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By David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The rollercoster ride in bitcoin since the start of the year has not dampened wealth manager Jim Paulsen's enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency.

Yet Paulsen, chief investment officer for Leuthold Group, which manages $1 billion, cannot own bitcoin in client portfolios due to regulatory constraints. This has left him on the sidelines watching the world's most popular cyrptocurrency surge more than 900% since its March lows in volatile trading that also saw bitcoin lose more than 20% in the span of a few days.

"What I like about bitcoin is... its correlation to stocks and other assets is extraordinarily independent," said Paulsen, who remains frustrated that he cannot own it for clients.

The promise of an asset class that behaves differently than stocks or bonds is leaving portfolio and wealth managers scrambling own cryptocurrencies if they can.

Many view bitcoin as a good inflation hedge. Nearly 20% of advisors are contemplating investing in cyryptocurrencies this year due to concerns about inflation, up from 6.3% in 2019, according to a report from Citi.

Still, a number of advisors say they are unable to own bitcoin for their clients until they can hold it in an exchange-traded fund or mutual fund that clears legal hurdles common for any investment.

Should that happen, institutional money could flow in and push the asset class higher, analysts said.

BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, said on Jan. 21 it was adding bitcoin futures as eligible investments for certain funds. Fund experts expect other asset management firms to follow suit.

Yet the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not yet recognize cryptocurrencies as a security like a stock or a bond, and has not ruled whether mutual funds can own them directly, said Robert Jenkins, global head of research at Refinitiv Lipper. So it remains unclear whether any mutual funds currently own bitcoin because they are not required to disclose it, he said.

In the United States, eight firms have tried without success since 2013 to create a bitcoin ETF, according to Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF and mutual fund research at New York based CFRA.

The SEC did not respond to questions for this article.

Funds like the popular ARK Invest ETF line that have positions in bitcoin do it through shares of the Greyscale Bitcoin Trust, a publicly traded trust that holds a set number of bitcoin units and often trades at a premium to the value of its underlying portfolio.

Securities regulators in Canada approved the world's first bitcoin ETF on Feb. 12, leading some investors to hope that U.S. regulators will shortly follow.

President Joe Biden's nominee to head the SEC, Gary Gensler, spoke in broad terms about crytocurrencies in a confirmation hearing Tuesday, suggesting that the agency should provide more regulation on how it views the asset class. Some investors have taken his appointment as raising the likelihood that a bitcoin ETF will be approved for the U.S.

Gensler "seems more crypto-friendly than previous folks who had oversight," said Viraj Patel, head of asset allocation at Fiduciary Trust International, who has not yet made investments in the asset class for clients but is waiting for a U.S.-based ETF. "We're really looking at cryptocurrency through the lens of this could be gold 2.0," said Patel.

Still, Rosenbluth said he was skeptical of a product being approved this year, saying there would be a high bar to clear tied to market manipulation and custody audit.

Even in the absence of an ETF, retail interest "remains strong with no signs of abating," JP Morgan analysts wrote in a Feb 16 research note.

Overall, cyptocurrency funds and products that investors can buy direct brought in nearly $5.6 billion in assets in 2020, up more than 600% from the year before, according to asset manager CoinShares. Cryptocurrency funds have gathered $4.2 billion in flows for this year through March 1, Coinshares said.

"Not allowing the purchase of cyrpto is something that's frustrating to many advisors, but it's such a volatile asset that many investors end up doing it on their own," said Jimmy Lee, chief executive of the Wealth Consulting Group.

(Reporting by David Randall; editing by Megan Davies, Ira Iosebashvili and David Gregorio)

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Analysis: Wealth managers frustrated over bitcoin, anxious for piece of the action

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The rollercoster ride in bitcoin since the start of the year has not dampened wealth manager Jim Paulsen's enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency. Yet Paulsen, chief investment officer for Leuthold Group, which manages $1 billion, cannot own bitcoin in client portfolios due to regulatory constraints.

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When it comes to social media marketing, many small business owners feel one of two things-that it hasn't been successful for them, or that it's already too late to start.

If you fall into either of these situations, you'll want to reconsider your position on marketing with social media, because it is a powerful way to expand your audience and engage with your customers. Here are five reasons why you should give this strategy another look.

5 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing Is Efficient

There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to marketing on social media. If you've never tried it before, the Facebook Ad Manager can be intimidating, and the same goes for the other platforms. Once you start to find your way around, however, you can develop a rhythm that works for your business. Once you do, you'll realize that reaching out through a marketing campaign on social media is not any more complicated than traditional marketing. In fact, it can be even more efficient because it allows you to reach a targeted group. This means you aren't wasting ad spend showing your products or services to people who are not interested.

Despite small increases, it is still one of the cheapest ways to advertise. In 2016, according to Search Engine Journal, Facebook was 88% cheaper on average than Google AdWords (Source: Search Engine Journal).

It Allows You to Connect with Your Audience

Not everyone is on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram. Most people, however, do spend time on at least one social media platform. If you can meet your audience where they already unwind, you are already over one of the outreach hurdles.

The good news is you don't have to try and cover every single platform. While each social media company tries to steal ideas and features from the others, such as Instagram and Facebook borrowing stories from SnapChat, they still tend to appeal to certain demographics. You will likely find that most of your customer base tends to gravitate towards one site more than others. This allows you to focus your efforts on that platform, at least in the early stages.

This narrowed attention will enable you to connect with your audience on an emotional level, but it also means you can provide engaging visuals as well as useful information and facts. These different modes help you build a stronger bond with your viewers, ultimately leading them to be customers.

The Process Helps You Learn About Your Audience

Social media marketing isn't just about ads. It actually gives you the chance to interact with your audience and learn more about them. You can use these platforms to learn the wants and needs of your potential customers. You can establish yourself as an authority, as a resource users turn to because they trust you.

In addition to this direct contact, you can also discover a great deal about your audience through the data gathered by the platforms. At the most basic level, you can quickly find out what types of ads work for your audience. You will learn what appeals to them and how you can gain their attention.

Tools like the Facebook pixel also allow you to see what types of people are clicking your content and whether or not they are converting or need to be retargeted with a new ad. Over time, you will gain a better sense of who your ideal customer is and how you can serve them. This information just isn't available in traditional marketing models, certainly not for such a small investment.

Social Media Builds Brand Loyalty

Often, small businesses struggle to get their name known, without feeling like it's being drowned by wave after wave of advertising. This is especially important for service industries where it isn't always easy to distinguish between one company and the next.

Brand loyalty is one solution to this dilemma. It helps ward off the competition and keeps your audience engaged and enthusiastic. Fortunately, effective social media strategy helps establish and strengthen brand loyalty. This means less effort keeping the new customers you worked so hard to convert.

You Can Get Ahead of Your Competition

In many traditional marketing avenues, the smaller business often has a tough time competing with larger corporations. With social media marketing, however, the playing field is much more level. While you might not have the budget of large corporations in your industry, you have the personal touch and authenticity that your customers crave.

When it comes to competing with other small businesses, this is an area that is still largely untapped. Some of your competitors might have dipped their toes into the social media scene, but most of them are not operating with a well-formed strategy. If you can plan and execute a true social media campaign, you still have the chance to stake your claim on whatever platform you choose.

Social media marketing is here to stay, and you need to start taking advantage of it. There is a lot to learn, but it doesn't mean you have to drop all the things that you already do well. Instead, make sure that your audience knows about all that great stuff. If you start small and work smart, you'll have your first campaign behind you, and you'll realize that it isn't so scary.

Looking for more social media tips? Check out our eBook below:

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Five Reasons Your Small Business Needs Social Media Marketing | ThriveHive

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When it comes to social media marketing, many small business owners feel one of two things-that it hasn't been successful for them, or that it's already too late to start. If you fall into either of these situations, you'll want to reconsider your position on marketing with social media, because it is a powerful way to expand your audience and engage with your customers.

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Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. Dummies helps everyone be more knowledgeable and confident in applying what they know. Whether it's to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success.

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Using Social Media to Promote Your Business - dummies

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Social media is an inexpensive way to promote your website and to keep new and existing customers chatting about your business. Here are some quick and easy tips for using some of the most popular social networking sites - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest - to help drive interest and customers to your business: [...]

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Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard

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Social media marketing for small business is all about being strategic. While enterprise companies have the luxury of dedicated resources and time, small businesses need to be more agile, nimble, and creative.

You can't just throw money at a problem and hope for the best. You need to be smart about how you're using social media to reach your target audience.

Here are all the social media marketing tips you need to market your small business in 2023.

Why use social media for your small business

If you own a business, you've likely spent time researching social media marketing for small business. And for good reason.

There are now 4.2 billion active social media users. That's almost twice as many as there were just five years ago, in 2017. Those users spend an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes on social channels every single day.

What's more, social media isn't just for big businesses anymore. In fact, 71% of small-to-mid-sized businesses use social media to market themselves, and 52% post once a day.

If you want to compete, you need to get online. Here are five essential reasons for using social media for business.

Reach more potential customers

Every business owner knows how difficult it can be to attract new customers. You can spend hours crafting the perfect product and designing an eye-catching website, but if no one knows you exist, it's all for nothing.

Social media has leveled the playing field, giving small businesses a way to compete with larger companies for attention. By using social media platforms to create content that is interesting and engaging, you can reach a wider audience and encourage them to purchase from your brand.

