11 Trends That Are
Changing the
Marketing World

Trend Overview
- Mobile Drives Growth (p. 3)
- A Visual Age (p. 8)
- Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience (p. 13)
- The Rise of Marketing Hardware (p. 18)
- The People Behind the Brand (p. 21)
- Holistic Marketing (p. 25)
- Earned/Paid Convergence (p. 30)
- Controlling Content Distribution (p. 33)
- Consumerization of B2B Marketing (p. 36)
- Using Complex Data to Simplify (p. 39)
- A Renewed Focus on Metrics and Attribution (p. 42)
2

3
MOBILE DRIVES
GROWTH
Mobile is growing faster than any marketing channel ever

US Digital Ad Spending
(eMarketer, March 2015)
2013 2014 2015 2016 20182017
$32.44
$10.67
$31.58
$195
$29.89
$28.72
$26.59
$40.50
$24.96
$49.81
$25.17
$57.78
Desktop
Mobile
($s in billions)
Increasing Mobile Spend
The increasing spend on digital marketing is driven by growth in mobile and social. Brands will invest
more in native mobile ads and DR-mobile ads, as they realize that mobile and social can drive bot-
tom-of-the-funnel action as well.
Mobile Drives Growth
Mobile growth is fueling major acquisitions:
- Twitter purchased Mopub
- Facebook purchased WhatsApp and LiveRail, which it recently turned into a mobile ad network
4
Facebook Net Ad Revenue Worldwide
(eMarketer, Dec 2014)
2013 2014 2015 2016
55%
45%
65%
35%
27%
73%
25%
75%
Desktop
Mobile
(% of total)

Advertising in Emerging Mobile-Social Apps
Brands and the emerging class of mobile-social apps are starting to figure out how to serve ads that
are natively mobile and fit the user experience. In its early stages, brands are even experimenting with
subversive ways to leverage these platforms. Innovation is largely being led by Asian platforms (Line
and WeChat).
Discover allows Snapchat’s editorial partners to serve
beautiful and intuitive native ads on the messaging platform
Popular Asian chat app, Line, introduced Line@, a way for
brands to chat 1-to-1 or 1-to-many with consumers
Mobile Drives Growth
Ex Machina ran a native marketing stunt on Tinder at SXSW
by creating a profile for the film’s main character, an AI bot
named Ava, who directed matches to the film’s website
Facebook’s Messenger app platform allows companies to
build apps that integrate directly (such as Giphy) and gives
brands an opportunity to chat 1-to-1 with consumers
5

Rise of Deeplinking
As a consequence of the explosion of mobile, the communication between native mobile apps and
from mobile web to mobile app needs to feel seamless. This will happen via intelligent deep linking
and will eventually create an experience where mobile web and native mobile are indistinguishable.
As apps continue to dominate the mobile web, the number of active apps continues to grow, and
unbundled single-use mobile apps (e.g. Instagram and Whatsapp as standalone Facebook apps)
continue to gain in popularity, app to app communication is key. Several companies have raised a lot
of venture capital to tackle this challenge, including AppsFlyer, Branch Metric, and URX.
20%
80% 86%
14%
2013 2014
Apps
Mobile Web
Percentage of Time Spent
(Flurry Analytics)
0k
250k
500k
750k
1,000k
1,250k
1,500k
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Total Active Apps by Store
(appfigures)
Apple Play Amazon
Mobile Drives Growth 6

