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Social media tips for your small businessIs your small- or medium-sized business (SMB) using social media and content marketing strategies to boost profitability? If not, it’s about time you do. Your competitors are already doing the same, so you have to find ways to make sure you rise above the crowd. Here are a few tips to get you started. Create […]

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08 Apr, 2019 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Facebook, Social Media, Tips category
Social media tips for your small business

Is your small- or medium-sized business (SMB) using social media and content marketing strategies to boost profitability? If not, it’s about time you do. Your competitors are already doing the same, so you have to find ways to make sure you rise above the crowd. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Create buyer personas

Social media data is a great tool to gather information about your potential customers, and in doing so, create buyer personas. Buyer personas are comprised of generalized characters that help build an ideal picture of your business in the market. Key demographic information includes age, location, and even reasons for buying and product-related concerns.

Come up with and implement a media crisis management plan

It’s normal for businesses to go through a crisis or two. Avoid embarrassing public relations nightmares by having a social media crisis management plan in place and ready for implementation.

Track the impact of your content marketing

When it comes to content marketing efforts like blogging and social media, it’s essential to have a system to measure results. You can measure how these efforts impact your brand awareness by using metrics such as social media reach, brand mentions, media mentions, and branded searches.

Integrate user-generated content on social media

Businesses can use social media to interact with consumers. This includes sharing some of consumers’ content on your own channels. Not only is user-generated content more cost-efficient, but it also shortens the customer’s path to purchase.

Use Hootsuite to manage Twitter chats

A Twitter chat happens when you use Twitter to talk about a common interest with others during a preset time. It’s like an online chatroom where you add to the discussion by tweeting. Efficiently managing tweets and responses is integral. Fortunately, applications like Hootsuite simplify the whole process. Hootsuite easily monitors, searches, and saves Twitter chats onto the Hootsuite dashboard for future reference.

Create better live broadcasts

Livestreaming on social media platforms such as Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram is quickly gaining popularity. Before starting a livestream for your business, take time out to practice and prepare an outline before you roll the cameras. Don’t forget to promote it prior to the broadcast, and make sure you come up with a short and catchy video description.

All SMBs are fighting for the same thing: the consumer’s attention. Business owners can’t afford to just blend into the background; if you don’t make a good, lasting impression, you might lose out on an opportunity to make money. And if you’re relying on social media and content marketing strategies to help you, make sure you are doing it right. If you have further questions, feel free to contact us!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Checklist for managing your IT hardwareAny business owner will be much better off if they're not worrying about recurring hardware issues. While your company may still have IT hardware problems, you can implement policies to keep your office free from previous issues. Here's a checklist that can guide you and get you started. ✓ Clean up your computer components Wipe […]

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04 Apr, 2019 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Hardware, Tips category
Checklist for managing your IT hardware

Any business owner will be much better off if they're not worrying about recurring hardware issues. While your company may still have IT hardware problems, you can implement policies to keep your office free from previous issues. Here's a checklist that can guide you and get you started.

✓ Clean up your computer components

Wipe your monitor with clean, static-free fabric; remove excess dirt from your mouse’s exterior; and tidy up your keyboard with compressed air. Don’t forget your computer tower! Dust buildup can block your computer’s air vent and affect its performance. Ensure that your workstation is getting adequate ventilation and isn’t directly exposed to sunlight and other heat sources.

✓ Manage your cables

If you’re not giving your computers’ cables the attention they deserve, now’s a good time to do so. Other than wiping the thick coat of dust off of computer cables, consider using cable management solutions that unclutter and untangle messy wires. These don’t just organize and secure your cables, they also help ensure your PCs run quieter and are less prone to overheating as a result of blocked air vents.

Planning to relocate or upgrade in the near future? Organizing your computers’ cables now makes future relocation and upgrading processes much easier.

✓ Review and update your inventory

Keeping an inventory of all your hardware helps you manage hardware life cycles and purchases, identify items that are near their end of life, and ensure you avoid duplicate purchases of items already in stock.

Your inventory list should include all owned and leased devices: PCs and laptops, printers and scanners, tablets and smartphones, and modems and other network hardware. Update all your assets’ serial numbers and keep track of their respective users and location.

✓ Printer maintenance

Clean the interiors and exteriors of your printers, including paper trays, which are sure to have accumulated dirt from years of use. You should also repair and/or replace parts and accessories such as print heads and cartridges that are no longer in good condition. Should you decide to do a complete printer maintenance, check for the latest software updates for your printers and install them immediately.

✓ Implement a hardware policy

This is also a good time to create a technology guideline that your employees can follow to ensure they work efficiently. These guidelines reduce the need to spend on unnecessary repairs, keeping the succeeding year’s checklist shorter. With clear instructions on the proper use, replacement, and storage of your hardware and devices, you’ll be better able to manage your hardware for years to come.

With a more organized IT hardware inventory, you have one less thing to worry about. Want to get more in-depth hardware management advice? Call our experts today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Use Outlook effectively with these tricksMany companies prefer to use Microsoft Outlook for coordinating projects, setting up meetings, and managing their email. This tool offers more features aside from being an email application where you can organize your business communications, contacts, and work. Let's take a closer look at some tips you might have missed. Clean Up your inbox No […]

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26 Mar, 2019 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Office, Productivity, Tips category
Use Outlook effectively with these tricks

Many companies prefer to use Microsoft Outlook for coordinating projects, setting up meetings, and managing their email. This tool offers more features aside from being an email application where you can organize your business communications, contacts, and work. Let's take a closer look at some tips you might have missed.

