virtual assistant services

Gift of Time

Isn’t it nice to have someone do the chores for us, which we ourselves do not want to do?. Now ‘time’ can be purchased for someone special and while they are allowed to enjoy their life, while their chores are taken care of by a virtual assistant (VA). On special occasions make the loved one feel special by gifting them the precious gift of time. Now ‘gift time’ from GetFriday to the loved one and help them assign their chores to a virtual assistant, who will take care of the chores while they can indulge in doing things they love. You can do this on every other occasion where your loved one would feel special: Birthdays Most of us love celebrating birthdays, especially those of our near and dear ones. This is the day when we make them feel quite special by wishing them well and making them look forward to the coming year. In line with this, what if someone offers them the gift of time, where their chores will be taken care of by a virtual assistant and they could enjoy the time saved in doing things they enjoy. This can be done by purchasing ‘time’ from GetFriday and gifting it to your loved one for them to enjoy their time in doing things they love. Anniversaries It is the time to recall the best moments in someone’s life. Moments when happiness was felt during marriage or setting up of a company etc. During the time of anniversaries are the times when most feel like unwinding and may be taking a break. This is in fact possible with the ‘Gift of Time’ offer from GetFriday where time could be bought for a loved one to do their mundane chores by a virtual assistant, while they enjoy with the saved time doing things enjoyed by them. Mother’s Day Mothers evoke positive emotions in everyone. So having a day dedicated to the mother should not be such a big ask. In fact, there is a need to have such observances to increase the bonding among family members. Moreover, it also calls for taking action on the occasion to make her feel special on that particular day. A novel way to do this would be to give her a ‘Gift of Time’ card from GetFriday, where she can assign her mundane official chores to the virtual assistant, while she enjoys the time doing things she loves. These are a few instances in which you can gift time with GetFriday’s ‘Gift of Time’ voucher. Log in and make the most of the unique gift. 1) Log on to the and fill the form @ “Gift of Time” page 2) Receive the gift card from the GetFriday representative 3) Gift the time to your loved ones 4) The assigned VA will take care of everything virtually

Gift of Time Read More »

Isn’t it nice to have someone do the chores for us, which we ourselves do not want to do?. Now ‘time’ can be purchased for someone special and while they are allowed to enjoy their life, while their chores are taken care of by a virtual assistant (VA). On special occasions make the loved one feel special by gifting them the precious gift of time. Now ‘gift time’ from GetFriday to the loved one and help them assign their chores to a virtual assistant, who will take care of the chores while they can indulge in doing things they love. You can do this on every other occasion where your loved one would feel special: Birthdays Most of us love celebrating birthdays, especially those of our near and dear ones. This is the day when we make them feel quite special by wishing them well and making them look forward to the coming year. In line with this, what if someone offers them the gift of time, where their chores will be taken care of by a virtual assistant and they could enjoy the time saved in doing things they enjoy. This can be done by purchasing ‘time’ from GetFriday and gifting it to your loved one for them to enjoy their time in doing things they love. Anniversaries It is the time to recall the best moments in someone’s life. Moments when happiness was felt during marriage or setting up of a company etc. During the time of anniversaries are the times when most feel like unwinding and may be taking a break. This is in fact possible with the ‘Gift of Time’ offer from GetFriday where time could be bought for a loved one to do their mundane chores by a virtual assistant, while they enjoy with the saved time doing things enjoyed by them. Mother’s Day Mothers evoke positive emotions in everyone. So having a day dedicated to the mother should not be such a big ask. In fact, there is a need to have such observances to increase the bonding among family members. Moreover, it also calls for taking action on the occasion to make her feel special on that particular day. A novel way to do this would be to give her a ‘Gift of Time’ card from GetFriday, where she can assign her mundane official chores to the virtual assistant, while she enjoys the time doing things she loves. These are a few instances in which you can gift time with GetFriday’s ‘Gift of Time’ voucher. Log in and make the most of the unique gift. 1) Log on to the and fill the form @ “Gift of Time” page 2) Receive the gift card from the GetFriday representative 3) Gift the time to your loved ones 4) The assigned VA will take care of everything virtually

How to Increase Office Productivity

It is everyone’s dream to work to their optimum capacity, but there are only 24hrs in a day and in those hours, we have to maximize our efficiency. There is always a plan at the beginning of the day to maximize our productivity at work. But it just becomes a hollow plan by the end of the day. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea to find out ways to work smarter, here is a list of strategies that will help improve productivity at work. While it may not happen that your working habits undergo a drastic change overnight, it is possible that gradual changes can add up to big changes in productivity. It is best to start with one-tip and follow it up before you can adopt next tip to your schedule. Being accountable to someone at work or announcing your targets to others helps keep you stay on track in the course of your activities and in the long run. It is best to keep in mind that we are humans and have a tendency for slip-ups. Hence, it is with this attitude you should approach productivity improvement tips. Whenever, there is a slip-up it is best to forgive yourself than to brood about it overtime which only adds up to unproductive time. You have to understand that multi-tasking is an over-used term. Studies have very clearly indicated that our brains are not equipped to multi-task and focusing on one task alone will help us accomplish much more than trying to multi-task and accomplish more. It is also seem that while multi-tasking, the brain loses its ability to be creative. The brain is like a muscle the more work we give it, the stronger the muscle is likely to become. By focusing on one single task helps you make those connections stronger. Before you leave work each day, it is best to write down, 5-6 things that you want to accomplish the following day and in a separate page write down personal errands that you would like to accomplish. Keeping the list shorter helps it keep realistic. Have a strategy while you begin each day and stick to it as far as possible. There is a theory and it states that our primal mind craves distraction especially when you are in the course of accomplishing your listed tasks. It so happens that we would turn our attention towards some easy unlisted task such as liking a picture on Facebook or spending more time jotting down the list can also be part of ‘structured procrastination’. So give yourself five-minutes or less to complete writing the list and stick to your list in hand as far as possible without getting distracted. Piles of paper lying on your desk are a sign of unfinished tasks and unorganized work. Since you are lagging behind, the remedy is to delegate the tasks. By delegating you will be able to realize your productivity goals sooner than later. If in case you are not very proficient at something, it is best to ask someone about how to use something more efficiently. This simple request can ensure you are improving your productivity. Another distractor at the work place is e-mail. It is prudent that you embrace e-mail as an ally rather than making it your nemesis. You can manage your email better by dividing your email into two groups – first group requiring quick responses and those needing some degree of thought. You can acknowledge the receipt of the mail for the latter, but can answer the mail after some days. And make it a point to follow through. Another tactic could be to turn off your email notifications for some time, if there is a need to focus on a specific task for 20-30 minutes without distractions. The next thing to do is to learn e-mail management from someone, who is more proficient at it. Learn about different labels, folder, filters, archives and unsubscribe lists etc will help you spend less time on emails. Taking regular breaks at work may sound counter-productive but research has shown that your consistent level of performance can be maintained while taking short breaks during long tasks. And, taking no breaks decreases your level of performance. Giving yourself a deadline helps in accomplishing the tasks quicker and lets you focus better on the task. For open ended tasks, try giving yourself a deadline and then stick to it. You may be surprised just how focused and productive you can be while watching the clock. Any task that needs less than two minutes to accomplish must be accomplished quickly without a second thought in the mind. Completing the task right-away actually takes less time than having to get back at it later. It is much common among entrepreneurs to get hung on attempting to perfect a task – the reality is nothing is ever perfect. Instead of wasting time chasing a mirage, it is realistic to complete the task to the best of your ability and move on. It is better to complete the task right away, since most times you can come back and improve on the task later. Being pro-active and not reactive helps in accomplishing more than the other way around. By responding to emails and calls for the day, you will be able to put out the fires, but that is all you will be able to do during the day. It means you get dictated by the calls and emails at all times. Instead set aside time to respond to emails, but don’t let them determine what your day is going to look like These are some of the pointers towards increasing your productivity. It is not practical to adopt each one of the points into your life. Instead find a preference for some and you could incorporate these into your life. To improve your productivity further, you could hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) from GetFriday and assign your administrative tasks to your

How to Increase Office Productivity Read More »

