8 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Switching To A New ISP

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8 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Switching To A New ISP

When it comes to choosing an internet provider, many people consider only the price of the service.

However, there are a number of other factors that should be taken into account in order to make the best decision for your needs and preferences.

To simplify the process, here are 8 questions you should ask yourself before switching to a new internet provider:

1. What type of connection do I need?

Depending on your usage, you may require different types of connections.

For instance, if you plan to use VoIP services such as Skype or FaceTime, then a high-speed fiber optic connection with low latency will be necessary.

On the other hand, if you are using streaming platforms like Netflix or Hulu Plus, then an ADSL connection will usually suffice.

2. How much bandwidth will I need?

Bandwidth is the measure of how much data can be transferred across a network at once.

If you frequently download large files or stream high-definition video content, then a higher bandwidth will be required than for basic web browsing and emailing tasks.

Be sure to pick an internet package that offers enough bandwidth for all of your needs. You do not want to worry about the WiFi signal strength Mac or another device has to struggle with, after all.

3. How reliable is the service?

Reliability is key when selecting an internet provider. Make it your priority to research the customer reviews and ratings associated with each potential provider in order to get an idea of how satisfied customers tend to be with their offerings and customer service levels over time.

It’s also important to inquire about any guarantees that come with their packages in case something goes wrong, or speeds decline unexpectedly due to congestion on the network’s side.

4. Is there a contract involved?

Some providers offer month-to-month plans, while others require customers to sign contracts for at least one year or longer periods of time with associated termination fees if canceled early on in some cases.

Consider both options carefully before committing your resources and decide which works best for you based on your likely usage duration and budget constraints, if any apply in this case.

5. Are there any additional fees?

Many providers charge extra fees for things like installation fees, equipment rental costs (modems/routers), and even overage charges for exceeding set limits on usage each month, etc., so review these items in detail before signing up with a particular provider so as not to be surprised by unexpected charges later down the road.

6. What type of customer support does this provider offer?

Quality customer support is essential when dealing with technical issues or problems related to billing inquiries, so make sure they provide 24/7 phone support and online helpdesk options so that you can get assistance quickly whenever needed without having to wait long periods of time outages occurring during peak hours.

7. Is there any sort of money-back guarantee offered?

Some providers offer a money-back guarantee just in case you end up not being satisfied with their service after trying it out due to different reasons such as poor connections/speeds or other types of issues arising typically during the first months after installation.

Do some research beforehand and see what type of warranty they have in place so that you are aware of ways to get compensated accordingly if something doesn’t work according to expectations.

8. Am I eligible for discounts if I bundle services together?

Many providers offer discounts when customers bundle multiple services together, such as TV packages and Internet access, so check out what deals are available before committing anything just yet, as this could lead to substantial savings depending on the particular situation here.

Conclusion

Finding an internet provider is no small task – but by asking yourself these 8 questions before switching to a new service provider, you can ensure that you’re making an informed decision and getting the most out of your investment.

Also Read: Browser Isolation: 3 Steps To Secure Business Internet Use

Find Out The Impact Of Digital Transformation On Companies

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Find Out The Impact Of Digital Transformation On Companies

Digital Transformation: It is common to be afraid of being outperformed by competitors. Does this happen to you? Sometimes, the customer’s expectations seem much higher than what we can achieve.

The good news is that this challenge can be overcome through digital transformation. Whoever wants to stand out has to innovate. But it is necessary to rethink the strategy, review concepts, carry out a detailed analysis of the quality of each service, identify all points for improvement, and roll up our sleeves.

In this article, we will discuss the concept of digital transformation, explain why many are joining, and show the main bases of technology to improve the customer experience. Read on!

Understand What Digital Transformation Is

Digital transformation is a term that helps explain the urgent need to modernize IT infrastructures. This methodology uses resources such as social media, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence.

The concept goes far beyond simply adopting technology, as it is also a change in corporate culture. According to the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation report, organizational change “is the foundation of digital business transformation.”

This is nothing new because changing a company’s nature means changing how people think and work.

The digital part involves replacing existing systems and machinery with up-to-date software. An example is switching from Office 2010 to an operating platform with cloud storage. This means that the team needs to get used to the novelty to avoid getting in the way and be able to work properly.

Discover The Foundations Of Digital Transformation

People, culture, and technology are part of this base, divided into the aspects below.

Customer Experience

Understanding the buyer’s needs, studying their behavior, and knowing their preferred channels are essential to ensure a return on investment. This information leads to a well-elaborated marketing strategy because the focus is on improving the customer experience, especially in customer service.

Operational Processes

The modernization of internal processes offers greater value delivery at each stage of the purchase journey. This is done by optimizing the flow of information, teamwork, and other elements that automate processes and reduce customer response time.

Business Models

It is important to pay attention to changes in the business model, first, regarding how the service is produced. Secondly, to take a critical look at what the competition can do in this regard. A classic example is Uber, which innovated in the transport segment and surprised many people.

Find Out Why Companies Are Joining

The result is encouraging after reorganizing operations and successfully changing the company’s culture. See the main benefits of digital transformation!

