How To Make Sure That Your Network Remains Safe Whilst Working From Home?

Your Network Remains Safe Whilst Working From Home
The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things, including the way in which we work.

If before we were conducting our business activity from the office, now working from home has become the norm, and, interestingly enough, once the pandemic will start fading many believe that remote working will stay an important aspect across multiple industries.

Working from home could be considered convenient, having lots of benefits, but it also exposes individuals and businesses to multiple cybersecurity risks, this being one of the main reasons for which is essential to look into home cybersecurity.

Comparing the post-COVID to the pre-COVID timeframe a 33% increase in file-based malware detection was noticed, with 17:00 being the hour when researchers were able to notice the most significant percentile increase - 86% compared to pre-COVID timeframe.

Stay Safe When Working From Home

Remote working was a blessing in disguise for the attackers, allowing them to execute more successful attacks than in the past.

Phishing attacks have been prevalent in this time as, in most workplaces, the IT team is taking care of the cybersecurity needs of the employees within the office.

Having the entire workforce, in most cases, working remotely, the staff members have to pay attention to any cybersecurity threats by themselves.

You might wonder what are you supposed to be doing in order not to expose yourself to cybersecurity threats? Here are a few pointers.

Use Antivirus And Internet Security Software At Home

One of the most effective security tips for working from home is having at your disposal a comprehensive antivirus suite for you and your employees.

Online criminals are always looking for new ways to infect a system or a network. Targeting admin passwords through brute force attacks is an attractive method and there are numerous cases when the attackers managed to hack into unprotected remote desktop protocols and then manually execute the attack.

Keep Your Work Devices Secure

When using your personal computer for work purposes you are introducing numerous potential vulnerabilities into the picture as you probably have at least a few non-essential applications installed on it and that also can have been used by other users, such as family members.

The best scenario is to use the computer offered by your company, as it will most likely have already in place a security setup and also will probably have stored most of the programs and documents you need for your job. Even if using your work computer when working from home and following all the steps in order to stay safe, another challenge can be to recreate the secure environment of your office.

You should not let any other people use your work device, even if they are trusted members of your family.

Make Sure That All Data Is Encrypted

We need to stress the importance of data encryption. By making sure that you’ve turned on the built-in encryption systems of your work devices’ hard drives, you can keep your data safe if anything were to happen to your computer or phone.

Operating Systems, Programs, And Applications Must Be Up To Date

Patching and updating are a must, as attackers often rely on unpatched software and other vulnerabilities when attacking.

The Importance Of Passwords and The Two-Factor Authentication

It goes without saying, but your passwords are only the first line of defense against malicious attackers.

You should use a different and strong password for each of your accounts, and change it periodically in order to ward off any attackers trying to compromise your data.

Alongside having a strong password strategy put in place, by activating two-factor authentication on your accounts you will be able to prevent malicious third parties from accessing your data, even if they manage to compromise your password.
Your Network Remains Safe Whilst Working From Home

Change Your Home Wi-Fi’s Password and Turn ON The Encryption

The vast majority of routers come with a preset password that can be often weak and easy to guess, therefore changing your router’s password is a necessity under these circumstances.

You should make use of the routers’ ability to encrypt the traffic going through them, but unfortunately, this option is turned off by default.

You must make sure that you enable encryption, ideally WPA2, before you begin handling sensitive data on your home Wi-Fi. In order to turn on the encryption, you’ll need to know your router’s IP address to access its settings.

You are able to limit network access to specific MAC addresses for an extra layer of security. Each and every device that is connecting to your network owns a unique MAC address, that you can find by opening Command Prompt, and entering “ipconfig/all”.

If you know the addresses of any verified devices, you can add these devices to your wireless router’s settings, therefore making sure that only those devices can connect to your Wi-Fi network.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, also known as DHCP, server on your router which is what IP addresses are assigned to each device on a network should be turned off just as a first step into enhancing your network’s security. The DHCP server is the one automatically assigning IP addresses on your network. Once that is turned off you will be able to make use of static addresses that are suitable to your router – that is you will make use of a static address and enter your network settings manually.

Another good practice in order to increase security against any cyber threats is to close the possibility to have the router managed from a remote location via the internet. Once the remote access is closed any malicious actor will not be able to access your routers’ privacy setting unless he is physically connected to your network or he has a device connected to your wireless network. This kind of change can be done from either the “Remote Access/Administration of your router”.

Router’s Software & Firmware

In an ideal world, all routers should come with the option of having an automatic update of their firmware. This is an essential part of the router and many times has flaws that can be exploited and become major vulnerabilities. The firmware needs to be updated in order to prevent ruthless exploitation by hackers.

Since many routers don’t come with this update capability you will have to do this manually. This goes without saying but setting a reminder to check that your router’s firmware version is up to date should be on your priority list and an element in your calendar.

You always need to remind yourself about the importance of software patching and how neglecting to do this can leave open doors for cybercriminals to exploit various vulnerabilities.

Firewalls, aside from being an important part of your security suite installed on your computer, can also be a hardware firewall built inside your router, having as a great advantage the fact that it manages to add an extra layer of security. Most of the good wireless routers out there will have a firewall built in that is just ready to protect you against cybercriminals from the get-go. Sometimes you will need to activate it but that is pretty straightforward to do and the manufacturer will have readily available instructions on how to do it. If your router didn’t come with a preinstalled one, you can install a firewall device to your router, in this way protecting your system from malicious hacking attempts aimed at your home network.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Can Keep You Safe

VPN will keep your online activity private from both online trackers but also, in most cases, from your ISP (Internet service provider).

However, if one password is compromised, hackers will get access no matter how good your VPN is. That is why it is important to have your employees change their passwords on a regular basis and with a sufficient degree of complexity.

It is important for employees to know or be taught how to configure their wireless routers and personal firewalls and keep their home network secure. This is more important now than ever when people are still carrying a significant amount of work from home.

Comprehensive security and antivirus software will also cover your VPN while working from home.

Video Conferences and Remaining Safe

People are engaging more on social media in an attempt to break the monotony of working from home, therefore it is very important to remain vigilant and keep your IT security in mind.

You should be very careful with the items you have surrounding you when taking part in a call, as the attackers might gather different hints which can be used against you in different types of malware attacks.

Be Aware Of Phishing Attempts

Hackers took advantage of the vulnerabilities that people faced since the start of the pandemic and proceeded to send out coronavirus-themed phishing attacks, attacks that may become the first step towards business email compromise.

This type of attack can happen when a malicious actor hacks into a corporate e-mail account and starts impersonating the real owner with the purpose of defrauding the company, its customers, partners, and its employees into sending money or even sensitive data to the attacker’s account.

Also known as the “man-in-the-email” attack, Business Email Compromise scams start with a large amount of research, with the attacker going through publicly available information about the company, like websites, press releases, or social media published content.

Only after he identifies the names of company executives and their official titles within the organization, the attacker will attempt to get access to e-mail addresses belonging to influential people in the company.

In order to remain undetected, he or she might use inbox rules or change the reply-to address so that when the scam is executed, the victim will not be alerted.

In Conclusion

The best way to protect and secure your network and endpoints is to exercise caution as often as possible.

You shouldn’t interact with malicious links, transfer funds to the company’s partners before confirming the authenticity of the request with your CEO, or try to bypass the firewall to access forbidden websites.

