Facebook Ad CTR Up 17%, CPC Down 17% In Q1 [Nanigans Report]

Facebook advertisers reached more customers per ad and paid less for each click in the first quarter of 2015, according to advertising automation software provider Nanigans’ Global Facebook Advertising Benchmark Report released today.

Nanigans’ customers had a 0.81% click-through rate in the first quarter, up 17% over Q4 of 2014 and 260% over this time last year. In the ecommerce vertical, CTR increased 12% QoQ and 281% YoY.

On a cost-per click basis, ads were 17% cheaper than they were in the fourth quarter — the 53 cent CPC average falling to pre-holiday levels because of, according to Nanigans, reduced demand after the Q4 shopping season. The CPC drop was especially pronounced for ecommerce advertisers, who experienced a 32% decrease in the quarter and a 14% reduction YoY. Gaming advertisers saw a 11% quarterly CPC increase and 69% for the year. Overall, CPC averages increased 4% YoY.

Overall global CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions) dropped 3% in the quarter to $4.26, but soared 273% since the first quarter of 2014 when they were $1.14. Ecommerce CPMs — $3.74 — fell 24% in the quarter and gained 227% YoY.

Nanigans, a Facebook Marketing Partner, said most advertisers using its software have direct response goals and dedicate the overwhelming majority of budgets to Unpublished Page Post Ads, Mobile App Install Ads and Domain Ads, categories that represented 97% of spending through Nanigans in Q1.

The company notes that many of its customers use ROI-based bidding algorithms targeting high-value and high-ROI audiences that typically cost more to reach. “As such, the data in this report should not be used as a proxy for the overall Facebook marketplace,” the report stated.

The company also noted that advertisers using its software are adopting new Facebook ad products, spending 2.8 times more on video ads and 5.2 times more on multi-product ads this quarter than they did in the final quarter of 2014.

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6 Sins You’re Committing on Bing Ads

Did you know that when you think you are "Googling”, you might actually be "Binging?" In addition to bing.com, yahoo.com, and msn.com, Bing powers Web search on Apple’s Siri, Kindle Fire, Amazon Fire Phone, Xbox, and many others. This also explains how Bing has quietly reached 31 percent search market share on desktop in the US., according to comScore.

Bing Ads sees a fair share of advertisers getting the most out of their paid search dollars. One of the benefits of being such a massive search engine is that Bing becomes simultaneously a data powerhouse – all those advertisers leave a trail of habits that can be analyzed.

Today we’re looking at the sins that are consistently committed by advertisers on the Bing Ads platform. Are you committing them? The sins are:

1. Assuming You Can Get Bing Searchers on Google

For example in retail alone, there are 40 million searchers found on Yahoo and Bing, but not found on Google. Turns out, not everyone uses Google. You’re missing out if you’re not going after the Bing audience, because exclusive searchers are not limited to retail, it’s across verticals. In the chart below, the orange parts show the Bing audience who doesn’t use Google and can’t be reached there.

When you assume that the Bing audience can be caught on Google, you neglect to allocate an appropriate budget for your Bing Ads campaigns.

2. Not Changing Your UTM Tags From Google to Bing

If you don’t, your metrics are going to be inaccurate and will not reflect the truth of your Bing traffic. Until June of last year, changing the UTM tag upon importing your Google campaigns was a pain in the PPC – but now Bing has auto-tagging. Not only does this save you time, it keeps your metrics accurate. Slam dunk.

3. Thinking the Targeting Options on Bing Are the Same as Google

• Time zones for Bing Ads are different than AdWords. On Bing Ads, the time is set to the time of the user, not the business. So targeting an ad at 7 a.m., means 7 a.m. everywhere. And you can set different time zones for each campaign when you create them.
• You have more flexibility with targeting on Bing Ads because the setting is on ad group level, not campaign level, like Google. This also gives you more options for testing.
  • Incrementally bid up or down by demographics
  • On the ad group level, you can start/stop ads differently
  • Adjust bids by geography

When you import to Bing Ads from Google, check the targeting right off because you can suddenly be more sophisticated with your ad scheduling.

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Nexus Android 5.1 Update: 10 Things to Know This Week

Google’s Nexus Android 5.1 release continues to make progress for select smartphones and tablets. This week, we've seen a number of new details emerge for owners of Nexus smartphones and tablets and we want to take a look at what we think you need to know now about Google’s Nexus Android 5.1 update for devices like the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and more.

