This Week in Small Business, Big News From Facebook on Interactive Content


It’s another week of This Week in Small Business and this week, I clearly had Facebook on my mind.

For this latest episode of This Week in Small Business, I’m joined by live streaming expert Monique Johnson and we’re going over the top articles appearing on Small Business Trends in the last week. Two of the three I picked just happened to be about the much talked-about social media site, especially recently.

Facebook Stories for Business

But we’re not talking earnings figures — at least not theirs — and we’re not talking about politics. Instead, we first take a look at Michael Guta’s article on the growing impact of Facebook Stories for business. This week it was reported that there are now 150 million Facebook Stories users. And now the site is turning it into an ad platform.

From our conversation, Monique says, “Stories I consider to be part of the live video space. It’s a great way to show people what’s going on right now.”

Check out our other takes on Facebook Stories and the addition of ads in the full episode above.

We then moved on to another interactive feature on Facebook that I had not even heard of prior to this week, Facebook Watch Party. Monique heard of it and is really excited about this recent addition. Hear what she has to say about it and its benefits to your business. In this episode, she talks about some specific examples of Watch Party in action to give you a better idea what it’s all about.

Finally, we wrapped the show with an article that’s close to me (since I’m interviewed for it) on the ways small businesses can use voice technology and the number of ways it’s being used today in business.

Check out the full show above and for the rest of the week in small business, check out the Small Business Trends news roundup below.

To get notified of future episodes of This Week in Small Business, be sure to subscribe to the Small Business Trends YouTube channel today!

Economy

Reactions Mixed on Trump’s Trade Assistance for Small Agriculture Businesses

The result of the tariff war between the US and several countries around the world is having a real-world economic impact on farmers. The Trump administration is looking to alleviate this hardship with a $12 billion package of agricultural assistance as temporary relief. The response to this bailout has been mixed as farmers and lawmakers look to find a quick solution to the trade war.

Marketing Tips

83% of Small Businesses Believe Their Digital Marketing is Working, Survey Says

Businesses are using digital marketing, and according to the latest Clutch survey, 83% of them think their marketing effort in this platform is working. But as the survey points out, businesses rely on a number of channels to deploy their marketing campaigns to drive sales and revenue. And with 2.

Retail Trends

5 Kinds of Businesses Able to Take Advantage of the Shifting Retail Mall Market

Malls are undergoing a transformation, as I noted on Small Business Trends last year—and that transformation is accelerating. As the way consumers shop changes, malls are losing the big department stores that were their traditional anchor tenants.

Small Businesses Help Propel Amazon to 49% of the US Ecommerce Market

The latest forecast of eMarketer’s top 10 US ecommerce retailers report has Amazon capturing 49.1% of the US ecommerce market in 2018. It’s important to remember however that ecommerce still makes up a very small part of the total retail market in the U.S. 2018 Amazon Market Share This is a jump of 29.2% percent in total earnings, which will see the company generating $258.

Small Business Operations

Focusmate Provides Virtual Coworking Experience for Freelancers and Telecommuters

The number of coworking spaces around the world is expected to grow to more than 30,000 by 2022. It’s a concept that makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider the growing number of freelancers, telecommuters and solopreneurs in today’s job market.

Can Listables Help You Get More Done?

If you want all the pieces of your business to work efficiently, you need processes. These processes don’t need to be complicated. In fact, a simple checklist can often work wonders to help you ensure that your whole team is following the specific steps you’ve laid out for a particular task or function.

Stripe  Issuing Lets Small Businesses Create Physical and Virtual Employee Expense Cards

Adding and removing your employees from your expense account and issuing credit cards is a time consuming and costly process. Introducing Stripe Issuing Stripe Issuing is removing this complexity with an end-to-end platform which will quickly let you create, distribute and manage physical and virtual cards.

Social Media

71% of Consumers Watch Videos on Social Media to Laugh, Report Says

One of the great joys in life is laughter, and when it comes to consumers on social media, 71% said it is one of the reasons they watch videos. The 2018 Sprout Social Index report surveyed consumers and marketers to determine where in the funnel social marketing effort must be targeted.

LinkedIn Adds Voice Messaging to Simplify Business Communication on the Go

LinkedIn just added voice messaging to its platform so you can have more ways to have conversations. The voice messaging feature is now available as an Android and iOS app. You can retrieve the messages on your mobile device or on the web, but as of now, you can’t send a voice message from a LinkedIn website.

Taxes

10 Business Tax Breaks Gone from 2018 Returns

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made many favorable changes for businesses, including a lower corporate tax rate, a new 20% business income deduction for owners of pass-through entities, and favorable rules for writing off the cost of certain property investments.

Technology Trends

7 Most Useful Small Business Apps from Apple’s Online Store

When the Apple App store recently celebrated it’s 10th anniversary, it marked a milestone for small businesses. Since 2008 when the store opened with 500 apps, the shop has blossomed with customers in more than 155 countries. For the last decade, the online store has been helping small businesses too find the best resources for their iPads and iPhones.

TripAdvisor  Report Stresses Importance of Digital Marketing for Destination Businesses

The results of TripAdvisor’s 2018 “Hospitality Sector Report” reveals digital and mobile engagement has become increasingly more important. The Importance of Digital Marketing for Hospitality Businesses Hotels, restaurants, experiences, tours, and attractions, as well as other destinations listed on TripAdvisor, are placing more attention on their digital presence.

Hop Brings Conversations — Not Clutter — to Your Company Email

Throughout the last several years, plenty of new communication apps and platforms have launched under the claim of replacing or “fixing” email. But it’s estimated that nearly 300 billion emails will be sent per day throughout this year. So it seems that email isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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Brent Leary Brent Leary is the host of the Small Business Trends One-on-One interview series and co-founder of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta-based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. Brent is a CRM industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award-winning blogger.

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