In this new paradigm that we’re all part of we should constantly remember that with the freedom gained when working remotely comes a huge responsibility as well: to maintain the security standards that would otherwise be provided for you when working from an office.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Dora Tudor is a Communications and PR Officer at Heimdal Security. A content creator that is curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.

Top 7 Types Of Investments To Make Money

Types Of Investments To Make Money
If you are reading this article, chances are investments and making money is already on your mind. While it is true that sound investment can be a way to secure a better tomorrow, wise investors know a thing or two about the investment that other people don’t.

Wise investors already know they should not be putting all their eggs in one basket.

However, that does not stop them from putting their eggs in multiple baskets—the same way you should.

If and when done responsibly, investing is the best way to make money. While the term ‘investing’ itself may conjure up images of a wealthy businessman visiting a stock exchange market, investment is not solely confined to wealthy people. These investments are accessible to everyone and anyone, regardless of age, income, career, or financial status.

However, there are still some factors that influence the way individuals make investments. For example, a person who is close to retirement would have a different investment plan than an individual who is just starting his career.

To be able to secure a risk-free future, one should know in which areas to invest. Here are 7 types of investments to make money.

The Types Of Investments To Make Money

Let us take a look at the best types of investments that you can make for the future.

1. High-yielding Cash Management Accounts

A traditional checking or savings account generally offers less money than an online savings or cash management account. These cash management accounts are a combination of savings account and checking account. Like a savings account, they offer interest rates but on the other hand, they come with debit or credit cards and are offered by brokerage firms.

Savings accounts are suitable for short-term savings or money that you need to access only on some special events—such as for vacations. Contrary to a savings account whose transactions are limited to six per month, cash management accounts are much more flexible—and may offer higher interest rates too. Such types of high-yielding cash management accounts are best suited for risk-averse investors or those who want money in the short term.

One risk factor to consider in these high-yielding savings accounts is the loss of purchasing power over time owing to inflation. Nevertheless, you can still invest in these cash management accounts via an investment company or a reliable brokerage firm.

2. Certificates Of Deposit (CDs)

An investment type offered by banks, Certificates of Deposit are federally-insured savings account that offers a fixed return over a period of time. In short, when you purchase a CD, you are really agreeing to loan the bank an amount of money for a defined period of time.

If you have a CD, the financial institution associated with it pays you interest at regular intervals. Once this mature, you get your original money or principal back—along with any accrued interest, of course.

A CD is best for the money that you will need at a fixed date for the future. They are a good option if you have a time frame in your mind for an upcoming event; say a wedding or a down payment for a home loan. Common term lengths are usually one, three, and five years. However, if you need the money earlier than these terms, you might have to pay a fee for that.

It is true that with lower risk comes lower reward. This is true with a Certificate of Deposit, as they are extremely low-risk investments. Most banks offer CDs at a return of less than 3% per annum, which is not even close enough to keep up with rising inflation. You can search for the best rates for a CD online.

3. Mutual Funds

A mutual fund is a pool of cash that investors collect to buy stocks, bonds, or other assets. This type of investment spreads the investors’ money over multiple investments—in order to hedge or ‘avoid’ risk against any single investment losses.

Mutual funds are essentially made up of stocks and bonds, but they carry less risk. This is because your money is diversified across multiple investments. If you are seeking to save for retirement, mutual funds are a convenient way to get the stock market’s returns without going through the hassle of managing a portfolio of individual stocks. Some companies, such as biotech and technology-related companies offer high dividends, so investing in these mutual funds might be a good idea if you need a return in the long term.

The risk with the mutual fund is dependent on the investments within that fund. For instance, the value of the fund increases as the value of the investment increases, and it could then be sold for profit. However, even if you fail to make positive returns, you will still be required to pay your manager his fees. In addition, mutual funds demand an annual expense ratio before you even get on board to invest. This means that most mutual funds would require a minimum initial investment of around $500 to more than that. Even though some providers might be willing to waive that fee, you will still be required to pay it. Mutual funds are available through companies that sell them or through brokerage firms.

4. Index Funds

Like mutual funds, index funds spread your money across multiple stocks and bonds. The only difference between the two lies in their management—while mutual funds are overseen and monitored actively by a manager, an index fund is passively managed by a manager.

As these index funds are passively managed, naturally they involve fewer fees. This means you have an opportunity to get slightly higher returns than a mutual fund. Index funds are an ideal investment available for a long-term savings goal. Consequently, these index funds are less volatile than actively managed funds which are trying to beat the market.

When you invest in an index fund, you are actually getting your money in the long-term future. If you are confident enough that that economy will rise in the future, you are going to make good returns in the future. While this return isn’t as high as the returns offered through individual companies, it is nevertheless, a respectable return that is higher than the return offered by a savings account.

However, if the market goes into recession, it could be down for a considerable amount of time. If you have invested in an index fund, this would mean that your portfolio will also be down; hence it will offer lower returns.

Investing in an index fund is ideal if you want to ‘put your money in and forget about it, or if you don’t want to go through the trouble of investing in individual stocks. Nevertheless, an index fund will offer you greater returns than a mutual fund.

5. Dividend Stock Funds

Dividends are actually regular cash payments that companies pay to their shareholders and are associated with stable and profitable companies. Although the share prices of some stocks may not rise as high or quickly as some growth-stage companies, they can be attractive to investors due to the stability they offer.

Dividends stocks are best for any investor seeking to get a respectable return in the future. Young investors may invest in ‘dividend growers’ or those companies which have a record of consecutively increasing their dividends. Although these companies may not be offering high dividends yet, they could in the future—if their dividends growth is stable enough.

On the other hand, older investors would do well to invest in those investments which offer consistent dividends. Although reinvesting in these dividends might not be their goal, taking these dividends as cash could be a good option. Like other investments, the easiest way to buy dividend stocks is through an online broker.
\

6. Cryptocurrency

These are surely the newest and latest types of investments to make it to the list. They are unregulated currencies that are bought and sold on cryptocurrency websites. Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin became popular in the last decade after the recession hit. As a result, they have become a new trend over the past years, as dollars have flown into assets.

Bitcoin is the most popular type of cryptocurrency available these days and its price fluctuates a lot. For instance, its price was $10,000 a coin at the start of 2020 but has now soared to $30,000 at the start of 2021. This is how investing in a cryptocurrency is so valuable. Plus, they are easy to buy online and investors hope that the value of these cryptocurrencies will go up in the future.

However, these cryptocurrencies are an extremely risky investment due to unforeseen risks—the risk of government intervention and the possibility that cryptocurrency would never be accepted worldwide as a mode of payment. You can invest in Bitcoin the same way you invest in any other currency. This means that just like you exchange US Dollars for other currency such as the Japanese Yen, you can also exchange your dollar for cryptocurrency.

7. Real-Estate Property

Investing in property includes investment in raw land, housing, and other rental properties. While traditional real-estate investment involves buying a property and selling it in the future, there are more types of real estate investments that you can make. Take, for example, real-estate investment trusts (or REITs) which are companies owning real-estate properties like malls and hotels. These companies offer regular payments so you would not have to wait for that long to get your money. In addition, this type of investment has its appeal owing to its tangible nature.

