As SMBs learn the power of online video to reach their customers, video can also be powerful upstream in their value chain. That's the idea behind a few video contests sprouting up this month from big corporations to give SMBs…
By now, much of the connected universe, and certainly all of technolphilia, is aware of Facebook's IPO, which seeks to raise up to $5 billion (and perhaps eventually $10 billion) when its shares go public this spring. The net effect…
The focus for vertical sites is likely to shift in coming months. In addition to regular features, such as listings, many vertical sites will also begin to blend personalized or on-demand “maintenance” information with various social media features such as…
Constant Contact, an email marketing company, announced its acquisition of mobile app developer CardStar this week. CardStar developed a mobile app where consumers are able to store all of their existing loyalty cards, rather than having to carry multiple, physical…
ILM East is coming back to Boston March 26-28 with a lineup of doers and innovators who are transforming and redefining the local space. Highlights include a featured keynote from industry legend Ted Leonsis (Groupon vice chair/AmEx board member/sports team…
The decline of newspaper readership opens a door for other media to head the news cycle, with everything else trickling down to the TV and radio stations and websites that feed off the original content. That’s the premise for GoLocal24,…
The last act at ILM West was a panel on the future of "SoLoMo" (Social/Local/Mobile). Moderators Mike Boland and Jed Williams tag-teamed a panel of four: -David Courtney, CEO, JiWire, a location-based media channel connecting advertisers and mobile consumers via…
Day 1 at ILM West came to a close with a session on how SMBs are using Facebook and social media. This most notably culminated with "3 big ideas" for driving social commerce, from Oodle CEO Craig Donato. These are derived from…
Companies are beginning to focus on loyalty programs for existing customers, rather than simply using deal a day to acquire new customers. Closely and WildFire App are both pursuing loyalty programs. A loyalty start-up we like is Punchcard, which launches…
Yelp launched its local review site in Australia today and cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman traveled to the country for the occasion. Since 2004 the company has accumulated a database of more than 22 million reviews, none of which has included Australian…
We're less than two weeks from our big ILM West conference in San Francisco, and the agenda continues to get stronger. On day 3 of the conferfence, we'll be doing things slightly different by devoting the day to discussions about…
Yelp’s S-1, which was issued last week as a run-up to a $100 million IPO, reveals a lot of new data about the reviews leader. The big question about Yelp has been whether it can grow against increased pressure from…
In the wake of Groupon's successful IPO, Angie’s List is apparently set to issue its own IPO on Thursday. The offering would raise up to $113 million for the Indianapolis-based company, which provides members-only reviews of services and medical providers.…
Ticketmaster-Citysearch once had the idea that it could spur local commerce by matching concert goers with nearby restaurants, bars and even parking lots. AOL Digital City and Sidewalk explored similar concepts. But no one got it totally right. Now, Weotta,…
Facebook has become an important marketing channel to SMBs, according to InfoGroup's quarterly Small Business Marketing Outlook. Twenty percent of those surveyed said Facebook was extremely/very important, and 24 percent said it was somewhat important. Twitter is important, too. Twenty-four…
If you are a major aggregator of daily deals and the industry seems to be slowing down, what do you do next? That’s the question faced by 8coupons, one of the original aggregators. As founder Landy Ung tells us, “we…
At opposite corners of the niche universe, you have Thrillist for men and Comcast-owned Daily Candy for women. Both lifestyle products, founded as email newsletters/shopping guides, have jumped aboard the deals bandwagon, working with Group Commerce Inc. as their tech…
During today's social media forum at DMS ’11 a session on "social CRM" highlighted the products and insights of VendAsta CEO Brendan King and JoinHere CEO Justin Sanger. The artist formerly known as reputation management is taking many forms as…
Smack dab in the middle of today's social media forum at DMS ’11 was a session to highlight agencies that specialize in social media marketing. David Lifson, CEO of Postling, and Mike Nabasny, regional sales manager of Wildfire, spent the…
Angie’s List issued an S-1 this week as it seeks to raise $75 million from an IPO. The S-1 is full of details about the 16-year-old service reviews company. Its massive, $60 million national ad campaign over the past 18…
