Street Fight Daily: SMBs to Prioritize Social Marketing, Snap Files for IPO

A roundup of today's big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

U.S. SMBs Plan to Prioritize Social Media Spending Over SEO and Email in 2017 (eMarketer)When Infusionsoft asked SMBs about marketing channels where they expect to increase spending, 56% planned to up their social media budget, while a third planned to dedicate more resources to digital advertising and search engine optimization.

Street Culture: How Some of the Most Successful Startup Leaders Motivate Their Teams (Street Fight)New tech startups might not have a formula to create culture, but many leaders consider culture an important component for success. Though every company is different, some trends emerge: leaders must be transparent, they must hire for fit, and they must give employees a way to feel that they partially own the company.

Snapchat Parent Snap Inc. Files for IPO (WSJ)Snap Inc. lifted the veil on its highly anticipated initial public offering, revealing a business that is growing at a torrid clip but that also faces challenges keeping users engaged, attracting new ones—and justifying a valuation that could reach $25 billion.

Openings and New Hires at Cuebiq, Unacast, Toys 'R' Us, and Propel (Street Fight)Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week's edition includes moves and new openings at Yext, Square, inMarket, Placed and Tiger Pistol.

Data Management Platform Adoption Is on the Rise, but Challenges Remain (AdExchanger)Marketers in some industries, such as manufacturing and education, are seriously lagging in DMP adoption, according to a survey released Tuesday by market research firm The Relevancy Group.

Why Retailers Struggle to Adopt Mobile Payments (Digiday)Legacy retail giants are still focused more on cutting costs than improving the customer experience; overhauling hardware and software is enormously complex; and consumers need more incentives to use mobile payments on a daily basis.

Why Search Continues to Trouble Small Business Owners (MediaPost)The survey results found that 40% of respondents did not feel their use of AdWords yielded new business leads, while an additional 33% said AdWords produced very few leads.

Amazon's Holiday Quarter Doesn't Match High Expectations (New York Times)Despite a 55 percent increase in profit, Amazon's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2016 was not as strong as Wall Street had predicted, and an after-hours sell-off by investors dropped the company's share price more than 4 percent.

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Source: Street Fight Daily: SMBs to Prioritize Social Marketing, Snap Files for IPO