WALL STREET JOURNAL – Think video is the best way to grab customers online? Try broadcasting in real time. Mobile apps like Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live let users watch streaming video with their smartphones and have real-time conversation with the broadcasters. Now companies are leveraging those tools to show customers product demonstrations, answer questions and give behind-the-scenes tours, while having ongoing conversations with them. The real-time interaction inspires more customer trust than prerecorded videos, say entrepreneurs and experts, and viewers are more likely to buy impulsively in response to a live broadcast. Nicole Rixon has seen great results from doing live streams for her business, Sweet Stamp Shop in Indian Wells, Calif. Ms. Rixon, whose business sells decorative adhesive stamps used to adorn personal planners, does weekly Periscope broadcasts, called scopes by users, to show…

WALL STREET JOURNAL – For Shelley Davis, the secret to promoting a business on YouTube isn’t making videos. It’s talking to customers. Two years ago, Ms. Davis decided to set up a YouTube account to show videos about her hair-care company, Kinky-Curly Hair Products LLC. While poking around the site, she found that lots of African-American women had posted video blogs, or vlogs, about choosing natural hair over braids, perms or dreadlocks. This was right up Ms. Davis’s alley, so she jumped into the comments sections of the vlogs, offering advice and answering questions about her products. The result: a surge of support. Vloggers have posted more than 5,100 videos showing them trying out Kinky-Curly products, and Ms. Davis says the attention has helped boost sales by 40% and push her seven-year-old…

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Lots of grumpy customers take potshots at companies in forums, review sites and social networks. But what happens when a rival makes anonymous digs at you? Experts say these situations don’t come up often, but when they do, they need to be handled with an especially light touch. Rivals may be trying to draw you into a nasty public fight that could alienate your customers. Their advice: Avoid those kinds of showdowns, and don’t try to be sneaky by posting anonymous comments of your own. Both approaches are likely to backfire. Here’s the smart way to handle the situation. Be alert for signs a rival is hounding you. In most cases, they’ll simply cut and paste the same messages across multiple online venues. If they don’t do that,…

WALL STREET JOURNAL – After working for more than six years as manager of digital licensing for Warner Music Group in Burbank, Calif., Michael Locke, 34, felt like he wanted more. But there wasn’t much latitude for change within his job and department. So Mr. Locke formulated a unique way to expand his role. He offered to represent unsigned and independent-label bands through Warner and promote them as a cheaper music licensing option for film, television and commercial deals. His boss allowed Mr. Locke to work on the venture alongside his regular job and the new business grew quickly. A year later in 2007, he submitted a written plan to create a new division called Rhino Independent and was made director. He left Warner Music Group to start his own business three years later.…

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Shoppers increasingly are ditching their desktops and doing their buying on mobile phones. But many small businesses aren’t making it easy for them. Of the 64% of small U.S. businesses that have websites, says RBC Capital Markets, only 33% are optimized for mobile viewing. The result? It can be like having a “closed” sign on the door, says John Scheer, founding partner of Herman-Scheer, a creative design agency in Santa Monica, Calif., that works with many small companies. “More often than not, people start on their phones,” says Mr. Scheer. “If you have to pinch and zoom to find the address or phone number, that’s not an easy user experience. People are likely to leave that site.” Making the leap to mobile takes a couple of basic steps,…