Google, Facebook, Pinterest and local content platforms are launching new and effective tools. The goal: to help small and medium-sized businesses streamline digital marketing during a time of economic fog
The coronavirus crisis, closures and social distancing are taking the heaviest economic toll of all. But it seems that small and medium-sized businesses are suffering the hardest hit. Many of them are collapsing under the burden of expenses while struggling to retain customers. Expanding the revenue cycle at this time is a particularly challenging task, and the brand’s digital footprint plays a central role in it. Precisely for this reason, the technology giants have launched a series of dedicated tools with the option of free use, which are very worth getting to know and taking advantage of.
One of the biggest challenges for small businesses is the degree of exposure to them. The position in search results is, of course, critical. Google Shopping recently updated its search algorithm so that small businesses can stand out. This is different from the usual situation, in which large brands that pay high amounts to Google itself are promoted first. The change was introduced in April among users in the United States and is expected to expand to the rest of the world by the end of 2020. At the same time, Google opened the group video calling app Meet (the equivalent of Zoom) for free.
With the start of the crisis Google CEO announced $800 million in financial assistance for small and medium-sized businesses, including through online advertising. The technology giant also published dedicated pages for locating employees and matching unemployed people with potential employers. At the same time, it has uploaded enrichment and training materials designed to help expand the set of personal tools and skills, as well as content dealing with the worlds of retail, remote work, advertising and marketing, customer service, and in general – the way in which organizations and brands should conduct themselves in the shadow of the crisis.
YouTube
One picture is worth a thousand words, and one viral video – tens of thousands of shares. But creatively producing promotional videos from scratch can be a costly and very difficult business. To this end, YouTube launched The Builder, designed to help businesses build and edit short promotional videos. The video, including an image animation, was built brick by brick from a bank of templates and background tunes. This is a completely free tool that was in development for months before the Corona era, but was accelerated and launched in beta for the convenience of resource-poor businesses.
The social media giant also provided free access to useful tools, effective training, and detailed steps that businesses should implement during this unprecedented time. Facebook is offering new templates for business page managers to help them communicate with their customers and refine messages appropriate to the current haze. In addition, in a significant step for e-commerce on social media and the web in general, the network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a service called Facebook Shops designed to help small businesses sell their products online.
The world’s largest social network has allocated $100 million to help small businesses affected by social distancing measures, for example by contributing to expenses such as rent on property. Here too, the assistance is often expressed in the form of advertising coverage, and this is also intended to make it easier for small businesses to reach potential customers.
Instagram, a Facebook-owned company, has added its own special tools with a focus on small businesses and has upgraded the functions available to business profiles, from greeting cards to donation requests. A leading trend is stickers for stories that contain animations (GIFs) and are available for followers to share (the service has started in North America and is expected to expand later). The social network has published a series of guides designed to guide users in using the platform and getting to know it better.
It identified a jump of more than 350% in searches for support small business and a nice increase in clicks around similar phrases, related to helping local industry and social involvement. Special interest was directed at products made from environmentally friendly materials. In light of this, it decided to pick up the gauntlet and concentrate relevant small business brands, in order to increase exposure to them.
Web2Info
Local content platforms have also joined the fight with unique services, often free, for businesses that are collapsing under the burden. The Web2Info portal, which allows advertising and promotion through content and the implementation of pixels for the purpose of collecting smart leads, launched a simple feature for freely uploading content.
In a time of such extreme instability and uncertainty, the free tools available to businesses are a great opportunity to maintain brand awareness and customer base, and even reach new territories. Most of the tools are intuitive and very user-friendly, even without prior knowledge or special access to technology. It’s worth a try.
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