Facebook and Google Battle Over Small Businesses

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Facebook Inc. (FB) and Google — or rather, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) — are the undisputed kings of digital advertising. Collectively, they make up more than one third of all online display advertising.

fb-googl-stock-small-businessesBut that doesn’t mean FB and GOOG are teammates. Google — to be clear, I’m talking about Google, the newly redefined subsidiary of Alphabet that focuses solely on digital advertising — is taking the fight to Facebook on a number of fronts, including the battle for small businesses and not just big accounts.

In September, Facebook rolled out improvements to its Pages that included more tools for direct-response marketers and better mobile functionality. The moves were specifically targeted towards small businesses who increasingly see their Facebook pages as their “home page” — the way they meet new customers and manage their brand.

Not to be outdone, Google recently added more than 90 domain extensions including .pizza and .toys as a way to court small businesses looking for easy URLs both for their websites and for email extensions. Think springfield.pizza as the homepage and orders@springfield.pizza as your contact instead of whatever weird, hyphen-laden addresses you currently may have to use.

Small Businesses Are … Well, Big Business

The developments from both GOOG and FB stock may seem small potatoes, and in many ways that’s the point. Because the future of the internet commerce won’t just be made by how Apple Inc. (AAPL) chooses to advertise its latest iPhone — that way that small businesses and local shops connect with new prospects is going to be hugely important.

After all, a big driver of revenue for both Google and Facebook is the ability for smaller marketing firms to target niche customers. There may only be a few thousand people searching for “Kansas cars” in Google each month, but if you’re a Kansas car dealer, those are very qualified leads. The same holds true for a sports shop in Kentucky that wants its ads to appear in the FB timelines of folks who live in Louisville and have “liked” local basketball teams.

The collective might of small businesses can’t be overstated. According the the Small Business Administration, these companies account for some 54% of all sales in America — and you can bet that their advertising trends reflect that.

It’s too soon to tell how small businesses will spend their cash in the future, however, as FB stock and GOOG both fight for the privilege of being their go-to digital platforms. But you can be sure that the fight for their advertising dollars won’t end with this latest batch of new digital tools to help these companies grow their businesses.

Jeff Reeves is the editor of InvestorPlace.com and the author of The Frugal Investor’s Guide to Finding Great Stocks. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Write him at editor@investorplace.com or follow him on Twitter via @JeffReevesIP

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/10/fb-stock-goog-facebook-google-advertising/.

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