTube Product Manager Zach Lupei announced the introduction of Bumper ads. These six-second videos are ads designed to be more suitable among smartphone and similar small-screen video watchers. The idea is as online videos get shorter, shouldn't advertisements too? But what can you as a business or advertiser do with seconds? The answer is a lot.

Travelers dislike surprises. Before they book a trip, they're inclined to not only scour reviews, but also study pictures of a hotel, local attractions, restaurants and even the cabin of the plane.

You don't see it every day, but it pops up more than it should: the grand re-opening event. Consumers may view this type of event as a way to cash in on extended promotions and discounts. But marketing professionals know a “reopening” is code for a launch that did not go right. A reopening is a second chance to remedy whatever went wrong.

Launching a new business is akin to a balloon launch – the act of releasing something promising into a great unknown with no guarantee it will take flight and soar.

Is your marketing centered on your customer? Before answering, look at what your marketing focuses on the most. That will give you the answer and you may be surprised it is not customer centered. Most marketing today focuses on non-customer approaches: the channel through which the customer is engaged, the product the customer is interested in, or the event that might trigger the customer to buy. None of these approaches make the customer the center of your marketing.

By now, we've all gotten comfortable living the future of marketing: digital interactions, social media, mobile and hyperlocal targeting, and consumer-controlled advertising. Of course, comfort only means it's time for the newest arrival, and this one will be another exciting development for the marketing world.

We all know the internet changed the world in innumerable ways. What was once normal life is ancient history. While everything was certainly turned upside down with the advent of the internet, some industries were more impacted by it than others. The travel industry, for example, saw a dramatic shift from consumers using travel agents to people going online and booking their own reservations.

The snickers about those darn “cord-cutting millennials” have barely quieted down – not to mention the ensuing fears they would hasten the demise not only of cable TV, but satellite and “regular” TV, too.

Google AdWords is one of the most effective methods of paid online advertising and as such is utilized by small, medium, and large organizations across the world. Google AdWords, when used effectively, can send out your business's information to a lot of people who are looking for products and services just like yours. So whether you are a solitary entrepreneur or run a mega e-commerce website, Goold AdWords can benefit you. Just consider the following key ways of how:

You've probably figured out that marketing isn't messing around. Consumers' expectations are high. If you want to compete with The Other Guy, you've got to address your customers' pain points, wants and needs. On paper, this sounds simple enough, but if you've ever tried to put these ideas into practice, you know it can easily become pretty overwhelming.

When most people think about personalized content, they think of software that sticks someone's first name into an email so it seems like it was crafted just for her. Not only is that so 1997, but we can also do a whole lot better than that. Today's personalized content strives to understand more than just the reader's name, but also her daily routines, shopping habits, likes and dislikes, and more. Ready to take personalization to a new level? Here are a few tips to get you started.

So now you have the easy answer to one of your questions: many of the people you see, hovering over and clicking away at their smartphones, are probably looking at ads.

If smartphones have turned virtually everybody into a photographer, then it's probably equally true that Facebook has transformed virtually everybody into a marketer or self-promoter.
In this climate, you have to ramp it up, especially if you're a business owner who depends on Facebook ads to generate business. Take what you already know and respect about the appeal of photos and apply the expert polish of professionals to give your ads maximum “pulling power.”

After years of discussions on how to best appeal and market to Millennials, a generation that largely came of age side-by-side the Internet, it's now time to include another key digital era in marketing plans: Generation Z. Demographers generally list Gen Z as those now-teens born between the mid-1990s and 2005. Most don't remember a world before 9/11 or the prosperity prior to the 2008 financial collapse. However, what they do know is a world in which many had a cell phone since elementary school and are fluent in GIFs and emojis. And, by 2020, experts say they will make up an impressive 40 percent of all consumers.  

If you start your day wondering what's trending on YouTube, then you know you never quite know what you're going to find. It could be a video of a toddler taking his first euphoric steps. It could be footage of a tornado whipping through the plains.

No matter what's trending on YouTube, you may have gotten the idea by now that YouTube trends toward a younger audience – and you're right. Now YouTube is taking a big gamble on its faithful following by unrolling TV service in the next few months.

YouTube has long hinted at this foray and industry experts have long been anticipating it. But everyone seems to be wondering: will millennials really ante up for online programming?

From part-time side hustles to multi-national billion-dollar organizations, every business has a blog. It’s essential for reaching out to customers, keeping your business at the top of search engines, and providing a repository for information that educates both consumers and other businesses. But is your business blog really helping your business out? Each year, the blogging landscape shifts and keeping on the pulse of what attracts and engages your audience can help your blog reach a wider audience. Use these tactics from the 2016 blogging trends aggregated and analyzed by Orbit Media. 

It is 2017 and the time for a strong social media strategy is here. And if you aren't already on social media, it's high time to log in and sign up for a website, Facebook, Twitter, and more. That's because the Internet and its many online communities is where a significant portion of your customers (and potential customers) are. And don't you want to be where your customers are? But crafting the right conversations takes some strategic planning. Consider the following statistics and how they can be applied to best shape your social media strategy this year:

Wouldn’t this scene just make your day – and even your week? Someone is so blown away by your communication skills that they corner you near the office vending machine and just have to know: What are your top 10 secrets? And would you possibly share them so that others can follow your good example?

Being a leader is always a challenging job to do. While many of these struggles are visible from the outside, leaders face conflict with themselves as well. Here are a few of the internal struggles that almost every leader has to deal with at one time or another.

Marketing is changing everyday. Companies which have the ability to quickly incorporate these new ideas into their marketing plans are earning more; while businesses which fail to adapt to the shifting marketing environment, are failing. 

Modern technological advances have allowed people to multitask more than ever before. Of course, there is always a trade off – this constant multitasking has lead to a significant drop in our attention span. The average person’s attention span is now a mere eight seconds. That’s shorter than the attention span of a goldfish.

You already know mobile technology has irrevocably altered consumers' buying journey. An astounding 77% of Americans now own a smart phone on which they do everything from stream videos, locate stores and research products. Marketers, ad agencies and entrepreneurs cannot risk shying away from this new mobile reality. Instead, successful, leading marketers are tackling this new challenge head-on and are implementing new measurement practices so that they not only survive this cultural shift, but thrive in it.

The Japanese proverb, "Fall seven times, stand up eight" makes a great mantra but too often, marketers are so busy trying to stand up that they don't examine those falls to help them get up next time. The very act of falling down can yield vital information into your process, your business and your path to success. Highlighting business failures can be just as vital to success as achieving milestones. Use these steps to find failure in your company and use it to power success.

It's no secret that Google is constantly making changes to its algorithms. While their mission is to make the service more streamlined, intuitive and overall appealing to users, these changes undeniably make it more challenging for marketers and SEO experts to ensure their websites make the top of the ranks. Google now processes over 2 trillion searches every year and marketers that want to benefit from those searches need to adapt their strategy in order to achieve their SEO goals.

