Embedding Videos Into Android Apps Just Became Easier |  |
- Embedding Videos Into Android Apps Just Became Easier
- Do Small Business Lending Programs Work?
- Yes, Some Small Businesses Have Social Media Budgets over $100,000
- 5 Small Business Trends for 2013
- Pinterest: Really Useful Tools to Measure Each Pin Impact
- Relief Act Changes Taxes for Small Businesses
| Embedding Videos Into Android Apps Just Became Easier Posted: 03 Jan 2013 02:30 PM PST Online videos have been used as a promotional tool for businesses for many years. And mobile technology has more recently become just as essential for many types of businesses. So it was just a matter of time before these two types of tools fused together to give mobile consumers access to the same videos and information as those using more traditional devices. Now, YouTube is giving mobile app developers easier ways to incorporate videos into their applications through its Android API.
Android app developers can load or cue videos into a player view, which is then embedded into the application's user interface. Developers can program the playback options, such as play, pause, or skipping to a certain point in the video or playlist. The API was first announced at this year's Google I/O event, and is being launched on an experimental basis now, though it isn't expected to change much going forward. The photo above shows a "video wall," which is one example of what you can create using the YouTube API. In this example, the developer would put many different components of the app together on one page, and then one of the thumbnail images would flip over and turn into a video. There are more simple options as well, such as embedding one simple video into a basic app page. The video playback feature is available for Android 2.2 (Froyo) or newer devices. It also provides access to full screen videos, closed caption displays, support for YouTube apps, and direct access to the Android YouTube app. Since so many consumers and professionals alike are spending more time on mobile devices and less time on traditional computers, it's important for mobile apps to be able to support the same types of media that people are accustomed to. This new feature simply makes it easier to integrate YouTube videos into Android applications, which can help developers create more in-depth and media-centric apps. Depending on your business type or your purpose for creating an app in the first place, this type of feature could certainly be helpful in getting a message across to users and customers. The post Embedding Videos Into Android Apps Just Became Easier appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Do Small Business Lending Programs Work? Posted: 03 Jan 2013 12:00 PM PST
My only complaint about them is that they are not required or requested to go back and look at tax policy to make sure it accomplishes what it was designed to accomplish. If I had to guess, I’d say there are probably some folks on Capitol Hill who don’t care whether it accomplishes its goals or not, because they have ideology to defend and never mind the practical concerns involved with running the country. But that’s a different article. The GAO was just doing its job when it recently released a report on the implementation of a couple of new Treasury Department small business lending programs created through the Small business Jobs Act of 2010. The two programs are the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) and the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) and they appear to be doing mostly okay. The SBLF provides capital to small banks — defined as qualifying banks with less than $10 billion in assets and comprised of local community banks and community development loan funds — in order to encourage them to increase their lending to small businesses. The SSBCI supports state and municipality small business lending programs that operate on much the same premise as the SBA small business lending programs do. These are state and local programs that provide loans to creditworthy small firms and manufacturers that cannot (for unspecified reasons) otherwise get credit. Naturally, the Treasury Department has developed processes and procedures in order to monitor participating banks’ compliance with the legal and reporting requirements of the SBLF program. There are also such requirements for the financial institutions with which the states partner if they want to use SSBCI funds within the context of that relationship. The GAO’s last audit of the programs recommended those procedures and so they were happy to see that Treasury took at least some of their advice. Meanwhile, the programs appear to have had some measurable impact. On average, SBLF participants increased their total business lending by 31% and increased small business loans under $1 million by 14%. The SSBCI program has not made quite the same impact, at least in the context of what has been used versus what was made available. States have used about 10% of program funds so far and the law provides that Treasury can (but doesn’t have to) terminate funds that haven’t been allocated to states with two years of that state’s participation in the program. In this most recent annual report, the GAO notes that the Treasury Department has had some reporting issues with both programs. It’s methodology in its evaluation of the SBLF