Instagram has 300 million active users every month who like 3.5 billion photos every day. What makes Instagram a tactical business tool is the fact that it uses photos. Photos have a visual appeal and they pretty much market themselves. You do not need to create specific pushy advertisements.
The Top Instagram for Business Tips
By posting the right kind of content you can have tremendous marketing on Instagram. For instance, you can try to post Instagram story ads to gain engagement. Let us see how.
Step 1: Utilize Link in Bio
The goal, when it comes to Instagram for business, is to take people away from Instagram to a landing page, or website. It’s the internet and you need to spell it out. Adding your link in your bio doesn’t make you redundant. The link should take users to the page where they find the same posts which got them interested. They shouldn’t have to look for those all over again on your website – that just kills their interest.
99% of people use insta on phone so any traffic that you drive has to be mobile ready. Make sure that your website is optimized for a mobile platform.
Additionally, make sure that you don’t post a long url of the landing page. Use a link shortener because that will also give you the data analytics on the traffic being diverted to your website from Instagram. Every time you post something new, use a different link so that you can keep a track of traffic leads.
Step 2: Epic Content Strategy
What is Instagram for business without the right content strtategy? Post consistently on a daily basis. An average Instagram account posts at least once a day, and successful one does more than that which on average is about 2-3 posts a day. Posting more than that will saturate your followers’ feeds and turn them off. Make a schedule and post often.
The best thing to do is post during popular times. Do a little research and post during the times when people are most active so that you will optimally reach the followers. The timing of the posts needs to be very strategic especially when it comes to videos. The follower needs to be available to watch the video. For example, nobody will watch a video during their work hours.
Instagram is all about its visual appeal and the photos that you post must have a good look. There is a reason why Instagram has all those filters. Using the right ones will get you more views and engagement by making your pictures standout.
Instagram is not a direct market. If your photos have to have the appeal that will make followers stick around you will need to inject a little charm into them and you can do that by creating lifestyle photos. Use real backgrounds with your product in use.
Tools: Wordsswag, Typorama, Kik, Canva.
Look to find the best possible content.
It doesn’t hurt to stay abreast of your competition if you want to succeed with Instagram for business. INK361.COM (allows you to run scans on competitors accounts, so can find the most liked/commented. When you get the data on what has worked best for your competition, it gives you an easy insight as to what are the trends and appeal factors in your niche and you can use similar strategies instead of re-inventing the wheel.
If physical based product post photos of people utilizing product or service (for social proof). Using photos of real life people instead of models makes your approach authentic and gives your product way more credibility. Moreover, it increases brand loyalty, the person whose photos you used will himself want to market your product more. But make sure you get their permission before you use their photos.
Use a strong call to action in your bio or comments directing people to make a purchase. Be creative and inviting with your CTA. People won’t click on link in bio unless you ask them to. It’s what will help you in your Instagram for business success story.
Step 3: Hashtags for Instagram for business
Post relevant hashtags to niche or market. They are an important search tool for users to find stuff they are interested in. use relevant hashtags that include your brand name and product. Don’t make them too lengthy rendering them unreadable. You can also use hashtags of trending topics if they are relevant to your niche. Do not use more than 5 hashtags.
Get your audience engaged by using relevant hashtags that are relevant to your brand and your current campaign.
Engage with people in your target audience. Every good relationship is built on a two way communication. When users respond, so should you. Make sure you reply to their comments. If they have posted a photo of your product, thank them and like the picture. People love attention – make sure you are giving them enough.
Using the right hashtags can increase the engagement of your brand in leaps and bounds. They give you the opportunity to reach more people and for people to find you. Use tools such as Talkwalker to find out what hashtags your competition is using and monitor your campaigns. It’s going to help you in your Instagram for business journey.
Step 4: Shoutouts
Get as many people as possibly on Instagram to share your content. But for that, you will first need to have a loyal following. Create interesting content and ask people to share it. Another way to do this is by creating contests where followers stand a chance to win a goodie when they share your content or tag a friend. Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page and have users share the content so that you will have a better outreach across another social media platform as well.
Share for share (s4s) or paid influencer marketing is a strong cross-promotional tactic. Share the content posted by other players in your niche and tag them, ask them to do the same for you. It helps create brand awareness and gets you good exposure.
Another way of using paid influencer shout-outs is to ask a influencer who has a large following to promote your product or service.
S4S get people to mention you in the content. Share the content where people mention you and give the user credits for it. To get people to mention you in their content you can also host a photo contest.
Step 5: Analytics
Track the most engaged images, how fast the account is growing, and test your shoutouts. Instagram itself has tools that will give you insights about user engagement. You can get information about which demographic your followers belong to and what kind of posts seem to best resonate with them. This helps you learn the user behavior and you can come up with strategies which are more relevant. Analytics tools will tell you about engagement through demographics and based on time.
You also get to know how much you are being mentioned and track your sales. Use these tools to gain better insights, predict engagement, find influencers, see what kind of content gets most engagement and use these insights to gain an edge over your competition.
Tools:
Iconosquare.com : it is the most popular analytics tool which gives you high-level and in-depth insights about user engagement. Using this tool you can also add a Instagram tab on your facebook page for cross-channel engagement. Its embed feature allows you to showcase your photo gallery from your website.
Socialblade.com gives you complete insights on your Instagram activity like your followers, pictures you have uploaded, daily averages etc which you can use to create a strategy for growing your handle.
Minter.io : this tool gives you demographic details of your audience which you can use for growth and engagement. You can also track the growth in your target audience over time and see what kind of content gets more engagement.
Socialrank.com : this tool gives you insights using a follow centric service. It sorts and filters followers using various criteria. This data will help you understand what your users want and help you create strategies for the future.
Unless you had been living under the sea, you have probably heard or even taken a ride with Uber! Uber Technologies Inc, is a transportation network company that allows users with smartphones to book a cab using the Uber App. As of today, Uber has launched it services in 545 cities across 66 countries. So, wondering how much does Uber cost?
If you are thinking to try out Uber too, it’s a good choice. You need to focus on customer service, timely pickups, and professionalism – since Uber has a strict qualitu control mechanism.
And the rewards for following the policies are great.
You can be a full-time driver and earn a good amount from the daily driving. You could even use Uber for part time income – we often find working professionals taking a dive to supplement their income from 9 to 5 jobs.
So, if you are into the Uber business as a driver, how do you turn it into a great income opportunity? And how much does Uber cost?
It all depends on the money you’re making for each ride, and Uber uses various metrics to determine the final fare.
Here, we are going to tell you exactly how the final fare amount is determined.
How are Uber Fares Calculated?
To know how much does Uber cost, we need to take a look at a few other things. Behind the scenes of the Uber Car Service Rate is a simple algorithm to calculate the charges levied on the passenger. Uber calculates its service charge based on four criteria:
Base Fare: This is the flat fee that is charged at the beginning of the ride. It is a standard fee but varies depending on the type of service you pick like UberX, Uber SUV, Uber Black.
Time Sharing cost: You must hear this a lot: ‘Time is money,’ and Uber really does apply that. If you are riding with Uber, one component of the Uber Car Service Rate is the time sharing cost, which is calculated as cost per minute for each minute you ride an Uber cab.
Cost per Mile: This one’s obvious. It is the cost per mile you travel.
Booking Fee: Also known as the ‘Safe Ride fee,’ this is another flat fee that covers operational costs. Apparently, it also helps support safety initiatives for drivers and riders alike.
So, the equation to the answer of how much does Uber cost is simple; Uber Fare Estimate is the sum of these four components.
You can also look this up on the Uber Passenger App by going to Help> A Guide to Uber> How Fares are Calculated. There’s a bunch of topics that will give you details about Uber Fares.
Aside from these four components, sometimes, you will still notice that your fare doesn’t add up based on these criteria. Yes, there are certain other charges sometimes, and of course, prices also depend on the city. These charges are great incentives for drivers who can earn extra above the normal fare. It’s also what tells you as to how much does Uber cost.
Additional Variables of Uber Cost
When you are trying to make more, you need to take these into account. It will help you know the system more so that you can get better leverage.
Uber Minimum: A rider I once picked up had left his keys in the door and locked himself inside his own house. And he had some stuff that he needed to give to a friend who lived less than half a mile away. So, he called for an Uber. I ‘rescued’ him from his house and dropped him at his friend’s place.
Now for these kinds of short rides, the drivers are not fairly compensated. I mean, they come from a certain distance to pick you up, and nothing adds up to the Time Sharing cost or the cost per mile. Hence, Uber has a minimum fare that you will be charged if you book a ride, even if your actual fare is lower than the minimum fare.
Surge: This is the fees that Uber charges during rush hours when the demand is high, and the supply of drivers is low. Sometimes the surge pricing can go up to 5 times the basic cost. Driving around such periods can earn you considerable money in a short time!
Cancellation: There is a cancellation fee that you need to pay if someone cancels a ride after five minutes or later of booking a cab. They also need to pay a cancellation fee if the driver has arrived at the destination and the passenger doesn’t show up within five minutes. For UberX, this fee is 5 $, and for Uber Black or Uber SUV, it’s 10 $.