Increase your brand awareness

A well-executed social media marketing strategy will lead to increased visibility for your business. When you create interesting, relevant content, people will share it with their followers, which will increase your reach and exposure. The more your brand is shown online, the more chances you have of people becoming familiar with it and eventually making a purchase.

Understand your customers better

How much do you really know about your customers? While you may have some information about their demographics, social media can help you to learn more granular information about their interests, needs, behaviours, and desires. This valuable customer data can be used to improve your social media marketing strategy and ensure that you're creating content that appeals to your target market.

We've compiled demographic information for all of the major social networks. Use it to help gauge where your audience spends their time online. But remember that these demographics are just an overview.

Understand your competitors better

Your competitors are online. Period. And chances are, they've already put some thought into their social media presence. By taking a look at what they're doing, you can not only get some ideas for your own strategy, but you can learn what's working well for them and what isn't. This competitor data is an essential part of creating a successful social media marketing strategy.

Conducting a competitive analysis can help you learn what's working and what's not for other businesses like yours. Don't be afraid to look outside of your main competitors, and draw inspiration from the success of businesses in all industries.

Build long-term relationships with your customers

Social media isn't just about posting pretty pictures and witty captions. It's also about building relationships with your customers. These are the people who will buy your products and services and tell their friends about you, so it's important to nurture these connections.

Showing that you care about your customers and their experience with your business will go a long way in securing these relationships long-term. And, as fans share and like your content, you rise in the social algorithms and gain new, free, exposure.

Keep in mind, the average internet user has 8.4 social media accounts, so you can connect with them on different platforms for different purposes. For example, you could use Facebook to build your audience and generate leads, and Twitter for customer service.

Let's explore the benefits of each platform for small businesses below.

Which social media platforms are best for small businesses?

Now that you know how to use social media for small business, it's time to get online.

As you begin researching the best platforms and tools to build your social media strategy, don't make assumptions about where your audience spends their time.

Your instinct might tell you that if you're targeting Gen Z, you should skip Facebook and focus on Instagram and TikTok. But the data shows that nearly a quarter of Facebook users are aged 18 to 24.

If you're selling to baby boomers, social might not seem like a top priority. But it should be. Facebook and Pinterest are the top social networks for boomers. Adults over age 65 are Facebook's fastest-growing audience segment.

Choosing your platforms doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing approach. You can use different social channels to reach different audiences or to meet various business goals.

Here are the best social media platforms for small businesses.

Facebook

No matter how you feel about this social media giant, Facebook continues to be the most used social media platform globally. It boasts over 2.9 billion monthly active users and more than 200 million businesses.

Facebook is a great platform for small businesses because:

If you're thinking about using Facebook for your small business, ask these questions first:

1. Who is your target audience? Facebook's most engaged audience ranges from 18-44 years old. If your target audience falls outside of this age range, you may want to consider another platform.

2. What are your business goals? Goals on Facebook can range from creating brand visibility with a Facebook Page, to selling products in Shop or through Facebook ad campaigns. Knowing your goals will help you determine whether Facebook is the right platform for your business.

3. How much time can you commit? Research shows that the best way to get results on Facebook is to post 1-2 times per day. If you don't have time to commit to this, you may want to revisit your resourcing strategy.

Instagram

While Facebook acts as a generalist platform, Instagram is where you can get specific about your niche. If you're in the fashion, food, or film industries, for example, odds are most of your target audience is on Instagram.

It's also worth noting that the platform skews younger-the vast majority of users are between 18 and 34. So, if your target audience is baby boomers, you may want to focus your energy elsewhere.

Instagram is a great platform for small businesses because:

It offers in-app shopping. Instagram makes it easy for users to buy products they see in your posts, Reels, and Stories.

The platform is visual, which makes it ideal for businesses in the fashion, beauty, travel, and food industries.

Instagram users are engaged-the average user spends 11 hours per month on the app.

If you're thinking about using Instagram for your small business, ask these questions first:

Twitter

Another platform with generalist appeal is Twitter. Twitter is the 9th most visited website globally and has over 200 million daily active users. Twitter users are also highly engaged shoppers, with 16% of internet users aged 16-64 report using Twitter for brand research and 54% reporting they are likely to purchase new products. For advertisers, Twitter's CPM is the lowest out of all the major platforms.

Twitter is a great platform for small businesses because it's:

If you're thinking about using Twitter for your small business, ask these questions first:

TikTok

Maybe you think TikTok marketing is not the right fit for your brand. But even well-established brands with an audience well outside Gen Z are experimenting with this platform.

@washingtonpost
The Lower 48 states are seeing the coldest temps of the season so far due to a blast of Arctic air ❄️ #winteriscoming #winter #snow #coldoutside

♬ original sound - Colin Riggy Rigg

TikTok is a great platform for small businesses because:

If you're thinking about using TikTok for your small business, ask these questions first:

Pinterest

In recent years, Pinterest has grown from a creative catalogue platform to one of the most powerful visual search engines on the internet today. Not only do Pinterest users love to find and save new ideas, but they're also increasingly using the platform to make purchasing decisions.

Pinterest is a great platform for small businesses because:

It's a positive space. 8 out of 10 Pinterest users say the platform makes them feel good. Being present on a positive platform can help your brand's image and reputation.

It's highly visual. People love images because 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Pinterest is the perfect place to share beautiful visuals of your products or services.

You can reach new audiences. Because Pinterest is a visual search engine, you have the opportunity to be found by people who are actively searching for products and services like yours.

If you're thinking about using Pinterest for your small business, ask these questions first:

Do you have enough visual content to use Pinterest? As we said above, Pinterest is a highly visual platform. You'll need high-quality images to make your pins stand out.

Is your target audience active on Pinterest? Women aged 25-34 represent 29.1% of Pinterest's ad audience while men make up only 15.3%.

Do you have products to sell on Pinterest? 75% of weekly Pinterest users say they're always shopping, so make sure you have something to offer them.

YouTube

YouTube is the world's most popular video-sharing social network that boasts a potential ad reach of 2.56 billion. Not only does YouTube offer a huge audience, but it's also an effective platform for promoting products and services.

YouTube is a great platform for small businesses because:

If you're thinking about using YouTube for your small business, ask these questions first:

Social media tips for small business

Once you've found the right platforms for your social media marketing, it's time to start posting. Here are a few social media tips for business to get you started.

1. Plan your content in advance

The number one mistake small businesses make on social media is posting content on the fly. While it may seem easier to spend a little bit of time every day coming up with something to post, this can actually be more time-consuming (and stressful) in the long run.

Creating a social media content calendar can help you plan your content in advance and avoid last-minute scrambling. Plus, it's easier to come up with a mix of content (e.g., blog posts, images, infographics, etc.) when you have some time to think about it.

When building out your content calendar, make sure to include:

The type of content you'll be posting (e.g. blog post, image, infographic, etc.)

The date you'll be posting it

The social network you'll be posting to

A link to the content (if applicable)

A brief description of the content

Copy to include in the post body

Any campaigns, special holidays, or important dates to be aware of

All links, tags, or hashtags you want to include in the post

If you're not sure where to start, check out our free content calendar templates to get started. Or, check out this handy video for a visual walkthrough.

2. Schedule your posts

Once you have that calendar in place, you can create your social posts in advance and use scheduling tools like Hootsuite to post them automatically at the right time.

Scheduling your posts in advance allows you to dedicate one block of time per day or even per week to creating your social content. It's much more effective than letting social posting take you away from other business tasks throughout the day.

Automation tools like chatbots and AI content creation tools can also help you cut down on the number of hours you spend working on social media marketing.

3. Commit to community management

Sure, posting creative content is important. But if you want to really see results from social media marketing for small business, you need to commit to community management.

Community management is the process of building a community with your customers through the interactions you have online. This can include responding to comments, answering questions, and interacting with customers on social media.

Think of it as an extension of your customer service. You should be interacting with your audience as much as they are interacting with you. This way, you can create a network of customers who feel connected to your brand and are more likely to become loyal, repeat customers.

Community management is also an important part of ranking in social media algorithms. Platforms reward users who are active and engaged, so the more you interact with your audience, the more likely you are to show up in their feeds.

Use Hootsuite Streams to like, comment, reply, and engage with your target audience. You can also use Hootsuite Inbox to keep track of all the conversations you need to be a part of, without missing anything important.

4. Pay attention to trends

We're not saying you should leap on every meme that goes viral. (In fact, please don't leap on every meme that goes viral.)

But, it is a good idea to pay attention to trends in social media, so you understand what people are looking for when they sign into their social channels. This helps you create appropriate content that resonates over time.

If you have time to dedicate to it, social listening is a highly valuable information-gathering tool that can help you understand what your audience (and potential audience) might want to hear from your business. It's extremely easy to do with a tool like Hootsuite.

You can simply set up a stream for mentions of your brand on different social channels, so you can respond to concerns or positive reviews immediately and keep tabs on sentiment regarding your business.

5. Sell products on social

Social media marketing has evolved in recent years to include social commerce: the ability to sell your products directly from social channels. And business is booming, with a projected global market value of $492 billion in 2022.

Almost every social platform now boasts some form of social selling. There are Facebook and Instagram Shops, Pinterest Buyable Pins, the TikTok Shop, and more.

Social commerce is a particularly useful tactic for small businesses in the ecommerce or retail space. The beauty of it is that you can cut down many of the friction points that come with selling online. Your potential customers are already on social media, so they don't need to go through the process of visiting your website and navigating to your product pages. And since you're meeting them where they already are, you have a much better chance of making a sale.

