Category: Business Trends

1. Set SMART goals.

Instagram goals are a crucial component of success. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Set SMART goals to consistently generate traffic and website clicks.

2. Create a BUSINESS profile.

Establish your Instagram as a business profile to define yourself as a company. Plus, it provided the ability to use Instagram’s analytics and ads. Business profiles also allow a connection to your Facebook business page, which completes your online presence.

3. Use ALL of Instagram’s features.

Instagram allows you to use highlight reels, IGTV, stories and posts on your feed. Integrate all of these features to ensure you are ranking high on the platform’s algorithm. Together, they establish a complete profile that looks authentic and professional.

4. Hashtags are #ESSENTIAL.

Hashtags are crucial for reaching new audience members in your company’s niche. For example: marketing professionals may use hashtags like #NashvilleMarketing and #SocialMediaMarketing to reach their community, or business professionals may search those hashtags when looking for a marketing team. The hashtags can lead potential clients to the related Instagram profile so the prospects can learn more about the company.

5. Stay ACTIVE and schedule posts.

Instagram can often get put on the back-burner for a company, and it can be challenging to stay active on your account. Use a program like Hootsuite to bulk-schedule your posts and relieve the pressure of taking time to post 3-5 times per week. Once your content is uploaded, this program handles the post for you!

6. ENGAGE with your followers and build a community. 

Comment and like others’ posts to engage and connect with your followers and your community. This will not only help you gain new followers, but you will also gain loyalty from your current ones.

7. SEARCH for influencers and similar brands.

Identify influencers who can help advertise and endorse your products. Research similar brands on Instagram to help you find your particular niche and determine the most logical way for your company to capitalize on social media.

8. Post at peak ENGAGEMENT hour.

Post at the correct time to help your company generate the highest level of engagement and likes for your social media content.

9. Use a CALL TO ACTION that leads to website clicks.

A call to action (CTA) will direct your reader to perform a specific task, such as visiting your website or filling out a form. CTAs can take your audience from being social media viewers to blog readers, which will eventually lead them to the product or service you offer. Instagram allows only one link per profile so, plug a Linktree into your bio to properly optimize your CTAs.

10. Analyze your ANALYTICS.

Last, but definitely not least, monitor analytics and readjust. Adapt your post schedule, ad campaigns and types of posts to gain Instagram traction. In order to continue your growth, track your current engagement to see what’s most effective. Instagram business profiles have a discovery section that shows your most popular to your least popular post. Discover what is most successful and create more of this kind of content.

Don’t let the endless features of Instagram overwhelm you. Used wisely, it can be a powerful tool to build your brand, showcase your value and connect with potential customers. By curating your content and following our top ten tips you are bound for Instagram success. Now, what are you waiting for? Start snapping and sharing!

Top 10 Tips for Business Instagram Accounts [Octane]

MBA students have been moving into financial technology or fintech in large numbers. This is surprising at first given that these positions often pay less than traditional MBA jobs, and that’s a big risk given the tuition costs and the fact that the industry is still fairly new. It is a clear departure from conventional careers like management and consulting. But the fintech industry might also offer something to MBAs that traditional positions don’t. Let’s look at the reasons why a growing number of MBA students are seeking positions in fintech after looking at the hard data on this trend.

The Hard Data on These Trends

MBA graduates have only recently started flooding into fintech. For example, one EU school had zero graduates join fintech in 2016 but nearly 5 percent of graduates joined fintech firms in 2017. And more did so the following year. Fintech recruitment of MBA graduates has become so big that INSEAD found it necessary to add a fintech category to its MBA career report They found that just over ten percent of their Masters of Business Administration grads joined the field that year.

The biggest downside of working in fintech is the pay. According to one industry survey, the average MBA graduate in a startup that hasn’t raised capital is just under a hundred thousand dollars a year. For comparison, those entering the financial industry earned around 150,000 dollars. And many of those received starting bonuses. That’s why we can say with certainty MBA graduates aren’t signing up for the pay. Let’s look at the reasons they are choosing to go into fintech anyway.

It Is On the Bleeding Edge

Financial technology is exciting to many because it is on the edge. Most MBA students today are tech-savvy and have at least some kind of interest in the field. Others have entrepreneurial ambitions on their own, and there are few opportunities as promising as fintech. Many also have an interest in things such as cryptocurrency, which is a major component of the fintech industry. An MBA program can be a great incubator for new fintech businesses, and also a great place to learn fundamental business principles that will serve them in this field, such as managerial accounting, strategic management, and project and change management.

Fintech is a popular place for MBAs to start their own business and learn the ropes, and companies tend to recruit peers from the same school and those with the same background. Word of mouth referrals are likely because there aren’t the same recruitment tracks for fintech the way there are for investment banking and consulting jobs.

Many fintechs seek fellow MBAs to fill holes in their team. For example, startups are seeking out MBAs to bridge the gap between customer expectations and the product at hand. And some choose to join fintech because they think banks will let them do this.

Fintech firms are innovative, and that gives each the potential to take off. Some join in the hope of making a lot of money if the firm does take off in the form of equity. This is even seen in countries less familiar with remuneration via equity, though MBA graduates in these countries are very familiar with the concept.