Airport and Toll: Airports charge the drivers for picking up and dropping passengers. So, this extra component is added to the final bill. The same goes for the toll fees the driver pays on your behalf.
Cleaning Surcharge: In the incident of you causing any damage to the car’s interior or exterior, an extra cleaning fee gets added to your bill. This fee is also charged if the passenger mess up the car, say for instance drop food all over or vomit; yes, it does happen, and vomit is the most common cause of the cleaning fee. Remember, when someone rates the driver, there’s also a pointer on the cleanliness of the car.
It’s evident that Uber charges on various levels for availing their service. But have you wondered to whom does all the money go? To Uber or to the driver?’
It is an interesting question, especially with all the ads saying ‘Drive with Uber.’
How much do Uber Drivers Make?
Driving with Uber is not going to make you really rich to buy a jet for yourself, if that’s what you are thinking. Some time ago, Josh Mohrer, General Manager of Uber NY, made a statement that Uber drivers make an average of $25 an hour. However, you can really make some good money.
The driver’s share is the total fare paid by the passenger less the booking fee, less Uber’s commission, which is 25% of the total fare. That’s how much an Uber driver will pocket!
Plus, most of the Uber drivers are independent contractors, meaning they are responsible for their own taxes. So, they also pay for gas on their own. At the end of the year, Uber send the drivers a 1099-K which directs them to pay self-employment and federal taxes. (A lot of us are working for Uber Part-time.)
So,How Much Are You Going to Make?
Remember, you really can make a good income on your own, and you can make use of the tax deductions using expenses for fuel and maintenance which saves them a substantial amount. And then, there’s the surge! The surge is a friend of the driver, and tips are always welcome.
So, on an average, an Uber driver can make $15-20 an hour. The experienced ones do have some tricks up their sleeves to get a good number of rides by being at the right place at the right time and can earn a little more.
With a good bit of strategizing, you can make more than $20 an hour easily. There are drivers who make more than $50 an hour easily and it all comes down to how you plan your rides.
You can also make more money where there is surge pricing and other tactics. There have been instances where an Uber driver earned up to $500 in a single day!
So why not give it a try and find out for yourself? The joining process of Uber is really simple and easy.
Ever wondered whether you can get rich by driving Uber alone? From late 2013 until 2015, Uber campaigned about how you can make $90,000 an year as a driver with Uber in the New York area and $74,000 in San Francisco. This was a part of their recruitment campaign when they were trying to get more drivers on-board in order to expand their reach and stay ahead of their major competitor Lyft.
Uber also allegedly made claims about ‘Unlimited Mileage’, while as it turned out there were limits imposed on the actual leases on the cabs and the drivers ended up paying way more than Uber said. Ultimately Uber ended up in a law suit with the Federal Trade Commission for having misled drivers about their earnings on the platform and had to pay $20 million dollars in order to settle.
But when you think of it, there are so many drivers out there and when Uber starts dividing the $20 million between them, no one really knows how much ‘compensation’ a driver will receive. The bottom line is that nobody ever got rich by driving Uber alone. Although it is still a great platform that allows to make money part time, if you want to mint some bucks, you will need to know the tricks of the trade and do a little more smart work.
So, how do you go about making that $90k an year?
Let’s start by defining your targets. In order to make $90k a year, you need to make $7500 a month which means $1875 a week.
Let’s start from here.
The primary source of your income as a driver is obviously by picking up rides. That means you need to be in the right place at the right time and for that you need to know your city well. Events around the city like a sports event or a musical concert are a sure shot way of getting rides.
You can always find out about the upcoming events in your city by calling a local hotel. They will give you good information under the presumption that you are calling as a customer who is about to make a booking with them. Get the start times and the end times, so that you can position yourself in the area and pick up some good rides.
The Top Reasons You Cannot Get Rich by Driving Uber Alone
Since, Uber doesn’t keep tabs on these, you ideally don’t get the information from them and neither do the other drivers. So, you already have an edge over here. However, the fact is that in order to make those big bucks you need to put in some extra hours as well. And the crazy hours, sitting chained to your seat can take a toll on your health too.
Moreover, if you are an independent contractor with Uber, although you do enjoy the luxury of working at your own convenience, you are not covered by the benefits that regular employees get and you are responsible for the gas and the maintenance of your own car. So, you need to be a little careful unless you want to end up spending all the money you earn on gas. Hence, we spoke about being in the right place at the right time.
How to make money driving with Uber without actually Driving?
The good thing about Uber is there are ways to make money without driving and that is done by reaping the benefits of their referral scheme. Sometime last year, Uber invited all the top referrers of the Bay Area to their office in order to reward them. Well, there was pizza and a lot of brain picking on how these drivers were at the top of their referring game and how they could do even better so that it’s a win-win for both the driver and the company.
The underlying fact is that, we have been bred to think that we can only get rich doing a job. Well, if a job was to get you that much money, Bill Gates or Michael Dell wouldn’t have dropped out of school to run their own businesses. The same applies for us drivers as well.
We need to treat this as business. We need to be a little smart. You could start your own website and use Uber’s referral program to make money without actually having to drive. You could also start you own youtube channel to this end.
When you refer another driver and he completes 20 rides, both of you get $300 each. I also know of a 65 year old Filipino driver who posts ads in the English and Chinese newspapers to get referrals. He accompanies the interested drivers to the Uber inspection, teaches them ropes, and makes them comfortable by going on a test ride with them. And is he a magnet for referrals? He certainly is.
Make Money Driving with Uber While You Still Can
Nobody ever got rich by following the crowd, it the ones who thought differently that were able to do so. Moreover, us Uber Drivers aren’t going to be around for that long. Uber is afterall a technology company not a taxi company. They will soon launch unmanned automatic cars.
I’m not kidding. Those are already being tested in Dubai where driverless Maybachs are taking rounds, and the changes will happen sooner or later. And there won’t be any part time driving gigs left for you either to make that extra buck. So, as long as you’re here you need to up your game a notch, and think of better ways to make money while driving. And remember, driving isn’t the only way.
Messaging apps are growing rapidly and they are used by practically everyone. They have thrown the conventional way of sending text messages or SMS via the telecom service provider overboard primarily because they allow the users to send messages for free using an internet connection. And yet, Line marketing for business is a product that is more than just an app. Youngsters especially prefer these apps over email, since they allow them to send and receive instant messages.
These messaging apps have become a dynamic channel of expression. Since users spend so much time on these messaging apps, they serve as a huge customer database with accurate insights into the customers’ mind-sets and needs and are going to determine the future of the marketing strategies of businesses worldwide.
About Line
Line is a free instant messaging app that allows users to communicate via texts, images, audio, video, and also conduct free VoIP calls. It was launched in 2011, by Naver Corporation in Japan. Within 2 years Line had reached 200 million users and became Japan’s leading social network surpassing Facebook and Twitter. It was launched as a disaster response when Japan took a huge hit from an earthquake which destroyed all telecommunication systems, leaving internet-based resources as the only means to communicate.
Line marketing for business started gaining more popularity by the release of stickers depicting original as well as well-known characters. These stickers could be bought at 2-3$ a dozen and acted as large-sized emojis making the app quiet a hit among then Japanese population and worldwide. In 2015, the company generated revenue of $1.1 billion, up to 40% of which came from the sale of stickers. It is now the world’s seventh largest chat app and has moved from being just a chat app to much more.
The Evolution of Line as a Marketing Tool
Within two months of its launch, Line released paid emoticons which generated a revenue of 350 million JPY. This profitability is a reflection of its rising popularity. The popularity of its stickers also stands to denote that brands will be able to launch their own stickers on Line. Apart from stickers, Line has launched several in-app purchases. The ‘Line It’ button enables users to share websites with friends and groups. Line also stood apart from other messaging apps owing to its gaming and built-in camera app with filters.
Line has also launched Music Streaming services in Japan. In October, 2016 it also released its stand-alone video app. The new app called Line Moments includes simple mobile-first editing tools as well as filters and sharing tools. All these features have given Line a very loyal user base. The marketing potential of Line basically lies in its fun ways to engage the youth, with most of the users falling in the 18-29 age group.
Since the massive success of stickers, Line has now set its eyes on being more innovative in a way that brands and publishers would be able to deliver their content using personalised GIFs or bots. With the use of bots marketers will now be able to send personalised messages to users including updates for shipping, order confirmations or new arrivals etc.
It aims at providing an ecosystem for brands to interact. Since, Line has access to a large customer base with knowledge of their interests via their chats, it will be possible for brands to reach out to their targeted customer and offer customised solutions. However, being a closed system, there is no need for users to worry about identity being leaked. Line has emerged as more than a messaging app with great potential as a promotional and marketing tool.
Line Marketing for Business
In February 2015, Line released it Line@ app designed for professional and business users. Using this app, users can connect to their customers or fans by creating an official account. They can send mass messages to followers, or batch messages for promotion and also chat one-to-one. It also lets you set an autoreply for when you are unavailable. A random is allocated to the users for free.