6. Use analytics to guide future posts

Even for small businesses, it's important to keep track of what works and what doesn't on social. Social media analytics tools can help you track your progress over time and identify which posts are generating the most engagement-likes, comments, shares, clicks, etc.

This data can be extremely valuable as you plan future content. If you see that a particular type of post is doing well, try to replicate that success in future posts. And if you notice that a certain type of post isn't performing well, experiment with new content to see if you can find a better way to engage your audience.

Analytics can also help you understand which social media platform is working best for your business. If you see that you're getting more engagement on one platform than another, you may want to consider making a switch. You don't have to be everywhere, so stick to the platforms that are giving you the best results.

Social media management tools for small business

If you're like most small business owners, you wear a lot of hats. You're the CEO, the CFO, and the superstar sales team. It's no wonder marketing often falls by the wayside!

But even if you're not a marketing pro, that doesn't mean you can't effectively market your business on social media. In fact, with a little help from the right tools, you can actually save time and energy by using social media to reach your target audience.

Hootsuite

Obviously we're a bit biased, but we think Hootsuite is especially helpful for small business owners. Hootsuite is a social media management platform that gives you the ability to track and post to all your social media channels in one place, which will save you a lot of time in the long run.

It also offers recommendations on when to post, what kind of content to post, and how to interpret your performance. So it's a beginner-friendly platform for people who don't have a lot of time to waste on creating the perfect strategy.

Don't believe us? Check out this 5-star review from Todd W., who doesn't have a ton of people to help him do his social media marketing.

"Hootsuite has proven invaluable as we work to plan our social media calendar for the month - especially with limited staff. We're able to create and schedule posts and see where our planning leaves "gaps" in our social media coverage" - Todd W.

Hootsuite's integration with Grammarly can also help you avoid any embarrassing typos or mistakes in your social media posts.

One last Hootsuite feature we think is super useful for time-strapped small business owners?

If you're ever stuck for content ideas, just go to the Inspiration tab and use a template to get started.

What about the native tools?

Hey, we understand that splurging on yet another monthly subscription might not be in the cards for your small business -especially when the networks offer free tools. But here's the thing: those native tools come with limitations.

For example, let's say you want to post the same message on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. With most social media management tools, you'd have to type that message three times-once for each network. But with Hootsuite, you can compose one message and post it to all three networks at once. That means less time spent on social media, and more time spent growing your business.

Plus, the free tools offered by the networks only give you limited insights into your social media performance. With Hootsuite Analytics, you can track your posts and tweets to see which ones are getting the most engagement, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

So if you're serious about using social media to grow your small business, investing in a tool like Hootsuite might actually save you money in the long run.
Save time and grow your small business using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can publish and schedule messages to all your social media channels, engage your followers, and monitor what people are saying about your brand online. Try it free today. Get Started

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How to Do Social Media Marketing for Small Business

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Social media marketing for small business is all about being strategic. While enterprise companies have the luxury of dedicated resources and time, small businesses need to be more agile, nimble, and creative. You can't just throw money at a problem and hope for the best.

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Social media marketing requires both strategy and creativity.

While it may seem overwhelming, its importance cannot be overstated. It's so important that 97% of marketers are using social media and 78% of salespeople outsell their peers by using social media for their business.

Plus, its benefits extend far beyond increasing sales.

However, not all businesses are aware of the benefits of social media marketing. In fact, 50% of small businesses aren't using social media to promote their business. That's an alarming number. Even more concerning is that an additional 25% don't plan to use social media in the future either.

Clearly, there is a disconnect between those who are seeing the benefits of social media and those struggling to get started.

If the latter sounds like you, keep reading. You're about to learn how social media marketing can help build your business. Some of the benefits you'll learn about include:

Growing your brand awareness: Social media marketing will make it easy to spread the word about your products and mission.

Increasing your traffic: Using social media and linking it to your website will increase your traffic tremendously.

Promoting your products and services: This is ultimately why you invest in marketing, right?

Managing Your Social Media On One Marketing Management Platform

When your brand is ready to get started with social media, manage everything on one marketing management platform with CoSchedule. It empowers teams to:

Plus, you can manage all your other marketing projects and campaigns on the same platform, too.

Or start your free 14-day trial now.

Using Social Media To Grow Your Brand Awareness

1. Create Brand Recognition

Gaining brand recognition is one of any business' most important marketing goals. That's because consumers want to buy brands they recognize. Thankfully, social media allows for easy and effective brand building.

Social media has a benefit over traditional media because it can get your brand in front of people much more quickly and easily. Furthermore, it gets your audience looking at your brand even when they aren't thinking about your brand or product.

Make sure the visual elements of your brand are well represented.

Take a look at Nike's Twitter page. Nike keeps their Twitter profile neat and clean. They place their recognizable logo on both their profile image and cover photo without being overbearing.

The cover photo is especially effective because it connects the Nike logo to the idea of running.

2. Generate A Conversation Around Your Brand

A strong social media marketing strategy will generate conversation about your brand, products, and partners.

Take this example from PlayStation. A simple post saying congratulations to Naughty Dog (the company behind the new video game Uncharted 4) for its success generated feedback on the game.

In doing so, they received a great amount of feedback about their product. They also got people talking. Fans were having genuine conversations, all facilitated by social media.

3. Learn How To Connect With Your Audience Through Social Listening

Social listening is the act of monitoring social conversations around certain topics. It helps you understand what's important to your audience and identify trends your target audience is following.

You'll learn about what they're struggling with, which can help you create content addressing those pain points.

You can also identify the tone and language that your target audience uses.

Take a look at Burger King on Twitter. They use the same slang that the younger audience on Twitter uses to represent themselves in a comedic fashion. If you're unsure how to match the tone and style of your audience, social listening can help.

4. Tell Your Brand's Story

Using social media is a great way to share your brand's mission and share stories. Effective stories can have a great impact on your brand's image. They can be simple or extensive depending on what you think will be most effective.

Take this Starbucks post for example. It simply tells the story of someone getting a job at a hiring fair, and it effectively helped their public image. It has only one image, but the story is impactful and clear.

5. Gather Data From Audience Research To Improve

Audience research is similar to social listening. It searches the keywords your audience will be using, but it's more focused on your specific product. You can use social media to gather this information.

To view the insights on your Facebook page, simply go to the page that you are the admin of and they will be next to your cover photo. Twitter will have an option to view the insights of every tweet you post at the bottom of each tweet.

6. Provide Exceptional Customer Service That Keeps Your Followers Happy

Customers now expect companies to handle their requests through social media.

A strong investment in customer service can build meaningful relationships between your company and your customers. And with social media, the challenge of customer service remains as demanding as it had before.

Social media allows for immediate interaction and customer feedback. Businesses can also respond to their customers right away. With nearly half of U.S. customers using social media to ask questions about products or services, having a social media customer service strategy is extremely important.

Take this example with HuHot, a popular Mongolian grill chain restaurant in the Upper Midwest (where CoSchedule's offices are located). A customer inquired about a time-sensitive situation, and the company answered her question within hours:

7. Build Customer Loyalty

What could possibly be better than building brand loyalty for free?

Customers follow and interact with the brands they enjoy. But what's interesting is that 53% of customers who follow your business are likely to be loyal to your business specifically.

It's an obvious direct correlation: If customers follow you, they are more likely to choose you versus your competition. Furthermore, if they're loyal customers, they'll increase your traffic.

Use Social Media To Increase Your Traffic

8. Direct Referral Traffic To Your Site Or Blog

Social media marketing can assist in sending customers directly to your site.

It's unlikely that all of your traffic will come through search engines. Social media channels allow for more diverse inbound traffic streams.

Though social networks are great for getting traffic to your site, you need to consider not only what to post but how often to post. You don't want to become that overbearing marketer, or you'll turn off your customers.

It's good to follow a set schedule for posting your content (link to one of our blog posts). This will help you ensure that your content is not only posted at a time that is most effective, it will also give you time to edit your content to help you with your SEO.

9. Social Media Can Assist With Link Building

Social media can have an indirect impact on SEO.

For example, let's say that you get 1,000 shares on a blog post because it contains strong content. Some of your followers who see your post may write similar content and link back to your original post as a source. Search engines will then pick up on the fact that your content has linked back to a good amount and (hopefully) rank your post higher than your competition.

Google and Bing also display tweets in search results. This feature is more relevant for trending topics.

10. It's (Mostly) FREE

Thats right, (mostly) free.

It's free to create social media profiles and post organic content. For some, that may be enough, and the quality of the content may promote the content on its own. However, if you'd like to go the extra mile and promote it further, paying for promotion will help increase exposure.

You can promote your business on Facebook for any budget. Facebook also automatically directs your ad toward users that are interested in what you're advertising. Twitter works the same way.

You have to set up a campaign, and they'll work with your budget. That means you'll have a huge ROI and you'll use your marketing budget in an effective way.

11. Establish Your Brand As A Topical Authority

Topical authority means your business is a trusted source of information on a given topic.

So where does social media come in? Establishing topical authority is a subset of content marketing. The more you use social media to post relevant content, the more search engines will pick up on your authority on that subject.

This can make you become the "go-to" authority for a specific topic. The more authoritative your page, is the more traffic will increase.

Page authority is a ranking based on how well a specific page will rank on a search engine. Domain authority is a ranking based on how well a specific website will rank on a search engine.