It is everyone’s dream to work to their optimum capacity, but there are only 24hrs in a day and in those hours, we have to maximize our efficiency. There is always a plan at the beginning of the day to maximize our productivity at work. But it just becomes a hollow plan by the end of the day. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea to find out ways to work smarter, here is a list of strategies that will help improve productivity at work. While it may not happen that your working habits undergo a drastic change overnight, it is possible that gradual changes can add up to big changes in productivity. It is best to start with one-tip and follow it up before you can adopt next tip to your schedule. Being accountable to someone at work or announcing your targets to others helps keep you stay on track in the course of your activities and in the long run. It is best to keep in mind that we are humans and have a tendency for slip-ups. Hence, it is with this attitude you should approach productivity improvement tips. Whenever, there is a slip-up it is best to forgive yourself than to brood about it overtime which only adds up to unproductive time. You have to understand that multi-tasking is an over-used term. Studies have very clearly indicated that our brains are not equipped to multi-task and focusing on one task alone will help us accomplish much more than trying to multi-task and accomplish more. It is also seem that while multi-tasking, the brain loses its ability to be creative. The brain is like a muscle the more work we give it, the stronger the muscle is likely to become. By focusing on one single task helps you make those connections stronger. Before you leave work each day, it is best to write down, 5-6 things that you want to accomplish the following day and in a separate page write down personal errands that you would like to accomplish. Keeping the list shorter helps it keep realistic. Have a strategy while you begin each day and stick to it as far as possible. There is a theory and it states that our primal mind craves distraction especially when you are in the course of accomplishing your listed tasks. It so happens that we would turn our attention towards some easy unlisted task such as liking a picture on Facebook or spending more time jotting down the list can also be part of ‘structured procrastination’. So give yourself five-minutes or less to complete writing the list and stick to your list in hand as far as possible without getting distracted. Piles of paper lying on your desk are a sign of unfinished tasks and unorganized work. Since you are lagging behind, the remedy is to delegate the tasks. By delegating you will be able to realize your productivity goals sooner than later. If in case you are not very proficient at something, it is best to ask someone about how to use something more efficiently. This simple request can ensure you are improving your productivity. Another distractor at the work place is e-mail. It is prudent that you embrace e-mail as an ally rather than making it your nemesis. You can manage your email better by dividing your email into two groups – first group requiring quick responses and those needing some degree of thought. You can acknowledge the receipt of the mail for the latter, but can answer the mail after some days. And make it a point to follow through. Another tactic could be to turn off your email notifications for some time, if there is a need to focus on a specific task for 20-30 minutes without distractions. The next thing to do is to learn e-mail management from someone, who is more proficient at it. Learn about different labels, folder, filters, archives and unsubscribe lists etc will help you spend less time on emails. Taking regular breaks at work may sound counter-productive but research has shown that your consistent level of performance can be maintained while taking short breaks during long tasks. And, taking no breaks decreases your level of performance. Giving yourself a deadline helps in accomplishing the tasks quicker and lets you focus better on the task. For open ended tasks, try giving yourself a deadline and then stick to it. You may be surprised just how focused and productive you can be while watching the clock. Any task that needs less than two minutes to accomplish must be accomplished quickly without a second thought in the mind. Completing the task right-away actually takes less time than having to get back at it later. It is much common among entrepreneurs to get hung on attempting to perfect a task – the reality is nothing is ever perfect. Instead of wasting time chasing a mirage, it is realistic to complete the task to the best of your ability and move on. It is better to complete the task right away, since most times you can come back and improve on the task later. Being pro-active and not reactive helps in accomplishing more than the other way around. By responding to emails and calls for the day, you will be able to put out the fires, but that is all you will be able to do during the day. It means you get dictated by the calls and emails at all times. Instead set aside time to respond to emails, but don’t let them determine what your day is going to look like These are some of the pointers towards increasing your productivity. It is not practical to adopt each one of the points into your life. Instead find a preference for some and you could incorporate these into your life. To improve your productivity further, you could hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) from GetFriday and assign your administrative tasks to your

Making up your mind for hiring a VA

In a perfect world, you could be doing everything on your own and waiting for things to turn your way. However, in reality it is not the case. We cannot manage everything on our own and need help. The books you read about from outsourcing might suggest great things about working with from virtual assistants and they are not wrong. Virtual assistants can definitely help in the regular administrative tasks, while you focus on high value tasks, that only you can do. This article seeks to tell you how to get over your apprehensions before hiring a VA: Does the VA have enough experience to handle all my tasks? You can gauge this by asking the VA for a one -on- one interview. Having worked before as VA gives him/ her definite advantage over others. If he/she is into freelancing, there would be other clients, whom she would be freelancing. This need not be a stumbling block because if the VA is confident of executing all your tasks, it is essential that you validate her skillset in a trial period to test her skill sets and capabilities. And, if he/she is working for a company, he/she would be supported by the entire team if the need arises. So, in all the above cases, it is definite that the hiring a VA comes with its fair share of advantages. Does the VA have experience in a specific domain to help you out? Most VA’s are “Jack of all trades and master of none”. VAs are trained to handle all kinds of tasks without getting limited to a defined domain. However, there can be VAs with specific domain experience from previous jobs, which encouraged them to take up VA work in a specific domain. For instance, you will find VAs who work only in the field of web designing or as social media experts. Either, way it is a win-win situation. A VA with generic experience will be able to handle most generic things that do not require deep domain knowledge or skill. On the other hand, the VA with specific domain expertise would bring in a wealth of experience, which needs to be put to the right use by you when employing him/her. Is it affordable to hire a VA? Consider a simple equation to understand this better – if your time is worth $100/hr and you could be paying your assistant about $20/hr, the ROI on the transaction is $80/hr. It turns out, it is not an additional cost, but an additional revenue for the business., Imagine if you find a VA for let’s say $15/hr. Being able to reduce your administrative tasks and able to devote your time to grow your business makes it really necessary to hire a VA. Secondly, if the VA comes from a developed country, chances are that the service would be expensive. But, for an Asian country such as India or Philippines , due to the difference in the dollar exchange rate, it would turn out to be quite cheaper. Do I hire employees or manage VAs? The answer is really a no-brainer. There are businesses which are in a hurry to hire employees and later repent it. After the hires do not go in their favour, they can turn into a financial burden if you happen to hire employees soon.The advantages of hiring a VA and an employee has been listed out: There is a training period for the employee, which is comparatively less for a VA   It is easy to let go a VA compared to a regular employee.   Most times, businesses don’t hire part-time, but VAs can be hired part time.   Will I remain ‘in control’ of my business with a VA by my side? This again stems from the fact that unless you do everything in your office, you are not in control. Getting a VA and relinquishing some control would come as a welcome relief for you after hiring a VA. This would also help you create some space in your schedule and help run your business more efficiently. For example, you can cut down the time spent on replying to mails when you hire a VA. The time hence saved will be spent on finding new clients or generating new revenue streams for business. In addition, most of the tasks which your VA does on your behalf are those which are not critical or those in which you do not have expertise. With a virtual assistant taking over the basic tasks you gain more time in the day to focus on tasks that make better use of your time. Can I expect overnight turnaround in my business if I hire VAs? This thought comes from someone, who has pondered over the question for a long-time, but always was skeptical about it. Now that he has made up his mind, he looks forward to a dramatic shift in his business. The reality being, there is a lot of work that goes into accommodating VAs into organisations. From ensuring they are rightly trained, to assigning them tasks all the way to ensuring that they are the right fit for the business. It can also be said, that unless you properly spell out the instructions of the task to be done, it will be not be possible for the VA to work with his/her optimum efficiency. So, in the end it all comes down to the kind of understanding you create with your VA to make him/ her understand the needs of your business. These are some apprehensions for someone, who would like to hire a VA. And these are the tips for someone to handle those apprehensions and to comprehend them before recruiting a VA. For all you know, you could hire a VA from GetFriday, a trusted name in VA services.

