Mediastreet
Author

editor

Browsing
In News

How the Smartest Minds Use Intuition and Emotional Intelligence to Make Better Decisions, Backed by Science

No Comments

By Jeff Haden

Experience matters, but research shows high emotional intelligence can also make intuitive decisions even more accurate.

A 33-year-old patient complained of flu-like symptoms. His doctor assessed him. Nothing stood out. But for some reason…the doctor decided to do a full workup.

Why? “As soon as [I] started to talk to him, my spider senses started to tingle,” the physician told researchers. Turns out the doctor’s intuition was right.

The patient had lung cancer.

According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, “Intuition is thinking that you know without knowing why you do. Like quickly scanning three résumés and, without thinking too hard, picking the best candidate. Like quickly scanning long checkout lines at the supermarket and deciding, without thinking too hard, which is likely to be the quickest.

Like listening to someone speak for a few minutes and deciding, without thinking too hard, whether they’re smart or just a D-K.

Granted, sometimes you’ll be wrong.

But, depending on your level of emotional intelligence, not as often as you think.

How Intuition Works

Science supports the power of intuition. As Friederike Fabritius and Hans Hagemann write in The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, and Happier, the basal ganglia and insula, two distinct regions of the brain, drive intuitive decisions.

Your basal ganglia manage the stored routines and patterns that make up your experiences. Your insula takes care of body awareness, and is highly sensitive to any changes in your body.

Even if you’re not consciously thinking about it, your unconscious brain starts working on a problem or decision right away. Then, when you try to make a conscious decision, your brain compares that decision with the one your unconscious has already made.

And here’s what happens next:

  • If your unconscious agrees with your conscious decision, your brain gives off a subtle reward response. The decision doesn’t just seem logical. It also feels good.
  • If your unconscious disagrees with your conscious decision, your insula detects other changes in your body. While the decision seems logical, it doesn’t feel good.

Why? If your brain has predicted a reward, and your body decides differently, your anterior cingulate cortex generates an electronic signal called error-related negativity. (Or, in non-scientific terms, an “Uh-oh!” response.)

That’s where intuition comes from. Make the right decision, and your body knows it. Make the wrong decision, and your body knows it. Like the doctor, you can’t explain why.

You just know.

Now Layer in Some Emotional Intelligence

According to a 2020 study published in Emotion, people with lower levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to misread the signals their bodies send them.

In one case, they mistook their body’s “warning sign” for excitement and instead of proceeding cautiously took more risks. They interpreted “Uh-oh” as “Let’s go!”

Which makes sense; as my Inc. colleague Justin Bariso writes, one aspect of emotional intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for and not against you — which is really hard when you can’t properly interpret your emotions.

So is overstating your level of experience. Navy SEALs have practiced, trained, and debriefed hundreds of scenarios. They’re able to intuitively respond to new or changing conditions because their storehouse of experience is full. That’s why Sully decided to land in the Hudson River. That’s why quarterbacks like Tom Brady can read a defence and make the right throw so quickly.

As Fabritius and Hagemann write:

Although there’s a common misconception that intuitive decisions are random and signify a lack of skill, the exact opposite is true.

Intuitive decisions are often the product of years of experience and thousands of hours of practice. They represent the most efficient use of your accumulated experience.

When Should You Trust Your Intuition?

All of which sounds good. But there’s a difference between gut feel and guessing. So how can you tell when your intuition might be on to something?

First, consider your level of emotional intelligence. But don’t just assume — like when more than 80 percent of respondents said they were above-average drivers, even though that’s mathematically impossible — that you’re emotionally intelligent. Take a test. (Although you may not love everything you discover about yourself.)

The better your emotional intelligence, the more likely you are to accurately interpret your body’s “Uh-oh” intuitive response. (Or at the very least, pause and consider what you might be missing.)

Then ask yourself three questions Kahneman feels can help determine whether you should feel confident about a particular intuition:

1. Is this a regular, predictable environment? 

If something happens on a frequent basis, the outcomes are more likely to be predictable. Take chess. “Intuitions of master chess players when they look at the board,” Kahneman says, “are often accurate.” Or people in close relationships. “Everybody who’s been married,” he says, “could guess their [partner’s] mood by one word on the telephone.”

Or even medical professionals: Researchers have found a strong correlation between a doctor’s “gut feelings” about ICU patients at the beginning of their stay — when medical data was sparse — and the eventual course and outcome of treatment.

2. Do I have extensive experience or practice?

Accurate intuition isn’t something you have; accurate intuition comes from considerable practice.

That’s how experienced hiring managers can make solid “snap” decisions. That’s how doctors sense something isn’t quite right. That’s how you know when something sounds too good to be true.

3. Have I gotten plenty of feedback?

Without feedback, you can’t know whether an intuition was right or wrong — which means you can’t calibrate your intuition.

To Kahneman, that’s the difference between luck and intuition. If you got it right but can’t go back and trace what your unconscious noticed, you made a lucky guess. If you can later look back and articulate the reasons why, that means you knew…you just didn’t know, in the moment, why you knew.

All of which leads to a final point. Intuition isn’t a substitute for data. For logic. For analysis. For reasoning.

But expert intuition — the kind of intuition that comes from genuine experience — can identify moments when your analysis is shaky and your reasoning off.

Especially if you’re emotionally intelligent enough to read the signals your body sends you.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Jeff Haden

Sourced from Inc.

Read More
By
In News

Do’s and Don’ts of Email Etiquette 2022: How to Sound More Professional Through Email

No Comments

The average employee spends hours every day going through their emails. However, even though emails are done on a daily basis and are one of the most common routines now, a lot of professionals still don’t know how to use email appropriately.

In fact, because of the massive volume of messages you are reading and writing every day, you may be prone to making embarrassing errors, which can have serious consequences.

Below are the do’s and don’ts of email etiquette.

Do Have a Short and Clear Subject Line

Most people have to compete with the hundreds of emails clogging their inbox daily, so the clearer the subject line is, the more likely the message will be read.

According to Business Insider, a lot of people decide which email to read first based on the subject line. If it sounds urgent and straight to the point, it will definitely be read first.