For those who want custom IDs, they can purchase it at an initial premium of $24, post which a recurring yearly fee of $12 is applicable. With a free account, users can send up to 1,000 messages a month, while with a post-paid plan of $50, the limit is 50,000 messages a month. Messages outside the 50,000 limit will cost $0.01 per message. All of these payments can be made using the Line Pay system.
The Line home feature lets you pull statistics related to timeline posts, number of friends added per day and block rates etc. Like any other social media website, Line@ allows businesses to create a page displaying business information and news and also post updates.
The Line@ for PC admin page offers additional features for creating a PR page with official materials and a Rich page for posting questions and surveys for customers and enhance their engagement. With all these features, Line intends to turn the messaging app into a smart portal as a part of its ‘Closing the Distance’ strategy. Since, users already have accounts with Line, it is expected that there will be a higher purchase rate as compared to conventional e-commerce websites.
Line Pay – The Other Line Marketing for Business Product
Launched in 2014, Line Pay laid the foundations of Line’s offering for businesses. Initially this was limited to making payments for purchasing stickers and themes but slowly expanded into much more. It is a next-generation payment application which allows users to make purchases using their mobiles or PCs. In addition to this, it also allows users to make cash transfers to each other without the need for any bank account information. The cash comes from binding credit cards or pre-paid cards to Line Pay. It works with several cards such as American Express, Diner’s Club, JCB, Master Card, and Visa as well.
Two of Japan’s largest financial institutions, Mizuho and SMBC have already joined hands with this initiative. Line Pay can also be used to make payments for Line taxi. The goal is to enable users to make payments using Line’s chat app. In the future, it also aims to enable users to make payments for goods purchased offline. Line makes use of a 7 digit password which users will need to input for transactions for security. This is authenticated via their mobiles or a password if the user is using a desktop. Line Pay substantially eliminate the use for maintaining bank cards and makes payment options more convenient lowering the payment barrier.
Line Taxi – Yet Another Line Marketing for Business Product
In 2015, Nihan Kotsu, Japan’s top private car firm in collaboration with Line has launched its Taxi service in Japan with 3,300 cars on the roads. There has been some tough competition from Uber and the British rival Hailo, which Line combats by offering lesser wait times, better coverage and several other options as compared to Uber. The pairing of a messaging app with a taxi service might come across as a little odd, but there is already a proof of concept in China, where WeChat has implemented the same.
There has also been a talk that Facebook might integrate messenger with Uber. Integration of several on-demand and offline services into a messaging app will certainly prove beneficial for Nihan Kotsu. Line taxi is a game changer for the fact that it does not need a separate download. Line is slowly proceeding into several Business niches helping them expand their businesses and get more exposure for more profits through its messaging app.
Line’s Delivery Logistics
Line has partnered with Woowa Brothers, Korea’s largest food delivery app, to launch Line Wow, a food delivery service. Woowa Brothers has been a successful company in Korea and has now been able to enter the Japanese Market by joining hands with Line. It started out by extending its services in the Tokyo Metropolitan area allowing popular restaurants to deliver premium lunchboxes and will expand into more extending its delivery radius and adding more restaurants and menus.
In Thailand, Line has launched Line Man in partnership with another logistics startup, Lalamove. This enables shoppers have their products delivered to them by a driver on a motorbike just like their own personal butler would do. Several small and medium sized businesses have started utilising this service to deliver their products. Line Man offers delivery services for food from restaurants, groceries as well as parcel transport using Lalamove’s fleet of motorbikes.
Line Maps for Indoor
It will allow users to check out updates from retailers in shopping malls nearby.
Line Launches Business Platforms
At the ‘Line Conference Tokyo 2016’ held in March, Line announced the opening of its business platforms on the Line@ app. It is aimed at allowing the users to make use of Line for business services and products and also help businesses offer a more convenient and enjoyable service and communicate with the customers more easily to promote their brand.
Later in 2016, it had also launched its Make-up app which includes 33 filters including one for men so that the users can try and buy make-up. The filters include real products from popular cosmetic brands like Clinique, 3CE and Etude House. The year 2016 saw the release of several other features for businesses like the Line Live, a streaming content distribution platform which gained 198 million hits from users within 3 months of its launch.
Big brands like Disney and Maybelline have already started to tap Line’s ‘Fun and Expressive’ pool of users. Disney published its mobile puzzle ‘Tsum Tsum’ with Line and it has been downloaded 14 million times. Disney had also launched the Mickey Mouse sticker on Line in 2012. This was the first time Disney and Line had worked together launching a sticker pack. It was followed by the launch of 50 more such sticker packs which featured several characters from Disney cartoons, Pixar, Marvel and the Star Wars Classics.
Line’s Stickers: Line Marketing for Business Product
The success of the stickers led to both the companies collaborating for launching the game which was a blockbuster and grew more quickly than anticipated. The characters of Tsum Tsum were also launched as plush toys in stores, monetizing in the sale of over 2 million units.
Maybelline also launched a one-day flash sale and sold 500 lipsticks in 5 minutes in an beyond successful attempt to bring its latest product to the Thai market.
Even before the Maybelline, Line held its first flash sale in Thailand when it sold company branded iPhone cases were sold out in 25 minutes.
It is not just limited to big players like Disney and Maybelline. Line, the app, has created an account called Line Hot Deals wherein users can get information about all the hot deals in one place. This has been very beneficial to small businesses. A fashion e-commerce site called WearYouWant offered a sale for FailyDrop Cosmetics, and 700 units of New Year Gift Sets were sold out in less than half a day. According to WearYouWant, the conversion rate from visitor to buyer was more than expected and with this result they plan to launch weekly deals on Line Hot Deal in the future.
Many e-commerce businesses in Thailand have also reported that 30% of their traffic comes from mobile devices which also accounts for 20% of the transactions. E-commerce is now essentially transforming into m-commerce and businesses must prepare for this and leverage it to the best.
Line Account Features for Business
Line has released 3 features for a more convenient business platform.
Reward Cards: This feature aims at replacing points and stamps which take up space in your wallet or tend to be forgotten at home. Using the Line app, users can now collects points and stamps at their favourite stores and exchange them for rewards. Users can view a list of their cards and find stores that issue the reward cards. You can search for these cards by store name or look for them in your vicinity.
Coupon Book: You can now manage coupons issue by various vendors using the Line app. It also displays recommendations, popular coupons, coupons in the vicinity and coupons from businesses you ae following. Coupons that are about to expire are displayed on the top, so that customers can utilise them in a timely manner. Coupons can also be saved in the favourite items making it easier for them to be found and to receive expiration reminders.
Commerce: To help e-commerce businesses a new online store feature is being added to the Line@ account. There is no monthly or usage fee, however, a service charge of 4.98% is applicable on sales. With the increase in usage of smartphones, there has been a rise in providing users, access to products and services using their smartphone which is a new high in the e-commerce sector. Line has already made some of these services like food delivery, Taxi booking etc. available and continues to expand as more businesses sign up.
All of these features make it very easy for users and businesses to come together and serve as a wonderful tool for promoting businesses and generating profits. The e-commerce industry, especially could grow in leaps and bounds by offering their products and services through Line.
Line Business Platforms for Web Services
Line has created web services known as web apps, by tuning and upgrading its already existing platforms like Line NEWS and even Line Part Time Jobs. These official web apps are linked to Line accounts, the accounts now becoming a channel for generating new users, and redirecting existing users to perform specific tasks.
Users can enjoy the benefits of quick and easy access to various services, without having to install separate apps or signing up for a service. They can use the Line App to access all of these and use the auto login feature to befriend these accounts. Users can make reservations, purchases and fill up inquiry forms easily with the personal information already saved on their Line accounts, by consenting to the same. The use of these Official web apps allows users to receive personalised information and services through the Line App. As they do so, they can also accumulate Line Points and Reward Cards.
For Corporate Clients, a service called Line Business Connect, offers them an API which allows them to access different Account Features easily. Line Business Connect, Auto Login, Profile+ and Line Pay can be connected together by partners and integrated into their services. It will bring more ease of use and hence better conversion rates. Personalised push messages can offer hassle free reservations and purchases. The conversion can be further enhanced by clubbing these services with Line Points and Reward Cards. By offering services with such easy to use features, the Official Web Apps gain more exposure meaning they will be listed at the top.
Several companies like Tripadvisor, Domino’s Pizza, American Eagle Outfitters, Million Carats, etc. are already on-board.
Line Business Platform for SME Aggregators
Small and medium sized businesses can utilize the features of Line@ Business account using an SME Partnership program being implemented by Line. This can be very useful for the likes of restaurants and small retail shops.About 14 such businesses including some big names like Tabelog in restaurants, and Goo-net in cars, have signed up for this service. This initiative will help small and medium sized business communicate easily and conveniently with users, bridging the gap between users and stores.
Businesses that provide web services benefit and Line will prioritize implementation. They will be able to make use of three services:
Inquiries on Line: Line@ based chat system will facilitate communication between users and businesses.
Line@ Integration: Line@’s messaging API will be developed and integrated with the SME Partners’ in-house systems.