Making up your mind for hiring a VA Read More »

In a perfect world, you could be doing everything on your own and waiting for things to turn your way. However, in reality it is not the case. We cannot manage everything on our own and need help. The books you read about from outsourcing might suggest great things about working with from virtual assistants and they are not wrong. Virtual assistants can definitely help in the regular administrative tasks, while you focus on high value tasks, that only you can do. This article seeks to tell you how to get over your apprehensions before hiring a VA: Does the VA have enough experience to handle all my tasks? You can gauge this by asking the VA for a one -on- one interview. Having worked before as VA gives him/ her definite advantage over others. If he/she is into freelancing, there would be other clients, whom she would be freelancing. This need not be a stumbling block because if the VA is confident of executing all your tasks, it is essential that you validate her skillset in a trial period to test her skill sets and capabilities. And, if he/she is working for a company, he/she would be supported by the entire team if the need arises. So, in all the above cases, it is definite that the hiring a VA comes with its fair share of advantages. Does the VA have experience in a specific domain to help you out? Most VA’s are “Jack of all trades and master of none”. VAs are trained to handle all kinds of tasks without getting limited to a defined domain. However, there can be VAs with specific domain experience from previous jobs, which encouraged them to take up VA work in a specific domain. For instance, you will find VAs who work only in the field of web designing or as social media experts. Either, way it is a win-win situation. A VA with generic experience will be able to handle most generic things that do not require deep domain knowledge or skill. On the other hand, the VA with specific domain expertise would bring in a wealth of experience, which needs to be put to the right use by you when employing him/her. Is it affordable to hire a VA? Consider a simple equation to understand this better – if your time is worth $100/hr and you could be paying your assistant about $20/hr, the ROI on the transaction is $80/hr. It turns out, it is not an additional cost, but an additional revenue for the business., Imagine if you find a VA for let’s say $15/hr. Being able to reduce your administrative tasks and able to devote your time to grow your business makes it really necessary to hire a VA. Secondly, if the VA comes from a developed country, chances are that the service would be expensive. But, for an Asian country such as India or Philippines , due to the difference in the dollar exchange rate, it would turn out to be quite cheaper. Do I hire employees or manage VAs? The answer is really a no-brainer. There are businesses which are in a hurry to hire employees and later repent it. After the hires do not go in their favour, they can turn into a financial burden if you happen to hire employees soon.The advantages of hiring a VA and an employee has been listed out: There is a training period for the employee, which is comparatively less for a VA   It is easy to let go a VA compared to a regular employee.   Most times, businesses don’t hire part-time, but VAs can be hired part time.   Will I remain ‘in control’ of my business with a VA by my side? This again stems from the fact that unless you do everything in your office, you are not in control. Getting a VA and relinquishing some control would come as a welcome relief for you after hiring a VA. This would also help you create some space in your schedule and help run your business more efficiently. For example, you can cut down the time spent on replying to mails when you hire a VA. The time hence saved will be spent on finding new clients or generating new revenue streams for business. In addition, most of the tasks which your VA does on your behalf are those which are not critical or those in which you do not have expertise. With a virtual assistant taking over the basic tasks you gain more time in the day to focus on tasks that make better use of your time. Can I expect overnight turnaround in my business if I hire VAs? This thought comes from someone, who has pondered over the question for a long-time, but always was skeptical about it. Now that he has made up his mind, he looks forward to a dramatic shift in his business. The reality being, there is a lot of work that goes into accommodating VAs into organisations. From ensuring they are rightly trained, to assigning them tasks all the way to ensuring that they are the right fit for the business. It can also be said, that unless you properly spell out the instructions of the task to be done, it will be not be possible for the VA to work with his/her optimum efficiency. So, in the end it all comes down to the kind of understanding you create with your VA to make him/ her understand the needs of your business. These are some apprehensions for someone, who would like to hire a VA. And these are the tips for someone to handle those apprehensions and to comprehend them before recruiting a VA. For all you know, you could hire a VA from GetFriday, a trusted name in VA services.

Seven E-commerce Trends for 2017

E-commerce is here to stay, even with limited customer service, no instant gratification and no access to a physical store where you can touch and feel the product. The online platform provides 24x 7 services and the amount of selection one gets to see on online cannot be matched in a physical store. With such advantages, e-commerce has changed the way we shop. Presently, it consists of only 8% of the total retail sales in the US, but the situation is here to change with increasing usage and a growing preference for purchasing online. This article seeks to look at trends which suggest how the e-commerce domain is changing as we go through 2017. Some of the trends are: Shopping on the Mobile We have seen in recent years that there is a shift in consumer behavior towards mobile. And as we move forward, there will be more movement towards this medium. The number of searches emanating from a mobile exceed that of a desktop and more websites are making themselves mobile ready. It must have come to everyone’s notice that Google is slowly removing sites that do not cater to a mobile experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that the way forward is mobile. Having said that, it is known that mobile still lags behind desktop when it comes to conversions. People like to search for their online goods on mobile, but prefer make the purchase on the desktop. This means there aren’t separate consumers for mobile and desktop. This only means at times, it is the same consumer, who searches on the mobile and later purchases through a desktop. This is seen as a habitual fact and will take time to see any improvement. But as we see more smartphone penetration and new technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistants getting included to smartphone devices, the future definitely looks brighter for mobile. Mobile Payments or E-wallets Gone are the days when going cashless meant using the credit or debt card, today, people are turning towards contactless mobile payments. There is an array of companies offering services catering towards mobile payments. It is estimated that mobile payments by 2021 are going to reach $3 trillion dollars. While, it is a lot of money getting transacted on small screens, mobile payments will only equate to 11 percent of all transactions made, a jump from the modest 5% in 2016. As we see more e-commerce companies adopt mobile payments as the preferred mode of payment, there is a world of possibilities that are emerging such as digital loyalty and reward programs. With the increased spread of smartphone and more user-friendly apps, it will further cement the prospect of convenient payment through mobiles. In the US, where the mobile based e-commerce is going to grow the largest, the mobile payment’s ratio of e-commerce is expected to increase from 20% in 2015 to 46% in 2020. Personalization and customization Already users are seeing customization from Netflix and Amazon, these channels with large amount of data from users are able to target customers in a personalized way. Till now customization was exclusively a domain of the big e-commerce retailers, but 2017 will see the small retailers also venturing in with highly targeted ads and embrace personalization. They will start with collecting behavioral data from each website user and send highly targeted campaigns based on customer segments and previous online experiences. This would mean each user who comes to the website will have unique experience from the brand, if he/she is a repeat customer. Same Day Delivery 2017 will see more e-commerce companies taking the step towards same day delivery instead of the normal 3-5 business days. While the trend was started by Amazon prime, the flexibility of delivery options would become a key differentiator in e-commerce domain. According to one study, 29% of the users were keen to pay extra for same day delivery. In today’s world of online commerce, logistics will play a key role in defining the future of e-commerce players. Every online retailer, who is there for the long run is working towards building a strong logistics network and up the game by making delivery of goods as fast as possible for its valued customers. Social Selling We are seeing a lot of noise on social network about including “buy“ buttons on these networks. These social networks have a vested interest in making this work, because they have people who visit their sites regularly. By leveraging their traffic for selling is the new strategy on social networking sites, since people like to include their friends in the purchase decisions. Social media users can now buy items without ever having to switch to a different more traditional e-commerce site. The ability to offer your products and services directly through social media platform represents the essence of social selling phenomenon, which is gaining traction as we go through 2017. Sales can increase and sales costs will drop by applying social media to the online sales process effectively. This also concerns with using the true power of social media to acquire more leads and with that more turnover. Exceptional Content or Inbound Marketing Brands which are ahead are putting out exceptional content in the digital space. Good e-commerce marketers know they have to consistently stand out by producing exceptional content to attract and convert prospects into customers. In 2017, we are going to see more content marketing strategies and as the brand looks for conversion with content, great pieces of content will be created and this content will reproduced in various forms such as blog-posts, e-books, pod casts, info-graphics, data visualizations and videos etc. After which, focus should be on measuring the response of each content and focusing only on promoting the content on the successful 3-5 channels. Chatbots This is one of the unique feature to look-out for in 2017. We will see the rise of chatbots led conversation on most of the e-commerce sites. Chatbot is a robotic agent that will help

Seven E-commerce Trends for 2017 Read More »

