Do you remember MySpace? It was the leading social media company in the 2000s, and now, no one even talks about it! That’s the thing about social platforms; they don’t stay the same. And this is why you need a flexible social media strategy for your business to take it to the next level and make the most out of current and expected trends on social media. Target the right platform. In 2021, Instagram was the fastest-growing medium for businesses to market their products. But the tables seem to turn now that TikTok boasts over 1 billion active users, after a 45% increase since the start of 2021! Its potential has not been untapped to the full by businesses yet, so 2022 could bring many more opportunities. Micro-influencers make the difference! Gone is the time when people looked at high-key celebrities in awe and wanted to copy all that they did! Gen Z is more interested in social media influencers that have a lifestyle similar to theirs. The more relatable they sound, the more loyal their community is. The tip to successful social media marketing for the upcoming days is to look for micro-influencers with a following of around 100k and partner with them to promote your brand. This way, you’ll hit an audience that is genuinely interested in your service. Plan your content Let’s get this straight; your social media cannot thrive in 2022 if you don’t have a rough idea of what your content should look like. The best way to plan your social presence is to make a content calendar, which includes the outline of your social media posts and also the schedule of when to post them. Collect the demographics of your target public, and find the best times of the week they’re most active. Upload your content consistently and at the scheduled time. Besides, social media users have started to show more interest in live content than in edited and photoshopped photos and videos that make it to your profile. 2022 is expected to be an excellent year for those who focus on live videos and regularly updated stories that last only for a day. Do a social media audit every month! Human interest changes very rapidly. What interests your viewers today does not guarantee that it will satisfy them tomorrow too. So it’s crucial to keep a check on what’s working for your following and what’s not. Create engaging content, be it emotional or entertaining, and see what brings the best results. Google Analytics and social media metrics trackers can give an excellent idea of your audience’s engagement with your posts. If one type of delivering your idea doesn’t work, improvise and try another. Do not hesitate to try out the new features creatively. Set SMART Goals. SMART is an anagram for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The ultimate aim of your social media strategy is to generate more sales and grow your business beyond limits. Be specific in what you want to achieve. Instead of thinking, ‘I want to increase my reach,’ think of something more clear like ‘I have to get 1000 new followers on each of my social media profiles by the end of this month! A measurable plan gives you way more satisfaction than that which cannot be measured. You can aim to increase your brand’s awareness, but you won’t be able to measure how successful you were. But you can track how many people are liking your posts and set a goal for yourself to increase it, in turn, raising your brand awareness. The goals should be attainable. There’s no point in setting resolutions like you will change the world this year. Business success depends on small accomplishments that together make a difference. Your primary focus should be to create relevant content that helps you drive traffic to your business website. Hence, relevant goals count. Getting fake social media is useless if you’re not getting your target public’s response. Plans that are time-bound produce crazy results because the pressure of meeting deadlines keeps you going. In a nutshell, you should craft your social media strategy for 2022 well after looking into the trends that dominate mainstream media and then focusing on creating quality content that satisfies their current interests.
WHY IS INSTAGRAM NEEDED FOR STARTUPS IN 2022?
A fascinating intersection of creativity and community, Instagram is much more than just a social media platform. Businesses have opportunities to thrive in the online world with existing and yet-to-be-launched augmented and virtual reality assistance. It has opened limitless options to take your business to the next level and create an exciting and engaging online presence. This article will look at why is Instagram needed for startups in 2022 and how you can turn it into a time-effective marketing place. WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE AN INSTAGRAM PROFILE FOR YOUR STARTUP? As stated by Instagram Business, 60% of active Instagram users search for and discover new products on this application. Over 80% have at least one brand/business in their following, and around 200 million profiles visit a business page each day. Interestingly, over 60% of these visitors are people who do not follow the specific brand they land on. Here are some of the advantages you can expect from an active Instagram representation: Brand awareness about your service Organic traffic to your website Knowledge of what your target audience is interested in Staying updated with trends for Newsjacking Getting influencers to market your startup Launch advertising campaigns And the list goes on and on. Read: 10 BEST INSTAGRAM FEATURES TO MARKET YOUR STARTUP WHAT IS THE GROWTH RATE OF BUSINESS ON INSTAGRAM? Every big brand name, be it Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Adidas, Nike, or even McDonalds, owns an Instagram profile, each having millions of followers who love their products and are happy to connect with them! Currently, it is the most prominent marketing podium for both big and small names, and companies see crazy sales from people who see their product launches and ads on Instagram. According to a study by Dana Rebecca Designs, 72% of the people who participated in the survey have bought a style or fashion product after seeing it on Instagram. There is an average growth of 1.46% monthly followers growth seen by Business accounts on Instagram. WHY SHOULD YOU HIRE AN INSTAGRAM MANAGER? While it is noteworthy that Instagram has an infinite potential for startups to flourish, it