Make Instagram Your Brand Ambassador Watch this VIDEO to quickly double your Instagram followers by spending just 5 minutes per day. Instagram is the new wave in social media marketing niche and is growing by leaps and bounds. Since it is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing social networking service, user access is easy – is that not an added advantage for your business promotion? More than selling, making your brand reach the right target audience is more important. Instagram is one such mobile SNWS which facilitates easy brand promotion with little effort but huge exposure. A Few Excerpts from the Web on How to Use Instagram Effectively for Your Marketing What if we told you that Instagram is currently the world’s fastest-growing social media network and can boast of having 400 million active users? That’s 100 million more than Twitter. Can you afford to ignore such an opportunity? Since Facebook’s acquisition of the channel in 2012, Instagram growth has exploded, with 400 million active users, 30 billion photos shared, and an average of 70 million photos posted per day. With the adoption of a few best practices, Instagram can become a viable and engaging platform for many businesses to help build their brand and reputation and ultimately sell more. And while some businesses, particularly those with visual appeal (including those in the fashion, food, travel and entertainment industries), will find Instagram an instant fit, there remain a number of opportunities available to organizations in any vertical. Remember: Instagram will only drive success if it is operated as part of a cohesive marketing #strategy (nothing works in a vacuum). To this end, you should use Instagram (and any other social media channel) to keep your prospects and clients engaged with your brand. Social media will not replace the need for a well-designed website, a regularly updated blog and a targeted email marketing strategy (this will drive revenue). Put all four of these items together, and you’ll find, with the addition of hard work and planning, success comes more easily. Curated from Instagram for Business — Picture-Perfect Marketing Instagram Gives Amazing Results Through User Engagement People are engaging with Instagram posts on levels unparalleled by any other social network. According to Forrester research, Instagram user interactions with brands is 400% higher than on Facebook and Twitter, delivering 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter. Curated from 5 Killer Instagram Marketing Strategies You Need to Know | SocialTimes Effective Instagram Marketing Strategies 1. Formulate your creative strategy: Ask yourself what your business has to offer people who are on Instagram. Why should they follow you on Instagram, when they are already following you on Facebook and Twitter? The trick here is to give them exclusive access to things that have more to do with your business location and your community than the actual promotions itself. When you’re using Instagram, think of personal engagement and the genuine interest of your audience as opposed to making your posts all about sales and promotions. 2. Use relevant hashtags: Hashtags tend to get mixed reviews from people, primarily because a lot of users haven’t mastered the art of effectively using them. But the beauty of hashtags from a business perspective is that it allows your posts to be visible to people who search for certain hashtags. The rule of thumb is to stick to about 4 to 7 hashtags, and make sure you make use of popular trending hashtags. 3. Share often, but don’t over-saturate your followers’ feeds: The best way to go about this is to create a posting schedule when you think your followers are most...

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCES RECRUITING – AN INSIGHT Recruitment followed by hiring is a crucial and challenging task for any organization and human resource department acting as the hub for selecting the right candidates from the talent pool is always on a talent hunt. It is a herculean task to narrow down on the right prospect for every position and corporate companies most often outsource the job to leading recruiting companies having a large database to fill up corporate positions. I was inspired from this read on Bdaily which highlights how social media has turned the recruiting process simple and hassle free. Social Networking Sites are not for personal use anymore; they are becoming a professional platform too. There are more Pros than Cons Today we use social media for everything from sharing what we have eaten for dinner to organising special events, but did you know that many companies also use it during the recruitment process? Social media is an extremely useful tool for recruiters to use and here we are going to explain some of the ways it can assist them in hiring the right candidates to fill their vacancies. It takes seconds to complete an enquiry of a professional nature whereas in the past, it would have taken days. Instant communication brings about obvious benefits and even more obvious pitfalls; so how does this all affect the world of recruitment? There are more pros than cons to those who work in recruitment when it comes to social media and some of them are quite surprising! Using Social Media in the Recruiting Process In the past job vacancies would usually be published in newspapers and job boards at community centres and local post offices. Today employers not only have the option to use online job websites to post their vacancies, but social media sites too. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ provide the perfect way for employers to advertise their vacancies to their target audience, particularly if they are aged between eighteen and thirty four. Another benefit of posting job adverts on social media sites is that it is completely free to do so. Be sure to use hash tags and keywords to make it easier for individuals to find your adverts. Today it is becoming more and more common for employers to share interview tips on their social media pages. Providing interview tips will help candidates to prepare and will therefore allow both parties to benefit from a better interview process. Some of the tips you could share may relate to information about your company that candidates need to know or information regarding the type of interview you will be conducting, to give them an idea of what to expect on the day. Social Media Helps Employers to Promote Their Brand Finally, companies can use social media sites to improve their employer brands. The better you present yourself as an employer to potential candidates, the more they will want to work for you and not one of your competitors. A great way to strengthen your employer brand via social media is to publish content such as testimonials from your employees and behind the scenes footage (e.g. videos) of them at work. Curated from Social media in the recruitment process | Bdaily Business News Employees Look For Added Benefits Hiring has now become a 24/7 process since at any point of time there are a few vacancies in a firm due to dearth of good employees. More than the pay, the prospective employees are on the look out for added benefits in the form of insurance, medical allowance and stock options. Those companies in the higher echelon are focusing more and more on these aspects and this can be easily communicated through social media networks. Why Bother? By helping people understand what it’s like...