You've probably had the day prominently marked on your calendar for weeks if not months: the date you plan to relaunch your company website following a redesign.

Such simplicity belies their birth year, which extends roughly from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s and early 1980s. In terms of group size, "Gen Xers,” as they are known, are dwarfed by the Baby Boomers who preceded them and the millennials who followed them.

5 of the Most Intriguing Digital Marketing Blogs

The promises of holograms, tractor beams and virtual reality headsets are finally being fulfilled. Science fiction has become fact and there is no better time to jump aboard; particularly when it comes to marketing with virtual reality. Thanks to the ubiquity and digital quality of mobile devices, every smartphone can become a virtual reality headset in as little as $15 and every single YouTube video can be transformed into a VR experience. 

In order to effectively sell a product or service, you must connect with your potential customer and present the product or service in a way they appreciate. The best way of doing this depends on how the customer makes decisions. Here’s how to adapt your selling strategy for five different types of decision makers.

Have you ever tried a co-worker's favorite productivity tool, only to have it completely fail on you a month later? Don't think of yourself as a quitter. Instead, the problem with planners and productivity apps that don't work for you is likely due to a dissonance with your productivity personality. Everyone thinks a bit differently. It's in understanding those differences and working with the tools that will enhance and not distract from those differences that will optimize your productivity.

Inbound marketing is about utilizing a variety of mediums to attract new clients and customers to you rather than fighting their attention. But to know what the right medium you should take with inbound marketing efforts requires an understanding of how the brain processes various types of content. From text to video, each format of content has its place.

They are known as “emojis,” and the prefix accurately denotes that they supply a full range of emotion – from happiness to the universal hello: the waving hand.

Marketing.

It's a seemingly vague, all-encompassing word that takes on multiple meanings, depending on who you ask. In fact, unless you work in or directly with the marketing department, it's highly possible everything this team does is as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster.

Of course, each department in a company has a specific, important function. Ironically, the marketing folks have one of the most important functions in any business; yet, most people have no idea what they actually do.

Millennial-aged employees are fast outpacing every other generation when it comes to traveling for business. While that fact alone shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, the important facet travel companies and the like need to pay attention to is their vastly different buying and research habits. Particularly when it comes to how and when they use their devices to book their travel.

In response to an increase in the number of searches conducted from mobile devices, Google has announced it is shifting to a mobile-first initiative. As Google prioritizes to the popularity of mobile devices, online marketers must follow suit. Marketing campaigns and websites must either adapt so they’re mobile friendly, or else be prepared to be bypassed.

As this year comes to a close, we're looking toward the future in anticipation of all the exciting things this new year will bring us. At the same time, we're reflecting back on all of the things years-gone-by have brought us.

It is two minutes before the weekly sales meeting. Before running out of your office, should you grab your laptop or a pen and notebook?

For the majority of people, a recent study shows handwriting notes during a meeting is the better choice.  But why?

A quick typist is able to transcribe a meeting word for word without much thinking. This passive approach is fantastic for creating a comprehensive record of a meeting, but it does not result in useful, well-organized notes.

So now you know for certain: Facebook is more than twice as popular as any other social media site.

Facebook trumps other sites by far

In a national survey of 1,520 adults, the center found the Internet is connecting Americans more than ever before: 86 percent of Americans are now online.

We've all heard the phrase, "There's an app for that." Why is it so popular? Well, because it's true.

It's that time of year when we put our sights on the scenes to come. As 2017 starts knocking on the front door, we've got our trend-spotting goggles on and we're excited to see how it all unfolds.

While people were still pecking away at typewriters, cramming every square inch of the page with type and reading newspapers, which were equally crammed with type, a soon-to-be-famous German typographer, Jan Tschichold,  pleaded for some breathing room.

Today, it's nearly impossible to do business without taking advance of online resources. From the explosion of online shopping to the nuances of digital marketing, the Internet has changed the ways in which companies and consumers operate. But how has the Internet affected sales, specifically? Whether your business is local or global, you'll need to keep up with the latest sales and research trends to stay competitive and reach your customers or clients.

With all the chatter about micro-moments, it can be easy for marketers to go overboard. Micro-moments are the key times when consumers pick up their phone with the express purpose of making an action decision. They are the I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do and I-want-to-buy that is music to the ears of businesses and marketers. 

Thanks to Facebook, it just got easier for small- and mid-sized businesses to manage their social media accounts and communicate with customers. 

Everyone knows imitation is the highest
form of flattery. But being asked to write a follow-up piece based on a popular book follows right behind.

Mark down 2016 as the beginning of the online supershopper era. This is the year savvy shoppers (and savvier marketers) really began to embrace the power of online and mobile shopping. The tide first changed in the summer, when an annual survey found shoppers had begun making the majority, of their purchases online. Even when buying at local stores, more shoppers than ever are using their phones to discover new brands and find the best prices. To get on their radar and influence their final purchases, here's what you need to know about these holiday supershoppers:

You've got a problem on your hands. And if the people around you are being honest with you, it's no small problem: your website isn't converting visitors into potential customers.

The advent of the internet and spread of smartphones have changed the world as we know it and local advertising is no exception. With a smartphone in every consumer's pocket and millions interacting primarily on social media, digital advertising has quickly exploded. Today, mobile ads and other digital-based multimedia campaigns are a major focus for small businesses and corporations alike. In fact, this year marked a milestone in the heyday of digital ads. In 2016, businesses spent more on digital advertising than TV commercials for the first time ever.   

Smart marketers know how to focus targeted messages to reach their audience. They are adept at identifying the needs of various demographics and reshaping their messages according to those needs. A large part of doing so successfully takes an understanding of basic sociology and psychology concepts. This is why we recommend marketers stay abreast of studies concerning how the human brain processes and digests information.

They’re used to validate customer preferences, identify trends and verify the quality of products and services. They lend credibility to assertions in virtually any argument – at least if people are willing to listen. And sometimes they’re invoked for the sole purpose of dazzling.

With social media being all the rage, it's an important marketing tool that business owners should use to their full advantage. Twitter polls work particularly well since Twitter is such a popular social media platform. Make note of the following ways to use Twitter polls to entertain, engage, and survey your audience. 

Lead generation, website design, content creation, social media campaigns, and PR. That’s only a partial list of the creative tasks businesses have their employees perform every day. Standout creative work doesn’t come easy, so it should come as no surprise that burnout is a huge issue that stems from the pressure employees feel. It’s a major reason talented workers leave, even if they enjoy other aspects of their jobs. There’s a solution available that restores employee well-being and keeps your company competitive: creative outsourcing.