However, investment in real estate property comes with many risks. Firstly, you might not get the returns you are expecting. This typically happens when the value of the property goes down. Secondly, the interest rates generally tend to increase, so unless you have a fixed mortgage, you might face a barrage of endless payments. Lastly, these come with a tax even in the absence of a return or a profit.

Real-estate property is best for investors who are less risk-averse and are willing to make a high investment in the hope of a high return. Nevertheless, real-estate investment is highly illiquid, which means that you should not invest in it if you need access to the money quickly.

The Last Word

Investments are a sure way to make sure your money is saved for future use. With the rising volatile situation of the economy, investing wisely is an option one should never overlook or ignore. Not investing in anything can, and will, lead to losses that one might not expect. This is the reason why you should always ‘save up for the rainy days’, as not doing so can sway or even sink your boat.

Check out more contents:

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Melanie is a creative writer with a special interest in Culture, Tourism, Business and Languages. Along with being associated with the Tourism industry for the past 7 years, she is working as a creative writer for CCJK, a known translation services provider.

Making Local SEO Work For Your Business

Making Local SEO Work For Your Business
Many businesses and corporations have closed due to the current pandemic, allowing small and local brands to survive in the local community. Customers are looking for alternatives while established businesses located in malls and other public spaces bear the repercussions of lockdowns and physical constraints. However, many small and local businesses lose out on any online platform to attract a larger audience in their community. That is why it is critical to capitalize on local SEO and make it work for any business.

Local SEO is essential for a company that aims to serve a neighborhood. Unfortunately, as local SEO possibilities expanded and began to take center stage, competition for local search traffic heats up. Customers' attitudes toward online search are also rapidly shifting. There's a chance you'll never find someone who hasn't done a Google "near me" search for any product or service. Many online users depend on these searches, whether searching for a nearby laundry shop or the closest gas station.

Why Does Local SEO Matters?

Local search is highly beneficial to a small business success. Since 46% of all Google searches are directed toward local content, if your company isn't tailored for local search, you might be losing out on potential customers who are ready to buy in your area. Therefore, if you want your company to remain significant, local SEO is essential.

People who use search engines usually see two distinct sets of search results. These two types are the "snack packs" and the standard organic results. These "snack packs" appear on the first list of products. It shows the top three local business listings that are relevant to the search query. Moreover, companies that appear in "snack pack" results have more page clicks and traffic than those that do not appear on this list. That is why working on your local SEO is critical for your brand to achieve online success.

Working on your local SEO will help get more physical traffic and draw more leads to your business. Your online exposure increases as you work your way up to being included in the snack pack. Local SEO also enables you to create a significant amount of exposure as people in your area look for terms relevant to your market. This marketing approach also encourages you to compete with competitors, giving you a chance to be a successful home-grown brand.

Ways To Make Local SEO Work For Your Brand

Local SEO can be a valuable driver for driving traffic to your physical store, as well as making your brand a household name. To do this, here are few suggestions for making things work for you.

1. Begin With Google My Business Listing

That is most likely the first and most important job you would complete for your Local SEO efforts. Google My Business is free for entrepreneurs that can assist you with your web presence. This tool would require your business' name, precise location, and other details to decide whether or not your company is genuine. If you've proved to Google that your company exists and is legitimate, it can award you the most desired spot in the snack pack.

Use local keywords with clear backlinks to your site to boost your Google My Business page and its results. Also, make sure your business is included in other directories and local listings. You also need to include essential details in your business profile, such as a working phone number, exact address, operating hours, and a link to your website. Having all these details will significantly help improve your local business.

2. Work On A Local Content

Content will still be a critical component of developing your online identity. It is the lifeblood of all your SEO efforts. When you work on your content, concentrate and streamline your subjects on what is happening around you. You can do this by building your content about social relevance in your area, recent updates in your area, health protocols, community service initiatives, and other interesting posts about what's going on in your locality.

Although writing about general issues can draw a large audience, it is often more appropriate to narrow the attention and write something relevant to the community to attract a local audience. You can use interactive content like polls, surveys, videos, 3D, and live streaming. Building these types of content is more accessible now as you can easily find design software for beginners that let you create compelling content without spending too much on your budget.

3. Have a Consistent Online Information

A citation or your online company directory is another critical consideration in your local SEO. The citation refers to a set of individual company listings found on various websites. When you add your company to legitimate and reputable online databases, Google is notified that your company exists.

When developing a citation plan, keep in mind that continuity is essential. It means that all of your NAP should display the same information. Otherwise, Google would have difficulty deciding which of your NAP is right and will not include you in any search engine results. In addition, avoid errors as far as possible, such as misspelled sentences, incorrect abbreviations, and missing phone numbers.

4. Establish Links With Authority And Relevance

Links have a substantial impact on ranking. It is not enough to have a vast number of connections pointing to your domain. You need a high-quality link from pages that have experience, legitimacy, and trustworthiness. Creating local content is also an excellent way to gain backlinks from respected local businesses.

When rating local content, Google considers the amount and consistency of backlinks to your website. As a result, it is critical to diversify the connection portfolio by acquiring links from other high-authority pages. When you produce high-quality local content, you open the door for companies in your area to naturally connect to pages on your web pages. You may also contact business leaders and bloggers in your niche and request that they share and connect to your brand. Earning trustworthy backlinks can make the site rank higher in local search results while also increasing brand recognition.

5. Think Mobile-First

Mobile devices now take more than half of the percentage of all internet traffic. As a result, you must ensure that your SEO for local business plan involves responsive design. Because of Google's mobile-first indexing, responsive design is more critical than ever for ensuring that your local business ranks at the top of search results. Responsive design means that your content and web pages appear correctly regardless of the screen size used to reach the site. Not only does responsive design affect the local SEO rankings, but it is also needed for increasing conversions.

6. Work On Your Social Media Presence

Social media plays an integral part in SEO that is often ignored. About anyone who owns a mobile device is a member of at least one social media site, making it one of the simplest platforms to use to improve your local SEO. As the pandemic forced many people to stay at home, many of your audience can be found on social networking sites. When a customer looks for a nearby service, the social media of the company or service also appears on the results page. Your social media will provide your customers with a quicker understanding of your brand and its offerings, which will aid in the decision-making process.

Final Thoughts

Physical traffic is critical, especially if you have a storefront. Although having an online presence is vital these days, focusing on your local SEO will significantly impact increasing traffic to your brick-and-mortar shop. Your aim in doing local SEO is to not only become accessible online but also to rank among the top three company listings in search engine result pages. Therefore, concentrate on refining your efforts to provide the best local SEO strategy for your business.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Maricar worked as a marketing professional for almost a decade and handled concerts, events and community service-related activities. Leaving her corporate job for good to pursue her dreams, she has now ventured in the path of content writing and currently writes for Softvire Australia and Softvire New Zealand. A Harry Potter fan, she loves to watch animated series and movies during her spare time.

Reasons Why Chromebooks In The Classroom Benefits Students

Chromebooks In The Classroom Benefits Students

What Are Chromebooks?

Many students are now using the internet to study since physical studies were affected by the pandemic. The likes of having online classes, online graduations, and sourcing study materials from the web is part of the 'new normal. Chromebook news has made headlines in the last couple of months, with these gadgets drawing different responses from the public. Teachers, parents, and students have different takes on introducing these gadgets to the learning system, which has created an unsettled environment.

