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Facebook Changes Update – notes from Social Media Examiner YouTube

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Social Media Examiner –  Videocast (YouTube) on Facebook Changes (Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner). Note: Mari Smith will be doing a workshop on gaining organic reach (first week in March). Her Facebook page is @marismith and you can find out more at Social Media Examiner.

Facebook has made their 88th acquisition (Omni Channel CRM platform called: Kustomer. It is a fusion of phone, email , web chat messaging). It brings conversations from various channels into a single view… it automates repetitive tasks – part agent controlled (The question was asked whether this is like Salesforce’s new approach?) Facebook is now focusing on the business side.

New Pages Experience: Rolled out January 6th  It is optional, but some question will be like FB5 – that it will become mandatory. Classic is the existing. A Warning below about switching!

One main feature: Facebook is getting rid of the “like” button on pages and focuses on followers. Social Media Examiner discussed this in a video released today. So if you have liked a page, but then unfollowed them – that page will not be able to reach them in a news feed. They will disappear. You can only reach them through ads.

Hopefully business pages have more followers than likes. Facebook has come right out and said being a follower is  a better signal that someone wants to see your posts.

There are updated admin controls, a different design, different navigation and a dedicated News Feed different from the current newsfeed (under Home). They are bringing out a dedicated news feed to enable discover and join conversations, follow trends, interact with your peers and your fans. This New Pages Feed is on the page. The page will access the dedicated feed and view it. The question was raised whether the page may become more of a destination? You can now favourite a page (in a favourites feed).

Mari Smith says that may be an opportunity to gain more reach and visibility, to connect and expand where you are interacting with other pages…but they have not yet made it completely obvious.  It isn’t known how people will access this new pages feed. It is not known either what will happen to ads.

… BUT  While you will have an option as an admin to switch, they gave a warning…

If you switch and you try it out and decide to switch back – BUT you will not be able to edit any ads you create with the new page or posts during made while in the New Pages Experience. It may be a good idea to try and convert your likes to followers before you make the change.

Facebook Workplace (did away with a free plan) – to bring this into the workplace.

Facebook CoLab: Also new. An app created NPE (New Product Experimentation).

Launched in Beta last May (2020) and released in December. Musicians can collaborate to synch musicians playing. Fun app… Certain artists have amassed as many as 43 million streams… accomplished and up and coming who want to create video.

E.gg creations from Facebook – striving to attract and retain younger demographics

Brand Collaborations: This is a feature in Creator’s Studio (go to Monetization on the left- hand side to find Brand Collaborations Manager or BCM). You can use theirs or find your own paid partnerships.

This is for people or brands who are trying to find Influencers (micro, nano, macro etc.) or people who have a specific audience of all sizes who might want to promote or offer that brand’s products/services. A recent change – a little handshake icon (on both Facebook and Instagram) indicates a post that you are being paid for… a sponsorship or collaboration or partnership. It will be flagged “paid Partnership” – this is disclosure to be FTC compliant. The BCM Manager is where brands can submit a brief of what they might be looking for – and how much they would pay if anything. They are called project briefs and you can decide what you want to participate in. This BCM is available to public groups of 1,000 members or more. They can begin to monetize their groups. Note: FYI – Once a group gets over a certain size you cannot make it public.

A recap of some resources (original notification by MPP (and AG) Doug Downey’s office

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Here is the list. The Digital Main Street initiative has since expanded – although there are some restrictions (location, and potentially commercial property taxes – directly or through leasing) This is a grant.

