SigmaWay Blog

According to Mark Zuckerberg the potential of improving business through social media is very high. Sponsored ads appear everywhere nowadays in all social media platforms. If your ads are of quality customer service and eye catching visuals you can convert visitors to loyal customers. But there are few strategies required to gain from the use of social media. Firstly, be active but do not be overactive. One needs to have knowledge about how much his competitors are posting and then decide on how much to post every day. Compiling all content in an easy to read editorial calendar is a good idea which can be further separated by social channels. Secondly, ach channel should be treated as an individual entity. The content which might be spread across all channels should be adjusted depending on the audience for that channel. For example, LinkedIn has more business focused audience while Instagram has audiences looking for engaging visual content. Thirdly, tweets or other feedbacks made by customers should be answered properly and quickly. While positive feedbacks are to be responded with acknowledgements negative feedbacks should be dealt with patience and respect. Fourthly, one should accept their mistakes made on their posts. But reposting several times is not a good idea. One can send out content from their social accounts to make the customers aware. Fifthly, metrics important to one's business should be reviewed monthly, like number of posts, follower growth, clicks, page views, likes and shares etc. Tracking can be done by free tools like bit.ly, Google analytics etc. Lastly, being active on Google+ helps you to receive essential free ad space when users search for you on Google. Read more at:  http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/01/09/social-media-marketing-strategies

In present situation having a suite of products called 'marketing cloud' is necessary for any enterprise. While renowned and young companies have their own roles, marketing analytics point out that the problem is that "marketing cloud branding obfuscation" across dissimilar products makes the jobs of marketers, merchandise and IT guys harder. Gigaom Research found the priorities and hot buttons of several digital marketers and got to know about the effective marketing tactics they used. They also researched about areas where they required help. The study showed that salesforce was not wrong in its eagerness to tap into social media. The majority of big spenders use almost every digital tactic on every phases of marketing, namely awareness, acquisition, conversion and retention. Smaller companies still use SEO and email. Bigger companies are the biggest users of social media marketing as well as mobile and digital video. 50 percent of them are likely to increase their social media spending. In spite of this most marketers head to social media based on faith. They find it difficult to prove ROI for social media. Read more at: http://gigaom.com/2014/07/13/whats-needed-from-marketing-clouds/ 

Nintex , the world leader in workflow software, announced its integration with Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the two market-leaders among CRM platforms. Nintex is the first workflow company which enabled business users to connect critical ECM and CRM systems through the cloud, and allowed customers to quickly and easily automate processes between departments in a customer-driven environment. With the new integrations, users can accelerate a variety of processes which involves frequent interactions between customer-facing teams and internal business operations. Nintex’s integration with Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM lets organizations:

• Drive business processes in SharePoint in response to events in CRM so work flows better between previously siloed systems

• Automate the process of creating, updating, retrieving, and querying records in Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics using simple drag-and-drop workflow actions

• Post status updates, links and polls to Salesforce Chatter or Microsoft Yammer, and progress workflows based on user responses in social channels

To know more, go to: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nintex-announces-integration-with-salesforcecom-and-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2014-07-14

It’s the customer service and experience the customer that help businesses to retain customers and grow.  The companies which deliver a good customer service and experience are customer-centric putting the customer in the centre of decisions, ideas, marketing, system design and more. Companies like apple manufacture products that people don't even realise they need, and the packaging of their products adds to the customer’s experience, which makes them the leader in customer service. A company that delivers only a great customer experience won’t survive if the product or service the company sells doesn’t work or do what it’s supposed to do, so they have to manufacture high quality products as well as provide a great customer service. It’s the combination of the two, a great product and an amazing customer service experience, that can meet the expectations of the customers and make a company grow to the top of their industry. To know more go to: http://www.hyken.com/customer-experience-2/product-experience/#more-5264

Research is a costly and time-taking process. Many businesses use social media as a cost effective and depth-tool to learn the insights about the market, consumer behavior, brand appearance, and other market research. One has to understand the benefits and create a proper research plan to use Social media. To use Social media one has to understand the benefits and create a proper research plan. The ways to implement and use social media in market research methods are: Firstly, Track Trends with Social Media for Real-Time Insights. Secondly, Learn the Language of Your Audience for Improved Marketing Appeal. Thirdly, Use the Real-Time Aspects of Social Media for Quick Research. Fourthly, use Social Media to Broaden the Scope of Your Market Research. Fifthly, Discover Unnoticed Trends and Insights by Engaging Instead of Leading. Sixth, Harness Social Media Research for Improved Cost Efficiency. Read more at: 

