5 Strategies to Help Your Business Succeed Thru Social Media

You may have probably been thinking how your competitors are using the best of social media in their business? Do you need help in getting started with your social media strategy? Every business has a specific set of goals and objectives that will guide them in order to successfully connect with their customers. Below, you will find some business strategies that might help you succeed and become a brand persona:

Identify the Goals of Your Business

It's next to impossible to move further without knowing the business goals you want to achieve. Whatever strategy you implement will work only when you're clear about your targets. You need to closely identify the overall needs of your business and how to reach those needs through social media.

Surely, you'll find a number of personalized goals when it comes to marketing through social media. Some of them can be included in your business strategy for attaining brand awareness, retaining customers, and to cut down the relevant costs.

Set Objectives to Measure Your Performance

Usually, the goals aren't useful if you don't have existing objectives and parameters that would let you know which goal you have accomplished. Eventually, it happens that one of your goals is already generating leads and sales, but you don't know how many leads you need to generate to move to the next target. You need to be smart to make your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, so that you can always keep track of your progress.

Once you're done with your objectives, it's also important to get those goals achieved with the deadline. If you don't set a deadline, your efforts and resources will get wasted.

Identify your Target Audience

If your business has low engagement on social media, it means you're not reaching out to the accurate audience. Your business can rapidly grow, once you reach out to the ideal customers, at the right time, in the right place. When you're clear with your target audiences' likes and dislikes, age, and interests, it will become easier for you to target them on social media.

Get to Know Your Competitors

When it comes to promoting your business on social media, you need to be aware of your competitors' social media strategy. This would give you an idea of how they work towards reaching their targets. If you find them good enough, you can also think opf ways of how to incorporate those tactics in your business. You can also keep an eye on the content and other stuff they are posting, understand their promotional strategies and ideas, and how they respond to their audience.

Choose the Appropriate Channel

If your target audiences are spending more time on one social media platform than the other, you need to choose the one which has more number of your possible audience. This is an easy way to reach out to more number of people in a very short time.

Almost every business in existence today has its own social media profiles. If you are new to social media marketing, without wasting much time, determine which network works best for your business and reach out to your audience.

4 Awesome Android Apps For Your Wireless File Transfer Needs

Have you ever had an instance wherein you want to transfer a file to (or from) your PC from your Android device, but don't want to go through the hassle of connecting different kinds of cables just to accomplish that task? If your answer is yes, then you may want to check out these helpful apps that will enable you to wirelessly transfer files from one device to another.

Airdroid

Airdroid is a remote access and wireless file-transferring tool, which works by asking the user to sign in from a computer and then creates a virtual desktop that has the capability to access contacts, download apps from the phone to the PC, send text messages remotely, and transfer files back and forth.

The app lets you choose how to complete the connection between the two devices you'll be exchanging files with, and provides all the guidance you need along the way. Other major features include:

• Notification Mirror - mirror phone notifications from any allowed apps to your computer.
• Backup & sync - backup photos and videos from phone to computer
• SMS & Contacts management - send and receive SMS, and manage phone contacts from the desktop.
• AirIME - use your desktop keyboard to type on your phone
• Record screenshot - record phone screenshot with one click, no root required (Desktop client only)
• Speed boost - clean memory and boost phone speed
• Other phone management features (Web client only)

• Find phone: locate your phone when it's lost
• Remote camera: see through the lens of both front and back cameras.
• Apps & Media: manage photos, ringtones and videos, upload and install and export apks.

Amaze File Manager

The Amaze File Manager app doesn't only let you manage your files on Android with some really slick material design, it also has the ability to host its own FTP file transfer server that anyone can connect to. This means any user can fire up Filezilla (or any other FTP client) and quickly place or remove files from the Android device. However, FTP isn't the only feature this app can offer. Amaze File Manager also has the ability to mount Samba file shares. This feature is perfect for those who have a Samba file server on the network and want to wirelessly grab a file or two.

