Messaging Matters: How to Attract Your Ideal Customers - 394 https://ift.tt/32cRxPI Want to attract more of your ideal customers? Do you know which words and phrases resonate most with your prospects? To explore how to come up with the right messages to attract your preferred customers, in this episode I interview Jeffrey Shaw. Jeffrey is a brand message consultant who helps businesses attract their ideal customers. USEFUL INFORMATION: Check out Social Media Marketing World We'd love you to review our show on Apple Podcasts. Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast https://ift.tt/1LtH18p February 21, 2020 at 04:54AM
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3 Ways Marketers Can Keep Kids Safe in the Smartphone Era https://ift.tt/329FJOj Children are a tough audience to reach. In the age of smartphones and social media, it’s not just about appeal; it’s also about safety. Making the World SaferFortunately, there’s plenty that businesses can do to make the internet and smartphones safer. While all online entities accessible to general audiences — from content creators to product manufacturers — must adhere to state, federal, and international laws regarding child safety, the legal minimum isn’t enough. To keep kids using smartphones safe, risk prevention and education are key. Let’s break it down: 1. Only Ask for What You NeedImagine you’re a restaurant or retailer with a customer loyalty app. You might be tempted to collect all the information you can: full name, home address, birthdate, social media handles, and more. But the more you collect, the greater your risk — and the penalties for companies that mishandle minors’ data are stiff. Set your app to collect only the data you truly need. For instance, you could use points attached to a username that’s then tethered to a phone number. This way, the user has all the information they need and you have enough information to verify that user in your database. 2. Educate ParentsAlthough parents could opt to keep their kids unplugged, there’s societal pressure for everyone to be connected. Children are naturally curious, and they can be steered by peer pressure toward content that isn’t appropriate for younger audiences. Trying to keep kids from downloading certain apps on their smartphones is a losing battle. Encourage parents to seek device-level solutions, like Gabb Wireless’ child-friendly smartphone. The Android-based no-internet device can introduce kids to mobile technology without the inherent risks. Educational content has a role to play, too. Develop resources for parents not just about your app or website, but around best practices in keeping children safe online. Arming parents with information about how predators and scammers target kids can prevent bad situations before they happen. 3. Encourage Healthy Social Media HabitsSocial media sites may be popular, but too much of anything often turns out to be a bad thing. Although they’re valuable tools for personal connection, children who overuse social media may experience mental health issues. According to a 2017 study, those who spend more than two hours a day on social media platforms are twice as likely to develop or have social anxiety. This is a great opportunity for a CSR campaign. Champion healthy social media use in your content, and implement check-ins that ask users who’ve been in the app for hours whether it’s time to take a break. The post 3 Ways Marketers Can Keep Kids Safe in the Smartphone Era appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog February 20, 2020 at 01:37PM
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Daily Crunch: Twitter threads are getting easier https://ift.tt/2V3v2v8 Twitter is rolling out a “continue thread” button, ViacomCBS has big plans for its streaming service and Morgan Stanley acquires E-Trade. Here’s your Daily Crunch for February 20, 2020. 1. Twitter adds a button so you can thread your shower thoughts Twitter is adding a new feature for mobile users to make it easier to link dispersed tweets together. Per 9to5Mac, the feature — which Twitter tweeted about yesterday — is slowly rolling out to its iOS app. (At the time of writing we spotted it in Europe.) The feature lets you pull down as you’re composing a tweet to create a thread, or to see a “continue thread” option. 2. CBS All Access to gain content from Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures & more Until now, CBS All Access was of primary interest to Star Trek fans, but in today’s otherwise underwhelming Q4 earnings of the newly merged ViacomCBS, the company said the plan is to launch a new “broad pay” streaming service that will include CBS All Access content along with other ViacomCBS assets in film and TV. 3. What the $13B E-Trade deal says about Robinhood’s valuation News broke this morning that Morgan Stanley, a banking behemoth, will buy E-Trade, an online brokerage and financial services firm, for around $13 billion in stock. Meanwhile, Robinhood has about twice the accounts as E-Trade — but E-Trade probably has more assets under management. (Extra Crunch membership required.) 4. A group of ex-NSA and Amazon engineers are building a ‘GitHub for data’ Data is often highly sensitive and out of reach, kept under lock and key by red tape and compliance, requiring weeks for approval. So the aforementioned engineers started Gretel, an early-stage startup that aims to help developers safely share and collaborate with sensitive data in real time. 5. HungryPanda, a food delivery app for Chinese communities, raises $20 million Founded in the United Kingdom, where its service first launched in Nottingham, HungryPanda is now available in 31 cities in the U.K., Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. 6. Google gobbling Fitbit is a major privacy risk, warns EU data protection advisor The European Data Protection Board has intervened to raise concerns about Google’s plan to scoop up the health and activity data of millions of Fitbit users. Google confirmed its plan to acquire Fitbit last November, but regulators are in the process of considering whether to allow the tech giant to gobble up all of Fitbit’s data. 7. Sling TV reports first-ever subscriber decline This week, the company reported its first-ever decline in Sling TV subscribers, with a drop of 94,000 customers in the fourth quarter. Dish says the streaming service ended the year with 2.59 million total subscribers. The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com February 20, 2020 at 12:18PM Best Business Loans https://ift.tt/2SYYKPm Business owners need loans for a wide range of reasons. A loan can cover operating costs, purchase new equipment, buy inventory, or help with expansion. From startups to companies that have been around for decades, it’s not uncommon for businesses to seek funding at one point or another. If you need a loan and you’ve done any preliminary research, you’ll quickly learn that the market is flooded with choices. Banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders all have loan options for small businesses. While you might be tempted to visit your local bank for a loan, take this into consideration. Big banks approve just 27% of small business loan applications. This means you have just above one in four chances of getting approved. I don’t like those odds. That’s why the best business loans for 2020 come from online lenders and alternative financing options. I’ll show you the top small business loans in this guide, and explain how to find the best loan for your business. Top 11 Best Business Loans for 2020There are hundreds, if not thousands, of business loans to choose from. But there are 11 business loans that stand out from the crowd.