In early March, Google unveiled its brand new Android 5.1 Lollipop update for Nexus smartphones and tablets. The Android 5.1 Lollipop is larger than your standard Android bug fix update. While it brings a number of big time fixes for Android 5.0 Lollipop problems, it also brings some nice tweaks to existing features. It’s an update that many Nexus users have had their eye on for the past month.

Unfortunately, Google’s Android 5.1 release has been unpredictable and sporadic and it’s been a very difficult release to follow, even for those that are in tune with Google’s Nexus Android release protocol.

With that in mind, we want to take a look at the most important things to know this week about Google’s Android 5.1 Lollipop release. This roundup covers all of the latest details and it takes a look at what might be coming next for devices like the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 6, and others.

Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Update Finally Moving

The Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Lollipop update was one of the first to start rolling out. Unfortunately, the update initially was moving at a snails pace with many Nexus 5 users complaining about missing updates.

This week though, the Nexus 5 Android 5.1 update finally started picking up steam and it appears that Google’s new Android 5.1 LMY47I build was indeed the catalyst that Nexus 5 users were looking for.

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Amazing iPhone 6 hack brings the Android Lollipop experience to iOS

Have you ever wanted to try Android without actually ditching your iPhone in favor of a brand new Android device? There might be a way to do that, as long as you still have access to an iOS version that can be jailbroken, as the app that’ll get you an Android experience on your iPhone 6 can’t be found in the App Store.

As posted on Reddit and imgur, Andrios is “an Android experience for iOS,” which aims to bring some familiar Android Lollipop UI elements to the iPhone, offering users a fake but gorgeous Android environment.

The Andrios app isn’t available for download just yet, and it’ll cost you somewhere between $3 and $4 once it’s ready. But its developers have been working on it for two months straight, coming up with an amazing interface that makes the iPhone look like an Android-powered handset. Interestingly, switching between Lollipop and KitKat modes is also an available option.

As the screenshots reveal, Andrios brings over various Android elements you’ll recognize immediately, including the Google Search bar, the Action Bar buttons, and the Material Design palette. Other elements such as the Notification Center, lock screen notifications, notification functionality, power menu, music playback widget, volume sliders and buttons are also shown off in the screenshot gallery.

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Google Close to Finishing Android Wear App for iOS

Earlier this year, news leaked that Google was working on an Android Wear app for the iOS App Store, and it appears that the company's progress on engineering Android Wear devices to work with iPhones is nearing completion. 

According to a source that spoke to The Verge, Android Wear on the iPhone works similarly to the Apple Watch, connecting through a companion app and providing functions like Notifications. Google is said to be "close to finishing" the final technical details behind the project.

     In its current state of development, Android Wear works along with a companion app on the      iPhone and supports basic functions like notifications -- as you can see in the photo below. As      it does on Android, on the iPhone Android Wear also supports Google Now's ambient                    information cards, voice search, and other voice actions. It should also support some more        advanced features with Google's own iOS apps, like replying to Gmail messages.

If Google finishes the project and submits its Android Wear app to the iOS App Store, it is not clear how Apple will react, given that the app would allow Android Wear devices to compete directly with the Apple Watch. Apple allows Pebble and other competing fitness bands to have apps in the App Store, so it may also permit Google to release an Android Wear app, but at the same time, Apple has aggressively cut down on products similar to the Apple Watch in its retail stores. 

It no longer sells fitness devices like the Fitbit, the Jawbone UP, and the Nike Fuelband, and over the years, Apple has also had some altercations with Google. Apple used to feature Google Maps on its iOS devices, but moved on to its own proprietary mapping solution several years ago. 

Android Wear watches are built on Google's platform but are available from a number of Apple's competitors, including Samsung and LG. Popular smartwatches like the LG G, the Moto 360, and Samsung's Gear lineup are all Android Wear devices. 

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“Microsoft Payments” may join Apple, Android, Samsung in pay platforms

Windows 10 for phones supports Host Card Emulation, licensing makes it official.

In February, Microsoft quietly applied for licensing to be a money transmitter in all 50 states as well as an assortment of current and former US territories. Banking consultant Faisal Kahn recently found an application (PDF) submitted by Microsoft at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to be a Money Services Business (MSB), suggesting that the company is taking next steps to develop its own mobile payments platform akin to Google Wallet (or Android Pay), Apple Pay, and the yet-to-be launched Samsung Pay.