Cost Reduction

Using digital technology to optimize business infrastructure brings cost-per-transaction savings and increased sales. When profits are better, more decisions can be made to streamline processes and increase the quality of customer service.

Decreased Rework And Increased Productivity

Cost-effective, customer-focused digital tasks streamline workflows, eliminating the overhead that comes with outdated or offline solutions. Moreover, the company can bring together the workforce and the business as a whole. This includes social media, analytics, and project management interfaces.

Optimized Work

With digitization, you can combine data from all customer interactions and previously unstructured sources. It’s possible to transform this into a useful and actionable format to optimize experiences and expenses. Everyone wins you, your team, and the customer.

Ability To Measure

A huge benefit is the ability to track metrics and analyze data gathered during digital marketing efforts. This information allows companies to optimize actions and processes for more satisfactory results.

More Agility

When it no longer depends on a slow IT system, the company is quicker to meet current market trends and demands. In addition, any gap can be eliminated, which brings flexibility to deal with constantly changing demands.

Competitive Advantage

With a new customer-centric focus, the company is better prepared to adapt to target audiences and the competitive landscape. Thus, it can offer innovative results in developing unique solutions, processes, services, and business models.

Collaboration Between Departments

Undoubtedly, many employees are afraid of change, whether they are newcomers or not. But adopting innovative practices is a great opportunity to bring the workforce together. For this to be possible, you must be a leader who encourages dialogue and knowledge exchange.

Customer Satisfaction

Connecting enterprise systems and technologies simplifies and universalizes the customer experience — no matter how, when, or where they interact with the brand. A more effective approach leads to a genuine relationship with the buyer, especially when there is room for feedback.

Continuous Improvement

With a simple process, efficiency, flexibility, and customer satisfaction, you can improve and expand. Agile development allows the team to always learn, work collaboratively during regular interactions, and increase their knowledge.

Did you see how technology is a partner that helps carry out the evolution process? Organizational change is the basis of everything: if you want to change the nature of a company, you need to adopt a new way of seeing, thinking, and doing.

Also Read: Digital Transformation In Retail: What Are The Advantages?

Gaming TV: What Makes A Good Gaming TV?

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Gaming TV: What Makes A Good Gaming TV?

Gaming TV: One of the main factors in the technological evolution of video games is the increase in immersion and gaming experience.

With that, searching for a TV for ideal games has become increasingly common among gamers. And so that these factors can be taken advantage of in the best possible way, we will explain what characteristics and resources a television must have to be considered good for games.

Basic Points That Cannot Be Ignored In A Gaming TV

Connectivity is important to check before buying a TV in any form of use and playing video games is no different. In the past, just the infamous AV input was enough. TVs have more than one HDMI input with different types, which can be 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, or 2.1. Within those types, a good gaming TV will feature either the 2.0 or 2.1 types, with both being the best for current-gen consoles. 

Wifi connection is currently a basic feature on Smart TVs. USB inputs and Bluetooth connection can further enrich the experience using external devices, although they are not crucial. 

What Size And Type Of Screen Is Ideal For A Gaming TV?

“Calculating” the ideal screen size on a TV for games follows the same logic as understanding the ideal screen size for just watching television: having a space reserved for where the device will be; after all, the bigger the screen, the bigger it will be. its weight and size, and know how far you will be from the screen. The distance doesn’t have to be exact, but it’s important to have a sense of it so you can make the most of what your TV offers without being subject to vision problems. 

The type of screen is OLED or QLED? OLEDs, widely present in LG models, have a good viewing angle, are thin, and have high-quality contrast. On the other hand, Samsung’s QLEDs can reproduce more realistic and sharper images, mainly because they have quantum dots that increase the brightness intensity. 

And despite being more expensive compared to simpler models, such as LED TVs, OLED or QLED are the ones with the greatest potential to increase immersion and provide a higher experience in video games.

Resolution, Frequency, And Response Time

Televisions with Full HD resolution were the protagonists in this medium for a long time. But since the launch of PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, 4K resolution has become a reality, and since then, it’s been the ideal resolution on a gaming TV. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S are current generation consoles running games in 4K resolution. Therefore, having a TV in the largest possible size according to the location and distance you will be from the screen, with OLED or QLED technology, and with 4K resolution, is the “basic combo” to enjoy the maximum visual quality of games.

As for the frequency, the recommended minimum is 60 Hz. However, as the frequency is directly linked to the fluidity of the images, the ideal choice will depend on what games you will play. If the focus is on adventure games, single-player with a focus on the campaign, the 60 Hz will handle the job without major problems. Higher frequencies like 90 or 120 Hz are better options for online games like competitive FPS. 

While the frequency can vary depending on the game you want to play, having a low response time is paramount for any genre. Because of this, it is important to choose a television with a low input lag. Input lag is the response time between a command made on the controller and its playback on the TV, so the shorter, the better. Generally, a good low input lag for games is below 20 milliseconds, with models like the LG NANO86, which has a response time between 15 and 16 milliseconds.

