Business.com |
- International Business and the Coronavirus: Best Practices
- EAT and YMYL in SEO: 4 Tips for Creating Content That Ranks
- What E-Commerce Retailers Need to Know About COVID-19's Impact on Business
- FInancial Planning for Entrepreneurs: How to Manage Your Business's Cash Flow
- There's No One-Size-Fits-All for Productivity. These 4 Archetypes Could Unlock Your Team's Flow
- How to Plan Your Video Content to Attract More Viewers
- How to Communicate Most Effectively With Team Members During COVID-19
- How to Keep Content Fresh During COVID-19
- Remote Work is On the Rise Due to COVID-19
- 6 Serious Social Media Predictions for 2020 You Better Not Ignore
- The Employer's Guide to the ADA
- The Right and Wrong Way to Deal with Workplace Grievances
| International Business and the Coronavirus: Best Practices Posted: 07 May 2020 04:36 PM PDT  The coronavirus outbreak has certainly affected our lives and our businesses. Sectors like luxury and construction are suffering severe decreases in demand, paired with the obligation to shut down stores. Meanwhile, medical suppliers are finding themselves unable to meet an abrupt rise in demand, and there's the fear of drug shortages after lockdowns threatened the international supply chain. What should we do in this context? How could an international business continue to operate during this crisis? And what sacrifices do we need to make to keep ourselves, our customers and our colleagues safe? We aren't short on information about the coronavirus. Our problem is an excess of contradictory information from less-than-reliable sources. So, our first challenge is cutting through the noise. We might be eager to give some reassurance to stakeholders. To do so, we need to understand the role we play, communicate responsibly and clearly, and don't add up to the noise. Becoming purpose-drivenDon't lose your identity. Your agenda should be congruent with your day-to-day activities, reflecting the "why" behind your company's operations. If you"re in the business of providing security (through antivirus software, for instance), how can you communicate that function during the crisis? Who will need you the most? How can you help them? Your communication efforts should have your company's mission at its core. Think beyond your product, reflect on what your brand means and the value it creates on a day-to-day basis. Rethinking your marketingAccording to a recent study from IAS, 54% of users believe that ads from travel, food and beverage, banking, automotive and retail companies should not appear beside COVID-19 content. While making sure a website's ads match its content is a responsibility of publishers and advertising networks, as advertisers, we should understand that it's not the right time for aggressive marketing tactics. Instead, we should use our platforms and communication channels to offer support and a sense of security. Conservative, low-budget communication methods will come across as more honest than anything too costly or premeditated. Addressing your supply chainOne of the main areas of concern regarding the effect of the coronavirus on the economy has to do with supply chain interruption. For instance, the U.K. government published a list of resources and possible ways to resolve supply chain interruptions or handle international projects. Reach out to international partners, not only with your needs but also with an eagerness to help them navigate the crisis. Reliable online business translation services can be crucial, helping us maintain effective and sensitive cross-cultural communication. Speaking your partners' language is always an effective way to let them know that you care. Sending a flawlessly translated message of support can make you stand out as a loyal and constructive partner. Aside from correspondence, there are two types of documents you might need to translate if you operate at an international scale: Press releases, in which you make your policies public, and, if you have employees and subsidiaries in other countries, manuals, guides and recommended procedures. Keeping your internal communications effective is key to keeping your business operative during the crisis. Shutting down locationsEstablishments such as grocery stores might do more harm than good by shutting down. But other businesses need to do so. Some are within very affected areas. Others will go the extra mile to make sure they don't put their employees at risk. Deciding whether your business should shut down might carry financial concerns. Mitigating the financial effect of the epidemic could be possible through technology. Can you deliver orders? Could your customers shop online? Can you provide your services online? But the financial concerns of shutting down are not exclusively yours. Your employees might also be concerned about the effect that being unable to work normally might have on their finances. Providing them the security and reassurance they need might be crucial to guarantee high morale during these trying times, and to keep them from making risky health decisions. Companies across the world have implemented special policies to keep employees safe during the outbreak. Remote work (which we'll discuss in the following section) is one of them. But, for instance, Starbucks is offering "catastrophe pay" to baristas exposed to COVID-19. Catastrophe pay helps make sure that employees who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus don't decide to go to work regardless out of need. Adopting remote workRemote work is at the order of the day. Some companies have had to rush through what would have been months or years of preparation and training, in just a few days. Digital transformation tends to be a long-winded, slow and progressive process powered by training and a throughout assessment of our options in terms of tools and processes. Compassion and understanding are key. The challenge of adopting a new work dynamic adds up to the stress of the crisis How do we make it work? It's worth remembering some remote work best practices:
If you've already implemented some remote work policies, it might be the best time to test how those policies were adopted. Are some teams more adept at remote work than others? Is this locale-dependent or discipline-dependant? Key takeawaysThese might not be your most prosperous times. They surely haven't been for industry titans in China and across the globe. During the outbreak, we can reaffirm our brand's purpose and find a new way to continue providing what we've always provided: be it comfort, security or entertainment. Be responsible and compassionate in the way you communicate. This might not be the right time to flood the internet with new flashy ads. Tweak your message so its content and tone don't come across as insensitive or manipulative. If your business operates internationally, keep your communications clear across locales, both internally and externally. An expert language service provider can make sure nothing is lost in translation. Accommodating to the health choices your team has to make is crucial to keep stakeholders safe. And offering extraordinary benefits can be the difference between an employee going to work and spreading the virus, and an employee staying safe at home. If your company adopts remote work, make sure you maintain productive dynamics. The best tools are those that you don't have to think about a lot. Be understanding of the stress that this outbreak might carry. Especially for those in risk groups. This might not be an opportunity to continue growing, and it might not facilitate aggressive expansion strategies or hyper-productivity. Instead, this is an opportunity to test your brand's purpose and show, once more, how your business makes the world a better place. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EAT and YMYL in SEO: 4 Tips for Creating Content That Ranks Posted: 07 May 2020 04:21 PM PDT  Everyone's talking about creating high-quality content; yet, few can successfully create content that wows their audience and impresses Google. Clearly, "high-quality content" is more than a buzzword. In its endeavor to offer quality search results to its users, Google is constantly refining its algorithm to rank pages based on the quality of content they carry. Not just this, the search giant also has a team of search quality raters that evaluate pages based on Google's search quality guidelines. Therefore, to rank high, your content should not only be informative and easy to consume but also satisfy Google's algorithms and human quality raters. This is especially relevant to YMYL (your money, your life) pages as they affect a person's quality of life, health, happiness, safety and financial stability. Check out this white paper from Google that clearly states the significance of improving the EAT score for YMYL pages. So, how do you create content that ranks? Dive in to learn the top tips for writing quality content for YMYL pages. Focus on content relevance and consistency.Consistently sharing relevant content can significantly improve your EAT rating as it makes your website look authentic and believable. It also shows that you care about your audience and take extra care to align your content with their needs and interests. Content relevance fetches results! In fact, according to an infographic by Content Science, effective content is the one that's useful and relevant to the target audience. The content strategy firm analyzed to measure the impact of content relevance and usefulness on its effectiveness. They measured effectiveness using the ContentWRX score that applies an algorithm to come up with a score of one to 100 to represent content effectiveness. They found that content that's relevant and useful was the most effective in driving conversions. Share high-quality main content.The main content of the web page should satisfy its purpose. As you can see in the screenshot below, the quality of the main content is critical to your site's EAT score. Google wants to make sure that the reason why a person visited a YMYL page (gathering information, getting advice or making a purchase decision) is being fulfilled through the main content. Make sure you share useful and relevant main content that meets the purpose of the page. Lay special emphasis on content accuracy, originality and comprehensiveness. Also, remember to get rid of distracting or misleading advertisements and popups that can adversely impact the content quality and ranking. Use long-form content.Google's quality raters are looking for in-depth articles that offer complete information on a specific topic. Long-form content not only gets a higher ranking but also resonates with the audience and helps establish the site's