LinkedIn Adds Marketing, Facebook Tests Feature


LinkedIn Adds Marketing, Facebook Tests Feature

Only last week we reported that LinkedIn had acquired social relationship company Newsle. Now it appears LinkedIn is at it again. At the same time Facebook is testing a new feature that may revolutionize online retail. The Small Business Trends editorial team has you covered with all the latest news related to running your business. Enjoy!

Social Media

LinkedIn Acquires Bizo for a Cool $175 Million

LinkedIn continues what is turning into a string of purchases with the announcement it will acquire B2B marketing company Bizo for a cool $175 million. Bizo sells B2B marketing tools including targeted display advertising, social advertising, retargeting, multi-channel tools and analytics that transparently measure display and social advertising performance. See what LinkedIn has planned.

Facebook is Testing a New Buy Button

Facebook has begun testing a new Facebook Buy Button that will allow customers to buy directly from ads and news feeds. As of now, the new feature is only available to a few select U.S. businesses, but others are clamoring to get in line to test the new feature. Facebook has released tools in the past to entice users to purchase and donate. Learn more about Facebook’s latest feature.

Google+ Lifts Real Names Only Policy

The decision to lift a restriction requiring real names on Google+ will have implications on small business users and marketers too. Google+ has announced a decision to rollback its ‘real names’ policy. Since it started three years ago, Google+ has pushed heavily for the use of real user names on its platform. Here’s more on the new Google+ policy.

Twitter Now Offers Analytics Even to Those Who Don’t Buy Ads

While brands that advertise on Twitter have long had access to analytics within Twitter’s ad platform, now the rest of us get our hands on the good stuff too. Twitter recently announced that all “advertisers, Twitter Card publishers, and verified users” now have access to these rich analytics. Here’s more on Twitter’s new analytics for all.

Startups

Woman Makes Business out of Giant Cookie Idea

Losing a job is almost never a good thing. But don’t tell that to Barbara Schechter. The New Jersey native was 57 when she lost her job as a marketing professional, which she had for about 30 years. Instead of panicking or sulking though, Schechter saw it as an opportunity to make a living doing what she loved. She launched Barbara’s Cookie Pies in 2011.

Ever Wonder How to Build a Business as a Personal Stylist?

Alexandra Suzanne Greenawalt makes people look good for a living, as a personal stylist. It’s a job that plenty of girls playing dress up would love to aspire to, if they only knew it was an option. Greenawalt didn’t originally set out to start her own styling business. But she was once one of those girls playing dress up, and knew that she wanted to be involved in fashion somehow. Here’s how she made her business a reality.

Entrepreneur Quits Wedding Photography for a Different Focus

How many entrepreneurs would forsake a lucrative market and a well-established business model for a less established but ultimately more satisfying niche? That’s what photographer Olesha Haskett-Basma did when she abandoned wedding photography. Here’s more of her story in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

Entrepreneurial Monks Launch Brewery to Keep the Abbey Open

When the Trappist monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Massachusetts realized the jellies and jams they had been selling would soon no longer pay the bills, they needed an innovative solution. Their response was to get entrepreneurial. So they chose what might seem like an unconventional opportunity for monks: Brewing beer. Here’s how Spencer Brewery got started.

Green Business

What if Your Clothes Could Charge Your Smartphone?

What if you could charge your smartphone just by wearing your favorite outfit? It seems far-fetched, but it might not be as far off as you think. Dutch fashion designer Pauline van Dongen has created an interesting fusion of fashion, environmentalism and connectivity. Here’s more on her green design idea.

Charitable Startup Finds New Use for Old Cardboard Boxes

How many empty cardboard boxes do you have in your home? If you shop online, the answer is probably quite a few. But what if you had a way to take all of those boxes and do some good with them? That’s what Monika Wiela thought about when she decided to launch her charitable startup, Give Back Box. Here’s how this green business works.

Tools & Services

TaskRabbit Switches Business Models

It’s interesting how we’ve decentralized so many services. No longer do we have to hire a taxi to take us to the airport, punch buttons trying to schedule a repairman to come fix a hole in the wall, or shell out what a moving service charges. TaskRabbit is one of the companies leveraging this crowdsourcing trend. But now the company is changing.

Moovd: Create Video in Two Minutes — With Some Tweaking

A lot of big companies have produced attention-grabbing ads using only text. Some have even plunked down millions to run these ads during big TV events, like the Super Bowl. (Think back to T-Mobile’s text-only “We Killed The Long Term Contract” ad from the 2014 Super Bowl, for example!) Si Gornick knows that small business owners don’t have that kind of marketing budget …not even close. Moovd provides a simple video solution at low cost.

What was Ecommerce Provider Shopify Promoting With This Pop-Up Store?

If you haven’t yet stumbled across a pop-up shop, you likely soon will. It seems this quiet little trend of retail companies temporarily opening up in a vacant retail space for a few hours or days is now an $8 billion industry. They’re a great way for business owners who have been selling online to test the waters and see if brick-and-mortar is a profitable option. So here’s what Shopify is up to.

Getting More for Less: The AT&T Syn248 Business Phone System

If you’re in the market for a new, full-feature business phone, look no further than the AT&T Syn248 business phone system. This system is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses that need a robust feature set that won’t break the bank. Syn248 is a cost-effective solution with broad functionality, enabling businesses to do more for less. Here’s how this AT&T business phone system works.

Find A Co-Founder, Fund Your Startup – All at Onevest

The startup world will perk up to hear that RockthePost and CoFoundersLab recently merged to form Onevest. Together the two companies will provide a single source for startup founders to not only find investors but also find the right co-founders all online. Here’s more on the companies that make up Onevest.

Resources

Camp GLP Combines Summer Camp and Small Biz Accelerator

Imagine an event that’s one part summer camp and one part small biz and personal growth accelerator. The result is Camp GLP, Sept. 11-14, 2014 an event designed to help small business owners and entrepreneurs take their efforts to the next level. Think of it as summer camp for adults.

Twitter Chat Explores the Power of Mobility In Small Business

With growth in the popularity of smartphones and tablets, the importance of mobility to small businesses can’t be overstated. And that’s not just due to the fact that your customers are more likely to be shopping, searching for a local business or browsing your website from one of these devices either. Here are more insights from the chat.

Policy & Legal

Can Your Website Be Sued for Publishing Public Records?

Can you be sued for publishing public records on your website? The obvious answer might seem like “no.” But in a rapidly changing landscape in which many online businesses rely on public records for some of the services they provide to visitors and customers, it can still become an issue. Here’s one example.

Resistance to Depreciation Law Expected from U.S. Senate and White House

Supporters of small business are happy for now. A bill making so-called “bonus depreciations” permanent that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives has drawn some cheers. But bonus depreciation still faces opposition.

Reading Photo via Shutterstock

2 Comments ▼
2 Reactions
  1. I think the buy button on Facebook will be useful to online sellers. It will allow them to have a shop right inside their pages without the need for order forms and messages.

  2. Thanks for the round-up.

    Best post for me (for my own big-eyed, tongue-salivating reasons) was the post about Barbara and her cookie pies!