requires time, effort, and consistency to make a presentable profile. It is best to hire a Social Media Manager who will look after your Instagram account, create regular content and keep track of public interaction with your account so you can focus on improving the quality of your service. Let’s look at how an Insta Manager can take your small business off the roof! A Strategic social media management plan is needed for startups to create a following who’s interested in their service. While you may think that you can manage your Instagram well, you might actually not know specific tips and tricks to boost your credibility online. All time active customer service will work wonders in both creating your brand name and maintaining it. You can’t be available full-time to answer customer queries, but you can always hire someone to manage it. By creating content that focuses on driving public attention and engagement, your Instagram manager will form an active two-way communication between you and your target audience. A Tailwind study reveals a direct relationship between the frequency of engaging posts and an increase in the number of followers. Instagram can be a great platform to look for like-minded people willing to partner with you and recruit new employees. A manager can search for and filter such people, so you don’t have to worry about finding ‘the best employees for your startup. And above all. You will have sufficient time to focus on vital tasks to keep your business up and running when you’re satisfied that your Instagram profile, tracking, and advertising is in safe hands. WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING AN INSTAGRAM MANAGER? To find the best candidate for your Instagram business account, don’t forget to look at the few vitals that make a good manager. Look at the accounts they’re already managing. Your startup is already in a struggling phase, so you can’t afford any mistakes. If these accounts do not show consistent growth, they’re not suitable for you. Ask for their previous client testimonials. If their existing client is satisfied with their service, the chances are high that you will be too. Make sure they have access to all the essential tools for Instagram management. Look for candidates that own premium tools to track metrics. Set realistic goals beforehand and provide them with a target to achieve them within a limited time frame. END NOTE: Currently, the platform’s primary focus is to explore new markets and reach a greater audience which you can drive on your business website. However, it is expected that Instagram will launch its native payment options at scale, which will be a significant breakthrough for businesses. So an active Instagram business account is a pressing need at the time.
10 BEST INSTAGRAM FEATURES TO MARKET YOUR STARTUP
With 1.16 billion users, Instagram is one of the most popular networking sites today, which means using this platform to market your startups is now needed more than ever!This article will highlight how you can harness this whopping audience to the advantage of your venture by using these 10 best Instagram features. BUILD A BUSINESS PROFILE: Optimizing your ‘Instagram for your business profile is the first step towards an effective Instagram marketing plan. You’ll not only portray a professional outlook but also get access to Insights, a tool to trace your engagement in the app. Set the logo of your startup as the profile photo, and write a killer bio that should include the following: The name of your startup A short description that explains what you deal with A link to your website Your contact info TRACK YOUR METRICS: While Instagram Insights gives you a fair idea about how your content is doing with your followers, you should also consider some online tools. Hootsuite, CoSchedule, or Sprout Social can give you great help to schedule your content as per the audience engagement rates, i.e., the days and times at which your target audience is most active. Also, try to do a competitive analysis of your profile with a brand of a similar niche having a greater reach. DESIGN TEASER POSTS: Ordinary informative posts about your business won’t attract people. Pick beautiful free stock images from sites like Pexels and Unsplash related to your service, edit them well to suit your profile, and give them catchy, relevant captions. Remember, Instagram is all about glam, so aesthetics matters! Stick to a specific color palette for your posts. An organized feed is way more attractive than random posts. Read: Social Media Marketing by Beacon Innovation: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need USE STORIES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE: Instagram Stories are a leading way to communicate with your viewers and know what they expect from your startup. Create regular polls and question stickers about your product and see how you can improvise your services to generate more sales. Don’t forget to make a Frequently Asked Questions story highlight on your account. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so you can run your creativity wild here and experiment with different ideas, e.g., behind-the-scenes stories or stickers. CREATE SPONSORED ADS: Hit the pain points of your viewers with appealing ads to generate organic engagement on your startup profile. Newsjacking can be a great way to create tempting ads that contain limited-time discounts and deals and offer incredible Returns on investment. Include promo codes for people who interact with your posts more frequently to keep them on board. MAKE USE OF LIVE VIDEOS: Live videos are fantastic features where you can interact with your online community and make a reputed brand name. Live videos do not stay on your profile, and the best part about them is, when you go live, your followers receive a notification about it. Answer customer queries in real-time, welcome their suggestions and use the live videos to promote your startup by announcing giveaways and promotions in them. IGTV or Instagram TV: On the other hand, it is for long videos you want to keep on your feed. It is a video-sharing platform within Instagram, and you will need to sign up for IGTV before you can create your first video. Be creative in making captivating videos about your startup, the services you are providing, how your clients will benefit from them, client reviews and even behind-the-scenes