Kahn confirmed that Idaho was one of the first states to grant Microsoft a license to be a money transmitter, as listed on the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) registry. NMLS does not publish information on applications not yet approved by the state.

In March, Microsoft announced that its forthcoming Windows 10 for phones and small tablets (a.k.a. "Windows Mobile"),would support Host Card Emulation (HCE). HCE is a method of transmitting credit card information without relying on a Secure Element embedded in a SIM. Newer Android phones use HCE to transmit NFC signals to terminals, and the benefits of the scheme mean that third-party developers can build NFC functions into their apps. The elimination of the Secure Element requirement makes the payment platform SIM-independent, and hence carrier agnostic.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Ars that it's too early to herald Microsoft Payments just yet, however. “As a mobile-first, cloud-first company, Microsoft continues to evolve our offerings to meet the needs of both our commercial customers and consumers,” the spokesperson said. “Becoming a money service business gives us the flexibility to provide new, innovative cloud services to our customers but we do not have any product announcements at this time.”

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Is Google bringing Android and Chrome OS together?

Is Google bringing Android and Chrome OS together? In a word – yes, but maybe not in the way you think.
The speculation about Google merging Chrome OS and Android has been a constant over the last few years. Why does Google have two separate systems when everyone else is merging? Why doesn’t Chrome just get folded into Android? Google has to kill one of them off. It’s odd that the tech world insists on Highlander rules – there can be only one. But the truth is that Google can bring them closer and closer together, and create a seamless experience for us, and it doesn’t need one to assimilate the other in order to do that.

Chrome OS is here to stay

People have strong opinions about Chrome OS, though a lot of them have never actually tried working on a Chrome book. Ever since it was first announced, back in 2009, commentators started queuing up to proclaim it dead on arrival. There have been plenty of assertions about its failure since then. They all suppose that Chrome OS is designed to replace Windows, but it doesn’t have to beat Windows across the market.
According to NPD data, via Betanews, Chromebooks accounted for 14 percent of laptop sales in the U.S. last year, up from 8 percent in 2013, and that figure is still rising. When you consider how cheap Chromebooks are compared to the competition, and how well-suited they are to education, it’s inevitable that Chrome will continue to grow. It only looks like a failure because people use the dominant OS as a yardstick. You can argue about its relative merits (low prices, speed, no updates) and weaknesses (offline, heavy lifting, photo editing), but it is a very good fit for a specific audience and it is still improving.
Regardless of whether it has met expectations, Google is committed to it, as evidenced by the recent Chromebit unveiling alongside four budget-friendly Chromebooks, and not long after the new Chromebook Pixel.
If Chrome OS isn’t going anywhere, then is it on a collision-course with Android? Shortly after the Chrome OS announcement, back in 2009, Sergey Brin said, “Android and Chrome will likely converge over time,” but what did he mean by that?
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Even if Yahoo replaced Google as the default search on iPhone, half of users would switch back

There's a lot of speculation that Yahoo wants to outbid Google to be the default search provider for iPhones and iPads. CEO Marissa Mayer did not deny this desire during Yahoo's last earnings call.
Goldman Sachs' tech analysts have some bad news for Yahoo.
These analysts interviewed more than 500 iPhone and iPad users and asked them what they would do if Google were replaced with Yahoo as the default search engine on the mobile version of Safari.
Only 4% of users said they would intentionally leave Yahoo as the default. 48% of them said they would switch the default back to Google.
The Goldman analysts actually think that Google might even benefit by allowing Yahoo win the Apple deal because it would no longer have to pay for users who would find their way back to Google anyway.
This chart spells out the bad news for Yahoo.

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Mobile Is Local: Quick Wins and Fast Fails

I had the opportunity to attend the ClickZ Live event in New York City last week and came away impressed.
The sessions that I attended were topical, the speakers knowledgeable, and the presentations included actionable recommendations. One of my favorite sessions was presented by Jori Ford, head of SEO at Spothero, Inc.
The premise of her presentation was that mobile search is local search. Currently, 20 percent of ALL searches have local intent.
What are the results of local searches?

• 94 percent of smartphone users search for location info
• 51 percent visited a store
• 48 percent called a store
• 29 percent made a purchase

If you run a local business, this data cannot be ignored and should be embraced to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
But where does one begin?