A recent industry report from Skift found the vast majority of business travelers are using mobile devices while away from the office. The report found that 90 percent of business travelers expect Wi-Fi access at hotels and 86 percent expect it at airports. Moreover, 95 percent of business travelers have a smartphone and 64 percent own a tablet. Some travelers bring as many as four devices with them when going on a business trip. While these findings may be predictable, the way business travelers are using their mobile devices is surprising.

They're an economic powerhouse and there are millions of them across the country. They create jobs, improve the country's overall quality of life and represent the best of what the American Dream has to offer. 

They are entrepreneurs, and this is their month. 

"Branded content" became something of a buzzword last year among inbound marketing gurus. Marketers chirped about creating 'native advertising' and building for Facebook; they repeated ad nauseam blasé advice on the importance of making advertising engaging enough to be heard. Which -- to be fair -- is the ultimate point of all advertising. What was lost in all of flurry, what most marketers completely missed, was a stressing on the difference of branded content to branded entertainment.

Picture the possibilities

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, an online video might be worth a million clicks.  

Online video advertising has quickly become one of the most important tools businesses can use to build their brands. Videos can entertain, education and inform. But more importantly, they can inspire action.

Here's a look at three ways you can put online video advertising to work for your company:

Digital technology has forever changed the way people view media. Tablets, smartphones, even watches, are increasingly used for consuming media of all types. Today, every action you take on social platforms needs to be a part of a larger marketing strategy. Every post, tweet, and comment must be guided by a plan designed to achieve your brand’s goals. As a digital planner, it’s important to distribute content on the right media platform.

Creating mobile ads is both an art and a science. Successful ads don’t disrupt a site so much that visitors become aggravated with the ad, yet they are designed to get attention and engage visitors. New research reveals the best way to strike the proper balance.

It could mean the difference between toiling in obscurity and becoming a regional celebrity, soon to be channeled through the media “echo chamber” and then catapulting to fame and newfound fortune by way of newspaper articles, magazine features, talk radio shows and TV appearances. 

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter--'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." 

Every business owner wants to believe his or her website is so visually appealing and teems with so much extraordinary content that people will absorb it thoroughly and progressively: starting at the upper-left corner, sweeping across the page and then proceeding in a similar manner – left to right -- to the bottom of the page.

In an era when so much marketing is done online, businesses need top-notch content that converts. Any content that’s not effective is hindering the overall marketing plan. If you’re looking to maximize your content’s potential, here’s how to find, fix and prevent underperforming content.

Many qualities of a great leader have been identified but there are a few that seem to stand out as being more important than others. The good news is that these qualities can be learned and they must be learned by the practice and repetition of a new inclusive business model. It's called the collaborative model, which its creator smartly acknowledges is not suited “for every situation." Still, business leaders who embrace this leadership model exude three qualities in particular:

No step in the sales process is as crucial as the close. If the sales team can’t close, how effective a campaign is at generating qualified leads or how adept marketers are at meeting targets’ needs doesn’t matter. All sales processes work towards the one, crucial moment -- the close. Here are three strategies to help your sales team make sure that moment is a success.

In an era when people are bombarded with messages, marketers have to find a way to cut through the sea of advertisements and get their own message heard. One of the best ways to do this is by incorporating specific attention-grabbing words into marketing materials. Here’s a list of some of the top words that gain attention.

You don't have to love history to appreciate a retrospective look at online advertising. But a love of all things marketing or advertising might help. After all, while the events that have taken place since 1994 are fun to revisit, it's the lessons they've imparted that can most benefit professionals who have to make important decisions about advertising.

You know those people – the kind who say attitude is everything.

While their perspective can be applied to many applications in life, it might come up a little short with pay-per-click advertising. Without dousing the sunny perspective of those optimists, the reality is your PPC campaign will shine only if you take three proactive steps.

What’s your company’s biggest marketing challenge? Generating traffic and leads? Choosing the right technology for your company’s needs? Or do you struggle to find top talent? Though every marketer shares the same goals, the individual challenges are unique. With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to put together three steps you can take to meet your inbound marketing challenges head on.  

Let our marketing experts at ADTACK explain why a digital marketing strategy is a must for your manufacturing business – at least if you want to fortify your marketing efforts and reinvigorate your bottom line.

The face of SEO is changing thanks to large advancements in search algorithms. A decade ago, it was enough for search engine marketers to drop a bundle of keywords on a business page, throw some links around the web, and enjoy skyrocketing to the top of Google's ranking. Any Las Vegas SEO company worth their salt knows this is no longer the case, and would likely cringe at the suggestion.

Choosing a domain name for your website isn't something that should be taken lightly. After all, it is a name that will be used to identify your website, therefore impacting not only your site, but also your brand. Make note of the following things you should consider before choosing a domain name. 

More emails are now opened on mobile devices than on desktops. Different studies cite different stats – anywhere from 53% to nearly 68% – but either way, the trend remains the same. Which means mobile-friendly email campaigns are no longer an option, they’re a must-have. What’s a mobile-friendly email? It’s one that displays optimally on both a mobile device and a desktop, ensuring it’s attractive and easy to digest regardless of where someone reads it. Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to make your email campaigns mobile friendly.

For any business professional who has spent months reading, studying, analyzing, brainstorming, writing, revising, meeting, talking, discussing options, presenting and...waiting, it's one of the most exhilarating feelings in the world: Closing...the...deal. And it's worth saying slowly, for dramatic emphasis.

Are your customers struggling to complete their travel plans on your website?

With dreams of a tropical vacation, a customer wants to book a cruise to the Bahamas. He finds the perfect deal on your website. It is the right price, destination, and dates. It is simply perfect.

He fills out the booking page and, when he's done, he clicks "Book Now." Nothing happens. He verifies everything is filled out and clicks the button again. Again, nothing happens. He can't find a help section. He tries it one more time and it fails again.

Totally frustrated, this customer abandons the booking and goes to a competitor's website.

It's the difference between quilt shops and Cuervo shots, an early afternoon nap and the nightlife, 140 characters versus a four-color printed brochure. 

It's marketing your destination to multiple generations--and it's not always easy. 

Yes, it is a new age of travel marketing, where millennials and more seasoned travelers are all on the move. And it's your job to attract them to your destination. 

There are 1,440 minutes in a day and 1,000 times as many suggestions for how to make the most of every one.

For years, writers resisted the theory that shorter email subject lines translated to higher open rates, but they faced mighty opposition from people who huffed and puffed, “brevity is best.”

Now a recent study has blown all that huffing and puffing away.

It was bound to happen. After all, technology is advancing at a pace unlike any other time in history. 

Almost as soon as disruptive ads became ubiquitous, programmers started looking for ways to make them more effective. 

And they succeeded--even at getting around ad blockers.  

In August, Facebook announced it had created and begun using software that essentially shuts down all ad blockers. The result is Facebook users will no longer be subjected to random ads of little interest to them. In fact, they'll be served ads that better align with their personal and professional interests. 

