IBM Deal Shows Cloud Trends, Stats Say Businesses Need Social Media

What does a $500 million IBM deal with a major insurance company have to do with your small business’s IT needs? It could be important to small business owners who run a small IT company too. If you missed the news most important to your small business this week, don’t worry. The Small Business Trends editorial team has you covered. Here’s our roundup:

Tech News

New IBM Deal Reveals the Future of the Cloud and IT. What relevance can a $500 million deal between tech bohemoth IBM and insurance industry client The Hartford to small businesses? The arrangement shows the growing adoption of cloud services as a business necessity, writes Chris Miles, founder and CEO of IT leader Miles Technologies. Miles says it also shows that businesses are looking for IT partners not just providers.

Cash that Check Using Nothing but Your Smartphone. New imaging technology from Mitek Systems almost eliminates the need to visit your local bank, the company says. Mitek says the technology lets you take a quick snapshot of your check and then use that image to make a remote deposit. The company says it’s already partnered with 2,000 banks and other financial institutions to make this new kind of payment possible to customers â€" including small business owners.

Google Acquires High Altitude Drone Company Titan Aerospace. So what does the search engine giant need with a squadron of high flying, solar-powered drones? One purpose might be a project to beam the Internet to underserved areas of the planet. The benefits for Google’s business are obvious. But obviously greater Internet access could also help small business owners in remote areas and increase the number of customers you can reach online.

Cortana Is Microsoft’s Answer to Digital Assistants Like Apple’s Siri. She may be named for an intelligent computer from the future in the popular video game Halo. But today the name also applies to a digital assistant rivaling Apple’s Siri and Google Now. Microsoft recently unveiled Cortana as part of its new Windows Phone 8.1 update. Could she soon be the digital assistant for your business?

Get in the Driver’s Seat Managing Your Vehicle Fleet with Fleetmatics. It doesn’t matter whether you’re company has a thousand trucks or just two or three. Fleetmatics says its software allows even a small plumbing, pest control, HVAC or beverage distribution service manage their vehicles more effectively. Fleetmatics enables you to minimize vehicle wear and tear, optimize routes and improve safety.

Sony Laptop Batteries Could be a Hazard. Sony is warning customers who bought its VAIO Fit 11A/Flip PC to stop using the device. The computer’s non-removable battery could overheat causing burns on the devises housing. The company says details will be coming to affected customers about how the problem will addressed.

Research

Consumers Prefer a Business with a Social Media Presence. In fact, Internet hosting and domain name provider GoDaddy says seven out of 10 would rather do business with your brand only if it has a strong presence on channels like Facebook and Twitter. Not only that, but the company says those customers will tend to react negatively if they find outdated information about your business online. What’s a time starved entrepreneur to do. GoDaddy’s new service Get Found is one answer.

Be Sure to Include a Video Link in Your Next Email. Why, you ask? Well, research shows there’s a 96 percent greater chance the recipient will click through. Don’t believe us? Check out this new video, “Show Me Something,” created by Shutterstock with data obtained through comScore. The video also includes other data potentially helpful to the small business marketer. For example, people searching for you online are more likely to click on a video.

Despite the Hype, Few Study Entrepreneurship. With all of the media discussion of business plan competitions, school rankings and foundation and government initiatives to promote teaching entrepreneurship, you might think that it’s a hot course of study on college campuses.

What Emotional Responses To Colors Do People Experience?. Small business owners fret over what their logo looks like. They want it to be clean, cool or fancy. What they should really focus on is how it makes a customer feel since logos play a large role in their purchasing decisions. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam found that children as young as two years old could recall a logo and its product 67% of the time.

Retail & Marketing

Bigcommerce Increases Reach Into Small Business Commerce. Bigcommerce is known for the big brands that are using it to get eCommerce sites up and running quickly. Clients include Gibson Guitar, YETI Coolers and many others. But the company says that Bigcommerce isn’t exclusively for major national brands. Small businesses can and should be taking advantage of what the eCommerce platform can offer.

Bet You Didn’t Know About These Amazon Payment Services. You know about Amazon’s retail services for selling everything from books to fishing equipment. But do you know about the range of Amazon payment services the online retailer already offers, or plans to offer, to small businesses and consumers? If not, let us clue you in. Below are some of the programs either already in place or in development for Amazon.

A Plug-and-Play Customer Loyalty Program for Small Businesses. Punch cards for your repeat customers will soon be a thing of the past. But it’s difficult for small businesses to afford those plastic key cards that you might get from a place like a grocery store or gas station. Huzzah Media says its new Huzzah Loyalty platform is one solution.