The Advancement Opportunities It Presents

Others are joining so they can be on the ground floor. They’re a vital member of the team from the beginning. They also know that they’ll move up the org chart quickly as the company expands. The promise of this is so great that big banks are afraid to lose top talent to fintech companies. Conversely, time at a fintech company could lead to a role at another technology company. For example, financial technologies like cryptocurrencies were once niche but are now backed by a number of mainstream institutions.

The Ability to Make a Difference

For some, the lure of Fintech is the strong possibility they made a difference. In 2015, one firm estimated that nearly five trillion dollars in financial services revenue could be displaced by fintech. Others simply want to join a team where they are contributing immediately to the mission. And a growing number want to work on pioneering innovations. They may want to work in online markets and virtual platforms that could displace banks and other financial intermediaries.

For some, the ability to make a real difference matters more than the money they might earn. In fact, the ability to generate impact is their biggest incentive for joining these firms, and they’d do the job whether or not they might get rich in a subsequent IPO.

The Career Flexibility It Provides

An MBA program graduate is qualified to work in almost any role in a startup from marketing to operations to business development. They could work in data science or management of a growing department. With a little experience in fintech, they can move into the innovation arm of established financial services firms.

These MBAs will get a chance to get a kind of expertise that is not always taught in classes. They’ll have their finger on the pulse of the industry and be aware of the most recent changes and needs. This kind of knowledge will become increasingly valuable, and many MBAs are aware of this. Which is why many would prefer to get some experience in a field that could actually benefit them later on.

Others move into the investment side and benefit from their experience in fintech. Funding for fintech startups has been growing at forty percent annually for the past four years and at least forty billion dollars has been invested in it so far. The need for this expertise is so great that large banks are sometimes assigning summer associates to cover fintech and then keeping them in the role when they become full-time employees.

Conclusion

Fintech is attracting students motivated by far more than money. We can expect fintech to continue to attract some of the best and brightest MBA grads, only some of whom will eventually end up in traditional roles at banks and other service companies.

Traditionally, for employing BI, you need to build data centers and recruit IT-specialists. Therefore, until recently, this privilege was only availed by big-chip organizations. But the times have changed. With the evolution and expansion of the IT industry, we have witnessed a dramatic plummet in the costs of sophisticated Business Intelligence software.

Today, even cash-strapped setups and small startups use them. And as effortlessly as they use Spectrum Internet offers. According to a report, the analytics and BI market are predicted to grow up to as much as $20 billion by the end of 2019. If you are a small business owner, it is your first-ever chance in history to take advantage of the most innovative and effective BI tools! You will get to track the overall performance and make decisions based on data.

Why Establish a BI Strategy?

You need to have a strong BI strategy for your own benefit. If done correctly, it can prove to be extremely powerful for your business success. But what is the key to getting it just right? The key is to have a comprehensive strategy that essentially combines futuristic predictive analytics and historical BI.

Explore how developing a solid BI strategy can strengthen your business.

Fruitful and Fast Data Analytics

Do you think creating a digital marketing strategy is enough? Well, it’s not. If you want to make the most of it, you have to analyze the effectiveness regularly. That’s exactly where BI steps in. BI tools are specifically beneficial when it comes to small startups and businesses.

Small setups are low on budget and can’t afford to hire full-timers dedicated only to business analytics. Instead, they can just equip the current employees with effective analytics tools to assess the performance. These software programs come with simple and easy-to-use, drag-and-drop dashboards. They are easily accessible. That means you don’t have to spend on extensive employee training to enable them to use them.

Customer Intelligence becomes Your Crystal Ball

Who doesn’t want valuable insights into their customers’ behavior that can help in estimating their buying patterns? In addition to acquiring, maintenance of a base of loyal customers is also crucial to the growth of your business. To have satisfied customers, you need to know them. You should also have the ability to predict the needs of your customers. That’s where you need to implement customer intelligence tools.

Yes, the BI tools are not crystal balls. But they use an algorithm to contextualize the past behaviors of your customers. They will reveal certain trends, which will help you make rational and better business decisions. In the retail industry, predictive analytics play a fundamental role. You can collect and summarize consumer data in order to predict the upcoming purchasing trends, optimizing the prices, and estimate the industry demand.

Flawless Customer Reports

For business owners, nothing is better than nicely arranged data. Your clients also want the same. But having to collect data from multiple resources, organizing it, and then creating never-ending client reports is a monotonous and daunting task.

To make the process faster, just switch from the manual analysis to the solutions, based on automated client reporting. They offer actionable insights and real-time analysis. And you get to have it in a clutter-free, neat format. And you get to keep a track of all the important KPIs on one dashboard. You can also use data visualization software to create difficult charts automatically without spending any extra hours on design and formatting.

Enhanced Workplace Collaboration

 

Smooth and effective communication between all the teams at a workplace is mandatory. Implementing Business Intelligence will enable faster and effective data transmission and storage. Your employees will be able to access and share files instantly. And that’s irrespective of where they are located. If you move your teams to this digital landscape, it will enable you to recruit remote resources. You don’t have to essentially hire in-house experts. Imagine how much you can save like this!

Whether you want to go for a traditional workplace or you choose to have remote employees, it is advisable to invest in BI tools for boosted collaboration. Take the instance of cloud services in BI. They can boost the overall collaboration as well as optimize the service levels. They will help you minimize costs and maximize productivity. And all you need is a smooth internet to do all of this.

You can even save money there, and settle for Spectrum Internet Assist package, created for low-budget families and setups.