47 Stats to Supercharge Your Holiday Marketing – Gain some insight into a number of intriguing statistics about holiday marketing. It may be too late for you to shift marketing dollars now, but it always pays to plan early for next year. Hubspot
50 Content Marketing Predictions for 2014 – Part of the fun of getting to the end of 2013 is predicting the trends for 2014. Find out what Joe Pulizzi and 50 other content marketing thought leaders see ahead. Content Marketing Institute
Advertisers to Spend $5.60 Billion on YouTube in 2013 Worldwide – YouTube takes home $1.96 billion in net global digital ad revenues and a 20.5% share of US video ad market. eMarketer
Facebook Launches Video Ads – Facebook is rolled out a feature this week that will allow advertisers to play videos in users’ news feeds. The feature offers companies a new way to promote movies and products on smartphones and computers and is being tested with a small group of Facebook users. CNN Money
The 80/20 Rule: Why Just 20% of Your Social Media Content Should Be About Your Brand – The 80/20 Rule should always be a big part of your social media strategy. It simply comes down to this: use just 20% of your content to promote your brand, and dedicate 80% to content that really interests your audience and engages them in conversations. Social Media Today
Hummingbird’s Impact on Local Search – There seems to have been a significant qualitative shift in local results since Google’s release of Hummingbird that David Mihm says he hasn’t seen reported on search engine blogs and media outlets. Head’s up if you own a local business. Here’s your chance to dominate local search. Moz
Study: More Than 70% of Under 35s Research, Post and Talk About Brands on Social Media [Infographic] – More than seven out of ten millennials (internet users aged between 15 and 34, aka Generation Y) consult, react to or post about products and brands on social media, with almost two-thirds saying that positive – and negative – experiences shared by others impact their purchase decisions. All Twitter
Facebook News Feed Now Favors High-Quality Articles – Facebook announced changes to its News Feed algorithm that give favorable placement to high-quality content including links to articles — especially for mobile users. Additional changes include story bumping for posts with comments and links to additional articles. Search Engine Watch
Google Ad Rank Study: How the New Formula is Impacting AdWords Performance – In October, Google changed its Ad Rank formula which determines the position order of AdWords paid search ads. The revised formula now factors in the expected impact of ad extensions and ad formats, in addition to the bid and quality score. Read the latest findings on the impact of this significant change here. Search Engine Land
How to Use New LinkedIn Showcase Pages – Showcase pages allow companies with multiple brand messages to segment them easily and deliver them to the right audiences. Here’s what every marketer needs to know. Social Media Examiner
7 Features Your Brand’s Facebook Page Isn’t Utilizing, But Should Be – Although Facebook has been a staple in many business’ strategies for several years, there are some features you may not know about. Here’s a list of useful highlights to help you maximize the effectiveness of your brand’s Facebook page. Business2Community
Google Allows Select Brands to Turn Google+ Posts Into Display Ads – Learn more about Google’s new plans for +Post ads, which can be created from Google+ posts, and why the ad type may be a boon for marketers. Hubspot
Twitter, Pinterest Challenging Facebook for Social Sharing Dominance [Infographic] – According to Gigya, Facebook’s social share sphere has declined from 50% to 41% comparing Q3 to Q2 in 2013. Meanwhile, Twitter now boasts a 30% share, up from 24% with Pinterest rising 4%, growing to 20%. MediaBistro
More Than Half of US Residents Get News From Social Media – According to a Pew Research study, more people in the US are turning to social media as the source for news. Reddit was rated the highest as a news source with 62 percent of its users being there for the news. Instagram, Vine and Pinterest rated lowest at 13 percent, nine percent, and three percent respectively. 54 percent of tweeters were getting their news hot off the hashtag. Social Times
Twitter’s Latest Experimental Account Tries to Predict Viral Tweets – Twitter appears to be experimenting with a new account called @magicstats that can predict which tweets are going to go viral. Social Sprout
Content Marketing Questions to Ask and Answer – [Infographic] Answers the Who, What, Where, When, Why & How to make you a more effective content marketer. Marketing Tech Blog
Google Moves Into Robotics – Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, a company known for developing super-fast, animal-like robots with strong ties to the U.S. military. In addition, Google has quietly purchased another seven robotics firms over the past six months, with some of the companies heralding the start of a “robot revolution.” CNN Money
Survey: Facebook the Most Trusted Channel for Brand Recommendations – The just-released Social Recommendation Index shows that Facebook is the most trusted social media platform for product and service recommendations. Recommendations from family and close friends have gained the most credibility when it comes to purchase decisions, while celebrity reviews are the least reliable, according to the survey. ClickZ
Report: Tweets with Pictures Shared 3x More Often – Twitter posts that include a picture are more than three times more likely to be retweeted than those without one, according to “The Retweet Report” from competitive tracking platform, TrackMaven. The report also found an inverse relationship between the busiest times for tweeting and retweeting. Tweets are most frequently sent on weekdays between noon and 3 p.m. ET, but the greatest number of retweets occurs between 10 p.m. and midnight. BtoB Online
Facebook Hashtags Aren’t Very Effective Study Says – On Google+, hashtags help surface related content. On Twitter, hashtags enable news to spread fast. On Facebook, hashtags turn your posts into garbage, according to a study by EdgeRank, a Facebook analytics provider. Social Times
The Best Pinterest Place Pins Examples and Why Your Business Should Use Them – Here are some great tips on the best ways to utilize Place Pins for every industry, retail, public services and even your local post office. Search Engine Journal
The Marketer’s Guide to Actionable Data [Infographic] – Using historical and real-time data about customers, marketers can create tailored experiences for them and drive company revenue. See what marketers consider to be their biggest obstacles to using data. MarketingProfs
How to Find B2B Leads in 2014 (Hint: Probably Not on Twitter and Facebook) – [Infographic] Business to business (B2B) marketing has always been a tougher nut to crack than business to consumer (B2C), and that’s particularly true in modern marketing mediums such as social media and mobile. For brands looking to generate leads and sales in this space, identifying what does and does not work is key not only to success, but also to survival. This visual offers quite a few interesting statistics that should help you to make better, more informed marketing choices for 2014. MediaBistro
From the Online Community
On Why A Transition From Optimizing for Search Engines to Optimizing for Customers is Essential Eva said, Great Insight. I think one of the problems firms face is they are too focused in what they do rather than what customers need. The regular meetings revolve around what happened rather than “how can we help you achieve your strategic objectives?”. Add to that marketing being separate to the account manager people and you end up with SEO stuffed content in danger of falling into the “no one cares” about category. I believe research is critical is answering this debate, yet many companies are reluctant to ask their customers the critical questions. I would love to know if others have experience this.
On 11 Must Read eBooks to Get Content Marketing Smart for 2014 Aaron said, Lee, thanks man, not only is this a monster list of awesome ebooks, the bigger take-away is how well you and TopRank “walk the walk” when it comes to producing a mix of QUALITY original and curated content on a frequent basis. “The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing & Influencer Strategy” looks particularly interesting and timely. Thanks! 
Steve Peck said, Thanks Lee! I appreciate you configuring this list, which will keep me and our content marketing team engaged well into the new year. Seeing this compilation reinforces my belief in the value of longer form content as part of an effective content marketing strategy.
What role do you see long form content like eBooks and Whitepapers playing in 2014? Will these resources experience a Renaissance or will marketers invest to appease the rapidly diminishing attention span of their prospective customers?
What’s Your Take?
What’s on your reading list for 2014? Will online marketers get on board with optimizing for the customer rather than search engines?
Thanks for reading and have a great holiday!