E-commerce is here to stay, even with limited customer service, no instant gratification and no access to a physical store where you can touch and feel the product. The online platform provides 24x 7 services and the amount of selection one gets to see on online cannot be matched in a physical store. With such advantages, e-commerce has changed the way we shop. Presently, it consists of only 8% of the total retail sales in the US, but the situation is here to change with increasing usage and a growing preference for purchasing online. This article seeks to look at trends which suggest how the e-commerce domain is changing as we go through 2017. Some of the trends are: Shopping on the Mobile We have seen in recent years that there is a shift in consumer behavior towards mobile. And as we move forward, there will be more movement towards this medium. The number of searches emanating from a mobile exceed that of a desktop and more websites are making themselves mobile ready. It must have come to everyone’s notice that Google is slowly removing sites that do not cater to a mobile experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that the way forward is mobile. Having said that, it is known that mobile still lags behind desktop when it comes to conversions. People like to search for their online goods on mobile, but prefer make the purchase on the desktop. This means there aren’t separate consumers for mobile and desktop. This only means at times, it is the same consumer, who searches on the mobile and later purchases through a desktop. This is seen as a habitual fact and will take time to see any improvement. But as we see more smartphone penetration and new technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistants getting included to smartphone devices, the future definitely looks brighter for mobile. Mobile Payments or E-wallets Gone are the days when going cashless meant using the credit or debt card, today, people are turning towards contactless mobile payments. There is an array of companies offering services catering towards mobile payments. It is estimated that mobile payments by 2021 are going to reach $3 trillion dollars. While, it is a lot of money getting transacted on small screens, mobile payments will only equate to 11 percent of all transactions made, a jump from the modest 5% in 2016. As we see more e-commerce companies adopt mobile payments as the preferred mode of payment, there is a world of possibilities that are emerging such as digital loyalty and reward programs. With the increased spread of smartphone and more user-friendly apps, it will further cement the prospect of convenient payment through mobiles. In the US, where the mobile based e-commerce is going to grow the largest, the mobile payment’s ratio of e-commerce is expected to increase from 20% in 2015 to 46% in 2020. Personalization and customization Already users are seeing customization from Netflix and Amazon, these channels with large amount of data from users are able to target customers in a personalized way. Till now customization was exclusively a domain of the big e-commerce retailers, but 2017 will see the small retailers also venturing in with highly targeted ads and embrace personalization. They will start with collecting behavioral data from each website user and send highly targeted campaigns based on customer segments and previous online experiences. This would mean each user who comes to the website will have unique experience from the brand, if he/she is a repeat customer. Same Day Delivery 2017 will see more e-commerce companies taking the step towards same day delivery instead of the normal 3-5 business days. While the trend was started by Amazon prime, the flexibility of delivery options would become a key differentiator in e-commerce domain. According to one study, 29% of the users were keen to pay extra for same day delivery. In today’s world of online commerce, logistics will play a key role in defining the future of e-commerce players. Every online retailer, who is there for the long run is working towards building a strong logistics network and up the game by making delivery of goods as fast as possible for its valued customers. Social Selling We are seeing a lot of noise on social network about including “buy“ buttons on these networks. These social networks have a vested interest in making this work, because they have people who visit their sites regularly. By leveraging their traffic for selling is the new strategy on social networking sites, since people like to include their friends in the purchase decisions. Social media users can now buy items without ever having to switch to a different more traditional e-commerce site. The ability to offer your products and services directly through social media platform represents the essence of social selling phenomenon, which is gaining traction as we go through 2017. Sales can increase and sales costs will drop by applying social media to the online sales process effectively. This also concerns with using the true power of social media to acquire more leads and with that more turnover. Exceptional Content or Inbound Marketing Brands which are ahead are putting out exceptional content in the digital space. Good e-commerce marketers know they have to consistently stand out by producing exceptional content to attract and convert prospects into customers. In 2017, we are going to see more content marketing strategies and as the brand looks for conversion with content, great pieces of content will be created and this content will reproduced in various forms such as blog-posts, e-books, pod casts, info-graphics, data visualizations and videos etc. After which, focus should be on measuring the response of each content and focusing only on promoting the content on the successful 3-5 channels. Chatbots This is one of the unique feature to look-out for in 2017. We will see the rise of chatbots led conversation on most of the e-commerce sites. Chatbot is a robotic agent that will help

Things to consider- Before Getting an Outside Blogger/ Writer

“Whether it is a blog or an e-commerce store, at the end of the day, it is the traffic that drives online business.” -Unknown A blog is a marketing tool that you can play around with, test and adapt to suit your needs and measure for effectiveness, as you go along, just like any other form of marketing. If you have a small business which plans to reach out to its audience using a blog, it is a good time to think whether you want to do it yourself or want to hand it over to someone, while you engage yourself in a supervisory role. There could be many reasons, why you would want to assign the responsibility of blog writing to someone else: It could be that your writing skills are just above average and you want some one better than you to manage it.   Your writing skills are good, but the time factor does not permit you to devote the amount of time required to churn out a decent blog.   It is cumbersome for you at this point of time to do all the research. So it is prudent to hire someone to do research and blog as well.   As said above, the intention behind writing the blog is to attract more traffic to your website. In such a case you have to make an important decision to make sure the blog ticks. These are some of the important pointers you might want to adhere to while selecting the blogger: Your rapport with your readers It is possible that over the years you have created a credible following for your blog among your readers. And as your business has scaled up, time has become a precious and a limited resource for you. In such a context you would want to think twice before you outsource your blog writing. The option available before you could be to reduce the number of posts of your blog. But, this could result in a loss of some of your readers. In such a scenario, it is better to hire a blog writer and weather the storm of losing some readers. And you would see, things stabilizing after a certain period of time. Overall, it is about you posting good content on the blog. As long as the content is good, your readers will hang in there, without bidding goodbye. The Type of Blogger You are entrusting your business reputation with the blogger, when you make the choice of hiring someone from outside for your website. It becomes equally important to see whether: a. The blogger has similar personality traits as yours b. His/ her writing style is in sync with yours c. The writing style fits the brand d. The blogger has knowledge of the job You are looking at someone, who can take it one notch up and enhance your reputation. The person needs to fire up your reader’s imagination and get them to talk about your business. By doing so, it leaves you with additional time on your hands and lets you focus on streamlining your business. Blog Marketing It becomes very obvious that the time you save from assigning your blog to someone outside, can be used by you in doing other strategic activities for your business. While the blogger can help you in blog marketing, it is seen that Google places special emphasis on good content. By hiring a blogger from outside who is proficient in SEO, your website will achieve a higher page rank on Google. This would apparently invite more traffic to your website than before. Fresh Perspective As a business owner, there are times when you could become oblivious to certain aspects of the business. These can be termed as blind spots, which get overlooked most times. However, getting help from outside brings in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to the business because the outside blogger would associate with the brand differently than you. The fresh view can help bring out never before heard stories about your brand, which could popularise your brand. In due course of time, you will learn to appreciate and associate yourself with this fresh perspective. Access to Updated Knowledge This luxury of having a blogger from outside means you are dealing with a professional. Since his/her profession calls for updating knowledge every now and then, it comes by default that the blogs he/she writes is always up to date on knowledge and happenings in the stipulated domain. The final deliverable that you come across would always be updated on SEO, content standards and the trends in the industry. Poorly written Posts Hurt Your Brand In a world where Google ranking is very important it becomes tremendously important that your blog is well written. Google’s page ranking algorithm is seen to be positively inclined towards high quality content. Else, there are chances that a blog with grammatical errors and spammy links is not going to get you a higher page rank. There needs to be consistent effort from your side to succeed at Google page rank, every time you post a blog. A professional can bring about the consistency, then it is a good idea to assign your blog writing to some one outside the company. You could also hire a virtual assistant (VA) from GetFriday to write a blog and keep yourself free to do other things, which would help your business in the longer run. You can also hire a freelancer from Hubstaff Talent.Your brand and its growth among other blogs can be completely taken over by the VA, while you provide the macro view on how the blog post must be managed.