program, the results of which were publishined in a report to Congress, had some problems that the GAO found appeared to overreport the impact of the program. SBLF officials, in response to teh GAO’s findings, said they are continuing to evaluate possible evalutation methods, including possibly collecting additional data from a sample of participating financial institutions. Meanwhile, another set of stuff Treasury has yet to do concerns the SSBCI program. For starters, they haven’t figured out what their procedure is going to be for terminating state funds that have not been allocated to states with the 2 year timeframe. Treasury officials say they currently have no intention of using this authority but, as the GAO points out, just because you aren’t going to do it right now, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to figure out how it will be done later or down the line or under another Administration. The proceedure should be developed, finalized and written out whether it is used now or not. Another problem with the SSBCI is that, while Treasury has developed performance measures for the program, they have not yet figured out how to make the information public. (I wonder if that sounds as strange to you as it does to me? How hard is it to figure out how to publicize this information?) The information is shared with the states “through conferences and technical assistance,” but apparently it is not written down in a form in which it can be of real use to either the states, the Congress or the voting public. The GAO seems to object to that. In light of the probability that these programs are gonig to continue to operate at least during the current Administration, it would probably be a good thing for Treasury to get its reporting act together. With all the talk of fiscal cliffs and looming budget cuts, every program is going to have to justify its existence and, if these programs are really helping firms to stay afloat and create jobs, then Treasury should be shouting that news from every rooftop in Washington. United States flag with american money Photo via Shutterstock The post Do Small Business Lending Programs Work? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Yes, Some Small Businesses Have Social Media Budgets over $100,000 Posted: 03 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST How does your social media budget compare with other small businesses? If you’re like 5% of the small businesses that have a social media strategy, then you have a social media budget over $100,000 annually. But what if you’re not part of the $100K club for social media budgets? Well, the fact is, most of your peers that are already using social media have much lower budgets. The median budget for social media among those small businesses is far smaller – between $1,000 and $2,499 per year, as this week’s chart demonstrates:
The data is from the 2012 Small and Medium Social Business Study conducted by the SMB Group in mid-2012. That study surveyed small businesses with under 100 employees. The numbers do NOT include the cost of internal staff, although the numbers DO include outside consultants. The data covers just those small businesses that already use social media. A few key points are worth pointing out: (1) Non-strategic users of of social media are less likely to have a budget for social media. No surprise there. (2) But what is a surprise, is how many small businesses say they use social media strategically — yet have no budget or report a minuscule budget of $500 or less. You’d think that strategic users would be more deliberate in allocating specific funds for social media. But it’s possible that their biggest expenditure is internal staff dedicated to social media — staff costs are not reflected in these numbers. (3) Some small businesses are jumping on the social media bandwagon without thinking it through. They may be wasting money, leading to disappointment later. Look at the percentages of small businesses with no strategy that are spending $25,000, $50,000, even $100,000. If they don’t know what their strategy is, how can they know whether all that money is being well spent? Here is what you should do:
The post Yes, Some Small Businesses Have Social Media Budgets over $100,000 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Small Business Trends for 2013 Posted: 03 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST
The economy (fiscal "cliff" threat notwithstanding) seems to be on track for a stronger recovery in 2013, buoyed by consumer confidence and more Americans going back to work. Below are some of the trends that I feel will be driving small business in 2013: Startup Surge Many are predicting more businesses will be started in 2013. Part of it led by Millennials who have wholeheartedly embraced entrepreneurship, and part of it from the explosive growth of the freelance economy. In the latest Elance Global Business Survey, 40 percent of respondents were doing online freelancing work on the side while working full-time jobs. Elance predicts with the advent of Obamacare, many of these part-time freelancers will ditch their jobs for full-time freelance entrepreneurship. In fact, Elance CEO, Fabio Rosati, says:
Adding to this trend, says Rosati, is the increased adoption of online employees by businesses of all sizes. While 85 percent of small business respondents in Elance's Global Business Survey say hiring online provides them with a competitive advantage, bigger businesses are expected to:
Mobile Matters The increasing dependence on mobile devices tops nearly every trend watcher's 2013 hot list. JWT, a global marketing communications agency, named "The Mobile Fingerprint" as one of its 2013 trends in their 10 Trends for 2013 report. And Trendwatching.com, in their report, "10 Crucial ConsumerTrends for 2013" notes a survey from Harris reveals 63 percent of women and 73 percent of men check their cell phones at least hourly. This means you need to make sure your website is mobile-ready. According to a report from comScore, 86 million Americans get retail information from their mobile devices. Gamification Businesses large and small are adding some type of game to their websites. According to Brian Burke, vice president of research at Gartner:
This trend is reflected in the marketplace with Elance reporting an increase in demand for freelance entrepreneurs with skills in cover design (+303 percent), game development (+88 percent) and game programming (+76 percent). Healthy Pets The organic movement has been going strong for the last few years now, and now the trend is sweeping the pet industry. Overall, pets are a huge industry—the American Pet Products Association reports about 73 million households own pets and spend north of $52 billion on them. Food, accessories and toys are now being marketed to eco-conscious consumers anxious to keep their pets as healthy as their families. While there are plenty of organic and natural pet products already stocked on store shelves, there are numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs to introduce new products, or sell them on- or off-line. Gluten-Free Foods Once thought to be a passing fad, gluten-free foods and beverages are increasingly being incorporated into American diets. Food research firm Packaged Facts reports revenues for gluten-free foods will reach $4.2 billion in 2012, higher than originally projected. Originally marketed to sufferers of Crohn's and celiac diseases, now gluten-free products are consumed by about 17 percent of all Americans, primarily, says Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle, because they:
Packaged Facts reports there will be an increased variety of gluten-free snack foods and even frozen pizza. Entrepreneurs who own bakeries and restaurants should pay particular heed to this trend, and make sure you offer gluten-free choices on your menus. Crystal Ball Photo via Shutterstock The post 5 Small Business Trends for 2013 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Pinterest: Really Useful Tools to Measure Each Pin Impact Posted: 03 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST Despite its growing popularity and the way the business and marketing implications are becoming clearer, Pinterest is shockingly under represented when it comes to analytics. We have read multiple stories about Pinterest being a great traffic source (even when compared with any other social media channel), but how to effectively measure that traffic as well as “viral” spread? How do you find out your Pinfluence? Is there any way to figure out if your pinning efforts are gaining the reach you would expect as a return on such a campaign? Here are three analytics tools made specifically for Pinterest. 1. PinReachIn summary: See most popular pins and boards of yours based on the number of repins. See how popular you are (based on your PinReach Score.) Price: Free Best application: Identify your best-working pins and boards to get an idea of what seems to appeal to your following.
More cool features to check out: Right away, you can see some useful information on the front page here. They have sections for highest reach, most popular pins, trending pins, trending members and more. On a site based entirely on sharing, this can all be very helpful when trying to find unoriginal content to boost your visibility on the site. You may also find current competitions, such as the Messy Desk Contest going on right now. At the very least, you can establish a pattern and come up with some ideas for your own pinning. 2. PinalyticsIn summary: Allow the tool to access your site Google Analytics data to pull all visits from Pinterest and see which page was pinned, who pinned it and how many visits the pin resulted in. Price: Free Best application: (1) Identify your site most successful pages on Pinterest to push them harder, (2) make friends with your site random promoters who seem to love your site!
More cool features to check out: This UK based tool is really simple to use, but very effective. You can search for pins based on subject, keyword or category using their search engine. It is very helpful in seeing what kind of influence various pin topics have, and what specific images are currently trending. The great thing about Pinterest is that you will notice a trending pin making its way through the ranks for months, rather than days or weeks. So you can squeeze more out of it. 3. ReachliIn summary: Add new pins from inside the tool to enable campaign tracking. Track clicks, repins and likes that generate your pins. Price: Free Best application: Compare impact from various campaigns. The site shows time (!), day and date of each campaign making it easy to identify your most effective time to pin.
