Online advertising

SUMMARY: When your audience plateaus in a social network, sometimes you need more than good content and a chatty demeanor to grow it further. Sometimes, you need a good campaign.

This trade association got thousands of people to join its Facebook, Twitter and email audiences during a 90-day sweepstakes targeting U.S. moms. You'll see the campaign's viral tactics and learn why you should never forget the "sweepers." read the complete case study

SUMMARY: Two years ago, a B2B software-as-a-service company decided it wanted more data analysis out of its PPC campaigns and made the bold, somewhat risky, move of placing an engineer in charge of the entire function.

Read on to find out more about five tactics the engineer-turned-marketer used to prove ROI. These new metrics won him a 1,400% increase in the PPC budget, which helped increase paying customers by 2,900%. read the complete article

SUMMARY: Consumer use of advanced mobile technologies is on the rise, and marketers need to understand this behavior to develop their mobile marketing strategies.

See the data that an analyst says are driving four key trends in the mobile sector. We highlight age-specific statistics on mobile social networking, smartphone usage, SMS adoption, and offer tips on what those numbers mean for your 2010 mobile marketing plans. read the complete interview

SUMMARY: "Taking the easy way out" is not the modus operandi for PPC marketers. Given their focus on achieving and increasing measurable ROI, marketers are willing to execute many difficult PPC tactics because they are effective.

This week’s chart looks at the usage, effectiveness and difficulty levels of various PPC tactics, as rated by more than 1,500 search marketers. read the complete article

By Natalie Myers, Reporter

I wasn’t looking for advice about online advertising when I scheduled time to talk to Jerry Shereshewsky, CEO, Grandparents.com, for a MarketingSherpa article I’m writing about marketing to grandparents.

But I should have expected getting some wisdom from someone with 39 years of experience in the industry who last year took the helm of an ad-supported resource site for grandparents.

Jerry’s previous title, ambassador plenipotentiary to Madison Avenue at Yahoo!, was another reason I... read the complete blog post