When you're searching for a source or writing content, use the Moz tool to help you find valuable sources. The higher the number, the better.

Tip: Build a list of two dozen sources that you think are authoritative. Use Moz's free toolbar to determine which sites are most authoritative, a great tool for finding out what websites and blog posts have topical authority. Moz gives a rating between 1-100 of how authoritative a website or post is. A good rule of thumb is that 60 is a good base number to use a site or post. Keep in mind that a new site may not have gained any authority no matter how good it is.

12. Retarget Your Audience Using Social Media

Retargeting is a wonderful tool for social media marketing. Generally only 2% of customers will actually purchase something during their first visit to your site. Advertising can help reach that other 98%.

One way to do that is to run retargeting ads.

Retargeting works by keeping a list of people who visit your site and placing anonymous "cookies" within their browser. When they visit a social media site, a retargeting service then displays the ads. This allows for your business to be in the eyes of the customer beyond just when they're on your site.

13. Help Your Cause To Go Viral

We're all familiar with viral ads; just take a walk down memory lane and take a look at some of these great viral campaigns. Social media can have a huge impact on making ads viral. In fact, that's where most of those ads are shared.

For example, take a look at Always' #likeagirl ad campaign:

It not only spreads a great message; it also gave Always a ton of positive publicity. The original ad aired in 2014, but the hashtag they came up with is still being used today. That hashtag will direct people from their social media timelines to the social media profile of the Always brand and then to their website. You can do the same with an effective viral ad.

The beauty of a viral ad is that you can get a lot of attention for relatively little effort, getting a huge ROI. But you want to keep in mind that your focus shouldn't be on forcing an ad to go viral.

14. Driving Conversions

Traffic is just traffic, right?

Not quite. What you really care about is how much your traffic drives conversions.

Here are four great ways to drive conversions with social media:

Add calls to action: A call to action is helpful because it motivates your customer to do something. They feel empowered to purchase your product. You can also design your social media messages to appeal the to the customer so they'll want to take a specific action, such as purchasing your product.

Take a look at CoSchedule's cover photo on our Facebook page, it engages the audience to start a 14-day trial because it shows that they can rock their content marketing strategy.

These ads can be placed anywhere on social media and can direct the customer to your site. The trick is to make sure that your site keeps the customer engaged enough to want to continue to purchase the product.

The entire process from call to action to the final sale must be engaging enough so that the customer doesn't back out.

Contests: Contests, giveaways, free stuff. They're all things that no business really wants to do, but they're extremely helpful. Anyone would be more compelled to purchase a product from a company from which they've already received some free stuff.

Many businesses will post images encouraging people to spread their content to get the word out.

This post is a great example. To be eligible for the bonus, you have to follow four steps that include reposting the image, tagging friends, and following the original poster. All these steps will get the people who are following your business to visit your site.

Ads: Let's face it, no one is on social media to buy things. They're on there to talk to friends or follow their interests, and organic content that leads to ads are distasteful.

So the challenge is to grab people's attention and make them want to purchase your product or service without leaving a bad impression on them.

The beauty of social media is that it lets you directly place ads, so the audience doesn't feel tricked. Facebook and Twitter allow your business to post ads directly on your target market's timeline. Those ads will lead them directly to your page and drive those conversions right up!

Building landing pages to which you direct that traffic will also help you increase conversions from social media. Landing pages are similar to blog posts except they have a call to action in them. If you're building your website through WordPress, there are plugins that will help you build landing pages-or you can use Unbounce if you're having trouble building a landing page.

Use Social Media To Promote Your Product

15. Promote Your Content

This seems pretty general, right? Promote the content, and you'll promote the product.

But, what are the best ways to do that? Let's look into the things that make a difference such as headlines, having an image, and the time of the post. Each of these things are important and must be taken into consideration when writing a social media message.

The most important thing to keep in mind in writing your messages is to be creative. You want to make sure that you're posting original content.

Being creative and telling stories is an effective way to promote content without having to seem like an ad. Telling a story through the headline or the promotional image will allow the audience to build their own perception of the product.

Here are some creative header images that've helped companies promote themselves.

16. Communicate With Customers About Niche Topics You Both Love

Facebook alone has over 620 million groups. Chances are that your target market is in a few of those. Finding those groups and getting involved can help you help your audience (and endear them to your product in the process).

You can also follow people who are posting about subjects in your industry. If they like what they see in your company, they'll follow you back. That's important because 72% of customers are more likely to purchase a product from your business after they follow you.

17. Use Social Proof To Connect With Potential Customers Like Your Existing Audience

Let's compare your website to a restaurant.

You're walking down the street looking for a place to eat and you see one restaurant that's empty and one that's packed. You'd most likely choose the packed restaurant, right? That's the place with all the great food that people are going for.

The same goes for your website.

No one wants to get the content that no one else cares about. They want the one that is doing well and being shared often.

Obviously, the content of it must be worth getting a lot of shares or it must be authoritative. The content that is shared the most must have some authority or must be creative and original.

Take a look at how well CoSchedule's color psychology blog post performed. That content received a large number of shares because the idea was original and the content was done thoroughly.

Tip: You can include buttons on your blog and website to display how many shares your content has gotten. These buttons are convenient and allow for quick sharing.

18. Easy A/B Testing To Get The Biggest Results

A/B testing is when you present a different version of the same website to different people.

But how can you use this concept on social media?

Instead of trying different websites, try similar posts and track the reach and conversion results of each post. Twitter recently started making it much easier to track the results of a tweet. This will help you narrow down your most effective social media posts.

Take a look at Twitter's analytics dashboard. It shows your top tweets and mentions. It also shows your impressions, visits, tweets, and follower increases. This dashboard will show you if your current campaign is doing well compared to another one.

19. Use #Hashtags To Increase Your Reach

The hashtag is a powerful tool that can connect a group of like-minded individuals through social media. It's a simple way to greatly increase your reach.

Take a look at this post Target made on Leap Day

This tweet was posted on leap day using the day's name as the hashtag, so anyone who searched for #LeapDay on Twitter would have found that tweet and been informed of Target's new sale.

Using a hashtag is free, so why wouldn't you want to use it? Especially considering that tweets that include 1-2 hashtags are 55% more likely to get retweeted.

It's important to keep in mind more hashtags don't translate into more engagement. Too many hashtags will devalue the strength of your message and it'll get lost quickly.

You can find the relevant hashtags by using Twitter's "Trending" page. This will show you the highest ranking and most used hashtags at any given time.

20. Keep Your Customers Up-To-Date

Social media is one of the best and easiest ways of keeping your customers updated with your new products or upcoming events. If your business makes a huge announcement about a new product or an exciting event, it'll catch on and get people excited.

Take a look at our friends at Moz who develop content marketing tools specializing in SEO. When they announced their new Keyword Explorer tool, their followers got excited. Moz gathered 141 retweets and 164 likes on a single tweet.

Get All The Benefits Of Social Media With 14 Days Of Free CoSchedule Now!

There you have it, 20 awesome business benefits of social media marketing. But there is still one HUGE issue we haven't even discussed: How do you manage your social media marketing planning and execution?

The tool allows for constant communication to help you manage multiple projects easily. If you have an idea of what you're going to post in the future, CoSchedule will give you time to ensure that each of your posts contains quality content and is fully edited to the best of your abilities.

Even better, your whole team can be on the same schedule, allowing you to collaborate better than ever.

CoSchedule has a range of features:

Every part of the project can be kept in one place

Each member of the team has constant communication

You can set deadlines for each project and task

You can see the progression of every project

Each team member can handle more than one project with the calendar

Curious if CoSchedule is the all-in-one social media tool for you? Try it out for free for 14 days now.

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20 Benefits of Social Media Marketing Every Business Should Know

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Social media marketing requires both strategy and creativity. While it may seem overwhelming, its importance cannot be overstated. It's so important that 97% of marketers are using social media and 78% of salespeople outsell their peers by using social media for their business. Plus, its benefits extend far beyond increasing sales.

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You've finally decided to buy a new Android phone -- maybe the or Google Pixel 4 XL -- but now you have to decide what to do with your old one. Sure, you could sell or trade in your previous device (or those other phones you found in a drawer) but it's not the only approach.

If your phone's too old to command a high trade-in value, or you're looking to save some money on a webcam or a Google Home, or maybe you just like to tinker, there are some pretty ingenious ways to repurpose your old device and turn it into something you'll actually want to use.

After all, smartphones are small, powerful computers with storage space and a camera. Your phone makes a handy substitute for lots of other electronics -- you can even turn it into a home security camera or diagnose your car's mechanical problems. Read on!

Turn your old Android into a webcam

Now is a great time to turn your old phone into a webcam. You can use a number of free apps -- including Zoom or Skype -- to improve the quality of your video chats during quarantine. Getting started is easy, and we give you all the tips you need for a top-notch setup. Remember, even an older phone's main camera could still be better than your laptop's built-in webcam -- or no webcam at all.

Convert your old Android into a Nintendo Game Boy

You can play video games everywhere you go when you turn your Android into a Nintendo Game Boy. All you need to get started is a compatible Android phone and a Hyperkin Smartboy Mobile Device.

In order to play the games, you'll need to purchase Game Boy cartridges (unless you still have them). But you can also play ( Game Boy Advance$490 at Amazon) apps if you don't have the retro cartridges.

