Tag Archives: Social Media

Smart Phone Accessories: Your Phone’s New Best Friends

So, are you ready to take your trusty phone from great to “Wow, is that even the same phone?” with some seriously cool accessories? Let’s dive into this world of nifty gadgets that are not just useful, but kind of life-changing too.

Battery Cases: Your Phone’s Knight In Shining Armor

Do you know that sinking feeling when you see the dreaded “low battery” notification? Well, stress no more! A battery case is like having a superhero for your phone. It’s not just a protective layer; it’s a power boost when you need it most. Think of it as your phone’s secret energy snack. Plus, they look pretty sleek too!

Portable Projectors: The World Is Your Theater

Ever thought of watching a movie under the stars? With a portable projector for your smartphone, you can. These little wonders can turn any blank wall into a cinema screen. They’re perfect for movie nights, sharing vacation photos, or even giving a presentation. It’s like having a theatre in your pocket!

Camera Attachments: Your Phone’s New Eyes

Your phone’s camera is already great, but with these clip-on lenses, it’s like giving it a superpower. Snap-on a wide-angle, macro, or fish-eye lens and watch your photography game soar. It’s like seeing the world through a whole new lens (literally!). Get ready for your social media to light up with likes!

Styluses: Because Your Finger Isn’t Always Enough

For the creatives out there, a stylus can transform your smartphone into a canvas or a notepad. Whether you’re sketching, jotting down notes, or just navigating, a stylus can give you that precision touch. It’s like having a magic pen that turns your phone into a hub of creativity.

Wireless Earbuds: Your Personal Sound Oasis

The right pair of wireless earbuds can totally change how you experience sound. Whether it’s for music, calls, or gaming, they create this little bubble of audio just for you. And the best part? No more wrestling with tangled wires. It’s like giving your ears a first-class ticket to Sample City or Trancentral. One heads up, always make sure they’re charged, you don’t want to get caught with those babies without power when you really need them. I recommend the Edifier Neobuds Pro 2.

Wireless Charging Pads: Effortless Energy

Wireless charging pads are like those fancy plates at a restaurant but for your phone. Just set your phone down and watch it charge. No more fumbling with cords or trying to plug in in the dark. They’re not just convenient; they add a touch of class to wherever you put them.

So, what do you think? Ready to give your smartphone a makeover with these awesome accessories? Trust me, once you start exploring these gadgets, you’ll see your phone in a whole new light. Here’s to making our smartphones not just smart, but genius!

Truth in Ratings: How to Protect Your Business and Yourself from Fake Reviews

Fake reviews can significantly impact both businesses and consumers, distorting the perception of products, services, and brands. They can artificially inflate or deflate ratings and can mislead potential buyers. Here are some strategies that both businesses and consumers can use to protect themselves:

Truth in Ratings: How to Protect Your Business and Yourself from Fake Reviews
Truth in Ratings: How to Protect Your Business and Yourself from Fake Reviews

For Businesses:

1. Monitor Reviews Actively: Regularly monitor and analyse reviews for patterns that may indicate fraudulent activity, such as a sudden influx of positive or negative reviews.

2. Utilise Review Verification Services: There are third-party services designed to verify the authenticity of reviews. They can help in filtering out suspicious or inauthentic feedback.

3. Encourage Genuine Reviews: Encourage satisfied customers to leave a review by providing easy-to-follow instructions or even offering incentives. Make sure to follow ethical guidelines in doing so.

4. Implement a Review Policy: Have a clear and transparent review policy that defines what is allowed and not allowed. Make it accessible to customers.

5. Report Fake Reviews: Major review sites often have mechanisms for reporting suspicious reviews. Be sure to make use of these systems when you notice suspicious activity.

6. Engage with Reviews: By actively responding to reviews, both positive and negative, you can often build trust with customers. If you suspect a review is fake, respond professionally, indicating your concern and how you plan to investigate.

7. Educate Your Customers: Let your customers know the importance of genuine reviews and how they can make sure their reviews are counted.

