Core Agenda Inc.

34% of restaurant operators and owners have a dedicated employee whose full-time job is to market the restaurant through ads, promotions and social media and more. Conversely, 12% of 1,253 restaurant professionals surveyed said that they don't market their brand on social media at all. Facebook remains the dominant platform in the restaurant space, with 91% of restaurants leveraging the channel.

https://bit.ly/30ade0Z

Why Are First-Party Reviews Important?

Most small and medium businesses or practices understand the value of third-party reviews on their behalf. Third-party reviews are those collected by websites such as Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, and TripAdvisor. They are generated independently from the business or practice under review.

First-party reviews are those that are collected and displayed on your website with no input from a business or practice owner. They may be managed by a reputation management system such as Birdeye.

Some small and medium business or practice leaders have the mistaken belief that the value of first-party reviews is only marginal. Those that think this way are ill-advised and missing a tremendous opportunity.

First-party reviews provide prospects with an added assurance that they are in good hands. But more importantly, first-party reviews have important SEO benefits.

Since early 2018, Google began sharing first party review feeds on Google searches. This adds to the fact that first party reviews have long been a component of the Google search algorithm.

Sometimes it is a struggle to get customers or patients to leave a review. Many first-party review processes make it easier than most third-party review systems to leave reviews.

We all know that our online reputations are extremely important. As you work on this challenge, don't lose sight of how important first-party reviews are to you for your digital presence.

Amazon Continues to Lead the Way in a Booming U.S. Digital Economy

The U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that U.S. consumers spent $513.6 billion online in 2018, up 14.2% from 2017. U.S. total retail sales only increased 4.8% over the same period.

In 2018, eCommerce sales accounted for 9.7% of total retail, up from 8.9% of total retail in 2017.

Amazon remains by far the largest retail player in the world. What about their 2018 sales?

In 2018 Amazon had $232.887 billion in revenue. The number includes international sales ($65.866B) and Amazon web services ($25.655B), but when you strip those out that still leaves you with $141.366 billion for North America.

It gets a bit fuzzy comparing this North America number as it includes sales for Canada, Mexico and presumably the remainder of the continent. But given the United States' economic dominance, it is a good starting number for some fuzzy math.

Amazon's North American sales in 2018 were 27.5% of U.S. eCommerce. And that same Amazon North American revenue number for 2018 represents 2.67% of U.S. total retail.

This level of success is a testament to Jeff Bezos' leadership from the days of Amazon's 1994 founding in the garage of his home in Bellevue. It should be an inspiration for those who are working to launch their own transformational visions in the digital economy.