The funding may be used by small businesses to support eligible costs to help implement their Digital Transformation Plan. These can include costs in relation to:

  • Digital marketing (cost to hire a consultant/agency) to execute digital marketing initiative
  • Website development (development of a new website, redevelopment/improvements)
  • Software (graphic design, productivity software, database, social media software (e.g.Hootsuite, Dropbox, Buffer); security software
  • optimizing websites for search (i.e. cost to hire a search optimization consultant)
  • setting up e-commerce, back-office solutions
  • social media advertising,
  • creating customer databases
  • professional photography services for a website or e-commerce site
  • Digital training (courses)
  • Some hardware upgrades

The Digital Main Street grant will help businesses get online and complement the other pillars of Ontario’s Digital Main Street program. You can find the various program application’s posted below:

Digital Transformation Grant ($2500) : https://digitalmainstreet.ca/marketing-new-economy/

Digital Service Squad: https://digitalmainstreet.ca/digital-service-squad-grant-2-0/

  • shopHERE  leverages Ontario’s strengths by hiring highly skilled and trained students to build and support the launch of online stores for businesses that previously did not have the capacity to do so themselves. The core goal will be to help small businesses compete and grow and to help them recover as quickly as possible following COVID-19.
  • NOTE: There is another digital platform called
  • Digital Main Street will help businesses sell more effectively once they’re online by providing next-level support through an up to $2,500 grant. The goal of the grant is for businesses to adopt new technologies and embrace digital marketing. Businesses will also have access to Digital Service Squads, which will provide personalized, one-on-one support to help them navigate these new tools and maximize their return on investment.
  • Futureproofing Businesses will provide a tailored evaluation for businesses by analyzing their business models and potential digital transformation pathways. Staffed by a team of talented students, Futureproofing Businesses will help businesses develop and implement a plan that will help them adapt to new digital trends, challenges and technologies.
  • The Recovery Activation Program is a virtual learning platform targeted at supporting small and medium-sized businesses to develop resiliency in their back-office operations by adopting online and virtual systems.

Details about the Provincial grant is coming out today (Ontario Govt)

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These just came out today. Thanks to Andrea Khanjin who gave me a head’s up!

The link is below – but there are conditions – there are two classifications for the grant ($10K – $20K)

  • One Set of conditions that includes a drop in revenue from April 2019 – to April 2020 (of 20% or more)
  • For startups – there are new conditions to be published today

https://www.ontario.ca/page/businesses-get-help-covid-19-costs#section-5

Starting at $10,000 for all eligible businesses, the grant will provide businesses with dollar for dollar funding to a maximum of $20,000 to help cover decreased revenue expected as a result of the Provincewide Shutdown. The business must demonstrate they experienced a revenue decline of at least 20 per cent when comparing monthly revenue in April 2019 and April 2020. This time period was selected because it reflects the impact of the public health measures in spring 2020, and as such provides a representation of the possible impact of these latest measures on small businesses. Other time periods are available for businesses that may not have been in operation in April 2019 – to be published today (see link)

Eligibility

To receive the grant, a small business must:

  • Be required to close or restrict services subject to the Provincewide Shutdown effective 12:01 a.m. on December 26, 2020
  • Have fewer than 100 employees at the enterprise level
  • Have experienced a minimum of 20 per cent revenue decline comparing April 2020 to April 2019 revenues (or alternate time periods for businesses that were not in operation in April 2019).

Financial Help – Government of Ontario grant and Tourism (offset COVID costs)

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Financial Help

City of Barrie – Tourism

The tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit during COVID-19. The COVID-19 Tourism Response Fund – being administered by the Cities of Barrie and Orillia, the Counties of Simcoe and Grey, and Regional Tourism Organization 7 – offers tourism operators (such as restaurants, entertainment facilities and select retail) the chance to apply for between $2,500 to $20,000 to help offset the costs of adapting to COVID-19 health & safety regulations.
Applications are due by January 31; visit the funding webpage for more details and to see whether you are eligible to apply for this non-repayable contribution. (Once on the webpage, select “click here for more information” to download application form.)

Government of Ontario – Small business support grant

The Ontario Small Business Support Grant provides between $10,000 to $20,000 to help small business owners whose services are restricted due to the upcoming provincewide shutdown. Further details on this grant will be announced shortly.

The Ontario Main Street Relief Grant offers small businesses one-time grants of up to $1,000 to help with the costs of PPE.

Property tax and energy bill rebates are also available if your services have been restricted as a result of the provincewide lockdown.

