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A beginner’s guide to creating Facebook ads

No one can deny that social media has become a powerful online marketing channel. It’s cheaper, less complicated, more effective, and…a lot cooler. The numerous benefits are especially advantageous to small businesses that don’t have print or TV ads.

The post A beginner’s guide to creating Facebook ads appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

A beginner’s guide to creating Facebook ads

No one can deny that social media has become a powerful online marketing channel. It’s cheaper, less complicated, more effective, and…a lot cooler. The numerous benefits are especially advantageous to small businesses that don’t have print or TV ads. Interested in creating a social media ad of your own? Read on.

Why advertise on Facebook?

Above all else, the cost-effectiveness of Facebook advertising sets it apart from other marketing channels. The starting cost is as low as 1$ per day, which is ideal for SMBs that want to test small campaigns before investing more.

Beyond its affordability, Facebook advertising is also extremely effective. With 2 billion monthly active users and the ability to nail down your audience to the most specific details -- including their interests and online behavior -- it’s no surprise that Facebook advertising had the best return on investment compared with other social media platforms according to a survey of social media marketers worldwide.

Before you get started

As with other traditional marketing campaigns, before beginning a campaign, you need to determine your marketing objectives, audience, budget, and how you want your ads to look. Once you have the answers to all those questions, you’re ready to go.

A step-by-step guide to creating a Facebook ad:

1. Choose your marketing objective

  • From your your business's profile page, click on “Create Ads” from the dropdown menu in the top right corner.
  • Enter your campaign name and choose your “marketing objective,” which is what you want people to do when they see your ads. It could be increased brand awareness, lead generation, or store visits. You can pick only one from three categories.
  • Set up your advert account by selecting your account country, currency, and time zone.

2. Nail down your audience
You can tailor your audience based on locations, ages, genders, languages, their interests and behavior, and the kind of relationship they already have with your page, app, or website. It’s best to be as specific as possible when selecting your audience.

  1. Set up your budget and posting schedule
    Facebook allows you to set up a daily or a lifetime budget. The latter is the maximum amount you plan to spend for an entire ad campaign. Then choose the frequency or the start and end dates in which your ads will appear.

  2. Design how your ads will look
    You can choose how your ad posts will look like to your audience, such as whether they will appear as an image carousel, a single image, a video, a slideshow, or a “collection” (a new ad format designed especially for Facebook mobile). Note that your ad will consist of five parts: an image, a headline, a block of text, a link description, and a call to action button.

    Tips on designing facebook ads that grab people’s attention

    Your ads will appear in people's newsfeeds, so make sure your content is interesting and succinct enough to grab their attention as they scroll past it. Each component of your ad -- the image, headline, link description and call to action -- must stand out when surrounded by vacation photos that rarely receive more than a few seconds of attention.

Creating a Facebook ad is simple, yet the beauty of it is that Facebook also allows for more advanced targeted advertising if you know how to take advantage of what the platform has to offer. Talk to our specialists today; they'll be happy to share a few pointers on how to help you achieve optimal results from your campaigns.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post A beginner’s guide to creating Facebook ads appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

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Huge virtualization partnership is now live

In a win-win move for virtualization vendors and end-users, two of the biggest names in the industry are making their platforms compatible with each other. Amazon Web Services (AWS) can now host virtual machines that use VMware, and that has huge implications for disaster recovery plans.

The post Huge virtualization partnership is now live appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Huge virtualization partnership is now live

In a win-win move for virtualization vendors and end-users, two of the biggest names in the industry are making their platforms compatible with each other. Amazon Web Services (AWS) can now host virtual machines that use VMware, and that has huge implications for disaster recovery plans.

Virtualization review

Traditional servers and desktops use computer hardware inefficiently. Their multitasking capabilities are limited and a lot of computing power is wasted on unnecessary tasks. Virtualization software alleviates these problems by splitting one physical server into smaller virtual machines so power is more evenly distributed.

For example, if you need your server to handle both an in-house database and an online service, you might want to limit the resources it devotes to the in-house database so your customer-facing website never lacks capacity. Or, you might want to create 10 virtual desktops on your server so employees can access their work from cheap workstations with little more than an internet connection.

On premises vs. the cloud

There are countless ways you can use virtualization to make your IT more efficient, but only two options for implementing the infrastructure it is based on. You can either virtualize servers directly connected to your local network, or you can virtualize cloud-based servers that you connect to via the internet.

VMware is the most popular choice for virtualizing on-premises servers. It requires a bigger upfront investment in hardware and IT maintenance than cloud-virtualized servers require, but gives you more control over how everything is set up and secured.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most popular choice for cloud-based virtualization because it is simple and affordable.

In the early days, moving from on-premises virtualization to the cloud meant rebuilding the entire setup from the ground up. Fortunately, AWS announced last year that VMware users would be able to essentially copy and paste their on-premises (virtualization) servers to the cloud. That upgrade finally became available to users in August 2017.

Virtualized disaster recovery

This new partnership is great news for VMware users. If your business has a local virtualized server, it can be configured to automatically move to the cloud when your office is damaged or without power. When handled properly, customers and remote employees can continue to access your servers without any interruption of service.

So in addition to significantly reducing hardware expenses, virtualization improves business continuity. To get the most out of this technology in your office, give us a call today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Use these little-known Android Oreo features

Most Android users know that there’s more to their devices than meets the eye. Business users, in particular, are becoming even more dependent on their mobile devices to make remote work more efficient. With a better understanding of what Android Oreo is capable of, users can better manage their devices, improve workflow, and save their company some time.