Things to consider- Before Getting an Outside Blogger/ Writer Read More »

“Whether it is a blog or an e-commerce store, at the end of the day, it is the traffic that drives online business.” -Unknown A blog is a marketing tool that you can play around with, test and adapt to suit your needs and measure for effectiveness, as you go along, just like any other form of marketing. If you have a small business which plans to reach out to its audience using a blog, it is a good time to think whether you want to do it yourself or want to hand it over to someone, while you engage yourself in a supervisory role. There could be many reasons, why you would want to assign the responsibility of blog writing to someone else: It could be that your writing skills are just above average and you want some one better than you to manage it.   Your writing skills are good, but the time factor does not permit you to devote the amount of time required to churn out a decent blog.   It is cumbersome for you at this point of time to do all the research. So it is prudent to hire someone to do research and blog as well.   As said above, the intention behind writing the blog is to attract more traffic to your website. In such a case you have to make an important decision to make sure the blog ticks. These are some of the important pointers you might want to adhere to while selecting the blogger: Your rapport with your readers It is possible that over the years you have created a credible following for your blog among your readers. And as your business has scaled up, time has become a precious and a limited resource for you. In such a context you would want to think twice before you outsource your blog writing. The option available before you could be to reduce the number of posts of your blog. But, this could result in a loss of some of your readers. In such a scenario, it is better to hire a blog writer and weather the storm of losing some readers. And you would see, things stabilizing after a certain period of time. Overall, it is about you posting good content on the blog. As long as the content is good, your readers will hang in there, without bidding goodbye. The Type of Blogger You are entrusting your business reputation with the blogger, when you make the choice of hiring someone from outside for your website. It becomes equally important to see whether: a. The blogger has similar personality traits as yours b. His/ her writing style is in sync with yours c. The writing style fits the brand d. The blogger has knowledge of the job You are looking at someone, who can take it one notch up and enhance your reputation. The person needs to fire up your reader’s imagination and get them to talk about your business. By doing so, it leaves you with additional time on your hands and lets you focus on streamlining your business. Blog Marketing It becomes very obvious that the time you save from assigning your blog to someone outside, can be used by you in doing other strategic activities for your business. While the blogger can help you in blog marketing, it is seen that Google places special emphasis on good content. By hiring a blogger from outside who is proficient in SEO, your website will achieve a higher page rank on Google. This would apparently invite more traffic to your website than before. Fresh Perspective As a business owner, there are times when you could become oblivious to certain aspects of the business. These can be termed as blind spots, which get overlooked most times. However, getting help from outside brings in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to the business because the outside blogger would associate with the brand differently than you. The fresh view can help bring out never before heard stories about your brand, which could popularise your brand. In due course of time, you will learn to appreciate and associate yourself with this fresh perspective. Access to Updated Knowledge This luxury of having a blogger from outside means you are dealing with a professional. Since his/her profession calls for updating knowledge every now and then, it comes by default that the blogs he/she writes is always up to date on knowledge and happenings in the stipulated domain. The final deliverable that you come across would always be updated on SEO, content standards and the trends in the industry. Poorly written Posts Hurt Your Brand In a world where Google ranking is very important it becomes tremendously important that your blog is well written. Google’s page ranking algorithm is seen to be positively inclined towards high quality content. Else, there are chances that a blog with grammatical errors and spammy links is not going to get you a higher page rank. There needs to be consistent effort from your side to succeed at Google page rank, every time you post a blog. A professional can bring about the consistency, then it is a good idea to assign your blog writing to some one outside the company. You could also hire a virtual assistant (VA) from GetFriday to write a blog and keep yourself free to do other things, which would help your business in the longer run. You can also hire a freelancer from Hubstaff Talent.Your brand and its growth among other blogs can be completely taken over by the VA, while you provide the macro view on how the blog post must be managed.

E-Commerce Advantage with GetFriday

If you are over-whelmed by your e-commerce business by the number of activities, GetFriday is here to help you with your business. We have skilled and experienced executives to help you with your e-commerce business needs. The key tasks which GetFriday undertakes on behalf of e-commerce business are inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support. Inventory Management The GetFriday executive logs into the client’s CRM and downloads the daily inventory files. The executive then checks and updates the client on the daily status of the products such as in stock, out of stock and approaching safety stock, to track for the availability of each product. Order Processing When an order is placed on the website by a customer, the GetFriday executive then co-ordinates with the vendor and places the order with them to be delivered to the customer. The executive also cross verifies the shipping address and the quantity officially placed with the supplier to fulfill orders. Order tracking Once the product has been shipped, the GetFriday executive co-ordinates with the logistical partner to get the tracking code. The executive will then proceed to verify the tracking code and updates the customer to help them track the order. Customer Support GetFriday executives are well trained to attend to all sorts of customer queries through calls and emails with multiple back ups so that regular work is not interrupted. If you are overcome by increased orders, GetFriday will be able to handle all tasks with multiple back-up assistance meeting all quality standards and deadlines. We provide 24/7 assistance with cost effective solutions high domain expertise and timeliness are other qualities of our executives. What are you waiting for? To get started, visit our website @ www.getfriday.com or write to us at support@getfriday.com or get an understanding of all the e-commerce process which GetFriday supports with the video Managing Major Tasks for eCommerce Businesses 0:00 Hello There! Do you run an E-commerce business? Are you overwhelmed by the number of tasks? 0:06 Do not worry!! GetFriday is here to help you with your business tasks. 0:11 First let me introduce myself. I am Kumar,Project manager for e-commerce businesses in GetFriday. 0:18 I will walk you through the processes we support for e-commerce businesses. 0:22 We have experienced and skilled executives to take care of your e-commerce business needs. 0:27 The key tasks we undertake on behalf of e-commerce businesses are Inventory management, Order processing, Order tracking, and Customer support. I am really excited to walk you through each task. 0:39 Let us start with Inventory management. 0:42 Your GetFriday executive will log into your CRM and download the inventory files daily at the start of the day. 0:47 Your executive will then check and update you about the daily status of the products i.e. In-stock, Out-stock, and approaching safety stock to keep track of each product’s availability in the stock. 1:01 Second key task is ‘Order processing’. 1:04 When an order is placed on your website by a customer, your GetFriday executive coordinates with the vendors and places the order with them to be delivered to the customer. 1:14 Your assistant will also cross verify the details such as shipping address and the quantity ordered for efficiently placing the order with the suppliers. 1:20 Now we come to the Third major task which is ‘Order Tracking’. 1:22 Once the product is shipped, your executive will coordinate with your logistics partner to get the tracking code. Your executive will then proceed to verify the tracking code and update the customers to help them track the order. 1:36 The other task undertaken for e-commerce businesses is ‘Customer support service”. Your GetFriday executive is well trained in handling all sorts of customer queries through calls and emails. 1:48 Your assistant will take care of your daily customer care support activities such as emails, calls, etc. with multiple back-ups so that the regular work continues uninterrupted. 2:00 And if you find yourself with increased orders, do not worry!! GetFriday will be able to handle all the tasks with multiple back-up assistants meeting all the quality standards and deadlines. 2:11 We provide 24/7 assistance with cost effective solutions. High domain expertise and timeliness are other major qualities of GetFriday’s executives. 2:22 Then what are you waiting for? Let’s get started. 2:32 Visit our website www.getfriday.com to know more about the services. Or write an email to support@getfriday.com with your requirements.

E-Commerce Advantage with GetFriday Read More »

If you are over-whelmed by your e-commerce business by the number of activities, GetFriday is here to help you with your business. We have skilled and experienced executives to help you with your e-commerce business needs. The key tasks which GetFriday undertakes on behalf of e-commerce business are inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support. Inventory Management The GetFriday executive logs into the client’s CRM and downloads the daily inventory files. The executive then checks and updates the client on the daily status of the products such as in stock, out of stock and approaching safety stock, to track for the availability of each product. Order Processing When an order is placed on the website by a customer, the GetFriday executive then co-ordinates with the vendor and places the order with them to be delivered to the customer. The executive also cross verifies the shipping address and the quantity officially placed with the supplier to fulfill orders. Order tracking Once the product has been shipped, the GetFriday executive co-ordinates with the logistical partner to get the tracking code. The executive will then proceed to verify the tracking code and updates the customer to help them track the order. Customer Support GetFriday executives are well trained to attend to all sorts of customer queries through calls and emails with multiple back ups so that regular work is not interrupted. If you are overcome by increased orders, GetFriday will be able to handle all tasks with multiple back-up assistance meeting all quality standards and deadlines. We provide 24/7 assistance with cost effective solutions high domain expertise and timeliness are other qualities of our executives. What are you waiting for? To get started, visit our website @ www.getfriday.com or write to us at support@getfriday.com or get an understanding of all the e-commerce process which GetFriday supports with the video Managing Major Tasks for eCommerce Businesses 0:00 Hello There! Do you run an E-commerce business? Are you overwhelmed by the number of tasks? 0:06 Do not worry!! GetFriday is here to help you with your business tasks. 0:11 First let me introduce myself. I am Kumar,Project manager for e-commerce businesses in GetFriday. 0:18 I will walk you through the processes we support for e-commerce businesses. 0:22 We have experienced and skilled executives to take care of your e-commerce business needs. 0:27 The key tasks we undertake on behalf of e-commerce businesses are Inventory management, Order processing, Order tracking, and Customer support. I am really excited to walk you through each task. 0:39 Let us start with Inventory management. 0:42 Your GetFriday executive will log into your CRM and download the inventory files daily at the start of the day. 0:47 Your executive will then check and update you about the daily status of the products i.e. In-stock, Out-stock, and approaching safety stock to keep track of each product’s availability in the stock. 1:01 Second key task is ‘Order processing’. 1:04 When an order is placed on your website by a customer, your GetFriday executive coordinates with the vendors and places the order with them to be delivered to the customer. 1:14 Your assistant will also cross verify the details such as shipping address and the quantity ordered for efficiently placing the order with the suppliers. 1:20 Now we come to the Third major task which is ‘Order Tracking’. 1:22 Once the product is shipped, your executive will coordinate with your logistics partner to get the tracking code. Your executive will then proceed to verify the tracking code and update the customers to help them track the order. 1:36 The other task undertaken for e-commerce businesses is ‘Customer support service”. Your GetFriday executive is well trained in handling all sorts of customer queries through calls and emails. 1:48 Your assistant will take care of your daily customer care support activities such as emails, calls, etc. with multiple back-ups so that the regular work continues uninterrupted. 2:00 And if you find yourself with increased orders, do not worry!! GetFriday will be able to handle all the tasks with multiple back-up assistants meeting all the quality standards and deadlines. 2:11 We provide 24/7 assistance with cost effective solutions. High domain expertise and timeliness are other major qualities of GetFriday’s executives. 2:22 Then what are you waiting for? Let’s get started. 2:32 Visit our website www.getfriday.com to know more about the services. Or write an email to support@getfriday.com with your requirements.