A proper Chromebook definition is that these are tablets and laptops that are mainly designed for studies. They run using the Linux-based Chrome operating system. Their operation is centered around the use of Google Chrome to perform various tasks. Most of the device's data and applications are stored in the cloud, unlike how regular laptops use RAM and HDD. These Google-owned devices were introduced in 2011, although their significance has risen recently, where the need to study online has emerged.

So what impact do they have on students?

Chromebooks For Students: Pros and Cons

Chromebooks In The Classroom Benefits Students
Well, you can begin by pointing out the fact that a student will be excited to own a ‘laptop’ or tablet, but are Chromebooks good? Like any other internet-accessible device, Chromebooks have a good side and a disappointing part. So let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks for school.

Pros

  1. Costs – Chromebooks for kids can be more than 60% less expensive than typical laptops. This is because they are designed to be light and small, which reduces the costs. They also have fewer demands on software and hardware requirements, and they are pretty quickly, cheaply, and easily fixed if a problem arises.
  2. G-Suite for Education – Unlike Windows and iOS, Chrome OS doesn't require any licensing for installation and upgrades. That's because it’s entirely free, and you can get pretty much everything you need as a student. Some of the features include Google Classroom that enables teachers to create lessons and share forms, documents, and assignments with the parents and teachers. It helps both parents and teachers to keep track of the student's progress in their studies.
  3. Device Management and Deployment – Using the Chrome partner ecosystem, schools can distribute up to 1000 devices. These institutions can also manage the devices through the Admin console, restricting some of the accessible contents. Over 200 demands and policies are available that cover user features customization, network access, managing user, blocking, and pre-installing apps. The Admin can also decide to powerwash the devices to restore their factory settings.
  4. Share-Ability – There’s convenience on how Chromebooks work. The device has only one administrator, but it can have as many users as possible. You only need a Google account to access the device. You’ll only log in and be ableto access all your content from the previous lessons. There’ll be no complaints of losing anything since you can easily track everything from your account.
  5. Improved Productivity – Are you wondering why Chromebooks are good for students? As a parent, you get to set particular locks to these devices to restrict your child from any form of entertainment available on the net. This will enable them to solely focus on their studies, for they cannot use the gadget for any other purpose.
  6. Ruggedized Designs – Unlike the hardware requirements of the standard laptops, Chromebooks require less attention to that. These Chromebooks in the classroom can survive drops and spills are they have shock-proof rubber edges and are spill-resistant.

Cons

  1. Offline Capabilities – This is the main setback of these devices as the Chrome OS is only effective when connected to the internet. Most of the functions, from attending the classes to submitting the assignments, are only done online. However, you can enable offline mode to access the documents on your drive for offline edits or accessibility.
  2. No Adobe Suite – Adobe Suite is the most effective tool for editing files, images, and documents. Unfortunately, Chromebooks for schools do not support this software, making it hard for students to make precise edits. However, alternatives such as Pixlr although are no match for Adobe Suite.
  3. Hardware – If affordability is what you considered during purchase, you have to compromise on the hardware capacity. Unlike the typical processors, the primary Chromebooks will only do some things. That means running games or memory-intensive applications will cause the device to freeze or, worse – crash. However, you can opt for intel i5 or i7 for better handling, but they are not cheap!
  4. Storage Capacity – The idea behind these devices was to develop cloud-based gadgets, so pretty much of the space is available on drive or cloud. That makes most devices hold storage of 32 GB, which is so little for a 'laptop.' Nonetheless, you can decide to go for a model with a micro SD slot.
  5. No Installed Microsoft – Unfortunately, Windows Office files are not available on these devices. Although you have options such as Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, they don't match the capabilities of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can use the feature online, but it won't be as effective as the installed versions.

What Is The Significance Of Chromebooks In Classrooms

With the awareness of the upside and downsides of the Chromebooks for elementary students, it all comes down to why you should opt for these devices. There are several reasons why many institutions are advocating for Chromebook education. These are the factors that set apart these devices from the usual laptops and the benefits that you enjoy as a society.
Chromebooks In The Classroom Benefits Students
The use of Chromebooks in 2021 benefits both parents and teachers with considerations such as;

I. Budget

A school can get better deals when purchasing a Chromebooks list in bulk. Furthermore, these devices are also less expensive than ordinary laptops. That means there will be a lesser budget for the purchase of these devices by the schools. It means for the parents that they won't have pressure to contribute more during fundraising than how the purchase of laptops would get deep into their pockets. If you contribute more, then you stand to gain more Chromebooks for the school.

II. Size and Weight

The typical size of a Chromebook is smaller than that of a laptop. They are also designed to be light. This helps in its portability since even elementary school students can carry them around at ease. It also helps in storage for a particular space will accommodate more of them.

III. Battery Life

One of the introductory Chromebooks how to use guide is that these devices can last the whole day. Laptops go for up to 5-6 hours if you have a good battery with you. This ensures that kids can comfortably use these devices the entire day in school. It also helps in doing assignments at home since there are no worries of having your device go off because of battery issues. The model of these devices influences it since they don't contain much hardware, so the battery only has to do a few tasks.

IV. Security

Let's consider this – what's the most crucial thing in a student's school life? Right – their work! One of the primary considerations when developing these gadgets was that Google considered students' work security. For an average laptop, everything or most of the things are stored in the hard drive. When someone else gets hold of your computer, then you stand a chance to lose your privacy.

However, there is a turn of events of Chromebooks how do they work? These gadgets only have about 32 GB of storage, and that is purposed for the usual cache and cookies data. However, students who use them store all their work in the cloud. This keeps their work confidential and secret from any other user. You have to get the credentials of the Google account of a student to access their work.

That’s not an easy task to pull off. This ensures that the information about the student and what they are working on remains a secret. It also allows different users to operate a similar gadget because it is on the account and not the device - ensuring the security of the students' data.

V. Device Management

One key factor that makes Chromebooks stand out is that the admin controls everything in the devices. The demands and policies and the manner of using them are all commands that the administrator can make from his/her end. That makes managing these devices simple. There’s uniformity in technology level, and students are only exposed to the things that are allowed by the school.

Conclusion

Embracing the new technology is something that you ought to do. Not only does it carry lots of benefits, but the convenience in their use is also a good takeaway. Chromebooks for schools are an essential inclusion to the learning system even though they pose some setbacks. Getting an ideal one in terms of a good processor and allowing external storage will be suitable for you.

Have you used a Chromebook before? How was your experience? Are Chromebooks better than laptops? Leave a comment!

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Rachel Hudson is a freelancer and mother of two kids. She has dedicated her life to building a community of women ready to empower each other. She enjoys outdoor family activities, and traveling is firmly ingrained in her blood and soul.

Top 10 Tips To Promote Your Business With Motion Graphics

Tips To Promote Your Business With Motion Graphics
Motion graphics is like a type of graphic designing, the only difference between them is that the latter is static and gives it animation and movement, usually without following a particular description. If you want some bars in your graph to rise up to add up some additional visual flair? There, you have motion graphics. When and if you want the logo on your website to twist and spin around for you? There, for that you have motion graphics. Motion graphics can be used to set shapes and letters in your website in motion.. Whether or not there is a story that is being told is an immense determining factor, which helps in deciding if you want to deal with motion graphics or animation. Motion graphics animation mostly features shapes, objects or texts that are supposed to be set in motion. So, the question arises why bother investing in Motion Graphics when you have Static Infographics that are way cheaper?

