Small Business News

The impact of social media in marketing has changed the way brands interact with their audience. The automotive industry, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising every year, now counts social media as one of its marketing channels.

According to BrandTotal’s report, titled, “Ad Strategy Snapshot: How Auto Brands Use Paid Social,” Facebook is the clear leader. Instagram is second and YouTube is a close third.

For small auto dealers, the data in the BrandTotal study provides valuable insight. While you may not have the budget of the big brands, the pricing structure of social media allows you to launch similar campaigns for your local market. This includes which demographic to target.

In the release for the report, Alon Leibovich, co-founder & CEO, BrandTotal, said, “Our data shows that when brands are looking to engage older audiences, they lean on Facebook to do so, while YouTube and Instagram are mostly used to reach younger audiences.” You can also adopt the same strategy and see if it works for you.

As far as the demographic, most brands targeted 25 to 34-year-olds wi

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Today’s businesses have more options than ever when it comes to connecting with employees or team members online. But face-to-face interactions are still the most impactful. In fact, a study by Harvard Business Review found that requests made in person are 34 times more successful than those made over email.

If you’re looking to get more face-to-face time with clients or prospects, events can be an incredibly powerful tool. But there’s one problem with that — events also take tons of time and skill to plan, which is why tons of small companies tend to stick to email or other forms of digital communication.

Enter Kapow. The events platform, owned by Cvent, wants to serve as the Airbnb for corporate events. Basically, you search or browse for event opportunities near you and book something that’s already planned. You don’t need to go through the entire process of finding a venue and going over other details. Just book and share with your guests.

Kapow’s Director of Marketing Carolyn Chapin said in an email to Small Business Trends, “Events and meetings can take 100s of hours to plan and execute. Kapow&rsqu

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Managing your team doesn’t need to be complicated. If you’re able to find a cloud HR software solution that works for your business, you should be able to address many of the needs of your team right from one centralized dashboard.

However, there are tons of different cloud HR software products out there. And every business is likely to have different needs in this area. To find the best solution for your team, here are some expert tips to keep in mind.

Brian Westfall, principal HR and talent management analyst for Capterra said in an email to Small Business Trends, “According to our research, functionality is the most important factor in HR software purchase decisions.”

A lot goes into determining if a software product functions in the way your business needs it to. But one of the most important things you can do is look at your own processes to determine what type of solution is most likely to fit into your existing workflows.

From there, you need to start creating a list of features that are important for your business. However, Westfall says you should also prioritize these features, and separate wants from needs.

He says, &ldq

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There’s good news for small businesses. The interest rates are holding steady and there’s good GDP numbers out. Small Business Trends talked with Mark Davis, national managing partner of Deloitte Private Enterprises for Deloitte & Touche LLP.

He offered 8 suggestions on what small businesses can do during this upswing that’s expected to last for the rest of 2019.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a private company,” he said, adding that Deloitte has done a global survey for two years in a row.

That survey found 74% of private companies have extremely high confidence in their success in the next 12 months.

“There’s a tremendous amount of capital available to private companies,” Davis says. This loosening of the purse strings is a welcome change. For years after the 2008 recession, small businesses had a hard time getting financing to expand or run their businesses.

Now is a good time to look into borrowing some money to grow your small business. Banks and private equity firms are lending the money that had been sitting on the sidel

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