Other
For more information on current financial assistance options, visit barrie.ca/SupportForBusiness.

 

Yay … Friend discount for Tech Smith! Are you getting video (or want to edit easily?)

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Camtasia and Snagit are two Tech Smith Products I use…. happy to share this gift:

TechSmith Camtasia

Friends Get 10% off

Friends and colleagues wondering how you create professional-looking videos? Let them in on the secret!
Share the benefits of TechSmith Camtasia today by forwarding this email to a friend and let them know they can get Camtasia for 10% less with code SHARECAM from now until January 20, 2021.

Friends Get 10% Off

 

SHARECAM discount code is available on new single user licenses only. Upgrades not included. Valid from now until January 20, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Use CAMASSETS10 for 10% off the first year of a new TechSmith Assets for Camtasia subscription only. Valid from now until January 20, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Assets for Camtasia

TechSmith Camtasia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A cool way to help a charity (Village Impact) and gain business books – ENDS JAN 2nd

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This is from Stu McLaren who is the owner of Toronto-based TRIBE. He and his wife have a charity that supports schooling and relief in Kenya

… Here is a way to support others in need AND yourself. Just until tomorrow… If you are interested – click the link below (because we’re in Canada there is a special process to go through).

1) I’m going to give you the inside scoop on how you can get three best-selling business books from 2020 (the digital version)… all for just $1 each.

2) Each $1 purchase means $2 goes to our charity Village Impact (where we are providing much needed relief to our school communities in Kenya)

So you get three incredible books for just $1 each and by getting yourself an AWESOME deal, you’re also helping contribute to help a whole lot of people.

How awesome is that?

Find out how to get the books here

But there is a catch…

The digital version of the books will only be available for $1 this week (everything ends January 2nd).

Ok so here’s the scoop…

This week, these awesome books (the digital version) are available on Amazon for just $1:

1) Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson

2) Limitless by Jim Kwik

3) Who Not How by Dan Sullivan

And all three of these books were best sellers in 2020 and some have more than 5,000+ reviews with 80% 5 stars!

Bottom line, these books are an awesome resource if you’re looking to…

  • Attract more buyers to your business
  • Level up your ability to accomplish more
  • Scale up your business without draining your number one resource – YOUR time!

Each book is available for $1

Now here’s where things get really fun…

Reid Tracy (the CEO of HayHouse), who is the publisher of these books, said that he donate $1 to our charity Village Impact for every book that gets purchased this week.

So if 1,000 get purchased, $1,000 will be donated.

If 10,000 get purchased, $10,000 will be donated.

In fact, he said there is NO limit to how much will be donated!

THEN… something else happened…

Upon finding this out, Jeff Walker was inspired and said he would MATCH Reid up to $100,000!!

So that means when you buy a book for $1, $2 gets donated to Village Impact.

Amazing right?

We outlined all the details here

Our hope is that you’ll grab a copy of all three books and even consider gifting it to others (because those count as well towards the donations).

Every dollar will make a MASSIVE difference in our relief efforts for our school communities in Kenya.

This is a triple win.

You win because you get 3 incredible, best selling books for just $1 each.

Village Impact wins because we get $2 donated for each book purchased this week.

And the kids in our school communities in Kenya win because they will get the supplies they need to help beat the challenges that they’re now facing.

But all of this ends January 2nd, 2021.

So go get your copy today!

You’re awesome!

Stu

P.S. For obvious reasons we’d LOVE for you to share this with anyone you think would enjoy the books. Because the more books that are sold, the more is raised and therefore the more people we can help!

Resources and info: COVID Impact on seniors’ mental health

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I received a note from Joseph Rex, who has sent me a link to the Southern California Recovery Centre (see below). They have an article and a resource page on how COVID-19 is affecting the mental wellness of seniors. As many of you know, my mother who passed away this July suffered from dementia and lost connections with all of us because of this disease.  If you have a senior in this pandemic – please read on.

