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LivingSocial Shows Financial Restraint in Decisions Regarding Real Estate in D.C.

LivingSocial, fresh off of a layoff round axing about 10 percent of its workforce, is taking clear measures to rein back its spending on its real estate footprint in Washington, D.C. The No. 2 daily-deals company has decided to move its employees out of three buildings in the nation’s capital, including a floor it leased…

How Is Groupon Doing in Its Hometown? Billings, Deals Ran and Sold in Last Month Are up

A prophet isn’t without honor, except in his hometown. While Groupon is no divine entity, it is the unquestioned leader of the daily-deals industry, albeit a struggling one. While Groupon’s overall struggles and rumored acquisition by Google have been well-documented, let’s take a look at how Groupon is faring in Chicago, its hometown. To do…

Social Care: 23% of Top Brands Have Dedicated Customer Service Twitter Handles

More and more brands are offering customer service via social media channels, according to separate findings from Simply Measured and Nielsen. Nearly half of social media users engage in what Nielsen calls “social care,” with Facebook company pages the venue of choice for consumers. Meanwhile, Simply Measured finds that nearly 1 in 4 of the…

Best Practices for Holiday Lead-Generation Marketing

The holiday season is upon us, so lead-generation marketers need to know how to make the best use of the time they have left during this potentially lucrative time of the year. Daryl Colwell, vice president of business development at MediaWhiz, has some tips to offer. For companies that have put off their advertising and…

Performance Marketing in 2013: Media Channels and Vertical Markets

By Peter Klein, senior vice president of media services at MediaWhiz In my last column, I offered my 2013 predictions for companies in the performance marketing industry and potential new regulations. This column addresses predictions for performance marketing media channels in the new year, as well as how certain vertical markets will fare.

Infographic: How Social Networks Drive Real-World Actions

Active Network, a maker of various software, has put together an infographic detailing how social media platforms drive real-world actions. For instance, “If you pin an image to Pinterest, will people contact you?” According to Active Network’s findings from its “Beyond the Click” survey of 500 consumers, the most popular offline actions taken as a…

What Google+ Communities Means for Brands, Search and PR

Google+ Communities launched last week, and it could have some pretty big implications for brands. In short, Google+ Communities are essentially Google’s answer to groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Communities offer places for Google+ users to meet and talk with others who have shared interests. They can be public or private, and discussion streams can…

Twitter to Unveil Photo Filters to Compete With Instagram in Time for the Holidays

Twitter and Instagram have been going through a very public spat, albeit without words or direct shots at each other. Last week, Facebook-owned Instagram prevented its photos from displaying properly on Twitter’s website and apps. This came about a month after word got out about Twitter’s plan for its own photo filters. Well, it seems…

How Twitter Can Help Transform Your Sales Process: 4 Tips

A study from the Aberdeen Group found that 79 percent of sales reps that incorporated social media into their sales process met their quota in the past fiscal year, which compares favorably to the 43 percent industry average. Twitter in particular can help sales processes become more engaging and interactive. “I like to think of…