SmallBusinessNewz

As you may or may not know, I spend a lot more time writing for WebProNews than I do SmallBusinessNewz. That's not because I have any less respect for SmallBusinessNewz readers. WebProNews is just our flagship publication, and it requires a lot of my time.

That said, there are frequently stories I (and my co-workers) cover on WebProNews that would really be great topics for the SmallBusinessNewz readership as well. We don't like to cross-post content too much, but occasionally I like to direct your attention to certain stories. Following are some topics from the week that should be of interest to small business owners and marketers.

Hashtags Now Linking in Twitter

Twitter users will probably be familiar with the hashtag concept, but for the rest of you, this when you put a # in front of a keyword. This has traditionally been a way to associate a keyword with a specific topic, so it can be easily found in a Twitter search. Now they are just linking to the searches. This may come into play in Twitter marketing at times.

Facebook Talks New Privacy Features

Facebook will soon be rolling out new privacy control settings, which allow users to better control who sees what. This will be a good way to send specific content to specific groups of people. This could come in handy, depending on how your business is using Facebook to communicate with customers.

Better Ad Targeting on Facebook

Facebook has recently added a keyword suggestion feature to its ad creation interface. This should make for better targeting of Facebook users with ads. Facebook ads are served based on information given in user profiles.

StumbleUpon Can Get You Big Traffic and Lots of Links

StumbleUpon has long been touted as a way to get traffic, but often times, people haven't had the luck they were hoping for. The concept of StumbleUpon has always been intriguing, but it didn't always live up to its potential. They have made some changes recently, however, and there is now greater opportunity for traffic and links.

Mobile Marketing Will Likely Become Unavoidable

Mobile devices are hot, and will only get hotter - and smarter. Spending on mobile advertising will continue to increase for years to come. That means competitors will be spending more, and that means you will be missing out if you’re not part of it. The Mobile Marketing Association has introduced some best practices guidelines for mobile advertising, based on the four major carriers in the US.

Getting the Media to Cover Your Business

A study was released this week, which looks at how journalists use the Internet. Small businesses should take note of the results, because knowing how journalists work online gives you better insight into how to reach them, when you want a little publicity. Of course, it helps if your business is doing something newsworthy.

Please discuss any of these stories in the comments on this article, or in any of their respective comments sections on WebProNews. And if you're not already a WebProNews reader, you should subscribe to it (Email, RSS, Twitter, Facebook), because this is the kind of stuff you're missing out on.