authority and credibility in the given field. Viperchill, a marketing blog, put together data from different domains to determine the average post length each of these niches should target for maximum traffic and conversions. According to the analysis, the YMYL posts in the domains, such as marketing, finance and personal development should ideally be longer than 1,000 words. Another study conducted by BuzzSumo and OkDork reveals that content with a length of 3,000 to 10,000-words has the potential to go viral. So, the rule of thumb is to create long-form content that can not only elevate your brand visibility but also boost conversions. Finally, create an impressive About Us page that introduces your business and the working staff and talks about your vision and mission. This page will not only enhance your reputation but also boost your trustworthiness as people get to know about the brand they are dealing with. Involve an expert.Check out what Google's John Mueller has to say about creating content for YMYL pages. In this video, he shares that if you are writing on a topic that's not your area of expertise, your content will not rank high in authority and expertise, giving it a "shaky foundation." Instead, you should involve an expert boost the authority and trustworthiness of the webpage, thereby allowing search quality raters to give it a higher EAT score. Getting an expert to write content for your YMYL page gives it a stamp of approval and helps you get a higher EAT score. Communicate authority by involving a subject-matter expert who is well-recognized in the niche and has valid certifications that support their expertise. Further, mention the author's credentials to show that the content is coming from an expert. Notice how Investopedia includes information about the content contributor on each of its YMYL pages. Add the author's bio, certifications, awards and credentials on the blog post to boost the authority of your content. Alternatively, you can create a separate author's page to show that the content is written by someone who is uniquely proficient in the subject. Finally, add auxiliary information like the author's contact details or customer service information to show that actual humans who care about the audience are writing the content. Include case studies and testimonials.Google pays special attention to the trustworthiness of the content posted on YMYL pages as these pages make a significant impact on the reader's life. Therefore, you should work towards showing Google your commitment towards sharing high-quality, accurate and the latest content in your domain, thereby boosting your site's trustworthiness. One of the obvious ways of achieving this is by sharing real-life case studies from customers who have used your products or services. These case studies should share how you improved their quality of life or made a positive impact on their business. Don't forget to mention their names or include their business logo with a link to their site. This will make your content look trustworthy, improving your EAT rating. Pay attention to the SEO ranking factors for YMYL content.Besides creating an awesome About Us page and including the author's biography, it's important to pay heed to the SEO factors that Google uses to rank the YMYL web pages. Consider the below-mentioned questions to make sure your YMYL content ranks.
Wrapping UpCreating quality content for YMYL pages is quite challenging and cannot be achieved in a day. A marketer needs to build trust and visibility by consistently offering relevant and shareable content to the target audience. Use the tips shared in this post to create good-quality content and improve your site's online reputation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What E-Commerce Retailers Need to Know About COVID-19's Impact on Business Posted: 07 May 2020 04:13 PM PDT  Unless you have been living under a rock recently, you must be aware of the impactful coronavirus outbreak which has proved to be world-shaking. The COVID-19 virus has had its fair share in affecting people and businesses around the globe and is still spreading across the whole world. Preventive measures for this disease have resulted in more and more people avoiding mass social gatherings, working from home, and taking social distancing measures. Schools have been shut down and cities have been locked down to control the outspread. The shutdown of shopping malls and stores indicates the potential in high online sales as compared to brick and mortar stores. E-commerce is taking center stage in these tough times when people are afraid to go out and shop. If we talk about the short term effect, there has been an upsurge in the sale of health products including protective masks and toilet paper. Amazon's blog confirmed that they are looking for 100,000 new employees in the U.S. E-commerce sales shot up to 52% more compared to the same time last year. Brick-and-mortar online revenue growth index
Along with sales, the conversion rates also increased by 8.8% which is a substantial number. Still, e-commerce is expected to slow down. More and more people choosing to avoid public places means there lies a very big opportunity for online retailers to pick up the slack for physical stores. The big guns including Amazon and Walmart are expected to cover up lost ground and come out as clear winners. U.S. internet users who are likely to avoid stores if the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the U.S., by age, February 2020
Despite the conditions favoring the online market clearly, there is a lot of hindrance in the road ahead. Factors like shortage of supply, immobile supply chains, and an expected decline in user demand act as the biggest woes for the online retail business. It is quite evident that all products manufactured and shipped from China are being affected like nothing else. Reduction in the labor workforce and business closures is fueling the considerable fall in all business processes. You won't be surprised to know that delivery people in China have to take a health test every morning and spend another 20 minutes disinfecting their delivery vehicle and clothes to avoid spreading germs. Advertising ad spend is being controlled and limited by companies like Amazon because the high number of ad clicks and customers on their stores isn't being matched with the number of completed orders properly. Here's the result of a survey of 360 retailers carried out by DigitalCommerce360: What are your corporate financial expectations relative to the coronavirus and your retail business? Please select all that apply.
Confusion among online sellersThe impact of the virus outbreak is quite groundbreaking and has influenced businesses and executives all over the world. The DigitalCommerce360 survey gave results which were kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, approximately 38% of the retailers expect their e-commerce business to go up and boost because of the virus. On the other hand, a similar 36% of retailers expect it to go down. The remaining 26% of people think that their business would run as projected with little or no impact because of the virus outbreak. Investigating a little deeper, they were asked to specify the level of action they were taking relative to the coronavirus. In response, 20% of them said that they were taking aggressive action, 44% said that some action is being taken while there's more to follow, and the remaining 36% were happy to sit back and wait for more information. When asked about what exact action they were taking to combat the situation, these were the results:
All this sums up for the fact that there is a lot of confusion amongst online sellers and businesses as to what the future has in store for them. No clear strategy or measure could be adopted to combat the effect of this illness outspread. Negative outlook for 2020Owing to everything we have read so far, there has been an inevitable shift in the belief and outlook of online retailers considering how the year 2020 may pan out for them and their business. The current increase in product demand can surely take a downturn and hit the e-commerce sector badly. Online businesses are wary of this fact, and it's good that they are prepared for it. What is the solution?The majority of readers might be curious to know the distinct answer on how to combat the severe impacts of the COVID-19 on e-commerce. Here is how online businesses can fight the situation strategically. Source in new areas.We all understand how the majority of the production for numerous companies and brands is sourced from China. Until now, that wasn't even a problem. With the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been an upsurge in supply chain issues, which has made it difficult for business owners to balance the supply and demand. To counter this, businesses must look for new opportunities where they could shift their production to. Domestic manufacturers can play a key role in solving the production problem and can come in handy in the long run. Apart from China, countries like India could also be considered as an option for production where the coronavirus is still in a dormant phase. Keep your cash intact.Ask any smart business owners and marketers around you who have survived crunch financial situations (2008 recession) earlier and are surviving the COVID-19 outbreak as well: How are you able to do it? You will surely hear one common answer: They all had some amount of cash. There is no doubting the fact that you make smarter business decisions when you have the cash to back it up. Another reason for having some cash intact is that while moving production or placing orders with factories, you are ought to compete with big companies who give big orders. Production companies and factories face this daunting task to fulfill the increasing number of orders. With no cash by your side, they might not even consider and accept your average order as the bigger companies present them with a bigger and better opportunity. Adjust your marketing strategies.Along with adjusting our production cycle, we also need to pay heed to our marketing plan. The virus outbreak has had an impact on how people think, how willing they are to spend money and how likely they are to become our customers. Let's consider a prospect for your online business which sells sportswear. Normally, outreach marketing strategies like email marketing, paid ads, SMS marketing, etc., would give a great output in the forms of leads or maybe even customers. In times like this, they are bound to fail. The reason is that people are hesitant to spend money. So, if people aren't spending much, you should follow suit. Or at least, cut your costs. Spending