World Cup 2014 is scientifically more advanced. The world has advanced in every feature so does the sport. It is the most scientifically sophisticated football tournament. The referee has used a spray to draw circle around the ball when a foul is committed. The line or the circle vanishes after sometimes, it is actually the water-based substance used to create the foam. Three processor image cameras used to determine the objects and do all the work of tracking real time data .This help to find out how many miles a participant runs and the velocity. It also track the ball location. The fans are also benefitted along with players from these advances. other technologies such as goal line technology, some hi-tech cameras to arrest the actions closely, the official page World Cup FIFA app, boots made from man-made resources, advanced football kits. Read more at: 

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/experience-most-high-tech-world-cup-ever

Could business analytics provide a solution to the pressures faced by the American healthcare system? As in the case of Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Miami, business analytics generated a very high payoff because it involves efficiency driven, intensive, statistical exploration of an organization's data. In the above case, it determined that the center was overpaying for the pacemakers. At the HIMSS conference, we witnessed plenty of startups peddling immediate business analytics solutions to healthcare organizations. Eventually healthcare organizations will adopt business analytics, but the process will take several years for the following reasons: Lack of Compatibility between Systems as introduction of business analytics and then integrating it with existing infrastructure is challenging. For business analytics to get to market it needs to undergo trials in one or two hospitals. Organizations require their softwares to be customized. So suppliers require time. Staff members need to be trained on how to use the software correctly. All these are time consuming. Hospitals should approach their management strategy from a higher level, planning systematic solutions. Read more at:

http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/analytics/business-analytics-will-help-healthcare-just-not-overnight/a/d-id/1279087

Importance of Big data and Talent Analytics is a much discussed topic for the last couple of years. One just has to know how to use talent analytics as it can do a whole lot of difficult task like quantifying different behaviors, skills, intelligence, and mindsets of a HR. Talent analytics uses data in management decisions like talent acquisition, retention, placement, promotion, compensation, and succession planning. By analyzing the skills and attributes of high performers in the present, it enables organizations to build a template for future hires. Advanced software algorithms can identify talent and match it to an organization's needs. Some intangible aspects like social skills, flexibility, emotional intelligence, initiative, attitudes are now measurable- thanks to talent analytics. Along with these, new mobile apps also make talent searches a matter of anytime and anywhere. However, as it's still growing, Gartner predicts that the market for Big Data and analytics will generate $3.7 trillion in products and services and generate 4.4 million new jobs by 2015. Read more at:http://analytics.theiegroup.com/article/53b2b9c13723a81923000046/Talent-Analytics-A-Crystal-Ball-For-Your-Workforce

Consumer choice process has two steps. Firstly, he assigns a value to each product according to his willingness to pay. Secondly, the consumer compares and ranks these values. People evaluate the stimuli that they see even if they do not have to choose. Marketing may not necessarily need a billboard or commercial in order to materialize. It may extol the positive values of a product.  A consumer may subconsciously value a product anyway.  There are certain aspects that a company's advertisers have to worry about besides what its competitors say or how they advertise because if consumers automatically assign values to products, then marketing may not save a product that has many deficiencies. This may lay out cost effective opportunity to the present advertisers. Companies can highlight some positive virtues of a product on the product itself. Read more at: 

Knowledge gap is the disparity between what we know and what we need to know. Most of the information is imperfect in the real business world. The question that arises when leaders make decisions is the cost and its valuation. It is time consuming to know whether the decision is good and valuable. Organizing an internal effort to determine what reservoirs of knowledge exist inside the company and sometimes it exist in unexpected places, channeling people and published market studies are often good for the market. In case of an outside research partner, they must be open on methodology, listen to you and must be on the same platform on the basis of the timing and level of precision. It may be happen that you are in a stage where nothing more than validation is required to move to the next step. Common sense is most important to bridge the gap and move toward perfect knowledge which is both acceptable and appropriate. Read more at: 

Email still remains one of the best communication methods for buyers and consumers. Marketers should use the benefits of email marketing given the ease with which emails are delivered in the inbox. Certain variables which should be considered before sending an email, like send times to subject lines. The following are the six essential steps foe email creation:

1. Segment Your Audience: The marketer should have a clear idea about the target audience before deciding on a send time and the content of the email.