Account Plug-ins: The SME Partners’ solutions will be promoted and integrated with Line’s account plug-ins and content.
As these features are developed, it will allow users to check for waiting times and availability of tables, make reservations, get coupons and limited-time sales and from their favourite stores, make enquiries about apartments and cars for sale, all using Line. It may also give them access to user specific coupons, for their next one for services such as hair stylists, nail salons or spas.
When services become easy to access, it will certainly lead to a rise in sales and reservations. More plugins wil add to additional functionality into Line accounts like Reward cards, Coupon Books and Commerce do.
Integrating Marketing Strategies into Line
58% of the population that uses messaging apps is concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region and Line is one of the most popular ones in Asia. Marketing strategies on Line are beyond ads or sponsored content, because that would destroy the user experience. It is about utilising Line as a space where the users are already comfortable talking, to set up interactions directly with the customer, by the use of bots. Messenger by Facebook has already started using these and though it is a major competition, Line is still not that crowded a space and also has a loyal user base which can urge brands to become early adopters.
Line has recently unveiled its new messaging API which offers better support for chatbots on the platform. These chatbots will be compatible with group chats so that businesses can share information and content with multiple users at a time. It also includes the capabilities of sending notifications to users by connecting Notify, another one among its API based services, to the chatbots. The new API supports 3 kinds of messaging:
Confirm: which lets the user respond in a simple yes or no
Button: Which combines pictures, texts and other action buttons
Carousel: A horizontally scrolling format that displays several pieces of content
The API is supported with an SDK supporting five languages viz Java, Go, Ruby, PHP and Perl 5. A trial version of the API, with limited functionality was launched in April last year and was used to create close to 20,000 bots. It was made freely available to the first 10,000 people along with Line Beacon to connect physical businesses to customers in the vicinity. The BOT API kit that was released in the summer of 2016, not only allows for exchange of messages using Line, but also offered the ability to develop CRM systems linked to IoT or existing systems.
Line Beacon
Line Beacon aims to enable the reception of Bluetooth Low Energy Data using Line. Stores will be able to set up beacons which will send coupons and product information to users who visit the store.
Chat Al Plug-in
Line plans on engaging third party developers, to further develop its proprietary Chat Al Plug-in. The aim is to have an intelligent and responsive tool which will be able to handle customer inquiries using the chat platform. This should be out very soon. The chat plug-in will have pre-set FAQs and other content programmed into it, and will also use the data from other chats between customers and businesses. It will also be able to offer recommendations and answer inquiries accurately. This will greatly reduce the cost of hiring human operators and setting up infrastructure for the same. This opens up the potential of Line Official accounts to be effective CRM and marketing tools.
Line Advertisement Distribution Platform
Along with Line’s Business Platform, its ad distribution platform will also be expanded. This expansion goes beyond its previously used one-way mass delivery system that could only be used by large businesses. The new version will be suitable for use by any business size who will now be able to send more relevant and personalised advertisements which will lead to better conversions.
Line will use the statistical data from activity of the users in Line Family apps like Line News, Line Music and Line Manga. User’s engagement with the brand and official accounts of celebrities will provide information on user’s areas of interests which can be put to productive use to create advertisements which are more relevant to the user and the business niche. However, it doesn’t pull sensitive and personal data. The data will only be statistical and not personal, in keeping with Line’s Policy of not providing any personal data of users to third parties including advertisers.
Optimised advertisements with M.T.Burn
Back in 2015, Line conducted a trial run on its timeline. They partnered with M.T.Burn, for advertisements based on demographics and user interests. The results were very good with users receiving these advertisements very well. Line will now transition into an advertisement distribution system. It is similar to what you find on Hike, which is owned by M.T.Burn and is a native advertisement platform. It has now begun releasing optimised Timeline advertisements based on demographics and areas of interests. New advertisement locations will be introduces in Line NEWS, Line Game services and Line’s More Tab.
Creators’ Stickers for Businesses
Line marketing for business
Line has seen some massive success with stickers. The stickers have a personality of their own. These stickers including the sponsored and direct ones along with Line’s won stickers, have been a great promotional tool for large corporations. Line has now launched its SME sticker service, which makes it way more easier for restaurants, stores, and other SMEs to offer stickers. Line’s sticker portfolio now has additional ‘Creator’ Stickers. The ‘Creator Stickers for Business’ Program allows small and medium sized businesses the right to purchase promotional stickers which they can offer as rewards for service purchases and incentives.
They can use Line Creators Market Platform to implement the same. Businesses will now be able to promote their characters at lower costs. It also offers an opportunity for growth to creators of stickers. Paul McCartney was the first to experiment with these when he released 8 exclusive stickers for sale on the platform using his Line account as the users were bonding with these stickers, the likes of which were never seen with emoticons or emojis. After Paul McCartney, several other celebrities have created their own stickers and launched them on Line and gained more popularity as cartoon versions of themselves.
How Brands can Expand Customer Service through Line
Line is transforming the customer service industry with the launch of its Line@ account. Brands are making use of this service for personalised and real time conversations with their customers. They can also invite customers to reach out to them in case they have any questions or concerns. They can even bolster in store customer service to buyers if they have any questions on the sales floor. The privacy of the app even helps customers keep their purchases a surprise. Hotels can receive booking and reservation requests through this app helping them expand their business by more user reachability and ease of use.
It helps promote sales by giving businesses the convenience send out messages to the targeted demographic about new product launches, special offers etc. Geolocation data helps stores reach buyers in the vicinity largely increasing their database of quality clients which manifests into more exposure and hence more profits. Line continues to strive to become a one stop solution for all B2C communication and these are a few steps that can help it achieve that.
Line steps into International Markets
With its sight set on the NYSE, Line marketing for business certainly has huge plans for expansion which it is bringing about by supporting several businesses via its messaging app and plans to take on the western market as well. Several of its services have already been released globally while some are still restricted to Japan and other Asian countries. The foundations of this IPO were laid down by Line’s release of several features like Line Moments, Make-up AR app etc. Line unveiled, in July 2016, what could be the largest tech IPO valued at $5.5 billion in a dual-initial public offering in both Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges. Line is positioning itself as a Lifestyle tool among consumers while it builds its base as a marketing tool for brands.
Spain is the biggest market for Line outside Asia, with Line hitting the Spanish Television and gaining over 10 million users in Spain as well as Latin America. Coca Cola used Line’s sticker features to start a campaign in Spain. The campaign was based on highlighting memories made in bars to friends and was a huge hit. Line is leveraging its strength in messaging to become an all-encompassing consumer platform by turning communications into commerce.
The Era of M-Commerce – Line marketing for business
The year 2013 saw 5.5 million users participating in flash sales orchestrated by Line in Thailand with orders coming in every 20 seconds. In 2014, Line announced its C2C platform. Line Mall allows users to purchase products without any listing fees. This saves users up to 10% on certain products. The first mobile advertisement campaign was also started in Thailand in 2014 on the Line Platform.
The emergence of m-commerce flash sales as seen with the sales of Maybelline and iPhone cases is just one example of how messaging apps are becoming useful in increasing businesses’ outreach to customers. Users get access to products which are not yet released or new before the general population, and that makes the sales spike like never before. The logistics of such flash sales are handled by aCommerce which takes care of warehouse, customer service, returns and the supply chain management overall. Businesses are able to tap into humongous customer databases using such sales. The partnership between Line, a Commerce and businesses has paved the way for success of the m-commerce platforms.
Line has paved the way for m-commerce in south-east Asia and is all geared up for expansion into the global market. Big brands are already looking forward to utilise Line and its database of loyal users. It’s a great opportunity for businesses to grow and the timing couldn’t be better since Line presents an unexplored market which is not yet crowded by service providers. The elimination of product lists serves as a huge advantage to brands. It uses a streamlined process of daily push deals and promotions which seem to be enticing customers quickly.
Line marketing for business – What’s in the Future?
As the use of smartphones continues to grow, so does then need for an all-encompassing platform, which Line has built steadily with the incorporation of mobile payment platforms, user friendly interfaces, and logistics for delivery. Line is the new arena and a hotbed for all kinds of businesses ranging from grocery stores to large FMCG brands.
With its m-commerce platform, Line marketing for business is certainly blurring the line between the physical and online worlds which is proving to be rewarding for consumers and businesses alike, allowing even the more expensive products to sell well. . Line Hot Deal will allow the entry of more e-commerce startups into its m-commerce space.The combination of Line and m-commerce is certainly an equation for success
The Internet of Things has made it possible to do things that would earlier only be a part of science fiction movies – turn on music with a command of your voice, turn on your lights, program thermostat to turn on or off or get an answer to any question you want. This practical implosion of home connecting technology was started with the Amazon Echo, and followed up by many products who have tried to replicate the magic; but the one competitor that stands out is Google Home.
Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub – The Answer
Worried which of the two is better? Here is a round up of what both has to offer first.