Features And Technologies That Can Enrich The Experience

The key features of a good gaming TV have already been covered. Still, some extra features and elements, like High Dynamic Range or HDR, can enhance your gameplay. HDR is a function present both on some TVs and on monitors, and its main utility is to balance the contrast levels between light and dark areas, resulting in greater sharpness, in addition to also displaying greater brightness and being able to reproduce colors more widely. 

Some of these features and technologies are related to performance, seeking to smooth the game and make the experience more fluid. Seeking greater synchronicity between TV and console, some models have Free sync technology, or G-Sync, which causes the frames sent to the TV to load completely before being displayed. Therefore, the display of images is done cleanly and flawlessly.

Also Read: Is The Headphone Volume Low? See What To Do

How To Apply Artificial Intelligence In HR?

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How To Apply Artificial Intelligence In HR?

Artificial Intelligence in HR is gaining more and more space in companies worldwide. However, many managers still need to learn more about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) works and, therefore, are unaware of the important benefits that technology can bring to their businesses.

In general, AI can be used by organizations in any segment, in the most diverse sectors, but HR stands out in using this Intelligence since it can be applied to different objectives and with high chances of success.

If you want to know more about AI and how to use it correctly in your company’s Human Resources sector, read this article until the end.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

AI is a sphere within computer science that aims to emulate human thinking. In other words, AI comprises software and devices capable of collecting and interpreting data similarly to our brains.

Currently, we can identify the use of Artificial Intelligence in bank services, search engines, cell phone operating systems, and virtual stores, among many other areas of activity.

When you use Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, or Microsoft’s Cortana, you directly interact with one of these companies’ AI.

In Human Resources, AI can be applied to the most varied people management processes, such as recruitment and Selection, internal training, detecting bottlenecks in job engineering, maintaining the organizational climate, and improving internal communication.

How To Apply Artificial Intelligence In HR?

In practical terms, Artificial Intelligence in the Human Resources sector can be used in software for specific functions, applications, and chatbots. Next, we will explain how to implement AI in various processes in HR.

Artificial Intelligence In Recruitment And Selection

Recruitment and Selection is one of the main activities of Human Resources; after all, through this process, it is possible to choose talents that can contribute to the growth of the business, in addition to avoiding hiring people with profiles that are incompatible with the company or unwanted by it.

It is also possible to create specific software for Recruitment and Selection based on Artificial Intelligence through algorithms that cross information from a database and locate the ideal candidate for an available position, for example.

We can define an algorithm as a series of instructions programmed in a system to solve a problem.

When discussing databases, we can mention the HR software, which contains data on employees and CVs sent by those interested in participating in selection processes.

By gathering this information through Artificial Intelligence and criteria established by the Human Resources area — or even by the company’s managers — it will be easier to find the ideal candidates for certain vacancies.

Artificial Intelligence For Team Training

One of the biggest trends in the HR departments of companies connected with digital innovations is using AI to train their employees.

The possibilities are diverse, especially in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), also known as e-learning or Distance Learning (EAD) platforms, where it is possible to create “virtual instructors” and chatbots to interact with users.

You can also define performance evaluation metrics in training and even use virtual and augmented reality technologies to simulate everyday situations. This can make training more effective and closer to employees’ daily experiences.

Artificial Intelligence In Lag Detection In Company Sectors

It is often difficult to control the entry and exit of employees from the company to identify which sectors had an increase in production and activities that require hiring new employees.

In addition to the signs to be carried out by the managers, the company can rely on new technologies to solve this problem.

Through Artificial Intelligence software, the Human Resources sector can be notified each time a need to start a new selection process is detected.

This will be possible with the definition of specific metrics to identify these cases, such as the number of employees expected for the proper functioning of each sector and the number of employees on leave due to vacations, and sick leave, among other scenarios. It can also be used to define talent retention strategies.

Artificial Intelligence In Internal Communication

An interesting way to employ AI in internal communication is to use chatbots. They are a kind of “virtual robots” which simulate human assistance through chats on websites or applications such as WhatsApp. Chatbots are programmed to answer frequently asked questions from users and direct them to human support only if necessary.

In the HR area, they are used to optimize service on the company’s website or even on the intranet and to meet demands via WhatsApp if HR uses this contact channel.

In this way, internal communication between employees and Human Resources will be optimized, and most internal demands can be solved without the intervention of Human Resources professionals, who will have more time to develop other activities in the sector.

Also Read: Responsible AI: What Is Its Importance For Companies?

Virtual Reality For Companies: What Are The Ways To Use It?

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Virtual Reality For Companies: What Are The Ways To Use It?

Virtual Reality: With advances in immersive technologies and increasing consumer familiarity, the time is right for companies to use virtual reality.

After all, with the help of equipment such as headphones, glasses, portable devices, and wearables, it is possible to offer memorable sensory experiences for both internal and external audiences.

Many leading brands are already implementing the technology, known as VR to boost digital marketing efforts. In the coming years, the sectors that should invest the most are automotive, technology and telecommunication, retail, and health services.

In this post, check out the benefits of using this technology in your company and how the market is taking advantage of it.

