About 25% of the world’s population is on Facebook. (That’s more than two billion people.) And every day, 25% of the world collectively watches 100 million hours of video on Facebook. Wrap your head around that for a second. In Delhi, Brisbane, Paris, and Minneapolis, one out of four people is on Facebook, probably watching a cat or cooking or car video right now. This is an opportunity business owners cannot ignore. Facebook allows you to form community with real people — to talk directly with customers throughout their sales process and develop relationships during the ownership cycle. 

INBOUND, HubSpot’s truly massive digital marketing conference held in Boston each year, really isn’t what you’d expect. Mostly because I don’t think any one of us attendees can be totally prepared for the sheer size of the conference. 24,000-plus people from 131 countries . . . it’s a lot of awesome brain power in one place. And a lot of fun — marketers really know how to throw a party. INBOUND left us feeling both exhausted (we walked miles around the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center every day!) and motivated to make a difference in our industry.

Auto dealers live in a world of alphabet soup. But in the mess of confusing acronyms are big opportunities to make money. The terms iMR and LMA don’t mean much to people outside of the Chevrolet auto family (or the team here at 9 Clouds) — but they’ve been known to cause a fair amount of anxiety for some Chevy dealers. I recently had the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of these Chevy auto co-op programs, including how dealers submit claims for iMR match funds. It’s a confusing system at first, but once you learn to meet…

Hard things are hard, but they uncover your potential. I was reminded of this lesson after seeing Michelle Obama.

If you’re an active Google AdWords user, you’ve probably noticed a few recent rollouts of updates, additions, and beta versions. We highlighted the biggest changes happening to the AdWords interface earlier this year. And now, there are a few more AdWords updates you’ll want to note. Don’t worry — you’ll still be able to toggle back to the old-school version if you want. But with these four improved features, we think it’s worth taking the plunge to the new AdWords interface.

Here’s a situation for you. You’re sitting in your brand-new car, which you just drove off the dealership lot. You pull into your driveway and begin to set up all your new vehicle’s technology features, like the driver information center, Bluetooth hookup, Pandora Radio, and more. You try to figure out the setup process by fumbling through it yourself. When that proves unsuccessful, you turn to the owner’s manual. Unfortunately, the manual has vague instructions with few images — or worse, no setup instructions at all.

9 Clouds was founded to help teach businesses how to use the Internet more effectively. Asking questions is the best way to learn. Since education is one of our core values, we were thrilled when Gail reached out to ask for more information about autonomous vehicles, a topic we’ve been writing about a lot lately. For those who are equally curious about the topic of driverless cars, here’s a look at our conversation with Gail.

September has always been a month of change, and I’ve never been a fan. September often meant moving to a new school or returning to school without my friends who had graduated. The sound of cicadas in the evening, the tall green stalks that hid the country roads, and the humid summer nights were suddenly no more. It was all changing at once.

You’d look both ways as you crossed the parking lot, of course, but once those glass doors parted to let you in, all bets were off. I can remember tearing through the maze of aisles with my brother to take in all that was around us or to hunt down that newest toy we had seen on TV. Usually, we’d discover something wonderful, fun, and altogether unexpected.

Last December, my husband and I bought our first home. I’ll be honest — we had no idea what we were doing. And if I’m really honest? It seemed like the real estate industry had no idea what it was doing, either.

Many car dealerships are now competing for the best keywords on Google. Thanks to new requirements and changes in Search Impression Share, dealers are catfighting for the biggest piece of the pie (AKA the coveted top ad position in search results). If you have been advertising for a while on Google AdWords, you’ve probably seen an increase in the cost per click (CPC) of many keywords. So, why the cost hike? Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Ford and Chrysler, are now mandating a portion of each marketing budget to be used online. More specifically, they’re mandating it to be…

Like many, I’m sad to see the summer months leave, but as the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” And with the changing seasons come cooler days, longer nights, and sips of hot cocoa and apple cider. But just when I start feeling warm and fuzzy at the beginning of fall, one thing keeps bringing me down — and that’s Netflix removing some truly binge-worthy TV shows.