Digital Marketing Trends of 2017

As 2016 came to an end, organisations are getting challenged every year, about their digital marketing strategy. Here are some of the digital marketing strategies that will dominate the year 2017. Video Marketing YouTube happens to be the second most used search engine in the world. Online video happens to be 50% of all mobile traffic. As users get savvier, they will have the need to connect with brands and engage with their stories. Platforms like Periscope and Facebook make it easy for brands and businesses to connect with their fans and followers in real time and get their message across by streaming live broadcasts. Also 2017 video will see tremendous growth, from Facebook news feeds to family groups on Whatsapp. With NASSCOMM estimating 700 million smartphones in India by 2020 and with every phone being a potential video device. The growth of video is only going north in 2017. With 4G becoming the norm, we’ll be getting a lot more videos in our newsfeeds. With eye balls migrating to small mobile screens, time spent on social media rising, video is going to see growth in 2017. Mobile to Dominate Desktop It has been seen that Google has already phased out websites that are not optimized for mobiles. With this trend on the rise, we are going to see an increasing number of marketers giving more attention to mobile search and optimization. This would mean Google is prioritizing mobile sites and will have Google ads oriented around mobile. This means ads are going to become more localized. So a search for ‘fast food’ will not come up with KFC, if there is no KFC with a 10 km radius. This trend is going to continue not only in 2017, but in the years to come. Instore Marketing There isn’t much connection between in-store marketing and digital marketing, but the difference between the physical and online sales techniques are fast shrinking. In a smartphone dominated world, 80% of the millennials use their phone inside the store and 75% of them are willing to receive location based text alerts. An organization with optimized mobile strategy, capturing customers in-store through digital techniques will prove to be an effective means of conversion. A fine example of this comes from the American supermarket Target. The store launched a reward app to present their customers with special offers as they walked through various departments of their stores. The method becomes even easier, when you use the new beacon technology (After downloading the app, customers can be sent customized content, when they happen to be at the vicinity of the store through beacon technology). Interactive Content In the current digital environment, engagement is everything and marketers succeed when users not only consume the content, but also enjoy it and act upon it. This makes it certain that interactive content will be the way forward in coming times. It is seen that when compared to static content interactive content is able to notch conversion rate of up to 70% higher conversions. In fact, it also is a good way of educating buyers and making your brand to stand out among competitors. It is a win-win situation, when people are turning away from traditional means of advertising in favor of online reviews and research. With digital technology getting more sophisticated, the scope to engage interactively is seemingly endless. Interactivity can come in the form of quizzes and polls to contests. It is for the brand to choose which type of interactive content it plans to choose from. Wearable Mobile Devices Currently there are 7.22 billion active mobile devices, that’s more technology in the world than people. Hence it is important to understand the importance of smartphone marketing and its relevance to an organization. The wearable market is expected to reach $4billion in 2017. Much like the emergence of mobile, brands and businesses will have to develop their platforms to cater to the average user who uses a wearable, and ensure they are optimized for small, more interactive screens to ensure quality user experience and prompt sales. In 2017, the giant network of wearables will provide marketers with more marketing data. The unprecedented access to this kind of knowledge will help marketers to focus on their target audience more accurately like never before. Disappearing Social Content One big change the social media is going to experience in the times to come will be in the form disappearing content. Disappearing or expiring content enables the brands and businesses to cut through the noise and clutter, gaining the attention of the target audience without spending massive amounts of money. The pioneer in this technology is Snapchat. To create a real sense of urgency users were given limited time to read or view the content before it disappeared. Meanwhile, the technology got copied by Instagram, causing rivalry between the two platforms. Expiring content is going to become a trendsetter in 2017, as per estimates. Influencer Marketing There is seamless amount of information, which is broadcast through the web. To make sense of it all, web users are turning to an unbiased expert with knowledge to share – the influencer. Today’s consumer is more likely to trust an influencer than a brand message. In 2016, there was a realization from the brand that the fastest way to reach the audience’s heart is through a trusted thought leader. Hence, today influencer marketing has become a line item in the marketing budget of brands’. In 2017, we are going to see more brands willing to spend their budget on a thought leader, who not only believes in the brand, but also is able to communicate it to the right following. Behaviour Based Email Marketing Digital marketing in 2017 would be all about segmented & behavior based e-mail marketing. With more and more users subscribing to brands online, there are more emails hitting the inbox and low open rates are becoming fairly common. This can only be combated by sending customized emails to users that are

Digital Marketing Trends of 2017 Read More »

As 2016 came to an end, organisations are getting challenged every year, about their digital marketing strategy. Here are some of the digital marketing strategies that will dominate the year 2017. Video Marketing YouTube happens to be the second most used search engine in the world. Online video happens to be 50% of all mobile traffic. As users get savvier, they will have the need to connect with brands and engage with their stories. Platforms like Periscope and Facebook make it easy for brands and businesses to connect with their fans and followers in real time and get their message across by streaming live broadcasts. Also 2017 video will see tremendous growth, from Facebook news feeds to family groups on Whatsapp. With NASSCOMM estimating 700 million smartphones in India by 2020 and with every phone being a potential video device. The growth of video is only going north in 2017. With 4G becoming the norm, we’ll be getting a lot more videos in our newsfeeds. With eye balls migrating to small mobile screens, time spent on social media rising, video is going to see growth in 2017. Mobile to Dominate Desktop It has been seen that Google has already phased out websites that are not optimized for mobiles. With this trend on the rise, we are going to see an increasing number of marketers giving more attention to mobile search and optimization. This would mean Google is prioritizing mobile sites and will have Google ads oriented around mobile. This means ads are going to become more localized. So a search for ‘fast food’ will not come up with KFC, if there is no KFC with a 10 km radius. This trend is going to continue not only in 2017, but in the years to come. Instore Marketing There isn’t much connection between in-store marketing and digital marketing, but the difference between the physical and online sales techniques are fast shrinking. In a smartphone dominated world, 80% of the millennials use their phone inside the store and 75% of them are willing to receive location based text alerts. An organization with optimized mobile strategy, capturing customers in-store through digital techniques will prove to be an effective means of conversion. A fine example of this comes from the American supermarket Target. The store launched a reward app to present their customers with special offers as they walked through various departments of their stores. The method becomes even easier, when you use the new beacon technology (After downloading the app, customers can be sent customized content, when they happen to be at the vicinity of the store through beacon technology). Interactive Content In the current digital environment, engagement is everything and marketers succeed when users not only consume the content, but also enjoy it and act upon it. This makes it certain that interactive content will be the way forward in coming times. It is seen that when compared to static content interactive content is able to notch conversion rate of up to 70% higher conversions. In fact, it also is a good way of educating buyers and making your brand to stand out among competitors. It is a win-win situation, when people are turning away from traditional means of advertising in favor of online reviews and research. With digital technology getting more sophisticated, the scope to engage interactively is seemingly endless. Interactivity can come in the form of quizzes and polls to contests. It is for the brand to choose which type of interactive content it plans to choose from. Wearable Mobile Devices Currently there are 7.22 billion active mobile devices, that’s more technology in the world than people. Hence it is important to understand the importance of smartphone marketing and its relevance to an organization. The wearable market is expected to reach $4billion in 2017. Much like the emergence of mobile, brands and businesses will have to develop their platforms to cater to the average user who uses a wearable, and ensure they are optimized for small, more interactive screens to ensure quality user experience and prompt sales. In 2017, the giant network of wearables will provide marketers with more marketing data. The unprecedented access to this kind of knowledge will help marketers to focus on their target audience more accurately like never before. Disappearing Social Content One big change the social media is going to experience in the times to come will be in the form disappearing content. Disappearing or expiring content enables the brands and businesses to cut through the noise and clutter, gaining the attention of the target audience without spending massive amounts of money. The pioneer in this technology is Snapchat. To create a real sense of urgency users were given limited time to read or view the content before it disappeared. Meanwhile, the technology got copied by Instagram, causing rivalry between the two platforms. Expiring content is going to become a trendsetter in 2017, as per estimates. Influencer Marketing There is seamless amount of information, which is broadcast through the web. To make sense of it all, web users are turning to an unbiased expert with knowledge to share – the influencer. Today’s consumer is more likely to trust an influencer than a brand message. In 2016, there was a realization from the brand that the fastest way to reach the audience’s heart is through a trusted thought leader. Hence, today influencer marketing has become a line item in the marketing budget of brands’. In 2017, we are going to see more brands willing to spend their budget on a thought leader, who not only believes in the brand, but also is able to communicate it to the right following. Behaviour Based Email Marketing Digital marketing in 2017 would be all about segmented & behavior based e-mail marketing. With more and more users subscribing to brands online, there are more emails hitting the inbox and low open rates are becoming fairly common. This can only be combated by sending customized emails to users that are