I’ll review each business loan below. You can use this information to decide which loan best fits the needs of your small business. The Best Business Loan ReviewsBlueVineBlueVine is one of the first places a business owner should look for a loan. You can get approved for a loan in just five minutes, and they have interest rates as low as 4.8%. Applying online will not affect your credit score. Hard credit checks are only performed after you’ve reviewed and accepted an offer. With BlueVine, you can get a loan of up to $5 million or as little as $5,000. Unlike other lenders on the market, BlueVine has three different types of financing solutions for business owners: Line of Credit
Term Loan
Invoice Factoring
More than 20,000 business owners have used BlueVine for a loan. The company has provided more than $2 billion in loans to a wide range of business types across all industries. There are some eligibility restrictions to consider. For example, to get a line of credit, you need to be in business for at least six months, earn at least $10,000 in monthly revenue, and have a 600+ FICO score. This makes BlueVine a better choice for an established business as opposed to a startup company. LendioLendio is unique compared to some of the other lenders on our list. That’s because you won’t be borrowing money directly from them. Instead, Lendio operates as a small business loan marketplace. They have a national network of more than 75 different lenders. PayPal, American Express, and Bank of America are just a few of the many companies that you’re familiar with. You’ll even recognize some names from our list of the best business credit cards. Simply fill out an application, and you’ll be matched with the top lenders and loan terms to meet your needs. This is the best way to compare business loans from a single platform. It takes just 15 minutes to apply, and there’s no fee or obligation. Once approved, you can have access to your funds in as little as 24 hours. Lendio works with lenders providing:
Over $1.4 billion has been funded from 73,000+ loans in the Lendio marketplace. No matter what you need the capital for, Lendio is sure to have an option for you. In some cases, Lendio will request additional information or documentation after you apply, which can sometimes be a pain. But if you’re not in a major rush to get a loan, this extra step is a non-issue. OnDeckOnDeck is a global leader in business financing. The company has loaned more than $13 billion to businesses across 700+ industries. With OnDeck, you can access a term loan or a business line of credit. Here’s a quick overview of each option: OnDeck Term Loan
OnDeck Line of Credit
To qualify for a loan with OnDeck, regardless of the loan type, you must meet the following minimum requirements:
With that said, the typical OnDeck customer has been in business for more than three years, has a personal FICO score above 650, and does $300,000+ in annual revenue. There’s some conflicting information online about OnDeck. Some websites claim this is a good place for business owners with bad credit. But you’ll still need to meet the minimum FICO requirements. OnDeck does not offer funding to businesses based in certain industries. For example, adult entertainment materials, firearms, drug dispensaries, gambling services, and vehicle dealers will need to seek a loan elsewhere. You can view the full list of OnDeck restricted industries here. FundboxMore than 100,000 businesses have trusted Fundbox to finance their small business loans. Fundbox is known for its simplicity and transparent pricing. It’s a great option for small business owners who don’t meet strict qualification terms from other lenders. To get approved for a Fundbox loan, you need to meet the following qualifications:
Fundbox specializes in trade credit, which is also known as vendor credit or net terms. In these cases, your company can continue to purchase inventory and supplies directly from vendors. But the vender will be paid by the lender, and your business repays the lender based on your term agreement. You can get interest rates as low as 4.66% with Fundbox. They offer 12 and 24-week term options for repayment. Funding CircleFunding Circle is a well-known and trusted name in the small business financing world. More than $10.9 billion has been lent to 77,000+ businesses throughout the globe on this platform. It takes just six minutes to apply online for a loan from Funding Circle. Access interest rates as low as 4.99% per year. You can borrow between $25,000 and $500,000 and pay it back between six months and five years. This type of flexibility is one of the many reasons why Funding Circle is such a popular choice for small business owners. Try the Funding Circle loan calculation tool on their website. It’s a great way to calculate your monthly payments based on the amount you want to borrow and the loan term. One potential downside of using Funding Circle is that you’ll have to pay an origination fee. This fee ranges from 3.49% to 5.99%, depending on your term. Funding Circle has loans specifically for minority business owners, businesses owned by women, business debt consolidation loans, and business acquisition loans. Another reason why I like Funding Circle is because they provide excellent customer service. You’ll hear back from a personal loan specialist within an hour of applying. Once your offer has been approved and accepted, you can usually access funds the following business day. KabbageKabbage offers small business funding in the form of revolving credit. You can get a credit line of up to $250,000 from this online lender. With Kabbage, the application process is simple. You’ll get a decision within minutes of applying online. With that said, you must connect your bank account so the system can review your business performance. You have to meet the following minimum requirements to get a loan from Kabbage:
This is a great alternative for business owners who don’t qualify for stricter revenue requirements that we’ve seen from other lenders. Kabbage offers 6, 12, and 18-month loan terms with no prepayment penalties. However, you will pay a fixed monthly fee in addition to the financing rate. The monthly fee ranges from 1.5% to 10% of the principal loan amount. The good news is that there are no prepayment penalties if you want to pay your balance off early. More than 200,000 businesses have used Kabbage to secure financing. Lending ClubLending Club offers a wide range of loan options. In addition to business loans, they provide auto refinancing, personal loans, and patient solutions for healthcare bills. Altogether, over three million customers have borrowed $50+ billion from Lending Club. $28+ billion has been loaned to businesses. Lending Club is another loan marketplace, similar to Lendio, which we reviewed earlier. However, Lending Club stands out because it’s a P2P lending network. The money you borrow can come from individual investors. In general, P2P lending has a reputation for high-interest rates since it involves more risk for the investor. But Lending Club has rates as low as 4.99% for qualifying borrowers. Lending Club has business loans for:
Another reason to consider Lending Club is the loan terms. You can get all of your capital in a lump sum upfront and repay it with fixed terms for up to five years. There are no prepayment penalties. Loan amounts range from $5,000 up to $500,000. You can get funded in just a few days if you qualify. To get a business loan from Lending Club, you must be in business for more than one year and have at least $50,000 in annual sales. You must own at least 20% of the business and be free of any recent bankruptcy or tax liens. Loans over $100,000 require collateral. KivaKiva is a nonprofit organization. This allows them to offer business loans at 0% interest. Yes, you heard that right; 0%. More than 2.5 million people have used Kiva to raise $1+ billion. This platform is designed to create opportunities for entrepreneurs in the United States. Benefiting from 0% interest does come at a cost. Kiva can only be used for microloans of up to $10,000. There is also a lengthy process to apply and get funded. First, you’ll have to fill out an application that takes up to 30 minutes. Then you’ll spend 15 days getting your friends and family to lend you money “to prove your creditworthiness.” Next, you can go public on the Kiva marketplace, where your loan will be visible to more than 1.6 billion lenders across the globe. Basically, Kiva is a mix between crowdfunding and P2P lending. You’ll have up to 36 months to repay the loan. If you need fast access to large sums of cash, Kiva is not for you. But for small business owners who aren’t in a hurry to get a microloan, Kiva is the best way to avoid interest fees. SmartBizIn most instances, you’ll need to visit a bank to get an SBA loan. These are government-backed loans that give businesses access to cash at favorable rates. Fortunately, you can get an SBA loan directly from banks in the SmartBiz marketplace. SmartBiz has SBA loans for up to $5 million, with interest rates between 6.25% and 8.50%. Loan terms range between 10-25 years. These favorable rates do come with stricter qualification terms. For example, get an SBA loan between $30,000 and $350,000 for working capital or debt refinancing, you must:
SBA commercial real estate loans between $500,000 and $5 million have even stricter qualification terms:
While it’s harder to qualify, you’ll benefit from favorable lending terms. SmartBiz has other loans that aren’t SBA-backed. But I’d only consider using this platform if you’re seeking an SBA loan. Credibility CapitalCredibility Capital specializes in small business loans. All of their loans are bank-backed, which gives them the ability to provide lower rates than other financing options on our list. Loans range from $25,000 to $350,000. Each loan is paid back monthly over one, two, or three-year terms. Interest rates start at 8%. There is no application fee. However, Credibility Capital charges origination fees starting at 3%. Fortunately, there are no prepayment penalties if you want to pay the loan off early. Here are the eligibility requirements for Credibility Capital loans:
The information on their website is fairly limited. You’ll need to start an application to see more details about your financing options. CAN CapitalCAN Capital has been served 81,000+ businesses for more than 20 years. During that time, they’ve loaned more than $7 billion to small business owners. With CAN Capital, you can get access to funding quickly with minimal paperwork. Most decisions are made within a few hours of applying, and funds can be released as soon as the next business day. They offer loans from $2,500 to $250,000. In addition to short-term business loans, CAN Capital also provides merchant cash advance programs. A merchant cash advance is more flexible. The repayment schedule is based on a percentage of future credit card receivables. This is an excellent option for business owners who don’t want to be locked into fixed daily payments, which is required for CAN Capital’s short-term loans. Repayment terms range from 6-18 months, regardless of your loan type. There’s an origination fee of up to 3% on short-term loans. All merchant cash advance loans have a $595 administrative fee. How to Find the Best Business Loan For YouWith so many business loan options to choose from, finding the best loan for your small business can be challenging. Getting a business loan is a big deal, so don’t rush through this process. There are certain factors that must be taken into consideration when you’re evaluating a prospective loan or lender. This is the methodology that we used to narrow down the choices on our list. You can use the same criteria during your search. Loan TypeAll loans are not created equally. Some lenders offer a wide range of loan types, while others provide just one or two. Common types of small business loans include:
It’s important that you apply for the right type of loan. For example, certain loans can only be used for real estate. So you wouldn’t be able to use those funds to purchase inventory. Lender TypeDecide what type of lender you want to borrow money from. Certain lenders offer more flexible terms or types of loans. Lenders typically fall into one of the following categories:
Qualification terms and interest rates vary based on the lender. For example, a P2P lending platform might offer loans to business owners with poor credit, but the interest rates will be much higher than an SBA loan from a bank. Funding NeededHow much money do you need? This will have a significant impact on choosing a loan and lender. Some lenders on our list only provide microloans of up to $10,000. Others offer loans in the $500,000 to $5 million range. Make sure you choose a lending option that can provide you with adequate funding. Interest Rates and Loan TermsBefore you accept a business loan agreement, review all of the terms. Some platforms have great tools to calculate the amount you’ll pay, including interest and other fees, over the term of your loan. Shop around for the best interest rates for your loan type. If you have excellent credit, you’ll be able to get more favorable terms. Always try to get the longest loan term for the lowest interest rate. I only recommend loans with no prepayment penalties. So you can pay it off early to avoid added interest charges. Some loans come with other charges, like a fixed monthly fee or an origination fee. While a 3% origination fee might not sound like much, it gets quite expensive as you start looking at six-figure loans. Qualification RequirementsUnless you have an outstanding credit score, you probably won’t qualify for every loan. Review the qualification terms before you apply to anything. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time. Common loan qualification terms include:
These requirements are usually easy to find on every lending website. Funding TimeHow fast do you need money? In some cases, you can fill out an application online in just a few minutes and get a decision within the hour. Other times, the application process is a bit slower. Some business loans provide same-day or next-day funding once you’ve been approved. You’ll have to wait days, weeks, or even months (rarely) in other cases to get your hands on cash from some lenders. Unless it’s an emergency, getting next-day funding shouldn’t be the deciding factor. I’d rather get a loan with lower interest rates and favorable terms, even if it takes a bit longer to get funded. ConclusionIf you’re looking for a business loan, these are the top 11 options to consider:
I’ve included something for all types of businesses here. From startups to large organizations seeking financing for virtually any business purpose, there’s a loan for you on this list. Whether you need $5,000 or $500,000, you can find a lender to meet your needs using this guide. Social Media via Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/UU7LJr February 20, 2020 at 11:12AM
