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Content marketing is fast becoming an integral part of the marketing mix, providing a dynamic channel from which brands, publishers and agencies can drive awareness and customer engagement to create a deeper relationship with consumers.

In fact, research from Outbrain reveals that more than 90% of respondents predict that content marketing will increase in importance for them over the next 12 months. The research, based on a survey of more than 1,300 digital marketing professionals examined the strategies, objectives, and challenges that marketers are currently facing.

Do you know you're going to die one day? I remind myself of this every morning. Not for a depressed, self loathing, teenage angst kinda way. It's to push myself to get things done while I can.

My new years resolution was to stop using my phone while walking. My main two reasons for this are -

1) I hate the inconsiderate people (I previously included myself in this group) who slow down or even stop walking while on their phone in front of me. Nothing is that important you have to be staring at your phone that intensely, if it was, you wouldn't have forgotten about it or left it to last minute.

You might say “but I needed to check Google maps for directions”, but you could have moved to one side and not walked into oncoming people, or slowed down the people behind.

As you may know, Social Media Week London will be returning to your streets in September 2013, however if you can’t quite wait that long then why not be a part of Social Media Week NYC in February where Chinwag will be joined by some great companies for a Digital Mission trip to New York.

SMW NYC looks set to be a great week with its global theme of Open & Connected: Principles for a Collaborative World being explored by speakers including Ben Kaufman, founder & CEO of Quirky, Cindy Gallop and the MakeLoveNotPorn.tv team, and Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit.

Back in December we announced the first set of companies that will be joining us for the Digital Mission to New York in February this year. 

We are very excited to not only let you know the next lucky group of companies coming along on the trip, but also to let you take a sneaky peak at the mission agenda. 

With an investor roundtable, masterclass in doing business in the USA, a traditional British pub quiz as well as all the keynotes, showcases and presentations that are being held as part of Social Media Week NYC the mission companies are not going to be short on events to go to and people to meet. You can take a look at the full agenda for the week here.

There is one week left to apply for the Seedcamp London event hosted on the 30th and 31st of January. This event is the perfect way to start the new year for startups by applying to join the Seedcamp family you will gain the support and connections to take your company to the next level. Applications close at 11:59pm on the 8th January.

‘Content is king’ as the old maxim goes and whilst there’s still an infinite amount of truth in that statement, the intriguing sub-plot that developed over the past decade or so could perhaps be framed as ‘visibility is a close second’.

Many a beautifully scripted site bearing gifts of great content has got lost in the vast, cacophonous sea of information that is the internet.

From early paid link schemes, through unnatural links to the frowned-upon ‘carpet-bombing’ practises of Link Farms, there’s been an ongoing search for new and improved ways to optimise website rankings.

The algorithms used in search engines have long been the subject of much keen analysis (and equally keen tinkering with a view to manipulating) but the latest phase in online behemoth, Google’s development intends to restore some much-needed transparency and trust to the SEO process with Google+ Authorship Markup.

What a bizarre couple of weeks for the image conscious, or at least the photographically-minded, first Instagram severs it's close ties with Twitter, then ratchets up user anger with a dramatic changes in its terms, enabling it to sell users' photos.

Meanwhile, over at Flickr, the once beloved haunt of pictures the product development wheels have cranked into high gear with numerous updates including a well-received and surprisingly snazzy mobile app.

We're very excited to announce our latest event in the USA, working with our friends at the amazing SXSW Interactive festival, we're announcing a one-day masterclass, "Doing Business in the USA", designed for international digital firms expanding into the US taking place on Fri 8th March 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Backed by SXSW and building on Chinwag's experience within the Digital Mission series, helping UK firms expand internationally this official SXSW event provides the essential guide for Founders, CEOs and C-level executives planning to enter or expand their business in North America.

We recently announced the exciting news that the Digital Mission will be returning with its fourth expedition to New York next Spring, from 18th - 22nd February 2013. The trip is coinciding with Social Media Week New York in order to allow companies to explore the 150+ events, covering extensive topics along the vein of social media throughout the week.

We are very thrilled to announce that the first set of companies have been chosen for the mission and are all set to venture out to NYC in Feb. See below for information on the companies as well as their contact details in case you want to get in touch prior to the trip.