Don’t Forget to Put Your Signature

Every email that you send must have a signature that tells the recipient who you are and how they can contact you. You can set it up to automatically appear at the end of every email sent.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), workers spend 28% of their workweek checking their emails. This is why it is best to add your signature so they will automatically know where they can reach you best.

You also need to include all of your contact details, like email address, office address, and phone numbers, so the recipient does not have to look them up themselves.

In 2022, TechTimes reported how HR created a hybrid email culture using e-signatures.

If you want to create a signature easily, you can use the signature generator for free for your emails.

Do Add Professional Salutation

Using “Hey.” is not professional, no matter how well you know the recipient. You can use either “Hi” or “Hello” instead. To be more formal, you can use “Dear (insert name).”

You can also use the recipient’s name in the salutation, but remember not to use their nickname. You should only use their full first name, as advised by Entrepreneur.

Don’t Use Humour in Your Email

Humour does not translate well through email, especially in a professional setting. The other party may misinterpret what you think is funny or take it as sarcasm because there is no accompanying vocal tone or facial expressions.

It is best to leave the humour out of business communications when you are in doubt.

Do Proofread Your Message Before Sending

Do not be surprised if you are judged by how you compose an email. For example, if your email has a lot of misspelled words and grammatical errors, you may be perceived as careless, sloppy, or even uneducated.

Make sure that you check your grammar, spelling, and message before hitting send.

Don’t Assume the Recipient Immediately Knows About the Topic

Create your message as a stand-alone note, even if it is in response to an email thread. This means you should not reply with one-liners.

Always include the subject of any references to previous emails, conversations, or research. It can be time-consuming and frustrating to look back at the email thread just to get the context.

Your recipient may have a lot of emails coming in each day, and likely won’t remember the events leading up to your email, so it is best always to include context.

Feature Image Credit: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa Gmail

By Sophie Webster

Sourced from Tech Times

Read More
By
In News

How to write a “to whom it may concern” letter in four steps

No Comments

By

We explore situations where you’ll need to write a letter without knowing the recipient – and how to get it right

It’s tricky enough to know how to write a proper business letter when you know the recipient, let alone when you’ve never met the person at the other end of the document.

You’ll undoubtedly have to face this situation throughout your working life, though, and the best way to tackle this challenge is by writing a “to whom it may concern” letter.

It’s a document that can help you address formal situations and unknown recipients. You’ve got to get it right if you want to impress, though, so we’ve rounded up the four steps needed to produce a proper business letter that’ll help you get the desired results.

We’ve got more help at hand if you’re struggling with corporate communications. Here are some fantastic recommendation letter samples (opens in new tab), and here’s our verdict on the best AI writing software (opens in new tab).

Is this kind of letter appropriate?

The salutation “to whom it may concern” is traditionally used when you don’t know who you’re writing to, or if you’re unsure about the name of the person you’re addressing.

There are plenty of situations where you’ll find yourself in this situation. It’s a suitable salutation if you’re writing to an organization with an unfamiliar structure, or if you’re addressing a complaint towards a business.

This is a common greeting if you’ve been asked to provide a recommendation or letter of reference (opens in new tab) that you’ll have to submit through an automated system, and it’s ideal if you’re writing to introduce yourself to someone you’ve never met formally. It’s also a good option if you want to send a speculative letter about vacancies or a prospective letter about sales opportunities at an unfamiliar business.

While you’ll inevitably come across situations where you can’t avoid using “to whom it may concern,” you should take steps to avoid this stuffy and old-fashioned phrase if you possibly can. Before you sit down to write, it’s worth scouring the website and LinkedIn profile of the company involved to see if you can find the appropriate contact – a personal letter will always be better received. If you head to the company’s website you’ll often find the names of senior staff on the About Us page, and the firm’s LinkedIn profile will usually link to loads of people who work at the business.

If you really want to commit to finding the appropriate name, you can call the company and ask what name you should use on the letter – they may let you know the precise person involved. It’s also worth asking any of your professional contacts who may have worked at the company in the past in case they know the right name, and consider checking job postings for the names of hiring managers and recruitment staff.

At the end of this process you may only have a surname, but that’s often still a better option than using “to whom it may concern” – it’s still more a personal connection and it’ll prove more eye-catching to the recipient.

Fingers typing on a computer keyboard.

(Image credit: Pixabay)

Are there alternatives?

There are undoubtedly some situations where you’ll have to use “to whom it may concern”, and others where some smart web searching can reveal the name of the person you need to address – and you can avoid the phrase all together.

Often, though, you’ll find yourself in the middle ground, with some extra information that doesn’t quite reveal a full name.

If you do end up in that position, don’t feel like you must resort to using “to whom it may concern” if you’d prefer to avoid its sheer formality. If you know the department you need to contact, open your letter with a greeting like “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Customer Service Manager”.

You can address the person’s job title directly if you’ve got that information to hand, and if you want to project a less formal tone you can open with a simple “Hello” or “Greetings”.

How to use “to whom it may concern

If you’ve exhausted all avenues and you have to open a letter with “to whom it may concern”, there are rules you should follow to ensure that you meet the standards associated with this kind of document.

When you want to write “to whom it may concern”, you need to capitalize the first letter of each word. Use “whom” instead of any “who” or “whoever”, and use a colon immediately following the phrase – not a comma. When you start your next paragraph, use a double space before you begin writing.

Person Typing

(Image credit: Burst / Pexels)

How to format your letter

You should follow formal business letter rules for the rest of your document, too. Include your name, address and contact details, the date, and then the address and contact details of the recipient’s company.

Include a subject line, use your first paragraph to outline the contents of the letter, and use consistent formatting, a professional font, and make sure you leave a line between your paragraphs.

The professional tone needs to continue to the end of the letter. Use a formal closing phrase like “yours sincerely” or “respectfully yours”, leave four lines for your signature, and include your full, typed name and title. Run a spelling and grammar check and proofread the letter before you post.

