Facebook has over 2 billion users worldwide. It’s where you go to catch up on the latest news from your friends and family, but it has also been an integral place for businesses and advertisers to show relevant content to you. On January 11, 2018, Facebook announced that they plan to change their algorithm to focus more on friends and family interactions. Their goal is to increase the quality of your time spent on facebook, and reduce the quantity.

You may have seen the issue of ‘Net Neutrality’ back in the news this week. On Thursday, December 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed the internet neutrality rules that were put in place in 2015. 

If you climbed on the internet this morning (of course you did!) you may have noticed your favorite sites weren’t accessible or working properly. Popular sites like Twitter, Netflix and PayPal, among others, were affected by a wide-scale attack on a major hosting server.

There have been multiple reports that the outages and problems have been fixed, but a quick trip to some of the affected sites reveal that many websites are still facing issues.

We found a great article from Gizmodo on the subject. They have been keeping track of the updates and have a very good pulse on the situation. Here’s a bit of their coverage from this morning:

You’ve probably heard of Pokémon Go -- it would be hard to miss news of this popular new social app. In fact, you’ve probably noticed a strange trend recently of people walking with a sense of purpose all around you while glued to their smartphones. I have seen this in my own neighborhood, where suddenly neighbors I’ve never even seen before are out walking and staring at their phones, almost like they're in a trance.

If you’re not familiar with Pokémon Go, it's basically an app for your smartphone that allows you to “see” Pokémon in the real world (your local streets based on your location), capture them, and train them to battle against other people’s Pokémon.

Pokémon Go and Your Marketing

So how does this relate to small business marketing? Clearly this game is the craze of the moment, but in my opinion it is always good to watch trends and see what people are interested in, especially with the rapid speed of technological change.

In a recent Adweek article, Tod Loofbourrow and Eva Barbier give us 5 things to learn from the success of Pokémon go:

Ever heard of Dos Equis beer? You probably have, and there’s a good chance that it is due to the wildly successful commercials featuring the “most interesting man in the world”. This character, played by actor Jonathan Goldsmith will officially be retired soon. The popularity of these commercials, and the ensuing brand awareness of Dos Equis have made this campaign one of the most successful of recent advertising memory. With famous lines such as “When in Rome, they do as he does” and “If opportunity knocks, and he’s not home, opportunity waits” it was hard to miss the humor of these commercials.

Updated February 24, 2016

Everyone has experienced a time on Facebook when hitting the "Like" button didn't feel quite right. When your friend posts that "Fido lived a good life and he's now in a better place" you don't want to "Like" the post because then if feels like you're "Liking" that Fido has passed. However, you don't want to just comment "Sorry for your loss" like every other person. What's a Facebook user to do?

Announcing Facebook "Reactions," available to users everywhere who want to empathize. Check out how the new "Like" button works in this article excerpt from TechCrunch.

Twitter is an everyday part of our lives now and an important part of any social media marketing strategy – especially as a source to help get more website traffic for your company. So when a platform like Twitter announces it’s planning on making a big change, there’s buzz about it all over the internet.

There’s no doubt you’ve heard of Twitter, but you may have never used it and are wondering what all the buzz is about in the first place.

Co-branding is a popular tactic within the marketing and advertising world and is something that your small business should take advantage of if you see an opportunity. This common practice has positive reasons why you should consider this strategy. But let’s start with the basics.

If you run a non-profit that relies on donations, getting those donations has recently gotten easier. In November, Facebook announced new tools to help non-profits raise money online. The improvements come primarily in the form of a dedicated place called Fundraisers to collect donations from your non-profit Facebook page, and an improved “Donate” button that doesn’t require users to leave Facebook and allows them to give right from the news feed.

Sometimes the death of a business is somewhat personal and triggers a sense of nostalgia. In the world of small business, companies come and go all the time with little more than a raised eyebrow – but every once in a while the closing of a local business surprises you.