But not everyone is happy about it. 

Ah, destination marketing--the art and science of promoting cities, states and even regions as great places to live, work and play. It's the reason Colorado's tourism agency puts up billboards in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin every summer. It's probably at least partially responsible for a lot of long car rides across the country, as families road trip their way to popular tourist destinations like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Disney World. 

Thanks to smart phones, people are always connected wherever they go – even when they are on vacation. More than 85% percent of today’s travelers own a smart phone or tablet. More products  are turning “smart” to integrate and adapt to this technological society, including hotels. These cutting-edge hotel technology trends are changing longstanding standards in the industry and allowing hoteliers to provide guests with more personalized experiences.

Incorporating live chat with your business’ website can help increase visitors’ time on page, improve conversion rates and reduce the number of phone calls your company’s reps receive. Live chat features, however, are only effective if they complement -- and don’t detract from -- a website. If you’re looking for ways to improve your business’ website, here’s how to properly integrate a live chat feature to improve the customer experience and your company’s conversions.

In the business world, every customer counts.  Every time someone walks through your front door, whether it's in a brick-and-mortar location or online, you're presented with the opportunity to make a sale. Most of the time, consumers already have an idea of what they're looking for well before they stumble upon your store. 

You’ve finally mastered the art of creating great content. But while we all know content is king, it cannot exist in a vacuum. Whether it’s meant to teach, persuade, or entertain, you have to drive people to it so they can read it. With online content growing at a phenomenal rate, capturing the attention and imagination of readers has become even more challenging. Audiences now make split-second judgments about what to read, so you’re going to need to make your articles stand out. Two proven ways to get those all-important click-throughs are by writing stand-out headlines and meta descriptions.

You can lead a prospect to your website, but you can't make them buy something—unless your inbound marketing strategy includes a killer email campaign. Your strategy likely includes a mix of quality content, SEO, pay-per-click ads and an email campaign.

Hotels and resorts, like many businesses, must continually be adding prospects to their internal database. Places that fail to constantly generate new leads for their sales team will see stagnant growth and, eventually, decreased business. If you run a hotel or resort, here’s a look at how lead generation can help your place and how to effectively acquire new leads.

From the wire framing to the usability testing to the launch, a website redesign can be quite the experience—especially if you've never been through the process before. 

By the time it's done, you should have a website that works for your company and your customers while outperforming the competition. 

But how will you really know if your new website is performing as well as it can and delivering consistent conversions? 

The signs are often subtle: your phone calls aren't returned as promptly as usual or you hear a sarcastic comment during a meeting or a mumbled remark after one is over.

Clients rarely part ways with a company over one misunderstanding or even one missed deadline. Tension and discontent builds over time, which is good because when your gut sends the “something is wrong here” signal, you usually still have time to mend the breach.

Google AdWords is a well-known service for advertising your business online with pay-per-click ads. But despite its familiarity, many people are scared to actually use them due to unfounded fears and misunderstandings. Knowing the truth about these common myths and misconceptions about AdWords can help you create a successful ad campaign for your company.

It may sound illogical, but you can plan for the unexpected. You may not know what will happen, but it’s smart to work from a place that considers there will always be inevitable surprises. Plan ahead by creating a playbook that offers up a range of actions you can take when curveballs are thrown and setbacks occur. Marketers are constantly dealing with a changing world, so if you take proactive steps to adapt and embrace change, you’ll find yourself ready to face whatever comes your way.

Middle-of-the-funnel content doesn’t always get the same attention as content aimed for the other parts of the funnel, but it should. In fact, some experts consider it the most important part of the funnel, and for good reason. If top of the funnel is the first date, and bottom of the funnel is “I do,” the middle is where a solid relationship is built. Also known as the consideration phase, the middle section of the sales funnel is actually made up of four parts: the lead, the marketing qualified lead, the sales qualified lead, and the opportunity.

They say the worst thing you can do when you write is waste a lot of time and space on virtually hollow words that really don't say much, also seems pointless at best.

From researching and planning the trip to sharing happy memories with family and friends, social networking has changed how people vacation. Having a solid presence on social media is imperative in the travel and tourism industry. The days of simply setting up a website for your travel business are long gone. Now, you need a creative and focused plan on how to capture and maintain your customers' interest using the power of social media.

Medical writers have been following the “script” for years: They write in short, concise sentences. They employ verbs; they eschew most adjectives. And whatever they're writing, they make their purpose clear by no later than the end of the second paragraph. As a group, physicians are also notoriously pressed for time that their acolytes know they must communicate in what might be called a “less is more” manner – or risk their boss' ire.

Everybody knows necessity is the mother of invention. The people of the Faroe Islands have shown necessity also can be the mother of creativity, at least with regard to Google Street View.

Everywhere you turn in this world, you're faced to communicate with friends, family and co-workers in order to build relationtionships. This is what makes the act of communication very important.  Though, it's essential to bear in mind that correct communication is far from a simple process. Between words and body language, every message you deliver and receive comes complete with an entire tale to tell.

If you’re new to the digital marketing world, you may not be familiar with the jargon that comes with it, particularly the acronyms. To help you catch up, we’ve put together a short glossary that’ll help – and keep you from continually searching for definitions as you read posts.

Like any great company, Facebook is continually looking to innovate and increase its functionality. Facebook at Work (or FB@Work) is its newest, most exciting endeavor by the social media giant that strives to streamline workplace communication and position the company as the top tier networking tool, both in the office and at home.

While morning show hosts and millennial blogs tend to focus attention on the 'fun' and 'glitzy' examples of wearable tech, like fitness trackers and smart watches, the bigger impact of this shift is how technology gets utilized in the workplace. That's because while many of today's so-called 'innovative' new products require the defining of new problems they then solve, wearable work technologies much more frequently bring solutions to problems that have plagued industries for decades. 

All good content marketers have an agenda, but they also understand  to go beyond the brand-forward approach of traditional marketing. At the center of the most successful content marketing strategies is a heartfelt effort to make an emotional connection with the target audience. It often seems like there’s a fine line between the egocentric and the empathetic approach to content marketing, and knowing the difference is vital. You have to understand the customer journey, the customer buying cycle, and customer insight if you want a true connection.

As a business leader, we can only assume you love your company; otherwise, you wouldn't be successful.  When you love your business, you have to have affection for your customers (at least to a certain extent), and that relationship requires attention and nurturing just like any other relationship in life.

Website push notifications can help your company in a variety of ways, such as increasing traffic, leads, and sales. These clickable messages can be sent to subscribers that choose to opt in, allowing you to send them useful information, including the following:

We live in a world of ever-changing ideas and never-ending evolutions.  Consumers' attention spans are short, and if you want to stay top-of-mind, you have to know how to be relevant at all times.  This means you have to understand how to navigate trending content so you can stay at the forefront of concepts and conversations, allowing your audience to view you as an authority figure when they're searching for the stuff you offer.