Tracking the Mobile Customer Journey
The rise of mobile browsing is presenting a whole new set of challenges for tracking the customer
journey. However, we are already seeing big improvements in solving the cross-device challenge.
Average Time Spent per Day by US Adult Users
of Each Major Medium, 2010-2014 (hrs:mins)
(eMarketer, September 2014)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
4:29 4:37 4:44 4:39 4:45
0:21 1:38 1:59 2:22 2:43
3:04 3:14 3:03 2:49 2:38
0:40 1:03 1:35 2:03 2:13
1:43 1:42 1:39 1:38 1:36
1:08 1:05 1:00 0:55 0:47
TV
Tablet
Desktop/laptop
Smartphone (nonvoice)
Radio
Print
Cross-device advertising
Social advertising
Video advertising
Getting better results from real-time bidding
Mobile advertising
Measurement and attribution
70%
41%
45%
55%
61%
64%
Digital Advertising Topics that US Agency Media
Proffessionals Would Like to Know More About in 2014
(% of respondents)
(Conversant, April 2014)
The transition to people-based targeting with user profiles/log-in data is a huge step forward.
Services like Atlas allow marketers to track people’s activities and target them across devices
(including apps).
As time spent on desktops/laptops declines, time spent on
mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) has been on the rise.
Mobile Drives Growth 7

Now that high quality cameras are in virtually everybody's pockets
(smartphones), visual media is the preferred method of communication
8
A VISUAL
AGE

Increasing Prevalance of Video
Video is the new photo—produced specifically for the respective platform. This year, there will be
exponentially more original online video content (rather than repurposed) from brands.
3B 94%# of video views per day on
Facebook, as of Jan 2015,
compared to 2 billion video
views per month in 2010
YOY increase in videos
shared on Facebook in the
US
1BNumber of Buzzfeed’s
monthly video views, up
from 60 million in 2013
A Visual Age
50%YOY increase for the last
three years in video watch
time on YouTube TV Newspaper Radio Search Other
Digital
Online
Video Ads
DisplayOther
Non-Digital
Mobile
-2.8%
-13.9% -16.8%
8.6% 6.0%
19.5%
2.9%6.7%
110.2%
Annual Growth of Advertising Revenue by
Format, US, 2013-2016
(BI Intelligence)
9

Visual Networks in the Spotlight
From a marketing opportunity perspective, Pinterest and Instagram will mature the most this year,
with massive leaps in ad products and targeting capabilities.
A Visual Age
Lots of advertising momentum on
Pinterest: frequently rolling out
new ad products and announcing
a buy button this year
Instagram launched clickable
ads, finally allowing brands to link
back to their websites
Following Facebook’s success
with native video, Twitter has
introduced native video in an
effort to become a more visual
network
10

A Shift Toward Visual Storytelling
This trend mirrors the success mobile apps have had by focusing on the story. One way this will
manifest is through brand video series/mini TV shows. Will consumers tune in?
Gap invested in an Instagram micro-series that takes
advantage of the looped video to tell their story.
The New Orleans Saints were a Snapchat early
adopter, sending stories to followers with
behind-the-scenes footage and sneak peaks.
A Visual Age 11

Maturing Infrastructure for Visual Influencers
There’s been a notable rising class of Internet celebrities on Instagram, Vine, YouTube, etc. As the
influencer infrastructure continues to mature (agencies, technology, tracking, etc.), there will be a
saturation because it’s increasingly easy to gain influence. All of these visual platforms are competing
to be the home for these rising influencers.
PR firm Weber Shandwick says they dedicate
20% of their clients’ budgets to social influencer
marketing
20%
$30-$50
Million
Twitter reportedly paid $30-$50 million to
acquire Niche, an influencer talent agency
A Visual Age
iHeartRadio enlisted ultimate frisbee star and
Vine influencer, Brodie Smith, to promote their
summer pool party. Smith’s video (catching a
frisbee on a jet ski) was looped over 6 million
times.
6 million
$5k-$30k
Brands are paying Vine influencers anywhere
from $5,000-$30,000 per video, according to
Gary Vaynerchuk
12
Vine influencer, Meagan
Cignoli’s videos have
been looped over 120
million times and she has
won a Cannes Cyber
Lion for her work.

