Jesse Noyes

What’s a social business all about?

Is it about having your brand on Twitter or Facebook? Is it about private social networks?

Certainly, these all play a part. But what social business is truly about a “shift”, a move from enterprises attempting insulate itself from disruption and instead greeting it warmly.

To pull this off, organizations need to establish a more transparent environment, both externally and internally. A social business allows organizations to better solicit and understand customer feedback, to react in real-time to industry changes and not be caught flat footed. Internally, it allows communication to go from a top-down model to a back-and-forth, up-down strategy. (We’ve called this the “bathroom moment” in the past.)

This may scare some, but the reality is that the same technologies that bring the disruption are enabling businesses to organize –...

Every year, entrepreneurs, investors and businesses wait for analysis from Mary Meeker.

Who is Meeker? A former securities analyst, Meeker is a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The reason her slides capture so much attention is for their breadth and ability to spotlight Internet trends and whereconsumer behavior is heading.

Today, Meeker provided an update to her presentation. It’s full of riches and I suggest you take a look. But for marketers, we wanted to highlight four slides in particular.

There’s Huge Money to be Made in Mobile Ads

A quick glance at the slide below shows the riches yet to be grabbed in mobile advertising.

Internet ad spending...

If you were at Eloqua Experience last week, you probably heard a lot of stats cited. It’s inevitable. At every event we hear statistics rattled off as speakers and attendees attempt to quantify the world around them.

It’s for good reason. Data is simply exploding as social, mobile and apps change the way we work, collaborate and deliver marketing campaigns. As marketers, we need to be able to represent these changes in an easily understandable way. That’s probably why I heard many requests for access to many of the stats cited at Eloqua Experience.

Your wish is our command. Here are 20 modern marketing stats you might want to sprinkle in your next presentation, your emails or simply show your colleagues.

78% of B2B buyers start their research with search. (Source)

51% of B2B marketers currently...

You know the old lines and adages. “Marketing is a dark art.” “I know half my marketing budget isn’t wasted, I just don’t know what half.”

These are common refrains of the marketing world. It’s always been the marketer’s job to stir the soul, win the heart, or at the very least relate convince people to buy.

As technology has advanced, the industry has turned its eye towards more precise ways of measuring performance and engagement. With the rise of the internet, mobile and social, you could see results as they came in. Science is the new buzzword.

The marketing nerds are taking over for the well-dressed creative types.

This narrative ignores a lot of history, though. Marketing may be recognized for it’s art, but the industry has always sought out data and methods to help guide decisions. It’s just that science wasn’t always “there”.

It’s not that artful marketer’s resisted science...