shots! USE HASHTAGS WISELY: Popular hashtags can increase your reach to a tremendous level. They also give you great content ideas, make a habit to check out the top posts on a popular tag for inspiration. Plan giveaways and shout-outs with the top performers that match your niche to get their traffic. Add a geotag in your posts to target an audience from a specific location. Also, a personal brand tag is a must-have! Your followers will use it when they post your products’ reviews to add user-generated content to your tag. Partner with influencers to promote your brand tag; influencer marketing has paramount potential with a global market value of $13.8 billion as of 2021! GET AUGMENTED REALITY FILTERS: AR filters have been in use for quite a long in Snapchat and Instagram cameras. But now, certain brands can create custom filters for their products! This was initiated when Facebook, the owner company of Instagram, allowed Kylie Jenner’s brand, Kylie Cosmetics, to create filters so people could literally ‘try on’ their favorite makeup products virtually before buying! This has opened a whole new world of opportunities for businesses to grow their reach to an insane level. SET UP PHOTO MAPS: Instagram has also released a feature to share your photos on Google maps, so you can feature your startup’s descriptive photos on maps for targeting the public from your nearby geographical location. Before making it visible on Google Maps, you will review the geotags your photo contains. You can change the pictures or remove them anytime from the Map, and they’ll be kept intact on your profile! With all these exciting features, and more expected to be added on Instagram, entrepreneurs have, now more than ever, a limitless space to grow their businesses. Now it’s upon you how creatively you use Instagram’s powers to pause your audience from mindless scrolling and investing in what you have in store for them!
How Digital Marketing Can Boost Your Real Estate Business?
‘It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist,’ says Austin Kleon, the New York Times Bestselling author of Show Your Work! and while talking about the real estate industry, we can’t disagree. According to the statistics gathered by the National Association of Realtors, 52% of homebuyers search for available property online before buying property for themselves. With the right strategies provided to you by an internet marketing agency, you can easily make them your clients. How can a digital marketing agency help your real estate business? Being flexible with customers’ needs and remaining available to them are the new earmarks of the real estate industry. To take your business up a notch, the first step you must do is connect with a team of experts running a digital marketing agency. They are experienced in understanding the audience, elements that affect their decisions, and the response expected according to their behaviors online. Here’s how we think it will benefit you. It helps make your business hassle-free. Let’s be honest, do you think you can handle advertising, communicating with customers, running your social media pages, exploring new projects, and managing sales all by yourself? Alone, it gets overwhelming to look after everything, but working together with an efficient agency makes it doable. People prefer services that are automated, user-friendly, and time-saving. A digital marketing agency can help maintain all three by identifying target markets for your real estate business and providing them with an accessible platform for buying, leasing, and filing the required documents. It provides business transparency. By making you a mobile-friendly website equipped with chatbots and android/iOS applications, a digital marketing agency can ensure customer of transparency in this industry. Studies show that a whopping 67% of people use chatbots for customer support. Website design, compatibility, and functioning must be accessible for those who visit it. Accurate information about current projects is made available on these services on the go, which includes pricing, location, legal documentation, value-added features, and your contact information. You can add search filters like budget, accommodation, and features on your website to help your consumers find their dream homes. It opens doors for creativity. Gone are the days when there was no room for creativity in the real estate industry, and you only had to rely on data. With on-point digital resources, you can easily stand out among your competitors through minute creative changes. A few examples are creating virtual tours of your projects using original shoots covering the surrounding areas and adding compelling voiceovers to aim at potential buyers. Use digital platforms effectively to identify target markets by launching different creative campaigns. The options are countless; a team of experts will help you craft a practical layout that matches your business profile because individuality matters the most in this industry. Read: 10 Best Instagram Features To Market Your Startup It helps connect with clients. A digital marketing agency can build for you an engaging online presence through social media platforms. Being visible online improves organic traffic on your websites and mobile applications to a great extent. You can hire persuasive social media managers to look after your community and answer their queries related to the business. Using pay-per-click advertisements, you can also offer your loyal followers exclusive promo codes that will eventually make their minds up to consider you as their go-to real estate agent. You can build your brand credibility by adding online reviews of these devoted followers on your websites. Effective use of backlinks and the right Search Engine Optimization game plan can help you gain an online reputation effortlessly. The endnote: Hiring a digital marketing agency to look after your real estate’s digital needs has to be appropriately monitored. Before signing the contract, it’s essential to have a detailed discussion about the tools they have in store for you to use, the custom plan they’re providing you, and assess their expertise in the field. At the end of the day, your key focus is attracting quality leads and generating more significant sales. To learn more about our digital marketing services and packages, visit the Beacon Innovation services page.