Claim Your Web Business Listings

According to Ford, only two listings matter: Google and Yelp.

 

Undoubtedly, certain niches will have other citations that are important, but this is the first place to start and you need to get these two right. Ford offered some specific tips for optimizing these listings:

• Use the business service, product type, or category in your business description
• Update Google+ with links to the top pages on your website
• List hours of operation
• List a local phone number and NOT a national toll-free number

Use Schema Markup

Ford touted the advantages of adding micro data to your website. She specifically, mentioned Ratings & Review schema. If you aren’t familiar with schema, here’s a quick start guide to get you started. Her pro tip was to host ratings and review pages on your own website, rather than rely solely on third-party sites. Why? She says that customers are more likely to leave positive feedback on your own website.

Create How-To Videos

I did a quick search for "how-to" on YouTube for this post and it returned 200 million search results. Video tutorials are HUGE and your business should capitalize on it. The "secret sauce" is adding schema.org on page markup for videos.
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How To Generate Content Ideas That Result In Links, Leads & Shares

Columnist Tom Demers gives specific tips on mining your personal experiences to come up with interesting, engaging online content. 

You’re an expert about a lot more topics than you probably think — topics you could cover in engaging and interesting online content.
Does this idea surprise you? Well, have you had spectacular successes in business? Embarrassing failures? Have you learned lessons along the way?
There are probably more ways for you to create useful, actionable content based on your own experiences than you realize.
In fact, sharing your personal knowledge about a topic — the specific things you do well, the processes you’ve used that have worked well, and the things you’ve tried that didn’t succeed, etc. — is a great way to attract the attention of thought leaders and prospects. And that attention will likely result in links that build your authority and improve your rankings in the SERPs.
Some of the most successful content creators use this technique consistently. Check out my full column on Marketing Land where I’ll share the questions you can ask of yourself (or your business) to come up with great content ideas based on what you already know.
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Apple Maps Adds New Review Sources, Replacing Yelp Outside US In Many Cases

TripAdvisor and Booking.com reviews now appearing in search results.

Apple has added reviews content from TripAdvisor and Booking.com to Apple Maps. Spotted first by Apple Insider, the new review sources appear to be both for US and international locations, though predominantly outside the US.
Yelp reviews are still present, but appear to have been replaced for hotel and restaurant searches in most (though not all) international contexts. In the US, I wasn’t able to find TripAdvisor and Booking.com content except in isolated cases.
The new review sources show up in mobile results and on the desktop version of Apple Maps. Booking.com is being used for hotel reviews in most cases while TripAdvisor is used for restaurants.
I conducted numerous searches for restaurants, museums and hotels in various US cities and outside the country. While there was a pattern there was also some inconsistency in terms of when Yelp reviews would appear vs. the other sources.
A search for “museums, London” delivers a list of results with Yelp reviews. But a search for “restaurants, London” shows results with TripAdvisor reviews. A query for “hotels, London” shows Booking.com reviews (above). In these cases, Yelp reviews have clearly been replaced by the other two sources — but why not for museums? TripAdvisor has excellent attractions coverage.
A search for “hotels, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey” shows category results with reviews provided by Yelp. However a search for “Days Inn in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey” (the example in the AppleInsider Article) shows an individual listing with TripAdvisor reviews. 
In this particular example there were no Yelp reviews for the Days Inn so it may be that Apple is trying to fill perceived holes in Yelp’s coverage. That doesn’t explain the wholesale replacement of Yelp in many international results.
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VIDEO: The Power of Instagram for E-Commerce in Indonesia

Speaking at ClickZ Live Jakarta, Sri Safitri, chief marketing officer for Telkom Telstra, discussed how small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and brands in Indonesia are using Instagram as a central part of the e-commerce journey.

Instagram has a strong user base in Indonesia and sees benefits from the country's unique e-commerce environment. But the social platform should consider customizing its product offerings for the region accordingly, according to Sri Safitri, chief marketing officer for Telkom Telstra.

More than 30 percent of Indonesian Internet users are on Instagram, where the platform is used as a key component to generate sales for SMBs, often from traffic being directed via Twitter and Facebook.

However, as existing and new social media channels upgrade their e-commerce capabilities and enter the Indonesian digital scene, Instagram will need to customize and adapt its services if it hopes to maintain market share, says Sri.

