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4 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

Angela Manning Business , , , , ,
4 Ways Social Media Can Help Your Business

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Social media platforms are big business, and when you have people like President Trump with many millions of followers on Twitter, it is not likely that its use will diminish in the foreseeable future. Facebook has passed 2 billion active users, and LinkedIn has over 380,000 professional users. That is without all the other social media platforms such as Instagram, WeChat, YouTube and Pinterest.

Businesses cannot afford to ignore social media any longer, but it needs to be handled carefully for them to feel the benefit.

Getting Your Brand Known

Social media is a great way to get your brand name known. As long as you do not bombard people with lots of written content about your products, they will see your name again and again. Images and videos are better because users are more likely to stop and look at them rather than just scroll past. Also, you should interact with people. That is how you will build up a following, and then every time you like a post or comment on one, your brand name will show.

Turning Views into Conversions

The way the human mind works, generally if they want to buy something it will be from a friend rather than a stranger. You may be a Facebook friend, but that doesn’t matter. If you sell a product they want, a friend is a friend and they are more likely to buy from you than a competitor. It is good to have a ‘View Site” button on your social media page, so that they very easily can move to your website to see the whole range of products you sell. This can be particularly useful is there is news you want to tell on your blog, either about the industry you are in or perhaps some new laws that will affect your products.

Creating a Good Customer Service

No business wants to have to man a customer service desk that is open 24 hours a day, but with social media that is exactly what you have. People can write good comments, complain or ask queries any time of day or night. Replying with positive answers is the key because then you will build trust with the viewers following the thread.

Even if someone is not saying good things about your product, there is always some way of you reacting in a positive manner. In fact, a positive reply to a bad post can do wonders for your credibility.

Analytics

If you advertise on TV, radio or in print, you have no real way of knowing how many people have seen it. With social media, there are analytical tools that can record for you who has seen what, the times of day your posts were viewed and lots of other information that can help you to target the right audience.

These are just 4 of the many ways that social media can help your business. Having an online presence is vital for all businesses to succeed, and social media platforms are a brilliant way of achieving that goal.

The Benefits Of Cloud Services

Angela Manning Business , , , , ,
The Benefits Of Cloud Services

The latest addition to the IT world is the cloud technology or cloud services. It is a similar to a server found in your organization but found outside your organization where your information are saved and stored. The only difference is that whatever information e.g. programs and date, can be assessed from anywhere with the correct login identification and password.

The cloud services are accessed through the web, delivered and used over the internet. Cloud services customers have to pay for the services. The whole of the cloud infrastructure is maintained by the cloud provider and not the individual cloud customer. These cloud service networks are large groups of servers have specialized connections to spread data processing chores across large pools of systems that are linked together.

Cloud technology services can be used for data storage and your people or employees can access your data and software from any place which is very ideal for those who need to work from home or do extensive travelling. You only pay for whatever programs that are licensed to the numbers of user. You can either reduced or add more users and pay accordingly.

Users of clouds services need not have to worry about safety because these cloud services have their own security and antivirus application software. Everything goes through multiple scanning. Once the cloud application is updated, there is no need to update each computer with new upgrades.

Organization including government agency, grocery store, profit and non-profit can benefit from these cloud applications and services. If you have not yet used the cloud services, but you are thinking about using one, then you will need some assistance. To learn more about cloud services and where you can get safe cloud service with the proper I.T. support, you can connect to one of the technology solutions e.g. MelroseTEC or others similar sites.

Once you are connected to cloud computing which is a type of Internet-based computing, the different types of services – including servers, storage and applications are delivered to your organization’s computers and devices through the Internet. You will be able to access and use the computing resources in a secure and more advanced way.

Small businesses can also benefit from cloud services and can access the resources with an internet connection and a web browser. You will pay for the type of services you use.

Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Managing a business is difficult, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. You have to have the right attitude and mindset to make it seem easier than it is in reality. Avoid over thinking it and making you sick trying to decide what to do next.

Analyze where you’re at and where you’d like to be. Step back and give your company room to breathe while you sort it all out. Prepare yourself to make changes that are going to affect your business, but not put any extra stress in on you in the process. See simple things every company needs to succeed.

Goals

It’s quite simple; you need goals and objectives to keep you moving forward. You don’t want to stay where you are forever. Your goals will keep you and your team on track for advancing and improving your business. Work won’t get done without goals and objectives in place. Have a vision and share it with everyone. Map it all out and communicate to your team what they’re working towards each day. This will motivate them to do their job better because they’ll have a purpose.

Hardworking Employees

You have to have hardworking employees in your corner if you’re going to succeed. You can’t do it all alone. Be strategic in your hiring decisions and only bring on board those who you know are fit for the role and company. Take your time and do it right the first time. Ask multiple people in your company to interview the candidate and make sure they match your list of desired qualities. You want everyone on the same page and working together toward a common goal. Lousy employees will bring you down and make more work for everyone.

Policies & Procedures

Write policies and procedures that staff is to follow to keep order in your office. You never know when an incident will arise and you’ll need to refer to your documents for guidance. Protect yourself and your business by having guidelines in place for sticky situations. For instance, employees may act out, or you could be faced with a hard drive failure. In this case, you would know who to call for an HDD repair when at your office because you were prepared. Not knowing what to do in an emergency wastes time and puts you at risk for worse consequences.