Successful marketers recognize that technology is a means to a better,
personalized customer experience, not an end in itself
13
TECHNOLOGY
CREATES A MORE
PERSONALIZED
EXPERIENCE

As marketing continues to converge with technology, it will be imperative for CMOs to be seen as
technology leaders. At the same time, customer experience is still as important as ever, leading to a
CMO split between Chief Technology Officer and Chief Experience Officer.
The Future CMO: Tech vs. Customer Experience
“By 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO”
—Laura McLellan, VP of Research, Gartner
...but at the same time...
Companies that focus on providing a superior and low effort experience across their
customer journeys realized positive business results, including a 10-15% increase in revenue
growth and a 20% increase in customer satisfaction.
—McKinsey Customer Experience Survey
...and...
“People are realizing that a key differentiator for companies
is the user experience”
—Carola Fellenz Thompson, CXO at Splunk
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience 14

Increasingly, personalization at scale is possible and marketers will start to see more of this in
everything from email marketing to personalized push notifications. For a long time, marketers have
segmented their audience to serve messages that resonate—when marketers can feasibly create
segments of one, marketing messages will be all the more powerful.
Personalization Scales
Companies are using machine learning technology and
customer behavior data to provide 1-to-1 personalization
for mobile apps. Personalized push notification drives 4x
lift in retention for mobile apps (Forrester).
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience
TripAdvisor personalizes emails based on what links users
clicked on previous emails and what they did on-site. For
example, someone who searched for Seattle is more
likely to be interested in an email that suggests checking
out Portland than Kansas City.
15

Brands have started getting good at leveraging real-life events to drive mindshare in social in
real-time. We're going to see more of this in non-social marketing channels, with email, display, and
other campaigns triggered by and tied to real-time events.
Continued Growth of Real-Time Marketing
These NBA Store web banners
changed based on the viewer’s
market and the current weather,
creating more powerful tailored
experiences.
For the Super Bowl, Coca Cola created
multiple spots, enabling them to run the
one that matched the game’s particular
circumstance. Brands have wanted to do
RTM beyond social for a while, but now,
brands of all budgets are able to partake.
Famously, Oreo’s 2013 Super
Bowl social media command
center created the primary
real-time marketing example.
Because of that, many other
brands are continuing to invest in
real-time marketing, knowing its
potential success.
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience 16

This trend is largely being led by social. Because social profiles are consumers’ identities in the digital
age, there is a treasure trove of consumer data. Brands will use this social data to make ad
experiences like web banners more sophisticated through behavioral targeting built on identity and
interests. As an added benefit, sophisticated targeting eliminates wasteful spending on unintended
audiences.
Personalization via Better Targeting
Unlike the incumbent cookie-based targeting
that is browser-dependent and therefore
limited to desktop measurement, Atlas’
people-based targeting goes a long way in
unlocking cross-device targeting capabilities
Targeting based on social behavioral data, such
as a post, tweet, or pin—personalized for real
social influencers and consumers
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience 17

As consumers continue to become more mobile, brands are looking for
novel ways to engage with customers on-the-go
18
THE RISE OF
MARKETING
HARDWARE

This year will mark the first forays into marketing on wearables. The early attempts are going to be
ugly, invasive and there will be consumer backlash, but the time it takes marketing to hit new
platforms is shrinking.
Marketing on Wearables
With the release of the Apple Watch this spring, brands will be investing in ways to capitalize on
wearable-specific apps now that they will likely be mass-market.
Just like for mobile, the big question for brands is how do you create a novel marketing experience
specifically designed for the wearable experience, rather than just a desktop ad on a smaller screen?
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience 19

Beacon and other physical marketing hardware will see rapid adoption this year, with location-based
promotions and improved in-store experience. This new digital engagement will help brands solve
offline attribution.
Beacons...Beacons Everywhere
SXSW deployed 1,000 beacons to help attendees get the
most out of their experience, such as finding meetups and
other events of interest.
Macy’s partnered with Shopkick to put beacons throughout
their stores giving customers personalized offers based on
past behavior and current location.
73 percent of shoppers say that the content and offers
delivered by beacons as they roam a store increased
their likelihood of making a purchase, according to Swirl
Networks, a beacon marketing platform.
In select stores, Urban Outfitters uses beacons to prompt
customers to check-in and post content on social media to
unlock exclusive offers and information.
Technology Creates a More Personalized Experience
73%
20