How to become an interior designer in 7 easy steps?
Interested in knowing how to become an interior designer? In this article, we have listed down 7 easy steps which you can follow to opt for your dream profession. Skills Required to be an Interior Designer Interior designers combine practical skills and aesthetic vision to develop designs that affect the human experience. This is not just the understanding of theoretical concepts, this art also requires enthusiasm for design theory, fine arts, and floor plan functions. They work with clients to create functional and attractive commercial and home design solutions. If you think you have taste and attention to detail, ask yourself a few questions. When you enter a home or business, have you imagined anything that would improve the space? Do you have extensive renovations or other practical experience in your home? Do you like it? Let us look at the steps you need to take as an aspiring Interior Designer so you can quickly establish and grow your business Read: Social Media Marketing by Beacon Innovation: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need Education and professional licensure. Mastering interior design tools and techniques requires investing time and effort to gain education and professional qualifications. This could be the same as a Diploma Interior Design course or a more detailed bachelor’s degree in interior design. Designers can independently learn various trading tools like CAD through an online process. Some universities offer self-study interior design qualifications to help students get into the field. Great designers need to hold technical areas such as spatial planning and traffic flow, color theory and psychology, lighting, materials and furniture design. You also need to master creative thinking, problem-solving, project management and customer management skills to stay up to date on the development of materials, technologies, regulations and trends. Therefore, learning the tools of the trade is very important. By having the technical know-how and the right design approach, you and your customers can gain greater confidence and avoid serious mistakes or costly delays. Appropriately research schools offering interior design courses. Choose a program that is reputable and recognized, and gives you a good start in your interior design career. Solid Portfolio The portfolio should show the designer’s eyes on aesthetics and functionality and should show the designer’s process using sketches, mood boards and, if possible, images of the completed project. These aspects of interior design can be particularly difficult, so projects that consider color and light stand out. The more impressive your portfolio is, the more likely you are to acquire new customers. You can also brag about listing your previous jobs, but you are in your business. Online portfolios are always recommended over printed portfolios. However, this does not deny the usefulness of the printed interior design portfolio. We encourage visitors to browse the portfolio when they visit the website. This is the only way they can get their attention, switch to potential cooperation and develop relationships for future projects. The Internet is full of example templates that you can use as a starting point. Your portfolio could be as simple as a digital flipbook or pdf file where you can easily share links. You can also show your work and personality through the video and move on to the next step. You can also update your portfolio frequently to reflect new projects and trends that may be relevant to your area of expertise. Learn about virtual opportunities There are many well-known interior design courses that provide online learning options for students seeking non-traditional education. Many of these programs can be learned through free YouTube tutorials or by registering for short courses. Some free online tools for virtual room design are open to the public, and interior designers have an advantage in this game. Almost all professional interior designers use software to complete their project plans; but the ability to make preliminary sketches is also very useful. The ability to use these two methods makes you an asset to your customers. These digital tools only add extra charm, especially when the freehand drawing is not your strong suit. Dare To Be Different Your portfolio should be an impressive snapshot of who you are as a designer and what special you have for each project. If you have genuine Affinity, it will appear in your work and you will rank up quickly. Avoid the temptation to take on everything you can think of, and focus on projects you’re truly passionate about, to build a body of work which tells a strong story. Instead of copying other people be creative and unique and set your own trends. Do what makes you happy, Use non-traditional colors, Use one-of-a-kind items. Stay Up-to-Date With Trends Trends come and go, and you will need to stay ahead of curve. Being able to understand and forecast trends can help maintain relevance and demand. And if you can see the bad trends, your career will be able to stay relevant in the coming years. Follow color trends, read trade magazines, and join design, photography, art and illustration forums to quickly hear about new trends in the industry. You can reach out to other designers, share their views in the design community, get professional feedback, and have the opportunity to collaborate on ideas in general. Home décor during a pandemic With the pandemic, many people are becoming overly aware of their likes and dislikes about the space they live in. There are many online resources dedicated to ideas you can use to decorate your home. Homeowners allocate space during working hours and set this space to be more reminiscent of a traditional office where they can leave workdays. You can add beautiful backgrounds, beautiful artwork, and plants for all-day zoom calls. Social media is perfect for home décor where you’ll find what you’re looking for during pandemic. You can dive into Pinterest and enter the simplest ones to get pages and pages inspired by others. Finding your people and being able to rent what they like is only a matter of minutes. If you’re