The post Use these little-known Android Oreo features appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Use these little-known Android Oreo features

Most Android users know that there’s more to their devices than meets the eye. Business users, in particular, are becoming even more dependent on their mobile devices to make remote work more efficient. With a better understanding of what Android Oreo is capable of, users can better manage their devices, improve workflow, and save their company some time.

Notifications

More applications mean more notifications to manage. Fortunately, there are a handful of ways you can adjust your notifications other than simply turning them on or off.

  • Snooze Notifications - Getting notifications from all your apps is distracting and reduces productivity. You can prevent them from appearing in the Notifications shade for a specified amount of time by swiping an alert in a left-to-right motion, whereby options to snooze it -- for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, and so on -- will appear.
  • Notification Dots - Important notifications within the Notification shade can get lost amid non-essential ones. There is a hidden feature that lets you view notifications and actions from only high-priority apps, such as a productivity platform or a messaging tool. Just press and hold an app icon and the notifications for that app will appear.
  • Notification Channels - This feature gives you even greater control over managing your device’s notifications by letting you categorize them according to the level of priority, update status, and more. Simply swipe a notification alert from left to right, then tap ‘All Categories’ under the gear icon to adjust notification categories.

Wi-Fi Settings

  • Automatically turn on Wi-Fi - Every time you’re near a ‘high-quality saved network,’ your Wi-Fi will turn on automatically and connect to that network, saving you a few taps. To activate this setting, toggle ‘Turn on Wi-Fi Automatically’ under your device’s Wi-Fi settings, and make sure the device is not in battery saver mode and that its location service is on.
  • Wi-Fi Assistant and Google VPN - Oreo’s enhanced Wi-Fi Assistant lets users automatically connect to open Wi-Fi networks with a secured VPN connection from Google. This means you can connect to that coffeeshop wifi without worrying about how unsecure it is.

Battery

Inactive apps that run in the background are a big drain on your battery. Fortunately, a battery-optimizing feature in Android Oreo solves this problem. But first, you’ll have to determine which apps consume the most battery while running in the background. Go to Settings > Battery > “App usage since full charge,” and turn off Background Activity for apps that have high “While in background” times.

Data Autofill and Storage

The Autofill function analyzes your personal data, saved passwords, and other information based on the content on your screen and your general usage. What’s more, it can be used even for non-Google apps. You can activate it under Settings > System > Languages & input > Advanced > Autofill service.

When your device is running low on storage, Oreo’s improved Smart Storage feature frees up space by automatically deleting photos and videos that have already been backed up in Google Drive.

Many businesses rely on mobile devices not just for company communications but also for productivity, and these are just some of the tips that help maximize your devices’ usefulness. Get in touch with us today for more money-saving and efficiency-enhancing tips and tricks.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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VoIP: Cloud-hosted or On-premises?

You’ve decided that the benefits of VoIP phone systems are too substantial to ignore any longer. But before you start searching for the right VoIP solution, you need to know which deployment method will work best for your business -- cloud-hosted or on-premises.

The post VoIP: Cloud-hosted or On-premises? appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

VoIP: Cloud-hosted or On-premises?

You’ve decided that the benefits of VoIP phone systems are too substantial to ignore any longer. But before you start searching for the right VoIP solution, you need to know which deployment method will work best for your business -- cloud-hosted or on-premises.

Installation and maintenance

On-premises VoIP phone systems are installed at your company’s office, typically managed and maintained by your own personnel. While you can hire a third party to manage the phone system for you, what you can’t avoid is the hardware cost of setting up your VoIP phones.

Cloud-based VoIP, on the other hand, means all the software and hardware are hosted and maintained by a VoIP provider. Other than the physical phones, everything else is provided virtually, which means you won’t be bothered with expensive hardware costs nor will you need an in-house staff to manage the system.

But since all support requests must be addressed by your VoIP provider, service responsiveness and flexibility are crucial as they can directly impact your daily operations.

Security

You might think having on-premises VoIP is the obvious choice when it comes to security, and in one specific case that’s very true. If you have vast IT resources, deploying VoIP on-premises gives you better security control since you will know your system’s capabilities as well as every nooks and crannies.

But for small- to medium-sized businesses, cloud-hosted VoIP remains a favorable option because every aspect of security is taken care of by a provider whose reputation rests on maintaining the most stringent security measures. They are well-versed in identifying vulnerabilities, reducing the area of attacks, and protecting all entry points.

Control

On-premises solutions give you better control of your VoIP phones since you can design systems suited to your needs without relying on a third-party. This makes it a popular choice for larger enterprises with dedicated IT technicians needed to customize and manage the system.

With cloud-hosted VoIP, you relinquish certain control to your service provider, which is the price you pay for the convenience of professional deployment and maintenance. This, however, doesn’t give your provider the right to monitor your calls or conduct any activity that breaches your business’s confidentiality.

Scalability

With on-premises VoIP systems, you rely on your in-house personnel to add or remove features to accommodate your changing needs. There are various backend processes involved and every expansion often increases the complexity you have to manage yourself.

With a cloud-hosted solution, you’ll have an entire team of technicians at your beck and call so features can be added or removed as needed. If you’re anticipating future changes, cloud-hosted VoIP will be more effective in the long run.

Whether you’re looking to host your VoIP phone systems on-premises or in the cloud, we can help make the process quick and painless. Just give us a call and we’ll be happy to advise.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post VoIP: Cloud-hosted or On-premises? appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

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