Practical Tips for Event Planning Professionals How to make an event outstanding! It is always a treat to watch grand events coming live. Be it a Soccer League, Oscar awards Ceremony or more of its kind. Watching it in person or on TV creates a feeling of awe in our heart, don’t they? Have you ever for a second thought how these grandeur events were coming alive or about the people who make these things happen? Honestly, “NO” would be the answer. Behind all of these and more, event management professionals work untiringly to create the best experience possible for the guests, the celebrities, the sponsors & stakeholders, and the spectators. I stumbled across this very interesting article from ALIVE – aliveeventsagency.com an Australian based event management company. It highlights how often risk assessment is overlooked and not put under high priority quotient. Read on… Playing It Safe: Why Venue Security is a Top Priority for Event Planners Event management requires a set of professionals working together with complete understanding to co-ordinate a particular event in style and splendor. All the people involved in the team have one notion in common –that is to make the event a grand success. The event manager is like the captain of the crew and he should outline all the requirements of the client to his team with clarity. It is always the responsibility of event managers to perform over and above the expectations of the client to create a goodwill that will go a long way. Event Management has Become Inevitable: Event managers have become part and parcel of any industry – parties, entertainment, finance, government, retail, fashion, sports, and music. Did you know the anchors of some live shows that we dote are all products of event managers? It is a high tension environment and the glitz and glamour we witness is purely the result of the hard work they render in the back stage. Team, Team, Team… Though four or five people may form the core team, you need to do so many outsourcing jobs to complete the task. Say, you are a wedding planner, right from photography, video, food and cocktail to floral decoration, music and guests welcoming- so many things come under your forte. Imagine how many people you might need to successfully make that event happen! It is better to establish contacts with a trusted set of individuals who will never let you down even in a crisis situation. That you will find out from your experience. Creativity is the key Event Management is all about surpassing the expectations of all parties involved in the events. There are three ways to accomplish this: Arrangement of the events (design) The events have to be unique Should suit the taste of the client and his interests. Client’s Co-operation is more important All said and done, the clients have to be clear in what they want – budget, ambience, kind  of events etc.,( In South Indian weddings, the girl’s side has a major financial stake in arranging the events, but the boy’s side has a better say over the matters. So it is better to know the taste and preference of the boy’ side before deciding on events. ) An event manager can never create what he imagines without the support of his team. At the same time he has to be at his best – negotiations between clients, suppliers and company, flexibility, quick thinking, lots of initiative and exceptional decision...