Pakistan Hosted World Environment Day 2021
It was indeed a privilege for Pakistan – as has been stated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Through its clean and green initiatives, Pakistan has earned this honor. The Executive Director of UNEP, Inger Andersen applauded the country’s leading efforts and said that Pakistan is walking the talk. Malik Amin Aslam, Special Adviser to PM for Climate Change, took pride in announcing the launch of UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 with Pakistan being the host of this year’s World Environment Day, setting up the direction for the next ten years. The World Environment Day 2021, was hosted by Pakistan in the Convention Center, Islamabad. Ms. Zartaj Gul, Climate Change Minister Pakistan, begun the session and briefly talked about following Pakistan’s Initiative to combat climate change. Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Electric Vehicle Initiative: aims to have 30% elective vehicles in Pakistan by 2030 Recharge Pakistan: to utilize rain and flood water to increase the water table Climate Smart Agriculture: to be introduced in the areas of Punjab and Sindh to enhance food security Ecosystem Restoration Initiative: aims to reverse the damages to ecosystem Tree 20 Youth Package: to link tree plantation with students’ evaluation in schools Climate induced migration was also highlighted and efforts are requested towards a policy for climate induced migrants facilitation. President World Economic Forum Børge Brende, talked about opportunities coming out of UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration i.e. Eco-preneurship Opportunities for youth. He also called for investments, education and capacity-building initiatives for nature protection and restoration Executive Director UNEP, Inger Andersen, joined the session and highlighted four points for Ecosystem Restoration and how Pakistan has taken the lead in all of the below-mentioned initiatives. Finance flowing: must increase three times by 2030 and four folds by 2050. For this purpose, Governments’ should allocate funds. Protection of those who manage land in law and in deed Cities should become green havens by making nature a fundamental part of urban settings and enhance green spaces. Restoration of the blue planet UN Secretary General, António Guterres, marked UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration a Global Call to Action where everyone can contribute to mutually make peace with the nature Malik Amin Aslam, Special Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan, made major announcements regarding Pakistan’s commitments to combat the adverse effects of climate change. In relation to Bonn Challenge, Pakistan has registered restoration of one lac hectare of forest area Protected Areas Initiative: There will be 15 new national parks in Pakistan. For this purpose, National Park Services Academy will be established in Ziarat, Quetta for training of 5,000 youth. Recharge Pakistan: 15 wetlands on the left and right of Indus River will be recharged with flood and rain water. Two pilot projects are to be started soon. Green financing: includes Green Bonds of worth 500 million dollars that are launched by WAPDA last week and blue bonds which are in discussion with three countries. UK’s Prime Minister Borris Johnson and China’s President Mr. Xi Jinping shared messages for Pakistan’s World Environment Day Session. Prime Minister Imran Khan concluded the session with his inspiring remarks and stated that UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration is a course correction opportunity for the world. It is imperative to combat the negative impacts of consumerism. He also talked about global warming and the need to direct efforts towards melting glaciers. Globally, countries are affected by the unpredictable and adverse impacts of climate change such as a thousand glaciers has melted in Tajikistan, while Philippines is affected by cyclones and hurricanes. Besides, PM Imran Khan, applauded the forest guards who have assisted Pakistan in achieving plantation of one billion trees. He also appreciated the women in northern Pakistan who have planted nurseries. As a way forward, he has laid emphasis on the awareness of planting trees and the significance of the role of schools and teachers. Read More: Beacon Innovation Digital Agency
Cryptocurrency – The Face of the Future