Store your photos on the old phone

Images take up so much storage space on your phone, so store them on your old phone. You can use your new device to take the photos and then send them to your older phone to free up space.

You can also use your old phone as a camera and take it places you normally wouldn't want to take your new phone. For example, if you go to the lake or beach, you can take photos without worrying as much about dropping your phone in the water.

Use your Android as a universal remote

It's great having one remote that can do everything -- think Click, the Adam Sandler movie. OK, maybe not that extreme. But being able to control all of your devices from one remote is a relief. Download a remote control app, such as iRule and then sync your phone to devices including your , Roku and .

If you have smart light bulbs, you can sync your phone to those as well. Follow these tips on how to turn your device into a universal remote so you never have to wonder where your TV remote is hiding again.

Turn your Android phone into a Google Home

Repurposing your Android phone to be a Google Home smart speaker is simple and requires no app downloads. Make sure your phone is updated to the latest Android OS so you have "OK, Google." Next, you'll need to find a Bluetooth speaker to pair your phone with. Make sure both devices stay plugged in and on at all times. You'll be ready to give Google commands in no time. The best part is you won't have to spend $129 on a Google Home. Learn more about what you can do with a Google Home here.

Your Android can double as a home security camera

Feel secure by turning your old phone into a home security camera. Download a security camera app, like Alfred (can also use with iPhone) to get started. Check on your house while you're at work to make sure all is well. Place the phone in the main room of the house in a spot where you have the best view.

When you're home, set it up outside (hidden, of course) to see who's knocking on your door or to see any suspicious activity. Maybe you'll find it's just a raccoon that's been leaving candy wrappers in your yard and not your neighbor's kid.

Use your old phone as a baby monitor

Instead of running into your child's room every time you think you hear crying or a strange noise, check to see if your baby is OK by turning your old phone into a baby monitor.

You can set your old phone up in the room and access it from your current phone by installing Skype on both devices. You can also use a baby monitor app like Dormi. We haven't tested them on real babies, but the customer ratings are excellent. You'll feel better knowing that you can be in any room and still see your baby.

Turn your Android into a wireless mouse

It can be annoying when your wireless mouse dies on you with no warning. It helps to have a backup, and you can turn your phone into a mouse in no time. You'll need to download an app, such as Remote Mouse, in order to do so.

Once you have the app, connect your phone and desktop to the same Wi-Fi network and say bye-bye to that old-school mouse. Keep it in your laptop case for when you're on the go and stop by a coffee shop to get some work done.

Keep your old phone as a music player

Free up storage space on your new phone by using your old phone as a media player. Since you have a new phone, you can wipe all the data off your old phone (except your music and music apps).

You'll be able to add as many songs as your old phone will allow without worrying about how much storage you're using. Hook it up to your surround-sound speaker if you're having a party and let the fun begin.

The great thing is you'll be able to leave it in one place and won't have to worry about incoming calls and messages interrupting your tunes.

Now that you've got some cool new ideas for your phone, here's how to cast and mirror an Android screen to a TV, how to disinfect your device without damaging it and how to set up Google Pay on your Android.

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9 ingenious ways to give your old Android phone new life

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You've finally decided to buy a new Android phone -- maybe the or Google Pixel 4 XL -- but now you have to decide what to do with your old one. Sure, you could sell or trade in your previous device (or those other phones you found in a drawer) but it's not the only approach.

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Whether you've been using Windows 10 for years or have only recently upgraded, there are plenty of new and old tips, tricks and hidden features to learn that will make using your laptop every day faster and smoother. Learning to be quicker and more productive on your laptop may be especially appealing with so many of us still working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, or just spending more time on our laptops in general. Finding the secret Start menu and saving battery power with a simple trick are great ways to get more out of your machine.

Microsoft doesn't typically publicize its hidden features the way Apple does, which can make it more difficult to know how to get the most out of the machine you use day in and day out.

Get more out of your tech

Even learning how to upgrade to Windows 10 for free can be tricky. You'll want to do this ASAP, by the way, since support for Windows 7 ended in January. So no matter which Microsoft, Dell, HP or other Windows 10 rig you have, these clever tips will help you stay organized and get more done. Plus, here's everything you need to know about the Windows 10 October 2020 update, and how to use the three best new Windows 10 features.

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1. Minimize all windows except the active one

If your desktop screen has gotten too crowded with open windows, you can quickly minimize them all except the one you are currently working in.

Just click the title bar of the window you want to remain open to select it. Then, hold the mouse down and move the window back and forth quickly -- shaking it, essentially. After a couple of quick shakes, all other open windows will minimize, leaving only the one you've shaken open. Neat, huh?

Read more: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

2. Open the 'secret' Start menu

You know that to get to the Start menu, you hit the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen or on your keyboard. But Windows 10 includes a lesser-known second Start menu that makes accessing important features like the Command Prompt, the Control Panel and the Task Manager much easier. You can access it two different ways, either by pressing the Windows key + X, or right click the Windows icon/Start button.

3. Create an event without opening the Calendar app

Windows 10's latest update lets you quickly add events to your Microsoft calendar directly from your Taskbar -- without actually having to open the calendar at all. Here's how to do it:

1. On your Taskbar, click the box with the time and date in it in the right corner.

2. Click the date when you want to schedule an event.

3. Enter the event name, time and location. (If you have multiple calendars, click the down arrow next to the event name field to choose the one you want to add it to.)

4. Click save. The event should appear in your Calendar app across your devices.

4. Take a screenshot

I know, it's a basic one -- but it's amazing how easy it is to forget how to take a screenshot on your laptop or desktop when you don't do it often.

There are at least eight different ways you can take a screenshot with Windows 10. If you want to capture and save a picture of your entire screen, the easiest way is to hit the Windows key + Print Screen key, and that picture will be saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder.

To capture just one part of your screen, hit the Windows key + Shift + S to open a tool called Snip & Sketch, which allows you to click and drag to create a screenshot, which is saved to your Clipboard.

5. Open items on your Taskbar with keyboard shortcuts

If you've pinned programs to your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen to create a shortcut, you don't have to click the icons to open them. Instead, use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + [Number key], with the number key corresponding to the position of the program on the Taskbar. For example, Windows key + 2 will open the second item on the Taskbar.

This is especially useful if you're typing furiously and don't want to lift your fingers from the keyboard. It may feel more natural to reach for the Windows key.

6. Figure out how much space apps are taking up

Computers start running slower as they grow short on space. One quick way to speed them up may be to get rid of apps that take up more space than they should, especially if you don't regularly use them.

To see how much space an app uses, navigate to Settings > System > Storage. Click on the drive you want to search (likely the local storage, "This PC"), and click Apps & games to see a list of apps installed on your machine and how much space they are taking up. You probably won't get rid of your browser, but you might find that a game you haven't played in years is some good dead weight to drop.

7. Get rid of ads in your Start menu

When you run Windows 10 with default settings, you may sometimes see apps on the right side of your Start menu. Microsoft calls them "suggestions," but they are actually ads for Windows Store apps you can buy.

To get rid of the ads in your Windows 10 Start menu, go to Settings > Personalization > Start. Toggle the setting called Show suggestions occasionally in Start to the off position.

8. Shut down background apps

Apps that run in the background can receive info, send notifications, and stay updated, even when you aren't using them -- which can be useful, but can also suck your battery and your data, if you're connecting via a mobile hotspot.

To control which apps are running in the background and save some battery power and data, go to Settings > Privacy > Background apps. To stop all apps from running in the background, toggle Let apps run in the background to Off. Or, you can choose which apps to run in the background individually by going down the list on the same page.

9. Use background scrolling

With Windows 10, you can scroll up and down on any window -- even if it's not the one you're directly working in. This is a useful tool when you have a lot of windows open that you want to look through at the same time -- for example, if you want to open new sub-menu options in new windows to save you time clicking back and forward on the same page.

Try opening two programs -- say, an internet browser page and a notepad or Word document. Arrange both on the screen so you can see at least some of the text on each. While you are in one window, hover your mouse or use the touchpad to move to the second window, and scroll. Even though you aren't active in that window, it should allow you to move up and down the page.

The feature should be on by default, but if it isn't, go to Settings > Devices > Mouse, and toggle Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them to On. Then you can place your mouse over a window that's in the background and use the scroll wheel to scroll.

10. Show file extensions in File Explorer

Microsoft hides file extensions by default, which makes life difficult for people who need to look for specific types of files, like JPEGs and JPGs. To see file extensions in File Explorer, do the following:

1. Go to the Search bar at the bottom of the screen, and type in File Explorer Options, and click it. (There are a number of other ways to get here too, but that one seems fastest.)

2. In the window that pops up, click the View tab.

3. Uncheck the box that says Hide extensions for known file types. Click Apply, and OK. You should now see file extensions for all files in the File Explorer.

You can also use the File Explorer Options menu to choose to show empty drives, hidden files and folders, and more.

11. Cut down on distractions with Focus assist

It's frustrating to try and get work done when you keep getting interrupted with notifications. You can determine how many you get with Focus assist, a tool Windows 10 added in the April 2018 update.

Set it up by going to Settings > System > Focus assist. Choose from three options: Off (get all notifications from your apps and contacts), Priority (see only selected notifications from a priority list that you customize, and send the rest to your action center), and Alarms only (hide all notifications, except for alarms).

You can also choose to automatically turn this feature on during certain hours, or when you're playing a game.

For more Windows 10 laptop tips and tricks, check out how to fix a slow PC yourself, and 6 simple security changes all Windows 10 users need to make.

