Happy Friday everyone! Before you head off to your Memorial Day destination (if you haven’t already), check out this week’s roundup of our top five reads.
Stat of the Week
Small businesses aren’t the only ones who have turned their marketing focus local: According to a new study by Balihoo, nearly two-thirds (66.2%) of national brands invest in local marketing (i.e., they conduct marketing campaigns directed at customers in their local markets). Tracking Local Marketing ROI Challenges National Brands – via MarketingProfs
List of the Week
90% of your prospects go online to search for products they intend to acquire offline locally. Small biz expert John Jantsch has five online tools that will help you reach those prospects and drive sales. 5 Ways to Use Online Tools to Drive offline Sales – via Duct Tape Marketing
Tip of the Week
What makes content go viral? After studying three months of New York Times content, Jonah Berger and Katherine Milkman have your answer: positivity. They found that people are more likely to share content that makes them happy. FAVE HOW TO: Predict What Online Content Will Go Viral – via Sarah’s Faves
Stroke of Genius of the Week
Men In Black 3 is responsible for two strokes of genius this week. Not only have they enlisted a 14-year-old blogger (known as BugEyes126) to build buzz for the movie – he’s got over 100K fans and followers called MIBelievers – but they’ve actually put BugEyes in the film! Men in Black 3 Puts Viral Blogger Inside the Movie [Exclusive Video] – via Mashable
And Finally…
Overwhelmed by how much data is out there on the Web? Good; you should be. Sensory Overload [Infographic] – via Alltop