With the evolution of technology in every aspect of the world, who knew one day the currency would digitalize too? Cryptocurrency is a digital currency which considered as a promising investment. The hassle of carrying the money in your handbags and pockets, keeping it safe from robbery, and various banking scams have made it quite difficult for some people to keep their money and savings protected. Consumers and buyers prefer online payments over physical cash already. Instead of going through all the trouble of going to the store and handing out the cash people like to stay at home or wherever they are and make the payment with the mere click of a few buttons. However, even with a payment method as convenient as this, it is almost inevitable to avoid fraud. Hence as a solution to every single problem regarding currency and its management that people have been through, the new emerging digitalized currency is cryptocurrency. What is Cryptocurrency? Many of us have heard the term cryptocurrency or got astounded by all the buzz around it but were not able to comprehend what cryptocurrency means? Some of us might have heard about the bitcoin being used as an unseen invisible coin being used as a currency and felt shocked as to how that is even possible? If these questions still bother you, then look no further, the answers to all of your queries are present right here in this article. Cryptocurrency is a digitalized currency that has no physical presence and exists as a unit stored inside a database as an entity. When this money is deposited, spent, or transacted, the record of it is stored inside a digital wallet. Or let’s say that the digital wallet is your bank account that has no physical existence. How is a cryptocurrency built? The cryptocurrency was built using blockchain development on the principle of encryption. Hence the cryptocurrency is a comparatively secure and less risky investment. Types of cryptocurrencies The first cryptocurrency to emerge in the market was Bitcoin. All of the readers must have heard about it. Bitcoin was launched in 2009. Right now in 2021, there are several types of bitcoins circulating and being widely used in the crypto world. Some of them are: Ehtereum Litecoin Namecoin A recently launched cryptocurrency that is immensely popular nowadays is Dogecoin. Especially after receiving the endorsement from the business Tycoon, CEO of Tesla Mr. Elon Musk, the investments in Dogecoin has rapidly increased in a short period. Even various parties and individuals who never showed interest in cryptos before have been seen making investments in the crypto world. How to acquire it? Cryptocurrency can be obtained through certain online platforms. There is a very convoluted and intricate process to earn cryptocurrency called mining. In Pakistan, people are found taking part in crypto purchases and trade through a channel called Binance. Cryptocurrency for business investments Since cryptocurrency is a promising investment many people desire to turn this into a major investment used to begin new ventures or good-scale businesses. But there are various scammers in the process as well. Here is how you could avoid it. Some companies solely work on scamming people into acquiring their investments and paying off their clients. YES! YOU HEARD IT RIGHT! These are small-scale unregistered companies that make massive profits only by hiring a small hierarchy of people to scam people off their money and keeping it to themselves. They usually work by reaching out to people through social media and offering them to recruit into training sessions for cryptocurrency businesses. They then make them buy cryptocurrency making sure they have the access to essential pre-requisites of the buyers, illegally acquiring their money. Some scammers offer you fake jobs as investors in fake investment companies. Since cryptocurrency solely works on digitalization so one expects a physical building or meeting the hierarchal structure of the company hence easily falling for the trap of getting recruited in an online company. Some scammers present to you offers like they will double your investment up to 70% more and keep a small amount such as 5 to 10% of it as their payment. Beware of such scammers who would convince you to make hefty investments and then end up taking all of your money. Disadvantages and advantages of cryptocurrency Every process or investment has both advantages and disadvantages. Here is a comprehensive overview of both sides of the coin. literally and figuratively! Just so you have the entire information at hand before making an informed decision. Pros Unlike regular physical currencies, the transferring of funds is much easier faster, and durable with Cryptocurrencies. The transfer is always direct from the sender party to the buyer party. No third party is involved. such as bank account transfers, debit cards, etc in usual cases. Since cryptocurrency has been formed using highly complex coding via blockchain, it works on the principle of encryption. Your data and your transactions are confidential. Blockchain is a very complex form of code and cryptocurrencies exist in digital databases. It is very hard for even a professional hacker to hack your details unless you trust an unknown person with your essential credentials, pre-requisites and end up getting scammed. (as mentioned above). The transfer fee associated with the funds is super minimal unlike with banks. Cons Since the cryptocurrencies are almost completely anonymous and super confidential regarding the credentials of the owner they could be used in several illegal activities such as money laundering. This digital currency is also notorious for being used by criminals on the dark web for getting various illegal activities done. If you get scammed the loss would be highly unrecoverable. Conclusion Digitalization is the face of the future! We can not escape from it neither should we hesitate from adapting ourselves towards it. To thrive in our personal ventures or for any nation to survive in this relentless slog of the rat race, digitalization is the way to go. Cryptocurrency is just the beginning of a new era. Like every
How to Digitalize Traditional Business Practices?