It can be tricky to know when to write a “to whom it may concern” letter, and it’s worth avoiding unless you can’t really help it – if you can use a friendlier or more personal greeting then you’re probably going to get better results.

But if you’re making a complaint, speaking to unfamiliar recipients, or writing a reference or an introductory letter then it sometimes can’t be avoided. At least if you follow these rules then you’ll get the job done – you’ll avoid offending anyone and you’ll get the right outcome.

Feature Image credit: Shutterstock / insta_photos)

By

Sourced from techradar.pro

Read More
By
In News

How To Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money

No Comments

By

Are you interested in affiliate marketing? Well, I don’t blame you. Today we’ll teach you how to start affiliate marketing with no money.

Affiliate marketing can be an additional income stream where you promote products and services to consumers that you’re a fan of. You then direct them to the websites of retailers selling these products and services. A commission is earned when someone you refer purchases something or completes an action, such as joining a service or email list. This is one of the rare occurrences where it’s a win-win for the advertiser and the affiliate.

What’s more, the sky is the limit when it comes to earning potential. In fact, it’s totally possible to make six figures with affiliate marketing.

But, doesn’t it take a boatload of cash to get started. Well, believe it or not, you can actually start affiliate marketing today with no money using the following strategies.

Decide your niche and audience.

Want to be successful in affiliate marketing. You must first establish yourself within a niche. But, how exactly can you settle on a niche?

If possible, choose an that is both passionate and knowledgeable to you. “This helps you come across as authentic and as a trusted source of information for potential customers,” explains Mark Hayes over at Shopify. Additionally, it lets you determine which brands and products to promote.

“Say, for example, you started a blog about dogs,” he adds. “You own a sprocker spaniel and you’re passionate about helping other owners care for their sprockers.”

Then, you create a blog like Sprocker Lovers — which I’ll get more in detail shortly. After that, you can promote your content by soliciting subscribers and encouraging them to share it. “Sprocker spaniels are your niche, and you’re going to invest in content marketing and optimization to grow your audience of owners,” says Hayes.

This is exactly what Elise Dopson, founder of Sprocker Lovers, did.

“The niche you choose for your affiliate site guides how much time or effort you’ll need to put into building it to a point where you begin to see SEO results,” says Elise.

“SERPs for software, marketing, and health care, for example, are all dominated by huge blogging sites with even bigger marketing budgets. The secret is finding untapped areas where competition isn’t as fierce—and getting in there before other people recognize it.”

To learn who and what your audience likes, you can use affiliate marketing tools like social listening tools, website analytics, and social media insights as you post more.

Don’t forget, you won’t be paid to post, it’s not free money. An affiliate program is a performance-based marketing system. By knowing what products your audience enjoys, you can recommend more affiliate products to them to bolster your income.

Join your audience’s conversations.

There’s another reason why you first need to settle on a niche and get to know your audience. You can join their conversations organically.

What exactly does that mean? Well, Kyle Kostechka from ClickBank explains this in a YouTube video from October 2021. In a nutshell, this is nothing more than commenting with affiliate links. The caveat here is that you want to leave these comments where your audience hangs out, whether that’s Reddit, message boards, or forums.

He uses the example of people selling Trump coins. Now, I’m not going to engage in political discourse here. The point Kyle was making was that the people selling these products sold look hotcakes. How? Because these coins were shared on platforms where there were political conversations occurring.

For example, people were leaving comments on message boards like, “Hey, if you really want to stick to Nancy Pelosi, you should really look at this product.” But, that comment only works when the audience is discussing topics like how fed up they are with democrats.

On the flip side, these comments wouldn’t work on unrelated discussions. For instance, you wouldn’t peddle Trump coins when the topic was about a sick family member or sports trade rumours. If you did, that’s spam. And, why honestly enjoys spam?

Even worse? Engaging in spam techniques could get you kicked off the platform as this could be a violation of the platform.

3 Build your social media presence.

What if I told you that you can monetize your online presence through social media? This can be achieved by placing affiliate links in your posts, updates, and profiles. But, instead of spreading yourself too thin, focus on the social channels where your audience hangs out.

What’s more, you should also consider the pros and cons of each social media platform.

Facebook

  • Pros: It’s the largest social media platform available with close to 3 billion global users. Suffice to say, a large audience is accessible.
  • Cons: It’s not as appealing to a younger audience. And, it’s not as effective using organic search.

Instagram

  • Pros: Excellent for displaying products and services because it’s highly visual. Also. video content such as reels and stories is emphasized heavily.
  • Cons: The organic reach of feed posts is low.

Pinterest

  • Pros: Pinterest offers an advantage in that you can directly share affiliate links in the pins you make. Take advantage of the platform to share quality, as well as trend-driven content in your niche.
  • Cons: Pinterest traffic caters to a very specific audience.

Twitter

  • Pros: With around 397 million users Twitter is another popular social media platform that is great for showing off what you have to offer.
  • Cons: Because of Twitter’s character limit (280) for each post, affiliate marketing can be challenging.

YouTube

  • Pros: Excellent for SEO. Additionally, there’s a worldwide audience of 2.3 billion people.
  • Cons: Most niches are flooded with competition. And, you’ll need to invest in professional and high-quality videos.

LinkedIn

  • Pros: Impressive organic reach. Also, it’s the leading platform for professionals.
  • Cons: Mostly aimed at business-to-business audiences.

TikTok

  • Pros: Short videos that do not need a professional appearance like YouTube. Also, the experience is more genuine. Moreover, TikTok has become a trend-setting platform.
  • Cons: Descriptions don’t have clickable links.

Blog (for free).

There are other ways to market your affiliate products besides social media. You can establish your credibility and engage readers to click on your affiliate links by blogging on free platforms like Medium, Blogger, Quora, Steemit, and Hubpages. However, most of the major players, such as WordPress, Wix, and Webley are also free. However, you will have to pay for website hosting.