Truth in Ratings: How to Protect Your Business and Yourself from Fake Reviews
Truth in Ratings: How to Protect Your Business and Yourself from Fake Reviews

For Consumers:

1. Check Multiple Sources: Don’t rely on reviews from just one website. Look at different platforms to get a more comprehensive view.

2. Look for Verified Purchasers: Some platforms label reviews from verified purchasers. These are typically more trustworthy.

3. Analyze Review Patterns: If you see a large number of reviews with the same wording or all posted around the same time, they might be fake.

4. Be Skeptical of Extremes: Extremely positive or negative reviews might be fake, especially if they lack specific details about the product or service.

5. Use Review Analysis Tools: Some online tools can analyse reviews and provide a summary or even flag potentially fake reviews.

6. Read Both Positive and Negative Reviews: By reading a mix of positive and negative reviews, you can often get a more balanced view of a product or service.

7. Trust Your Instinct: If something doesn’t feel right, or if a review seems too good to be true, it probably is.

8. Consider Professional Reviews: If possible, look for professional, in-depth reviews from reputable sources.

9. Engage with the Community: Ask questions on forums or social media to get real opinions from real users.

By being proactive and aware, both businesses and consumers can significantly reduce the impact of fake reviews. It requires a combination of vigilance, utilizing available tools and services, and fostering a culture of authenticity and transparency.

What Mistakes Could You Be Making With Your Online Business?

There are a lot of mistakes an online business owner can make. Sure, the online world is a very accessible place, but when it comes to navigating these waters safely, there’s a lot you need to account for in the early days. And if you don’t, there’s a good chance you could be working with a foundation that’s not as secure as you’d like it to be! 

After all, you’ve got cyber security to always keep an eye on, and the social media landscape to attune to, and doing so gets more complicated as you go on. So you need to know you’re working with a reliable, well-built website. But don’t worry, there’s lots you can do right now to refocus your energy for the better, especially in the areas below. 

What Mistakes Could You Be Making With Your Online Business?
What Mistakes Could You Be Making With Your Online Business?

Not Having a Quality Customer Service

Customer service is always a necessity. You need to have a reliable and dedicated ‘desk’ to answer any and all queries and complaints you receive, otherwise, your business will be swamped with unhappy customers and no way to placate them. At the least, you need to be able to filter out the emails and/or direct messages you get to the right place, to make them easier to sort through and answer. 

So think about how you’ve been dealing with customers until now. How long is your average response time? Do you have a chat bot to rely on? Do you even make it easy for customers to get in contact with you, by displaying your details clearly on the website? If not, it’s time to rearrange your homepage a little! 

Not Focusing on Cyber Security

Cyber security should always be a top priority for you. Keeping customer data safe is a business’ number one job, after turning a profit, and you should never compromise the details of those who have shopped with you. Not only does it prove you’re not a trustworthy company, but it could cost you a lot of money in the long run. 

Which means it’s time to look into your online business security; start making backups at least once a week, make sure any software you use is updated to the latest patch, and change any passwords you’ve been using. This should be done about every 30 days anyway, and try not to use a similar arrangement of characters each time either. 

Not Enough Social Media Coverage

Finally, do you put much thought into your social media coverage? How often do you post? Because without a proper use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, it’s going to be hard to get your name out there. People will find it harder to relate to your brand, and your chance of recognition will go out the window. So think about putting a content schedule in place, and use social media much more constructively in the future. 

It’s easy to make a mistake when working online, but it’s not that hard to rectify them either.

How You Can Use Technology For A Business Advantage

If you are a business owner with products or services to proffer, you need a way to get your information “out there” for the masses of potential consumers to engage with and experience. Enter technology. There are a variety of ways to work with and use technology to your continued advantage.

App

Everybody seems to have a mobile phone. They are practically extensions of oneself at this point. You use your phone for shopping on all levels, ordering food, purchasing tickets, research, and entertainment, and the list goes endlessly on. This is why you need to engage with a professional company for mobile application development

Can you imagine seeing your company as an app on a smartphone? Consider the endless ways you can meet your customers’ needs and meet them where they are at that moment. When they need something, they press the tile and the world which is your company opens up for them to engage with.