Despite the growing importance of technology in marketing, brands are
finding success by remembering that at the core, it is still about people
21
THE PEOPLE BEHIND
THE BRAND

With the prevalence of technology in marketing, it’s increasingly important for brands to show their
human side, via authenticity. Trust is at a premium and brands understand how important trust is when
it comes to winning over customers for life.
Wave of Authenticity
There is a movement to make doing something good a part of a brand’s DNA—such as
celebrating who people really are vs. societal “ideals” (Dove) or putting the environment
before profits (Patagonia).
The People Behind the Brand 22

Brands will continue to find more creative ways to involve customers in marketing creation, including
leveraging high quality user-generated content.
Increasing Customer Involvement
Much of GoPro’s marketing
features UGC (customers using
the product). It’s a great way to
demonstrate social proof, as well
as show off the product benefits.
Betabrand takes customer
involvement all the way into
product development, allowing
fans to submit potential products,
which are then voted on before
hitting production.
The People Behind the Brand
Lays’ “Do Us A Flavor” contest
allows fans to submit new flavors
for a chance to win one million
dollars. Contests have received
millions of fan submissions and
whole new flavors.
23

Paying for attention is getting increasingly difficult and expensive. Therefore, more of the marketing
budget is going to creating customer experiences than ads in an attempt to earn attention and word
of mouth.
Experiences Are the New Ads
Bud Light’s #UpForWhatever campaign is
built on the strategy that experiences are the
way to a consumer’s heart. More and more
brands are investing in customer
experiences to create a deep (and hopefully
life-long) connection with their fans.
Mophie (the battery charging phone case),
rather than a standard booth, grabbed
SXSWers attention by rescuing attendees
who are low on battery with phone
charging saint bernards. That experience is
worth more than any 30-second ad.
The People Behind the Brand 24

Successful brands cohesively put their best foot forward across an
ever-increasing assortment of consumer channels
25
HOLISTIC
MARKETING

The end of digital marketing...and the emergence of marketing in a digital world. So little in the world
now is not digital, especially when it comes to marketing. So much so that it’s superfluous to even use
the term digital. Also, a bit later, the end of “social marketing”.
R.I.P. Digital Marketing
“The era of digital marketing is over—P&G’s marketing team has stopped thinking of
digital in terms of the the tools, the platforms, the apps, the QR codes, augmented reality,
holograms or whatever is coming next or as a mysteries medium with its own set of
metrics, but for what it is: a tool to build out brands by reaching people with fresh,
creative, campaigns.”
—Mark Pritchard, P&G Global Brand Building Officer
Digital natives don’t separate their “digital
lives” from their “non-digital lives”...it’s all
just life. The same goes for marketing. As
digital natives increasingly become the
majority of consumers, brands will need
to be where their consumers are and
follow suit.
Holistic Marketing 26

Look for brands to do more marketing that leverages different media in creative and intelligent ways,
such as TV campaigns that drive earned social sharing to meet the challenge of an ever-complex
consumer journey.
Cross-Platform Campaigns
Brands need to think about the journey in a holistic way, and provide engaging touchpoints along the way. The
recent technological advancements have allowed brands to use different types of media together (e.g.
promoted tweets timed to TV spots) and leverage insights from one channel to optimize another.
Holistic Marketing
Quaker ran a promoted tweet campaign that targeted
people who tweeted about cooking, food,
entertainment, and family, and timed it to run at the
same time as TV programs with their commercials, to
extend their TV campaign’s reach.
27
To promote the third season of Game of Thrones, HBO
sent personalized boxes with Westeros goodies and
exclusive content to celebrities and social influencers
to share on social before and during the show. With the
rise of dual-screening, HBO is making GoT a
cross-platform event.