Amazon Echo
If you still haven’t quite understood what Amazon Echo does, think of it as a small black cylinder, equipped with Bluetooth and far field, connected to the Internet and a microphone that is always on. There is a personal assistant called Alexa. You can use it to control smart home products, to order yourself a pizza, track a package or to play some music. The best thing is that there are hundreds of Alexa ‘skills’, and more are added regularly which makes the whole list grow considerably. Alexa is capable of doing around a thousand ‘skills’.
Google Home
Among the more popular alternatives to the Amazon Echo is Google Home. Google Home too integrates with your smart home products, answers questions, and helps you with various skills like checking a flight status or making a to-do list. All you have to do is say ‘Okay, Google’ and you can command whichever task you need. The voice commands and the comprehension on the Google Home system are outstanding, and it performs tasks smoothly. It also offers the ease of familiarity for those already using Android products.
The presence of these two behemoths in the market may make it hard to decide which one to choose if you want to feel the future a little early. Here are the pros of each product over the other, which will help make the decision.
Amazon Echo – Advantages over Google Home
So, in the race between Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub, what works for the former?
The biggest advantage that Amazon Echo provides is how much like an actual personal assistant Alexa feels. For activating Google home, you need an ‘Okay, Google’ command, which is kind of robotic. Alexa responds to Alexa, Amazon and Echo; and the Echo lights up around the edges when it is listening, creating for a much more fulfilling experience than the Google Assistant. Apart from this, Alexa is attuned to human sensibilities – for example, if you ask Alexa how kids are born, it replies in an awkward tone to ask Mommy or Daddy. This is wonderful for parents with younger children. If a child asks Alexa about Santa Claus, the assistant will play along.
The constant number of skills that Alexa is able to do is upgraded very frequently. You can even play tic tac toe or bingo with Alexa, call an Uber, get Alexa to entertain you telling jokes, or hold an actual conversation – Alexa even gets movie and TV series references, and replies in the same fashion.
Amazon Echo has a bigger list of smart home partnerships, making it easy for a wider variety of people to use it without modifications to their entire house. Google Home has notably partnered with Nest and certain other third party products; but Echo has a [partnership with Nest, Ecobee, SmartThings, Wink, Insteon, Belkin WeMo, Philips Hue, Lifx, Big Ass Fans, IFTTT, and with other devices via “Skills”.
Finally, Alexa is the future – Alexa will be present not only in Amazon devices, but all around you in 2019 itself. Alexa is available in the Samsung Family Hub Bridge, and the Ford Sync. The latter has even garnered rave reviews – here Alexa has adapted itself to an automobile and combines its usual skills with some driving skills. Third party devices too are getting integrated with Alexa. The first of these is the Invoxia Triby – it helps you make your refrigerator smarter without spending a small fortune on one, and it comes integrated with Alexa.
Google Home – Advantages over Amazon Echo
When it comes to Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub, how does the latter fare?
The Amazon Echo devices can’t be synced with each other. For example, if you have more than one Echo, you can’t get one song to play simultaneously on all your devices throughout the house. Google Home provides a benefit here, as all a speaker needs is to be enabled with Google Cast and you will be able to use it for music, either individually or simultaneously.
Another edge Google Home has over Amazon Echo is that it is customizable. You can make it your own with different choices of colors and materials. This might make a difference to a particular sect of shoppers.
Conclusion – which one to buy?
So. Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub – what’s the answer? For a truly smart, integrated home, keeping in mind the human touch, the Amazon Echo emerges as the clear choice. Google has a lot of catching up to do. However if you are big on large parties or need an amazing sound system throughout your house, you might consider the Google Home; but as an overall product, the Amazon Echo wins because of its versatility and realness. Plus the regular updates make it more exciting as well as useful. The way Alexa’s reach is spreading clearly shows that it is the personal assistant of the future.
Most law firms set out annual revenue projections for the next year early – at times long before they could even understand if the present year’s projections would be met.
There are quite a few challenges to this approach – especially if you’re looking to get the revenue projections right. Determining what’s going to happen a year and half around the line is difficult – there are a lot of variables involved.
You don’t even know the price of mangoes a month down the line. It depends on different variables – the weather, the supply, the demand for mangoes worldwide, the government policies and more. You could take an error margin of around 5% but even then there isn’t a surety you would get it right after a month.
For businesses, things are a lot more complex. The variables are a lot more – from the fixed overhead costs to the variables.
What you need is a good strategy.
Setting Strategic Revenue Projections – The Right Way to Set Revenue Projections for Law Firm
Your strategic budget doesn’t just give you one traditional budget – instead, you underline a lot many goals and expectations and set budget for each.
What happens, thus, is that instead of looking at everything together, you’re looking at only one, piece by piece. So, if you need 10 fruits, you focus on the price of one mango, the price of one grape, the price of one papaya and so on. You may go wrong in a few but you won’t go wrong totally. Plus, studying them individually will help you get better insights, ones that you wouldn’t get otherwise if you looked at ‘fruits’ as a whole.
This reduces the error of margin. You’ve a greater probability of going wrong in your projection should you consider the price of all the 10 fruits together – which leads to more variables, than when you add up each individually. Focusing on each goal or component gives you a better chance of getting it right. Additionally, it helps you get better management.
In a strategic budget, you have three parts – one where you make a projected revenue, one where you make an estimation of projected expenses and another where you record the projected profits and cash flow. However, it is how you derive at these projections that makes a difference.
Projected revenue, for instance, is the bug that’s difficult to catch. Law firms have constantly changing scenarios – from the unpredictability of clients to government policies and employee management, there are a good many things that can go wrong.
Simply taking a percentage growth and trying to work things around it isn’t the ideal way – instead, as I said above, it’s about looking at the different components together – the practice group levels – to understand the growth you can possibly achieve.
How Far Ahead Should You Carry Out Revenue Projection?
That’s the other question to ask yourself when you get to set revenue projections for law firm.
To know how far ahead you could ideally forecast, there are a number of things that we need to consider. The legal market in India, for instance, is even now concentrated mostly domestically, unless one is working at a LPO.
That means that you need to know just how long you could continue your present growth – and the answer may lie in india’s GDP itself. Studies state that most organizations cannot grow faster than the country’s economy, but that isn’t the sole criteria.
Let’s suppose you are selling eggs for a living. The primary indicator would be just how many people are there in the neighbourhood who eat eggs. That would be your potential – to do more, you would have to reach out to other neighbourhoods. However, not all egg eaters would buy from you at all times. They could order online or buy from other sellers. It’s your competitiveness, brand credibility and market position that would determine actually how many egg buyers would flock to you.
Similar is the case with mid sized law firms. You need to look at how competitive you are and your market position, to make the right assumption. You could use the DCF analysis to help you do the same.
The DCF analysis, while we would not get into the nitty gritties of it, states the following:
If your organization is slow growing, and operates in a highly competitive industry with low margins, you shouldn’t forecast ahead for more than one year.
You could forecast for as many as 5 years, if you have been witnessing outstanding growth for the last few years, and are in a dominant position in the market. Forecasting for 10 years is probably foolhardy.
How to Set Revenue Projections For Your Law Firm?
Most law firms have different groups – like one for the litigation and one for taxation. Ask the team leaders the fundamental questions – like the number of deals in the pipeline, or the cases to go on trial soon. Enquire from them how they think they can respond to changes – like enquiring from the tax team what effect would it have if the government increased the tax bracket next year by 10%? The individual leaders are much better prepared to answer these questions than anybody else.
The next thing would be looking at the individual members – what is the work coming in from existing clients? What is the percentage of new clients each month on an average? How many billable hours does an employee have on an average? Important to note is that you need to do this for each practice group.
After this, look at the number of hours you expect each member to work the next year to achieve the goal – from the amount of workload you see. Normally, you would have someone working around 1,800 hours a week. So if you see your projections state that members may have to work more than 1800 hours a year, you are looking at an understaffed scenario. And if it’s less than 1,800 hours, you need to get more clients and work to avoid over-capacity.
If you feel that there would be over capacity in a certain department, it is a good idea to re-evaluate the current marketing strategy and transfer a few members, where possible to other groups. On the other hand, understaffing means that you need to allocate more budget to your recruitment team so that they are able to hire the right talent next year. If you’re already on a healthy budget from the last few years, you may even want to look at acquisitions to maintain a balanced headcount.
The other thing to note is that not every payment would come as expected. Even the Government doesn’t give you the tax rate you need – changing it often to their liking. Life’s unfair, and even if you’ve the best circumstances, you would have to face a default at one time or the other. You have to discount the billings by a realization rate – and you might want to look at the realization rates of your previous years here. Realization rate depends on different factors though and with many mid-sized firms, drop over the years.
With some clients, you would know that it would be an easy affair, with others you do not. New clients and assignments are difficult to forecast too. Additionally, when calculating the realization rate, you need to look at discounts if any, given to particular clients, transition costs of lateral hires or any alternative fee arrangements.
Building the Foundations is Important To Set Revenue Projections for Law Firm
The above paragraphs state one important thing – you need to have the basic fundamentals cleared to be able to make revenue forecasts correctly.
To reach the right ballpark, you need to focus on realistic expectations. When you are asking your team leaders to give you the specifics and their assumptions, it’s important that they focus on the following:
The ground revenue projections they currently get
Evaluate key revenue assumptions strictly
Understand sales channels and their prospects
To do all this properly, team leaders need to take note of the following, as applicable.
