Citibank has released the results of a survey about small business social media use. According to Citibank, few small business owners and managers are increasingly using social networking sites.
Over 500 small business executives across the United States were surveyed, and 76% of them haven't found sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to be helpful in generating business leads or expanding their business during the last year. 86% said they hadn't used social networks to get business advice or information either.
Google has introduced a new type of ad for local businesses called Local Listing Ads. They are designed to display when users search for a business in its local area. Google says it's the easiest way to advertise your business to local customers on Google, because they require no maintenance.
Google has launched a new version of local search for mobile. This version heavily utilizes Google Maps to make organization of results easier on your phone.
The new local search for mobile lets you find business listings on Google Maps while you're on your computer, where you can "star" them. Once you star them, you can easily find your starred listings grouped together from your phone, making it easy to keep the listings you need while you're out, together. This can potentially make errand running a lot easier, as demonstrated in the video below.
Yahoo and AT&T announced a partnership, where AT&T will sell Yahoo! display ad inventory to local businesses in the US. They will begin doing so later this summer.
"Local businesses are looking to drive in-store traffic, and our alliance with AT&T Interactive will help them reach a local audience of highly-engaged potential customers on Yahoo!," said Jim Schinella, Senior Vice President, North America Region, Yahoo!.
Yahoo is launching a campaign with Bank of America this week, which a spokesperson for Yahoo tells WebProNews is essentially "a big online push for BofA to build visibility and facilitate dialogue in the small business community."
Yahoo's Small Business Answers Center is designed for small business owners with "great ideas and good questions," who don't always get credible answers.
eBay aims to "spark the entrepreneurial spirit" among its sellers with today's launch of the eBay Sellers Challenge. The challenge is for sellers to answer the question: "How would you use $25,000 go grow - or start - an eBay business?"
There is an interview on Open Forum in which Seth Godin interviews Richard Branson. The question is: Why is small business is better than big business?
Branson explains how he structures Virgin so that it is a series of small companies. People know each other by first name. People need to know each others strengths and weakness, and collaborate, and be responsible for the work they do. Branson believes this open small company results in a better service to clients.
Bankruptcies are the highest they’ve been since 2001, a million people have lost their jobs, and small businesses got the stimulus package shaft. And that’s the good news.
It’s all good news, says Mark Deo, executive director of The Small Business Advisory Network and author of The Rules of Attraction: Fourteen Practical Rules to Help Get the Right Clients, Talent and Resources to Come to You!
Google announced the launch of a new initiative called the Small Business Network in an effort to contribute what it can to the success of small businesses, which are Google's bread and butter.
With the inauguration of President-Elect Obama just days away, small business owners affected by recession see restoration of the country’s economy as his top priority, but many lack faith in him to improve matters, according to a poll of 50,000 small business clients by email and direct mail marketing company VerticalResponse.
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