In this digital era, where everything is online from marketing to shopping, it is crucial to digitalize traditional business as well. During the pandemic, the questions that keep popping up in many business owners or project managers’ minds are: How to digitalize their businesses or projects? What marketing techniques they should adopt to draw more customers or to create more impact? Traditional Marketing merely refers to offline marketing strategies such as print ads, business cards, broadcasts (commercials on radio or TV), posters, brochures, and billboards. With many people preferring to read their news online, even newspapers are going digital and due to this global digitalization, many companies are revising their conventional methods of doing business with technology at their side. Amidst the second wave of COVID-19, majority businesses / companies are either partly operational or have opted out to work virtually again. Therefore, investing right money in right marketing strategies may help them in digitalizing traditional business successfully. How can Beacon Innovation help you to digitalize your business and its marketing? Beacon Innovation, provides a complete set of tools to digitalize your business efficiently. We specialize in helping organizations in areas where they lack digitally. We create and re-design your brand name by providing you with accurate e-commerce and digital marketing strategies. We have a team of experts that uses all the key elements from content development for your social media pages and website to designing and setting up advertisement campaigns so that you are always available to your customers whenever they are searching for a service. Website Development is a Crucial Part in Digital Transformation. Almost every customer will search up for your brand name online and having your own website that is user friendly, interactive and up-to-date is the key to grab maximum clients. We develop user friendly and attractive web sites for our clients that list all their products, services, reviews, contacts, addresses and FAQs in an eye-catching and effective manner. Who doesn’t like their website flashing at the top of Google Search? Beacon Innovation have expertise in Search Engine Optimization that improves your ranking in Google search results so that you have a better chance of maximum potential clients visiting you online and this will ultimately result in increased sales and leads. There is a saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Visuals have a greater impact on the human mind than that of words. A good design ought to be simple but creative and unique. We provide our customers with unique designing services in the following areas: Logos, Website Designs, Social Media Posts, Flyers or Business Cards which adds value and meaning to the content. Our team has hands-on experience in designing and are equipped with the latest designing tools to fit your designing needs. Furthermore, we have video and animation experts who create customized animated and white board visual videos tailored according to your business marketing goals. With the advent of digital marketing, the need to have Digital Transformation for your business/brand is increasing. We can help you take that step to digitally transform your business. Our aim is to provide you with the best services, worked out through the skills of our expert team. If you are looking for any of the services mentioned above, we will provide you a worthy platform, so that all your needs would be fulfilled. Read: Beacon Innovation: Digital Strategy
What is Fintech? Overview and Usage
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs dictates that after a person’s physiological needs are met, they prioritize personal, emotional, financial safety, and security before anything else less critical for survival. “Ignoring technological change in a financial system based upon technology is like a mouse starving to death because someone moved their cheese.”– Chris Skinner Fintech, which technology describes as developing and distributing financial products and services, is one of the most involved innovation areas in startups. A rich area of research is the relation between technology and innovation. Information technology is commonly recognised as an essential component of internal process optimization, as well as new product creation and new service creation. The question is what is Fintech? Fintech is defined as design and delivery of financial products and services through technology. Industry surveys suggest that novel fintech offerings may be particularly appealing to young, high-income, high-value customers. As time passed and new security measures were introduced, the finance industry began transforming itself into what is called fintech. Read: How to Digitalize Traditional Business Practices? Fintech Cybersecurity and Stability Undoubtedly, the digitization of financial services may be of interest to most customers because the technology was not considered to be 100 percent effective. The risks most people were preoccupied with were identity fraud and money laundering. In 2020, more fintech firms will be taught how to secure their business operations and survive a cyber attack. Fintech in Big Data Fintech companies used unstructured, structured data known as big data for customer segment detection, fraud detection and risk management. In Fintech, big data can be used to spot fraudsters more quickly than a human eye can. The collected big data is analyzed to classify consumers’ usual purchasing behaviors and behaviours. Fintech firms will also be able to use big data to identify consumers and give them more customized deals. Fintech in AI The AI-powered systems being introduced help to reduce banks’ and other financial institutions’ operating costs. Experts will be among the most common factors to expect to see the relationship between AI and fintech grow stronger by 2020. Fintech traditional stacks weren’t efficient in real-time scenarios. However, what else one can have a stack that can adapt to customer requirements in real time? AI & machine learning is proving very successful when processing data streams in real time. It can also improve customer interactions and reduce risk. Fintech in Banking Fintech equips the banking sector with tools that make it more efficient than ever before. Banking institutions use technologies such as chatbots to improve customer service, mobile applications to provide consumers with real-time insights into their bank accounts, and machine learning for fraud prevention. Fintech-Next Generation Privacy SecureKey is a leading provider of identity and authentication which simplifies the access of consumers to online services and applications. SecureKey’s next-generation privacy-enhancing services empower consumers to easily and privately claim identity information using trusted providers, such as banks, telecom companies, and governments, helping them connect with a digital credential they already have and trust to essential online services while ensuring that information is only ever shared with specific user’s permission. “People are tired of having so many passwords.” -Greg Wolfond