Whatever blogging platform you use, producing high-quality content within your niche is paramount. When you do so, you can generate a lot of traffic to your affiliate links using these free blogging platforms. Some suggestions would be;

  • Product reviews
  • Tutorials
  • How-tos
  • Q&As
  • The best tips and tricks

On both Medium and Steemit, affiliate links can actually be used within your content, as long as certain conditions are met. And, even though hosting isn’t free with WordPress, it’s extremely flexible. That means you can create whatever content your audience will dig, as well as drop affiliate links wherever you need them.

Leave glowing reviews.

Reviewing a product or brand positively is at the heart of affiliate marketing. With that in mind, you have an advantage by using review platforms. If you are consistent in your reviewing process, people will start to trust your input.

However, it’s important to give honest feedback. And, most importantly, only on the products and services you have personally experienced.

Where can you leave these reviews? The most obvious places would be review-style websites or the review section of a product website.

Not can does this allow you to give honest feedback, you can also promote your affiliate links. Or you can steer other viewers to your original content, such as your blog. You can then add more in-depth reviews and explanations to your content while embedding your affiliate links in the product description.

Choose an affiliate platform.

As soon as you’ve selected a niche and built an online following, you can apply for affiliate networks. Besides being free to join, these programs are also looking for publishers who can promote their products effectively.

You can search for affiliate products on these top affiliate networks:

  • ClickBank
  • CJ Affiliate
  • ShareASale
  • FlexOffers
  • Amazon Associates
  • JVZoo
  • Awin
  • Rakuten Advertising

This is only a small selection of the many affiliate programs available. For the best platform for your business, you should conduct your own research — simply searching your keyword + (affiliate program) on Google can help. To be successful in this endeavor, you need to be specific and find a niche that appeals to you and your audience.

Final Words of Advice

It isn’t necessary to make a huge investment to get started with affiliate marketing. In most cases, all you need is time, effort, and consistency.

When you begin to earn money with affiliate marketing, you can reinvest some of your earnings. For example, you may want to use paid strategies like ads and purchasing equipment, such as microphones, computers, and cameras. Until then, use the strategies above to start affiliate marketing with no money.

Frequently Asked Questions About Affiliate Marketing

1. What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is fundamentally about relationships. An affiliate relationship is one between a merchant (Retailer) and you, the affiliate, as well as one between you and the consumer.

Your blog, website, social media feed, or other platform allows you to promote the merchant’s products or services. When consumers purchase products/services from the brand based on your promotion, the merchant pays you a revenue share.

Affiliates may receive join incentives; special discounts or special offers in order to familiarize themselves with a merchant’s brand. Examples include product giveaways, blog post bonuses, and, commissions.

2. What is an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is an all-in-one package you offer a potential publisher to promote your product or service. Details about the product, the retail value of the product, commission levels, and promotional materials are all required.

3. What is a commission rate?

As a rule, commission rates are based on a percentage of the sale (e.g. 10%), but sometimes a flat amount can also be charged. Each merchant determines the commission rate.

4. Is there a cost associated with signing up for an affiliate program?

Getting involved in an affiliate program for a brand is free. Affiliate networks allow you to sign up for as many programs as you wish. It is free for you to do so.

5. How big is the industry of affiliate marketing?

In the US, about $6.8 billion is invested in this industry. The global investment in this industry is at or above $13 billion.

The post How To Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money appeared first on Due.

Feature Image Credit: Due – Due

By

Sourced from Entrepreneur

Read More
By
In News

5 Tips for Creating LinkedIn Posts That Will Drive Valuable Engagement

No Comments

By

Instead of writing posts for the sake of doing so, create something that’ll drive real, meaningful, regular engagement for your brand.

There’s little doubt LinkedIn is the best platform for professional networking, but sometimes getting meaningful engagement out of your posts can feel a bit like a puzzle.

The potential attention is present, as 91% of marketers cite LinkedIn as the best platform for finding professional content related to their field. These aren’t just idle hands either, as four out of five LinkedIn members directly drive businesses decisions and wield 2x the buying power compared to the average web audience.

There’s plenty to be gained from being active on the platform, but to stand out from the pack, you’ll need to follow a few tested tips and tricks. Getting your audience engaged won’t magically happen overnight but as a result of effective action taken over time.

1. Post consistently

A consistent posting schedule is a foundation upon which the rest of a content strategy can be safely built. Post too little and you’ll get lost in the shuffle; too much and you run the risk of annoying your connections.

Finding that “Goldilocks zone” of just right is the name of the game.

Posting once a week results in a profile receiving four times the number of clicks per share compared to those who do so less frequently. This kind of return is huge for driving engagement, as each post is an opportunity for a connection to interact with you.

Of course, there are limits, and posting multiple times a day can quickly wear out your digital welcome. So ensure each post is quality and gives value first and foremost, but then provide an appropriate amount of spacing between them so they have room to breathe.

2. Use different formats

While there’s plenty of success possible with the classic text-only updates, the LinkedIn algorithm these days loves it when users shake up their post format.

In particular, videos have stormed onto the social media scene over the past couple of years, and this holds true on LinkedIn as video posts receive three times more engagement than text or image-based ones. This means they are far more likely to start a conversation with your audience, which is precisely the kind of result users should seek from their posts.

These don’t have to be full-length feature films either, as 15 seconds or less seems to be the sweet spot for the platform. Crafting short, impactful videos for your brand helps you stand out and serve as a natural springboard for user engagement.

3. Add a call to action

Even the most intriguing post will fail to generate a response if it lacks a call to action. This can be a simple open-ended question at the end of the post like, “What do you think?” Consider it a welcoming mat for users to leave their opinion, and use strong, active verbs here for the best results.

Adding a call to action doesn’t take much, but it’s an essential component of driving engagement with your posts. If you want to maximize the effect of the content you have already decided to create or share, then a call to action is needed in every post.

4. Use tags (but not too much)

Tagging is a powerful tool on LinkedIn, as it can associate your posts with people and organizations from around the world. When done in conjunction with quality content, it creates a web effect that can draw in all kinds of attention from afar.

When creating your post content schedule, add a shortlist section of individuals who would be a good match as a tag. They need to be relevant to the topic of the post and relatively few in number so it doesn’t feel spammy.