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Windows 10: Become a pro with these 11 hacks

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Whether you've been using Windows 10 for years or have only recently upgraded, there are plenty of new and old tips, tricks and hidden features to learn that will make using your laptop every day faster and smoother.

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Managing your Social Media Marketing and presence effectively can be a lot of work. With so many different platforms, and strategies, and elements to track it can get overwhelming very quickly.

However, with social media, you don't have to do everything. Like most things regarding your business, there are certain activities that'll generate most of your results.

Below we look at five elements of social media marketing that'll help you improve your business and stop wasting your precious time on social media and get down to work.

1. Choose One or Two Platforms to Focus On

There are dozens of social media platforms, but instead of spreading yourself thin you should choose just one or two platforms to focus your energy on. Of course, you can automate your social media processes and branch out to other networks in time, but when you're just beginning the fewer profiles you have to keep track of the better.
Which platform should I choose?
The one where your audience hangs out at the most. For some that might be Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. While others might have more success by being active on LinkedIn and Twitter.

There is no "best" social media network, but instead, the one that's best for your business.

So, spend time researching what networks your competitors are most active on and have the highest levels of engagement. See if there are any relevant groups and hashtags that may be indicators of where your audience is hanging out online.

2. Have a Home Base

Having social media profiles are great, but you should still have a home base that you're pushing all of those eyeballs towards. Your website should be primed to handle any traffic you're sending via social media.

Make sure your website is filled with high-quality content, has a clean design, and clearly communicates what you're all about and the problems you solve.

3. Set Social Media Time Blocks

We all know that social media is a time sink. It's all too easy to say, "I'm just going to check Facebook real quick," then an hour later we're still logged in, scrolling through our feeds.

One way to eliminate this is to set social media time blocks. Schedule 20-minute blocks where you'll be active on social media. Once the time has passed, log off.

You'd be surprised at what you can accomplish on social media with just a little bit of time invested.

4. Focus on the Value of What You're Sharing

Everything you share on social media should be rich with value. Even something as simple as a tweet can pack a punch. This is why the foundation of your social media strategy should be the content you're creating.

This gives you a place to source quotes, facts, and figures from, and gives you something of your own you can link to in order to drive traffic back to your site.

Remember, social media isn't about you, it's about your followers and potential customers. Think of social media marketing as another way you can serve your audience and improve their lives.

5. Engage, But Don't Be Pushy

It's called social media for a reason. And even though you're active on social media to promote your work and business, it doesn't mean you should be doing this all the time. Instead, share useful information, ask questions, and engage with your audience.

Being extremely helpful will go a long way towards driving people back to your website. More so, than aggressively trying to get people to check out your work and being a non-stop promotion machine.

It's okay to drop a link and push people towards action every once in a while. But, you'll notice that the traffic is higher quality when those people seek you out themselves and aren't forced to do so.

Hopefully, the tips above will help you craft a social media strategy that's much easier to manage while being more effective. If you're interested in a custom social media strategy for your business, then get in touch with our team today.

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5 Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing - C7creative

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Managing your Social Media Marketing and presence effectively can be a lot of work. With so many different platforms, and strategies, and elements to track it can get overwhelming very quickly. However, with social media, you don't have to do everything. Like most things regarding your business, there are certain activities that'll generate most of your results.

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In the 21st century, it's hard to ignore the power of a seamless IT environment. Regardless of the industry, companies that lack strong IT support may be staying behind the competition. Hiring a large IT department is time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. That's where managed IT services come in.

Outsourcing your IT-related tasks is similar to working with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Without breaking the budget, you gain access to a team of experts with specific industry knowledge and resources to take your business to a new level.

Let's take a closer look at how managed IT services can improve your company's bottom line just like a PEO.

1. Enterprise-Level Services

Similar to PEO, a top-notch managed IT services provider gives you an opportunity to work with a large team of experts. These specialists can handle anything from a broken keyboard to a cyberattack in record time.

To achieve the same level of assistance in-house, you would need to support a large IT department and worry about benefits, employee satisfaction, retention issues, and much more.

By outsourcing your IT tasks to a managed IT services provider, you can compete with larger companies without paying the price. In short, you get a high ROI and a competitive edge.

2. Preventive Assistance

Just as it happens in HR, when an IT-related problem occurs, it may be too late to avoid serious consequences. That's why preventive assistance is the key to staying on top of your game.

From purchasing the latest hardware to creating a comprehensive disaster recovery plan, IT experts must always be on their toes. Some companies prefer a break-fix model that seems like a money saver at first. However, once a cyberattack happens or natural disaster strikes, it could be too late.

Managed IT services providers focus on preventive assistance, implementing the necessary systems and tactics to avoid major problems and downtime.

3. Proactive Approach

Just like HR, the world of IT is constantly evolving. While your PEO partner is researching new regulations, the IT team must stay on top of the newest technologies. By implementing the latest systems on time, it's possible to gain a valuable competitive advantage and steal market share.

It can take a considerable amount of time to follow the latest industry news and figure out which new technologies apply. A managed IT services provider has a team that focuses specifically on the proactive approach, making sure you don't miss any important developments.

4. Employee Satisfaction

If you are a small or mid-size business owner, you know all about multitasking and so do your employees. When besides key responsibilities, the staff has to deal with HR or IT matters, the entire workflow suffers. Eventually, employees don't have sufficient time to focus on their core tasks, thus feeling burned out and dissatisfied with their jobs.

By outsourcing IT-related tasks to a managed IT services provider, you can allow your staff to do what they do best and improve their satisfaction rates. In the era of high turnover rates, holding on to your top talent is integral to the company's success.

5. Compliance

A top-notch PEO makes sure your HR-related matters are in compliance with the latest local, state, and national labor regulations. A managed IT services provider monitors standards and requirements for your specific industry and makes sure your company meets them.

These standards could be related to privacy, financial services, cybersecurity, reporting, and much more. Monitoring these regulations and acting on them could be complicated for employees, who don't have an in-depth understanding of IT.

By outsourcing compliance issues to the managed IT services provider, you can avoid numerous unpleasant issues related to missing new industry requirements.

6. Flexibility

When you plan to scale your business, you have to worry about optimizing your in-house teams. If you are working with a PEO, you can adjust the contract to increase or reduce the number of services you are using. It works the same way with managed IT.

Whether you need more or fewer IT services, it's always possible to change the contract to suit company needs. You don't have to worry about downsizing or bringing in new IT team members. All you have to do is contact your managed IT services provider and adjust the contract according to the latest changes.

7. Risk Protection

Just as a PEO can help you avoid expensive payroll mistakes, managed IT can prevent serious security issues from occurring. With cyber threats on the rise, it's imperative to have a solid prevention strategy in place.

An experienced managed IT services provider can evaluate your systems and uncover loopholes that need immediate closing. IT experts will implement a security protocol that can keep your data safe from outside attacks to help you avoid serious risks and downtime.

Regardless of the industry, cyber safety is one of the pillars of the company's integrity. Without experts at the helm, it's possible to lose valuable data, time, money, and reputation.

8. Cost Efficiency

By working with a PEO, you get access to enterprise-level assistance and benefits at the fraction of a price you would pay for a fully-staffed HR department. The same is true for managed IT.

Just like HR, IT is highly varied. To address all IT-related issues in-house, you would need a large team of trained experts. Supporting such a team is costly and complicated.

By outsourcing your IT issues to a managed IT services provider, you can cut costs by up to 50%.

The Takeaway

Almost 60% of business uses outsourcing to reduce expenses. If you are working with a PEO, you know exactly how efficient such a model is. By partnering with a managed IT services provider, you can get all the benefits of an in-house expert team without paying the price for it.

Besides cutting costs, managed IT helps you improve your business, reduce risks, eliminate downtime, and gain a significant competitive edge.

If you'd like to learn more about managed IT opportunities for your business, don't hesitate to contact us at any convenient time.

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How Managed IT Services is Like Your Favorite PEO | E & E Tech

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In the 21st century, it's hard to ignore the power of a seamless IT environment. Regardless of the industry, companies that lack strong IT support may be staying behind the competition. Hiring a large IT department is time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. That's where managed IT services come in.

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Cyber-criminals are relentless and adamant, and they're always working round the clock to develop and unleash new ways of attacking unsuspecting internet users. With 2021 fast-approaching, and more people opting to work from home, email-based attacks remain a significant threat for companies and businesses.

For that reason, we've decided to enlighten our readers about the top 5 email threats that are likely to wreak havoc in 2021. We also provide actionable tips on what companies and businesses can do to reduce or prevent malicious email attacks. So let's jump right in.

Common Threats

Here's a list of some of the dangerous attacks that are likely to surface fully in the coming year:

Ransomware

Ransomware is some type of blackmailing where the malicious actor blocks access to a computer system until they get paid a certain sum of money. And that's not all; the attacker also threatens to publish the victim's confidential data if they fail to pay the ransom.

The attack mostly gets delivered via email, where the hacker encrypts the company files, holding them hostage until a payout (mainly in the form of bitcoin) is provided. With 204 million attacks registered in 2018 alone, ransomware remains one of the most prevalent cyberattacks. Here are the ransomware types to watch out for in the coming years:

Lockers - lock you out of your computer.

Ransomware as a service - gets hosted anonymously.

Scareware - mimics the antivirus software appearance.

Crypto malware - targets cryptocurrency transactions.