money on paid media like Facebook and Google Ads should be minimal, preferably negligible. People spending most of their time at home has led to an increase in social media usage and messaging applications. Now could be the best time to leverage social media by posting entertaining content. This will help your audience develop a relationship with your brand, even when they aren't buying anything. Another strategy you might want to consider is limiting discounts and implementing coupon marketing. Coupons became extremely popular during the Great Depression as Americans were looking to cut costs. Unfortunately, the current economic crisis has a close resemblance to the depression. This means coupons may play a pivotal role in shopping moving forward. Marketing teams and leaders need to rethink marketing budgets and pivot their strategies which suit the current social distancing situation. Work on team communication, and cross-train employees.This might easily be the most important part of maintaining profitability and surviving in these crunch times. Team members need to communicate effectively and bring out probable issues to the front. Similarly, managers and owners must ensure that they are reaching out to their teams when needed and opting for possible solutions for the rising problems. Enhancing the versatility of your team and cross-training them is another best practice. Make sure that your team has a basic knowledge of all kinds of tools including email, social media, CRM, and shipping tools. Even if some of your full staff is not present at times, your team can cover for each other and keep the business up and running. Have a continuity plan, and share it with others.All people involved in your business including your bank, vendors, management, etc. must be contacted and you should share your current business situation with them. Tell them how you plan things going forward and how everyone's role would be critical. Small business communities and local organizations in your network can provide you vital resources and advice. Connecting with other small business owners and sharing advice at the ground level is highly recommended. Think of worst-case scenarios that could arise in the near future and plan effectively so that they don't arise in the first place. Most importantly, treat your employees well and tackle any difficulties together as a group. Apply for SBA loans and tax deferrals.This goes unsaid but if you think you might have big problems, you have the administration to help you. Small Business Administration(SBA) loans are being offered for small businesses facing a crisis during coronavirus by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The limit is up to $2 million and can be used to handle payrolls and clear debts. Calling the authorities and gaining accurate, up-to-date information should be the way forward. According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, taxpayers are getting a three-month reprieve to pay the income taxes they owe for 2019. You can use this time period to free up some money and pay urgent bills first. Consult your tax professional regarding any other tax credits you can leverage. President Donald Trump has already suggested suspending payroll taxes for the rest of the year. If this is implemented, small business owners could breathe a huge sigh of relief. Above all, contacting the IRS(Internal Revenue Service) regarding the payments of tax bills would be helpful. There has also been an upsurge in private business loan offerings and for some business owners, this might come in handy. Plan to rebuild once the crisis passes.Business owners need to understand that these are tough and testing times, but like everything else, this too shall pass. Every business would need to be reinstated in some way or the other and it's better to ponder over that process now. Taking out a few minutes from your daily schedule and thinking about new opportunities will be beneficial. Complete digitalizationAdopting complete digitalization on all fronts answers the call for now. Increased investments in omnichannel marketing and analyzing the current scenario for the optimization of business processes is highly recommended. This is not the perfect time for the "wait and see" approach of businesses, and its high time that you as an online business owner, take charge of the situation. Brick-and-mortar stores continue to experience a drop in foot traffic and e-commerce technology needs to evolve to prepare better for the future. Is your team working remotely?Avoiding social gatherings is an important preventive measure to adhere to during the coronavirus outbreak. If your team or business resources, including you, are working from home, that's not a problem. On the contrary, it's highly appreciative of you to stay cautious in the wake of this outspread. To manage your whole team and work remotely is a tough nut to crack but is doable. Maintaining the same work concentration at your remote location just like you do at your office is the key. We should also consider the fact that not every remote work location would be the same. It's natural to have people around you when you are working from home and the main question is: Is it possible to extract some value from your team while they are working from home? Yes, this is surely possible. Here's how:
E-commerce is quite a vast business field with a lot of revenue and products at stake. That being said, the coronavirus is a serious pandemic that needs to be controlled. Business teams need to be proactive and cautious at the same time to come out as potential winners. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FInancial Planning for Entrepreneurs: How to Manage Your Business's Cash Flow Posted: 07 May 2020 04:01 PM PDT  As an entrepreneur cash flow is vital to the survival of your business. It's what keeps your financial engine running. Despite this, many business owners don't have a handle on their cash flow. Regardless of how great your business model is or how profitable you, you can't survive if you can't manage your company's cash flow. According to a study, 82% of businesses that fail cite cash flow issues as the leading cause. Even if your business is excelling in other areas, you must stay focused on managing your company's cash flow to avoid putting your business in danger. What is cash flow management?Cash flow management is the process of tracking how much money is coming into and going out of your business each month. As an entrepreneur, understanding how cash flows in and out allows you to plan and act strategically to manage and grow your business. Cash flow management helps you identify how much money your business needs to cover expenses (like paying staff and suppliers), and it helps you predict how much money will be available in the future. Since things change daily, having a proper understanding of how much money your business has from one moment to another is very important in ensuring your business has enough money to keep running. Cash flow management is keeping track of this flow and analyzing any changes, which, in turn, allows you to spot trends, avoid obstacles, identify opportunities, and prepare for the future. We work with hundreds of small businesses, and it is in our methodology that financials are at the core of building a healthy business. Here are four steps you can take to set up your financials to ensure you are properly managing your business's cash flow now and in the future. Create a cash flow document.Regardless of how well your business is performing or how profitable you are, your business can't survive if you can't manage your cash flow. Often, small business owners struggle to get their numbers together. If you fall into this category, you're not alone. The first step in avoiding financial failure in your business is getting a firm grasp on your cash flow and the impact it has on your business. The key things to look at when you're pulling together a cash flow statement is revenue and expenses. Expenses mean everything from payroll to advertising, cost of goods sold, credit card fees, tech and admin fees. With all of this information in one place, you can see where you might be spending too much or where you could be spending more to grow your business. This document will allow you to plug in your revenue and expenses to understand how much money is flowing in and out of your business each month, and it will allow you to start making projections into the future based on multiple scenarios. Assign a cash threshold.Having a cash threshold as a business owner allows you to be objective, not emotional. When growing your business it's easy to let your emotions take over, especially when you don't have numbers and data to back up your decision making. Developing a cash threshold can help you remove that emotional attachment so you can approach economic risk with logic, not emotion, and rest easy knowing you have enough money in the bank. Finding your cash threshold is easy, you need to look at the amount of money you need in a month to cover expenses multiplied by the number of months you need the money to last (e.g., three months). $ monthly burn x # months = needed cash threshold Once you have your cash threshold, you can build your cash flow pro forma with which you can run all your decisions. For example, what happens to your cash if you hit your goal this year? What happens if you miss by 25%? What happens if you exceed your goal by 30%? From there, what can you do to reinvest in your business for growth or remove to stay profitable? 3. Identify your cash flow levers.Whether you are exceeding your cash threshold or nowhere near it, it's important to understand the levers in your business you can play with to adjust the gap in your cash flow and tighten your financials. Below are the top two levers in any business that you can manipulate to positively impact your cash position. PricingIncreasing your prices can have an immediate impact on revenues and profit. Without looking at your margins and breaking down your offerings, raising prices will help you improve the business from a revenue standpoint. The process of raising your prices can be intimidating, but with careful planning and a tactful approach, you'll discover that implementing a price increase can not only boost your sales, but it's one of the easiest levers to transform your profitability. Here are a few ways to implement a price increase plan:
ConversionMuch like increasing your pricing, increasing your conversion rate will have a direct impact on your revenue. There are many strategies you can implement within your sales process to kick up your conversion rate. Here are a few simple strategies that can help you do just that.