  • Motion graphics can be very helpful to easily illustrate complex ideas visually: one can think of motion graphics like it is a visual aid. Some ideas, especially big and abstract ones can be very hard to describe with the use of words or with still images. And, just a few seconds of motion graphics can clear everything up flawlessly.
  • The visual flair of motion graphics seems to be quite appealing to a wide range of viewers: the use of cartoons may seem to people as too juvenile and irresponsible for a formal business. But motion graphics can surely use that cute and fun style and put it on work for topics that are rather more mature. It does not matter in what industry you are in, the motion graphics flair can make your message more appealing and entertaining for your current customers and potential customers as well.

It’s no secret the internet and everyone on it just loves videos. It does not matter if you pick out motion graphics or other styles of animation, almost all of them, in general yield better engagement, traffic, and conversions for the website. So, the question arises as to when to make use of Graphic Motion? Motion graphics are known to be the best for outlining or laying emphasis on facts and illustrating a point that one is trying to make. Motion graphics are typically used when there’s no requirement for a narrative or storytelling. Motion graphic videos can very easily break down your multifaceted services or products and present them in an impressive and memorable way. What you must remember is that motion graphics are at its core a visual aid, so it excels at explaining ideas that are quite hard to understand with the help of visuals.

Now that we know that it is videos that are on the rise these days, there are more openings to work and create within the medium than ever were; and here comes the use of Motion Graphics. They can be used to create unique animated videos and are a fantastic storytelling tool. And so today, we are seeing them almost everywhere from commercials to social media. They seem to be particularly attractive to creators because they help tell a creative story not constrained by the restrictions of live-action video. But, while motion graphics are an entertaining medium, not all that are created are on the same level. You can read here, the top IT recruitment Dubai. Most of the top recruitments in Dubai pay their employees a salary ranging between three thousand (low) through seven thousand (medium) till eighteen thousand (high).

There are a lot of elements that go in for creating of motion graphics, from scripting and audio to its design and animation. If at all any of these are poorly implemented, the final product may not be as effective as it should be. So one must know what is needed to get you through the process very smoothly. And now, if you are ready to make your first motion graphic, or at least are trying to figure out how to make the next one of yours a bit less stressful. Here, you’ll find a step by step guide to learn and get through motion graphic production, plus some tips to help save both your time and energy.

Here are some notes to remember, before you start:
  • Write a strong and creative brief.
  • Have a distribution plan and set it up ahead of time.
  • Get approval from your colleagues.
  • Ask for help if you need it.

So, let’s start with the steps:

1. Write A Script That Tells A Story

Even though motion graphics tend to be quite short, that frequently range from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, you should still have a script that has details of either dialogues or for story direction. If you seek to find your story, you can ask yourself the following questions;
  • Who is it that I’m trying to reach?
  • What do I want them to DO? Learn? And to Remember?
  • How do I want to make people feel?

As you go further into creation of your script, you should be aware of the word count. It can get very tempting to stuff as much as possible into your script, but what you should remember is that; simplicity and clarity are the crucial things. As and when you craft your script, you should consider which parts of your story that would be best communicated through the following:
  • Onscreen (also called Kinetic) Text: Text-only storytelling can be great for some situations, where sound is not an option. It can also be considered a smart way to engage people, as they will have to pay more attention to your ad when they read.
  • Voiceovers: it is like an opportunity to give a voice to your brand, tell people what your brand stands for and what it is.
  • Voiceovers and Kinetic: these two together can create a wonder, anytime you need to label or clarify something on screen.
  • Visuals only: these are not very commonly used, but anyway, they are helpful if you want to create a compelling graphic with no text.

2. Create A Storyboard, While You Brainstorm

During the storyboard phase, you can start visualizing but that is only possible if you have a story first. You should conduct a brainstorming session with your team to create an awesome storyboard. In this stage, you will want to draw out frames on a whiteboard and also, review the final script altogether before you get started.

3. Turn Your Storyboard Into A Design

As soon as you have an idea of the storyboard with your sketches, you can commence translating your storyboards into the actual designs. A tip here is that, everything you do at this stage will be used in the final animation stages, so take time and get the details right.

4. Animating The Final Designs

It is the phase, in which to bring everything together. Here are some things that you should think about in this phase.
  • The Animation Style.
  • The Timing.
  • And, The Sound Effects.

Read here, some tips you should consider to improve and promote your business with the help of Motion Graphics:
  1. Recognizing your Target Audience: knowing your target audience will help you know the type of advertising and marketing that you need to do. Thus, telling you the story for your motion graphic. So the question is how do you define your target audience? Read here some ways of doing so; determining the problems and needs of your customers, age, details about the product or service, gender, income level, location and more.
  2. Determining your budget and the message you wish to convey: the more information you have, the more you may spend on your motion graphics. Also, conveying a message is a very important part of graphic motion, as it is the thing that attracts the customers to your brand.
  3. When and where do you wish to display your video? Will it be aired on social media or on TV or on your Website? You should have a location where your targeted audience will find your motion graphic appealing.
  4. Determining your goals: you need to establish what and how you wish that the audience will react to your motion graphic video.
  5. Determining the time to be taken to reach these goals: The less time you have to accomplish your goals, the more you will need help from professional motion graphics video and which as a result will require budget. And so, it is important that you inform the motion graphics company about your time.
  6. The number of motion graphic videos that will be needed for your business: it depends on the number of products that you have to offer, your business type, the events, different seasons etc.
  7. the duration of the motion graphic video: it depends on where and when you wish to display your video. But it should be long enough to be informative and short enough to keep the attention of the audience intact.
  8. Include achievements and awards of your business: you can use it in your video, to show your audience that your company is worthy of their reliability and attention.
  9. Keep looking at different motion graphic videos: you should watch such videos of different companies to learn more and keep yourself updated.
  10. Wise selection of company: you should know which company will be able to serve you and your audience as to what they need, as it can make or break the deal.

Check out more contents:

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Sunny Chawla is a Managing Director at Alliance Recruitment Agency. He specializes in helping client for international recruiting, staffing, HR services and Careers advice service for overseas and international businesses.
Find Me On Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Top 8 Tips For Successful Graphic Designers While Learning Photoshop

Tips For Successful Graphic Designers While Learning Photoshop
One of the best thighs that a graphic designer gets to do is to work in highly creative domains. Their field is the one that is filled with diversity as different industries try to bring them aboard for various purposes but mainly advertising. If you wish to opt for a career in graphic designing and want to become a good designer, then you need to get comfortable with Photoshop. Photoshop alone doesn’t make you a successful graphic designer. But being on good terms with Photoshop will help you build professional proposals. Here are 8 tips for your success in mastering Photoshop. Go here for hire top graphic designer.

Get Inspired

In any field, to get started is to find inspiration and especially in design it plays a pivotal role in shaping your skills. So once you consider taking up design, you need to start a collection of work that you feel is successful in accomplishing its purpose.

You can do this by simply making your own Pinterest board, bookmarking images in your favourite web browser, or downloading items to a separate folder. This helps you to recognize both present and past trends.

You might also be able to identify patterns in others' work. In the process of looking for inspiration, you get to understand what you like to do. You get to know your own interests and style preference.