If you think that creating an app is a daunting prospect, think again. A team of developers will meet with you to discuss your ideas and gain knowledge of your company. If you already have a website in place, they will use that as a building block in the creation process. Next, they will create a bespoke solution that will grab your app users’ attention and keep them coming back for more.

Social Media

The term social media has different connotations for different groups. While the distinctive platforms connect people socially on a personal level, they can be masterful tools to wield to create a professional online presence.

Create company accounts on a variety of social media platforms for maximum exposure. You can use Instagram to create curated stories about your company and any social programs you and your employees support. Show your followers who you are and what you stand for. Make videos on TikTok showing how your product functions in different settings. Craft expert videos for YouTube showing tutorials and guides for how to use your products. Use Twitter to keep your followers up-to-date on the latest product releases or offer teaser tweets for upcoming events.

Here is a quick overview of how to use social media to help your business.

Dedicated Employee

An actual human employee is certainly not part of the technical equation; however, if you notice an increase in digital traffic across apps, websites, and social media platforms, it may behove you to designate an employee to monitor these. Having either a full-time focus on these areas or adding it as part of a current employees’ job description will prove beneficial.  

When your company can respond to comments, whether they are positive or negative, and answer questions about your products or services, that immediate attention to social media will show the world that you care enough about their thoughts and concerns to be attentive and respond. If a dissatisfied customer posts something negative, or even an honest review that does not reflect well for you, your employee can acknowledge their issue and offer to remedy it. 

This is all done in the public eye and reflects transparency. All of this effort further advertises and promotes your company. Today, consumers want to know more than the product they are purchasing. They want to know the values and ethics of the company behind the product.

The 7 Marketing Tech Trends You Need to Be Aware Of

It’s 2021 and marketing and tech go hand in hand. If you aren’t embracing the latest technology to bolster your marketing efforts, chances are you aren’t making as much money for your company as you could.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most prominent marketing trends you should probably be using right now.

  1. Video marketing

Content marketing has always been the bread and butter of businesses on the internet, and written content is still a big part of most companies’ marketing strategies. However, in the past couple of years, we have seen a real move towards video marketing, which perhaps isn’t surprising when you consider the fact that more and more people, particularly the younger generation, are watching videos instead of reading articles online. You only have to look at things like Youtube and TikTok to see how much of an impact short videos can have!

That means, your company is probably going to want to invest in a decent video camera and a decent video editing package. Alternatively, you could outsource video production to video marketing experts. In fact, the latter is probably more desirable because they will have the skills and experience to make videos that sell, whereas if you and your marketing team do not have much experience of video marketing, you may find it more difficult to create the kind of content that people actually want to see.

  1. Chatbots

In 2021, the demand for chatbots, according to figures from Salesforce, is up by 69 percent. It seems that many consumers prefer to use chatbots when they need to talk to a company’s customer service, and this is not surprising because chatbots are often more efficient at answering basic queries than actual humans! They respond faster and furnish you with all of the information you need without making mistakes, and that is why customers love them. 

Of course, they are also good for businesses too due to the fact they can do some of the same things that customer service agents do, which means you may be able to reduce staff numbers, save money and still provide a great service. They can’t replace humans completely, so you will still need to hire and train a few customer service reps for those tricky situations that crop up from time to time, but if you aren’t using them as part of your company’s customer service offerings, you’re missing a trick.

  1. Voice Search

Now that so many of us are choosing to access the internet via mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, instead of more cumbersome laptops and PCs, it is not surprising that we are also increasingly using voice search to find whatever it is we need on the net because let’s face it, it’s easier to use your voice than it is to type on a small touchscreen device. 

As a business, you will undoubtedly want to do everything you can to make it as easy as possible for customers to make a purchase which is why, if you haven’t already, you should implement voice search on your own website right away. As well as being more convenient, it makes your website more accessible for people with various impairments, which means you can do a good thing and potentially increase your sales at the same time when you advertise the fact that your website is accessible and easy to use for all.