Doxware - threatens to publish private information.

Phishing

Phishing is where the malicious actors dupe individuals into providing confidential information by impersonating trusted figures or purporting to come from reputable organizations. The perpetrators usually use digital communication channels like emails to stage the attacks.

The idea here is simple; the attacker knows that by posing as a respected figure, the victim is likely to cooperate and reveal private details, like account login, when presented with an unsecured document. Therefore, the victims, without suspecting, get exposed to a virus. Some of the common signs of phishing attacks include:

Incorrect punctuation, language, or grammar

Unusual requests for confidential information

Generic languages like "Sir" or "Madam"

An uncommon sense of urgency

A 2018 research revealed 83% of respondents experienced phishing attacks, a 7% increase from the previous year. Therefore, phishing is, without a doubt, an email threat that will disrupt cybersecurity in 2021.

Social Engineering Attacks

In a social engineering attack, the perpetrator relies on an organization's users to gather sensitive information instead of hacking into the system directly. The attacks are usually successful to no small extent because humans are always prone to errors. The attacker needs only to build trust then steal confidential data by manipulating the users to believe that they're known to the organization.

Email spoofing is a perfect example of a social engineering attack. Here, the attacker uses addresses or domains that are exceedingly similar to those of the true origin. They then deceive the users into believing that the manipulated emails are from a trusted source, thus gaining access to their crucial data and the entire organization's network.

Spear Phishing

Spear phishing is an upgraded phishing type where the attacks are highly targeted and steered towards a specific organization or individual. Cybercriminals are usually successful in these attacks because they conduct thorough research to make the emails as error-free and legitimate as possible.

Phishing attacks may also target customers. For example, if you have an online store, the hacker may email your customers about a recent purchase and then attach a link to a login page where all the credentials are harvested. With more people embracing remote working and online shopping, such targeted attacks may increase in 2021.

Spamming

Despite spamming being more of a nuisance than a threat, it still forms a weak link for delivering other attacks like malware and ransomware.

Email bombing is a popular form of spamming. The attacker sends large volumes of emails to an address to overflow its mailbox, overwhelming the server and exposing it to malicious attacks. Once the user receives lots of spam messages, their attention gets distracted from key email messages, creating space for a security breach.

Email Security Safeguards

Here are some of the email security safeguards that you can leverage in planning, implementing, and upholding security in the email systems:

Implement Management Controls

Does your company have candid information security policies, risk assessment procedures, configuration management, and contingency planning resources? These are some of the primary management security controls that you need to enhance the effective operation and maintenance of email security systems.

Plan the System Implementation Attentively

Before you even get to installation, deployment, or configuration, you want to carefully plan the secure email system. This is overly essential because any slightest weak link resulting from poor planning is enough to create room for a data breach.

Secure the Email Server Application

Organizations should be exact and accurate in installing mail server services, scripts, and applications. In case of any excesses, they should be eliminated immediately through configuration, patching, or upgrades.

Secure the Supporting Operating Environment

Supporting network infrastructures like routers, firewalls, and intrusion detection & prevention systems should be tight and free of known vulnerabilities. Their security is paramount because they form a defense barrier between email servers and malicious intruders.

Back up Data Frequently

The fact that mail servers are among the most exposed spots in an organization's network should be enough inspiration to back data up regularly. This reduces downtime in case of a service outage while maintaining data security and integrity in the mail server.

Concluding Remarks

One thing we can all agree on is that the ill-intended email attacks are here to stay, if not get better in the coming years. Therefore, it's upon businesses and organizations to employ stringent measures like backing up data and implementing management controls to prevent or reduce the threats.

But here's the catch; a business's primary objective is to cut on cost and optimize productivity, so creating time or galvanizing resources to set optimal security standards may be challenging. Good news: You can entrust a reliable and knowledgeable IT and security systems expert with providing the best solutions for cyber threats like phishing, social engineering, ransomware, etc. Get in touch with us today for comprehensive technological solutions.

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Top 5 Email Threats Coming in 2021 | E & E Tech

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Cyber-criminals are relentless and adamant, and they're always working round the clock to develop and unleash new ways of attacking unsuspecting internet users. With 2021 fast-approaching, and more people opting to work from home, email-based attacks remain a significant threat for companies and businesses. For that reason, we've decided to enlighten our readers about the [...]

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January 20, 2021 Ronnie Mize

It is an unfortunate fact, but cybersecurity is now a serious consideration for every company. Gone are the days when security was something that happened to someone else. Now, security awareness is as much a part of the company culture as the coffee break.
Why is this so?
Well, the massive increase in cyber-attacks in the last 5-10 years is one reason. Versions of malware, the malicious version of software that causes infections like ransomware, just keep on rising. We must now ensure that employees are taught awareness and how to guard against being exploited by cybercrime.

But this awareness of security issues is also because of the changing ways that the cybercriminal operates. The old 'hacker' image is replaced by the sophisticated trickster who understands human behavior. Social engineering is the cyber tool of the century.

And then there is the mass availability of malware. Malware-as-a-Service means that anyone can get their hands-on malware and use it to make money. Cybercriminals are making cybercrime into big business, and the cost is our business, our clients, our personal information, and our jobs.

The end result is that many companies are staring down the barrel of cybercrime. But the fightback has begun in earnest. We can beat the cybercriminal at their own game by understanding what they do and how they do it. Se curity awareness training has entered the ring giving us the upper hand in the defense against cybercrime.

Being security aware is not just about knowing what a phishing email looks like, although this is part of it. Security awareness covers literally every aspect of working life and includes home life too - especially if you work remotely or whilst travelling.
What is Malware?
" Malware" is short for "malicious software". Malware is software code or computer programs designed to infiltrate and damage computers without the users consent. " Malware " is the general term covering all the different types of threats to your computer safety such as viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, and rootkits and so on.

Cybercriminals will place malware in sites and/or files the user believes to be completely legitimate. When you download an mp3, video file, or any other file or software from suspicious sites, malware can be downloaded into your PC completely without your knowledge. Sometimes just going to an infected site is enough to become compromised. Similarly, malware can get into your PC if you click on links from suspicious emails sent from unknown email addresses. Sometimes the email may even look like it is from someone you know or a legitimate source, this is called spoofing. The cybercriminal will attempt to deceive into believing the email is legitimate and have you click on a link or attachment that is in fact malicious and designed to exploit your system and files.
So How Do We Protect Ourselves from Malware? Think before you Click.
This is probably one of the most important things to remember to safeguard against cybercrime. Avoid websites that appear shady, have numerous pop-ups, or provide pirated material. Do not open an email attachment from somebody or a company that you do not know. Do not click on a link in an unsolicited email. Always hover over a link (especially one with a URL shortener) before you click to see where the link is really taking you. If you have to download a file from the Internet, an email, an FTP site, a file-sharing service, etc., have Helpdesk scan it before you run it. A good anti-virus software will do that automatically, but make sure it is being done.
Keep Your Personal Information Safe
This is likely the most difficult thing to do on the Internet. Many hackers will access your files not by brute force, but through social engineering. They will get enough of your information to gain access to your online accounts and will glean more of your personal data. They will continue from account to account until they have enough of your info that they can access your banking data or just steal your identity altogether. Be cautious on message boards and social media. Lock down all of your privacy settings, and avoid using your real name or identity on discussion boards.
Never Use Open Wi-Fi
When you are at the local coffee shop, library, and especially the airport, don't use the "free" open (non-password, non-encrypted) Wi-Fi. Think about it. If you can access it with no issues, what can a trained malicious cybercriminal do? Cybercriminals will hang out in these locations and wait for someone to log on. You will not even know someone has accessed your system until days or weeks later when your files and passwords have already been compromised.
Use Multiple Strong Passwords
Never use the same password for multiple accounts. Typically, we use the same email address or username for all of our accounts. Those are easy to see and steal. If you use the same password for everything, or on many things, and it is discovered, then it takes only seconds to hack all of your accounts. Use a strong password. Use lower case, upper case, numbers, and symbols in your password. Do not use dates or pet names. Never write your credentials down and leave them where someone else can see or find them. Your passwords should be easy for you to remember but difficult for someone else to guess.

As always, thanks for reading and stay safe!

Ronnie Mize is the Chief Security Officer of Information Technology for Etech Technical Services. Ronnie has been in the technology sector for 20 years and has held technology leadership roles. He has extensive experience in technology development and deployment as well as implementation of business processes and defined methodology. In addition to his responsibilities at Etech, Ronnie also serves in the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, The Electronics Advisory Committee for Angelina College, The Call Center Experts Group, and the Information Technology Advisory Council.

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Security Brief - What is Malware and How to Fight Back against It? - Etech Global Services

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January 20, 2021 Ronnie Mize It is an unfortunate fact, but cybersecurity is now a serious consideration for every company. Gone are the days when security was something that happened to someone else. Now, security awareness is as much a part of the company culture as the coffee break.

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Budgeting is a critical aspect of every IT leader's duties. Here's how to do it right.

Image: iStockphoto.com/utah778

IT budgeting can range from a painful annual process to the actualization of a carefully crafted IT strategy and roadmap. For an IT executive who is uncomfortable with numbers or loathe to endure the justification process that accompanies budgeting, it can be a difficult exercise, and the temptation can be to simply tweak last year's budget, to succumb to arbitrary cuts.