Why Your Yahoo Local Reviews Are Disappearing. Let’s say you’ve amassed years worth of mostly positive reviews on your Yahoo Local listing. Then, all of a sudden, your Yahoo Local reviews disappeared and they aren’t showing - but Yelp reviews are showing instead. This is exactly what happened to Dan Tringale, owner of Colonial Hardwood Flooring of Lexington, Mass.

Heartbleed

Heartbleed: What You Do and Do Not Need To Worry About. If you have a business website, you’ve probably already heard, and are worried, about the Heartbleed Bug. Simply put, the Heartbleed Bug is a flaw in the SSL certificate used by some websites. That flaw might allow passwords, credit card numbers and other data to be leaked as a result. SSL certificates are usually limited to websites that deal with online financial transactions.

The Effect of Heartbleed on Commonly Used Small Business Websites. As you might know by now, Heartbleed is a security flaw that enables unauthorized users to access your encrypted information. When you visit a website through a “secure connection,” in theory the information is encrypted and can’t be accessed.

Social Media

Facebook Ads Are Getting Bigger…And Probably More Expensive. Facebook is getting more determined to make sure that you see their ads, and they’re doing that by greatly increasing the size. In the coming months, new ads will start to appear in the site’s right hand column. Due to their size, they will be more prominent. But Facebook says that there will be fewer of them, too.

ThinkUp: A Totally New Take On Analytics. If you are a social media junkie, you will be familiar with analytics, such as Facebook Insights. But a new service called ThinkUp aims to turn the concept of analytics on its head. It does so by providing information about social media in a totally new, and easy-to-understand way.

Facebook Hack: Programming Language for Improved User Experience. The advent of social media changed the way the world used to be. It’s brought about major transformations in both business and personal lives of people. Among the large number of social media websites which emerged over the years, Facebook has remained a major player. In fact, it was almost the monolith of the social media world for quite some time.

Policy

How Does The White House Think Women Dress for Work?. Women work in a variety of different industries and because of that, there isn’t just one way to depict women in the workplace. But that’s what the White House recently tried to do, and the move was met with plenty of criticism. Last week, the Obama administration sent out an email containing a graphic with statistics about the wage gap as part of its campaign for equal pay for women.

U.S. Sen. Shaheen Wants More Loans for Veteran Entrepreneurs. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wants more loans for veteran entrepreneurs. Shaheen recently introduced the Veteran Entrepreneurship Act. The act aims to lower the cost of Small Business Administration loan programs for military veterans trying to start their own businesses.

Small Business Opinions Divided on Plastic Bag Fees. Dallas recently passed a citywide 5-cent fee on plastic bags. New York City is considering a 10-cent fee. Similar plastic bag fees (or bans) on plastic bags already exist in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Supporters of the fees and bans say they will help raise awareness about the damage these bags do to the environment.

Management

Spotlight on Righteous Marketing: Dedicated to PPC Campaigns. This week we shine the spotlight on Righteous Marketing, a niche marketing agency. This Utah-based company was founded in 2010 by Robert Brady (above) and currently has two employees. Righteous Marketing manages pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaigns for small businesses to medium sized businesses. WHAT THE BUSINESS IS KNOWN FOR: Deep expertise in pay-per-click advertising.

12 Stunning Flower Arrangements for Administrative Professionals Day. Administrative Professionals Day is a chance to show your appreciation for the person who keeps your business running smoothly. The holiday, which takes place on April 23, is just around the corner. Show your gratitude and appreciation with a stunning floral arrangement. Enter BloomNation.

Startup

Solving the Information Exchange Problem in Healthcare Industry. Founders of H2S, who were from the healthcare industry, were aware of an acute pain point in the healthcare industry - information exchange between physicians and home health agencies. More than 50% of home health Medicare claims are denied and most claims are denied due to missing signatures, insufficient documentation, and inaccurate descriptions.

Thrive15: Learn About Business In 15 Minute Bursts. A new educational platform launching next month, called Thrive15, aims to educate people about creating a business.  And it does so without the need for an expensive degree. What makes Thrive15 unique is that, instead of overwhelming participants with huge amounts of information and coursework, the platform will focus instead on providing short 15 minute videos.

Tablets for business image via shutterstock

Senator Sherrod Brown Announces $18 Million Fund for Ohio Small Businesses

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced a new $18 million fund for Ohio small businesses.

This is federal funding designed to give Ohio small business and manufacturers access to credit. It comes through the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which was part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.

Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, was a strong advocate of the Small Business Jobs Act. In a prepared statement, Brown said:

“Small businesses and manufacturers are the backbone of Ohio’s economy. But in order for these companies to grow operations and create new jobs, they must have access to capital. These new federal resources will provide an immediate boost to Ohio small businesses and help leverage additional private investments - many from local community banks -to help add jobs throughout Ohio.”

Ohio has many small businesses in manufacturing.  Brown advocated for the SSBCI provision within the Act in part to help those small businesses with higher loan limits due to higher capital costs.