A good rule of thumb is that at least 50% of tagged connections respond to the post. If you aren’t hitting this metric, it’s best to rethink your tagging targets and strategy.

5. Turn on Creator Mode

LinkedIn rolled out its “Creator Mode” feature in March 2021. Activating it on your profile is an easy way to encourage engagement with your posts.

In essence, it shifts your profile to be more content-focused than the default mode, and it will prominently display your recent posts, associated topics, and a suite of other options. It is designed to build your community more around followers than connection, an audience who is listening and eager to hear from the experts in their field.

It tends to favour those who create their own posts rather than share, so be aware of this change before making the shift. For those looking to become thought leaders in their field, though, it’s an important step that adds legitimacy and reaches a profile.

Driving engagement on LinkedIn might feel like an uphill struggle for some, but once you internalize and act with these simple tips in mind, you’ll be skating along smoothly and gathering up all kinds of valuable connections.

By

Sourced from Entrepreneur

Read More
By
In News

Five Opportunities for Marketers in the Metaverse

No Comments

By Paul Towler

It can be tricky to follow the latest “tools of the trade” regarding online marketing strategies. The importance of local SEO, the rise of machine learning and customised content all represent trending topics.

However, what about the so-called “metaverse”? Might this realm represent the next leap forward with effective advertising? Before we look at five unique opportunities within this field, it is a good idea to take a closer look at exactly what the metaverse is.

What Exactly is the Metaverse?


Perhaps the simplest way to define the metaverse involves the concept of a three-dimensional social media community. This type of virtual reality allows members to interact with one another. However, this is also a much broader concept.

The metaverse essentially represents the numerous ways in which users communicate with one another across the digital community. This can include online role-playing games, smartphone applications and even the ability to buy and sell goods online.

We can now see that there is more than one way to define the metaverse. Perhaps this concept essentially involves more efficient ways of connecting with users. So, it makes perfect sense that marketers have become interested in what it can offer? Let’s now look at some potential opportunities for success. 

  1. A Much Broader Reach


    As this article rightfully observes, the metaverse is more of a concept than a reality at the moment. However, marketers can still take advantage of its potential. Similar to social media channels, campaigns within this digital “ether” are thought to be capable of reaching a much wider audience; particularly millennials. As this world becomes ever more interconnected, it should be possible to employ a single advertising campaign to reach a wide range of consumers. 

  2. The Immersive Nature of the Metaverse


    One of the pitfalls that marketing experts are likely to experience from time to time involves keeping the attention of a fickle audience. After all, the online community is laden with advertisements. This has caused many consumers to simply ignore these campaigns entirely; even if they happen to be offering truly unique products or services.

    Thankfully, things may soon be able to change thanks to the presence of the metaverse. We need to remember that this environment will provide a much more immersive means to communicate with others. Therefore, it may be possible to create advertising campaigns that allow users to interact with certain elements. Here are some interesting possibilities:

  • Changing the colour of an object.
  • Obtaining 360-degree views of what is being offered.
  • Clicking on specific portions of an advertisement to be taken to different pages of an embedded website.

The bottom line is that keeping the attention of potential clients is one of the best ways to ensure a conversion. 

  1. A New Type of Social Media Influencer


    Avatars are also predicted to play an important role within the metaverse. This is due to the inherently social nature of such a digital society. So, individuals will likely be given the opportunities to create their avatars when communicating with others. Why should this be any different for businesses?

    We once again return to the decidedly personal side of marketing. Individuals do not wish to be thought of as consumers, but rather as people who share common goals and interests. Developing a branded avatar will provide businesses with a much more targeted (and even organic) means to promote what it is that they have to offer.

    From promoting virtual fashion exhibitions and advertising digital dancehalls to providing exclusive deals to other virtual “friends”, the possibilities are nearly limitless. 

  2. Taking the Notion of Online Sales to the Next Level


    In the past, digital sales were somewhat limited by the technology at their disposal. While it was possible to examine products in minute detail and to select certain options during the buying process, this was hardly the same as visiting a physical retail outlet.

    Once again, the metaverse is expected to rise to the occasion. As some facets of this world are set to be rooted within the world of augmented reality, the ability to truly interact with what is being offered could present some amazing marketing opportunities.

    Might it soon be possible to take a car for a digital “test drive” before committing to a purchase? Could users eventually be able to try on an item of clothing or virtually tour a home before it is even built? These are some of how the metaverse will change the entire notion of marketing. 

  3. What About “Meta Products?”


    This final concept is slightly strange and yet, it is also slated to have an impact on digital marketing. There could very well be options to create lines of virtual products to augment existing revenue streams. In fact, these strategies are already present. Examples of virtual goods include:

  • Avatars for a character within an MMORPG.
  • Virtual currencies.
  • Paid access to online events.
  • E-books and online distance learning courses.


When applied to the world of marketing, the value of meta products (such as free samples or discounts for the first hundred virtual shoppers) becomes very clear.

These are five opportunities for marketers who wish to take full advantage of what the metaverse is expected to become. Although the entire concept may appear a bit odd at first glance, many felt the same about social media during the early 2000s. Once again, it pays to think a few steps ahead of the competition.

By Paul Towler

Paul Towler is the technical operations director at SmartOffice, a software automation provider who helps companies with their document management systems.

Read More
By
In News

How to Make A Calendar in Excel: A Step-By-Step Guide

No Comments

By Mercy Ugonna Njoku

While Microsoft offers users an array of calendar templates, learning how to create a calendar in Excel gives you more autonomy over your entire spreadsheet. If you’re interested in mastering Microsoft Excel or at least being able to efficiently use it in your daily tasks, one of the basic tasks you’ll have to learn is how to make a calendar in Excel. This will let you customize your calendar with all the features your specific needs require.

Calendars allow us to better organize all aspects of our lives. By simply learning how to make a calendar in Excel, you can easily streamline your work tasks and meet your deadlines more regularly. This article provides you with a step-by-step guide on how to make a calendar in Excel. We also go over why learning how to make a calendar in Excel can help improve your work performance.

What Is A Calendar in Excel?