  1. Digital signatures

If you run the kind of business where it is often necessary to have contracts exchanged and signed by one or more parties, you definitely need to know about digital signature services. These services enable you to send important documents, sign and have them signed, digitally, which means no more unnecessary meetings, print outs or postage costs. Right now, when many of us are switching to remote working, it is one piece of kit you can’t do without.

How does this help with marketing? Well, if you can advertise your business as being fully digital, it will obviously appeal to a greater number of people because, due to the pandemic, people do not want to be doing things like signing contracts online, It makes your business more convenient to use, and that is a great marketing point to push.

  1. Data analytics

Data analytics are hardly a new thing in the world of online business, but it is fair to say that, in 2021, they are more important than ever. Why are data analytics so important? Because they enable you to track your marketing campaigns and see how successful (or not) they have been. This enables you to make tweaks and changes to improve your efforts and get a better return on investment. It can also give you valuable insight into your target demographic and their behaviour so you can tailor your business experience to better meet their needs. Basically, if you aren’t tracking things in the marketing department, you will probably waste a lot of time and money, and data analytics can help you to prevent that.

  1. Social media

Again, social media marketing isn’t exactly a new thing in 2021, but it is one of the biggest trends in marketing tech so it deserves a place on the list. 

One thing I can say is that conversation is set to be a big thing in social media marketing going forward. By that, I mean two-way communication between company and customer. It has been shown time and time again that engagement on an intimate human level is exactly what consumers want to see and we are likely to see more of that. Gone are the days when you could simply schedule a post and sit back while the likes come in and leave it at that! These days, if you want to be a success, you need to get involved in the conversation and show the genuine human side of your business.

  1. User experience

With so much competition for business online, one thing that can help your business to stand out from the crowd is the user experience you can offer the customer, which is why UX is going to be a big thing in the coming months and years. 

What form will this UX take? Probably increased levels of personalisation and more speed when it comes to interacting with businesses and making purchases. Website and apps are likely to be streamlined and shopping carts simplified, while software packages that learn about the customer and personalise the app/site based on those purchases are also set to be big news.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are so many ways that technology can interact with marketing and make the whole process so much better. That is why businesses that have yet to do so should be making real efforts to use more tech in their marketing strategies.

Although you do not necessarily need to implement all of the above into your company, it would be foolish to ignore them, and actually, the more you use technology to help you market your goods and services, the more money you will save, and the more money you will make.

Customers expect more from businesses today, and if you cannot deliver, they will quickly find someone who can. By using technology, and making it known that you are using technology to improve user experience, you can certainly hold on to more customers and give your business the best possible chance of success – it really is that simple.

The Gadgetman Episode 80 – Mini Sun SAD Lamp – plus ‘Ed Sheeran Quits Twitter’

The Gadgetman Episode 80 Mini Sun SAD Lamp plus Ed Sheeran Quit Twitter InstagramIn the words of Deep Purple; “The Nights Are Closing In”, and with it the increase of Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D.  which affects around 3-6% of the UK’s population.

I’ve been testing a SAD Therapy Lamp from Mini Sun which helps to lessen these symptoms through light therapy. Use of the Therapy Lamp for 60 minutes a day, not only produces the correct levels of serotonin to help fight the effects of SAD, but also comes in a very nice padded carry case similar in size to an iPad.

I sat the device to the side on my desk which gave the impression of sitting by the window on a sunny day. Having suffered from SAD in the past, I found it comforting as the natural light produced by the lamp gave a feeling of the sun shining on my face.

The lamp is available in both white and pink designs and can be purchased via Mini Sun‘s website and is an excellent addition during these dreary winter months.

To find out more, listen to this mornings recording above which also features a discussion about Ed Sheeran quitting social media.
The Gadgetman Episode 80 Mini Sun SAD Lamp plus Ed Sheeran Quit Twitter Instagram

 

App of the Week – 23rd December 2013 – Norad Tracks Santa, The Snowman and the Snowdog + Sleeps til Christmas

This festive episode of App of the Week features the world famous ‘Norad Tracks Santa’, ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’, plus ‘Sleeps until Christmas’ on Facebook and have you ever barbequed your turkey for Christmas?