2. Create Your Content: The content of the email should depend on the interest and need of the target customer.A compelling subject line  and call to action is must.

3. Build Your Email: After creating the content the email template should be created. Images and call to action buttons to break up text should be included if possible.

4. Conduct Deliverability Tests: It’s important to conduct an email deliverability test to avoid the possibility of the email not getting delivered to the customers inbox.

5. Choose Your Send Time: Send times are not fixed, and they often  varies from one customer to another. As a general rule of thumb, emails should be sent during business hours in the morning or in the early afternoon, right after lunch.

6. Track and Analyze: Open rates, click-through rates, and email bounces should be tracked to see what content is resonating with the audience, which subject lines work best, and which areas could use improvement.

To know more, go to: http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/email-campaign

A new study shows that the people doesn’t think social media advertising on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are building  impact. By 2017, brands are probable to spend $11 billion on social media ads across several platforms. 92% of businesses use Facebook advertising and more than 23% publicize on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. 90%  believe that social media marketing helps their businesses, with 58% saying it really affects sales and 88 percent saying it advances brand knowledge. Twitter and Facebook advertising allow businesses to attain people who will respond. People may claim that advertisements on social networking sites don’t impact their buying behaviors, but case studies and research contradicts it . Brands should appraise the effectiveness of paid social advertising .Marketers achieve goals through paid ads on social networking sites, it requires experience in audience targeting. Read more at: 

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/node/242281

Social Media Participation has been limited to younger population and is rarely used by the older population. This has been a prevailing argument again social intelligence.  According to New Media Trend Watch 33 percent of the 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964 use social media, among which only US accounts for 26 million individuals. For Facebook and Google+ the population between 45 to 54-age is the fastest growing, seeing a 46 percent jump for Facebook and 56 percent leap for Google+. This growth has not been contained to the mainstream social networks and has spanned online communities, blogs and open comment sites, aside from the massive networks. According to Pew,presently 67 percent of Internet users between the ages of 50 and 64 are using online social circles. Beyond this, the segment of Internet users 65 and older who use  social media has significantly increased from 13 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in 2013.To know more go to: http://www.listenlogic.com/2013/11/senior-moment-social-media-shifts/

Today big data is able to change the way real-estate professionals, buyers, sellers and even banks think about transactions involving property. Companies, promoting services that plug consumers into big data real estate information which gives a better education and insight.There are five key ways through which big data is changing the game of real estate business. They are- 1. Big data helps to democratize data for the real-estate customer. Companies such as Zillow combine big data with real estate and offer services like- Mining census information, the results of consumer surveys, listings of homes for sale and rent etc. 2. Big data is not only providing new information to consumers but also new ways of looking at developments and community planning. From that gathered information, real-estate developers can learn what kinds of spaces work best in terms of tenant health, energy efficiency and other points. 3. Institutions like banks are also able to plug into big data resources. 4. As an expert real estate advisor knows recent sales, incentives, and inside secrets to getting the best deal, buyers should have to be careful and should start property searching with the help of big data sites. 5. Finally, Big data let the professionals know what visitors are doing when looking for real estate online and they adjust their paid and organic efforts based on this data daily. Read more at:http://analytics.theiegroup.com/article/53be79af3723a84f1000003f/5-Ways-Big-Data-Is-Changing-Real-Estate

Social media defines an array of internet sites that enable people from all over the world to interact. Social media affects our mental health and well-being. Facebook might cause anxiety and make life miserable. Facebook followed by My Space, Twitter, LinkedIn are leading social networking sites. Majorly below 30 aged men women use internet and 42 percent of them use multiple sites. The ability to connect to the people around the world attracts people to these sites. Social media has become a way of self-distraction and boredom relief. This leads to addiction. Scoring four of six criteria indicates addiction. People who are more anxious and socially insecure tend to use Facebook more. They tend to gain attention and boost self-esteem through Facebook. 