A calendar in Excel is a spreadsheet that is made up of customized tables containing the days, weeks, and months of a given year. It looks like a basic calendar layout. Microsoft Excel can be used to prepare an interactive and automatic calendar containing possible events and tasks. An entire calendar’s date range can be compressed into a single spreadsheet or multiple separate worksheets.

You can create a calendar sheet in Excel by using Visual Basic, Microsoft’s programming language for basic coding. You can also use a pivot table to create a calendar grid or insert a premade yearly calendar template. Formatting data in rows and columns to create a calendar from scratch or using power query add-in allows for greater freedom and flexibility in how the data you input is presented to you.

Why Learning How to Make A Calendar in Excel is Useful

  • It Boosts Team Collaboration. Learning how to make a weekly or monthly calendar in Excel provides you with the opportunity to have clearer communication with your teammates. You can easily review each other’s schedules on a daily or weekly calendar in Excel, make adjustments, and leave calendar notes without having to contact any particular teammate directly.
  • It Makes it Easier to Measure Project Progress. Learning how to make custom calendars in Excel helps with project management. Using Excel, you can build a workflow board that details how tasks will be prioritized and tackled over a certain period. You can easily monitor project timelines on the tasks you’ve been assigned and adjust them accordingly based on their completion rates.
  • It’s a Major Requirement for Administrative Roles. If you’re interested in becoming an accountant, secretary, or executive assistant, you need to be able to schedule events and tasks on the go. You’ll likely use a calendar management tool like Microsoft Excel, which comes with impressive features and add-on functions for easy calendar planning.

How to Make A Calendar in Excel: A Step-By-Step Guide

Step 1: Install the Microsoft Excel Application

To make a calendar in Excel, you’ll first need to install the Excel app, which you’ll be using for this project. Make sure you install the newest version, as it comes with upgraded features. Microsoft 365 houses all of Microsoft Office’s apps. If you have an earlier version of the Microsoft Office suite such as Microsoft 2021 or 2019, you’ll still be good to go.

Step 2: Create a New File

You’ll then need to create a file to house your calendar. To create your calendar file, launch the Excel application and go to the “New” button to open a blank workbook. At this point, you have to decide if this is a monthly or yearly calendar.

For this project, we will be creating a yearly calendar. We recommend you save the file as “Calendar 2022” or something similar. Then, you’ll want to create a sheet tab and name it after the month of the year you want your calendar to start on.

Step 3: Input Calendar Dates

First, select the seven cells in the first row and click on “merge and center” to create a title field in the merged column header. Once you’ve done this, input the days of the week in the second row of your worksheet, then count the days of the month serially under the seven rows to produce a table of seven columns by six rows, including the row containing the weekdays.

Step 4: Format the Calendar Cells

Next, you’ll need to format the table to give it a structure as well as proper spacing. This is done by highlighting the seven cells from the numbered cell borders option, then adjusting the width of the cells with the first data using the arrow that turns into a “plus sign” to automatically proportion all the other cells to the same width and height sizes.

Step 5: Align the Date Digits in the Cells

Highlight the columns and rows that contain the dates for the current month, then right-click on “format cells”. Once a box opens up, click on “alignment”. There, you’ll find “text alignment” for horizontal and vertical drop boxes. Select the format type you want. You can select “right or left” for the horizontal and “top or bottom” for the vertical. Click “ok” and input your digits to see the results.

Step 6: Repeat the Same Process for Each Month.

To recreate this process, go to the “Sheet tab” to replicate your calendar grid for the other months. Right-click on the “Sheet1”, which you’ve renamed to the month of your choice in step 2, and select the “move or copy” option. Once a Dialog Box opens up, you’ll see the “move to end” and “create a copy”. Click on “create a copy” and “ok” to replicate it. You can then customize the dates and background colour if you wish.

How to Make A Calendar in Excel at Once

To make a calendar in Excel at once, you need a pre-made calendar template. First, decide if it’s a yearly or monthly calendar template. Open your Excel worksheet and click “New” to access the search field and browse monthly or yearly calendar templates on the web. Download the calendar layout that suits your needs, click “Create” and proceed to customize your calendar.

Benefits of Making A Calendar In Excel

  • Excel Comes with Plenty of Design Features. Excel makes it easy to organize your schedule with functionality and aesthetics. You’ll find features in Excel that allow you to implement automatic colour coding in a calendar grid and easily insert template images from multiple sources into a spreadsheet. You can also adjust cell sizes or customize font sizes and styles to suit your preference.
  • Excel Calendars Are Flexible. There are very few limitations to what your Excel calendar can do for you. You can use it as a printable calendar or an offline calendar, you can use your dynamic calendar to store information by leaving notes in the cells for future reference, or you can use it to track your workflow by assigning schedules for a given time period.
  • Excel Calendars Can Be Shared. Excel calendars can be shared with external users when you save them on the cloud. This is especially beneficial for teammates who need to periodically review their calendar events for work purposes while away from the office. Excel also comes with security features that allow you to restrict external access to your calendar.

Importance of Learning How to Use Excel Sheets

Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular calendar apps available. Many companies have adopted this tool for project management and hiring managers often give preference to candidates who can competently use Excel. With this multipurpose tool, you can perform simple tasks like data entry and complex projects.

How to Make A Calendar In Excel FAQ

How can I create a calendar in Excel?

To create a calendar system in Excel, start by ensuring you have installed and subscribed for Microsoft 365. This gives you access to the updated versions of all the applications. Then, you can decide if you want to create your calendar from scratch or use a premade template. This article contains step-by-step instructions on how to create a calendar from scratch in Excel.

Where is a calendar in Excel?

Excel comes with calendar templates that users can customize to suit their specific project needs. You can find a wide range of calendar templates in Excel by simply selecting the “File Menu” and choosing the “New” button. It will lead you to a search box where you can search through the different types of calendar template options.

How do I add a calendar in Excel without add-ins?

Start by adding the developer ribbon using the “customize ribbon”. Open the “Developer Tab”, click on the “insert” drop-down menu, then “more controls’. Click on the Microsoft Date and Time Picker Control and the cell you want to add the date picker to. Lastly, click on “properties” on the design menu to customize it to your liking. If you’re using the 64-bit Excel version, use an external date picker plugin.