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Twitter adds a button so you can thread your shower thoughts https://ift.tt/2v4HMqL Hold that tweet — and add another one. Twitter is adding a new feature for mobile users to make it easier to link dispersed ‘shower thoughts’ together — and another thing styleee. Per 9to5Mac, the feature — which Twitter tweeted about yesterday — is slowly rolling out to its iOS app. (At the time of writing we spotted it in Europe.) The feature lets you pull down as you’re composing a tweet to add to your previous tweet by creating a thread or seeing a ‘continue thread’ option. Tapping on a three-dots menu brings up an interface of older tweets which you can link the new tweet to — to continue (or kick off) a thread. The feature looks intended to encourage more threads (from #140 characters to #280 to infinity tweetstorms and beyond!). It may also be intended to address the broken thread phenomenon which can still plague the information network service. Especially where users are discussing complex and/or nuanced topics. (And Twitter has said it wants to foster healthy conversations on its platform so…) The shortcut offers an alternative for Twitter users to being organized enough to tweet a perfectly threaded series of thoughts in the first place (i.e. by using the ‘+’ option at the point of composing your tweetstorm). It also does away with the need to go manually searching through your feed for the particular tweet you want to expand on and then hitting reply to add another. No, it’s still not an edit button. But, frankly, if you think Twitter is ever going to let you rewrite your existing tweets you should probably think longer before you hit ‘publish’ on your next one. The ‘continue thread’ option could also be used as a de facto edit option — by letting users more easily append a correction to a preexisting tweet.
Whether the feature will (generally) work as intended — to boost threads and reduce broken threads and make Twitter a less confusing place for newbs — remains to be seen. Happily it looks like Twitter has thought about (and closed off) one potential misuse risk. We tested to see what would happen if you try to insert a new tweet into the middle of an existing tweetstorm — which would have had the potential to generate more confusion (i.e. if the thread logic got altered by the addition). But instead of embedding the new tweet in the middle of the old thread it was added at the bottom as a supplement. So you just start a new thread at the bottom of your old thread. Good job Jack. TechCrunch’s Romain Dillet contributed to this report Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com February 20, 2020 at 06:02AM Social Media Reviews are Important for Content Writing https://ift.tt/2SFYbuF No matter what industry in which someone works, content writing is going to be important. This is because content writing is a critical part of marketing. Whether someone works in the legal, healthcare, business, sports, or beauty industries, marketing is going to be important for spreading the word about a business’s products or services. When it comes to finding the right content writing services, social media reviews are going to be important. Social media has become an integral part of most people’s everyday lives. It seems that whenever there is a minute of free time, people pull out their phones. Then, their fingers almost reflexively navigate to the various social media platforms on their phones. This might include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and more. Because social media has become so integrated into people’s lives, it has become a key marketing tool. This is one of the key reasons why social media is such an important part of content writing services. Therefore, anyone who is looking for content writing services should first look at social media platforms. Think about other people or companies who have used content writing in the past. Then, see if these individuals have put out any reviews on the services. Some of the factors that might be mentioned in a social media review regarding content writing include turnaround time, the quality of the content, how well the writer adhered to the various specifications of the assignment, and whether or not the links worked as designed. Indeed, the links are important for both search results rankings as well as driving traffic to the intended site. Be sure to take a look at social media reviews. Furthermore, for the content writer, social media reviews are important. Social media reviews can serve as a form of marketing for the writer as well. When people see positive reviews on social media, they are more likely to trust the content writer. In addition, social media reviews are a way for people to spread the word about a certain content writer. Therefore, not only are social media reviews a judgment of the writer’s services but they are also a form of marketing. Finally, social media reviews are also important for content writing because they might serve as a source of inspiration. Social media is often the birthplace of new ideas. People swap comments, pictures, and videos with each other. This might serve as a way to garner new ideas when it comes to content writing, marketing, and more. This is one of the key points of social media reviews. Social media is only becoming more and more popular. Already, there are hundreds of millions of people who use social media on a daily basis. With the addition of new platforms and the growth of social media marketing, this is only going to be more important in the years to come. Therefore, anyone who is looking for content marketing services (or thinking about becoming a content writer), think about social media. The post Social Media Reviews are Important for Content Writing appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog February 20, 2020 at 03:31AM
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Lack of big tech GDPR decisions looms large in EU watchdog’s annual report https://ift.tt/2P6zl4Q The lead European Union privacy regulator for most of big tech has put out its annual report which shows another major bump in complaints filed under the bloc’s updated data protection framework, underlining the ongoing appetite EU citizens have for applying their rights. But what the report doesn’t show is any firm enforcement of EU data protection rules vis-a-vis big tech. The report leans heavily on stats to illustrate the volume of work piling up on desks in Dublin. But it’s light on decisions on highly anticipated cross-border cases involving tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Twitter. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) began being applied across the EU in May 2018 — so is fast approaching its second birthday. Yet its file of enforcements where tech giants are concerned remains very light — even for companies with a global reputation for ripping away people’s privacy. This despite Ireland having a large number of open cross-border investigations into the data practices of platform and adtech giants — some of which originated from complaints filed right at the moment GDPR came into force. In the report the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) notes it opened a further six statutory inquiries in relation to “multinational technology companies’ compliance with the GDPR” — bringing the total number of major probes to 21. So its ‘big case’ file continues to stack up. (It’s added at least two more since then, with a probe of Tinder and another into Google’s location tracking opened just this month.) The report is a lot less keen to trumpet the fact that decisions on cross-border cases to date remains a big fat zero. Though, just last week, the DPC made a point of publicly raising “concerns” about Facebook’s approach to assessing the data protection impacts of a forthcoming product in light of GDPR requirements to do so — an intervention that resulted in a delay to the regional launch of Facebook’s Dating product. This discrepancy (cross-border cases: 21 – Irish DPC decisions: 0), plus rising anger from civil rights groups, privacy experts, consumer protection organizations and ordinary EU citizens over the paucity of flagship enforcement around key privacy complaints is clearly piling pressure on the regulator. (Other examples of big tech GDPR enforcement do exist. Well, France’s CNIL is one.) In its defence the DPC does have a horrifying case load. As illustrated by other stats its keen to spotlight — such as saying it received a total of 7,215 complaints in 2019; a 75% increase on the total number (4,113) received in 2018. A full 6,904 of which were dealt with under the GDPR (while 311 complaints were filed under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003). There were also 6,069 data security breaches notified to it, per the report — representing a 71% increase on the total number (3,542) recorded last year. While a full 457 cross-border processing complaints were received in Dublin via the GDPR’s One-Stop-Shop mechanism. (This is the device the Commission came up with for the ‘lead regulator’ approach that’s baked into GDPR and which has landed Ireland in the regulatory hot seat. tl;dr other data protection agencies are passing Dublin A LOT of paperwork.) The DPC necessarily has to do back and forth on cross border cases, as it liaises with other interested regulators. All of which, you can imagine, creates a rich opportunity for lawyered up tech giants to inject extra friction into the oversight process — by asking to review and query everything. [Insert the sound of a can being hoofed down the road] Meanwhile the agency that’s supposed to regulate most of big tech (and plenty else) — which writes in the annual report that it increased its full time staff from 110 to 140 last year — did not get all the funding it asked for from the Irish government. So it also has the hard cap of its own budget to reckon with (just €15.3M in 2019) vs — for example — Google’s parent Alphabet’s $46.1BN in full year 2019 revenue. So, er, do the math. Nonetheless the pressure is firmly now on Ireland for major GDPR enforcements to flow. One year of major enforcement inaction could be filed under ‘bedding in’; but two years in without any major decisions would not be a good look. (It has previously said the first decisions will come early this year — so seems to be hoping to have something to show for GDPR’s 2nd birthday.) Some of the high profile complaints crying out for regulatory action include behavioral ads serviced via real-time bidding programmatic advertising (which the UK data watchdog has admitted for half a year is rampantly unlawful); cookie consent banners (which remain a Swiss Cheese of non-compliance); and adtech platforms cynically forcing consent from users by requiring they agree to being microtargeted with ads to access the (‘free’) service. (Thing is GDPR stipulates that consent as a legal basis must be freely given and can’t be bundled with other stuff, so… ) Full disclosure: TechCrunch’s parent company, Verizon Media (née Oath), is also under ongoing investigation by the DPC — which is looking at whether it meets GDPR’s transparency requirements under Articles 12-14 of the regulation. Seeking to put a positive spin on 2019’s total lack of a big tech privacy reckoning, commissioner Helen Dixon writes in the report: “2020 is going to be an important year. We await the judgment of the CJEU in the SCCs data transfer case; the first draft decisions on big tech investigations will be brought by the DPC through the consultation process with other EU data protection authorities, and academics and the media will continue the outstanding work they are doing in shining a spotlight on poor personal data practices.” In further remarks to the media Dixon said: “At the Data Protection Commission, we have been busy during 2019 issuing guidance to organisations, resolving individuals’ complaints, progressing larger-scale investigations, reviewing data breaches, exercising our corrective powers, cooperating with our EU and global counterparts and engaging in litigation to ensure a definitive approach to the application of the law in certain areas. “Much more remains to be done in terms of both guiding on proportionate and correct application of this principles-based law and enforcing the law as appropriate. But a good start is half the battle and the DPC is pleased at the foundations that have been laid in 2019. We are already expanding our team of 140 to meet the demands of 2020 and beyond.” One notable date this year also falls when GDPR turns two — because a Commission review of how the regulation is functioning is looming in May. That’s one deadline that may help to concentrate minds on issuing decisions. Per the DPC report, the largest category of complaints it received last year fell under ‘access request’ issues — whereby data controllers are failing to give up (all) people’s data when asked — which amounted to 29% of the total; followed by disclosure (19%); fair processing (16%); e-marketing complaints (8%); and right to erasure (5%). On the security front, the vast bulk of notifications received by the DPC related to unauthorised disclosure of data (aka breaches) — with a total across the private and public sector of 5,188 vs just 108 for hacking (though the second largest category was actually lost or stolen paper, with 345). There were also 161 notification of phishing; 131 notification of unauthorized access; 24 notifications of malware; and 17 of ransomeware. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com February 19, 2020 at 07:17PM 3 Ways to Get a Loan Even if You Have Bad Credit https://ift.tt/38JZWMS According to national statistics, roughly 58% of all Americans have a FICO credit score of 708 or greater. While this marks an upswing from years past, it’s little comfort to the thousands of people in the country struggling with credit issues. Bad credit can impede things like car and home ownership, due to the inability to obtain conventional loans. From the lender’s perspective, their reasoning for denial is pretty simple. They rely on your credit score to prove you will be able to pay back any loans they provide, and a score that’s too low reflects poorly in their eyes. However, this fails to account for people who may have low credit scores for reasons outside of their control, like medical hardship or being the victim of fraud. In these situations, it’s important to know the methods of getting a loan if you have bad credit. Consider Alternative Lenders Besides BanksIn general, banks are among the most difficult lenders to work with if you have bad credit. That doesn’t mean you can’t find alternative options if you really need a loan, though. One