Online Marketing News: Content for Millennials & Boomers, Top Data Trends & PPC for Research

Infographic: How Millennials and Baby Boomers Consume User-Generated Content Content and recommendations from other consumers are generally considered more trustworthy than content coming from a brand. This infographic lends more credibility to that idea. Although Boomers and Millennials consume content differently, they have one key preference in common: 76% of consumers believe that content shared by average people is more honest than advertising from brands. AdWeekThe Top Three Data Trends of 2016 Ad Age discusses the top three data trends of 2016: The customer ID movement, growth in data sharing and the location data tracking boom. What's the common thread? Collecting more data to enable greater personalization for the consumer, and to foster a better understanding of your audience, were keys strategic elements of 2016. Ad AgeGoodbye Google Keyword Planner, Hello Keyword Research Using PPC Now that Google is taking away free full access to the Google keyword planner, MarketingProfs proposes conducting keyword research via a small PPC campaign rather than investing in a paid keyword research tool? Sound crazy? It makes more sense than you may think. MarketingProfsAmazon launches Digital Day, a new sales holiday for digital products According to Marketing Land, "The first Digital Day will be a 24 hour event held tomorrow, Friday December 30th and is marketed like a Black Friday for anything digital. These offerings include games, books, TV shows, apps, music and more. Some of the marketed deals include: 80% off of video games, 50% off of movies & TV and 75% off of digital comics." Marketing Land

LinkedIn Changes: What Marketers Need to Know LinkedIn has made changes to improve the way you find new contacts, interact with connections, and write posts. The homepage has a new, cleaner look -- and what was the 'Profile' section is now the 'Me' section, where you can go to edit your profile, privacy settings and more. Social Media ExaminerDon't Get Too Excited Just Yet About Retailers' Merry Holiday Sales eMarketer reports: "Retailers, which typically close their fiscal fourth quarter end of this month or early next month, are expected to see their critical holiday quarter profit decline 1.9% on average, according to Retail Metrics [...] In fact, 53 retailers, or about half of the group tracked, are expected to see lower fourth-quarter profits." eMarketerGoogle Has 5 of the Top 10 Apps in 2016, According to Nielsen Rankings [REPORT] 5 of the top 10 downloaded apps in 2016 were owned by Google: YouTube, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play and Gmail. Google continues to be a leader on the mobile front, and of the 88% of US mobile subscribers that use smartphones, 53% are using the Android operating system. How will the Google Pixel shape these trends? Search Engine Journal2017 Digital Marketing Plans [Report] Ascend2 reports: "While nearly one-third (31%) describe the success of their digital marketing as “best-in-class” compared to competitors, a total of 23% still consider their organizations’ efforts unsuccessful." 63% of respondents said brand websites are one of the most effective channels for their 2017 digital marketing plan, 52% say email is one of the most effective channels, 49% say social media and 31% listed organic search. Ascend2What were your top online marketing news stories this week?We'll be back next week with more top online marketing news. Have something to share? Sound off in the comments or Tweet to @toprank.Disclosure: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

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