Benefits Of Using Virtual Reality For Companies

If you need good reasons to convince yourself that investing in this resource is a good idea, check out the three benefits we separate below.

Optimizes The Customer Experience

The most exciting impact of virtual reality is on the customer experience. Thanks to technology, customers visit digital showrooms, interact with sales assistants, and virtually experience products and services. Examples of this are available worldwide, with more retail-oriented technology always hitting shelves.

Increases People Engagement

The average consumer is more informed, often with an endless supply of potential options just a tap away from the mobile app. He receives various sales information at all times. In this scenario, virtual reality allows people to touch the options with their hands instead of just seeing them, which improves engagement and the power of autonomy in decisions.

Facilitates Immersive And Interactive Marketing Strategies

VR technology allows companies to use the “try before you buy” concept. With it, product marketing revolves around creating a first-hand immersive experience, as it can transport people to any place, whether real or imaginary. This technology transforms the logic of marketing, which goes from telling the story of a product to offering experimentation.

Ways To Use Virtual Reality In Organizations

There are many ways to use VR in business, and now let’s explore a few. Check out!

Meetings

Imagine being miles away from your colleagues or clients but physically inhabiting the same meeting room and office space. Virtual reality helps to catalyze this experience. When the user puts on the glasses and noise-canceling headphones, they enter an immersive and collaborative virtual environment.

For example, the sensors implemented in the Oculus Rift pick up and translate body language and other non-verbal communication that would be lost with traditional teleconferencing or Skype. Language barriers are also eliminated as these apps can translate in real time.

Gamification

It may seem strange, but mixing work and fun is a good thing. Gamification uses game elements such as competition, points, and limited rules to engage participants in performing tasks. It is used by large companies such as Microsoft and Deloitte to make teams more productive and proactive.

The first used technology to turn native-speaking contributors into software language localizers. Through a simple app, viewers check different parts of a show for translation errors. They found that much of the program’s content was linguistically correct and made adjustments based on user feedback.

Corporate Mobility

Today, a significant part of the workforce is made up of millennials. People in this generation seek a high degree of flexibility, mobility, and, generally, an emphasis on work-life balance. As with artificial intelligence, VR and AR (augmented reality) technologies are allied with corporate mobility and help the HR department in many ways to meet these demands.

For example, the apps allow employees to achieve their desired mobility by virtually accessing office space. How about using VR to help potential candidates make better decisions? In this way, it is possible to show the day-to-day in the company or experience a tour of the internal sectors. Ultimately, this facility can increase retention rates and decrease staff turnover.

Prototyping And Design

A few decades ago, product development from concept to launch was extremely expensive, time-consuming, and risky. Technological advances have changed this reality. Now, we have great skills to create low-cost prototypes to test something before we release it to the market.

VR favors prototyping, perfecting the approaches and tools needed to implement ideas. With technology, it is possible to expand the possibilities of experiments without the high expenses involved in direct production. So, instead of wasting time and money without a 100% guarantee of the desired results, you explore potential problems and then build to perfection.

Training

Customer service training, for example, requires employees to be taught how to impact, retain and understand customer satisfaction and how to use greetings, body language, appropriate tone of voice, and how to handle complaints best.

These skill sets can be quite difficult to hone if learning is hypothetical. With virtual reality, however, employers can simulate real life, exposing employees to situations such as dealing with customer dissatisfaction or delivering strategies that make the customer happier.

Product Demos

VR product demonstrations promote consumer interaction with the product in a persuasive virtual environment by presenting parts, features, colors, and assembly. At conferences and trade shows, technology helps create experiences that are engaging, cost-effective, and easily portable. Rather than spending money on big stages or hauling complete product lines, companies immerse attendees in an immersive, highly realistic experience.

Retail

Retail offers some of the most explicit commercial applications for VR. Virtual reality heat mapping technology tracks a shopper’s gaze in brick-and-mortar stores, providing a detailed pattern of which areas or products attract the most attention. This allows retailers to test and refine store displays, signage, and layout to maximize the consumer experience and spending.

E-commerce

VR revolutionizes the e-commerce sector, contributing to decreased product returns, and has significant potential in the travel, hospitality, design, education, engineering, and health segments. Technology offers a real taste of potential destinations and hotel facilities in the travel business. So connected shoppers experience a complete retail environment in their breakout space.

Also Read: Recognize The Importance Of Social Media For Your Business

Cloud-Native: Find Out How To Use It In Your Business!

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Cloud-Native: Find Out How To Use It In Your Business!

The term cloud native already shows a willingness to give up adaptations. Can you imagine the agility, productivity, and competitiveness gained in adopting a model that suggests it was born for the cloud environment? 

You don’t even have to try! We detailed gains and revealed practices for you to understand the model and know how to use it to the fullest potential it offers. So as not to be contradictory, let’s not waste time; let’s get to the development of the idea. Follow the thread!

What Is Cloud-Native?

Cloud-native is a dynamic development model optimized for cloud computing and centered on experimentation — with no possibility of negotiating that focus.