Portal

Portal is a wireless file transfer tool created by Pushbullet that allows users to throw files into a "portal" and then transfer them wirelessly from any computer to any mobile device with the portal app installed. To transfer a file, the user only need to do is open the app, head to the portal website and scan a unique QR code. After that, it is possible to use the wireless network to instantly beam any file right away.

A lot of mobile users will be glad to know that they can easily get a file from one place to another. Unfortunately, transferring files with Portal is a one-way type of system. Currently, there isn't any way to transfer in reverse. Still, if you're looking for a program that can send a file from PC to phone, Portal is a good choice.

Sweech

Several wireless transfer tools on Android are dressed-up FTP tools. The app itself hosts an FTP server for the user to connect to over the network. This works well, and even though FTP is quite an old technology, it has its uses. Still, sometimes you might want to transfer files from one device to another instead of that standard "access FTP on a Windows PC."

Sweech doesn't only make it possible for users to access the phone for file transfers via an IP address, but the app has other features as well. If you install Sweech on your Android phone, you can the "Android beam" to wirelessly transfer files from one device to another. Also, it has the ability to generate a unique QR code for file-transfers because typing long IP addresses in the web browsers can be a hassle.

What You Need to Know About Computer Crashes and Its Causes

What causes a computer to crash? Computer crashes can happen for a variety of reasons. While random computer crashes can happen at any time and can be difficult for an average user to diagnose, underneath the surface of a computer crash are these five common culprits.

Full or Corrupted System Registry Files

Every Windows-based PC has a Windows registry. This registry contains random files that are integral to the performance and operation of your computer. Over time, some of those files can become corrupted, misplaced, or gets lost altogether. When that happens, the system registry becomes compromised, and the computer can crash at any time. The best way to arrest this problem is by running a Windows registry cleaning program. Such programs scan your Windows registry for problems then automatically make repairs. If you run a registry cleaner and the crashes persist, they are probably being caused by a different issue.

Disorganized Files

Windows operating systems handle file organization in a way that can be complicated. Basically, they break files up and fit them into gaps in the computer’s memory. As time goes by, these disorganized files can prompt a crash. An optimization solution is built-in right into Windows-based PC’s called “disk defragmentation.” You can easily locate it inside the System and Security section of the Control Panel. By running a defrag once every 2 months you can keep any computer crash at bay.

Malicious Software

This can take many different forms, but if it’s a virus that is accidentally unleashed after opening a strange email or an adware that tags along with other information that is automatically downloaded from a website, you need an antivirus or anti-malware program. There’s no question that any malicious software can wreak havoc on a computer, and even make it crash. There are many topnotch programs out there that can regularly scan your computer for the presence of such problems.

Too Little Available Memory

As never-ending as the available memory on your PC may initially seem to have, the fact is that it can be depleted with incredible speed. You can find out for sure by checking the information within “My Computer.” If it appears that your available memory is low, you can use a PC cleanup program to remove unnecessary files; such programs remove things like temporary Internet files and other file debris that can suck away much-needed memory.

Dust and Heat are Enemies

If you’ve run through all of the preceding possibilities and continue experiencing frequent crashes, a hardware issue could be the problem. An easy one to rule out is overheating because of so much accumulated dust inside the CPU. The central processing unit includes a fan that is designed to keep it running cool. Sometimes, the fan may not work as efficiently because it’s filled with dust or simply just broken. If it’s truly broken, try buying a bigger and better fan that isn’t very expensive. If it puts an end to your PC crashing problem, it will have been more than worth it.

Top Computer Security Threats that Could Dominate in 2017

If 2016 was the year of mainstream hacking, 2017 will be the year hackers will innovate. 2017 may be the year of increasingly creative hacks. In the past, cyber security was considered the realm of IT departments, but now, not anymore. As companies systematically integrate smart security into their systems, the hackers, too, evolve.

