Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 With the dog days of summer now upon us, it’s a great time to start planning for the upcoming fall season. One of the biggest questions you’ll want to ask before the leaves start falling from the trees (at least here in the Northeast) and the days get shorter: How are customers finding my business online? Where are consumers searching for your business? How are they searching? And what type of information are they finding when they get there? These are all things you’ll need to keep in mind when planning for the future. With nearly 60% of all Yelp searches now coming from mobile, it’s a perfect time to start asking these important questions. Plus, Facebook and Pinterest both rolled out new features and we think you’re going to like them. Read about these top stories and more in this week’s marketing news roundup. 1. 59% of all Yelp searches are done on mobile As part of its second quarter earnings announcement this week, Yelp provided some insight into the impact that mobile is having on the online listing and review site. According to Yelp, 59% of all searches on the site are now being done from a mobile device. Other interesting stats from this week’s earnings included: Total average monthly unique visitors: 108 million (38 percent growth) Active location business accounts: 51,400 (62 percent growth) Total number of reviews in Q2: 42.5 million Bottom Line: If you own a small business, you’re probably well aware that sites like Yelp play an important role in the ways consumers are finding your business online. This is truer than ever in today’s increasingly mobile world. In should come as no surprise that in a recent SinglePlatform survey, 62% of small businesses said that they think it is important to be seen on mobile apps. If you haven’t started thinking about how consumers are finding your business on mobile, now is the time to do it. 2. Facebook launches embedded posts Facebook announced this week that it has officially launched “embedded posts.” With the newest feature, users will now have the ability to embed a Facebook post, picture, or video on a website or blog outside of Facebook, as long as the post is public. Once the post is embedded on your site, visitors will be able to interact with the post similarly to how they would on Facebook by liking, sharing, or commenting. If the post includes a hashtag, site visitors will be able to use the hashtag to link back to Facebook as well. Bottom Line: With the recent addition of hashtags and now, the introduction of embedded posts, Facebook is becoming much more a “public” social network, similar to the likes of Twitter or Pinterest. While this certainly has some benefits for marketers, it also raises a new series of privacy questions Facebook users need to be aware of. If you have any concerns over the privacy of your own content, you can double check your sharing settings on Facebook. Overall this appears to be great news for businesses and organizations looking for new ways to increase visibility for their Facebook content and to add a new level of engagement to their website or blog. 3. New Pinterest product alerts tell shoppers when the price has dropped After rolling out “product pins,” back in May to help retailers share additional information about specific products on Pinterest, the social media site announced another new feature this week that will let users bookmark items they want to buy, but aren’t sure they can afford, and receive email alerts when the prices goes down. The new product alerts can be used on a wide range of products, like home goods, clothing, and electronics. According to Pinterest, early results from larger retailers using the new pin format appear to show higher click-through rates than regular pins. Bottom Line: Even before the introduction of product pins, Pinterest has been generating impressive results for online retailers on social media. According to a survey from BizRate, 70% of Pinterest users visit the site to get inspiration on what to buy. Over the last few months, Pinterest has introduced a number of new features aimed specifically at helping retailers on the social network. If you’re not using Pinterest for your small business, now might be the time to get started. Want to learn more? Register for our upcoming webinar, How to Drive Social Visibility and New Business with Pinterest. 4. Report: Time spent on mobile to overtake desktop According to a new report from eMarketer, consumers are expected to spend more time on mobile than on laptops and PCs in 2013. In its latest study, eMarketer projected that mobile activity for 2013 will account for 19.8% of the time consumers spend consuming media, while desktop activity is projected to account of 19.5%. Time spent with smartphones and tablets, excluding voice calls, has risen from 13.5% of all media time last year, and has nearly tripled since 2011. Bottom Line: You probably don’t need stats like these to know that mobile is already having a major impact on the way consumers are interacting with your business online. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve introduced some form of mobile activity into your daily activities as well. In a recent Constant Contact survey, 66% of small business owners reported that they are using mobile to help run their business. But regardless of your own mobile activity, you need to be aware that the number of people, who are using a smartphone or tablet to read your emails, interact with you on Facebook, or search for business is increasing every day. Failing to provide a positive experience across all of your marketing channels could results in missed opportunities to grow your business down the road. Check out our free recorded webinar, Making the Case for Mobile to help you get started. What news stories caught your eye this week? Let us know in the comments below. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Constant Contact Blogs and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Connor Brooke Connor is a Scottish financial expert, specialising in wealth management and equity investing. Based in Glasgow, Connor writes full-time for a wide selection of financial websites, whilst also providing startup consulting to small businesses. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Investment Fund Management, Connor has … View full profile ›More by this author:ACH Crypto Price Prediction 2022 – Is it a Buy?Lucky Block Partners with Dillian Whyte ahead of Heavyweight Showdown with Tyson FuryNFT Pixel Art – The Best NFT Collections for 2022