When placed at the heart of your business strategy, customer relationship management (CRM) technology can help win you new customers – and better serve the ones you already have.

As a business, it is normal to be concerned with the amount of traffic that your website receives. Traffic means that your business will be presented with more opportunities. Don't let the traffic numbers for your website get you down, instead, use this guide to pinpoint the source of your traffic slowdown and experience smooth sailing for the rest of the summer.

It happens when you least expect it. One minute you're walking through you're office door full energy and enthusiasm, the next your motivation wanes.  

If you want more exposure for your content:

• It must be seen.
• It must be really good.
• It must be quick and easy to share.

Make your posts nearly effortless for your readers to share and you’re well on your way to successful posting.  

Other business professionals have doubted the staying power of email marketing, but not you. While new channels threatened to shake its dominance, you remained convinced of the viability and effectiveness of email outreach efforts.

The purchasing funnel has long been a place where sales and marketing folks come to odds with each other.  Depending on which side of the fence you're speaking with, each team contributes to the detriment or success of the funnel's fulfillment.  Although the sales and marketing teams of companies are quite intertwined, they typically speak very different languages.  

Producing a great blog that attracts the readers you want requires consistency, resourcefulness and creativity, day in and day out. The payoff? Higher traffic, loyal followers, better leads and if all goes according to plan, more customers. While there’s no one “right” way to guarantee a winning blog, there are some common traits that the most successful blogs out there share. Here are five of them:

As a business leader, you have a million things to do every day.  You're balancing payroll, helping customers, negotiating with vendors, and, every now and then, you get to have lunch, too.  There's a lot going on in your day, and your to-do list is often a lot longer than a typical shift could ever accommodate. When things get busy, marketing is often one of the first things to fall by the wayside, but quality content is what will help keep your business in front of your customers.

Humans respond emotionally to color and form almost immediate and lasting impressions from this deliberate choice of expression. For businesses, the stakes are even higher because color represents their brand and image – two intrinsic qualities that instantly communicate volumes about a business' style and underlying values.

We recently wrote about influencer marketing -identifying and engaging with those who hold power in your industry – and how it helps your reach your targeted audience. But how do you find those influencers?

You may have a solid marketing strategy that includes consistent blog posts, regular promotion of your content, and beautiful email capture campaigns, but are you attracting people who will actually become long-term customers?

In life, not much is certain but death and taxes. In the business world, you can almost assuredly add one more item to the list: Sales folks rarely ever speak the same language as the marketing team. While it's quite obvious these two teams need each other, more often than not, a language barrier exists between sales and marketing that can inhibit success and growth for those unable to bridge the gap.

It doesn't matter how much money you spend on an advertising campaign, a referral from a third party is often much more convincing than anything you might have to say about yourself. Customers are more likely to trust someone that's had a business experience with you. Referrals can help boost your reputation, so it's important you obtain as many as you can. The following are four ways you can get more referrals from your customers:

Cross-Channel marketing is a strategy many marketers are beginning to implement in order to extend their reach as well as to provide consumers with a more seamless experience. So what exactly is cross-channel marketing? Not only does it consist of using multiple channels, from online marketing to TV marketing, but it allows you to integrate your marketing efforts so the various channels you use complement one another. 

When it comes to creating content, visual images are some of the most effective forms of content you can use. One of the reasons for this is because images tend to drive more social engagement than written content.

To pay or not to pay, that is the question--especially when it comes to comparing the free version of Google Analytics to Google Analytics Premium. 

In any industry, business goes through ebbs and flows.  When business is booming, it's often easy to see how your marketing efforts make a big impact to your bottom line.  When the tidal wave hinders a bit, however, many business leaders think the marketing budget is the first place to cut expenses. Cutting back on marketing when business is slow can be a bad idea for a number of reasons.  Here are a few good ones:

Contrary to reports of its demise, email remains not only a dominant means of communication, it continues to surge in popularity.

One of the main goals of your online marketing strategy should be to build an audience and to continually grow it. You can't market your brand without an audience, after all - and the bigger your audience gets, the better your odds will be at capturing and nurturing more leads, which will eventually turn into more sales. The following are three strategies you can use to build and grow your audience:

Digital marketers who pride themselves on creativity, dedication and reliability know a great deal of what they do depends on up-to-date information and data. Without their arsenal of digital marketing resources, building integrated marketing strategies for their clients is an almost impossible task.

Are you excited about what you do?  We certainly hope so! While you are probably the biggest ambassador of your business, it's important to remember that tough times and difficult project do happen.  When the lull comes, it can seriously impact the outlook of your company if you're not careful. Enthusiasm is easy when things are going great, but it's imperative you keep that high going even when times are slow. 

The importance of social media marketing in this day and age can't be overstated. The value in being able to engage directly with your audience should be pretty clear. However, one important social media marketing tactic you shouldn't forget about is influencer marketing.

Too much of anything is rarely a good thing. This includes marketing. Whether you’re the owner of your own online or brick-and-mortar business, the CEO of a multi-million-dollar corporation, or the designated Marketing Director at an agency, you know combining just the right mix of marketing channels with engaging messages is both an art and a science. Can you be doing too much marketing?

When Twitter exploded onto the social media scene, people discovered just how powerful a mere 140 characters could be. Now that Twitter has become a valuable platform in your marketing program, they are getting ready to roll out upgrades that will allow more freedom in reaching prospects and promoting your brand.

Successful people come from all walks of life.  They are born in different corners of the world, walk in various types of shoes, and leave their footprint impressions on a variety of people along the way.  Although each individual is quite unique, you might be surprised to find most successful leaders, regardless of how different they may be, often have very distinct similarities when it comes to their routine habits.

In a world where most people have multiple devices designed to serve different purposes, businesses likewise need to develop various channels of advertising if they want to garner an audience. 

Social media management systems can make it easier to track, create, and manage your content across social network channels such as Facebook. They allow you to see what’s being said about your brand and give you ways to better and more effectively engage with readers.

As most business owners know, creating an online presence is vital to reach potential customers. Building a website  gives your business a home base on the internet. However, not all websites are created equal. Below, we're sharing five reasons to give your website a makeover.

Better click-through rates (CTRs) – be it for ads, email or social media – mean higher relevancy, which we all know matters to every successful inbound marketing campaign. Increased CTRs are an important goal, but don’t lose focus on what really matters: conversion rates. Higher CTRs that don’t result in higher conversion rates, while not completely meaningless, don’t help grow your company or its bottom line. Here are some quick tips on increasing your brand’s click-through rates.

It can be difficult for a business to consistently publish on social media. With a social media calendar, you can maximize online communication with customers while reducing effort by planning ahead. Learn more about what a social media calendar can do for you. 