These architectures are focused on task automation and microservices with dynamic management models. Contrary to appearances, this structure does not need to operate in the cloud. The same practices can be adopted in an on-premises data center with great results.

What Are The Main Features Of Cloud-Native?

Instead of detailing the concept, it is easier to understand cloud-native from its characteristics. Let’s go.

Microservices

Services that can run independently from applications can run without interruption while developers program microservices.

Containers

These services are contained in “compartments,” making accessing them easy. It is also easier to scale, delete, create, or migrate them to other environments.

Continuous Delivery

Application creation is streamlined with continuous deliveries of these services. The development time and cost are also lower, in the same way that scalability can be done according to the size of the project and the adoption of automation.

DevOps

Can you identify how much cloud native is aligned with DevOps? It helps maximize collaboration between developers and IT staff, speeding up software testing and release. Cloud-native works in a more organic way. This is a model closer to biology than physics, like Bio-IoT.

How To Use Cloud-Native In Your Business?

The practices we suggest to do cloud-native work are also great clues to understanding how it operates. So let’s talk about them soon.

Make A Transition Plan

Chances are good that something will go wrong when migrating to cloud-native without planning, so it pays to start with a plan. New technologies are exciting, but it’s good to put the brakes on if the temptation to skip steps is too much. A good list of objectives for your plan is as follows:

  • create a purpose capable of aligning the team;
  • involve leaders, partners, and customers ;
  • assemble a team prepared to carry out the project;
  • define the development phases, sprints, and actions;
  • clearly define expectations ;
  • collect feedback frequently;
  • work on the organizational culture ;
  • experience continuously.

Adopt DevOps

The results of the DevOps model are familiar. The constant exchange of feedback with IT teams, periodic deliveries, and recurring improvements help to overcome organizational silos to deliver superior value.

Invest In Service Architecture

This topic may seem like just a technical pointer, but it also involves the culture of developers. Even if they understand that cloud-native is based on services, the tendency to develop coupled systems must be considered.

Otherwise, you risk seeing a not-so-cloud native model that doesn’t allow independent access to the application’s functions.

Decompose The Data

Streamlining the application’s operation by decomposing the system into microservices will only do a little good if they all need to access the same database.

This condition will create limitations and hinder smooth functioning in the cloud. Separating data will increase storage and processing capacity in any cloud instance.

Why Is Cloud Native Important?

Cloud computing efficiently deals with changes, offering elasticity to add or remove resources autonomously and allocating resources on demand. This is all the result of a different work dynamic, which is more flexible and less bureaucratic.

As the application needs to change during use, the system automatically resizes resources. These flexibility features make cloud-native naturally adaptable to needs as they arise.

The installation environment of applications that operate in cloud-native can also rely on the automatic provisioning of resources. In addition, they must be controlled, as they store relevant hardware and software performance information. 

I suggest defining monitoring metrics for the services. They will make it possible to monitor the use of resources, which facilitates the execution of analyses to optimize them to the maximum and continuously. Not to mention the ability to anticipate problems and make strategically important decisions.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Cloud-Native?

We have already directly and indirectly mentioned several gains without making too much noise about them. So, instead of detailing each, a list of gains is more interesting. Thus, it is possible to have a synthetic view of the viability of cloud-native. Look:

  • high level of cooperation between those involved;
  • the greater commitment of the team in the responsibility for deliveries;
  • detailed monitoring of systems and hardware performance;
  • continuous improvement ;
  • stimulus to innovation ;
  • increasing automation of repetitive and manual tasks;
  • multidisciplinary performance ;
  • greater autonomy, dynamism, and flexibility ;
  • simplification and less bureaucracy of the adopted models;
  • versatility in creating innovative business models, favoring the adoption of XaaS ;
  • increased productivity ;
  • possibility of simulating scenarios ;
  • validation of small-scale solutions as a way of minimizing and controlling risks;
  • reliable deliveries and improved user perception of service quality.

Although we talk about several important details, we can only finish by mentioning more clearly the effect of models like this on the customer’s perception.

Also Read: Discover 6 Benefits Of Adopting An ERP In The Cloud!

Recognize The Importance Of Social Media For Your Business

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Recognize The Importance Of Social Media For Your Business

Social Media for Business: An online presence makes all the difference for a current business, which is why it is worth paying more attention to the importance of social networks.

In this space, your company will be able to create a strong visual identity and make a larger public aware of it.

Innovation and the virtual world must be prioritized in this new digital age. Social networks are part of this reality and the spaces where most people are present. So, what is the best strategy for a business to be seen? Being where the audience is too.

With that in mind, in this post, we’ve brought you some information to help you understand why it’s important to think about social media and take advantage of it to boost your business. Did you like the theme? So follow along!

What Does Social Media Mean For The Business World?

Social networks are the only channels through which the public can reach a brand. This involves publicizing, presenting products and services, creating a relationship with the customer, and even building customer loyalty.

First, it is necessary to point out how customer behavior has changed in recent years. With more access to the internet, consumers have the opportunity to learn more about the work offered by a company. This strongly impacts the public’s purchasing decision, which will opt for the businesses that offer the most advantages and meet their expectations.

