If you are a business owner on Facebook, you'll eventually want to create ads for your business's page. To do this you need to create a Business Manager account, a function created by Facebook that allows you and if you choose to, other team or marketing members to create ads, check in on their progress and share strategies.

Listening whether you are in a small prosperous town like Valparaiso Indiana or a big city like Chicago Illinois listening is the most important trait any company BIG or small can do to be successful in their endeavors. Often a company will think that it's their way or the highway. They might state publicly it's all about the customer but the actions dictate and say otherwise. If you've been reading our blog and several hundred of you are you now that JM2, my company, is run by humans. Yes, we are inferior beings in that we make mistakes. What makes JM2 different though is our agile philosophy on life where we are quick to adapt and change based on both positive and negative feedback we receive from current and past customers.

We have heard our customers and what they need through both positive and negative feedback. Negative feedback often is some of the best feedback and organization can hear. It's not because we want that feedback but because the person believes either in (1) driving traffic away from us as they feel scorned or (2) they deeply believe, like us, in local small business and helping them improve. Not every business will choose the improve process and be themselves scorn. We believe no matter the reason for someone giving positive or negative feedback opens an area for not only self-improvement but company improvement. This is why we have opted to create an entirely new position now rather than waiting months, even years, down the road. We pride ourselves in our customer service and what we've learned is that a dedicated person between the customer and the team is necessary for success.

I have been physically out of pocket at the office for several months as I have been running in/out of meetings all over Northwest Indiana with our partners and clients. The benefit is the growth we have experienced is great as we are able to grow and employ more awesome people. But that growth comes at a price and today I want to write about what has happened and some hard decisions that I, as the owner and the person ultimately responsible, am making to "fix" the problem. Now I say "fix" as I don't know if these will truly fix the problem. I know they won't hurt things but as an agile company we have to change and adapt, do so quickly, efficiently, and constantly evolve.

It's rough, it's beyond uncut, and it's shooting straight from the hip and telling it like it is. There are no circles, squares, or triangles to get out of with us. Those things just don't exist. Our new video and soon pod cast series (just audio without the handsome actors -- okay not actors) deliver news and information related to digital marketing (with a splash of regular marketing), web design, software development, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and the latest things as they happen. It will not be unheard of when breaking news in these subjects come out that we'll be fast on the change and streaming it live.

We took on a monumental challenge this past week. We had a new client using Adobe Muse. Nothing special about that beside the fact they learned that Adobe Muse is being retired in a few years and they wanted to be ahead of the curve and were already concerned the product wasn't working the way they needed it to. The largest concern with the Adobe Muse site was they stated the website loaded slow with the fastest page being around fifteen seconds to load. So we took a look and these are our findings with their site.

If you are not working to create content for your business, you are working toward a company that does not grow. Content is King and brings people into your world by telling an important set of stories to bring them into your world. Engagement is Queen and she truly rules the roost. Both need crowns, and both are equal and without either your business will fail. It is truly that simple and let's look at what content is and how you need to be creating it today.

The first thing to cover is this is not legal advice. This is a culmination of over thirty blog articles and our take on GDPR from our friends at the European Union (EU). First, let's cover what GDPR stands for. GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and ultimately is designed to protect consumers. Personally, I feel this is a very good thing and if the United States legislature get's it right they will copy it as it's forcing businesses to be more transparent, honest (our rule #1), and helps make the internet a place people will want to be. In American we might think that these rules might not apply to us. We would be completely wrong with the age of the internet. The internet makes even a brand new, just opened today, one man/woman shop into an international business whether intended or not. Let's look at what businesses need to do at a high-level to comply with GDPR.

Politics and social media have changed forever due to a recent decision that changes how political accounts function and engage with others online. The questions is, are you ready to deal with the changes?