The total number of clients they could actually serve
The amount of calls they make and the amount of time it takes on an average to close a deal
Customer satisfaction and sales channels – which includes the speed and effectiveness
Any seasonality in question – like for litigation, courts could be closed for the summer break.
Focusing on Customer Service
While you may be a medium sized law firm, the one thing that will separate you is your customer service. Customer satisfaction works across all services and industries.
Let’s talk about Air India and Jet Airways.
Both are in the same league, and don’t have the reputation of low cost carriers. They offer seats with more leg space, good food and are premium carriers in the country. However, unless you’re left with no option, you probably wouldn’t want to go for Air India – which has been traditionally notorious for poor customer service. You wouldn’t know what to do if your flight gets late. You wouldn’t know what to do to get refunds. And you wouldn’t enjoy the entire journey.
Customers and repeat clients continue to happen when they are happy – and revenue projections need to take into account just how many repeat clients you have. It needs to take into account the number of clients you normally keep, versus the number of clients who wouldn’t want to try out your service because they were unhappy. Building on customer satisfaction ultimately helps you set better revenue projections.
The Top Tips to Keep in Mind to Set Revenue Projections for Law Firm
The other thing to note when setting revenue projections for your firm is that you shouldn’t look at making implicit assumptions – even when it seems most likely. Let’s go back to the egg seller example. It may seem likely that if two people from the same family buys eggs, the third member of the family could eat eggs too. However, you really cannot be sure unless you know it.
Similarly, you may want to believe that your staff could handle the client workload. You may not anticipate any difficulty staffing up but it could happen – a reason you need to look carefully at whether your employees would be able to manage workload, and the recruitment drives, if any, you need.
Assumptions must be tested and verified.
The other common mistake is to mistake assumptions for facts. Let’s take a look at the egg seller example again. He only caters selling eggs to your neighbourhood. You may likely want to assume that he ‘never’ sells eggs to others outside the neighbourhood. However, the word ‘never’ is the problem. He could sell eggs to those outside the neighbourhood, should they come to him, a reason you only need to use the word ‘never’ only when there is no other possibility. If you feel that the growth rate shouldn’t dip below a certain level, it’s likely that it won’t. You cannot possibly guarantee it.
The next thing to do is to be disciplined while making risk analysis, and focus on each point, including making a best and worst scenario case. This would ensure that you know both the extremes. To do this properly though, you would need to talk to all stakeholders or team leaders, who in turn, need to be properly knowledgeable, as we talked before.
It’s difficult to make accurate revenue projections. Just arriving on an expected desired market growth rate compared to current year revenues isn’t going to work, after all. However, focusing on the basics can just help you hit the right ballpark.
While the top law firms in the United States and the UK have found a direct correlation between the extent of social media and client success, there are innumerable law firms in India that are reluctant to use social media and their respective digital presence to engage with existing clients and attract new ones. Its perhaps because of the stringer BCI laws that tells law firms they cannot advertise their services. However, while advertising isn’t allowed, you can still use social media to reach out to clients and customers, and we will tell how. Social media and advertising, after all, are different, though it may be easy to mix the two.
Social Media Reputation for Lawyer in India
Indian lawyers are slowly going online – and while we still haven’t explored the true potential, we are slowly getting there.
In fact, as we shall see below, several young lawyers from India are giving their senior counterparts a major run for their money as they are more adept with technology and have welcomed social media when it comes to creating interesting content online and interacting with existing and potential clients.
Top Indian Lawyers Using Social Media Today – Social Media Reputation for Lawyer in India
More Indian lawyers are now using social media than before – let’s take a look at a few examples.
Gautam Bhatia, an expert in Indian constitutional law, and a 2011 law graduate, has over 13.1k followers on Twitter. You would find him engaging in debates, replying to followers on recent cases, and posting recent court documents and analysis on his blog indconlawphil.wordpress.com.
Apar Gupta, who describes himself as a litigator and public policy professional, is another example. He has over 11.8k followrs on Twitter, and is known for speaking on the right to privacy. While a proponent of digitization, it was him along with others that made the Apex court concede it as a fundamental right. He believes that the recent Aadhar link-up is an ‘administrative fetish’, and doesn’t shy away from letting his views known on Twitter.
Shivam Singh, who defines himself as a Sports Law and Dispute Resolution Counsel, uses both Twitter and LinkedIn to his advantage. Expect timely updates on sports news on Twitter and some great sports tips on his LinkedIn page.
Karuna Nundy, a powerhouse constitutional, commercial and media lawyer in the Supreme Court, is known to fight for Bhopal’s gas tragedy survivors and framing India’s anti-rape bill. But that’s not all she does – she has a power packed online presence too – with over 50k followers on Twitter. From expressing her views, sharing bits about her professional life to reporting on recent news – she does it all.
So, how is the social media scenario in India changing for lawyers? And how do you make the most of it? Here is a look at what you can do as a lawyer.
Why do you need a good presence in the virtual world?
To build trust:
Having a good presence in social media creates an air of superiority and reliability. In the world of law, especially in India, trust is indispensable if one wants to be successful. Lawyers can create trust and reliance among the others by generating and sharing valuable content on different social media channels.
Just creating a page won’t do. Since intellectual capacity is what they rely on to make a living, coming up with interesting topics are necessary and they must be shared through owned, earned and paid media channels to reach out to more and more people.
It helps generate more business:
There has to be a connection between social media strategy and business development strategy if you want to make more business through social media. In surveys and studies, it has been observed that there is an important connection between how a lawyer uses social media and improves his profitability.
The average conversion rate observed has been around 10 percent. However, an important thing to keep in mind is that the quality of content and the ease of understanding and sharing it will be an important factor in driving more and more customers towards a lawyer.
Top Strategies To Ensure Social Media Success for Indian Lawyers
So, how do you need to go about creating your social media presence? Here is how to improve social media reputation for lawyer in India the easy way.
Most Indian lawyers seem to focus on Twitter and their website to build followers but that shouldn’t be the only source you need to be looking at.
How to use LinkedIn Publisher?
Many lawyers have complained that they have been on LinkedIn for a long time but have not received and useful results. This arises mainly because of two problems:
Misunderstanding the tools that LinkedIn provides
Misunderstanding the purpose of LinkedIn
LinkedIn is not about having more contacts but building fruitful relationships with your connections. You can’t just accept invitations and forget about them, you have to devote some of your time and attention to your contacts, endorsing them and posting their work to get the same devotion from them.
Opt for the LinkedIn Publisher:
You can use the LinkedIn Publisher for creating and charing content on LinkedIn. Since the content can be searched by keyword, you can use this tool to showcase your knowledge and expertise.
Pulse in the newsfeed of LinkedIn and posts articles on the basis of how popular they are. It is the number of views that helps you decide the popularity of an article. The right article will get posted on Pulse and thereby make you visible to a whole new world of people and your profile gets viewed by a huge number of people.
Since LinkedIn allows your posts to be a part of your profile, anyone who checks you out on LinkedIn also gets to see your work.
How to use the LinkedIn Publisher?
The ‘Update’ section of your profile will have an option called ‘create a post’. Click on that.
Once the publishing platform opens up, write a well-researched and well-articulated article. You can also put up a previous work out here. Stick to the 500 word limit as that is an ideal one.
Ensure that your article has a good headline.
If possible, select a photograph to accompany the writing. A small camera icon on the tool bar will help you post pictures along with your article. And we all know… a picture is worth a thousand words.
Once you are done writing, proofread, edit and post it and keep a track of the response you get. All your contacts in your network will get a notification whenever you put up a post. So ensure your work is of superior quality and makes for a good read. Nobody will like being disturbed with sub-standard articles.
Use LinkedIn correctly:
If used correctly, it’s another way to improve social media reputation for lawyer in India. LinkedIn can become an important part of your business development activities. You must first set out the goals that you wish to achieve through LinkedIn to know how to use it correctly. Generally, there are three goals that lawyers wish to achieve through LinkedIn.
Targeting potential clients:
Use the search bar and ‘advanced search’ options to find potential clients who might be interested in using your services. In most of the cases, you might have a first or second tier connection connecting you with your potential client.
If you have a first tier connection in your contacts, give them a call and request them for an introduction. This would also be a good time to tell them why you are interested in getting in touch with the concerned client.
Use the ‘personal note’ feature that LinkedIn offers if you are trying to connect with someone new. This would let them know why you are interested in connecting with them.
Use LinkedIn’s InMail to send emails to prospective clients as surveys have shown that they have a 30% higher chance of being read.
Attracting more opportunities:
First join a LinkedIn Group that matches with your area of expertise. Participating actively in such groups will increase the traffic to your profile.
Your profile must be ready since now you will have more people visiting your profile who are likely to present you better opportunities. One of the ways in which you can do so is put up SlideShare or videos of you making presentations which instantly adds more credibility to your work and profile.
Start your own group, dealing with issues in your area of expertise for more interaction with prospective clients.