"Instagram should understand the Indonesian landscape and also the uniqueness of how people use Instagram in Indonesia," she says.

"If Instagram is not following up or adapting to this change…many online shops will probably join Line or other platforms that may come to Indonesia with that e-commerce platform."

In this video, Sri tells ClickZ about the ways Indonesians are using social media, especially Instagram, for commercial purposes, and the importance of the hashtag.
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Sony becomes official wearables partner for Tough Mudder 2015

In an effort to prove the robustness of its Xperia Z3 smartphone and the fitness capabilities of its SmartWear devices Sony has signed up as sponsor of Tough Mudder 2015, the endurance event series in which participants attempt military-style obstacle courses.
Sony will be the official smartphone and wearables provider for the event with the Tough Mudder journey captured and catalogued through the devices over the next few months. Sony will be particularly hoping its claims of boasting the highest ever level of waterproofing in a smartphone in the Xperia Z3 stand up to the test of the Tough Mudder. The events’ organisers have introduced a new obstacle, Arctic Enema 2.0, where contestants will be showered with icy water during the course.
The Xperia Z3s will be placed at angles around the course to document the journeys of participants which will be available for viewing after each event at the onsite Apres Mud after party.
The sponsorship package will also see Sony recruit members with a desire to get fit to take part in Team Sony. The team will train for the event using a new, tech inspired training programme that will make use of Sony’s SmartWear devices the SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk and the Lifelog app to track their progress and monitor their training regimes.
Catherine Cherry, Sony Mobile marketing director for North West Europe said that the partnership was a natural fit for the brand given the increasing role of wearables and smartphones in the fitness industry. “Tough Mudder is a great opportunity for us to not only highlight the industry leading features of our devices, but to use SmartWear to its greatest potential and influence our personal wellbeing,” she said.
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Flipkart, Snapdeal Sell These Items The Most

Mobile phones and related accessories are the highest selling items on e-tailing websites like Flipkart, Snapdeal etc., according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India or IAMAI.
The category contributes Rs 9,936 crore or 41 per cent to the e-tailing industry, according a research report by IAMAI.
The next most sold category is - apparels, footwear and personal items - which contributes 20 per cent or Rs 4,699 crore to the industry.
Consumer durables along with kitchen appliances contribute another 14 per cent or Rs 3,404 crore.
"Out of the remaining 25 per cent, laptops/net books/tablets, home furnishings and books contribute another Rs 2,780 crore, Rs1,059 crore and Rs 648 crore respectively," IAMAI said.
E-Tailing in 2014 grew by around 1.4 times from 2013 and constitutes nearly 29 per cent of the overall e-commerce market.
The total e-commerce market including e-tailing was valued at Rs 81,525 crore by the end of December 2014, according to IAMAI. The lion's share of the e-commerce pie lies with online travel at 61 per cent.
It is estimated to grow further at a rate of 33 per cent and cross Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of 2015.
Nearly a half of online shoppers prefer the cash on delivery mode of payment, the study showed.
"45 per cent of the online shoppers prefer cash on delivery as a mode of payment. 21 per cent prefer payment through debit card and 16 per cent via credit card.
"The other modes of payment include internet banking (10 per cent) and other payment modes viz. prepaid cash cards, mobile wallets etc. (8 per cent)," it said.
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Twitter Is Testing Ads Within User Profile Pages

In the ever-expanding push for more advertising space, Twitter is experimenting with ads within profile pages.

Twitter users should now be used to seeing targeted ads pop up in their stream. But how about on their own content? Re/code confirmed a new ad test that displays promoted tweets directly within a user’s profile page.

In the test, which is being shown to a small number of logged in users, the promoted tweets are displayed to people visiting other users’ profiles on the web and in mobile apps. The sponsored content is set off from organic tweets and labeled with a big “Suggested By Twitter” disclaimer. Recode reported that the ads are not appearing on pages of verified users.
While this appears to be a nice feature, the last thing that brands want is a competitor showing up in their profile. Having the ability to purchase ads around a sponsored athlete makes a good deal of sense, but could become hairy if competitors are allowed to do so — or even show on the brand itself.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the test in an email to Marketing Land: “We’re experimenting with this feature, as we do with all our ad features, in order to create great experiences for our users, advertisers and partners.”
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Dell At MarTech Conference: Customer Experience Must Drive Marketing Technology Decisions

Corey Craig explains how Dell created its Solutions Nurture platform to provide content at pain points in customer journey.