Note: I wish it could support pinning videos as well. More cool features to check out: Formerly, this tool was called Pinerly. It has since been rebranded, but the tool itself is the same. You measure your reach using basic analytics and come up with a blueprint for marketing your brand on Pinterest and through the wider social web. They have a great understanding of visual reach and the way you engage a target audience on Pinterest – which is much different than how you do it using any other social platform. Do you know any good Pinterest tools? Let us know in the comments. The post Pinterest: Really Useful Tools to Measure Each Pin Impact appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Relief Act Changes Taxes for Small Businesses Posted: 03 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST The U.S. American Taxpayer Relief Act approved by Congress January 1 contains provisions with important implications for businesses large and small. In this roundup, we examine some of the most important elements your company may need to consider. Business TaxDepending upon the type of business you operate, a number of extensions have been included in the new Act. Among the more general ones applicable to many businesses are the extension and modification of bonus depreciation, the extension of increased expensing limitations, the extension of the kinds of property eligible for depreciation under section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, and the extension and modification of the research credit. A gaggle of other extensions are included for individual tax, business tax, energy tax, unemployment, medicare and health. Read some other business-specific extensions established by the Act here. Personal TaxNumerous personal tax provisions are also outlined in the new Act according to Jim Forbes, CPA Principal for business and financial advisory firm Skoda Miotti, who issued a special summary Wednesday. While an original proposal prescribed tax increases for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and for households bringing in $250,000 a year, the new Act compromises on this original point. The increases are especially relevant for small business owners who report their revenue as individual income. Rate Changes. Taxes are still increasing for the nation’s highest earners. Essentially this could include small business owners who may now need to fork over more money in taxes rather than reinvesting that money in growing their businesses. While taxes for individuals paying at the 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, and 35 percent rate will remain unchanged, a new 39.6 percent rate now applies to joint filers and surviving spouses making more than $450,000, heads of households making more than $425,000, single filers making more than $400,000, and married couples filing separately who make more than $225,000. Capital Gains and Dividend Earnings. Taxes on capital gains, including profit realized on the successful sale of a business or on dividends for investors will also be increasing for some earners. The new Act permanently raises the tax rate to 20 percent for individuals with incomes exceeding $400,000 or married filers exceeding $450,000. That tax rate rises to 23.8 percent after adding a Medicare surtax on investment income. Estate and gift tax. Potentially important for family owned businesses, rates will be raised, but only at the upper end of the spectrum. The Act permanently boosts the top estate, gift, and generation-skipping-transfer (GST) rate from 35 to 40 percent for individuals dying and gifts given after 2012, and sets the exemption above which that tax must be paid at $5 million. Other Important ProvisionsSome other provisions of the Act may be of importance to small business owners and entrepreneurs. For example:
ReactionReaction to the new Act from the business community has been mixed. However, National Federation of Independent Business CEO Dan Danner seemed to greet the news with some relief, at least as far as small business taxes are concerned, in a brief statement yesterday. "It's hugely disappointing to the small-business community that the legislative bridge to avert the ‘cliff’ did not address our country's most pressing economic issue: unchecked spending that leads to crushing deficits and debt. Small business owners need to balance their books to stay in business and they think the federal government should do the same—no more excuses,” Danner said. "That said, there were some positives for small business on a few of the specifics in this deal. A substantial majority of small firms will be permanently spared a tax increase on their income and their estates, and certainty on the individual rates will help small-business owners with planning and cash flow. The mystery of what their tax rates will be is finally over, and there is relief in that, but there is much more work to be done to address spending and out-of-control deficits." The post Relief Act Changes Taxes for Small Businesses appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
You gotta love the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Their job is to do the research requested by Congress or written into legislation in order to makes sure that government programs are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Tis the season to make predictions. If my crystal ball is working, 2013 is going to be a good year for small businesses.
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