Happy Customers

Always remember to focus on your customers. Keep your clients happy, and everyone will be satisfied. Tell them how much you appreciate their business and be there to help them out when they run into issues. Work as a team to ensure clients are being heard and feel valued. Put a customer service department in place that goes above and beyond to please the customer. Losing clients is never a good feeling. Avoid this circumstance by putting in the hard work upfront to put smiles on their faces.

Conclusion

Every business needs a boost once in a while. There are ways to improve the current environment without breaking your back. These are simple things every company needs to succeed.

Board Software Transforms Your Meetings

Angela Manning Business, Tech , , , , , ,
Board Software Transforms Your Meetings

Board meetings are rarely high up on anyone’s list of favorite activities, as even the directors who sit on them complain about how long and tedious they can be. The work of the board is essential, overseeing management and providing organizations, businesses, government agencies, and financial institutions with direction and strategy. That should be compelling stuff, but director engagement remains a challenge for many.

Enter the board portal: a board software solution that digitizes board documents and puts collaborative tools in directors’ hands that they can use between meetings. Board software is the tool that can make meetings more efficient, more focused, and revive engagement by offering a few key features.

Easy Updates – At the heart of board software is an easy solution to the problem of distributing board books and other documents. Back in the days of paper board books, administrators would struggle to keep every director informed of the latest updates, especially when documents or financial reports were updated last minute. It cost a fortune to courier everything to directors who could be anywhere in the world at any given minute. Today, electronic board books are much more common, but board portal software offers superior security compared to other file sharing methods, especially as many have become popular tools for masking cybercrime attacks.

Collaboration Between Meetings – Board software should come with tools that make it easy for directors to do their job in between meetings. For example, annotation tools are used in Aprio Boardroom, a leading board software solution, that let directors mark up documents either with private notes or to share with their peers. Everyone knows that when an idea strikes, you can’t wait until the next meeting. If you want to develop a more thorough conversation, you have to be able to work in between meetings.

Another great feature of Aprio is the freedom to vote remotely with an electronic signature. It helps boards make more time for key decisions, as the freedom to vote remotely means matters like agreeing on minutes can be dealt with beforehand.

Desktop and Tablet – Flexibility is key for directors who regularly travel and split their responsibilities. Any board software you consider should be compatible on Android, Apple, and Windows tablets, as well as offer offline access to documents.

For many organizations, board portals are already standard, but if you’ve been using this transformative technology already, consider how the industry has changed over the last few years. If your board’s contract with your current board software vendor needs to be renewed, now may be a good time to reassess. In the early days of board software, portals offering better security – the kind of security required by financial institutions, health agencies, and Fortune 500 companies – came at a premium. Those security options are now no longer so expensive, though some portal vendors are still charging higher rates. You can learn more about how security has changed, and become more accessible for all, at Aprio.net and exploring their options for board software. Whether your board’s contract is up or you haven’t yet made the shift to secure electronic board books, do your due diligence, request several demos from vendors, and be sure to compare products based on customer support, security, and price.

How Artificial Intelligence Benefits All Areas of Business

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
How Artificial Intelligence Benefits All Areas of Business

The use of artificial intelligence is on the rise, and there is no reason to fear it. Businesses of any industry and size can benefit from artificial intelligence. It can be used to monitor employee information, to implement instant compliance with local, state and federal regulations as well as track any changes.

Plus, the user interfaces are becoming even more intuitive with the utilization of cross-platform browser-based HMIs that can quickly facilitate the process of web-based IoT. In an age where driving efficiencies is the norm, your business can’t stand to operate without artificial intelligence.

Provide Virtual Assistance

Many of us have already experienced virtual assistance through our mobile devices and systems such as Amazon’s Echo. Artificial intelligence is slowly gaining more prominence into our everyday lives. And, it is available right at our fingertips.

Then, there are the chatbots popping up everywhere to provide us with 24/7 customer service and answers to our less complicated questions. In terms of customer service, your organization can save a lot of money on salaries and benefits just by implementing chatbots.

Analyze data

In a world overwhelmed with big data, it would be too difficult to get through all of that information manually. We have access to an infinite amount of data, but that data needs to be mined and analyzed to be useful.

It needs to be compressed into digestible forms. It’s hard to look at the big picture when information is not organized and categorized. Artificial intelligence is already in use that can turn raw data into power point presentations.

Moreover, you can use predictive analytics software to make sense of customer data, financial statements, health records and more, allowing you to better gauge the businesses future outlook. Now, you have something working in the background to give you a 360-degree overview of all of the types of data important for your business.

Remove Costly and Time-Consuming Manual Processes

Computers can be taught to do just about anything from driving cars to cleaning our floors. Instead of employing people to perform time-consuming and repeatable tasks, artificial intelligence can be used to automate manual processes. As a result, your company saves both time and money.

In addition, artificial intelligence can learn on its own. As you implement new processes, you won’t have to worry about spending time and resources on training.

In Conclusion

Artificial intelligence can be used for everything from automation to analytics, marketing, financial processing, customer service and more. Think of the old Star Trek movies where computers had minds of their own. This is exactly how artificial intelligence works.

It reduces human error and increases the speed for every process. Some believe that fewer than 30 percent of Americans will drive and own cars in 25 years.

As it stands, people are increasingly using shared ride services too. Artificial intelligence will make us faster, more accurate and more competitive. There is nothing to be afraid of as we can simply use it to our benefit. You no longer have to spend time training for repeatable tasks.

This is why artificial intelligence is here to stay.