On social networks, what people expect is that the company can present itself in a more relaxed way. Small businesses, for example, can show what production is like behind the scenes, while large organizations can show more of their impact on the business, such as social responsibility policies and defended causes.

In addition, one of the most common behaviors found on social networks is the rapid sharing of information, which generates new phenomena. The cancellation culture is an example of this, in which people and companies assuming contradictory positions can easily damage their credibility.

In this way, what social networks mean for the business world is creating a company’s image and its presence in the market. Thus, the more seen and well-spoken a brand is, the greater the chances of winning over an expanded and loyal audience.

What Are The Expected Results Of A Good Presence On Social Networks?

Bearing in mind the importance of social networks for the success of a business, it is important to consider the best practices to adopt in these spaces. However, before that, it is worth defining companies’ main goals when creating profiles in these media.

Doing this planning will help define the tone of voice, the visual identity, and the social networks in which it is worth being present, among other concerns. And, of course, all this is in accordance with the business’s target audience.

Do you need help with how to put together this planning? Here’s a tip: it’s important that the action plan aims to achieve the following results!

Create A Greater Connection With Customers

If it is through social networks that people manage to stay connected, it would not be different with companies. It is in this environment that a brand is more likely to create a bond with the public, either before, during, or after closing a deal.

Therefore, one of the main goals of a presence on social networks is to connect with customers. Creating a space for communication, promotion, and presentation of the company will allow more people to identify with the brand easily.

Increase Credibility

Were you able to understand the main trends for social networks and create profiles that communicate well with your target audience? So, you can be sure the company’s credibility has increased in customers’ eyes.

Well-connected brands that consistently follow their proposals and offer quality service are well-regarded by people, whether they are customers or not. In this way, it is possible to create a positive image of the company and have a differential among competitors.

Attract New Customers

This increase in credibility and how a company manages its profiles on social networks will attract new people. Having an active profile with frequent posts and relevant content means that more people may have the opportunity to learn about the company’s services or products.

Social networks offer several tools for this, such as ads and the promotion of posts, making the content produced to reach a greater number of people. Using appropriate language for your target audience can win new customers in much less time.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the investment in these tools to increase profile engagement is quite variable. In this way, small, medium, and large companies can take advantage of these features.

How Can My Company Access So Many Advantages Of Being On Social Networks?

The first step to taking advantage of being present on social networks is to create an efficient plan. Know your persona, that is, the profile of customers that your company wants to attract. Based on that, make all strategies turn to the satisfaction of this group.

The persona is a fictional character created based on real information about your ideal customers. Data such as age group, consumption behavior, social media where they are present, and problems your company can help solve are important to creating this profile.

In addition, it is necessary to invest in good practices for using social networks, such as:

  • Establish a dialogue with the public;
  • Interact in posts;
  • Reply to messages;
  • Find the ideal moments to boost the profile — for example, when launching new products or during sales seasons;
  • Create personalized content that offers something to the public, such as practical day-to-day tips, relevant information, or advantages.

There is no denying the importance of social media for your business to be successful. That is why investing in solutions that help position your company in these spaces is essential.

Also Read: Benefits Of Automation For WhatsApp And The Healthcare Industry

Local Business Marketing Guide

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Local Business Marketing Guide

Local Business Marketing: Have you ever thought about how marketing relates to the company’s success? This concept is undoubtedly consolidated among large corporations.

But when we talk about marketing for local businesses, do all managers know the importance of this strategy? 

One thing we can say in advance: this is one of the best investments for those wanting to gain market space and boost customer retention. Let’s explore it. Follow the tips we brought in this article!

What Is Local Business Marketing?

Success lives next door. This is the phrase that best defines marketing for local businesses. Its strategies prioritize actions focused on geographic segmentation.

Everything is designed to attract attention and engage people who live or work in areas closest to the business. Currently, any marketing project focuses on a specific audience and considers the location factor.

And indeed, your reasoning is correct. The difference, however, is that in this model, all campaigns are built to increase the business’s visibility in front of those who are geographically close.

Do you know why this strategy is necessary and has a greater impact on small businesses? Because proximity is transmitted as a competitive differential.

Just analyze, if the customer has access to quality products or services very close to their reach, they favor the region’s trade. It’s easier, faster, and even more economical.

Marketing for local businesses generates opportunities and increases the company’s potential to bring better results. That is why it has become a key player for those who work at the local level.

What Is Digital Marketing For Local Businesses?

Digital marketing works as a complement for local businesses to direct their strategies more efficiently.

It’s that geographic location is not enough to gather all the necessary information about your audience, that is, to make a thorough segmentation.

Technological advances in digital marketing have brought countless opportunities to understand audience behavior. What are they?

With the profiles created on social networks, for example, it is possible to approach the customer naturally and spontaneously. And on top of that, take advantage of this connection opportunity to ask questions and gather insights that will guide your campaigns along the best path.

The same happens with several other channels: you can use email marketing to send specific messages periodically; use tools such as Web Analytics to understand the habits of this audience in digital media.