According to the statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 was endorsed by the National Federal of Independent Businesses (NFIB).  It created a $30 billion loan fund to enable community banks to make loans to small businesses.

In August 2011, Brown announced more than $55 million in federal funding through the SSBCI program was allocated to the State of Ohio, in three payments.  This is the second payment.  The first disbursement was $12.4 million, leaving about $24.7 million still to be allocated in the future for Ohio.  The total allocated for all states was $1.5 billion.

Under the SSBCI, participating states will use the federal funds for programs that leverage private lending to help finance small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy, but are not getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. The SSBCI will allow states to build on earlier models for state small business programs, including collateral support programs, Capital Access Programs (CAPs) and loan guarantee programs.

Critics of the SSBCI program, however, point to the fact that some of the funds will go to programs administered by large financial institutions and venture capitalists, in part to go to high growth startups rather than Main Street small businesses.  The SSBCI program creates funding programs for financial institutions, state loan programs and venture capital programs.  Chuck Blakeman of the Crankset Group observes, “Steve Case, a nationally known venture capitalist, said it best, ‘If you sit in a room of 200 startups, and you ask which of them are small businesses, no one will raise their hand. What they’ll tell you is that they are giant businesses that just haven’t scaled yet.’  These are the companies that will get the SSBCI funds from venture capitalists. How does that help small businesses in any way?”

Senator Brown’s office has prepared a summary of the Small Business Jobs Act, including a description of the funding provisions here.

Image: Brown.Senate.gov

Lana Khavinson of LinkedIn Shares How Small Businesses are Using the Platform

Lana Khavinson, Small Business Segment Marketing Lead for LinkedIn, discusses a recent report regarding how small businesses are using social media and, more specifically, how LinkedIn is focused on helping them.

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Small Business Trends: Before we start talking about a recent study you did around how small businesses are using social media, and how LinkedIn is helping small businesses, maybe you can tell us a little bit about your personal background?

Lana Khavinson: I’ve been in marketing well over 10 years and have always, in one way or another, been in the small business segment. I come from an entrepreneurial small business family and have always had a passion for helping smaller businesses figure out how they can succeed.

Small Business Trends: Can you share a little information on that report and why LinkedIn decided to do it?

Lana Khavinson: Sure. So on LinkedIn, we have quite a significant small business segment. We really wanted to learn more about small businesses to understand what their thoughts are around social media.

Small Business Trends: What are some of the main findings?

Lana Khavinson: We were really blown away by the growth of small businesses using social media now. We found 81% of small businesses are currently using social media to drive business and 9% are planning to use it in the future.

We found they’re not only using social media, they’re succeeding with it. Three in five said it helped them gain new customers.

The other thing we found - a strong correlation between use of social media and hyper growth small businesses. Ninety one percent of hyper growth small businesses said social media helped them increase awareness and 82% said it helped them with lead generation. So it’s really quite incredible the success small businesses are seeing when they learn and really apply themselves to social media.

Small Business Trends: Is this a case of these small businesses using social media for a while, and now they’re starting to get the hang of it? Or is it a case of having more realistic expectations?

Lana Khavinson: Absolutely a mix. There are definitely those small businesses out there that have been using social media for a while and have been testing and really figuring out what the secret sauce is.

And there are those others that have just been embracing it recently. One of the great things is there’s so much information out there now on best practices around different social media platforms. There are also so many more tools now to help you manage your social media presence, test it and gain some success.

Small Business Trends: Were there any findings in the report that surprised you?

Lana Khavinson: Yes. One of the things we were really excited to see was, after growing or attracting customers and gaining new customers through social media, 49% of the small businesses said they’re using social media to learn.

So it’s really exciting to see small businesses understanding social media is not only about marketing, but a place to have peer-to-peer connections, learn from the experts, gather best practices information and then use that in their day-to-day work.

Small Business Trends: If you think about how small businesses are leveraging the LinkedIn platform, have you seen a change over the years?

Lana Khavinson: I’d say initially, small businesses were very nervous about using LinkedIn, so they’d have their profiles and potentially even have a company page to showcase their business. But now they’re taking it to a whole new level of interaction and engagement.

What that means is they’re building up their networks - realizing their network on LinkedIn is not just about friends and family because it’s not intended to be your personal network; it’s your professional network.

Small Business Trends: What are some things small businesses may not be taking full advantage of when using LinkedIn’s platform to engage customers?

Lana Khavinson: I’d absolutely encourage, if small businesses do not have a company page yet, that they absolutely have one. What we hear time and again is two people meet at an event or conference, discuss possible business opportunities and then one of them will go back to LinkedIn, look at that person’s personal profile, then go to their company page.