Again these sites can feel less confident comparing their popularity with their friends which leads to negative emotion. It also creates worry and discomfort for people hampering face to face interactions. Moreover there are cases of cyber bullying by adolescents.

In spite of these facts social media could be helpful to identify mental health issues. For example people with less pictures and friends might have the inability to enjoy from activities which normal people enjoy. Moreover a happy status may sometimes inspire others to post happy updates too. They might cause their friends’ emotional expression to change. Positive expressions spread more than negative expressions. In a magnified version this might cause an ‘epidemic of well-being’. But in conclusion whatever might be the affects, positive or negative, the usage of internet and social media is unlikely to fade any time soon. read more at : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275361.php

Craig Borowski (Research Associate at Software Advice, that offers call center software comparisons) in his survey data outlines the reasons why should a company offer callback instead of making customers wait on phone impatiently. 63% of respondents prefer call back instead of waiting on phone. 43% of them expect a callback within half hour whereas 25% said it does not matter when the call was returned. Thus three measures to eradicate the problems are: Introducing an intelligent call back system such as Virtual Hold Technology (VHT). Allowing the use of applications like FastCustomer and help it to navigate the IVR. The best solution possibly would be to launch a new phone system altogether. If callback emerges as a growing technology it will eliminate the frustration among the customers of waiting long and increase customer satisfaction and call center productivity. Read more at : http://inovasolutions.com/blog/post/contact-center-callback-services-are-improving-customer-service.

The most recently developed modern call center has emerged with so much of technology usage from cloud to Customer Relationship Management and Integrated Voice Response with new phrases catching up on people’s minds. It can be compared to an Oxford dictionary which gets 1000 new words added almost every year. There is always a need of new word to describe an innovation, idea or technology. These new words lead to puzzling communication. Thus the need of the hour is a jargon busting guide. Some examples are COLO which stands for Colocation. It refers to the service where data can be stored by a host company in a third party data center. For access to the whole guide visit: http://www.newvoicemedia.com/blog/understanding-the-modern-call-centre-our-jargon-busting-guide/#colo

The fastest growing market for smartphone and tablet are used for gaming purposes more than desktops and gaming consoles. Gaming through social networking sites is also increasing. Reportedly the Asia Pacific region has the highest number of gamer in the world. Social gaming market witnessed high growth rates in Japan than mobile games. In China gaming users are also increasing remarkably every year. In India, mobile is forecast ed to be the fastest growing segment in the gaming industry with revenues matching up the level of console gaming. In the U.S. advanced online gaming and gaming on mobile devices has outpaced social gaming in popularity. In Latin America, Brazil is the largest online gaming market. In Mexico mobile was the most preferred platform for gaming users whereas in Europe, Germany was the leading country that generated huge revenues from game downloads. But in France, computer was the most frequently used gaming platform than smart phones. Mobile gaming in South Africa outperforms online gaming on other platforms.Read more at:

Business intelligence is a strong foundation for any business strategy. In this fast moving world where every small to big enterprises are struggling, it is vital to set up a proper environment for business intelligence application. Cloud based BI is recommended because:  It reduces implementation time as cloud BI is inexpensive software that completely focuses on the core business. Cloud BI saves money, time and energy. Secondly it is very easy to manage the changing requirements according to the number of users. Thirdly it is very simple to use. Fourth reason is faster return on investment can be expected since less is invested in setting up the application. Fifthly it is simple to use as cloud based BI is independent on IT for reporting. Cloud BI also increases flexibility during execution and implementation. Lastly cloud BI serves multiple clients without reducing duplicity of data and ensuring centralization and security of data. Read more at:

The launch of big data analytics has brought confidentiality concerns as a rising subject for the customers. Obtaining data is important in order to improve its ability to connect their business to the target consumer by analyzing customer behavior. Casting uncertainties from the consumers on how entrepreneurs use their personal information while collecting data endanger the trust that every business enterprise should build. The consumers are aware of the value of their private data. To a reasonable extent the consumers are willing to share. Privacy is more important to the consumers and they expect marketers to give it owing admiration. Businesses that do not respect the privacy of their customers will be likely to mislay their faith. some strategies to be taken to re-establish the trust of customers between business and the customers. Many customers are prepared to share their personal data if they are guaranteed of their privacy. Read more at: 

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/node/216026