With the growth of digital media, the definition of native advertising is expanding. Consumers have
gained power in the consumer-media relationship, and as a result, it’s increasingly important that
advertisements integrate seamlessly with the consumer’s larger experience. Whether it’s in the form
of sponsored content, built off of the existing user experience or something new entirely, native
advertising will benefit brands, publishers, and consumers. This, however, does present one major
challenge for publishers: the inherent ethical dilemma of blurring business and editorial.
The Expansion of Native Advertising
Refinery 29 Content
One of many “new media” companies,
Refinery 29 has been a pioneer in
publisher native advertising. They’ve
succeeded in large part by partnering
with brands to co-create content that is
top-tier and continue to do so on
emerging platforms.
Target’s #MoreMusic + Grammys
No matter what you think of the
execution (or Imagine Dragons), Target’s
shot at native advertising on TV started a
huge conversation about where native
advertising can go.
Holistic Marketing
Netflix’s Orange is the New Black + NYT
OITNB worked with the NYT to sponsor a
piece written by a NYT editor about
female incarceration. Rather than strictly
promoting the show, the piece provided
legitimate and valuable insight.
28

Social commerce will take a huge leap forward this year, from the introduction of buy buttons on the
major social networks to more direct-response social marketing, as brands realize that social can
impact more than just the top and middle-of-the-funnel.
Social Commerce
Facebook and Twitter have been testing buy
buttons for many months now, Pinterest
announced that one is coming this year,
Tumblr has a live buy button for limited
partners = this is the year of the social buy
button.
Not only will this mean purchases directly
from social channels, but it will also help
prove to brands that social has the power to
drive customers through the bottom of the
funnel, resulting in more investment in
direct-response social ads.
Holistic Marketing 29

Brands that leverage earned and paid in tandem are finding success
30
EARNED/PAID
CONVERGENCE

Given the decline of organic reach on the major social networks, brands are starting to understand the
importance of earned social. Brands will also use paid media to jumpstart earned social campaigns,
such as using TV ads to create awareness for UGC contests.
Jumpstarting Earned Campaigns
Made By You
Converse’s campaign celebrates all the people
who wear chucks. Seeded by print ads and social
ads, Converse asked fans to share their own
chucks on social.
#AndTheCokeGoesTo
Coke’s TV spot ends with a cliffhanger and asks fans to
guess the end of the story on social media by using
the hashtag. Eventually, Coke revealed the last scene
on Facebook and Twitter. This expands on Coke’s
larger “Share a Coke” campaign that, too, encourages
sharing on social.
Earned/Paid Convergence 31

Additionally, brands will then amplify earned social (what their fans post) with the added capabilities
(such as production quality, reach, and targeting opportunities) of paid social promotion.
Paid Social Amplification
This McDonald’s spot leverages a social media post that one of their fans’ shared. Brands are
increasingly selecting fans to be a part of ad campaigns based on what they say on social media.
Wheat Thins (boatload of Wheat Thins) and Heineken (Departure Roulette En Route), have done this in
the past. As social continues to grow and become the primary form of communication, brands will
continue to leverage what their fans share on social.
Earned/Paid Convergence 32

Who owns the data owns more of the digital world--brands, platforms, and
publishers are figuring out who owns what
33
CONTROLLING
CONTENT
DISTRIBUTION