If you don’t have a company page on LinkedIn, it’s a big loss. By creating that presence, you’re giving authenticity to that conversation you had.

Having a company page alone is not enough. It’s also about getting your voice out there through company updates, personal updates and joining groups relevant to your particular industry or specialization.

Small Business Trends: Where can they go to learn more about the results of the study, and how they should be using social media?

Lana Khavinson: We actually just launched a new resource center for smaller businesses that gives free tools and tips on things that you can, and should, be doing on LinkedIn.

This is an edited transcript. To hear the full interview, click on the audio player below.

This interview on how small businesses are using LinkedIn is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above. 

More in: LinkedIn

7 Out of 10 Consumers Prefer a Business with a Social Media Presence

Seven out of 10 consumers prefer a business with a social media presence. That’s according to information provided by GoDaddy (click the image above to see the full graphic), through its service Get Found. Get Found provides small businesses with tools to update their information instantly across a wide variety of platforms online.

But why do consumers feel this way? Is it because the social media presence confirms there are real people behind the business? Or is it because they truly want to follow the business on social media?

Rene Reinsberg, General Manager and Vice President for GoDaddy’s Get Found and other SEO products explains:

“A social media presence has become an essential and expected component of a business’ digital presence. In some cases, consumers are bypassing search engines and other traditional search options to find businesses on social media. Having a social presence confirms the legitimacy of a business and also provides an essential channel for communication. Social media is so critical for most consumers that if you aren’t on social media, you don’t exist as a business.”

Here’s another thing to consider. Seventy-seven percent of consumers are unlikely to give a location-based business a second chance once they’ve discovered outdated or incorrect information about that business online.

Again, why is this? Certainly, in the old days, people were used to running across outdated information in the Yellow Pages. So why are consumers so unforgiving about outdated information online?

Reinsberg adds:

“Consumers are not necessarily more unforgiving about online information than they have been about offline information. However, the proliferation of Internet use and companies defined by their speed of service has increased consumer expectation towards immediate gratification. Consumers are now used to getting any information, at any time, immediately. Additionally, attention spans have waned as consumers increasingly multitask in different ways, which may reduce patience for inaccurate information.”

GoDaddy announced the launch of Get Found in January. The  service enables small businesses to simultaneously update their information on platforms including Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Yelp.

The service was created by Locu, a company GoDaddy acquired in August of 2013. The San Francisco-based company pioneered online updating tools for more than 30,000 restaurants, spas, salons, accountants, photographers, home-remodeling companies and other small businesses.

Sales Started Out Like, “Yeah!”

I love language, but even I sometimes find my own conversations devolving into phrases like “so it went like,” or “then she’s all like,” and the like. (Pun intended.)

I think we all do this from time to time. But there’s a time and place for that - and a sales meeting is definitely not one of them.

Sales Started Out Like, “Yeah!”

I love language, but even I sometimes find my own conversations devolving into phrases like “so it went like,” or “then she’s all like,” and the like. (Pun intended.)

I think we all do this from time to time. But there’s a time and place for that - and a sales meeting is definitely not one of them.

Bet You Didn’t Know About These Amazon Payment Services

You know about Amazon’s retail services for selling everything from books to fishing equipment. But do you know about the range of Amazon payment services the online retailer already offers, or plans to offer, to small businesses and consumers?

If not, let us clue you in. Below are some of the programs either already in place or in development for Amazon.

Amazon Login and Pay

First off, last year the company launched its Amazon Login and Pay option for online merchants. The idea is to let customers sign in and pay at other eCommerce websites using their Amazon accounts.

Login and Pay differs from the older Checkout by Amazon program, which requires only copying and pasting a snippet of HTML into your site. It also appears to offer a bit more integration than the older service.

Here’s a video that explains more:

Amazon says the new service allows payments on any device and allows you to add payment options like pre-orders, split-orders and in-store pick-up.

Amazon Payments

You may not have heard, but Amazon also has a peer-to-peer money transfer service letting you send or receive money online similar to a service also provided by PayPal. It’s called Amazon Payments, simply enough.

The feature allows private accounts using an Amazon sign in to send or receive up to $500 a month. Sellers using the service pay 2.9% plus a $0.30 per-transaction fee for payments of $10 or more.

Other Amazon Payment Services Coming

Earlier this year, reports surfaced about Amazon plans to offer small brick and mortar retailers a checkout system built on Amazon’s Kindle.

The Wall Street Journal reported Amazon might be considering the move later this summer and targeting smaller retailers without a good checkout system already in place. The maneuver could get Amazon a piece of the nearly 90% of all sales that still happen at brick and mortar retailers.

Re/Code also reports Amazon is looking into creating a payment option that would let customers handle offline transactions by phone. For example, you could pay for your parking or for a meal at a restaurant by phone.