Tag: instagram

Threads, Twitter, or neither? What are the differences and what are the benefits of engaging on social media for your business
News about the Twitter rival, Threads, exploded last week as 100 million people signed up so far just as Twitters traffic plummeted from recent changes.

Twitter announces that the number of tweets that users could view would go from infinite to a set amount depending on the type of account you have. Considering the main purpose of most social media platforms is to keep users engaged and scrolling – this has tanked their web traffic and further worsened the opinion users have them as a whole.

On the other end, Threads (a Meta product) which is directly integrated with Instagram, have smartly made the sign up as easy as possible. If you search for “Threads” in Instagram you will be prompted to download the application and it will be connected to your Instagram account, from there you can import all of your settings and even accounts you follow from Instagram. This includes business accounts as well.

As far as using Threads is concerned, it’s very similar to Twitter in format, with users being limited to an image and a small paragraph. There is cross platform integration in the form of Threads posts being advertised in Instagram and vice versa.

Now, whether it’s worthwhile to engage on Threads in your business really depends on the type of business you have. For those whose businesses thrive on exposure (like restaurants and other food venues, consumer driven products etc). It’s definitely worthwhile to maintain a presence on any booming social media app.

For Business to Business (B2B) types of commerce it may be less worthwhile to devote a lot of time to apps like Threads or Twitter, but it’s still a good idea to claim your business name on them and post occasionally as this activity can still contribute to your web traffic and online presence.

However, you don’t need to sign up for every social media app that comes along as there have been a number of Twitter rip offs for example that did not survive past launch or even if they still exist have abysmal traffic. Even for Twitter itself unless things turn around it the traffic you might get from there will probably not be worth the effort it takes to add original content to the platform.

For social media apps that are still thriving here are 5 content ideas you can start out with to grow your online presence:

We also wanted to list out the five main benefits to maintaining a social media presence for your business, since after all you want to see an ROI for the effort put into making that content. Benefits include:
1. Engaging with your customers 1-on-1. Social media can get your message through to your customers at a much higher rate than other avenues of advertising (such as email).
2. Promote your message. You can use it to promote your company message, how you do business, specific product launches and more.
3. You can maintain your reputation on your terms. Nowadays customers will look to your company pages to learn more about your business and how it aligns with their own values before making a purchase. They may also check these pages to see other customers’ reviews before buying.
4. It also acts as lead generation. Just like your website, your company social media pages are an online billboard for your business.
5. It helps humanize your brand. People want to buy from people, not faceless corporations. If you work on posting original content that includes behind the scenes elements of your business such as company social events or just you or your employee’s day to day, your business as a whole will feel more relatable.
Another good way to maintain your reputation online is to have clear and consistent communication with your customers, and to protect the data you collect from them in the course of doing business. On that front, Valley Techlogic can help.

We are a technology service provider that provides technical support and assistance to businesses in the Central Valley. If you would like to learn more, schedule a consultation with us today.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
July 14, 2023
On average, your information is shared 747 times a day according to a new study
We touched on data brokers and how they buy and sell your data in a previous article, but in an eye opening new study from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) they found that for US-based users their information is shared online with for marketing purposes on average 747 times per day.

That means about 31 times an hour or once every two minutes your information is being sold or traded for marketing purposes so corporations can make an educated guess as to your buying habits when serving you advertising.

The study used data from a 30-day feed from Google which can be accessed by industry specific entities but is not made available to the public. While the study was aimed at European internet users, who on average have their information shared 376 times per day, the figures they discovered are startling no matter where you happen to reside.

The ICCL is pursuing legal action against online ad agencies, describing the real-time bidding (RTB) that’s occurring as a massive data breach and a violation of European data protection laws.

There are a mishmash of laws aimed at protecting US consumers from having their information sold for online marketing purposes, however with no single comprehensive federal law in place any consumer looking to find recourse if they feel their data has been used illicitly will discover they have an uphill battle ahead of them.

We all skim the lengthy TOS found when signing up for a service, while putting it out of mind that the cost of many “free” services in our data, but what if the data that’s being sold goes beyond what you’re posting on social media or what you purchased from an online retailer recently?

With data breaches being a regular occurrence, you may not even be voluntarily opting-in to sharing the information that’s currently being traded about you on the internet and it may go beyond what you would want to have shared.

Even your private medical data can be up for grabs and being sold by data brokers, for example every year Pfizer spends $12 million buying anonymized data for marketing purposes.

So as with our article on data brokers we want to give you some tools to protect yourself and protect your data while using the internet. This time we want to give you 3 helpful ideas that will help you discover what’s out there already and how to close the gaps:
1. Google Alerts : Create alerts with things like your name or social media handle, that way if you’re being mentioned on the internet, you’re instantly alerted to it.
2. HaveIBeenPwned : You can use this site to see if your email or phone number have been involved in a breach and whether it would be a good idea to update or change that information.
3. Credit Monitoring: While we don’t want to recommend a specific site as this choice can be somewhat personal, we think credit monitoring is a good idea for everyone these days. It’s so ubiquitous now that even your bank or credit card companies you already use probably have it built into their website.
You also can “opt out” of personalized marketing with your Google account, while that won’t stop your information from being shared and used to try and market it to you with, it will at least make it so those ads aren’t reaching you as often. You may also be shocked to learn what they’ve already compiled about your interests.

The lists that are compiled on your interests can be quite comprehensive.