A thing about designing is all the work is preceded by some kind of inspiration. So all your savings in work might help in that and start your project faster.

There are even online platforms specifically designed for this purpose where numerous designers of varied fields showcase their work.They even give insights into their design processes and help you in starting your own creation process.

There are even apps that introduce new work naturally during your daily routine. This might be quite helpful if you find it daunting to set aside time for looking into inspiration.

Become A Dissection Specialist

After looking at the various inspirational works, you might have realised that you can start deconstructing a particular image into individual elements or how the designer might have created that particular image. You might even realise that you are looking at someone’s work who themselves are trying to master the blending of various elements.

Imagine doing this regularly on a daily basis. In no time you are analyzing the design process behind every image or illustration that you come across. Now you will be able to understand the process behind creating a piece of work. You’ll also be able to know which tools were used or other technical details that you might not know before. This greatly increases your skill level and lets your creative juices flow out. Doing this you’ll find out that you know more than you think you know. Or you might be exposed to the things which you don’t know and get accustomed to them.

You can level up this dissecting process from just looking at the image to literally deconstructing it layer by layer by viewing the image of interest in Photoshop. There are various online platforms where you can get those types of files. These would make a great practise in flexing your Photoshop skills.

Experimentation

When you don’t know what to do the best way to learn is by experimenting it out. It does take a long time to come to your own status quo but it doesn’t mean any less.

Experimentation also opens the doors to creativity and helps you get comfortable with the software at your own pace. Talking about Photoshop, there are numerous tools to try and experiment with. Each tool produces different results each time. There are tutorials for each tool you want to master out there.There are even effect specific tutorials which might be a great help. Follow them and try experimenting in various cases and bring out your creativity.

There will be numerous instances where you’ll be hit by an obstacle and wonder how to do something. Don’t worry every designer comes from that stage. To your numerous instances of obstacles there are numerous tutorials out there on different online platforms which are completely free.

Another important thing to consider in experimenting out is being specific in your search keywords to look for a solution when stuck in a problem. To find the specific terms for techniques, try browsing a design terminology glossary. This will help in ease your process of searching online. This also gets you accustomed with the professional words of your field.

Replicate Others Work

The best proven way of learning any new art is by imitating the work of others. But in no way you should boast the imitated work as your own work. Giving respect to the original designer not only is the etiquette but also increases you getting sincere feedback from experienced designers in your field.

In the process of recreating others’ work you’ll learn new technical skills that you can later use in your own projects. You’ll even become more creative by implementing various approaches in recreating the work. But you need to keep in mind that the process of practise is more important than the end result. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t get the end design right as the original work.

One big advantage in replicating other’s work is that it helps you to gain a deeper understanding of the design technique . It also enables you to assess your own capabilities which is an important thing to know to keep track of your progress.

So what are you waiting for - choose a work from your inspirations and try recreating it in the software of your choice. Got stuck somewhere. Try googling it out or post it in one of your forums. As you have learnt earlier, use specific search queries to get better results.

Do More Projects

By this point you might have got the idea that improving quickly means doing a lot of practise and by practise. Doing the dissection and imitation of some others’ work is well and good. These will only take you so long but might be the position you desire. But doing your own original projects shows who you are and gives your work authenticity.

Doing something you don’t want to do is hard, very hard. You’ll be unable to put aside some time to it, put in extra effort and might ultimately lead to frustration. This deeply affects your learning curve and you’ll see yourself going nowhere. So mostly try to do something that you feel passionate about. This way you will advance your design skills and have fun at the same time. Taking up projects that you feel passionate about greatly motivates you amidst the chaotic circumstances that you might be going through.You’ll compel yourself to get through your frustrations and try to face the uncertainty of facing not knowing what to design as you pick you new skills. All in all don’t design something simple because you think you should.

Get Feedback

One of the greatest ways of improving one's designs is by getting criticism. For some it might be as easy as a piece of cake. But for some it might be more than getting out of their comfort zone. In fact, everyone's a little afraid of the feedback to some extent. But learning to accept that constructive criticism takes you a long way in becoming a better designer. Once you try to accept the criticism, you’ll be able to understand others perspectives and incorporate their viewpoint to improve your ideas. Just the action of listening to what the others are saying might help you in opening your mind to border views. You'll always have the choice of either inculcating their ideas or not. Sometimes you do listen and not want to have any takeaways from the conversations you had. That is totally fine. You’ll be able to trust your own intuition and stand up to your own design solutions.

So get out there and start posting your work on social media platforms. There are also many online forums where you can become a member and get feedback on your work. There are a ton of experienced people who are ready to give out feedback. All you need to do is to be consistent and put out your work.Go here for hire top graphic designer.

Navigating Photoshop

There are a number of tools and effects in Photoshop to use and master. Try starting with the following:

a. Layers, Layers….

The one thing that is most important in Photoshop is layers. You need to know a lot about layers from adding a layer to merging layers. Sometimes you may need to utilize 10 to 12 layers to complete your project. So memorize keyboard shortcuts for various types of layer manipulations.

b. Presetting Your Tools

One way to save yourself a lot of time is to prepare your tools in a particular way. This is made possible by Tool Preset Icon. By this you can save your brush kit, color palette and use them later.

c. Scaling and Proportioning

One of the most important skills for a designer is scaling and proportioning. Without this the design could end up disastrous. You must always keep in mind the aspect ratio of the elements you are working with.

d. Know Your Keyboard Shortcuts

Another great way of saving time is by memorizing shortcuts for the various tools you use. Remembering shortcuts of all the tools is very scary, so try memorizing them on priority basis.

Enter Competitions

Entering competitions opens doors to whole new worlds. It enables you to develop confidence in your own skills and get ideas within the deadlines. They foster new bonds with new collaborations and teach you the importance of teamwork. In working as a teamplayer you also get to become a better communicator. You’ll be able to master the attitude of getting the things done which would become your greatest asset in climbing the ladder of your success. The best part about participating in competitions is that you get to learn all this stuff while literally having fun. At the end they enable you to give out the best in you to create something specific which for you is able to get feedback from distinguished designers in your field.

Hope these tips help you in becoming a good designer and all the best for your future.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Sunny Chawla is a Managing Director at Alliance Recruitment Agency. He specializes in helping client for international recruiting, staffing, HR services and Careers advice service for overseas and international businesses.
Find Me On Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Top 9 Excellent Platforms For Building Mobile Apps

Platforms For Building Mobile Apps
Mobiles have become a necessity in this digital world. Almost every person owns a smartphone. Life has become easy because of the apps on the smartphone. Every business has its own app and people can access these businesses with ease with just a few clicks. But if you are taken aback thinking about the costs, then you should probably rethink your decision. Making a mobile app is not at all an expensive deal if you go on the right path. So, what is the right path? In this post, we are going to discuss these platforms that allow you to build mobile apps from scratch.

What Is An Application Development Software?

Application development software or app development software allows the users to develop their own application for smartphones, desktop or web. If you have decided to build your own application, but lack knowledge of coding or budget to hire an app developer, then you can use any of the following platforms and make a simple app. However, if you want a more sophisticated app built from an innovative idea, you need to visit here for hire best app developer. A good app development service provider helps you in building an app catering to your innovative ideas.