Digital Nomads

Picture this – how would you like it if you get to work for at least a few months on the endless white beaches of Bali while the turquoise-emerald waters splashed against the shore? You could even work out of a dreamy village tucked away on the alluring coast of Spain. Take your pick. No daily commute in the traffic and no rush. Sounds unbelievable right? Believe us when we say that a new breed of techies is doing just that. They are called ‘digital nomads’. It is a combination of 2 words – digital and nomad. Here the digital part means someone, who is tech savvy and nomad is someone preferring a nomadic lifestyle compared to a regular one. These are people who have let go of the comforts of their home and offices to live nomadic lives. They are just like you and me but prefer to live location independent life. Meaning they have chosen to let go of the stability and comfort of living in one place; either with or without a regular income. There are several kinds of digital nomads – people who have jobs with regular organisations but happen to telecommute; freelancers and entrepreneurs. All of them move about from place to place and complete their jobs using a laptop and with the help of high speed internet connectivity. There are a couple of advantages of living like this. It helps not being tied down by organisational rules and responsibilities and experiencing the freedom to travel and explore new cultures. Most of the nomads are more focussed on eventually becoming online entrepreneurs or freelancers by leveraging the advantages offered by technology, such as high-speed internet through which it is possible to create a viable career online in almost any location. There are increasing number of careers that have been created online, jobs such as web design, software engineering, programming, graphic design, English teacher, travel writer, SEO consultant are some of the careers an aspiring digital nomad can look forward to. There needs to be a certain willingness to let go of the familiar and embrace the unknown. Excelling at a particular skill and being able to make money out of it happens to be the most important trait for a nomad. It is especially meant for folks who are tired of a 9-5 grind and want freedom from it. They prefer to have the luxury of freedom to travel on their part and would not like to be tied down by a regular office job. Freelancers among them happen to work on their own schedule and complete the task assigned to them. If you are successful at becoming a digital nomad, then your workstation could be under the blue sky on sandy beaches. There are a number of possibilities available such as being able to meet new people and explore new places every few months. There is also a flip side to being a digital nomad. Getting used to the idea having to deal with no internet at times and coping with different cuisines, having to continuously deal with booking your own hotels, flight tickets and other living arrangements in the new place. You also tend to miss the birthdays and parties hosted by your loved ones. Getting to date someone becomes a luxury, since you are not around in a regular place most of the time. If you happen to dream of having a life like this, then it is important to find organisations that will help you in this endeavour. There are sites that help hire freelancers through their portal. Next there are sites that help in finding accommodations. Then there are sites that help compare the cost of living in cities around the world. There are also organisations like GetFriday, to whom you could assign a chunk of mundane tasks that you want someone else to do on your behalf. Stuff like booking your tickets and hotel reservations can be taken care of by a virtual assistant (VA), while you focus on the more important core job that you are good at. Suppose you’re good at writing, you could assign – answering emails, calendar management, blog posting to a virtual assistant (VA), thus ensuring you have enough time to do things that you enjoy the most. It is about finding out what your non-core tasks are and then assigning these tasks to a VA to have more clarity and focus on your core tasks.

Digital Nomads Read More »

Picture this – how would you like it if you get to work for at least a few months on the endless white beaches of Bali while the turquoise-emerald waters splashed against the shore? You could even work out of a dreamy village tucked away on the alluring coast of Spain. Take your pick. No daily commute in the traffic and no rush. Sounds unbelievable right? Believe us when we say that a new breed of techies is doing just that. They are called ‘digital nomads’. It is a combination of 2 words – digital and nomad. Here the digital part means someone, who is tech savvy and nomad is someone preferring a nomadic lifestyle compared to a regular one. These are people who have let go of the comforts of their home and offices to live nomadic lives. They are just like you and me but prefer to live location independent life. Meaning they have chosen to let go of the stability and comfort of living in one place; either with or without a regular income. There are several kinds of digital nomads – people who have jobs with regular organisations but happen to telecommute; freelancers and entrepreneurs. All of them move about from place to place and complete their jobs using a laptop and with the help of high speed internet connectivity. There are a couple of advantages of living like this. It helps not being tied down by organisational rules and responsibilities and experiencing the freedom to travel and explore new cultures. Most of the nomads are more focussed on eventually becoming online entrepreneurs or freelancers by leveraging the advantages offered by technology, such as high-speed internet through which it is possible to create a viable career online in almost any location. There are increasing number of careers that have been created online, jobs such as web design, software engineering, programming, graphic design, English teacher, travel writer, SEO consultant are some of the careers an aspiring digital nomad can look forward to. There needs to be a certain willingness to let go of the familiar and embrace the unknown. Excelling at a particular skill and being able to make money out of it happens to be the most important trait for a nomad. It is especially meant for folks who are tired of a 9-5 grind and want freedom from it. They prefer to have the luxury of freedom to travel on their part and would not like to be tied down by a regular office job. Freelancers among them happen to work on their own schedule and complete the task assigned to them. If you are successful at becoming a digital nomad, then your workstation could be under the blue sky on sandy beaches. There are a number of possibilities available such as being able to meet new people and explore new places every few months. There is also a flip side to being a digital nomad. Getting used to the idea having to deal with no internet at times and coping with different cuisines, having to continuously deal with booking your own hotels, flight tickets and other living arrangements in the new place. You also tend to miss the birthdays and parties hosted by your loved ones. Getting to date someone becomes a luxury, since you are not around in a regular place most of the time. If you happen to dream of having a life like this, then it is important to find organisations that will help you in this endeavour. There are sites that help hire freelancers through their portal. Next there are sites that help in finding accommodations. Then there are sites that help compare the cost of living in cities around the world. There are also organisations like GetFriday, to whom you could assign a chunk of mundane tasks that you want someone else to do on your behalf. Stuff like booking your tickets and hotel reservations can be taken care of by a virtual assistant (VA), while you focus on the more important core job that you are good at. Suppose you’re good at writing, you could assign – answering emails, calendar management, blog posting to a virtual assistant (VA), thus ensuring you have enough time to do things that you enjoy the most. It is about finding out what your non-core tasks are and then assigning these tasks to a VA to have more clarity and focus on your core tasks.