We are at the height of the digital age; the modern consumer is increasingly present online, always generating data. Therefore, it is only possible to think of a successful marketing work by considering and putting into practice the functionalities of digital tools.

Okay, but where to start? Performance marketing may be the answer to your business needs.

What Are The Main Characteristics Of Marketing For Local Businesses?

In addition to strategies focused on attracting a geographically close audience, marketing for local businesses also has the following main features:

  • purpose of adding value to a product or brand;
  • study of habits and customs of people who live or frequent the region;
  • analysis of the economic and cultural profiles of the audience;
  • personalization and proximity in service.

And you know what is better? You don’t need to make big investments to achieve good results. It means you can amplify your market growth and customer engagement with a low risk of loss.

And that. By uniting all these features, your business can develop more accurate campaigns. A lot of specific information about the customer and the market is collected, which will be converted into competitive advantages later.

How Does Local Business Marketing Differ From Other Categories?

Knowing the customer is a fundamental task in creating campaigns that convert. And in local commerce, marketing strategies are differentiated by physical proximity.

In this operating model, more than any other, there is no point in wanting to talk to as many people as possible and believing that this will increase the chances of closing good deals and attracting more customers.

In a way, local businesses are part of their consumers’ routines. Therefore, conventional channels such as the distribution of flyers in the region and support at events held in your area make a lot of sense for the company’s communication plan.

Translating the marketing differential for local businesses into one sentence: working alongside the consumer.

Also Read: Learn How To Advertise Your Business On Mobile

Competitive Intelligence: What Do You Need To Know About It?

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Competitive Intelligence: What Do You Need To Know About It?

Competitive intelligence is a central theme for the growth of any business. Companies from all segments use market positioning strategies to differentiate and stand out.

Thus, knowing the competitors is important to understand the best ways to do this. While for some, data-driven decision-making is a complex process, the full set of opportunities, insights, and predictions it can yield has the potential to change organizational outcomes.

To facilitate the understanding of this concept and how to apply it in front of the competition, we prepared this article that presents a lot of relevant information. Good reading!

Understand The Importance Of Standing Out Among Competitors

The importance of standing out from the competition may seem obvious: the more players there are in a segment, the more differentiation is needed to guarantee customer preference.

But in addition, knowing which are the most attractive business attributes to the public makes it possible to plan commercial actions based on this, whose objective is to generate visibility and optimize the company’s performance against the competition.

Recognize The Role Of Authenticity In Business

When it comes to a company’s unique characteristics, the consumer increasingly values this authenticity, an important factor in making a purchase decision.

Whether in products or services, in customer service, and even through an authentic experience for your customer, it is based on this differentiation that an effective marketing strategy is built.

Therefore, competitive intelligence, as a tool for obtaining and managing organizational knowledge — internal and external — helps the brand to stand out from the competition.

Find Out What Competitive Intelligence Is

The concept of competitive intelligence encompasses all data processing actions — collecting, organizing, consolidating, and analyzing — related to factors that influence a business, whether internal or external. In this way, it is possible:

  • map competitors, customers, suppliers, and processes;
  • anticipate demands and trends ;
  • predict scenarios and measure probabilities;
  • develop an action plan;
  • devise strategies ;
  • make more assertive decisions ;
  • increase results ;
  • take advantage of opportunities ;
  • minimize risks.

See What The Best Ways To Use Competitive Intelligence To Differentiate Yourself Are

Competitive intelligence is a key part of business strategy. Through it, differentiation can be built and applied to highlight a business from the competition. See best practices for this!

Map Your Market

Using data to understand, from macro situations that influence the area of ​​activity to the particularities of the niche served, is the first step to standing out. From mapping the competition — brand identity, price, differentials, limitations, etc. — it is possible to know the deficiencies and excesses present in the market.

Know Your Customer

Even within a single line of business, the profile of the public can vary from one company to another. Quality, price, or location influence the direction of marketing and the weight of the purchase decision, varying from one group to another. Thus, knowing who the main consumer is allows you to increase the conversion rate.

Demographic information such as gender, age, location, or social class are the basis of this process. But consumption habits, preferences, and individual values ​​cannot be left out of this research.

Define Your Identity

Realize that the mapping started from the outside — market, competition, customers — and now arrives at the enterprise itself since this influences competitive intelligence. Thus, it is not enough to know the competition if you do not act to stand out from it.

Questions like: what does the company offer that the competition does not? What are the organization’s values ​​that consumers most appreciate? How is the business unique and innovative? These questions need to be asked to understand what the brand identity is.

Use Technology

Technology support is essential to put data collection, consolidation, and analysis into practice. Big Data, Data Analytics, Data Mining, Warehousing, Neural Networks, Machine Learning, and Business Intelligence tools, among others, facilitate the process.

These solutions can structure large volumes of information with agility and precision. Obtained from several sources and covering several aspects — digital performance, customer service, sales, productivity, trends, etc. — they can offer valuable insights.

Anticipate Market Trends

More than responding to what is happening in the market, predicting what will be a trend in the future guarantees a competitive edge. The data allows this predictive analysis to be carried out effectively, optimizing investment and the strategies outlined.