Google Isn’t the only one who offers this option, iPhone users can also opt out as well as users of social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

Concerns over data protection aren’t limited to just consumers, businesses should also take steps to protect their data and that of their employees. If you’d like to learn how Valley Techlogic can help you secure your data learn more with a quick consultation.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
May 19, 2022
Yesterday, Facebook experienced their worst outage since 2008
Yesterday if you were trying to login to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or even Oculus VR you wouldn’t have had much luck. Facebook experienced their worst outage since 2008 (when a bug caused the site to be down for an entire day). They were down for just over 6 hours as a world that suddenly found themselves with more time on their hands speculated why.

For a brief period, the domain Facebook.com was even for sale if you performed a search for the domain on a domain name search website.

While many thought it could be an attack on their networks, such as what’s been happening in the VoIP sector lately, others speculated the outage was related to the fire Facebook has been under lately for their business practices.

On Sunday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen – a former Facebook project manager – went public on how Facebooks policies prioritize profits over their user’s wellbeing. She was the person responsible for the massive data dump that showed Facebook’s algorithms even optimize for hate speech. She noted these problems also exist at Google and Pinterest, other companies she’s performed similar duties for, but that the problem is much worst at Facebook.

There have been no shortage of memes taking shots at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg following the outage.

Hearings begin this week analyzing the whistleblower findings, particularly as they relate to children on these sites. Amid the controversy Facebook has shelved plans for an Instagram Kids app, though Facebook claims the delay is so they can better analyze the needs of children and parents before moving forward with the app.

The main crux of the case has to do with both the deluge of data and how major players such as Facebook (and likely beyond) serve that data to their users. It’s a tricky situation because you don’t want to stifle free speech but promoting hate speech and negative imagery, especially to vulnerable audiences such as children, is also wrong.

There is so much more to the case then we can get to here but suffice to say hearings such as these play an important role in how we as a society consume and regulate data.

Back to the topic at hand though, after being down for 6 hours Facebook finally emerged although they did so with little in the way of answers as to why their domains were down to the first place. They’ve issued an apology for the outage but beyond that silence.

Experts who have weighed in speculate the issue had to do with Facebooks DNS (Domain Name System), and anonymous comments that have surfaced from employees said they don’t think the downtime was caused by an attack.

Some reports have even said during the outage functions inside Facebook offices ground to a halt, with some employees being unable to even use their keycards which could have also contributed to the lengthy delay in fixing the problem.

Outages such as these should cause even smaller businesses to take a hard look at their technology practices. If Facebook, with the resources they have available, can be brought to a standstill for hours over potentially a small issue such as DNS how would your business fare when faced with a similar issue?

Downtime adds up, but it doesn’t have to. Having a partner in technology like Valley Techlogic is the number one way your business can avoid the hassle, expense, and embarrassment of lengthy downtime. Find out more today.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, adns, n IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
October 5, 2021
Top 10 Tips for Managing Your Social Media Presence
As a technology service provider, we don’t think it’s much of a leap to weigh in on the topic of social media, there are many technical aspects that come with managing your business’s presence on all the various social media platforms. You may be asking yourself if it’s worth the effort or which ones would be the best fit for your business – or even how to go about setting them up in the first place.

We have to be honest that we’re somewhat “green” to this space ourselves, having only dived into it within the last year in earnest. However, I think this gives us a unique perspective as we’re not claiming to be experts. We use and have grown within the social media space this year and these are our tips for getting started.
1. Claim Your Business. Whether you plan to move forward with a platform or not, we recommend claiming your business identity on as many of the networks as you can, by doing this you can ensure your business name is not taken by someone else later on.
2. Start And/Or Finish Filling Out Google My Business. While not a social media account per se, Google My Business is a crucial advertising tool that allows visitors to reach not only your website but also all of your social media accounts through a Google search. It is important to maintain this account with valid information.
3. Fully Fill Out Your Profile Pages. As with Google My Business, it’s important to fully establish the profile before jumping into posting content. The more information about your business you can provide the better.
4. Decide Which Platforms to Focus Your Efforts. Not every platform is a good fit for every business, you need to go to where your customers are. We recommend LinkedIn and Facebook as good places to start but depending on your business sector platforms such as Instagram or Twitter may net you a good response as well. Even TikTok may be worth the effort for your business depending on your overall audience.
5. Post Regularly. You should set a schedule and stick to it when it comes to sharing content on social media, these platforms reward regular activity by focusing more eyes (and potential customers) at business’s who utilize their platforms consistently.
6. Share Things About Your Business. Customers like to get an “inside look” into the inner workings of the business’s they’re thinking about engaging with, especially in the business-to-business sector. Share things like company events and photos to engage with your audience on a personal level.
7. Share Custom Content. Another idea for content is to share things you make or blogs you post. Both Google and the social media platforms reward custom made content.
8. Invite People You Know to Like Your Page. When first starting out it’s a good idea to invite customers and colleagues to like your social media pages, this allows them to receive the updates you post and helps you begin building an audience.
9. Consider Paid Activity. We don’t suggest trying this off the bat but once your page is somewhat established, you might consider paid ads through these platforms to drive the content you’re creating and sharing to an even wider audience.
10. Engage With Your Audience. Our final tip is just to remind you to always engage with your audience, responding to comments not only lets you form a connection with potential clients but it also shows that your business is proactive and responsive.
We also found this article on Facebook statistics really helpful when it comes to evaluating Facebook in particular. Facebook falls just behind YouTube and Google on having the most web traffic, but that’s still hundreds of millions of users.

One bonus tip, many of us don’t consider YouTube to be a social media application, but it really is. Not only can you connect with your audience on a personal level through video, it’s also connected to Google as they own it. Building up a business YouTube account can also lead to more traffic from Google.

We hope these tips help with getting started in social media, while outside our normal scope if your business would like advice on this topic or on any of regular service topics feel free to reach out.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these tech articles from the last week.
This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
April 30, 2021