More than 1 in 3 B2B Marketers Held Back from Measuring Campaigns by Messy Data
36 percent of B2B marketers say that having messy data is a top marketing performance measurement challenge, according to recently-release report data. Topping the list at 47 percent was the inability to perform cross-platform data analysis, however, followed by a lack of resources at 42 percent. MarketingCharts

‘Surprised’ emotions in video ads drive conversions during pandemic, study says
Video ad performance jumped 360 percent when showing surprised people, while there was a 64 percent drop in conversions for video ads showing happy emotions during the first three seconds — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers in newly-released pandemic marketing study data. Marketing Dive

Instagram now lets everyone pin comments on posts
Brands have a new option for helping manage Instagram conversations, as the Facebook-owned platform has rolled out the ability to pin comments on posts, expanding a previous test to all users, the firm recently announced. CNET

4 in 10 Marketers and Creatives Lack A Single Central Source of Truth for Digital Assets
Just 34 percent of marketers report using a digital asset management (DAM) system, while 61 percent use only cloud storage platforms, and 51 percent who use a server on-location at the company, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

Google Adds New Predicted Audience Action Tools into Google Analytics
Google has updated Google Analytics with a variety of new automated audience suggestions that use the search giant’s latest advanced prediction capacity, offering data such as the likelihood of a purchase within a week, the company recently announced. Social Media Today

Twitter’s Working on a New Subscription Service, Which Could Provide New Options for Prominent Users
Twitter stock shares rose some 12 percent over the possibility that the firm is planning to launch a subscription-based service that may include an option to pay for a verified account — a change that could affect how digital marketers utilize the platform. Social Media Today

Google’s 3D Swirl ad format now available in DV360
Google recently announced that its display and Video 360 customers worldwide now have access to its 3D Swirl mobile interactive ad format, which allows advertisers to either utilize existing 3D digital assets or create new ones using Google’s Poly 3D design platform. Marketing Land

COVID-19’s Impact on Marketers’ Content, Investment, and Targeting Strategies
56 percent of U.S. marketers have increased spending on social content, according to recently-released survey data, while thought leadership content investment was up some 53 percent, the report noted. MarketingProfs

Why consumers follow and unfollow brands on social media [Sprout Social 2020 Index]
35 percent of consumers find new social media accounts to follow through mentions from influencers who they follow, according to new Sprout Social report data, which also shows that 89 percent will purchase from brands they follow online, and that 50 percent have increased their social media usage over the past six months. ClickZ

Gen Z wants brands to be ‘fun,’ ‘authentic’ and ‘good,’ study says
Gen Z trusts brands more when they use actual customers in ads, and 72 percent are more likely to buy from a company that contributes to social causes, according to recently-released report data. 58 percent of the demographic also said that they can’t be offline more than four hours without becoming uncomfortable, the report shows. Marketing Dive

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “the value proposition and lessons from higher education” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Mother Using Facebook Night Mode Afraid She’s Stumbled Onto Dark Web — The Hard Times

Instagram Post of Twitter Screenshot Shows TikTok Star Reacting to Vine Compilation on YouTube — The Hard Times

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 21 Ways To Remotely Network In B2B — Forbes
• Nick Nelson — What’s Trending: Connect With Content — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — The Future of Marketing: 50 CMO Quotes On How Marketing Has Changed — MarketingProfs
• Lee Odden — Expert Conversations on Executive Engagement / C-Suite Marketing podcast — ITSMA

Have you found your own top B2B content marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for joining us, and please come back next Friday for another collection of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don’t miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

The post B2B Marketing News: B2B Marketers Challenged By Messy Data, Instagram’s Pinned Comments, Sprout Social’s Index & Top Pandemic Emotion Study appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.