The average American spends more than 5 hours a day engaging with digital content, and more than half of that time is with a mobile device. Google is aware of how much time people spend on their smartphones and rolled out an update last year, giving a boost to websites that are mobile friendly. The evidence is in: you must have a mobile-friendly website to compete in today's market. Here's a look at your two options.

No one wants to get into a debate with a writer about the anguish of writer's block, but you know firsthand that the “content crunch” is rife with anxiety, too.

These towering numbers illustrate why companies looking to innovate are eying the mobile app world:

Instagram recently added a new algorithm that reorders images and videos appearing in a user’s feed based on their interests, as opposed to in chronological order. For the more than 400 million people using the site, it may be irksome, but for marketers, it’s creating quite a stir. For brands dependent on Instagram for a sizable portion of their business, this sudden change may seriously disrupt their marketing strategy. Here’s how it may affect yours.

Our love of speedy communication has contributed to the denigration of the language – not to mention a precipitous drop in graceful, eloquent sentences.

Many businesses have become well versed in using Facebook and Twitter for marketing their companies and products, but may not be as familiar with Snapchat. Don’t miss out on a huge potential audience, since there are about 4 billion views a day on Snapchat.

Marketing on LinkedIn just got easier and more efficient. The network has debuted a new targeting feature for marketers which will allow them to use their own demographics and other data to reach audiences in a more targeted and effective way.

When Google changes the configuration of its letters to mark a national holiday - as it often does - people notice, comment and critique. So when Google makes a fundamental change, as it recently did to its ad layout for desktop search results, it's no understatement to say the world noticed.

Every business has a blog, right? Maybe, but a better question might be, do they utilize it correctly – or at all? Various surveys suggest that approximately 50% of businesses with a website use their blog to drive sales and growth. And it works: over 80% of online consumers trust what they read on a blog, over 60% of consumers make decisions based on recommendations they read on one, and companies who blog receive over 95% more links to their site. If you’ve been asking yourself “Does my website need a blog,” we have some questions of our own for you.

Each year, Google's Year in Search video provides a short, yet insightful, look back at what we were most captivated by throughout the prior year. A new term has hit with significant force, created largely around the way we interact with the world through searches and video views. Micro-moments, as they've come to be called, are those moment-of-interest inquiries that allow us to forge our way on a journey from curiosity to knowledge-consuming. Thanks to mobile devices and an endless array of information at our fingertips, we now have hundreds of intentional interactions with companies, products, and services each day.

If you haven't heard, Facebook rolled out a major revamp to their "Like" system worldwide, after months of testing in a handful of regional markets, called Facebook Reactions. Now, if a user holds\hovers over the Like button in a Facebook post, they're given six emoji to choose from: Like, Love, Laugh, Wow, Sad, and Angry.

Whether you’re the owner of your own business, or you're at the helm of a company's marketing department, you know keeping up with the Joneses and staying in sync with 21st century marketing initiatives is a challenge you face on a regular basis. Vying for the attention and business of new customers is not easy, but there are tools to help. One of the most noteworthy initiatives today predicted to continue to become the top marketing platform by 2020 is programmatic ad buying.

Speed is a relative term, particularly when you’re talking about the Internet. What was considered just a couple years ago to be a lightning fast experience would today be considered moving at a molasses pace. As speeds have increased, people’s expectations have risen regarding how rapidly they can move through mobile sites or apps. A recent Think With Google article lays out helpful advice for marketers on how to eliminate speed bumps and ensure your viewing audience’s need for speed is met.

Even after all of the success that social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat have had, they're still competing to win each other's audiences and as a result, your time and attention.

LinkedIn may be one of the oldest business platforms, but it operates with a youthful enthusiasm, constantly upgrading its core service and embracing new and exciting ways for its over 400 million world-wide subscribers to network and stay informed. In 2014, the popular platform announced members could begin to use its publishing platform, LinkedIn Pulse, a move many marketers cheered. With 100 million unique visitors doing a monthly check-in, it’s a powerful way to have your message seen and heard.

Local marketing is an extremely powerful way for small businesses to connect with new customers in their area. It levels the playing field and makes it possible for smaller businesses to compete with bigger brands.

Here's something you've probably noticed in day-to-day life, but may not have connected to your marketing: People are often using their mobile devices in short bursts, rather than long sessions.

When running an online campaign, monitoring your stats on a regular basis is extremely important. Doing so enables you to determine what's working for you and what isn't, allowing you to adjust and change your campaign for optimal success. Make note of the following stats that if you're not already checking, you should be doing so on a weekly basis.

Mobile usage -and mobile marketing- have exploded in the last few years. It's increased so quickly, it's caught many off guard. Don't be one of them. If you aren't thinking mobile already, it's definitely time to get started!

Do you use email marketing to drive business? Even in the age of social media, email is still one of the most powerful marketing tools you have available. With email, you can send a targeted, personalized message directly to your ideal audience.

This holiday season, social media can bring big boosts to your sales!

Mobile technology has had an incredible impact on the way we live our lives, and its influence with consumers continues to grow. Marketers are beginning to understand that consumers interact with brands through a great number of impulsive acts, acts Google likes to call "micro-moments". 82% of the consumers they polled stated they evaluate purchase decisions in-the-moment. For marketers looking to understand the moments that drive consumers as they shop for things like airline tickets and hotel rooms, Google offers up these top defining travel-related moments.

Pinterest, which has been described as "the world's bulletin board," used to be thought of solely as a site for crafting and other do-it-yourself projects. It has since evolved to become a very personalized search engine. The site also presents a creative way for companies to engage with customers and potential customers to find out what they're most interested in.

For online marketers, Google Analytics is an indispensable tool. When properly set up, it provides valuable insights that can be used to fine-tune any online advertising efforts. After you customize it for your company, you’ll be able to see where your site’s visitors are coming from, what content they're interested in and whether their visits are converting to sales (or any other desired outcome). If you’re involved in online marketing and haven’t fully implemented Google Analytics on your sites, here’s specific ways you could benefit from the tool.

Are you looking for an affordable and lightweight way to manage and schedule your social media posts? If so, Buffer could be what you need, but it's important to understand its limitations as well.

Social media is a powerful marketing tool because it encourages engagement. When current and potential customers interact with your Twitter or Facebook posts, your brand stays visible and your customers feel visible too. However, Twitter polls take that interaction to the next level. Your readers' and followers' options are no longer limited to retweets, favorites or "likes". Now, they can voice their opinion and participate in marketing efforts by casting votes in multiple-choice polls.

Entering a new space means learning a lot of new concepts and terminologies. For example, if you wanted to try sailing for the first time in your life, requests to raise the jib and shouts of 'coming about' are likely to leave you scratching your head. You might watch as others, some younger and some older, are quick to action and know how to effectively maneuver the boat for fast and fun sailing. They're doing it amazingly, and you'd love to get to that skill level, but you're not exactly sure where to start or how best to proceed.