good place to start is credit unions. Credit unions, in general, have a little less stringent standards when it comes to banks, so if you’re in need of a small loan that you’re confident you can pay back, there are options out there you can look for. At the same time, if you’ve been a good customer with a bank for years, and suddenly have a credit score drop, you may be able to ask them to consider your entire history when it comes to a loan, not your recent history. If this option doesn’t work out, you can start looking for other options. E-lenders and merchant cash advances often offer smaller loans without requiring credit score at all or allowing for lower credit scores. The drawback a lot of the time is that these companies require large interest rates as a way of ensuring they recoup their investment. If you research these types of companies, make sure that you find one that is legitimate and credible. People have been scammed when they are desperate for bad credit loans. Enlist A Co-SignerSometimes, you can lean in on your personal network if you’re not able to get a loan with your own credit. For smaller amounts, this may mean simply borrowing from family and friends. For larger amounts, though, you may want that same person to come aboard as a co-signer. By co-signing onto a loan with you, their credit history will factor towards the qualification, helping you get loans you perhaps couldn’t on your own. However, the drawback here is that they take on a lot of risk in doing so. If you were to default on the loan, they would be required to pay it back, and the default would also show up on your credit history. As a result, it’s important that if you want to get a co-signer, that you reward their trust. Explain your concrete plan to keep up with the payments before they sign. If something changes, be sure to alert them as soon as possible. Title LoansAs mentioned before, the issue for people with bad credit is that lenders won’t trust them to pay back their loan. One way to work outside of this issue is looking for a way to secure the loan with a piece of collateral. Some people do this with property or valuables, but that may not always be on the table depending on your assets/living situation. Something that is more accessible is a title loan. A title loan is a secured loan contingent on your car. Because of this, the lender knows that if you were unable to pay the loan back for whatever reason, they would still be able to recoup the costs by taking the vehicle. In practice, what this means is that a title loan lender is more likely to give out loans to people with bad credit since they know that they will get their money back one way or the other. Many title loan companies also specialize in getting the funds to their clients quicker than professional loans. This means that if you have a steady income but little cash on hand, and an emergency comes up, you have a perfect option. People with bad credit don’t have to say goodbye to dreams of business ownership or other financial plans. However, they do need to be more creative and enterprising in order to find the cash that they need to get started. The post 3 Ways to Get a Loan Even if You Have Bad Credit appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog February 19, 2020 at 03:14PM
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Savvy Hacks to Repurpose Your Instagram Strategy for Local Reach https://ift.tt/2ugsnDm Instagram has become one of the largest social networking platforms in the world. Recent data shows 37% of adults in the United States are active on Instagram. The site also boasts that it has 1 billion global active users. Since Instagram has such a massive base of active users, it is easy to understand why so many large companies have capitalized off of it. One analysis found that a post on the most popular Instagram profiles is worth twice as much as a Super Bowl ad. Large companies like Coca-Cola and Proctor and Gamble are spending millions on Instagram campaigns. However, Fortune 500 companies with massive advertising budgets aren’t the only ones that stand to benefit from Instagram. Local businesses with much smaller marketing budgets are also leveraging the platform. Your local business needs to appreciate the opportunities Instagram provides. You don’t need to get discouraged about the fact that you don’t have as much capital to reach potential customers as national brands. You will be able to generate a steady stream of business if you understand the principles of local Instagram marketing. Here are some tips you should follow to get local business through Instagram. Create an Instagram local profileYou are probably already familiar with Google Local profiles. They are a platform to help local businesses expand the reach to google users. Instagram has its own version of profiles for local businesses. When users search for a company, they will see the following:
Instagram local profiles are very similar to the ones found on Google. You should start your Instagram local marketing strategy by creating one. Start and participate in discussions that are relevant to the local communityHave you marketed your business on Pinterest? You probably found that you don’t have to be as engaged in the community as you used to be. Pinterest changed its platform to be more of a search engine a couple of years ago. This meant that users didn’t have to spend nearly as much time building followers and commenting on other posts to gain traction. The same approach does not work with Instagram marketing. It is especially ineffective if you are trying to grow a local brand. You need to do more than just share great images. The best place to start is by initiating discussions about the local community or participating in existing threads. You can buildings discussions around local events, changes in the weather and activities other businesses have participated in. Here is an example of a discussion that Search Engine Journal capped from a local business: Be liberal about using local hashtagsHashtags are very important with Instagram marketing. According to Quick Sprout, posts with 11 or more hashtags get 81% of interactions. This is twice as much visibility as posts with only a couple of hashtags. Of course, your hashtags should be relevant to your target users. In the case of local Instagram marketing, you want to use hashtags that identify your locale. If you live in a large city like Los Angeles, your hashtags should probably focus on the neighborhood you are operating in. If you are marketing your business in a much smaller city, then the city name should be sufficient. Small businesses in rural communities might even want to include the name of their entire county two rich customers in the surrounding area. Develop a Sound Instagram Marketing Strategy for Your Local Brand in 2020Instagram is become a great platform for reaching customers. Local businesses can benefit from it too. However, you need to have the right strategy in place. The tips outlined above can be very useful. The post Savvy Hacks to Repurpose Your Instagram Strategy for Local Reach appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog February 19, 2020 at 10:11AM