Build a cash scenarioAt this point, I've shared how to create a cash flow pro forma and how to play with the levers of your business to close the gap on your cash threshold. Using your projections, you can start running some scenarios around things that have a degree of uncertainty about them. For example:
Scenario planning shows you what decisions to make and when to make them. Here is an example of a financial "traffic light" scenario based on how your business is affected. Be ready for anything. Scenario planning utilizes your cash flow forecast and plugs in some of the changes to see how each change may affect your future cash flow. (For example, if you suddenly lost 50% of your customers). It gives you the ability to think clearly and prepare for possible changes in your business environment. Think of your current situation as plan A, scenario planning allows you to ask the "what if" questions so that you can proactively identify key levers to pull if x happens. To get started, you need to understand your true starting point. This number is not just cash in the bank. Your current cash position must take into account multiple factors, including cash in the bank, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and unearned revenue (all covered in your cash flow pro forma). As an entrepreneur, the survival of your business is contingent on not only having positive cash flow but also a solid understanding of your cash flow. Understanding how to track and project your cash into the future will help you run a more profitable business. If numbers aren't your thing, and you don't know where to start, you don't have to go at it alone. Schedule a free two-hour session to dig into your business and develop a plan. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There's No One-Size-Fits-All for Productivity. These 4 Archetypes Could Unlock Your Team's Flow Posted: 07 May 2020 03:48 PM PDT  Product backlog often works like a Pez dispenser. Work continuously piles up, and assignments that pop up from the top of the dispenser are tackled head-on. This dynamic is apparent in every work setting and for every department. In a product setting, for example, the VP of product functions as the head of the Pez dispenser, dispensing assignments to the team as they come. But when work is prioritized in such a mechanical way, it's easy to lose focus on the actual product development. While a lot of gems are sitting in your org – the dispenser – rigid or mechanical prioritization doesn't allow them to shine. Product features or functionality which could have serious long-term impact get lost along the way. Prioritization is an ongoing struggle, and many methodologies have been put in place in an attempt to mitigate it. Last-in, first-out (LIFO) and first-in, first-out (FIFO) are prime examples. Another more evolved methodology is the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, which delineates between urgent and important tasks. While prioritizing within a concrete framework is a step forward, these methods still beg some introspection. While the FIFO/LIFO approach is without doubt too mechanical, the decision matrix is based on subjective, intuitive distinctions, which is often a double-edged sword. For instance, most of us frequently fall into the trap of believing that all urgent activities are also important, leading us to de facto fall back into a mechanical mode of operation. As leaders, our ability to prioritize (and to help others do so) is crucial to the success of broader business initiatives. It's not enough to unify behind a consistent vision if, at the team level, managers fail to communicate what takes priority in the day to day. The following ideas have helped me create workflows that serve the business while maximizing everyone's contribution. Prioritize your team's workload according to productivity archetypesAlas, not all is lost. Below you will find the perfect solution to help each team member successfully prioritize. After you identify each person''s productivity archetype, you can provide personalized coaching on prioritization. These individualized methodologies make the most of our inherent inclinations and allow us to bypass any associated pitfalls. Archetype I: The stressed mathematicianThe persona: The "check off the list" persona is focused on getting things done in a linear, logical and mathematical manner. The goal is often to get as much done as possible, with urgent tasks routinely taking priority over important ones in the name of achieving a sense of progress. Archetype I is often locked into a mechanical mode, zooming through the Pez dispenser according to a FIFO, or even worse, a LIFO logic, losing sight of the significance and forward-looking impact of assignments and tasks. Suggested workflow: Alternate urgent assignments that need to get done now with important assignments with long-term impact and out of the box potential. Go from a "1,2,3,4,5" workflow to a "1,x,2,y,3,z" workflow. Acknowledge that tasks of the second kind will often demand more time and focus and will not be easily and neatly dealt with from start to finish. However, allow yourself to be consoled by the fact that done thoroughly, these tasks have the potential to eliminate many urgent tasks that will fall on you down the road if you don't tend to your strategic, long-term initiatives. Archetype II: The scatter-brained creativeThe persona: The "big-picture visionary" persona often lacks focus and methodology. Intuitive prioritization is often solely determined by a personal inclination towards preferred tasks, notwithstanding their urgency, importance or hierarchy on the list. While this archetype is sometimes aware that some of the Pez candies have spilled out of the dispenser, and some are half-eaten inside blocking the upward movement of others, nothing much can be done. Suggested workflow: Combine related assignments and prioritize based both on need and on which assignment serves as a foundation for other assignments. Acknowledge that some tasks that your mind doesn't yearn to tackle are essential for letting your creativity shine by creating the time and space for you to practice it with a quiet mind and a clear conscience. Also, make peace with the idea that some assignments are less fun and fulfilling than others. A fresh cup of coffee can help that idea go down less painfully. Archetype III: The hyperproductive burnoutThe persona: The "I'm on top of it" persona is a multitasker who gets important tasks done in an orderly fashion while simultaneously trying to address long-term high potential, high-impact assignments. On the face of it, the balancer has the best of both worlds. But there is often a hidden price tag. On the one hand, unless you're a fighter pilot, multitasking is nothing but an urban legend. It doesn't really work. Task switching takes a huge toll on both the results and the individual. This is where another tax is hidden: Doing everything simultaneously and all the time often leads to massive burnout. Suggested workflow: Instead of doing things simultaneously, try and group "now" and "later" tasks, and alternate between them so you have a well-rounded work process. Actively schedule time for more important tasks, and commit to dedicating it only to your assignment of focus. Acknowledge that while this methodology might on the face of it slow you down, it will lead to better results overall and to a real balanced you, which is not less important. Archetype IV: The over-scheduled achieverThe persona: The "don't worry, I got it!" persona constantly addresses tasks he or she thinks will have a high impact in order to impress his or her boss. This archetype often misses important "menial tasks." They're often disconnected from their own judgment of work priorities, which can lead to a protracted workflow. Crucially, it can also lead to alienation and frustration when, on the one hand, their efforts are not fully appreciated, and, on the other hand, not enough progress is being made from a subjective standpoint. Suggested workflow: Instead of centering all your energy around multiple high-impact tasks, try and actually adopt a more linear approach of things that need to get done today and add one high impact item either at the beginning or end of a workday. Acknowledge the fact that while recognition is super important, sticking to your own version of reality has a lot to recommend itself to. Find solace in the fact that at the end of the day, you achieved what you set out to do. Sometimes that is even more important than knowing you achieved what you thought others needed you to do. Summing upNeedless to say that aligning your team's workflow to their personalities hangs on your ability to collect honest assessments of each individual's unique work methods. Start by looking at yourself. Dedicate some time to considering these dynamics; it might be helpful to go back and look over the quarter's goals and microgoals and your schedule, to figure out how the two compare. Then, for a while, you will need to consciously implement the new methodology, often against your initial tendency. And then, one day, before too much time has passed, you'll raise your head from your to-do list and discover that it's become second nature. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to Plan Your Video Content to Attract More Viewers Posted: 07 May 2020 03:36 PM PDT  Getting more video views will be a topic of interest for as long as businesses are publishing videos online. What most businesses are overlooking though, is how to plan your video to get more viewers. Whether on YouTube or your own website, there is a strategy around creating content that will put you in the best position for success before you even turn on the camera. Here are a few tips to help you get more video viewers. Know your audience, and speak to their levelThere's plenty of advice about how to create a customer avatar or buyer persona. That'' great, and absolutely necessary. But you can't stop there, because even everyone who matches your customer avatar is interested in a different kind of information from you. Let's say you're targeting a millennial mom persona. There are going to be millennial moms who are very sophisticated and educated when it comes to what your company does, and there are going to be some who have never thought about your kind of product before in their lives. You have to have video content that speaks to your audience based on their level of education on the topic. Think about trying to teach calculus to someone who doesn't yet understand multiplication and division. It will go in one ear and out the other, and no one is better because of it. When planning your video content, make sure you have more than a buyer persona, but you also know what level of education on your topic to be speaking to. Check the data to ensure people are looking for what you want to talk aboutI see businesses creating content all the time based on what they think people want to know. And guess what? Most of the time they're off base. You need to put yourself in the mindset of your audience and not be fooled by your own curse of knowledge. Plan your videos around the questions your audience is asking themselves.Luckily, there are an abundance of tools available to help you make data-driven decisions around what kind of video content you should be publishing. Want to know questions that people are asking? Head over to Quora and see what people are talking about or AnswerThePublic to get a list of questions around your main topic idea. You also want to make sure, if you are trying to get more video views, that you're publishing videos based on phrases people are searching for online. Check out tools like Ubersuggest, KeywordsEverywhere, TubeBuddy, or VidIQ to see how many people are searching for a specific phrase, and get ideas for additional phrases you might want to get found for. Create a video cluster to cover all angles of the topicA video cluster is a series of videos covering all angles of a specific topic, interlinking to each other to provide the viewer with an in-depth content experience. There are a few major benefits to creating a video cluster:
Publishing consistently will put you in favor with Google and YouTube, and will keep your audience coming back for more. You might be thinking that creating all these videos sounds like a ton of work. But it doesn't take you a long time to create valuable videos. You can use your phone or webcam and just talk directly to your camera, or you can implement a proven process for quickly working with a video editor. Don't overcomplicate things. The most important factor of a successful video is the substance of the content, not the quality of production. Your tep-by-step plan to get more views1. Begin with the end in mind.If you are creating your videos with the objective of getting views, that's a different video than one that is specifically created to convert someone into a customer. Yes, there can be overlap and successful byproducts, but you need to keep the customer journey in mind. Plan your videos with a specific end in mind, then reverse engineer for success. 2. Do the research to position yourself for success.If you are planning videos specifically to attract more viewers to you, then you want to make sure you do the research to create videos on topics that are being searched and shared. Start with a "seed" word or phrase for the topic you want to make a video on. Pop that phrase into Ubersuggest's free tool to find out how many searches that phrase gets per month and how much competition there is to rank for it. Ubersuggest will also give you suggestions on other relevant phrases you can add to your video cluster. Do the same thing with AnswerThePublic to get a long list of questions people ask on those phrases, combine them into appropriate groups and make those the outlines for each video. For example, if your topic is specialty coffee, Ubersuggest will tell us that some relevant topics for videos are specialty coffee drinks and specialty coffee makers. 3. Outline your video plan and individual talking points.Now let's head over to AnswerThePublic to get our video outline based on actual data for the phrase specialty coffee drinks:
As you can see, in about five minutes, I was able to take my seed phrase of specialty coffee and then get subtopics that could easily be the outline for two to three related videos when you group them together. With very little effort, you have a data-backed video content strategy that will ensure you make the right videos for attracting viewers. Your next steps to get more video views
Remember that taking the time to plan properly upfront will pay off tenfold on the performance and impact that your videos have on your business. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to Communicate Most Effectively With Team Members During COVID-19 Posted: 07 May 2020 01:25 PM PDT 
In my years connecting and empowering small companies for Salesforce, I've never experienced anything resembling the altered reality every small business owner currently faces. None of us has. Once-in-a-century global pandemics have a way of rewriting all the rules. The coronavirus outbreak has changed how the world operates and has forced us to reevaluate just about every aspect of our lives. As we've seen in other crises, the silver lining is community. The fabric that binds us together is thicker than we imagined. Residents of cities large and small are banding together to save their small businesses, raising funds for local bookstores, offering extra support for restaurants, purchasing gift cards for local retailers, and more. There's a desire to help out there, but there's also a lot of worries. How do small business owners weather the storm, keep the doors "open" (in some form), and provide stability for employees? Situations like these can leave us all feeling anxious. Tough decisions are made every day about furloughs, funding, and project delays – decisions that small and midsize business leaders have to weigh to come out on the other side of this intact. As a leader, you've got to keep everyone connected and make sure they still feel like a valuable part of the team while also recognizing that not every employee is the same. You might have a single parent who's now expected to double as a homeschool teacher, or perhaps you have employees struggling with isolation. It's vital to connect and listen to each and every one. Here are strategies and tips I've learned from a few of the wonderful leaders in our small business ecosystem to help keep your team and business afloat during these uncertain times. Overcommunicate.Clear, constant communication is more important than ever given our isolated status. Employees are afraid of the unknown – "Am I doing enough work-related tasks? Are we equipped to handle many more weeks of this?" – and you can help them with words of encouragement and explanation. And maybe a reassuring smile over video. So the top priority of all small business owners and managers should be to communicate. Then communicate some more. Right now, overcommunicating is the best thing you can do. People value transparency from their managers and guidance from their companies in times of crisis. As the COVID-19 outbreak began, Alice's Elizabeth Gore found herself in the thick of a wave of surging business. She wanted to maintain momentum and chose to press forward with business as usual. But she quickly realized it was more important to give her team room to voice their growing concerns during that initial spread. In hindsight, Gore is relieved she slowed down and took the opportunity to be empathetic and flexible toward her team members who needed support in an uneasy time. These are unprecedented times for every business, and Gore knows the rules have been – at least temporarily – tossed out the window. She understands that her employees need more space to connect and vent as they work on behalf of countless small businesses that are suddenly struggling. Get personal.If ever there was a time to let your guard down and show your real self, it's now. People value authenticity in trying times, so you have to be real and honest about your challenges. Seeing others on video helps build connections, so turn on the camera even if you don't want to. The other morning I was still in my pajamas and juggling my 9-month-old. It was a great connecting experience because we all have real life to deal with. One of the byproducts of this pandemic is being reminded of how vulnerable and human each of us is. Amy Nelson, CEO and founder of The Riveter, encourages small business leaders to be as transparent as possible with team members and focus on keeping morale up. Challenges have a way of bringing people closer, so don't be afraid to show some humanity. Employees everywhere, but particularly those in small businesses, are operating in so much uncertainty right now, in both their professional and personal lives. If leaders are intentional about taking the time to check in with them often and explain the reasoning behind the decisions we are taking at the highest levels when we can, that will go a long way in building solidarity and boosting morale in a tough moment. That is something Nelson has been striving to do at The Riveter, and she believes it's helping the organization move forward as a team. In the end, teams will end up stronger after experiencing an era-defining moment together. When we do come out on the other side, we will see a different work dynamic with deeper personal connections and genuine, authentic interactions. Lead with empathy.Every employee processes things differently, especially in uncertain times. This requires leaders to quickly read situations and act on the fly. It's hard to stay incredibly focused all day long, so feel liberated to go off-script now and again. Those little moments when the team can share funny stories or some quarantine activity ideas mean a lot. Have you noticed how many business meetings begin with "How's everyone doing today?" You need to keep a pulse on how people are feeling and provide that safe space for people to show emotion and concern about things outside of work, but generic questions like that don't encourage participation or demonstrate empathy. Ask real questions to strengthen bonds and pull teams closer. "What is the best thing you've read lately? How are your kids handling all this? Is there anything I can help you with?" Sharon Miller, CEO of Renaissance Entrepreneur Center, knows that's true. Each day comes with all sorts of new hurdles to clear, so Miller requires a daily check-in meeting and encourages all staff to meet regularly with their teams. Given busy schedules, many team members can feel like this directive is a burden, but she knows it's critical to stay in touch individually and remain focused. Plus, you can monitor the various stages your workers are in and push support toward those who need it most that day. Take advantage of current technologies to create fun team interactions. Human connections throughout the workday are so important, and you can lead those efforts as the person in charge. Utilize Slack, text, email, or whatever tool available to make sure your teams achieve the connection they seek. To that end, incorporate fun bonding events when possible. Everyone I talk with is loving the group happy hours and coffee chats held over video, or here's a personal check-in my team likes to emulate. Those seemingly small activities can help build more community and camaraderie. Every day brings new information and a new set of governmental guidance that applies to our personal and professional lives, but taking things one day at a time will be what gets us to the other side. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to Keep Content Fresh During COVID-19 Posted: 07 May 2020 11:16 AM PDT  It's no longer news. With COVID-19 on a worldwide rampage, hundreds of millions of people have been forced to stay at home. But this is both a crisis and an opportunity. With the majority of people now stuck at home, they are hungry for fresh content – to learn, be entertained or just simply be distracted. Business content marketers have a great opening to reach people, yet to be effective they have to be creative in how they approach this crisis. The silver lining is that there is little news coming out of sports, hospitality, culture and other traditional content producers. This means that the time is ripe for businesses to create compelling and timely content to inform current audiences and attract new business. And true, going through these tumultuous times, it might be difficult to focus and get creative. However, for the businesses that can deliver, it can be worth the effort. Here are several key ways to keep your content fresh through these difficult times in a scalable and ROI-friendly way. How to approach COVID-19 in your messagingThese are uncharted waters for all of us. COVID-19 has changed everything and while it's tempting to focus your entire content strategy on covering it, consumers crave other content. For much of the past month, news about the coronavirus has dominated the landscape. Unique articles mentioning coronavirus or COVID-19 numbered in the billions per week. But this "corona bump" seems to have flattened, peaking at 1.67 billion articles the week of March 23 and slowly falling to 980 million through the 13th of April. While it's still important for brands that customers get important updates regarding COVID-19, it's also the perfect time to begin diversifying your content.