If there’s been one overarching theme at the MarTech conference, it’s the need for marketing technology (and the marketers that use it) to focus on the customer first. Speakers from major brands like Coca-Cola and Kimberly-Clark, along with those from smaller digital agencies, have almost universally emphasized a customer-centric approach to using marketing technology.
Dell’s Corey Craig continued that focus with her presentation Wednesday morning that explained how she helped develop an “always on” marketing program that the company calls Solutions Nurture.
Craig, the Customer Experience Design & Innovation Lead at Dell, said the project began by mapping out an entire customer experience that looked for all the different touch points that a consumer might have with Dell, and identified the customer’s intent at each point.
“Let the experience drive technology decisions,” Craig said, explaining that Dell is using seven systems to manage how it reacts to customer intent.

Dell’s Content Framework

Once the customer experience had been mapped out, Dell began to work on creating a content framework based on providing the solutions that the customer needs.
Dell uses logic to drive personalized content to match the customer’s pain points. “This is your ‘If X, then Y’ system,” Craig said.
Craig began writing out this content framework by hand and, by starting manually, learned where the company had opportunities to use marketing automation. “Don’t be scared of the manual work,” she told the audience, “it will teach you what to automate.”
The final step in Dell’s development of the Solution Nurture platform involved internal storytelling — using education to achieve organizational adoption. Visualizing complex ideas was a key factor here, Craig said.
Craig wrapped up her presentation by encouraging conference attendees with a simple message: “Action begets action.”
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Mozilla Firefox 37 released with new URL bar, security features and more

Mozilla Firefox 37, the newest version of one of the most popular browsers in the world has been launched, and it comes equipped with a host of new features meant to improve the user experience. This update applies to both the Android and desktop (Windows, OS X and Linux) versions of the utility.
Available for download now on all these platforms, the Mozilla Firefox 37 update brings with it changes to the URL bar, new locales and improvements to the download performance on Android. Prime among the new additions on the desktop version of this browser is the Heartbeat user rating system.

No, this feature has nothing to do with your actual heartbeat if your mind is drifting in that direction. It will present you with widgets containing feedback questions aimed that improving the Firefox experience furthermore. You can easily disable this trait if you don’t want to be pestered by these questions though.
The new version of Mozilla’s browser sets Yandex to be the default search provider for the Turkish locale. It has also been revealed that Bing searches will now use that the HTTPS standard for more secure searching. Another security improvement comes in the form of OneCRL centralized certificate revocation that augments protection against site impersonation.
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Microsoft Surface 3 Vs. iPad Air 2 — Can Microsoft Take On The King of Tablets?

Microsoft has finally announced the successor to the Surface 2 — unsurprisingly dubbed the Surface 3. The device is being hailed as the best in the Surface series so far, capable of even taking on the iPad Air 2.

Apple has largely dominated the tablet arena ever since the iPad was first released. As of late, however, other companies have become greater contenders. How do the Surface 3 and the iPad Air 2 compare?

Design
Apple is the undisputed king of design, and the iPad Air 2 is certainly no exception to this. The device is extremely thin and sleek and comes in color choices of silver, gold, and space gray, all of which are very classy and flashy.

The Surface 2 is a little more fun. It comes in silver, but also presents color choice for the keyboard, giving it personal flair. iPad users can also purchase a keyboard in a variety of colors, but the use of the keyboard is much more central to the Surface experience. It's quite a bit thicker than the iPad Air 2, and unlike the iPad, it features a USB 3.0 port and a Mini DisplayPort, a microSD card reader and a micro USB charging port.

The fact that the Surface 3 includes these ports makes it much more of a likely candidate for laptop replacement than a strict tablet. This is further emphasized by the device's use of the keyboard.

Processing, Storage and RAM
The Microsoft Surface 3 comes with a quad-core Intel Atom x7 processor, which is quite a high-performing processor for a device of this class. The base frequency of the processor is 1.6 GHz, and it is able to reach 2.4 GHz at maximum.

The Apple A8X processor, which is featured in the iPad Air 2, has a base frequency of 1.5 GHz. The iPad Air 2 also comes with 16 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB storage options, with 2 GB of RAM. This is similar to the Surface 3, which comes with either 64 GB or 128 GB of storage and either 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM.