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How to Increase Your LinkedIn Engagement: 4 Tips https://ift.tt/37KawCd Want a highly engaged LinkedIn following? Looking for tips to spur engagement? In this article, you’ll discover how to cultivate a following on LinkedIn. #1: Prepare Key LinkedIn Profile Components to Make a Good First ImpressionPeople see your LinkedIn headline when you share a post, comment on someone else’s post, or send an invitation to connect. It’s prime real estate on your LinkedIn profile that’s worth putting some thought into. If you want to gain followers on LinkedIn, make sure your headline stands out and shows that you’re an expert—and in what. People aren’t looking to follow a jack-of-all-trades on LinkedIn. They want to follow experts in the particular area that they’re interested in. If you wanted to learn about AI, for instance, you would follow a couple of AI experts, not a general technology expert or tech enthusiast. Make sure your headline shows your expertise and knowledge in a clear, specific area. Ask yourself, “What one topic or field do I want to share content and gain followers for?” Remember, if you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one. Imagine you’re a software project manager who wants to share content and gain followers on the topic of management/leadership. Here’s a headline you might use: Project Manager at Microsoft | Organizational Leadership | Training If you don’t want to include your company name in your headline, you don’t need to. Here’s a slight variation of the formula above: Data Science Project Manager | Leadership & Training | Cross-Functional Management You can also speak directly to your audience and write your headline about how you’ll help them. Here’s an example: Confidence Coach | I Help Professionals Build Confidence and Public Speaking Skills in Just 30 Minutes a Day The headline above not only shows exactly what you do but also includes a specific keyword: “public speaking.” Keywords will help you get found and noticed when journalists, bloggers, and other content creators search for experts to feature or interview. Finally, if you have a website that you want people to find, you can include it in your headline, too (along with some social proof to build more trust/authority). Here’s an sample headline: Health & Nutrition Expert | 15,000+ monthly readers | website.com Your headline will vary depending on your topic and the type of content you’ll be sharing but the formulas above are a good place to start. If in doubt, search for other experts on LinkedIn and see what they’re using. There are thousands of great LinkedIn profiles you can take inspiration from—just don’t plagiarize! Along with your headline, make sure you have a professional-looking headshot because this is another part of your profile people will see immediately (even before clicking on you). Having no LinkedIn profile image is a big red flag because practically every active user has an image. Leaving the gray default image will decrease trust and raise suspicion that you’re not a real person. And having a bad image can send the wrong message and make you look unprofessional or untrustworthy. Like with your headline above, browse other LinkedIn profiles to see what looks good. #2: Develop 4 Post Types for the LinkedIn FeedOnce you’ve prepared your LinkedIn profile to make a good first impression, you need to decide what to post. Here are four specific types of content you can share for higher engagement on LinkedIn. Tell a StoryStories typically capture attention in the feed more effectively than plain facts or tips. Telling stories will get your LinkedIn posts read and shared more, and help readers better understand the advice you’re sharing. Here are a few ideas for stories you can tell:
Facilitate an Unbiased DebateAnother effective type of LinkedIn post is asking an unbiased question to gather opinions. In this case, you serve as the facilitator. To visualize this, if you’re a nutrition coach, you might ask a question like this to prompt engagement: Question: Which meal of the day is the toughest for sticking to a healthy diet and why? Or you could make a statement and ask your audience for their opinion about it: Most of my students tell me that dinner is the most difficult meal for sticking to their diet. Do you agree? Why or why not? Dispel a MythAnother LinkedIn post approach is to bust a common myth related to your area of expertise. I have a background working as a job recruiter so I use that knowledge to bust myths about the job search process. I recently posted on LinkedIn about how it’s a myth that you need to send a cover letter with every job application. Then I went into further detail about when a cover letter is and isn’t needed. People replied and thanked me for saving them time and told me they’d been told the opposite in the past. One person said that this was a huge weight off their shoulders. That’s how to get people to remember your name and view you as an expert. If you can give people an “Aha!” moment, they’ll remember it. So think about what insider knowledge or experience you have and then try to come up with a list of common beliefs that are false and holding people back in your industry. Busting myths will give your audience value and help position you as an expert at the same time so it’s a win-win for growing your social following. Share Positive EncouragementPosts with positive sentiment tend to do well on LinkedIn. If you’re struggling to come up with content to post each week, share something positive or encouraging. Show empathy for what your audience is going through and give them a morale boost. This can be just as powerful as sharing practical, how-to knowledge—and sometimes more! I recently shared a post about how job-seekers shouldn’t be afraid to take a day off if they’re feeling burned out. Posts with positive encouragement like this help break up the pattern of informational posts (so people don’t get bored with your content). Also, showing that you’ve struggled with the same things as your audience makes you more relatable. Incorporating storytelling in this type of post will make it more engaging. Remember, sharing a story is more interesting and memorable than simply stating a fact like “Everyone gets burned out sometimes.” #3: Format and Optimize LinkedIn Posts to Produce More Clicks and EngagementUnlike other popular social networks, text posts tend to outperform image posts and video on LinkedIn. You should still test and use both but the majority of my posts this past year have been text-based, not image- or video-based. When you share a URL to a blog post or article, consider removing the preview image to keep the LinkedIn post entirely text-based, with just a plain link within the text of the post. LinkedIn provides an “X” button to remove the preview image. You’ll find it in the top-right corner of the image (circled in red below): Be sure to test post formatting because every audience and niche is different. You could share an article with the preview image or with just text describing why people should click and read. Here’s another formatting trick: If the purpose of your post is to get clicks to an article, include the link multiple times in your post (midway through and then at the end, for instance), not just once. This is a copywriting tactic primarily used in email marketing to improve your click-through rate and it works well on LinkedIn and other social networks, too. Make sure your text posts are well-spaced, too. Use only 1–2 sentences per paragraph. Incorporate emojis, symbols, bullets, and other styling to break up the post and keep your audience’s attention. I start many of my posts with an emoji like ✅ or ⚠️. Pro Tip: Choose emojis with colors that aren’t part of LinkedIn’s interface so your posts will grab more attention at first glance. LinkedIn’s dashboard is mostly dark gray, white, and blue, so try to select emojis that are green, yellow, or red. Include a Call to Action for Better Engagement and Organic Reach on LinkedInNo matter what you’re posting, there’s one trick that will almost always get you more engagement and reach: ending your posts with a question or call to action (CTA). Ask people to respond with what they think, whether they agree or not, and so forth. This tactic will help you get more responses so your post creates a more dynamic discussion, which will get the LinkedIn algorithm to recommend it in more people’s news feeds. Plus, whenever someone comments on your post, the post gets shown to some of their connections, too. Here are some CTA phrases you can add to the end of your LinkedIn posts:
#4: Prioritize Replying to Comments on Your LinkedIn Posts to Build on Initial Post InteractionsAfter you post content on LinkedIn, don’t just forget it and move on. You’ll get more engagement and organic reach if you come back and reply to comments a couple of hours later. When you do this, people who previously commented on the post will be notified about your response and they’ll be more likely to return and continue engaging. Don’t do this right away, though. Wait at least a couple of hours and then reply to a few comments. After 12–24 hours, return and do it again. If you’re starting out, this waiting period is essential because you might not have many comments to reply to overall. If you reply to everything in the first 2 hours, you’ll have nothing to keep the post going later. When you do reply to someone, you can ask them a question, clarify your point (if they had a question or concern), and things like that. You could also thank people for leaving positive comments. If someone says, “Great post,” reply by saying, “I’m glad this was helpful. Thanks so much!” You can also tag people in your comment (by typing the @ symbol before their name) when you reply to make sure they get notified and see your response. Optimize Key LinkedIn Profile Sections to Convert People Who View Your ProfileIf you follow the steps above, you’ll start getting more views on your posts and more clicks to your LinkedIn profile. Next, you’ll need to tweak your profile to generate leads and visits to your website, landing page, funnel, or wherever you want people to go to learn more about what you offer. LinkedIn About section: The first place to begin working on your “profile funnel” is your About section. This is one of the best places to get people to click or visit your website because your About section appears high up on your profile page and is highly customizable. You can add images and other media attachments, text, emojis, plain URLs, and more. If your business has a free introductory offer (like a free eBook download, software trial, etc.), this is where to mention it. You can put more information below your offer and link, too, like testimonials (in text or an attached image). LinkedIn allows 2,550 characters in your About section so there’s plenty of space to include multiple paragraphs. Make sure your main offer or link appears at the beginning so it’s “above the fold” and visible without someone having to click to expand your About section. Not everyone will click to expand the section and read everything so make sure your offer is visible to people passing through. Here’s an example of how you could begin your About section in LinkedIn’s editor screen: You could add more information below this, but by starting with your primary offer, you’re ensuring that the maximum number of people will see it! LinkedIn Experience section: The next place to build out your profile funnel is your LinkedIn Experience section. As with your About section, add a line of text showing people your offer and what they’ll get by clicking. To help make your offer compelling, use powerful words like free, proven, secrets, little-known, truth, powerful, tools, effective, wickedly effective, accurate, crucial, tricks, hints, quick, and easy. You can still describe your current work in your Experience section, just add this line at the top to give your readers the opportunity to learn about your additional offer if they’re interested. If you don’t make offers, the answer is always “no,” so make sure people see what you can do for them. Two other LinkedIn profile sections where you can feature your content are Publications and Projects. These appear lower down on your profile and aren’t as powerful (or as viewed). To add these sections, view your own LinkedIn profile, click Add Profile Section, and select Accomplishments from the drop-down menu. From here, you’ll see the option to add Publications, Projects, and more. ConclusionThe tactics above work best once you already have an audience and some traction on LinkedIn. But what if you’re starting out with practically no followers? Or what if you’re posting but not getting the engagement you had hoped for? In that case, there are some other tactics you can use to jump-start your account. One way to get your account growing faster is to connect with people directly. Direct connections will become followers by default so your posts will get more views as you gain more connections. To start, you can connect with everyone who comments or engages with your posts. Do the same for those who comment/engage with posts from other experts in your niche. You can also search LinkedIn for relevant groups to join, participate in discussions there, and connect with everyone you talk to or engage with. For best results, send a customized message when inviting someone to connect. You might say something like, “Hi Ted, I really liked your comment about project management strategies and I wanted to connect here if you’re open to it. Cheers!” Or if you’re connecting with someone after commenting on their post, you could say, “Hi Susan, I commented on your post about leadership. I really enjoyed it and I wanted to connect here, too, if you’re open to it.” If you pick a well-defined niche, optimize your LinkedIn profile to demonstrate authority and trust, and share the types of content discussed in this article, you’ll grow your following, boost your engagement, and generate more leads for your business on LinkedIn. If you stay consistent, this can lead to steady growth in followers and business leads, as well as news/media interviews, podcast interviews, and more. Get Expert Social Media Marketing Training!Want to keep ahead of your competitors? Need to master a social platform? Discover how to improve your social media marketing at Social Media Marketing World 2020, brought to you by your friends at Social Media Examiner. You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, and enjoy extensive networking opportunities . Don’t miss the industry’s largest conference. Get in early for big discounts. Sale ends Tuesday, February 18th, 2020.CLICK HERE TO LEARN MOREWhat do you think? Will you try any of these four LinkedIn post types? What types of posts get the most engagement for you on LinkedIn? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on LinkedIn marketing:Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner https://ift.tt/1LtH18p February 19, 2020 at 05:04AM |
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