For example, imagine you are a catering company that is struggling to find work at the present moment. As an offline business, you need to get online. Use this time to post recipes on your blog or even host a cooking show through YouTube. Showing your audience that you're at home with them can go a long way: Reinforcing your brand identity – Wow, they can really cook! – can pay off when the crisis lifts. Using quizzes as evergreen interactive content to engage your audienceSpeaking of testing out new content strategies, interactive quizzes are a great way to engage with audiences in a fun and interactive way. Online quizzes have long been proven to be some of the most engaging pieces of content out there. Many companies are already using quizzes to engage with their audience. The New York Times, for example, is using quizzes as a means to inform students about the effects of the coronavirus. Popular video chat application House Party is also taking advantage of the quarantine, allowing users to play games and take quizzes together over a video call. Deprived of their weekly trivia nights, many pubs are hosting virtual pub quizzes around the world. Even through this unprecedented situation, one thing hasn't changed: People still love testing their knowledge in the form of quizzes. Clearly, there is an opportunity for brands as well. Quizzes are an easy means to convey information and interact with audiences of all types. And better yet, quizzes are highly viral in nature, with a high likelihood of being shared across various social mediums. For businesses, an easy win is to leverage this virality and create fun quizzes that will be shared again and again. Better yet, quizzes are a form of evergreen content and are an easy way to show your unique brand messaging and reach a potentially endless audience. When it comes to creating quizzes, there are certain best practices that should be followed – not every quiz created is something that's likely to be shared.
Tweaking your social media strategyEven in regular times, social media is an effective tool to engage with audiences. Now, with hordes of people flocking to social media while under stay at home at policies, it's even more important to use these channels to engage with your clients and potential customers. To take advantage of the uptick in social media use, it all starts with crafting an effective campaign. But it's not as simple as cutting and pasting your pre-pandemic plans; times are different. In many cases, you'll have to rethink the metrics you use to gauge consumer interaction. For example, many companies typically equate social media success with a boost in ROI. But now you have to shift the way you judge them by looking at different metrics. Things such as likes, shares, or comments are more indicative of success to see how people are engaging with your posts. With people less likely to make purchases at this time, these will be a better barometer of your overall long-term success, and you can capitalize on them post-pandemic. For most businesses, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc, forcing many to rethink how and why they produce content. But by following these steps – being creative, empathetic, and trying new things. You will engage your audience and keep your business healthy and ready to thrive after the pandemic. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Remote Work is On the Rise Due to COVID-19 Posted: 07 May 2020 11:04 AM PDT  The unforeseen crisis emerging from the recent COVID 19 pandemic has galvanized businesses to break the fetters of a predictable brick and mortar workspace and switch to a more contemporary one. In other words, remote work is the order of the day and managers are stressing on the benefits of remote management to boost team productivity and employee engagement in these unprecedented times. While the remote work model has a lot of advantages like work flexibility, reduced expenses for both the employer and the employee, more family time, etc, telework in a quandary also entails the challenges of maintaining employee productivity Technology has made work from home easy and effortless, but, as the technical hurdles fade away, strategic questions will still concern managers. This is especially true for small businesses bootstrapping itself from the struggles of market volatility. Remote management can help managers ace the tricky art of juggling people, schedules, projects, and budgets. Clear visibility across the enterpriseVisibility is critical in a remote work module and thanks to a bevy of smart tools, tracking progress and getting real-time work updates has become facile. Managers can deploy easily configurable resource management tools with their existing systems and allocate the right resource to the right task based on their skills, experience, location, availability, and cost rate. When work is uniformly distributed across the enterprise, you can achieve team efficiency and maximize productivity. Smart scheduling tools empower you with a centralized view of your remote workforce schedule in entirety which further enables you to track their progress. You can also provide feedback and take corrective measures if employees are lagging or underperforming. Having clear visibility of future and pipeline projects, existing employees can be trained and upskilled ahead of time to meet future demand. Improved employee engagement and retentionContrary to the popular belief, studies have shown that staff productivity has increased by 13% in a work from home setup. Lesser distractions at work, flexible hours of work, and better work-life balance has improved employee retention. After all, the workforce wouldn't have to endure dreary commutes that can tank both productivity and mindset. Weighing the significant cost of training a new hire or finding a qualified replacement turnover can be detrimental for smaller businesses. By adapting to a work-from-home arrangement, you will not only save on pricey office rentals and parking but will also enable your employees to use that spare time wisely. To make the most out of remote work, one must imbibe certain traits like self-motivation, ability to self evaluate, resourcefulness to name a few. This refreshing read is a silver lining amid the unsettled times and is about a leader who made the most of the remote work arrangement by deploying some easy yet effective tips. Transparency across a distributed workforceOne of the major challenges of managing a remote team is communication barriers. A virtual work arrangement increases the potentials of ambiguity and confusion among distributed teams. While we can't step into a colleague's cubicle for a brainstorming session or have daily or weekly face to face team meetings, thanks to technology, remote work collaborative tools have increased team cohesion and transparency. A quick daily meeting at the start of the day will help establish clear goals, prioritize important tasks, and provide a head start to your remote workforce on how to reach their target. Virtual employees also have the advantage of social presence with the help of telepresence tools. So, face-to-face communication, real-time messaging, access to the same documents and collaboration on cloud-based drives, an internal board or social media page where all employees can share ideas or chat informally has facilitated effective remote management. Artificial intelligence and project managementDigital transformation has created a paradigm shift in project management along with other operations. Reports show that project managers daily spend a lot of time on administrative work like managing updates and dealing with check-ins. AI bots with its unique ability to wiretap patterns have helped managers reduce half their time spent on busy work and focus more on complex processes, team engagement, and employee efficiency. It also supervises effective scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups dismissing the need for human intervention. AI-enhanced data visualization helps recognize bottlenecks to help take corrective actions ahead of time. This saves human time on various efforts while ensuring that nothing is overlooked. AI-enabled project management systems are a blessing in disguise due to its ability to manage complex analytics and provide predictable outcomes based on its scrutiny of every moving part in the process. Results-oriented and not the hours logged inMost managers have paranoia imagining their employees lying on the couch updating their daily activities on Instagram instead of being fecund. However, your team productivity and the time they log in are wholly beside the point. Would you prefer an employee who clocks in 8 hours but delivers only 2 to 3 hours of work or someone who only works for 3 hours but delivers quality work? ROWE or Result-Oriented Work Environment is one that lets you focus only on goals and metrics while empowering your resource pool to work flexibly with better results. As a manager who advocates remote management, you are putting it out there that you trust your teams to deliver and value results over hours. When you delegate work and solely assess your staff productivity based on the results and not on the hours logged in, your appraisals also reflect impartiality and non-discrimination which evokes a sense of engagement and belonging within the employees. Autonomous and future-ready workforceThe future is already remote, and remote management facilitates a diverse pool of autonomous, intuitive and agile workforce who will easily adapt to the changing business trends. Telework gives you access to a limitless talent pool and leverages the likelihood of making a perfect hire. Instead of hiring someone who simply meets the qualifications and experience criteria, appoint someone who resonates with your company's values and is ready to go above and beyond. A geographically distributed workforce from various backgrounds will help generate innovative ideas for your business. When you have a diversified team of self-reliant, capable, and hardworking people, your time as a manager is made available for more productive things like employee engagement activities rather than micromanagement. Cost-saving for the employer and the employeeSavings on telecommuting is a win-win remuneration for both the employer and the employee. When you have a distributed workforce, you automatically save on the amount otherwise spent on office space, utilities, and incidentals. According to Global Workplace Analytics, employers can save more than $11,000 on telecommuters working half time which is a lot of money considering the millions of employees shifting to remote work in the past few years. Likewise, employees also benefit while working from home and save costs. According to the World Economic Forum, an employee spends several thousand on buying lunch, commuting to and from the office, childcare services, and workwear every year. These savings can be used for future savings and investments instead. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Serious Social Media Predictions for 2020 You Better Not Ignore Posted: 07 May 2020 10:53 AM PDT  Social media is an inseparable part of our lives. Nearly half of the world's population is actively using social media to communicate, socialize, shop, and entertain themselves. No wonder, businesses are increasingly relying on this media to connect with their target audience and generate quality leads. The cut-throat competition and content overload are forcing marketers to come up with innovative ways to stand out and gain more market share. Not to mention, the dynamic nature of the social world! Smart marketers are the ones who are aware of future trends and proactively prepare for them. Pay attention to the top predictions shared in this post to fuel your social strategy and increase your brand visibility and conversions. 1. Nano-influencers Are the next big thingSocial customers have been increasingly relying on niche-specific influencers for making purchase decisions. However, modern marketers are realizing the significance of nano-influencers who are able to engage their limited audience in an effective way. Though nano-influencers have a smaller follower base than micro-influencers, they offer content that's specific to the niche interests and of local relevance. A study conducted by SocialPubli reveals that the social engagement rate with nano-influencers is 10X higher than other influencers. Further, authenticity and credibility is a huge issue with macro and micro-influencers as they tend to have a large following are unable to have meaningful conversations with their followers on a regular basis. Nano-influencers, on the other hand, carry a 'girl/boy next door' vibe around them; hence, followers are better able to relate to and trust the content shared by them. Not to forget, the amazing returns they fetch at a low cost! No wonder, brands of all sizes are investing in nano influencers to monetize their social media expertise. Check out the brand collaboration between Lauren Schneider, a nano-influencer and Dunkin Donuts to reach a new audience and improve awareness. Notice how her followers are actively liking and commenting on the post, indicating the high level of engagement. Thus, nano influencers are all set to rule social marketing in the future. Make sure you identify the relevant ones in your niche and partner with them to leverage a ready-made audience. 2. Social commerce will boomShopping, whether online or offline, has always been a social experience. People are always looking for social proof. Social channels allow consumers to discover new products, read reviews, and buy products in-app. Further, as mentioned earlier, social media allows people to follow social influencers that point out to the latest trends and help them make sound purchase decisions. An increasing number of businesses are vouching on social media as an affordable way to promote their brand. No wonder, most social channels are introducing features like built-in shoppable images, videos, and posts to improve the shopping experience and shorten the purchase funnel for brands. The Shoppable AR Lens feature on Snapchat is an excellent example of how technology is being used to improve the online experience. Nike recently used this feature to encourage American women's soccer team fans to try and buy the band's new kit before the 2019 Women's World Cup. Social media has been influencing people's online purchase decisions for over a decade. But, social shops did so in rudimentary ways. It's only recently that social channels have come up with innovative features to make the journey from the first touchpoint to the final purchase short and engaging. This had greatly reduced the friction of buying a product on another platform after discovering it on social media. Thus, the market for social shopping is expected to surge with social channels continuously offering super-innovative shoppable features. 3. IGTV will drive the video trendIt's no surprise that video content is the most popular and engaging content type in the digital world. A HubSpot Digital Consumer Trends Report confirms that people prefer video content over other content types. Thus, in the coming years, social media will increasingly move to short-form and long-form video. IGTV, Instagram's app for long-form videos, will be at the forefront of this trend as it enables people to share viral, entertaining, and educational content with ease. Instagram is reading the video content trend well as it keeps adding awesome features like landscape videos on IGTV and branded content tag to IGTV. This enables creators to express themselves the way they want and increase the number of brand collaborations on social platforms. IGTV is also working on a monetization feature that will enable influencers and creators to earn revenue by running short ads on IGTV videos. Finally, looking into the immense success of TikTok, Instagram is expected to introduce a new option called 'video reactions.' This will allow the audience of the content creator to respond to the IGTV video with their own video. With so much happening in the IGTV space, this app is all set to drive the social video trend globally. 4. Augmented Reality will find more applications in the social worldRight from the time Pokeman Go was introduced, AR has taken the digital world by storm. The immersive technology has been used by brands to offer an interactive online experience to their audience. The use of lenses and filters on Instagram Stories and Snapchat has taken customer engagement and experience to the next level. In the coming years, AR will be increasingly used by brands to offer innovative shopping features. For instance, the AR technology is being used by Lenskart to offer customers a try-and-buy option in their virtual showroom. You can expect social channels to come up with more such features, allowing shoppers to make a purchase decision without having to leave the platform. 5. Regulatory control will tighten upData security and privacy have always been a concern in the social world. User information on channels like Facebook and Instagram can be easily misused by hackers and spammers. With regulatory bodies like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) introducing stringent requirements for how personal data must be handled, the social world is expected to become a safer place for users. This change is in the interest of all; so, social marketers should get ready for more regulatory control, penalties, and legal scrutiny this year. 6. Social world will be more welcomingCyberbullying has been quite common on social media. Statistics reveal that virtual harassment has been most prevalent on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat Instagram and Facebook are already making efforts to combat issues like cyberbullying and social media addiction. For instance, the two channels recently beta tested removing likes or making them private to harbor a positive social environment for all. The number of likes on a post seems to determine an individual's online value and constantly depending on external validation can be harmful to one's mental and emotional wellbeing. The removal of likes is expected to transform the social marketing world. As this change is implemented across all regions, it will encourage other channels like Twitter to follow suit. Summing upBefore you know, predictions become trends and trends become the standard norm! Therefore, it's important to know what lies ahead in the social media realm. Keep an eye on the top predictions shared above and plan your social media strategy accordingly. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Employer's Guide to the ADA Posted: 07 May 2020 07:10 AM PDT 
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a vital piece of legislation that protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination in all areas of public life and ensures equal access and treatment. Title I of the ADA deals with employment and ensures that people with disabilities are provided the accommodations they need in the workplace. It also ensures the those with disabilities are fully considered during the recruitment process. Here's what employers need to know. What is the ADA?The ADA was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in July of 1990 to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including education, public services and employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency responsible for enforcing the ADA's employment regulations. In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law, which made several significant changes to the definition of "disability" in response to the gradual narrowing of the definition that had occurred over the previous 15 years, making it difficult for employees to prove they had a disability that could be protected under the ADA. The ADAAA broadened the definition of "disability" to include more people and rejected two Supreme Court decisions that had played a large role in restricting the legal definition of "disability." While the ADA did not change the basic definition, the act made it easier to decide if an employee is covered. According to the ADA, a person has a qualified disability if they:
Title I of the ADA is designed to ensure equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities by requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations that allow those with disabilities to participate in the job application process or perform specific job functions. Reasonable accommodations can include things like:
Keep in mind that reasonable accommodation is meant to be reasonable for both the employee and the employer. If an accommodation would cause undue hardship, i.e., requiring significant difficulty or expense on the part of the company or you as the employer, work together with the employee to come up with a solution that will appease both parties. Legally, if there is more than one accommodation that could work, the employer may choose the one that is less costly or easier to provide. What is covered under the ADA?The primary aim of the ADA, and specifically Title I, is to prevent people with disabilities from being discriminated against in any way during any part of employment, including recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, salary, benefits and job duties. It also requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations based upon the needs of the individual. The ADA applies to all employers with 15 or more employees and includes private employers as well as state and local government employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and labor-management committees. Here are three key things employers need to know about the ADA:
Why is the ADA important?It is important for small businesses to understand the ADA for a few reasons. First and foremost, it is required by federal law and can result in serious consequences if it is violated, such as fines or costly legal fees if you are sued. Second, making a sincere and concentrated effort to be as compliant with the ADA and inclusive of people with disabilities goes a long way in making your employees feel valued and supported at work. Additionally, a 2018 study by Accenture in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability: IN reports that businesses that actively seek to employ people with disabilities outperform businesses that do not. Their revenues were 28% higher, net income was two times more, and profit margins were higher by 30%. Additionally, the Department of Labor found that employers who embraced disability as part of their recruitment and hiring efforts saw a 90% increase in employee retention. How your business can be ADA compliantThere are many aspects to the ADA, though not all of them pertain to employment. The most important titles of the ADA you as an employer should be concerned about are Title I, regarding employment, and Title III, regarding accessibility. A business being ADA compliant might involve:
If you are building a new office or facility, or are undergoing renovations, you have the opportunity to make your building entirely accessible from the start. "I would recommend contacting a builder knowledgeable about the ADA to help with new construction or necessary renovations," said Tina Willis, personal injury attorney and owner of Tina Willis Law. If you are unsure about what you can do to be compliant and better serve your employees with disabilities, it might be helpful to consult a professional. "The ideal way for small businesses to comply with the ADA is to consult with an employment defense lawyer who specializes in the ADA," said Willis. "Generally, consulting a lawyer on a preventative basis is much more cost-effective than hiring a lawyer to defend a lawsuit." Willis also recommended that employers
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| The Right and Wrong Way to Deal with Workplace Grievances Posted: 07 May 2020 01:45 AM PDT  It doesn't matter how friendly everyone on staff is with one another, an employee grievance is bound to happen at some point. While most issues can be worked out between the people involved, some problems can flare up into a much bigger complaint, resulting in potential loss of productivity, the creation of an unpleasant work environment and the need for mediation between parties. When something like this happens, it's important that you quickly take appropriate steps to mitigate the issue and address any formal complaint you receive. To help you understand the do's and don'ts of dealing with workplace grievances, we reached out to other members of the small business community to see what worked – or didn't work – for them. How to deal with a workplace grievanceWhether your employees are squabbling among themselves or airing a much larger grievance with a human resource professional, it's important that the situation is addressed in a timely manner. No one likes to let ill feelings linger, and no one wants to spend their time wading through a formal grievance procedure. Jennifer Koch, human resources manager at Optima Office, believes that issues should ideally be addressed before the parties enter the grievance process, requiring some form of intervention or mediation. Since that isn't always an option, "timeliness is of the essence," she said. "Make sure that the issue is investigated as confidentially as is possible, all evidence is collected, all employees involved are heard in a formal meeting and then make a decision swiftly," said Koch. "You will most likely have employees coming in each day inquiring about the outcome, [so] make sure the decision is communicated clearly to all involved parties." While management should be able to handle problems themselves, sometimes the grievance comes from an issue that a staff member has with their employer. If that's the case, a third party could be brought in to fairly consider both sides of the issue. Jack Wang, CEO of Amazing Beauty Hair, said failing to be impartial during a workplace dispute only worsens matters. As an employer, "you would want to be non-artisan as much as possible. Showing that you are taking sides may only aggravate the situation," said Wang. Wang also suggests that any formal procedure or investigation should have a thoroughly documented record of its findings. "Having a record would come in handy for future grievances of the same nature," said Wang. "Plus, it … always pay[s] to have notes around, especially when you need to get back on certain details." Once a dispute is settled, it's important that management conducts a postmortem on how things went. Being able to locate pain points throughout the process while finding ways to eliminate them not only makes things better for the company, but it engenders a workplace environment where employees are more willing to bring up their issues instead of looking for work elsewhere. "After the grievance is over, I would go back and review the issue and the decision made to see if anything could have been handled differently or if there is any room for improvement," Koch said. "In the end, make sure you have gotten to the root of the cause, so it does not come back up again, and it is a long-lasting solution." How not to deal with a workplace grievanceAddressing issues as they happen is paramount, but there are ways you can go about it that exacerbate the problem. One way, Wang said, is being too quick to make a determination. "You can't make any judgments without any basis," he said. Conducting a proper investigation into the matter is imperative, said Wang, but you don't want to be too slow about it either, since "dragging it [out] for too long won't be good for the company, the aggrieved parties [or] for anybody." As a manager, it's also important that you do not let details of an ongoing issue leak to the general workforce. Sometimes these issues surrounding an employee complaint can be the result of very personal problems that the affected employees do not want their co-workers to know about. When dealing with sensitive topics in particular, Dana Case, director of operations at MyCorporation.com, urged that these issues be dealt with in a confidential manner. "If you are in a position where you're overseeing what is being said, do not repeat it to anyone else," she said. "Subsequently, employees with workplace grievances should also take their concerns to the appropriate point of contact first. Do not vent on social media accounts prior to making an official complaint." Regardless of how big or small the issue may sound, Jon Hill, chairman and CEO of The Energists, said every issue should be dealt with by a professional, since the issue may impact more than just the one or two employees that brought the problem up. "It can be tempting to dismiss grievances as minor because only one person has brought it up, but keep in mind, not everyone will voice their concerns through official channels," he said. "If one employee is expressing concern, odds are good many more are experiencing the same problem in silence." Laura Handrick, a contributing HR professional at Choosing Therapy, agreed with Hill, stating that small and unaddressed employee grievances "can become major workplace distractions and may rise to the level of discrimination or harassment." "Once a grievance is aired, it needs to be documented, researched and resolved," she said. "Failure to do so may result in hefty employer fines and in the worst-case scenario, lawsuits that run into the hundreds of thousands." Actions you can take today to prevent a workplace grievanceWhile it's important to know what to do in the moment, it's also worth noting that many of these issues can either be avoided or at least dealt with before the problem boils over. For instance, a good employee handbook will already have policies in place to address workplace grievances, as well as an outline as to how they get resolved. David Reischer, an employment attorney at LegalAdvice.com, said enacting such policies within an employee handbook not only codify your method but also make those steps known to an employee as soon as they're being onboarded to the company. "An employee handbook should include the basics about the company, and the policies and procedures for compliance within the organization on a day-to-day basis," he said. "Beyond the requirements under various and state federal laws for filing a workplace-related grievance, an organization should implement a whistleblower system that allows for the anonymous reporting of any wrongdoing." In order to do that, you could establish a 24-hour, all-year hotline telephone number to anonymously collect such complaints. With the telephone number displayed prominently within the workspace and handbook, employees should easily understand the resources available to them. In addition to a whistleblower policy, Case suggests creating an "open-door policy" that engenders a connection between employees and their supervisors. "Many employees often shy away from going to their bosses with complaints because they do not feel confident management will listen to what they have to say," she said. "There should be an open-door policy that designates at least one manager or HR rep in the company for employees to turn to with concerns." These kinds of policies can generally be part of any collective bargaining agreement, so if your employees are involved in a union, you should absolutely discuss any formal policy with their union representative. Creating a culture of transparency within a company can often help smooth over any workplace concerns before they become a major problem. "HR professionals should keep the employee who raised the issue in the loop on what's being done, especially if it's not an instant fix," he said. "After changes have been implemented, it's also important to reach out and determine whether the problem was adequately addressed, soliciting feedback on how the process and solution both could be improved. Employees who have grievances should be similarly open and honest with HR about the efficacy of implemented solutions." |
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