Clean Up your inbox

No matter how meticulously organized your Outlook inbox is, there’s always room for improvement. For a little computer-assisted help, try the ‘Clean Up’ feature.

From your Inbox, click the Home tab and choose from Outlook’s three Clean Up options:

  • Clean Up Conversation – Reviews an email thread or a conversation and deletes redundant text.
  • Clean Up Folder – Reviews conversations in a selected folder and deletes redundant messages.
  • Clean Up Folder & Subfolders – Reviews all messages in a selected folder and any subfolders, and deletes redundant messages in all of them.

Ignore (unnecessary) conversations

An overstuffed inbox is often caused by group conversations that aren’t relevant to you. The Ignore button helps you organize your inbox and focus on relevant emails.

  • Select a message, then click Home > Ignore > Ignore Conversation. You can also do this by opening a message in a new window and clicking Ignore under the Delete function. To recover an ignored message, go to the Deleted Items folder, and click Ignore > Stop Ignoring Conversation.

Send links instead of a file copy

Help your colleagues save storage space by sending a link to a cloud version of a file instead of the file itself. This is particularly useful when sending massive files. You can also set permissions to allow recipients to edit and collaborate on linked files in real time.

  • Upload the file you wish to send on OneDrive and send it to your recipients. From the message box, click Attach File > Browse web locations > OneDrive.

Improve meetings with Skype and OneNote

Outlook allows you to combine Skype’s HD video and screen-sharing features with OneNote’s organizational and project planning functions. It’s easy:

  • Go to the Meeting tab in Outlook, then click Skype meeting and send the link to the participants. After the meeting has started, select Meeting Notes (under the Meeting tab) and choose whether you want to Take notes on your own or Share notes with the meeting.

Tag contacts

To get the attention of a specific person in a group email message, use the @Mention function. This works particularly well for emails sent to multiple recipients or if you simply want to convey the urgency of your message.

  • In the email body or meeting request, type the ‘@’ symbol followed by the first and last name of the person you wish to tag (e.g., @firstnamelastname).
  • To search for emails you’re tagged in, select Filter Email from the Home tab and choose Mentioned, then choose Mentioned.

These are just a few strategies for getting more out of Microsoft’s email platform. To unlock Outlook’s true potential, you need the support of certified IT professionals. Give us a call today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Maximize your use of G Suite with these tipsGoogle has combined many of its tools into one powerful productivity and collaboration platform for businesses. G Suite is now used by more than three million businesses for their day-to-day activities. These people can benefit from knowing the following tips on how to best use the G Suite. Monitor past activities in Google Docs Google […]

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21 Jan, 2019 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Tips category
Maximize your use of G Suite with these tips

Google has combined many of its tools into one powerful productivity and collaboration platform for businesses. G Suite is now used by more than three million businesses for their day-to-day activities. These people can benefit from knowing the following tips on how to best use the G Suite.

Monitor past activities in Google Docs

Google Docs makes collaboration so easy and convenient, with members of your team able to comment, revise, suggest, and chat in real time on the same document. With the Activity feature, you can check when people last worked on a document. The Activity feature applies not just to Docs but also to Sheets and Slides.

Get valuable work insights on the new business dashboard

The Work Insights dashboard can provide valuable information that helps you manage your work processes better. Reports and charts can show how people use Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, and other apps. And you can use Work Insights to see how everyone in your company uses the entire suite. You’ll get insights on how different teams are collaborating across your company.

Combining data is now possible in Sheets

Even those who are already quite adept at using Google Sheets may be glad to know that you can pull up data from another spreadsheet using the IMPORTRANGE function. Importing data is more useful than just copy-paste. Should you revise any data from the original spreadsheet, that will automatically update in the new spreadsheet.

Close caption function in Google Slides

Here’s a nifty feature when you’re presenting using Google Slides. To enable the “closed captioning” feature, click the Present option, then click on Closed Captioning. This enables Slides to transcribe whatever you're saying on the slide.

Smart Compose is on G Suite

Smart Compose is a predictive writing suggestion feature that allows Gmail to intelligently autocomplete your email as you compose it. It fills in common or frequently used phrases, relevant addresses, and perhaps in the future, even your favorite greetings. It learns as you compose more emails. You can enable or disable this option in your Gmail general settings.

Jamboard goes beyond the digital whiteboard

Jamboard is an interactive 55-inch digital whiteboard designed to be used in conference rooms and with mobile devices. Anyone using G Suite has the Jamboard app; it’s integrated with other Google services, so you can add Docs, Sheets, and Slides to a jam. And Jamboard is designed to interact with tablets and smartphones. Anyone with a stable internet connection can collaborate, even if they’re not physically present.

A quick and easy shortcut to create new files

Creating a new file usually begins with going to your Drive, pressing New, then choosing the file type. Now here’s an even faster way, using your browser’s search bar.

First, make sure you’re logged in to your Google account on your browser. Then in the search bar, type the G Suite file you need, followed by a period, then the word “new”. For example:

  • For a new Google Doc, type “doc.new” in the search bar
  • For a new Google Sheet, type “sheet.new” in the search bar
  • For a new Google Slide, type “slide.new” in the search bar

Want to know more about the latest updates on G Suite and other Google products? Get in touch with our experts who can help you become more productive.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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