How do I create a calendar from a date in Excel?

Start by choosing the date and writing it in a cell, then go to the home tab to click on the “number menu”. It will give you a drop-down box, from which you’ll choose “date”. From there, click on the “more number format” to select a date format. You can then follow the rest of the steps in this article to finish creating your calendar from scratch.

By Mercy Ugonna Njoku

Mercy, a tech enthusiast from Nigeria, holds a BSc in Business Management from Abia State University. Prior to launching a freelance writing career, she worked in finance as an assistant accountant at a coffee house, where she was sometimes tasked with content creation, sparking her interest in writing. As a writer, she seeks clients with altruistic goals and takes pride in helping others. At Career Karma, Mercy aims to help people navigate unfamiliar and complex situations in their professional lives so they can thrive. Her hobbies include drawing, working on startup projects, and engaging in discussions.

Sourced from Career Karma

Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.

Read More
By
In News

This 1 Number Explains Why Amazon’s New Ad Business Is Going to Be Huge

No Comments

By James Brumley

Brands have only begun to explore the potential of this new feature for an old sales platform.

Investors keeping close tabs on e-commerce giant Amazon ( AMZN -2.11% ) will likely know it’s getting into the web advertising business. Indeed, it’s already deep in the market, driving $31.2 billion worth of ad revenue last year. For perspective, Alphabet‘s ( GOOGL -1.91% ) ( GOOG -1.80% ) Google brand — when including YouTube — collected $209.5 billion worth of advertising dollars in 2021. Alphabet’s been doing it a lot longer and had more time to tweak its offering than Amazon has, of course, but Amazon’s lesser tally is still an impressive figure.

Furthermore, Amazon has only scratched the surface of its opportunity in this segment of its business. Early users of Amazon’s promotional platform are finding a shockingly high return on their investment in the advertising program. Other companies that regularly run ads should achieve similarly strong results once they try it out.

Yes, Amazon is in the ad game

If you’re not familiar with Amazon’s newest project, it’s not complicated. Amazon.com is one of the world’s busiest websites (the 11th most-visited site, according to Alexa). The company is simply looking to monetize all that traffic by selling a bit of space on its web pages to advertisers looking to draw attention to their products.

It’s not exactly a new business; the company’s allowed advertisers to “sponsor” a particular product for some time now. Back in 2020 though, Amazon really started to turn the idea into a major profit center. Jungle Scout suggests the company did $21.5 billion in advertising business that year, up more than 40% from 2019’s tally, en route to 2021’s 45% growth. And the stage is set for more of the same.

In its recently published report “Brands, Amazon, and the Changing Landscape of E-Marketplaces,” e-commerce consulting outfit Feedvisor lays out some compelling information regarding Amazon’s advertising product. One of these data nuggets is the fact that, according to its findings, Amazon.com is the most commonly used sales venue for all brands surveyed, including e-commerce sites owned and operated by that brand itself.

All told, 45% of companies that sell physical goods count on Amazon’s reach. That’s near twice the 25% of brands that utilize Walmart‘s or Google’s online-selling tools.

And well they should. An incredible 64% of the consumer goods companies using Amazon.com to sell their products say they’ve seen increased sales because of it.

Perhaps the most impressive piece of information from Feedvisor’s study, however, is this: More than half the companies selling goods through Amazon.com that also advertise their goods at the site say the return on investment is seven times their cost, if not more. In other words, for every $1 spent on promoting their product on Amazon, that company gets at least $7 back in increased revenue.

That’s impressive. It puts Amazon right up there with the venerable Google when measuring their fiscal upsides to advertising. Indeed, the two companies are tied for top honors in terms of making the most of money spent on digital ads.

Room and reason to keep growing

Don’t look for this rate of return on advertising dollars deployed through Amazon.com to persist indefinitely. A little less than half of all the brands Feedvisor reviewed use any sort of digital marketplace to sell their goods right now.

More are sure to step into the fray, though. In fact, Feedvisor’s report indicates that 74% of the brands finding success with advertising at Amazon.com say growing competition for consumers’ attention at the e-commerce site — through ads — is their biggest concern going forward. It’s not an unmerited worry. That competition for Amazon’s ad inventory, however, is ultimately good news for Amazon itself.

All of a sudden, eMarketer’s expectation that Amazon’s advertising revenue could grow on the order of another 30% this year and 24% more next year doesn’t seem far-fetched at all. That’s especially true given eMarketer’s figures suggesting Amazon’s ad revenue growth so far has largely come at the expense of Google’s share without even requiring any actual net market growth. Google, meanwhile, has a lot more business it could end up giving up to Amazon.

Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon.com, Inc. right now?

Before you consider Amazon.com, Inc., you’ll want to hear this.

Our award-winning analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now… and Amazon.com, Inc. wasn’t one of them.

The online investing service they’ve run for two decades, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has beaten the stock market by 4X.* And right now, they think there are 10 stocks that are better buys.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images.

By James Brumley

Sourced from The Motley Fool

Read More
By
In News

Smart Devices Are Spying on You Everywhere, And That’s a Problem

No Comments

By ROBERTO YUS & PRIMAL PAPPACHAN, THE CONVERSATION

Have you ever felt a creeping sensation that someone’s watching you? Then you turn around and you don’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Depending on where you were, though, you might not have been completely imagining it. There are billions of things sensing you every day. They are everywhere, hidden in plain sight – inside your TV, fridge, car and office. These things know more about you than you might imagine, and many of them communicate that information over the internet.

Back in 2007, it would have been hard to imagine the revolution of useful apps and services that smartphones ushered in. But they came with a cost in terms of intrusiveness and loss of privacy.

As computer scientists who study data management and privacy, we find that with internet connectivity extended to devices in homes, offices and cities, privacy is in more danger than ever.

Internet of Things

Your appliances, car and home are designed to make your life easier and automate tasks you perform daily: switch lights on and off when you enter and exit a room, remind you that your tomatoes are about to go bad, personalize the temperature of the house depending on the weather and preferences of each person in the household.