App software development platforms allow users to bring their ideas together and build numerous attributes and designs to create a fully functional smartphone application. The application platforms help you in building two kinds of applications- web applications and the native applications. Here are the nine most reliable platforms for building mobile phone applications.

The Appy Pie

Appy Pie is one of the fast growing application building platforms. It has attained its own strong reputation all over the world. It is one of the most widely used app building platforms by small and medium sized businesses due its low- cost pricing plans. This platform is for those people who do not have any prior knowledge in app building and are building an app for the first time. The platform comes with many features like it allows users to upload e- books, integrate social media platforms, add in- app purchases and advertisements, connect to databases, create quick messaging apps and much more.

The platform is currently working on creating a good tutorial for its customers to eliminate their problems while implementing any particular feature in their app. The platform comes with a responsive chat support system, which enables the customer to call for assistance anytime. Any person can build apps through this platform with its user- friendly drag and drop interface and various affordable subscription plans. This platform is the fastest solution to simple app building, without requiring much knowledge.

Appery.io

Appery.io is a one stop solution for web apps, mobile apps, and progressive web apps(PWAs). Over the past decade, the platform has seen more than 10,000 apps being published using multi- purpose development tools and low- coding. One will need certain technical knowledge to create an app using this platform. The platform is cloud- based, which enables you to build apps for all the leading app stores. The best part of this platform is that it comes with complete access to its in-built components. You needn’t download or install anything to build your app. This speeds up your app building process.

The platform makes team collaboration easy. This means your developers, designers, business users and even customers can help in contributing to your development project in real-time. It also comes with a drag and drop interface to build the UI of your app. The application data can be stored in an instant by adding a cloud database and backing up your application whenever necessary. Users get complete support for their application building process. Users have an option to use the Appery plugin or develop their own custom private plugins to use in their application.

Game Salad

Game salad is a fantastic platform that helps you in building and publishing game applications for a number of platforms including android,iOS, HTML5, etc. The platform comes with a drag and drop interface that lets the user build a game application without any coding or programming skills. The game creator comes with scene and actor edit. This is the area where you would be setting up the actors in a scene and create attributes, sounds, images etc.

The platform has an active community forum, which offers help to the fellow independent game designers. It also helps you to learn computers through the app building process. The platform offers two plans, one for the educators and the other for developers. This platform enables you to build an app without writing a single line of code.

App Builder

App Builder comes with two different approaches and has a whole set of apps that would suit clients, employees, events and brochures. It comes with an intuitive dashboard and editor. This will be the right platform to go with if you are designing an app as an intranet for a company. You can build the app easily with the available toolkit. You can even avail help from the training or from The App Builder itself. This helps you in building the structure of your app and populate it with some content to begin with. You can use the dedicated App Library and offer a sneak peek into your app and customize it with your own branding.

The platform provides you with an option to protect both public and private apps with usernames and passwords, and distribute them via the app store. You can make several changes to the structure and content of your app even after its launch. You can build native apps to be launched on different platforms. Any changes you make to the existing app will go live within 60 seconds of making the change.

Nevercode

Nevercode is an advanced platform which is meant for skilled professionals who are working on various projects and need optimization. The motto of Nevercode is- Never code what you can automate.The platform automates the processes of app configuration, its setup, code analysis, deployment, testing along with launching the application in different stores. The platform increases the speed of app development with the help of automation. The setups for Ionic, Android, React Native and several other projects are automated.

The platform also comes with tools like Python, Bootstrap, Angular, Celery, Android and iOS SDK. It also supports third-party integrations. The platform comes with a 14 day trial period and provides the users with three types of subscription plans. The users can select one based on their budget.

AppMakr

AppMakr has nearly 2 million apps built on its platform. The app builder platform, AppMakr claims to develop an application in just twenty minutes, in a cost-efficient manner. They offer you a free plan that can be changed into a monthly or yearly subscription as per the requirements of the user. This platform provides numerous building blocks and gives users the choice to modify the design of their application. Visually, the editor of the app builder leaves you quite disappointed.On the whole, this is quite an affordable platform to start building your app but this platform definitely needs a major design overhaul.

Bizness Apps

Bizness is a great app building platform that enables you to build mobile apps for business through a simple process. The platform has a lot of features like e-commerce, third party app integrations, app analytics, push notifications and much more. One can create the app easily making use of their user-friendly content management system, which helps you to customize everything using your own designs. You can even check real-time app preview as you build it. Through this platform, you can easily update your app online and update it without having to follow the long process of updating on play stores. If the user gets stuck somewhere, he can make use of the tutorials and training materials available on this platform.

Mobile Roadie

Mobile Roadie has clients ranging from Disney to TED.org, making it one of the biggest players in the app building platform. There are numerous design options for users along with customizations. The platform is compatible with all media types. It offers several great community app features like chat, fan wall. The fan wall specially makes it interesting for artists and bands. The app allows smooth integration of music players, which is a big hit amongst the musicians. It also has some advanced app features like geo-targeting the content. With the platform offering more complex features, it takes longer to build an app. Apart from this, the platform should work on its user interface and make it a bit more intuitive.

Shoutem

Shoutem has only seen an upward graph since its launch in 2011. The platform has sleek template designs with customization options for users to create apps with unique designs. The platform comes with complete content management, seamless publishing option and strong user engagement tools. This platform is great for building event apps. The platform has a community feature called social wall, where the users are free to share their comments and photos. The subscription plans might burn a hole in your pocket. They aren’t expensive but they are not cheap either.

The platform is working to make their code available to developers. This would attract more and more people to work on additional extensions and features for them as the platform lags behind in this area. Despite its user experience and templates being exemplary, Shoutem still needs to work on the number of features it offers for building an app.

Though you can build apps with no technical knowledge and programming skill, if you want your app to be published in the App store or play store, you need to have some basic knowledge in image editing. Top quality visual elements are necessary while developing an app meant for user interaction. The process of app development is a never ending. The app launch is just the beginning of the entire process.

Once you launch your app into the market, you will start receiving feedback from your users. You need to build additional functionality and work on the feedback received. While the process of building an app is fun, there will be numerous instances where you would want to give up. You need to keep yourself highly motivated.

If you fail at building your own app, no worries you always have an option to visit here for hire best app developer. They help you through the process and make your innovation come out as an application.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Sunny Chawla is a Managing Director at Alliance Recruitment Agency. He specializes in helping client for international recruiting, staffing, HR services and Careers advice service for overseas and international businesses.
Find Me On Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

11 Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
Multiple consumers utilize social media apps daily. Statistically, Gen Z users spend 2 hours and 55 minutes on social media platforms on average, while Millennials spend 2 hours and 38 minutes. During this period, they spend most of their usage time searching for products/services they require. Consequently, brands find these platforms effective mediums for increasing their customer reach and brand identity.

One of the most popular apps among consumers is Instagram, the photo-sharing mobile app. As per user demographics, 38% of its users are Gen X, 57% are Millennials, and 67% are Gen Z. Thus, marketers for brands can target different combinations of audiences through Instagram. To improve visitor traffic, business professionals use different tactics for each user demographic and attract potential customers.

There are particular marketing strategies that brands can opt for to increase visibility on Instagram and market to consumers. In this article, you would learn 11 of the most useful marketing pointers to promote via Instagram.

1. Create A Right Account On Instagram

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
The first step in the marketing process for companies and entrepreneurs is to create a suitable account. While promoting any products or services on Instagram, using a personal account is not effective.