Top 10 trends on social media in 2017

This article seeks to share what are likely to be the key trends to shape up in 2017. As a small business you need to be on top of the trends to gauge, if you are connecting with the right audience or not. Here are some of the trends that are going to define 2017. Social Messaging It is an increasing trend for people to turn to private social messaging rather than engage on social networks. In February 2016, Whatsapp announced it has hit the 1 billion mark. Messaging has a much wider community compared to social networks, and hence companies are taking advantage of this situation. In fact, if you happen to click an ad on Facebook messenger, it directly takes you to the brand’s chat window. As companies learn about the advantage of these, compared to social networks, they will increasingly make their presence felt here. In 2017, we are likely to see more interesting developments on social messaging. Action on Fake News Today there are more people turning to social media platforms for their news. As a result, we see more inaccurate content getting circulated on these media platforms. We saw the worst of this in the US presidential election, where fake news about both candidates was circulated across Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. In terms of action, Facebook has already stopped these news outlets from advertising on its platform. In Europe, Germany is already considering legislation against platforms that allow fake news to proliferate. New age users are smart and tech savvy and are likely to investigate and authenticate the news, and reward actual reporting by sharing content. Chat Bots Instead of, on their Facebook wall, more companies are engaging with customers on a one-on-one basis within their messaging platforms. We are likely to see more companies deploy bots to automatically respond to customers. The content on the site and the response that is provided would become equally important. Artificial Intelligence is beginning to touch every part of our daily lives, with SIRI and Google Assistant, people are moving to voice recognition tools away from typing out a search. A majority of the major social networks now deploy chat bots to handle simple bookings and customer service. This in-turn can free up customer support representatives to answer more in-depth queries. Employees turn to brand promoters In 2017, we will see increasing number of employees turning brand ambassadors for their respective brands. This is especially true for companies that want to expand the reach and impact of social media without spending a penny. Employee Advocacy is the practice of incentivizing and encouraging team members to share brand messages on their own social media account. Brands have now started focusing on their employees to promote a brand. Promoting brands on one’s personal social account is a trusted practice. There is no right way or wrong way of doing it, but advocacy cannot be forced. Customer Support Social media has grown in ability to run effective client support programs. Brands are slowly but surely are becoming aware of the practice of having teams on their payrolls to answer and resolve issues. Research shows a high percentage of users expect responses from brands they follow, sometimes in as little as within an hour. This has led brands to heavily invest in teams and tools which help them remain on top of the latest social media developments. Beginning 2017, a large part of client service will shift to social media accounts. Social media analytics In the earlier days of social media, it was seen as an option and used more on a trial basis for marketing activities. Later, social media presence for brands became the norm. These days and in the coming months, we are likely to see powerful social media analytics tools that provide more comprehensive and easier to use tools for the layman. Marketers will come to heavily rely on social media statistics for key decision making in this year. In the current lot, Google Analytics, Followerwonk, Iconosquare are the most used analytics tools and also happen to be free. These can be of tremendous help for small business owners who want to know the latest on social media analytics. Live Video Social media sites have taken the engagement with video sharing to the next level by launching live video in real time. Live streaming first became popular by twitter’s periscope. Now, Facebook live has been launched. Social media videos have more engagement than any other content and, have been responsible for recent growth of Facebook. According to estimates, some 74% of the total traffic on the internet is due only to video content. Even news channels are quoting Facebook Live while they cover news. We could see brands releasing engaging content or conduct marketing around a particular event in the near future. We are going to see more of this in the months to come. Augmented Reality Pokemon Go and Snapchat selfie brought augmented reality into social sphere. Hence, one can expect other social platforms to jump on this bandwagon. Facebook has already confirmed that it is experimenting with augmented reality. The technology is actually old, but it has recently caught the attention of social media networks. In 2017, we will see more of this with brands choosing to engage with their audience using this technology. Social Media commerce Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are offering ways to purchase products online. You can buy products displayed on social networks now. The buy buttons on these networks are soon going to become ubiquitous. Research shows that new age users are more likely to buy products which they are following online. Also product demonstration videos on social networks are also a factor in bringing sales to these social networks. Disappearing/ ephemeral Media First, it was Snapchat which started with disappearing visual content. Instagram was the second to join this bandwagon. New age users love intimate thoughts and risqué pictures to disappear forever. The content for the media

Top 10 trends on social media in 2017 Read More »

This article seeks to share what are likely to be the key trends to shape up in 2017. As a small business you need to be on top of the trends to gauge, if you are connecting with the right audience or not. Here are some of the trends that are going to define 2017. Social Messaging It is an increasing trend for people to turn to private social messaging rather than engage on social networks. In February 2016, Whatsapp announced it has hit the 1 billion mark. Messaging has a much wider community compared to social networks, and hence companies are taking advantage of this situation. In fact, if you happen to click an ad on Facebook messenger, it directly takes you to the brand’s chat window. As companies learn about the advantage of these, compared to social networks, they will increasingly make their presence felt here. In 2017, we are likely to see more interesting developments on social messaging. Action on Fake News Today there are more people turning to social media platforms for their news. As a result, we see more inaccurate content getting circulated on these media platforms. We saw the worst of this in the US presidential election, where fake news about both candidates was circulated across Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. In terms of action, Facebook has already stopped these news outlets from advertising on its platform. In Europe, Germany is already considering legislation against platforms that allow fake news to proliferate. New age users are smart and tech savvy and are likely to investigate and authenticate the news, and reward actual reporting by sharing content. Chat Bots Instead of, on their Facebook wall, more companies are engaging with customers on a one-on-one basis within their messaging platforms. We are likely to see more companies deploy bots to automatically respond to customers. The content on the site and the response that is provided would become equally important. Artificial Intelligence is beginning to touch every part of our daily lives, with SIRI and Google Assistant, people are moving to voice recognition tools away from typing out a search. A majority of the major social networks now deploy chat bots to handle simple bookings and customer service. This in-turn can free up customer support representatives to answer more in-depth queries. Employees turn to brand promoters In 2017, we will see increasing number of employees turning brand ambassadors for their respective brands. This is especially true for companies that want to expand the reach and impact of social media without spending a penny. Employee Advocacy is the practice of incentivizing and encouraging team members to share brand messages on their own social media account. Brands have now started focusing on their employees to promote a brand. Promoting brands on one’s personal social account is a trusted practice. There is no right way or wrong way of doing it, but advocacy cannot be forced. Customer Support Social media has grown in ability to run effective client support programs. Brands are slowly but surely are becoming aware of the practice of having teams on their payrolls to answer and resolve issues. Research shows a high percentage of users expect responses from brands they follow, sometimes in as little as within an hour. This has led brands to heavily invest in teams and tools which help them remain on top of the latest social media developments. Beginning 2017, a large part of client service will shift to social media accounts. Social media analytics In the earlier days of social media, it was seen as an option and used more on a trial basis for marketing activities. Later, social media presence for brands became the norm. These days and in the coming months, we are likely to see powerful social media analytics tools that provide more comprehensive and easier to use tools for the layman. Marketers will come to heavily rely on social media statistics for key decision making in this year. In the current lot, Google Analytics, Followerwonk, Iconosquare are the most used analytics tools and also happen to be free. These can be of tremendous help for small business owners who want to know the latest on social media analytics. Live Video Social media sites have taken the engagement with video sharing to the next level by launching live video in real time. Live streaming first became popular by twitter’s periscope. Now, Facebook live has been launched. Social media videos have more engagement than any other content and, have been responsible for recent growth of Facebook. According to estimates, some 74% of the total traffic on the internet is due only to video content. Even news channels are quoting Facebook Live while they cover news. We could see brands releasing engaging content or conduct marketing around a particular event in the near future. We are going to see more of this in the months to come. Augmented Reality Pokemon Go and Snapchat selfie brought augmented reality into social sphere. Hence, one can expect other social platforms to jump on this bandwagon. Facebook has already confirmed that it is experimenting with augmented reality. The technology is actually old, but it has recently caught the attention of social media networks. In 2017, we will see more of this with brands choosing to engage with their audience using this technology. Social Media commerce Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are offering ways to purchase products online. You can buy products displayed on social networks now. The buy buttons on these networks are soon going to become ubiquitous. Research shows that new age users are more likely to buy products which they are following online. Also product demonstration videos on social networks are also a factor in bringing sales to these social networks. Disappearing/ ephemeral Media First, it was Snapchat which started with disappearing visual content. Instagram was the second to join this bandwagon. New age users love intimate thoughts and risqué pictures to disappear forever. The content for the media

Categories