Your website is the hub of all your online activity, and needs to be treated with as much care and attention as a physical store. If you're getting ready to build or re-launch your website, pay attention to these areas to maximize its effectiveness!

Today, if you are in business, you know how important having a successful social media strategy is to getting your message and information about your brand out to your targeted market. So if you already have a social media strategy that is working for you, you are already a step ahead of the game; however, do not make the mistake of thinking that it can be ignored and left to its own devices. Social media is constantly changing, what may have worked for you last year, last month or even last week. Therefore, tweeking your strategy should be considered an ongoing process that needs to be customized for each social network you utilize.

Switch Gears into Results-Driven Inbound Marketing

Studies have shown that blogs with images can get up to 97% more views. Here is a quick way to find images for your blog using Google Images.

Studies show over and over again that posts containing images for their blogs get far more views than posts that forego them. Author and blogging expert Jeff Bullas notes that post with images receive up to 94% more views! Adding one or more photos to each post increases your visibility because people tend to click on images and share them via social media.

If you’re a photographer you can, of course, use your own photos. If not, you have the option to buy them from a photographer or stock image website, or find free images. There are any numbers of places to find free photos available for public use. Most of the images fall under a creative commons license, so you’ll need to attribute them properly. Others have expired copyrights, meaning they have returned to the public domain.

For those representing consumer packaged goods, the digital marketplace has not always been a top focus area. Though not all brands have embraced the power of emerging technologies, at least when it comes to their marketing strategies, those that have are experiencing a positive impact.

It’s not just millennials who are turning to the web when purchasing. E-commerce presents opportunities for just about every market. There’s no arguing that convenience sells, and it’s hard to beat the ease of ordering a product, day or night, and having it delivered right to your door. Your product website should be easy to find, easy to read and easy to purchase from.

Whether you have your own marketing blog or are a business owner in need of some fresh ideas, it's a waste a of time seeking inspiration in all the wrong places. 

One of the best ways to stay on track and inspire good topic ideas is to follow industry leaders known for highlighting the newest and brightest topics of the day. It's much easier to spot trends when you're on the front lines. Here are some of our favorite websites we recommend for blog inspiration and staying on top of marketing insights:

At ADTACK, we utilize the strategy of inbound marketing using the HubSpot platform to measure our success for our clients. Inbound marketing encompasses a wide range of efforts and content, from blogs to social media to sharable videos. Its many goals include increasing brand awareness and boosting your rankings on search engine result pages so your target audience finds you more easily. It is not simply meant to sell you a product or service though marketers ultimately aim to do so. Inbound marketing tends to have multiple steps or processes your audience has to go through before they finally purchase a product. 

Those who have been following Twitter’s attempts to solve their perceived “chaos problem” will be happy to know that “Moments” has arrived. Codenamed Project Lightning while in development, the project was tasked with the goal of making the platform easier to understand, especially for those new to the social media platform. What Moments are designed to do is group conversations and events into something readable, helping people feel they’re part of the entire conversation.

If you use social media, whether Twitter or Facebook, then you know the name Buzzfeed and have likely stumbled across one of their many viral articles. This company beats its competing publishers not just because of their engaging content, but also by implementing underlying technology that enables the company's tech team to better understand what gets read and how it's share. Recently, they've shared one of their tools that could also help your company: POUND.

At the 2015 Inbound conference, HubSpot rolled out a series of new features. One of the most interesting and important of these for businesses is the new HubSpot Connect. Interested in improving your communications? Here's how the new tool can help you:

One Cohesive System

The goal of this product is to bring together all of your customer data currently on a variety of apps together in one cohesive system.

For the past five years, the people at Hubspot – who coined the term “inbound marketing” – have been releasing their comprehensive report “The State of Inbound,” which identifies new emerging trends, along with marketers’ ongoing popular strategies. Over 3,500 professionals were surveyed to discover how their inbound marketing strategy was utilized to convert website visitors into leads.

There are some terrific takeaways from the 6th report, including one which indicates that companies who blog are 13 times more likely to generate a positive marketing ROI. Here are five survey conclusions we feel are worth highlighting.

Heard rumblings about HubSpot’s brand new Predictive Lead Scoring, but not exactly sure what all it entails—or, more importantly, what sort of impact it might have on your business? Don’t worry, we’re here to help you understand this exciting new feature and what you can make it do for your business. We’ll give you a brief overview of the product, then offer you a simple ways it can be applied to your business to make your lead generation process more profitable for you, your partners, and even your prospects.

The new HubSpot CRM is built around the way consumers shop and buy online today. Integrating this tool with your company can revolutionize how your sales team organizes and pushes various sales efforts. Here are just a few ways that using the new CRM tool can help your business:

HubSpot's new Leadin feature provides unique website tools that enable you to easily get more information about your website visitors. This is an excellent content management system that enables you to better connect, track, and store data bout everyone who visits and fills out a form. It was built particularly with small businesses and entrepreneurs in mind and here's how it can help your business:

Launching a new website can be a lengthy endeavor, but no phase is more critical than the few days immediately before and after its launch.  This is the make-or-break window of action that will largely determine whether your site is a success or a flop. Use this checklist to help guide your rollout. 

Dadvertising is advertising that features dads in a positive light in usually heart-warming and family-friendly advertisements.

However you feel about the politics of Bernie Sanders', there is one thing you have to admire about the 73-year old senator from Vermont's strong showing in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination: He knows a thing or two about social media (SM). 

Sander's Twitter campaign #FeelTheBern, and his official FaceBook page have become the driving forces behind the large turnouts at Sanders' rallies throughout the country, and have helped to catapult him from a relatively unknown dark horse candidate into second-placed contender in the polls.

The legal landscape is continually evolving when it comes to the ad industry. Advertisers should pay close attention to these four trends to guard against running afoul of the law and being subjected to fines and lawsuits.

Ready to launch an online store? There are dozens of e-commerce solutions to choose from and many things to take into consideration before choosing one. On the surface, your choice may appear simple, as the goal tends to be the same: present a product and entice buyers to make a purchase. There are, however, key differences between systems; from hosted vs. self-hosted, to ensuring speed and ease of checkout, each platform offers its own unique set of benefits. Read this before deciding which e-commerce platform is the best choice for your online store and make sales soar.

Competitive analysis is defined as “identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine strength and weaknesses relative to your own product or service.”  Competitive analysis is a crucial part of both your business plan and your marketing strategy. Understanding your competition can help you gain valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your own business.

In today’s marketplace, especially in light of the current challenging business climate, standing out from your competitors and developing your brand identity is more important than ever before. By examining your competitor’s product or service, profitability, marketing, sales, and organizational structure, you can turn inward and take a closer look at yourself. This is the time to make note of how you’re different and why consumers should choose you over your competitors.