Software
The Surface 3 comes with a full version of Windows 8.1, and it will be upgradable for free to Windows 10 once the new operating system is released. It also comes with a free one-year subscription to Microsoft's Office 365, making the device very business-oriented right out of the box.

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Bing Ads Power Tools: Ad Insights

Want to glean deeper insights into your search ad performance? Columnist John Cosley discusses four valuable ad insights tools within Bing Ads.

In sports, politics and business, you’re only as good as who you surround yourself with. But when it comes to strategy, you’re only as good as what you know — and having the right tools to keep you informed can mean the difference between great campaign performance and mediocre results.
With that in mind, I wanted to share my four favorite ad insights tools within Bing Ads to keep you informed – and outperforming both your advertising objectives and your competition.

Top Movers

Many shifting variables can lead to account performance variations, making tough work for marketers. Top Movers is an account-level report that is generated when certain click thresholds are met. The report provides a snapshot of changes in clicks, spend, and conversion over a selected time period, identifying campaigns and ad groups with the biggest performance changes.
Top Movers suggests possible causes of performance fluctuations, whether those are internal account changes, competition or eligible search volume. Even more important, it suggests possible actions to fix those undesirable performance fluctuations.
Top Movers is a one-stop shop to check account performance, increase productivity and reduce workload. Use this tool every week to quickly monitor your account’s performance over time.
Top Movers allows you to quickly diagnose your performance variation issues by providing the drivers (Campaigns and Ad groups) and possible causes of those changes. Bing Ads goes one critical step further, suggesting actions to resolve the issues.

Auction Insights

The Auction Insights report uses display URLs to help you quickly identify advertisers who are competing in the same auction, and to strategize how to compete effectively.
The Auction Insights report is generated at campaign, adgroup, and keyword level (preferred), providing an overview of who your competition is and where you stand against them in the auction – using parameters such as impression share, average position, overlap-rate, position above-rate, and top of the page rate.
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10 Practical Tips For Using Geo-Location To Reach Your Target Audience

Geography plays an important part in creating customized and targeted marketing campaigns, and columnist Wesley Young lays out ways in which local search marketers can use geolocation to their advantage.

Jeans company True Religion needed to promote events and new products at its retail stores. Using geo-targeted emails focused on areas in which the brand had a high concentration of stores, True Religion was able to serve up dynamic emails unique to each audience to drive in-store traffic.
65,000 geo-targeted emails were opened with a 2.5% click through rate and a 1% in-store conversion, a huge impact for one campaign with a small data set, per True Religion’s Director of Global e-Commerce, Gary Penn.

Examples like the above support metrics that find geotargeting doubles the performance of all kinds of marketing methods, from email campaigns to paid search. Per data from the Local Search Association’s LSA Insights database, it also doesn’t matter what vertical your business is in.  The click-through rate for geotargeted mobile display ads was higher than the industry benchmark for all verticals.

 

The effectiveness of geo-targeting is only going to further improve as mobile use grows and location data becomes more accurate and available. The Local Search Association (LSA) just released data that found that, for the first time, mobile devices surpassed PC use in search for local businesses and services. As I reported last month, the majority of searches (52%) for local information on mobile devices occur either in the car or away from home or work.
Furthermore, 70% of consumers are willing to share their location information if they believe they are getting something of value in return like coupons or loyalty points, according to LSA’s Local Mobile Search Study.  This dynamically moving consumer base is only going to be more receptive to search results and ads that are specific to their location.
Geotargeting is the practice of delivering content to a consumer — via mobile or web — using geographic location information about that individual. At a basic level, a business can restrict its reach to consumers only located in a defined geographic area such as a state or a city. But location often provides much deeper, more meaningful and identifiable traits that tell you what a person wants, needs or is interested in.
Here are 10 practical tips for using geo-location information to reach your target audience.

1. Find A Venue Where Your Target Audience Will Have Specific Wants Or Needs

Stadiums, airports, universities, and malls are examples of specific venues that can be targeted in order to reach specific interest groups. Stadiums provide a great opportunity to focus on specific short engagement events with an audience defined by that event. They often host fans from two specific cities or schools or fans of a specific music genre that is heavy in one demographic. A band like One Direction, for example, is likely to attract school-age female fans.
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