Online Education Challenges During COVID 19 in Pakistan
Article Summary: Present study examined the experiences of teachers regarding online education challenges during COVID 19 in Pakistan. Findings of study illustrated that the majority of faculty members had no previous experience of online teaching while few faculty members reported previous experience of online teaching. According to findings of current study, the majority of teachers reported satisfactory online teaching experiences during COVID-19 and agreed to the use of technology for education as a way forward in Pakistan. Moreover, findings illustrated that barriers experienced by teachers in online teaching included increased workload, less interaction with students, lack of policies, lack of instructors training, lack of quality of course, inability to control students cheating, and lack of internet connectivity. Thus, it is clear that there are some major barriers associated with online education which need to be addressed. Key Words: Online Education, Challenges, Teachers’ Perspective, Pakistan Background: Closure of educational institutions during COVID-19 is one of the leading steps in combating the pandemic. In Pakistan, introducing a digital learning system on a national level has been challenging for the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, HEC (2020) sanctioned educational institutions to adopt a digital platform for continuing teaching and learning during a crisis. Because: Stop teaching and learning was not a wise decision. Thus, embracing the digital education system became a need of time. Online education was unconventional in Pakistan (Akram et al., 2020) however, studies conducted on digital learning reported the feasibility of online teaching and learning (Mukhtar et al., 2020; Sethi et al., 2019; Jawad & Ashraf, 2012). In developing countries, lack of resources is a main concern in the use of digital media for education. Besides, lack of resources it is considered that the foremost challenge in use of digital media is lack of technical skills among teachers (Riaz et al., 2020). Capability of instructors in order to incorporate different tasks and tools while teaching digital education are important to attain course goals and objectives (Bailey & Lee, 2020). Students attending online courses might easily get distracted by the content available on technology which may influence their participation in online class (Melor et al., 2012). Thus, it is crucial to engage students in live online sessions that can be only possible if instructors have previous knowledge and skills in adopting digital media as a medium for education. To make digital learning more effective, improving technical skills and competencies is a crucial need of the present era. Though, training teachers to enhance their capabilities in technology seems challenging and costly, it is vivid that such initiatives ensure the standard, productivity and efficacy of online education. Therefore, it is important to identify teachers’ perceived barriers in online teaching. Keeping in view the major concerns of digital education, this study examines teachers’ experiences of online education challenges during COVID 19, perceived online teaching barriers and perceptions of teachers regarding the use of technology for education as a way forward in Pakistan. Methodology Sample A total sample consisted of 52 teachers (Females = 58%, Males = 42%). Due to Covid 19, this sample was approached through online platforms such as LinkedIn, Email, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In current study, 75% of the teachers were teaching at private universities, 14% at semi-government universities while 11% teaching at public universities. Moreover, the status of teachers suggested that 83% of teachers were working full-time while 17% working part-time. Survey Instrument Primarily items from Lioyd et al. (2012) were used including a limited number of authors’ self-developed items. The 11-item questionnaire consisted of four subscales including interpersonal barriers, administrative issues, internet access, and technical issues. Items were scored on 5-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. In addition, two items were used to assess the faculty experiences of online teaching. For instance, “Have you previously taught online?” scored on “Yes and No”. Secondly, “How was your experience of online teaching during CVOID-19?” scored on “Good, Neutral and Worst”. Lastly, teachers were also asked “Is using technology for education the way forward in Pakistan” responded on a 4-point Likert type scale ranging from “Definitely Not, Probably Not, Probably Yes, and Definitely Yes”. Results Findings in figure 1 revealed that the majority of the teachers had no previous experience of online teaching (62%) however, 38% teachers reported previous experience of online teaching. Figure 1. Distribution of Teachers Responses on Previous Experience of Online Teaching Based on survey results, the majority of teachers marked online teaching experience as satisfactory (50%) however, 40% teachers reported their online teaching experience as neutral. In addition, 10% of teachers considered online teaching as the worst experience (See Figure 2). Figure 2. Responses of teachers on online teaching experiences during COVID-19. Current study investigated the perception of teachers regarding the use of technology for education as a way forward in Pakistan. According to findings, the majority of the teachers agreed (90%) to the use of technology for education as a way forward in Pakistan while 10% of teachers disagreed (See Figure 3). Figure 3. Distribution of teachers responses on use of technology for education as a way forward in Pakistan. According to findings, the majority of teachers reported an increase of workload during online classes (71%), lack social interaction with students (64%) while 23% of teachers reported issues related to time management and anxiety/fear during online classes (15%) (See Figure 4). Figure 4. Percentage of teachers’ response on items related to interpersonal barriers. Responses of teachers on the items related to administrative and training issues depicted that the majority of teachers confronted troubles in controlling cheating (81%) and readjustment of quizzes, assignments and midterms (67%). In addition, other barriers associated with administrative and training issues included lack of policies for online classes (52%), lack of instructors training (48%), and difficulties in conveying course concepts (36%) (See Figure 5). Figure 5. Percentage of teachers’ response on items related to administrative and training issues. 42% of teachers agreed that there was a lack of internet services during online classes