What are buyer personas and how can they help your business? 

You've carefully thought about every part of your business plan but what about marketing?

While you hope to put your company in front of your audience at the right place and time, you should determine whether traditional or inbound marketing is best for you. The costs between the two can vary greatly, which may affect your revenue and market growth. 

Inbound marketing is all about creating amazing content that captures readers’ attention and draws them to your website. But once you’ve got that great content, how do you get it into the minds of your target audience? How do you write an article on your blog that actually gets seen - one that goes viral? It’s not always easy to generate leads with your blog, so here are a few pointers to get your posts headed in the right direction. 

Launching a new business can be challenging. It’s important to develop a long-term goals-based marketing strategy that can help you stand out from your competitors, while developing your brand identity. If you need to reach certain website metrics such as visitor and lead numbers each month, the easiest way to track your progress is through a system dubbed “The SMART” goal framework, which stands for:

One key to a successful business is to continually look to the future. That doesn’t mean you don’t assess your current situation or focus on what’s going on in the moment—it simply refers to the nonstop evolution businesses require to stay valid to consumers.

Review sites have exploded in popularity over the past few years, as consumers seek to share their experiences - good and bad - with others and to research everything from landscapers to restaurants. Establishing and maintaining a presence on review sites can help raise your businesses digital standing and could increase your search engine rank. Good reviews are worth soliciting from satisfied customers. Bad reviews, on the other hand, can harm your business, especially if you  have relatively few overall reviews to help raise your average rating. 

While content marketing may be more labor intensive than strategies that have been popular in the past, it represents an evolution in marketing that is more than a passing trend. Luckily, focusing on content and quality link earning strategies will yield lasting results and can be done on just about any budget. As long as you are willing to put in the time, content marketing doesn't have to cost you a thing.

Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is much older than any of the popular and highly-touted new media marketing methods, but it is only over the last few years that thousands of companies, both large and small, have rediscovered the benefits of this marketing method. 

What are Facebook Instant Articles?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of any business website. If your website is not listed on the first page of search results, your number of visitors may drop. Being able to properly utilize SEO ranking factors can mean the difference between success and failure. However, there is more to SEO than just using keywords. Here are five SEO ranking factors more important than keywords.  

Although inbound marketing is a powerful, cost-effective marketing approach, it is also time-consuming. To minimize the amount of time that you spend on inbound marketing, you must be efficient.

Content marketing may increase your online reach by 434%, so it is one of the most powerful inbound marketing tools at your disposal. Getting the most out of content marketing requires you formulate a strategy for defining which content topics will be the most effective for your company's lead generation efforts.

The internet serves as a direct connection between your business and millions of consumers. Unfortunately, there are about a billion other entities trying to snatch people's attention away from your marketing efforts. This can make lead generation via the web seem impossible. If you know how to approach it, however, doing so isn't as difficult as you might think. Here are steps to generate online leads for your business:

For some time, content and images ruled as central features of launching new marketing campaigns. As withmost trends, however, the rising popularity of YouTube and other video sharing sites and apps have quickly become a crucial ingredient in any marketing and social media strategy as the majority of consumers and businesses shifting to the virtual world. From increased brand recognition, to better-landing page conversion, SEO, and sharing of viral content, videos have become a vital business component.

Since Pinterest’s debut five years ago the platform has experienced explosive growth. Today there are more than 50 billion pins on a billion boards. Even with the site’s massive popularity, many brands are not maximizing its marketing potential, or are unaware of its rapidly continuing growth.

With Google constantly focusing on quality content through the many Penguin and Panda algorithm updates, SEO experts, and content marketers have had to constantly make adjustments and evolve to keep up with the changes. While most businesses treat SEO and content marketing as two separate entities, it is no secret the lines are becoming increasingly blurred, and the opportunities to align the two entities together should always be considered.

When businesses began transitioning their marketing efforts into the online space years ago, Google search was the primary reason for the change. Organic search and PPC were the only games in town, as targeted traffic became more attractive, and effective, than traditional endeavors.

Creating a marketing strategy can often seem like a daunting task. With so many different platforms and so much content available, it can be hard to determine what will resonate best with your buyer’s persona. While there are many things to be considered when crafting a strategy, it is also important to think about those aspects that should be avoided. 

When it comes to social media marketing, Twitter has quickly become one of the premier channels to use over the past few years. Companies can use Twitter as a way to easily reach their audience on a daily basis, thereby helping them to build loyalty and trust. However, almost just as important as Twitter’s brand building capabilities is the customer data that Twitter can provide via Twitter Analytics. The following are some of the important insights companies can obtain by using Twitter Analytics:

The Internet has seen a fairly predictable progression in terms of the favored mediums for social engagement. First there were keywords; and then, images. Image optimization allowed posts to go viral more easily, ushering in loads of traffic over a short period. 

Most businesses understand the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) in today’s increasingly Internet focused landscape. These strategies are necessary for increasing a company’s website ranking in an effort to increase exposure.

Selling items online opens the door to many new imaginative marketing ideas, but a website must still have a consistent business plan. While offering a collection of niches that neatly fall under one umbrella is essential, it's important not to drift too far from market niches with inbound marketing campaigns. Here are 5 reasons why a business needs to stay true to itself when marketing online. 

Previously, traditional SEO strategies were simple: stuff keywords into a website's content and acquire as many inbound links as possible. Over the years, however, search engine algorithms have evolved to ensure web users get the most accurate and intuitive search results. Below are some of the latest SEO trends to help businesses stay ahead of competition this year.  

For some businesses, seasonal fluctuations play a large part of the sales cycle. When calculating sales and revenues, it does not make sense to expect the numbers to remain high before, during, and after peak seasons.

Google often shakes up the web development community with algorithm updates for search rankings. The purpose of these changes is to refine search results for users, to help them find what they are looking for. Here are some details reflecting the April 21, 2015 change toward making websites easier for mobile users.  

Success with content marketing requires more than posting random blogs and hoping something sticks. It requires a well-developed and executed plan that connects consumers' needs and a company's goals. With that in mind, here are seven tips to developing an effective content marketing plan:

How a digital marketing agency can help you blog

Blogging as a tool for online brand visibility is becoming one of the most important components for any successful strategy. A brand should be able to stand out amongst the many in the online space. To do this requires both experience and expertise, both of which a credible digital marketing agency will have.

Online Customer Engagement

Current technology offers a variety of methods for interacting with and engaging customers online. Accelerated development of digital technology has intensified this growing trend among digital marketers. Targeting consumer interest, sales' leads and conversions are important steps in the online purchasing process.

Whether or not you enjoy spending time on social media, one thing can't be denied: its reach continues to grow. This appears to most firmly be the case for Facebook, as of the third quarter of 2014; Facebook had 1.35 billion monthly users. Savvy business owners should not ignore a platform of this size.