Big-name social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are more interactive and responsive than ever. However, these platforms now have a plan to move another step forward in 2018. Here are the top 5 trends you should watch out for this year.

“Fad” is a dirty word for many small-business owners. Whether it’s what they’re selling or what they’re investing in, business owners need long-term and reliable investments to secure their future. With 2017 in the rearview mirror, we finally know what was a fad and what was a smart investment.

You can easily tell whether a website is encrypted, and therefore safe, if a padlock icon appears next to its URL and if it starts with HTTPS (instead of just HTTP). Unfortunately, hackers now use the very same tool that’s supposed to protect browsers from malicious entities via encrypted phishing sites.

You might not be interested in learning about IT, and we don’t blame you, you didn’t start your business to master the ins and outs of servers. But whether you like it or not, your business relies heavily on technology to survive. This is why there are certain aspects of IT that you can’t afford to ignore and IAM is one of them.

In November, 2017, Facebook announced that their extremely popular Facebook Messenger application would allow businesses to speak to customers on both their own websites and from within Facebook Messenger. Read on to discover how your business can benefit from this feature!
The How
By installing a plug-in called Customer Chat, retailers can integrate Facebook Messenger with their website, letting their customer support representatives carry on conversations with clients just like they would on Facebook.

With stories of large-scale data breaches and internet service providers tracking internet habits, online privacy is becoming a rare commodity. Incognito mode and private browsing features may be able to cover up your browsing history, but they don’t completely protect your online activities.

Connections, Listings, and Invoicing are the most recent additions to Microsoft’s software lineup and they’re finally out of the beta testing phase. These apps come with every Office 365 Business Premium subscription and are perfect for companies with fewer than 300 employees.

According to experts, passwords shouldn’t be the only way you defend your accounts. After all, hackers have plenty of tricks and tools to steal them. So to help businesses fully understand the risks involved, Google conducted a study on the causes of account hijacking.

Over the past year, Google has been giving business owners more control over what information is displayed in the search results. At first, the options were limited, but now Google is opening up opportunities for advanced features that greatly improve customer service.

Google has made reviews more visible within its search results, which means that online reviews will have a massive impact on customer behavior and your company’s search performance. If you’re not taking the time to generate good reviews from prominent sites, your business may not get enough customer attention to stay afloat.