Because of the democratization of distribution (social media), brands no longer need to rely on
traditional media. Now, in order to succeed, brands must increasingly create and distribute their own
content that resonates with their audience. Many brands are taking marketing and advertising
in-house, combining the creative ability to create compelling content with their intimate knowledge of
their consumers.
Brands as Publishers
The Thrillist Media Group and its new in-house agency,
CoLab, create content for millennial males that double as
marketing for its retail arm, JackThreads, and ad partners.
Microsoft, in 2014, created Microsoft Stories, which serves
as a publishing outlet for Microsoft’s content.
An evolution of their policy content site, Pressing, GE’s Ideas
Lab publishes and curates content with the aim of
positioning the brand as a leader of innovation.
Over the last few years, Apple has increasingly brought
their creative in-house, giving the brand more control
over their marketing.
Controlling Content Distrubtion 34

Social networks will make an effort to host all the content, rather than act as a distribution pipe. Brands
will need to decide if they want to continue relying on social networks for traffic.
Social Networks: Platforms vs. Publishers
Content: Facebook is convincing
publishers to publish right on
Facebook (and share ad revenue)
rather than link back to their sites;
they want to host content for brands
Video: Twitter and Facebook (and
Line and Kik) have introduced native
video platforms and embedding
capabilities, making YouTube an
unnecessary step
News: Snapchat Discover brings the
news to Snapchat, rather than
making users go from Snapchat to
the news site
eCommerce: Buy buttons from the
major social networks are expected
to come later this year
Controlling Content Distrubtion
Buzzfeed’s BFF team makes content specifically to be
published in social streams. CEO Jonah Peretti says it’s
a huge reason why their video views have grown so
quickly. On the other hand, Bleacher Report is actively
diversifying its traffic channels, knowing that platforms
can always turn off the traffic pipe.
35

36
B2B marketing tools are maturing, allowing B2B marketers to leverage
technology much like B2C marketers
CONSUMERIZATION
OF B2B MARKETING

With new technology that allows for unprecedented targeting and scaling, B2B marketers are able
use strategies that used to only make sense for B2C.
B2B Adopts and Adapts B2C Strategies
B2B marketers are starting to think about their content and audience in the same way as B2C
marketers. They are beginning to effectively use programmatic ads, conversion tracking, A/B testing,
and other technology to build consumer-like brand relationships at scale.
B2C concepts—holistic, cross-channel, automated, full-funnel marketing—are now necessary to be
successful in B2B. According to Forrester, 90% of the buying process now takes place before the
prospect ever reaches out.
B2B Matures
(Bizo, Forrester)
37

Look for B2B to get increasingly digital with more fully-integrated solutions. While LinkedIn is leading
in offering end-to-end solutions, competitors will follow suit. In B2B, integrating marketing data and
consumer marketing techniques will win.
B2B Platform Integration
LinkedIn’s acquisition of Bizo marked
the first major consolidation within the
B2B marketing industry.
Their introduction of off-network ads is
just the next step in scaling B2B
marketing in a way B2C marketers
have been doing it for years.
B2B Matures 38

Marketing is transitioning from a focus on big data to actionable data
39
USING COMPLEX
DATA TO SIMPLIFY

The quantity of data is certainly unprecedented. Famously, in 2013 the US Chamber of Commerce
published a report that 90% of the world’s data was generated in the last two years. But now, it’s all
about the quality and depth of the data—making sure it’s more insightful and actionable. Brands who
know more about their actual customers, rather than heuristics, and act on the insights from that data
will succeed.
Deeper Data
Using Complex Data to Simplify
For example, Facebook first
told brands that its metric of
success was page likes
because that meant greater
reach. Then it was post likes
and comments because that
meant engagement. Now, it’s
all about conversions—
progressively deeper levels of
consumer data.
15%
16%
8%
68%
33%
31%
27%
39%
58%
39%
32%
45%
92%
68%
69%
60%
75%
80%
2.6x
2x
5.6x
1.4x
2.1x
2.2x
2.2x
1.9x
1.4x
Adjusts real-time offers based
on context
Tracks customer lifetime
value
Uses optimization tech across
all channels
Integrates inbound/outbound
and online/offline
Conducts root causal analysis
of customer insights
Applies advanced analytics to
determine media spend
Detects transaction struggles
and takes action
Tracks commitments from svc
interactions
Identifies/remedies execution
gaps in brand promise
Knows Customer
Context and
Integrates
Accordingly
Acts on Insights -
Systematically
Takes a Broader
View of the
Customer
Experience
Data driven marketers outperform their competition
(The State of Marketing 2013, IBM’s Global Survey of Marketers)
Others Leaders Diff.
40

