Street Fight’s 5 Most Popular Stories From the First Half of 2013

The first six months of 2013 has brought a whirlwind of developments in local, from massive fundraising to exciting new products, and of course a few stumbles. What have readers been most interested in to date? Innovation around point-of-sale systems has been hot-hot-hot. Social media strategies for brands and SMBs are also highly evolving and therefore closely read. And it’s hardly a surprise that readers glommed onto our look into where investment dollars may lie. Enjoy this look back at the stories you loved (or may have missed!).

1. 7 Cloud-Based POS Systems for SMBs

Stephanie Miles, February 4th: Cloud-based POS platforms differentiate themselves from one another with advanced integrations with digital loyalty programs, accounting tools, and mechanisms for creating gift cards and coupons, in addition to varying price structures. This article highlights seven POS systems, with a rich comments section noting further offerings in this category.

2. What Multilocation Brands Need to Do to Prepare for Facebook’s Graph Search

Rob Reed, January 28th: “National brands have invested nearly all of their Facebook resources in building and supporting brand pages for the purpose of publishing content and managing customer relationships at the corporate level. But these brands don’t do business at the corporate level. They do business at the local level through large, brick-and-mortar networks. When it comes to Graph Search, these physical locations and their corresponding local Facebook pages are what really matter.”

3. Why Mom-and-Pops Will No Longer Pay for ‘Social Media Management’

Julie Brooks, February 6th: The social media hype bubble has burst, and most very small businesses have not realized their ROI in social media. They’re not willing to pay my company — or anyone else’s — hundreds of dollars a month to market their company on Facebook or Twitter. Instead they are diverting those dollars to pay per click options, SEO, optimizing their websites for conversion and mobile, or targeted local media advertising.”

4. 6 POS Systems With Loyalty Program Integration

Stephanie Miles, June 12th: You can’t say that 2013 won’t be the year of the battle to transform antiquated and non-linked point-of-sale systems and strategies. As Miles writes, “With an increasing number of cloud-based point-of-sale systems now offering their own loyalty tools — and some offering integration with existing rewards programs — merchants have fewer and fewer reasons to pay for separate software systems when managing their small to mid-size businesses.”

5. Hyperlocal M&A Heats Up — Here’s What 4 Big Acquirers Are Looking For

Steven Jacobs, February 15th: “Just six weeks into the year, we’ve already seen a spike in hyperlocal industry acquisitions (not to mention well-founded rumors).” This article offers a quick look at four major players who were likely in the hunt for locally focused acquisitions and what each might be looking for.