As you know, the pandemic has impacted mental health for people of all ages, but seniors are impacted more than others. According to an article by Bio Med Central, social isolation creates a 50% increased risk of developing dementia, a 29% increased risk of incident coronary heart disease, and a 32% increased risk of stroke. Families can help with isolation by staying in touch via Zoom and FaceTime, and can assist with technology to provide information resources for seniors.

We’ve created a resource page on how COVID-19 affects the mental health of seniors to raise awareness on this issue, and provide insight on ways in which families can support their senior loved ones. You can see our resource here: https://socalsunrisemh.com/how-covid-19-affects-the-mental-health-of-seniors/

Would you be willing to include this link as an additional resource for your users? It would be an honor to be part of your work in supporting the senior community during these trying times. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I look forward to hearing back from you!

Patricia

Could you Qualify for the expanded Digital Main Street program? Check it out

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Expansion of Service for those who pay commercial property tax/commercial rent: see requirements below

Digital Main Street is a program and service that helps businesses achieve digital transformation. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and a Digital Service Squad, a team of highly trained professionals who help businesses grow and manage their business through the adoption of digital tools and technology.

This program was originally designed for businesses located within the Downtown Barrie BIA District, Bayfield Street– extension from BIA district to Highway 400 and surrounding City Centre West – C1 and C2 zones extending from the BIA (Dunlop Street, Toronto Street, Bradford Street, Essa Road). However, we are pleased to announce the expansion of this program to include Barrie businesses that are zoned C3-C5. We have attached both maps for you to see if your business is eligible.

Additional eligibility requirements include:

  • Employs 1-10 employees (or fewer than 25 employees if they are a café, restaurant, or bar)
  • Paying commercial property tax either directly or through commercial rent
  • A registered business in Ontario
  • Open for business/operating at the time of application (not a start up)

Initial interest in the program has been extensive, so there may be some delay before you hear from a Digital Service Squad team member, who will be in contact with you to go over and confirm your eligibility for the program.

As we move forward, we are continuing to work to broaden this program’s borders more.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Best Regards, The Digital Service Squad

 

COVID Resources (grants) for Ontario businesses and families

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Premier Ford announced help (for the full text – see this link: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/59788/post-4)

  • The government is announcing the new Ontario Small Business Support Grant, which will provide a minimum of $10,000 and up to $20,000 to help small business owners who are required to close or restrict services under the Provincewide Shutdown . Details and applications will open in January. 
  • Discounted off-peak hydro rates: 8.5 cents for time of use and tiered customers for the 28 days of lockdown in January.
  • Parents of students will be eligible for a one-time credit of $200 per child, through the Support for Learners program using direct deposit.
    • School children: age 13 to grade 12: Sign up online at: Jan 11- Feb 8th: Ontario.ca/supportforlearners
    • Elementary school children (to age 12, or age 21 for special needs) – the portal is open now.
  • Elementary will learn virtually until January 11th and many high school students will learn virtually until January 25th.

A year that closes and fresh hope for 2021?

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Hi everyone

With one week before holidays and whatever celebration your family chooses, I find myself looking back over the past year, a little surprised that we have spent so much of it isolated from our family, friends and colleagues.

We’ve showed up, we’ve pivoted, and we’ve done our best to adapt our businesses to the changing conditions we’ve never before experienced. (And hope to never again).

I want to salute  our GV colleagues and friends, for their courage, for their ingenuity and most of all for their persistence in the face of so much change and in some cases, loss. As entrepreneurs, we are the heart and soul of business in Canada. And we often live by the motto: “There must be another way around this”.

We have learned lessons we did not expect, and which we’ll be able to re-apply in the future. I’d like to encourage you to reach out for help if you run low on determination.

Although the path is not entirely clear, I’d also like to encourage you to dream for 2021.

To help you set intentions for next year, you might have a look at Chris Brogan’s method. He calls them his “3 words” which he also calls his compass for the next year. As you know from my logo, I’m partial to compasses.

Here is the link:https://chrisbrogan.com/?s=3+words

I also believe when you set your compass, your actions will follow.

I’d like to wish you all a peaceful, safe, and happy holiday.

Patricia

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