Best HR Apps For Your Business Development We all know how stressful a HR manager’s job could be. It is his department’s responsibility under his guidance to handle employee relations, payroll management, hiring and layoffs, rewards and remunerations, change and culture management. He can be compared to a mom who is always there to settle scores between son and father. Though the job is definitely tiring in nature, time has come for HR managers to heave a sigh of relief thanks to innovative HR apps that significantly reduces their workload.   Apps for Rescue There are now apps that can completely take care of payroll management, network communication, project management, monitoring workforce leave, recruiting and performance management. Think about it, how much of time will be saved if there is some technology that helps you in tracking the sales force performance metrics (especially in IT companies where there are hundreds of thousands of employees), attendance, payroll, etc., Today’s technological scenario is something to be awed at and not to be taken granted for. Small organizations should push themselves one step higher to leverage the functionality of innovative technology for their business development. Download “55 ALL TIME POPULAR HR QUOTES” … Big Data – The Big Boss Data sits at the centre commanding all other entities to obey the rules laid by it. Even giants like Google can no more rely on their intuitions for decision making but rather go for numbers and information. HR is no exception when it comes to adapting new technology. Why can’t companies dare to use new software services – afterall nothing is lost! When you are in a situation to scale up your operations on one end and manage the tight competition on the other, yet you would not opt for a change!  That does not make sense in any plausible manner. Think Fast Act Faster Let me introduce you to some of the interesting and enterprising HR apps (free as well as paid versions) that will give some room for HR managers to go for a long pending vacation with their family! It is better to automate your HR functions and please, please think over and above MS Office. Orange HRM: OrangeHRM offers you flexibility and freedom to select from free and paid versions of OrangeHRM backed with specialized expertise. Their  HR modules cover core areas like payroll management, employee data management and many more. There’s the free option and paid enterprise version. And it’s all open source so if you have developers you can customize it to your heart’s content. App from Hay Group: Allows your managers to create job descriptions from a library of roles or generic templates defined by their experts, or you can completely start from scratch. Suggests the skills and behaviours needed for a role and gives feedback on job design so your managers know they’re on track. Expense on Demand: Expense On Demand will reduce the time needed to process expense claims by at least 50%. Claims are approved electronically and arrive in Finance department  fully coded, validated and approved ready to be paid. Bamboo HR: BambooHR combines  all of your employee information from all of your locations into a single view. You can then access, control, sort, analyze, and take action on the data instantly—from your office, the road or home. Kim Rohrer Head of People Operations / Disqus says “BambooHR frees up more time for me to follow my passion in helping people do their jobs better” Greenhouse: Make recruiting your competitive advantage through this app that optimizes your entire recruiting process. Find better candidates, conduct more focused interviews, and make data-driven hiring decisions. I’m listing a set...

How to Overcome the Challenge of Resistance to Change? I’ve tried to supplement solutions to overcome the challenge of resistance to change in the form of quotes by lot of industry stalwarts and management scholars. It is true that change is the only entity that never changes. “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” ~Arnold Bennett Change is resisted because it can hurt. When new technologies displace old ones, jobs can be lost; prices can be cut; investments can be wiped out. The best thing leaders can do when the changes they seek pose significant threat is to be honest, transparent, fast, and fair. “He who rejects change is the architect of decay.” ~Harold Wilson Although leaders can’t always make people feel comfortable with change, they can minimize discomfort. Identifying the sources of resistance is the first step toward good solutions. And feedback from resistors can even be helpful in improving the process of gaining acceptance for change. The natural and normal reaction to change is resistance. Top Reasons “Why Employees Resist Change?” 1. Misunderstanding about the need for change/when the reason for the change is unclear — If staff do not understand the need for change you can expect resistance. Especially from those who strongly believe the current way of doing things works well…and has done for twenty years! In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy. ~J. Paul Getty 2. Fear of the unknown — One of the most common reasons for resistance is fear of the unknown. People will only take active steps toward the unknown if they genuinely believe – and perhaps more importantly, feel – that the risks of standing still are greater than those of moving forward in a new direction “Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.” ~Alvin Toffler 3. Lack of competence — This is a fear people will seldom admit. But sometimes, change in organizations necessitates changes in skills, and some people will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition very well. “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” ~Sydney J. Harris 4. Connected to the old way — If you ask people in an organization to do things in a new way, as rational as that new way may seem to you, you will be setting yourself up against all that hard wiring, all those emotional connections to those who taught your audience the old way – and that’s not trivial. “When it becomes more difficult to suffer than to change… you will change.” ~Robert Anthony 5. Low trust — When people don’t believe that they, or the company, can competently manage the change there is likely to be resistance 6. Temporary fad — When people belief that the change initiative is a temporary fad 7. Not being consulted — If people are allowed to be part of the change there is less resistance. People like to know what’s going on, especially if their jobs may be affected. Informed employees tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction than uninformed employees. “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”~Charles Kettering 8. Poor communication — It’s self evident isn’t it? When it comes to change management there’s no such thing as too much communication. “If you feel like it’s difficult to change, you will probably have a harder time succeeding.” ~Andrea Jung 9. Changes...