Communicate With Consumers

The best way to demonstrate the differentials of a business is to communicate directly with potential consumers. Digital and content marketing, for example, are great ways to do this.

Just remember to segment and target actions. This way, automation tools, omnichannel platforms, and CRM solutions can help. These technologies work as channels to put strategies into practice and capture useful information.

Also Read: What Are The Challenges Of Server Less Computing?

Learn How To Measure Performance Marketing Success

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Learn How To Measure Performance Marketing Success

Performance marketing is focused on results. After all, you only pay for the ad if the user takes the proposed action. It could be viewing the ad, clicking through to the website, filling out a form, making a purchase, etc.

The purpose of this strategy is to optimize resources and bring results to the company in the short term.

You can even use the right media, but you need to track the results for performance marketing. After all, the metrics indicate whether your strategy was successful or not.

Therefore, it is essential to define KPIs — Key Performance Indicators to measure the efficiency of your actions. Next, you will find out what the main indicators of success are.

Impressions

When you search for any term on Google, a list of corresponding links will appear. At the top, ads related to the keyword in question appear.

Every time that ad is shown to the user, it counts as an impression. That is, this metric concerns the number of times an ad was delivered. A single person can see the same link multiple times, and all those views will be counted.

Generally, running campaigns with the visualization objective is more for branding, as the visual impact will increase brand awareness.

Despite this, a large number of impressions does not necessarily indicate the success of a campaign. Therefore, it is good to avoid getting too attached to this metric. It is important, but the data must be crossed with other KPIs.

Clicks

This indicator refers to the number of times a user clicks on the ad. It helps evaluate various aspects of the campaign.

When an advertisement has many impressions, for example, but the click-through rate (CTR) is low, it may be a sign that there are flaws in the definition of keywords, confusing texts, low-quality images, or even inaccurate targeting.

Generally, a campaign with a high CTR is considered successful. The ad was good enough to draw the user to the destination. But just as impressions shouldn’t be analyzed in isolation, neither should clicks. Few clicks without conversions could indicate issues with the page the user was redirected to.

Engagement

It is an indicator referring to customer interactions with ads. This account includes likes, comments, shares, time spent visiting the site, etc.

Imagine an ad on Facebook, for example, targeting the company’s blog. It is a very bad sign if the customer enters and leaves the page in a few seconds. This leak shows that the user experience was not good, and he didn’t like what he saw there.

Leads

The lead is a potential consumer willing to purchase products or services offered by your company. Generally, the user shows interest in the brand by subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an infographic, filling out a contact form, requesting a quote, etc.

The greater the number of qualified leads, the greater the chances of closing deals. But it’s important to calculate the amount needed to generate that lead. The indicator to measure this is the Cost per Lead (CPL). Ideally, the result should be as low as possible.

Sales

It’s sales that keep any business standing. By the way, no one goes all this way not to see money coming in at the end of the day. For this reason, the most coveted goal in performance marketing is converting sales. If sales increase, it indicates that you are on the right path.

Return On Investment (ROI)

As important as selling is, making sure that the investment in marketing gives a satisfactory return. Therefore, ROI is the most important metric in performance marketing.

This is because it determines whether the money used in the campaign resulted in profits for the business.

Better than converting sales is doing it at a low cost. This is the premise of performance marketing, and ROI is the tool that helps get a correct answer.

Follow 4 Examples Of Performance Marketing

Let’s list some examples of performance marketing strategies to understand better how campaigns work. Next, you will see 4 cases where the tactic can be applied.

Lead Generation

Generating leads means capturing contacts from users who have a high chance of doing business with your company. By advertising on the Google search network, for example, you can attract the attention of people looking for something related to the product or service your brand offers.

Another way to turn a user into a lead is to create a landing page with a landing page that encourages these people to download rich material — infographics, e-books, whitepapers, etc.

So, when filling out the form, the user provides important data so that the company can relate to him more directly. In addition, it also becomes possible to run campaigns on other channels, such as SMS and email marketing.

Increased Sales

Imagine a scene: you are thinking about changing your cell phone; you type in Google “buy Smartphone Y” and immediately see a list of prices and stores selling the product you want. These options are Google Shopping ads and are prominent on the search page.

Advertising on this channel is a way to increase the visibility of your products and gain consumer attention. After all, completing the acquisition is just a few clicks away.

Remarketing

Do you know when you browse e-commerce, date your dream laptop, but don’t complete the purchase? When you log into Facebook, you see the same product from the same store, right? This is remarketing.

Remarketing is a technique that displays ads to consumers who have already had contact with the brand in question. This strategy aims to increase the conversion potential by encouraging the consumer to complete the acquisition.

Interactions

Fun ads that create emotional connections with customers have great potential to go viral, especially on social media. People like, comment, and share the content.

For example, contests, sweepstakes, and promotions are excellent alternatives to engage the audience and encourage interaction. These strategies are aimed at improving brand reputation, nurturing relationships, and, of course, selling.

Also Read: Retention Marketing: Benefits And How To Implement It?