Remember that cybercriminals will always follow the money trail. Ransomware attacks will grow quickly this year because the attacks are cheap to operate, and many organizations are not yet applying the proper analysis and decision-making to appropriately defend against this threat. Simply put, cyber security threats aren’t going away any time soon. In 2017 there will be a number of them as technological development continues to advance rapidly and society becomes increasingly dependent on technology, a boon for hackers who are only becoming defter by the day.

Third Parties (Vendors, Contractors, Partners)

Third parties to companies or even just individuals like vendors and contractors pose a huge risk to anyone, and the majority has no secure system or dedicated team in place to manage these third-parties. As cyber criminals become increasingly sophisticated and cyber security threats continue to rise, organizations are becoming more and more aware of the risk third parties pose.

Cyber Espionage

Beyond hackers looking to make a profit through stealing individual and corporate data, entire nation states are now using their cyber skills to infiltrate other governments and perform attacks on critical infrastructure. Cyber-crime today is a major threat not just for the private sector and for individuals but for the government and the nation as a whole. Nation-state cyber warfare will become an equalizer, shifting the balance of power in many international relationships just as nuclear weapons did beginning in the 1950’s. Small countries will be able to build up a good cyber team to take on a larger country. In fact, cyber warfare skills have already become part of the international political toolkit, with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Ransomware and Extortion will Increase

The days of single-target ransomware will soon be a thing of the past. Next-generation ransomware paints a pretty dark picture as the self-propagating worms of the past may return to prominence, but this time they will carry ransomware payloads capable of infecting hundreds of machines in an incredibly short time span. As more devices become Internet-enabled and accessible and the security measures in place continue to lag behind, the associated risks will steadily be on the rise. Aside from the obvious risks for attacks on consumer IoT (Internet of Things) devices, there is a growing threat against industrial and even government IoT as well.

Ways to Reduce IT Spending Cost for Your Small-Medium Business

We all know that running a small or medium-sized business means there are a lot of things you can’t do that large corporations can only do, such as have their own IT department and technical department. Of course, you still need some sort of IT infrastructure since computers are an essential part of any business, especially startups and those still in the stages of growing pains. So, how do you trim down the numbers without sacrificing so much and risk losing the business?

If you’re looking for ideas on how to reduce IT spending without risk of losing the forward progress of your business, these tips might come in handy.

Learn about and use open source

You can save a lot of money when you don’t have to dole out precious funds for licensing fees to Microsoft and other third parties. And don’t ever think that using open source applications will move your business backward. On the contrary, many startups today are adopting open source in wholesale fashion because it is the technology of the future, and it’s also reliable, scalable, secure, and ready to serve nearly every need you have.

Shift to virtualize your servers

Instead of constantly repairing and replacing those aging servers, why not go virtual instead? You’ll save a lot of money on hardware or buying new computers, and your backups will be much easier while and failover will be almost non-existent. Add to this the fact that maintenance on your virtual server farm will be greatly streamlined, and you’ll arrive with the same conclusion as many IT pros have seen for themselves, in that, virtualization is always a win-win situation.

Prioritize your spending

Prioritizing is especially important for fixed spending, especially for those things that your business can’t do without. In fact, this should be one of the first things you do when faced with a small and fixed budget. Go through it line by line and prioritize the items you can’t do without. Then take them off the table and move on to what you can do without. While you’re prioritizing, make sure the spending on your priority item is really in existence. If item A is a priority, make sure the budget you have earmarked for item A is accurate. If you think you need to adjust on anything, then do so at once.

Outsource to data centers

If you’ve been spending a lot of money on legitimate licenses, but that is costing you a higher percentage of your budget than you deem necessary, migrate from a local server to a hosted server. Plenty of those services are available and they will save you money. You can also migrate away from that costly local backup solution and move it to the cloud since many data centers offer that as well.

Seek good advice from others

Seek the opinion of others who were affected by IT change, especially from your friends. They will give you key insight as to what works and what should be changed.