Ben Thinking: People; Facebook goes dark; Blockbuster!; Voice search

This is a short, weird week right? Three days tucked in between St. Patricks Day and March Madness? I hope you are getting as much work done as possible before the madness sets in and your bracket breaks. If you have a minute, check out some stories catching my attention this week!

2019 trends: Four essential SEO strategies for 2019
 
How is your SEO strategy performing so far? 2019 is almost a quarter of the way gone…but it’s not too late to check out these SEO focal points for 2019.
 
Creative thinking: People buy from people.
 
So why not consider putting your people in front of people…so hopefully their people call your people?
 
Tech: Facebook and Instagram going dark should be a wake-up call.
 
Did you hear the screaming? The wailing? Facebook and Instagram were down for the count last week. And while we are all glad it was restored (we are, right?) did this reveal what we should really be worried about when companies can have so much riding on these channels?
 
I like this: The world’s last Blockbuster
 
I loved going to the video store. Seeing all of the movies we could watch, staring me in the face…and it was just as hard to pick something out to watch then as it is now on Prime or Netflix. But there was something to standing in front of that wall…going into a store and not knowing what you were going to walk out with.
 
Anyway, if you want to do that now you have to go to Oregon, which is where the last standing Blockbuster is.
 
Brand stand: By 2020 50% of search queries will be voice.
 
Are you thinking of your brand in every possible way and form? Is it easily spoken? Does search know how to say/recognize a name like…akhia, for example? You might want to consider where your brand stands with this as the reality is more and more consumers will be saying v. typing.
 
Something to watch: Do you need to worry about ‘de-educating’ your customer?
                                                                             
I kind of like this guy’s style…as he asks some questions that are definitely worth thinking about when it comes to your content – are we doing too good a job, as marketers?
 
Podcast time: Crisis in a modern world
 
So many ‘firsts’ in today’s world. But is your business ready for it? There is never a bad time for crisis planning…especially when you consider how difficult it is today to predict.
 
akhia founder Jan Gusich, a crisis strategy expert breaks down some of today’s more…interesting…crisis situations and says it’s a reminder to keep the old school strategies top-of-mind.
 
ICYMI: Last week’s most read article was…
A new generation is reshaping how we work