Instead, create a business account that includes multiple features like Instagram shopping, Instagram ads, and Instagram insights for user engagement. Also, business accounts include two separate inboxes: primary and secondary, CTA buttons, and contact information.

For brands, the platform has built-in features and capabilities in the business account format that allows account holders to continue their promotion tasks.

2. Create Interesting Captions

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
On Instagram, the main focus for the users is the photos and video clips. However, the caption is equally effective for catching the attention of viewers and improving conversion rates. Typically, there is a space available for the caption with a text limit of 2200 characters. Therefore, marketers have to phrase the words carefully but have enough words left for a detailed account.

On their feed, users can only see the first two lines of the caption. Thus, it is important to make these lines interesting to prompt the users to read 'more'. Maximum users would skip reading the entire content so add engaging and informative content from the first line.

Generally, the best captions are smaller in size to meet the fast-paced interest of readers. Keep the content simple and concise for easier readability. Note that 125 characters are enough for ad campaign captions. But, organic posts require a 138-150-character length approximately.

Multiple marketers add lengthy captions for their promotional posts as well. Here, the key point to focus on is viewer engagement. So, keeping the text interesting and educational is effective.

3. Focus On The Audience

To use the correct marketing tactics, brands must have a solid understanding of their general demographic. Statistically, the male-female ratio of users on Instagram shows 48% and 52% rates, respectively. Overall, consider the age-based, location-centric, and gender variety of the audience to target the right group(s) properly. The common age group that uses this platform are Gen Z and Millennials, with the majority of users residing in the United States.

It is important to set a target audience and focus on marketing to their tastes, preferences, needs, and interests. However, another point to remember is not to ignore the minority customer groups either. Marketers should mainly create their marketing strategy to create a direct connection to the viewers.

4. Focus On The 'Look'

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
As mentioned earlier, Instagram is highly reliant on imagery. So, portraying an aesthetically pleasing look of the brand on the business page is the key. Instagram users look for visually dynamic profiles and content. Thus, marketers for businesses should create an appealing Instagram wall to attract their target audience.

The aesthetic of the brand page can influence the brand identity of a business. Not to mention, it also prompts multiple users to finalize their buying choices. Here, the brand owners need to use accurate and appealing visual elements and colors.

Another important point to remember is maintaining a consistent flow to the imagery. For example, if the common theme in the initial photos is a particular color shade, that should continue in the recent images as well. Also, if one uses blank or white images between two of their photos, maintaining that consistency for future pictures is important.

An added factor to focus on in regards to consistency is the timing of the posts. It is effective for engaging audiences and turning them into loyal visitors.

5. Content Calendar With A Focus On Products

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
Setting a product calendar is influential for brand owners to market their offers on Instagram successfully. Businesses can gain more focus from their users with the help of an organized product calendar. Using the pre-set Instagram post template is an effective tool for brands in this context.

Presentation is very important when it comes to displaying any promotional content via Instagram. Statistically, 81% of Instagram users utilize the platform to search for services and products. Consumers find a strategically stylized representation of products more attractive than a bland, generic layout. So, brands using this platform for marketing should consider their product designing strategies.

6. Include User-Generated Content

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
Multiple consumers do not prefer professionally created or presented content. They cannot trust the brand, and that hampers the overall customer reach count and revenue growth.

Hence, promoting user-generated content can appeal to a wide audience on Instagram. Indeed, consumers prefer this strategy since they receive realistic promotions. For brands and their marketing time, this is time-saving since the consumers handle the development and design.

Also, it is important to remember to credit the original creator of the promotional content. It would increase their interest and loyalty to your brand. They may promote your products on their platform as well.

7. Promote On Instagram Stories

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
Multiple companies using Instagram for their brand or product promotion can utilize the Stories feature. It is an effective marketing plan. Statistically, 50% of users complete a conversion after they notice a service or product on Instagram Stories.

Generally, the Stories expire after the 24-hour time limit lapses from the moment of posting. Consumers feel attracted to personalized and authentic promotions, and that contributes to building the brand-customer relationship. Stories are comparatively more real than curated image posts and are engaging content.

In this context, businesses must focus on the following points:
  • Quick - Make a fast-paced and short video with many small clips or "scenes." Here, the message should get conveyed to the viewers within the initial 3 seconds.
  • Storytelling - The story content should have a basic idea or theme in place.
  • Value - Add a link to a relevant source or provide useful data.
  • Unchanging Brand Image - Marketers need to stick to the pre-set aesthetic and brand identity.
  • CTA - Add text in the video to prompt the users to fulfill the next step of swiping to the external link.

8. Add Hashtags

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
On Instagram, hashtags are highly effective in reaching a new audience with a similar interest in the displayed products. Using accurate hashtags in the caption can improve brand visibility and result in higher earnings. Typically, business-oriented Instagram users can add approximately 30 hashtags to each post. However, adding a lot of hashtags can put off multiple viewers. Statistically, marketing experts recommend using 11 hashtags or staying between 8-14 hashtags for brands while using this marketing tactic.

Note that it is important to focus on hashtags that match the posted content and not repeat them many times. Also, the hashtag text should not introduce action-oriented prompts.

9. Create An Instagram Shop

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
With the business-oriented Shop feature on Instagram, brands can appeal to a wide range of their followers. The visitors can access the Shop to find products and research information about them. Then, they directly buy their choices.

This tactic improves the user experience of potential customers; they do not have to leave the feed to make their purchase. To note, the shopping tab available under the Explore page allows users to view new products and services of their preferred brands.

10. Use Live Content

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
One useful tip to adopt a successful marketing plan for the Instagram audience is to provide real-time content. The current Instagram Live feature allows content creators and users to get in touch with their followers in real-time. Certainly, brands can adopt this strategy as well. Most consumers appreciate reaching an account they follow directly while they are posting.

Thus, the Live features create a sense of familiarity and realism for the consumers; they may feel more engaged with the brand.

Here, business owners can use particular strategies to implement this marketing plan properly. They can organize a live Q&A session, host a tutorial, or show the behind-the-scene situation of an event. Also, the professionals in charge of Live events can conduct interviews with fellow employees or the users directly. Another effective plan that is useful here is partnering with an influencer or industrial expert to hold a Live event together.

11. Utilize Instagram Reels

Instagram Marketing Tips For Brands
One of the most popular tools for consumers available on Instagram is the Reels feature. This is accessible through the Explore page for users to view and engage with video-based content. Typically, influencers and users on Instagram post their Reels for views.

However, brands are opting for this method to attract new visitors as well. Indeed, entrepreneurs can create and broadcast their product promotion ads through the Reels. These videos are usually short, and both organic and paid posts highly attract audiences.

Conclusion

Overall, social media marketing is an effective medium for attracting more views and increasing user engagement. Instagram is one of the most popular platforms available with smartphone users. Thus, these marketing strategies have a higher potential for success.

Adding proper content like images, captions, hashtags and structuring them aesthetically can improve the brand's visual look. Consequently, conversion rates and revenue can increase as well.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Bhavik Soni is a Creative Writer at Auto Monkey. We provide an original analysis of the latest happenings in the social media industry. Connect with Latest Social Media Trends and News plus tips on Twitter, Facebook and other social tools on the web.