Articles about AT&T’s massive Time-Warner acquisition and the U.S. Presidential election crowded out other news this week.

These big stories drowned out marketing news, especially from social media, that might be prominent in other weeks. Organizations can miss important developments that can improve their success when this happens.

And it was a busy week for the Facebook-Instagram organization as Facebook commerce went global. There was also news about Google privacy changes from nonprofit ProPublica.

Our mission is to always stay in touch with the organizations that affect our daily lives. Global news can drown out their voices. Those are the weeks we have to know about things that happened that can affect our work and your company.

Your Marketing Spotlight for October 24

New Call-to-Action Options for Facebook Pages Facebook is rolling out several call-to-action updates that allow customers to book appointments and sell items directly. What’s the deal with Facebook Fundraisers? What’s the deal with the new Facebook Fundraisers tool? News for nonprofits about fundraising with a social twist.

LinkedIn updates endorsements to make them actually relevant LinkedIn has taken its endorsements feature and given it a touch-up so that it actually means something on a person’s profile. The company is CUSTOMIZING each person’s experience so that the most impactful endorsements are surfaced when you view a profile. Any business on Facebook can now sell goods right from its Page All businesses can now sell physical goods or book appointments directly from their Facebook page, reports Recode. This capability was previously limited to a group of test users. Facebook commerce is a thing for everyone.

1 in 4 Instagrammers Sharing Photos to Other Networks One reason why Instagram has become so widely known is the likelihood of people posting their Instagram content to other services. Understand how Instagram serves as the distribution point for other networks–it’s big! Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking – ProPublica Google is the latest tech company to drop the longstanding wall between anonymous online ad tracking and user’s names. As ProPublica points out, Google said it would keep the Double Click database separate from advertising when they bought the company in 2007. That just changed.

ICYMI: The Most Clicked Marketing Stories from Recent Posts

Facebook Messenger adds buy button

Common Ways Scammers Try To Hack Your Data

Nearly 85% of Smartphone App Time in These 5 Apps

Header photo by Dino Reichmuth. Other images are thumbnails from content on newsworthy websites and serve as links under the provisions of fair use.

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As we evaluate Silver Beacon in its ninth year, we reflect on why we keep a small hands-on client presence instead of building the company. We spent some time in September asking ourselves hard questions about our motivations and our work with nonprofit organizations.

Every iteration ended with some form of this idea so we wrote it down:

We believe that the Internet can be a powerful tool for helping organizations make the world a better, more positive place in which to work and live.

This is our energizing motivation. It is the reason why we do this kind of work in this way. And this week, we’re launching a program to build on that belief.

We know that many of you serve on boards or volunteer with an organization. These groups feed the hungry, help people displaced by extreme weather, and teach people how to read. Help us identify worthy nonprofits and help those organizations you care about. We’re giving a complete digital audit to a deserving nonprofit. One of you will nominate the winning organization.

There is no fee or any payment involved. We’ll pick the first winner based on what you tell us about a deserving organization.

Send an email with the details of what they do to george@silverbeaconmarketing.com. Make sure you tell us WHY you’re nominating them.

The winning organization receives a free evaluation of their website, search engine efforts, social media, and messaging. We charge $2,300 for that service and do a lot of these audits.

We’ll also tell our readers about the project, and the things we find and recommend. Maybe you’ll find some tips for your own organization, or it will inspire you to nominate a project that is meaningful to you in the future. Hopefully it will remind everyone that there are good things being done by good people every day, and that we can all help them succeed in some way. Please send your nominations by Wednesday night.

If you’re working with someone or trying to reach an organization, let me know, and we can work with you on the deadline.

Your spotlight stories from Silver Beacon Marketing for October 10: Online ads need to be viewable for 14 seconds to be seen Viewable online ads typically receive 0.7 seconds gaze time. Cluttered environments see ad gaze time drop 37% Google organic blue links results drops from 10 to 8.5 What does this mean? Fewer “organic” / natural listings. This Infographic Shows the Common Ways Scammers Try to Phish Your Account A great graphic showing the ways that we are all challenged by online scams. Digital Marketing Words You Need to Know Now | Digital – AdAge See a cheat sheet of what to know as a digital marketer on the way to 2020. Facebook takes on Craigslist eBay Marketplace on Facebook allows users to discover, buy and sell items with people in their community. Breaking the Black Box: When Algorithms Decide What You Pay – ProPublica The phone you use, the computer you own and the ZIP code you live in can all be factors in what prices you see when shopping online. Welcome to the world of mass customization.

Header photo by Mary Vogt. Other images are thumbnails from content on newsworthy websites and serve as links under the provisions of fair use.

Want your own copy of SPOTLIGHT emailed free every Monday morning?
Go here:  https://silverbeacon.ongoodbits.com/