Client Service:
You can use LinkedIn not only to attract more clients and opportunities but to improve existing client relations as well.
Make sure you are connected with all your clients on LinkedIn. That is the basic step.
Find out what it is that your client needs. If they need to know more about how a new law will affect the business and investment decisions, give them a call and advise them or connect them to someone who can help them out.
Deconstructing Twitter
Twitter has over 284 million monthly users, and its what you need to look at as a lawyer. Here are a few tips to help.
Use Twitter Analytics
With it, you can get helpful data and know what to tweet or retweet. Lawyers are encouraged to get as creative as possible with their tweets.
Be Prepared:
Ensure you are well versed with the indian legal rules when it comes to tweeting. In this world, it is very easy to get caught in the bad books of the law, particularly when discussing your court wins, previous cases and actively promoting your business through these channels.
Blog it all out
That’s right. Several lawyers are so deep in books that they don’t find time to share all the knowledge that they are gathering all the time. While it is not possible to have such gatherings where you can meet an interested audience, blogging helps you reach out to more people right from the comfort of your study room.
Most Indian lawyers with an Indian presence have a blog – it’s the first thing they invest in. Some have gone in for their own domain names – like Apar Gupta – while others haven’t invested in one yet, often going by the .wordpress.com default free domain name. Either way, a blog is one of the first things you need to look for.
The Hashtagging Rules
The other thing to know to increase your reach, is to use the right hash tags. These hash tags basically create a clickable link to a stream of posts, arranged chronologically and thereby, make your posts available in additional streams.
How do you create hashtags?
Very simple! Hash tags are nothing but a ‘#’ sign followed by a string of characters with no spaces in between. However, they must make sense and have some meaning.
Using hashtags the right way
Using them in real-time discussions:
Twitter has created a rage by allowing users to use hash tags to have discussions on important events in real-time. You can follow these discussions and respond to them. TweetChat is a free program which helps you in this. So if you have decided to tweet your post using a hashtag for a conversation related to your field of expertise, you have more chances of getting re-tweets if you use a hash tag stream which you don’t generally use in your daily conversations.
Hashtags can help you make useful searches
When you carry out the searches using the hash tag stream, you are likely to come across people who have an interest in that specific topic or the necessary and associated knowledge and skills. You can carry out searches in the search page, but since that is unfiltered, your chances of striking gold gets highly diluted.
Use them in conference participation:
Hash tags are perhaps best used when it comes to conference participation. If you can use a famous conference hash tag to your advantage, then you will overcome a major obstacle when it comes to reaching out to interested audience members who are likely to use tour services.
The Other Methods
Wonder what the other methods to improve social media reputation for lawyer in India are? You can also try out Facebook to increase followers, and generate shareable content. However, in the Indian context, we haven’t yet seen many lawyers with social media presence, though we do have a few legal firms with their own Facebook pages – like A.K Singh and Co. Law Offices.
Amazon appears to be pretty serious about making couch potatoes out of us all. With innovative gadgets like Amazon Echo, the company is farther ahead in voice controlled systems than any of its competitors. Today, we will take a look at the Amazon Echo Dot Review and why many people go so far so as to call it the best thing Amazon has ever produced.
In case you haven’t yet happened to cross paths with the Amazon Dot, it is a Bluetooth/Wi-fi enabled speaker capable of doing everything Echo can do, and with significant less stress on your pockets. It looks like Amazon used a big knife to cut a slice off Amazon Echo, and it reflects in the gadgets price as well. Small, compact and Alexa enabled, if the dot was any smarter, it would probably write a poem. From listening to music to ordering up some quick Pizza, the dot has it all.
Features of the Amazon Echo Dot
How can the Echo Dot be the one thing you need? The Dot, for one, promises some stellar voice recognition capabilities, that makes listening to the music a whole lot more fun.
Just like the Echo, Amazon’s premium offering, Dot also uses the Alexa Voice Service to do stuff like play music, provide information, read the news, set alarms, control smart home devices and so on.
Play music from a variety of portals like Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn.
Check out the headlines of the day from sources you choose curated into a “flash briefing”
Has built-in speaker so it can work on its own, but if you need some extra power for a party, just connect it with external speakers through Bluetooth or a cable.
Hears you from across the room with far-field voice recognition, even while music is playing. Nice, right?
Users can control all kinds of smart electronic gadgets including lights, switches, thermostats, from a range of providers including WeMo, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Nest, ecobee, and others.
If you think Dot is good today, well Amazon keeps updating it. So it is probably going to be even better a few days later.
The Good for the Amazon Echo Dot
Okay. So the dot is definitely good. There are reasons why people call it as better than Echo, despite its smaller size and lesser sound output and those reasons combine to make a pretty cool device. Let’s take a look.
The Echo Dot is basically the Echo with a significant portion of its noise output removed. So basically, the smarts are all there but the speakers are just less powerful. However, the Dot’s price tag — which is almost half the Eco’s — gives you plenty of left over to buy a dedicated pair of speakers to hook with the Dot using bluetooth or cables, whenever you need to party.
This also takes care of the audio issues we had with Echo, since you can use your own speakers, there are no issues associated with quality. But any quality you want and plug them up with the Amazon Dot for the best possible experience. Or if you would prefer, you can use the in-built speakers that come with Amazon Dot.
The Echo Dot is always on and is always listening out for your commands. So you can shout out for Alexa to do something from across the room, such as order a Pizza,Play some music or even book you a cab. This also highlights a significant advantage the Amazon Echo Dot has over Amazon Tap, since you don’t have to press any button to use Alexa. Within the Alexa app, you can activate the device by either shouting out to Alexa, Echo, or Amazon.
And The Bad for the Amazon Echo Dot
There simply is not much bad to be said for the Amazon Echo Dot. Perhaps you could ask the bass to be a little bit more than it is. But you don’t buy the Dot for its sound quality alone – you buy it for the complete package it offers, and there simply is no competition to that.
The device is pretty cool, packs all of the best stuff from Amazon Echo. The device is pretty cool and at $90 is relatively inexpensive as compared to the Echo, which comes in at a hefty sum in the neighbourhood of $150. The only major shortcomings we could find would be the fact that its speakers are rather less powerful and you would probably need to bring your own if looking to party.
Also, you can’t synchronize multiple units to play together, although that is one shortcoming that may be corrected by Amazon through a simple software update.
The Final Verdict:
Overall, the dot is a good way to spend $90 that you have just sitting somewhere. It manages to combine the best of both worlds and takes away some of the biggest shortcomings associated with some of the less popular, Alexa-totting Amazon speakers — for example, the Amazon Tap.
A word needs to be said for Amazon’s marketing strategy here though. The company, for some strange reason, is not laying as much stress on the dot as it did on the Echo. However, don’t let it fool you. The Dot is one of the best things in smart audio since sliced bread and if you are thinking of buying a pair of smart speakers, we seriously recommend you to give Amazon Dot a look.
The Echo Dot also has everything the Echo offers including long range, far-field voice capabilities, a microphone off button, an action button, volume ring control and so on. All these features bundled up at a $90 price tag are certainly pretty awesome.
Good sound on its own and the potential for even better by pairing it up with speakers, a moderately high price tag, Alexa’s powers and extreme levels of portability. There is really very little to complain about with the Amazon Dot. Go get a slice of some hot, audio technology!
Rides-on-demand is popular the world over today, a reason teh perks of being a Uber driver can seem enticing. And it’s not just Uber that has a significant market share. There are local competitors as well, and new brands like Lyft and Ola (India and Australia) that are emerging in the space.
As a result, when you sign on as a Uber driver, one of the key decisions you make is to decide which company you want to work for – and we are here to explain why Uber is, objectively speaking, the best choice. We will take a look at the perks of being a Uber driver, and why it’s a great alternate career.
At times, Uber’s net loss numbers are floated around and some believe that Uber isn’t doing well. However, without context, these numbers are hard to grasp. The kind of service that ride providing is, it requires the company to subsidize rides and can often show a loss for a few years, and it’s what any ride sharing company will like to do
Customer acquisition, popularity, network of Uber drivers, international expansion – these are just some of the other parameters that are equally, if not more, important in determining success in this industry.
Uber Driver
Uber is the Frontrunner: Perks of Being a Uber Driver
The truth is, Uber is a company which through its ideas and vision has inspired the other companies. Often, primary new exciting features come through to Uber first and are then applied by the other local companies. It always pays to be with the leader who is creating than followers who are merely getting inspired by the leader.
Perhaps the culture of excellence is inspired by the way things are done over at the company – as co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has repeatedly demonstrated, the devil lies in the details. A simple update or tweak in design is analyzed by the Uber team and then critically examined by Kalanick in every way it can affect the service – whether from the viewpoint of the Uber driver (faster pickups, easy ratings etc.), customers (a friendlier UI, faster downloads, load time) or competition (rates of other services, rates of retention).
Every statistic is duly analyzed – the tweak which the customer sees as a single line change on the App Store actually has many whatare referred to as ‘jam sessions’ in the company lingo. These are sessions where ideas are discussed, plan formed and solutions found.
