Joey Kotkins is the CMO & Co-Founder of Inside Social. Social media has proven itself to be a legitimate marketing channel, however, most brands, including e-commerce brands, are still in the mindset that social is just a top-of-the-funnel marketing channel. But as the social networks have matured and consumers’ social media behaviors have evolved, social has become a powerful opportunity for e-commerce brands to drive sales. In fact, the Internet Retailer’s 2014 Social Media 500 sold an estimated $2.69 billion last year from shoppers clicking directly from social networks, up 62.5 percent from 2012. As social has increasingly become pay-to-play,…
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In our Apps of the Year series, The Next Web team shares personal recommendations for our favorite apps of 2014. On the rare occasions I come across paper documents these days, I make sure to scan them with my phone immediately for easy reference and retrieval. I’m terrible at filing things away physically, so this system works better for me than anything else I’ve tried. My app of choice for the job? Scanbot. Getting a good scan is easier than taking a picture — simply point your camera at a document and hold still; Scanbot will determine the paper’s edges…
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Meghan Cast is the VP of Marketing at Threadflip. The phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” was coined in 1977 by Bert Lance; however a little shy of 30 years later, we are in a digital age where technology and innovation make change a necessity for continued success and relevance. Today, harnessing creativity that changes consumer behavior can cut a deep path to success. This type of success comes from being both extremely creative and analytical. Successful entrepreneurs see an opportunity and seize it. They take control and never stop innovating. Below are a few guidelines we’ve developed and…
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In our Apps of the Year series, The Next Web team shares personal recommendations for gifts to give this holiday season. This time, it’s apps. Given the sheer volume of photo and video apps I test every year, one of the quickest ways to judge which are best is to observe what actually maintains a ready position on my iPhone. To extrapolate further, the ones that stay on my phone’s first pane within easy reach — instead of buried in a folder somewhere — are even higher on the food chain. ProCamera 8 ($2.99) is the only image shooting app that achieves that position alongside…
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