To help IT leaders not only endure the budgeting process, but to use it as a strategic tool to drive their priorities, we've assembled this guide (which is also available to download as a free PDF). It should make budgeting less painful and help you understand how to use your budget as a planning and communication tool. As the saying goes, "You put your money where your mouth is," and your budget ultimately puts company resources behind the plans you've been articulating through the year.
SEE: Year-round IT budgets: Tools and templates

What is IT budgeting? Budgeting is the process of allocating monetary resources to various IT programs. These could range from recurring expenses like hardware leases and staffing to expenses dedicated to a fixed-duration project or initiative. In some companies this is primarily an annual exercise, while other companies might demand budgets for each initiative as it arises.

Why does IT budgeting matter? Budgeting is obviously important, as it provides the funding to keep your department running. Beyond just "keeping the lights on," your budget is an important tool for identifying and executing the IT initiatives that are crucial to your department.

Whom does IT budgeting affect? While IT budgets are usually presented and overseen by IT leaders, everyone from line managers to consultants could have a hand in preparing the budget. The activities your employees and consultants will be engaging in during the year are defined by the budget, so it's a critical document for taking your priorities from concept through to execution.

What are IT budgeting tips and best practices? A well developed and presented budget should be the numeric manifestation of your IT strategy that's well communicated and understood by your peers. When done right, budgets should merely affirm what's already been understood and should get approved with minimal pushback.

(TechRepublic Premium)
Executive summary

SEE: Budget planning tool (TechRepublic Premium)

What is IT budgeting?

In the worst case, an IT budget is a wish list of funding for every conceivable project and technology that's expected to be reduced, trimmed, and rejected. In some companies, a reasonable budget is developed and then doubled or tripled to try to "game" the budgeting process and garner what's actually needed. Your approver, whether he or she is in IT or from the finance side, is probably on to this game, has a general idea of what's appropriate, and will probably impose increasingly draconian cuts as you respond with increasingly ridiculous increases.

Rather than an attempt to secure the maximum pile of cash, the budget should be regarded as a manifestation of your IT strategy. If you've been communicating a strategy of migrating infrastructure to the cloud and highlighting the operational savings, your budget should reflect those savings and use them as justification for increased project expenses elsewhere. In short, every line on the budget should tell a story that maps back to your IT strategy. If you've done a good job of communicating and sharing that strategy, it will shift the budgetary process to tweaking amounts rather than justifying whole categories of spending.

Generally, an IT budget can be divided across various categories, depending on the complexity and sophistication of your department and its structure. At a basic level, you could structure your budget as follows, with each subcategory "rolling up" to the parent to create a total budget:

More sophisticated companies might attempt to allocate the elements of their IT budget to the various departments or organizations that IT supports and even charge costs back to that department. While chargebacks are beyond the scope of this discussion, be aware that they add significant complexity to the budgeting process and should not be undertaken lightly.

Additional resources:

Why does IT budgeting matter?

Without a budget, you may be forced to request and justify every IT expenditure as it arises, which makes for significant unnecessary overhead. Smaller organizations may find themselves willingly migrating into a periodic budgeting process, as IT expenditures that were once simply spent as incurred, or justified with a 30-second hallway conversation, blossom into significant IT spending that can be consolidated and made more transparent through a budgeting process.

Like a project plan or IT roadmap, the budget provides direction and a holistic view of your department and its funding requirements. It lets you quickly determine whether resources are overcommitted in one area or another, and in the case of department-level IT budgets, lets you compare what you're spending versus similar departments. With the help of benchmarking organizations, consultants, or simply a call to a peer at another company, you can even perform this on the most sophisticated and complex IT budgets to see whether you're spending more or less than peers on a particular area.

Rather than just a wish list for funding, consider the budget as a tool to prioritize your IT initiatives and validate that your monetary investment matches your strategic priorities. If one of your strategic imperatives is that you retool your organization to support a shift to mobile apps, but your hiring and training budgets are minuscule, you've likely set yourself up for failure before you've even started. Similarly, your budget lets you quickly identify areas where you may be overspending. A massive software budget might reveal that you're spending on unused or unneeded software licenses or on support expenses for an older version of a tool. Your budget can also serve as justification for strategic initiatives. Expensive infrastructure costs are easy support for a move toward cloud infrastructure, just as excessive external staffing expenses might justify additional hiring.

Instead of looking at the budget solely as an administrative process, regard it as a validation and support tool for your IT strategy. If you don't have a formal or informal IT strategy in place, the budgeting process is as good a place as any to start investigating areas for improvement that will be cornerstones of your first attempts at more strategic IT management.

Additional resources:

Whom does IT budgeting affect?

IT budgets may seem narrowly focused when you're doing them at the departmental level, or they may seem disconnected from the thousands of staff who support your efforts when you're a Fortune 500 CIO. But they directly affect the people and initiatives you're able to deliver. Like it or not, they're also subject to the constraints of the organization as a whole. A high performing organization, with the perfect set of initiatives and a correctly sized budget, may still be subject to painful and arbitrary cuts if the overall organization is suffering.

Budgets also affect your external partners, ranging from software vendors to strategy consultants. Most are more than happy to help you through the budgeting process; however, it's important to remember that they have a significant vested interest in the portion of your budget that affects them and tend to see your needs through the eyes of the solution they bring to the table. A cloud provider will see every budgetary problem solved by shifting funding "to the cloud," just as a consulting provider will see the answer to every problem in a dramatically increased consulting services budget. These organizations can provide valuable benchmarking and planning assistance, so certainly use them as a resource; just be aware that the perspective that's provided may not always directly align with your interests.

Additional resources:

What are IT budgeting tips and best practices?

Consider how deeply the budget can affect your organization at all levels and put the appropriate time and diligence into its creation. It's easy to see budgeting as a painful administrative process; however, it truly is the financial manifestation of the strategy and direction your department or organization will take over the coming year. Ideally, the process of developing your budget begins immediately after the previous budget is approved and leverages the past budget as a starting point. Monitor your spending against last year's budget, and as you see variances or ways to allocate funds more effectively, use them as input to an ongoing draft budget.

Several months before your budget is due, review last year's budget and this year's expenses and identify areas that could be reduced or reallocated. When you arrive at the budgeting cycle with activities already launched to reduce extra "fat," it will be easier to justify a budget that's optimized rather than larded up with unnecessary items.

Some organizations demand more diligent defense of a budget than others. So if you work for an organization that demands justification of every line item, it's especially important to start selling your budget before you even write the first line, while communicating and gaining consensus for your IT strategy. A massive IT project is more easily justified at budgeting time when everyone knows its purpose, impact, and objectives than if budget season is the first time anyone hears of it. If you've gained agreement on your strategy, it's harder to simply dismiss budgetary categories or demand arbitrary reductions, since there should be a direct tie between the previously agreed strategic imperative and the budget item. When you must make cuts, a solid understanding of your priorities can help identify cuts that will have the least impact on the effectiveness of your strategic plan.

SEE: All of TechRepublic's cheat sheets and smart person's guides

If you don't already have an IT strategy, use the budgeting period as an opportunity to craft a "light" strategy that's presented immediately before your budget. If you have a cohesive and well-conceived plan, the money to execute that plan is less likely to be questioned. Finally, if you are required to make significant reductions in various areas of your budget, highlight the capabilities that will be affected by the cuts.

As you review the budget, remember that rather than just a pot of money for your department, it's a prioritization of initiatives and capabilities. Unless your organization is rife with unused capacity, a cut in one area will affect an element of your IT strategy, and there's no harm in collaborating with the approver to determine which capabilities should be cut first and how that will affect the overall organization. The more closely you can map your budget to past results, the easier it is to justify future expenditures.

Additional resources:

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Budgeting is a critical aspect of every IT leader's duties. Here's how to do it right. IT budgeting can range from a painful annual process to the actualization of a carefully crafted IT strategy and roadmap.

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Not everyone can be an IT expert, but Tom Merritt has five tips to help increase your technical skills.

You are not the problem; you have amassed huge volumes of shortcuts, tips, and workarounds to navigate the treacherous world of tech. It's your users! Why do they keep making such obvious errors? You need to help them, my friend--pass along your wealth of knowledge. I know you already know these, but here are five IT pro tips everyone should know.

1. Rebooting fixes a lot of things. First, it's a sledgehammer approach, but there's a reason The IT Crowd TV show's most famous joke is answering the phone by asking if you've tried turning it off and turning it on again.

2. Don't save items to the desktop. It's often not included in backup regimes, it's harder to find stuff there, and it just makes your background a mess, which will slowly and subtly drive you mad.

3. Emailing is probably the last choice for sharing documents. Email is old and insecure. If you can share a file in almost any other way, do that instead of emailing.

4. Don't reply all. Especially don't reply all to tell the other person that replied all to not reply all.

5. Search for the answer first. A lot of times, all your IT person is doing is typing your question into a search engine and then using that information to fix your particular problem. You can do that yourself and very often save yourself time, or at the very least come to your IT request with a little more info.

See? I bet you've just sighed and said to yourself "I wish I knew... I mean, I wish someone else I worked with knew that." Now you can pass along these tips and make things better for everyone.
Subscribe to TechRepublic Top 5 on YouTube for all the latest tech advice for business pros from Tom Merritt.
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Not everyone can be an IT expert, but Tom Merritt has five tips to help increase your technical skills. You are not the problem; you have amassed huge volumes of shortcuts, tips, and workarounds to navigate the treacherous world of tech. It's your users! Why do they keep making such obvious errors?