Technology will be about making data actionable, not necessarily collecting more. In addition to
accessing deeper data, it also means a consolidation of data collection tools. Brands want a platform
that can do it all from one place, which requires standardized metrics across digital channels, as well.
Simplifying Consumer Data
“Clients do not care about the size of our data; rather, they believe that
a single targeted insight or idea can change the way they do business.”
—Benjamin Spiegel, Managing Partner and VP-Innovation at Catalyst/GroupM
72%of marketers said their organization’s data is too fragmented
(Tealium, “The Path to Unified Marketing”)
Companies are working to consolidate for their customers:
- Oracle acquired Datalogix and BlueKai
- Salesforce acquired Rival IQ
Using Complex Data to Simplify 41

Digital channels are simultaneously making it harder and easier to measure the
customer journey, giving rise to a renewed focus on metrics and attribution
42
A RENEWED FOCUS
ON METRICS AND
ATTRIBUTION

Focus on Conversions
Because there is greater pressure to prove marketing’s business value, there will be a move away
from engagement metrics as the primary measure of social success. Instead, brands will measure
success by the LTV of the customers it creates by focusing on conversions.
“But the simple fact is, engagement is not a useful social marketing success metric...none
has proven if — or how strongly — engagement correlates to business success metrics
like loyalty or sales.”
—Nate Elliott, Principal Analyst, Forrester
No 38%
Yes 62%
Do you feel pressure from your CEO or
Board to prove the value of marketing?
(The CMO Survey/Duke University)
Increasing
Pressure
Same Decreasing
Pressure
65%
35%
0%
Is this pressure increasing, decreasing,
or about the same?
(The CMO Survey/Duke University)
A Renewed Focus on Metrics and Attribution 43

Attribution in the Spotlight
Additionally, as the pressure to prove the value of marketing increases, brands will need to focus on
sophisticated attribution in order to make sense of how their marketing affects the increasingly
complex customer journey. The biggest challenge right now is mobile, which is still primarily
measured by impressions. As mobile social apps are now an integral part of the customer journey,
brands will need to know how mobile social communications (“dark social”) leads to conversions.
Chartbeat has been a leader in trying to figure out dark social
attribution. In late 2014, they discovered that a number of highly
used mobile apps added the app identity to the user agent setting,
allowing them to properly attribute a percentage of their
customers’ dark social.
A Renewed Focus on Metrics and Attribution
0.00 0.25 0.50
Share of Dark Social
Histogram of Dark Social Share by Domain
(Chartbeat)
PortionofDomainswiththisShareCustomers are driven to purchase from
more channels than ever.
44

45
Conclusion
Marketing is changing faster than at any point in history.
Technology solutions are creating new paradigms for brands
to court, interact, and convert customers. Inspired by
empathy and personalization, accelerated by data and visual
platforms, and facilitated by mobile and social, marketers are
more empowered now than ever. Successful marketers
recognize that it is individual experience that matters most
and work to imbue all their efforts with that ethos.

About Inside Social
Inside Social is a social marketing platform that helps companies
measure and increase their social ROI by focusing on the metrics that
matter.
Our share tracking technology connects social sharing to downstream
conversions, such as a purchaes, signups, or downloads.
We are based in Seattle, WA.
Connect
@Inside_Social
Brewster Stanislaw, CEO and Co-Founder Brewster@insidesocial.com
Joey Kotkins, CMO and Co-Founder Joey@insidesocial.com
Jordan Con, Marketing Manager Jordan@insidesocial.com