To do their magic, they need the internet to reach out for help and correlate data. Without internet access, your smart thermostat can collect data about you, but it doesn’t know what the weather forecast is, and it isn’t powerful enough to process all of the information to decide what to do.

But it’s not just the things in your home that are communicating over the internet. Workplaces, malls and cities are also becoming smarter, and the smart devices in those places have similar requirements.

In fact, the Internet of Things (IoT) is already widely used in transport and logistics, agriculture and farming, and industry automation. There were around 22 billion internet-connected devices in use around the world in 2018, and the number is projected to grow to over 50 billion by 2030.

What these things know about you

Smart devices collect a wide range of data about their users. Smart security cameras and smart assistants are, in the end, cameras and microphones in your home that collect video and audio information about your presence and activities.

On the less obvious end of the spectrum, things like smart TVs use cameras and microphones to spy on users, smart lightbulbs track your sleep and heart rate, and smart vacuum cleaners recognize objects in your home and map every inch of it.

Sometimes, this surveillance is marketed as a feature. For example, some Wi-Fi routers can collect information about users’ whereabouts in the home and even coordinate with other smart devices to sense motion.

Manufacturers typically promise that only automated decision-making systems and not humans see your data. But this isn’t always the case. For example, Amazon workers listen to some conversations with Alexa, transcribe them and annotate them, before feeding them into automated decision-making systems.

But even limiting access to personal data to automated decision making systems can have unwanted consequences. Any private data that is shared over the internet could be vulnerable to hackers anywhere in the world, and few consumer internet-connected devices are very secure.

Understand your vulnerabilities

With some devices, like smart speakers or cameras, users can occasionally turn them off for privacy. However, even when this is an option, disconnecting the devices from the internet can severely limit their usefulness.

You also don’t have that option when you’re in workspaces, malls or smart cities, so you could be vulnerable even if you don’t own smart devices.

Therefore, as a user, it is important to make an informed decision by understanding the trade-offs between privacy and comfort when buying, installing and using an internet-connected device.

This is not always easy. Studies have shown that, for example, owners of smart home personal assistants have an incomplete understanding of what data the devices collect, where the data is stored and who can access it.

Governments all over the world have introduced laws to protect privacy and give people more control over their data. Some examples are the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Thanks to this, for instance, you can submit a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) to the organization that collects your data from an internet-connected device. The organizations are required to respond to requests within those jurisdictions within a month explaining what data is collected, how it is used within the organization and whether it is shared with any third parties.

Limit the privacy damage

Regulations are an important step; however, their enforcement is likely to take a while to catch up with the ever-increasing population of internet-connected devices. In the meantime, there are things you can do to take advantage of some of the benefits of internet-connected without giving away an inordinate amount of personal data.

If you own a smart device, you can take steps to secure it and minimize risks to your privacy.

The Federal Trade Commission offers suggestions on how to secure your internet-connected devices. Two key steps are updating the device’s firmware regularly and going through its settings and disabling any data collection that is not related to what you want the device to do. The Online Trust Alliance provides additional tips and a checklist for consumers to ensure safe and private use of consumer internet-connected devices.

If you are on the fence about purchasing an internet-connected device, find out what data it captures and what the manufacturer’s data management policies are from independent sources such as Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included. By using this information, you can opt for a version of the smart device you want from a manufacturer that takes the privacy of its users seriously.

Last but not least, you can pause and reflect on whether you really need all your devices to be smart. For example, are you willing to give away information about yourself to be able to verbally command your coffee machine to make you a coffee? The Conversation

Feature  Image Credit: Colin Anderson Productions pty ltd/Getty Images

By ROBERTO YUS & PRIMAL PAPPACHAN, THE CONVERSATION

Roberto Yus, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Primal Pappachan, Postdoctoral Scholar in Computer Science, Penn State.

Sourced from Science Alert

Read More
By
In News

Reach launches digital tech platform Neptune and in-house Ad Tech Workshop in Ireland

No Comments

Reach announced the launch of its newly named digital tech platform Neptune, bringing together Reach’s existing first party data platform with its growing slate of data matching capabilities and custom-built AI contextual tools.

As part of the latest push to boost ad tech capability, Reach also announced the creation of a dedicated in-house Ad Tech Workshop, unique in the publishing space in that the team will sit in the Commercial division and focus entirely on commercial product development – both for in-house use, and to license to other publishers.

Reporting into Reach Group Digital Director Terry Hornsby, the Ad Tech Workshop will be made up of developers, testers and Product Managers, and will expand to enhance and grow Reach’s innovation of digital products and publishing tools.

The move is the latest in a series of early ad tech successes for Reach, beginning in late 2019 with Mantis – an AI-powered brand safety and contextual tool spearheaded by Terry and developed in partnership with IBM Watson. Terry later established a small team to develop Reach’s Plus products that offer a unique approach to customer matching, and developed Ocean, Reach’s first party data platform.

Both Neptune and the Ad Tech Workshop come as part of Reach’s wider Customer Value Strategy announced in 2020, which has fast-tracked the company’s efforts in bolstering their data and technical capabilities, with a target of reaching 10 million registered customers by the end of 2022.

Terry Hornsby, Reach Group Digital Director, commented:

“At Reach, we were among the first in developing our own digital tools to solve problems facing both advertisers and publishers.

“Being ahead of the curve on first party data has given us a great opportunity to continue to experiment and innovate.

“This latest investment in our in-house workshop and the Neptune platform underpins our approach – trying new things, finding new opportunities for growth, and taking our destiny into our own hands. When we need a tech solution, we roll up our sleeves and create it.”

Jonathan Eakin, Commercial Director of Reach Solutions Ireland, added:

“Reach’s unique position in Ireland as a publisher of this scale gives us a fantastic window into consumer behaviour and interests, together with the ability to apply this knowledge in real terms to the products we develop.

“Continuing to boost our ad tech capabilities will set us in great stead as we look to the future and enhances our reputation as the most innovative publisher in the market.”

Read More
By
Load More