Part of the success of Uber was in the attitude of former CEO Kalanick, who liked to view each situation as a problem, and on solving it, starts looking for the next one. The way Uber Pool has been handled is a good example of this philosophy. There have been various continuous tweaks to make the system as painless as possible. Different software has been tested to find the best permutation and combination that pleases the customer as well as does not make the life of the Uber driver difficult.
Uber has always kept in mind all its employees – including the drivers. One of the most appreciated features, for example, is that like Uber driver’s ratings, there is also an average rating for each customer, which the customer can transparently check with the help of their app.
Dealing with Challenges as a Uber Driver
Uber has concentrated single-mindedly on what it wants to do, and has achieved it. Expansion has been quick, with Uber venturing into a market that nobody else had dared pierce – China. Although a lot of people today look onto that expansion as a failure because eventually, Uber ended up folding into Didi Chuxing, the local competitor. But Uber was able to do something that no company had ever done before – it expanded to as many as sixty cities, and a third of Uber’s total trips were coming from China alone in just a couple of years. The perks of being a Uber driver are many, but you need to plan it right.
It was, however, impossible to ignore that China was draining too many resources of the company while the subsidy struggle with Didi was reaching new peaks, and a strategic decision was made to fold. It is therefore incorrect to see it as a failure, but rather as a success to chart new paths that everyone else deterred Uber from pursuing.
This is in fact what drives Uber towards innovation – the unabashedly hungry pursuit of what can be achieved.
Future Planning as a Uber Driver
The company is not merely a leader in the ride-on-demand sphere, but has an eye on the future as well. It would be justified to sit atop the throne of the most valuable startup, but Uber has been busy pulling ideas from the future. Self-driving cars are already being tested out in a few cities.
Uber is also smartly changing its image. Initially seen as a disruptor which did not completely fall within the country’s legal regulations and cut out business from traditional taxies which had been plying since years, today Uber is seen as part of an improvement mechanism in cities. Summit, New Jersey is an excellent example of this. Summit had the choice of following the traditional path – building new parking spaces at its train station, or the new choice – subsidizing Uber. It chose the latter, and this paid off as positive PR for Uber.
The company is increasingly being looked upon as saving the environment, contributing to less traffic, discouraging drunk driving and a host of other benefits. These are obviously also pushed by Uber in a careful way to build a positive reputation.
The way Uber is processing does not show it slowing down anytime soon – as a Uber driver, it is definitely your best bet to stick with Uber as the company will keep your best interest in mind; and if things continue to grow as they are, you will become a part of the transport revolution led by Uber around the world.
As a freelancer, you’ve to be a jack of all trades, and that invovles knowing the latest technological developments. Chatbots have disrupted the customer service industry and HR processes opening new possibilities for enterprises. They are increasingly used for serving customers and helping employees get more productive.
The global chatbot industry is expected to amount to $1.23 billion by 2025 coupled with a yearly growth rate of 24.3% (CAGR)! Today we are going to explore the different ways AI-driven chatbots to help you to connect with your employees and customers.
The Simplicity of Chatbots
You can integrate chatbots easily, and don’t need separate applications. In a recent survey, for instance, 87% CEOs stated they planned to expand their AI driven workforce with the help of AI bots!
Chatbots takes the help of natural language processing and use machine learning to develop an improved understanding about its user. Then it trains and adapts itself accordingly so that it can answer and help out effectively.
The Increasing Popularity of Chatbots
Enterprises have started using chatbots for connecting with customers and even employees on a large scale. Forrester predicts that around 85% of enterprise interactions with customers will be carried out by AI robots in coming 5 years.
Chatbots can help increase the efficiency and productivity of employees and increase customer satisfaction significantly. All of these can be achieved at less cost without even employing a human agent.
Let’s find out how enterprises can use chatbots to leverage their workforce.
Chatbots
Chatbots for Employees
Recruitment
Chatbots can be a great help when your company is conducting a recruitment drive. It can screen the potential employees and you can program it to ask questions. Chatbots can also go a bit further and even carry out background checks automatically.
As chatbots can deliver personalized content and answers, it can also be used for employee on boarding. The same technology is also capable of answering and resolving common queries of potential employees.
Chatbots can be the perfect mobile HR assistant and produce answer to all FAQs and queries on company policies.
Employee Training and Development
Chatbots are ideal for use in employee training without the need of any human mentors. The bots can be used for onboard training, software training, process training, sales training, soft skills training, business training and so on.
You can program the chatbots to produce educational content on need basis. It can also carry out quizzes and other assessment techniques and makes the whole process more interactive. The employees are engaged and learn better than sitting through a class of boring lectures.
Chatbots are also available throughout the clock and doesn’t need to eat or sleep. So you end up saving your costs and time while increasing availability. You can also use a chatbot for practice and anything that involves repetition.
The bots can even present real life simulations to test the skills and understanding of employees.
Resolving Employee Queries
Employees can lose a lot of time and productivity looking for answers to common queries while performing their duties. Chatbots can be programmed to answer such queries and save the time of your employees.
It can be especially beneficial for some process such as benefits enrollment which becomes a headache for both the employees and the HR. Chatbots can simplify the whole process and help employees navigate the enrollment process.
Ultimately the whole thing adds up and increases employee productivity and engagement.
Instant Employee Feedback and Self Assessment
The traditional review of employees is not fit for the modern time. Using chatbots the HR can gain instant feedback from the employees and help them track their goals and objectives.
It can also be used for the exchange of performance insights to keep the employees at their best. AI bots can also pick up the emotional quotient of the employee by asking effective questions programmed in it.
Chatbots driven by AI are revolutionizing the whole employee learning, engagement and assessment process in day to day operations. It helps you save time, reduce costs and increase efficiency and productivity of your employees.
Now let’s check out how the chatbots are changing the customer experience.
Chatbots Redefining the Customer Experience
Instant Customer Assistance
You already know that chatbots don’t need to sleep or eat. Today, the customers comprising of millennials want 24/7 customer support without any interruption.
Chatbots can help deliver instant answers to customer queries and provide any help required round the clock. You also don’t have to pay the salary of a human representative and can leave the initial work to bots.
Bots can also transfer the call or chat to human agents when it’s not able to resolve the case. Your human representatives are only left for the heavy work and stay free to focus on important tasks.
Improved Customer Service
Chatbots excel human assistance on several grounds.
They don’t make errors like humans do and always provide accurate information. The can also be connected with contextual reference of each customer and deliver a more personalized response.
Chatbots don’t need time like humans to search through database or information. It can process the query and provide the relevant information within seconds. The technology can also process huge scale of customer requests unlike a human agent in a given moment. This makes them ideal to employ for resolving frequently asked questions by customers and the like.
Friendly Assistant
Chatbots can significantly drive up your customer engagement and satisfaction rate. They are ideal to start off a conversation while a customer lingers on your page. Using AI and machine learning they can develop a friendly conversation with any customer.
Also, customers don’t need to wait for an awfully long time and go through the endless loop that telecommunication customer service brought with it.
Drive Self help Service
91% customers prefer self-help options or online knowledge base personalized to their individual needs. The chatbots can be a great way to direct your customers to such self-help options.
Chatbots can be connected to a different knowledge base and it can deliver personalized responses based on its cognitive features. In the process, they resolve your customer queries and help you drive up the engagement rate. If your customers are able to meet their preferences, then their satisfaction levels will also shoot higher!
Perform Simple Transactions
You can program your chatbot to carry out a wide range of simple transactions. It can be used to make bookings, transfer money, make hotel reservations, order products and more. You don’t need to employ a human employee and can help customers with numerous tasks.
Driving Sales
The AI technology has progressed significantly since the days it was introduced. Now companies can use technology to predict customer preferences by analyzing their past purchases and behavior tracked from several verticals.
AI-powered chatbots can leverage this process and recommend products to the customers which they are more likely to buy. Apart from resolving queries, it can make the process more personalized and lead to an increase in sales and revenue.
You can also use chatbots for upselling and cross-selling. They can direct the customers to tutorials, blog posts, videos, and product pages by initiating conversation. For example, if a customer purchased or showed his interest on a mobile phone on your website, you can use the chatbot to recommend the customer with a back cover automatically.
Chatbots are the Future of Employee and Customer Experience
Chatbots are being introduced by leading companies to cash in on the customers and provide them a wonderful experience.
Starbucks uses chatbots in its mobile app to help customers place their orders through text or voice commands. It also notifies you about the total cost and the expected delivery time.
The cab booking service Lyft enables its customers to hail a ride using chatbot. The bot notifies the passenger about the location of their cab and even displays the license plate.
The Facebook messenger app of Spotify uses the same technology to help users search, share and listen to music.
The leading FMCG brand Wholefoods uses the chatbot to direct the customers to its nearest branch.
The possibilities of chatbots are endless, to begin with! You can also enjoy the diverse benefits of AI-powered chatbots by introducing it to your employees and customers. Developing a chatbot is easy and cheap and can be implemented quickly within your system. Get in touch with us today for a professional AI chatbot solution.
When it comes to Amazon Echo or Google Home Hub, how does the latter fare?
