Is Facebook the Right Tool for Your Marketing Efforts?
Despite a less-than-impressive initial public stock offering, the growth of Facebook has been phenomenal. And while the number of social media tools available to the public has exploded, Facebook is still the king of the hill. Businesses and organizations continue to ask people to ?like? them on Facebook. There are companies that exist exclusively to develop business pages on Facebook for their clients.
So is Facebook the right tool for your business marketing efforts? That depends on what you?re trying to accomplish. And to be honest, it?s a bit of a misleading question. Facebook is only one tool in your marketing toolbox. A carpenter who only uses a hammer won?t get the right results. It?s the same way with marketing. You have to use the right tool for the right task.
While Facebook is great for some things, it?s not great for everything. Recently GetSatisfaction, did a survey that revealed that almost 90 percent of customers went to a company?s website to research product details. What does that mean for your marketing efforts?
Your customers may hear about your products and services on a social media site such as Facebook (and that?s important). Their friends may say nice things about you on Facebook (also important). But when it comes time to do research they are going to go to Google and to your website.
That means your website needs to be optimized to have the information that your customers are looking for. Your product and service descriptions need to answer the questions that customers want to know. That means you need to write your descriptions from a customer?s point of view rather than from a sales perspective.
You also need to make sure that prospective customers can find you. That means optimizing your site for Google?s search engines to push your name to the top of the list. Again, that means writing your content in the same kind of language that people will search for it on Google (or whatever search engine you use).
Does that mean you should abandon your Facebook efforts? Not at all! People still rely heavily on recommendations from their friends and peers. But focus your Facebook efforts on that kind of interaction. Just make sure that when potential customers leave Facebook to do their research that they can find you?and that they have easy access to the information they want.
The world of Information Technology or IT is now spelled with a lower case ?i?, as in iPhone, iPod, iPad, and iTunes. In our modern day and age, people have become more dependent on technology. We have experienced a time wherein cameras, telephones, planners, and computers were completely separate from one another. The rate by which technology is progressing has become much, much faster than before, especially in the area of computers. Thanks to the Internet, we now enjoy more rapid developments in technology. Other companies decided to invest in nothing but mobile phones and computers but Apple thought different as they were thinking outside the box which became their advantage. Since the Internet made use of telephone lines to connect to cyberspace, computer and the telephone got hooked together and there?s no separating them now. When it comes to this particular duo, it was responsible for the dawn of the smartphones. Take a closer look and you will see plenty of individuals holding smartphones in their hands and these things have been named as such because not only do you have a phone but you have a planner, music player, camera, and computer in the palm of your hand. Wikipedia could not have defined a smartphone any better. With a smartphone, you get to enjoy a gadget that can handle more complicated applications while running on a?mobile computing?platform that is evident on more basic mobile phones. Technically, the iPhone is a computer that is able to make phone calls. Now it?s commonplace. For most users, they need to install more applications on their iPhone to be able to enjoy it. Because of this, numerous sites now offer downloads for iphone news apps and the like. When it comes to the iPhone, there are a lot of things that the user can do. There are apps for everyone based on one?s age, sex, lifestyle, personality, hobbies, preferences, likes, obligations, priorities, and so on. The application craze has become more intense that people purchase apps without thinking about their usefulness or relevance. The most obvious apps categories are games, work, social network, lifestyle business, travel, sports and fitness, news, entertainment, education, kids, and utilities. According to iPhone?s own website, the most popular apps being purchased are AppZilla 3 (Utilities), Where?s My Perry? (Games), WhatsApp Messenger (Social Networking), Pitfall (Games), and MyCalendar Mobile (Utilities). Aside from these, Extreme Fishing 2 not to mention The Heist are also highly popular game applications. As more and more apps enter the market, people can expect far better things for the smartphone. Before, the smartphone can be used as a phone, planner, mp3 player, and camera. Today, the smartphone can be used for more things like TV viewing, gaming, and much more. These days, the most popular apps are gaming ones including titles such as Rage of Bahamut, Dragon Vale, and Poker by Zynga. You can see what demographic the iPhone is popular with through these apps. The technology is being enjoyed more by its youngest users or at least those who love to play the most. As more apps are developed, a lot of positive things can be expected from the iPhone. When it comes to the apps, we might see newer categories soon. So that you will not be confused, look for reviews when it comes to iPhone games apps.
Whether you need a soundtrack for your film, you're a DJ and need to polish up your sets before sharing them, or you're a musician looking to produce the next big club hit, you need a good audio editor to eliminate noise, convert your files, edit tracks, and output the whole thing. This week, we're going to look at five of the best audio editing applications, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week, we asked you which audio editing tools you thought were the best. We tallied up your responses, and now we're back to feature the five applications you said were the best of breed. It's worth noting the list will be a bit of a mix of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) as well as audio editors?they're definitely different classes of tools. If you're not sure of the difference, audio editors let you manage and splice existing audio files, while DAWs are more for creating new music from scratch. Now, on to the top five:
Audacity (Win/Mac/Linux)
Free and open source, Audacity makes audio editing simple and easy. It's no DAW, but if you're a DJ looking to polish a set before sharing it with the web, or if you just want to remove the noise from your music collection or normalize the volume, Audacity is a simple tool to master and gets the job done quickly. It supports a number of different file types, including mp3, OGG, WAV, AIFF, and more, and can even record live audio for editing and export later. Plus, Audacity's flexible features make it perfect for home projects like basement mixes and digitizing old cassettes or vinyl. You can read more about Audacity's features here.
Adobe Audition (Win/Mac)
Formerly Cool Edit Pro, Adobe Audition is a powerful suite that makes audio editing, splicing, remixing, and restoration easy. It's pricey on its own ($349 USD), but can be purchased as part of Creative Suite. Adobe retained Cool Edit Pro's user-friendly interface in many ways?Audition is easy to pick up and difficult to master completely, but that's just because of its depth of features. Audition makes it easy to mix, splice, and edit files you already have, and can support just about anything you throw at it. You can use the tool's built-in effects to add flair to your recordings, set up your frequent changes in an action and batch process dozens of audio files with the same settings, mix multiple tracks, and more. You can read more about Audition's features here.
Avid Pro Tools (Win/Mac)
Avid Pro Tools is more of a DAW, although it can edit existing audio like a champ. Professional musicians use Pro Tools for studio recordings and album mixes, DJs use it to correct mistakes in their mixes after the fact, and music producers can assemble entire albums in a fraction of the time required with other tools. That power will cost you?$699 for the base version?but for the money you get an industry-standard, studio-grade tool that supports anything you send its way, has a wealth of plug-ins to extend its functionality, works seamlessly with studio equipment, and has its own music composition tools and instruments built-in. You can read more of Pro Tools' features here.
Reaper (Win/Mac)
Reaper is another DAW that many of you praised for its flexible and deep feature set, customization options, and the fact that it's a lightweight application?especially when compared with other DAWs with similar feature sets. It sports a number of plugins that can extend its functionality, and even non-professional users can pick it up and work with it fairly quickly. Reaper works just as well if you want to record music from professional gear or an amateur setup, or if you want to make music entirely with your computer. Reaper features hundreds of built-in effects and features to make your music really shine, and has a huge and vibrant community of users, to boot. Oh, and the price tag is nice?it'll only set you back $60 for individual, non-profit, or small business use. Even the full commercial license is only $225. That's a lot of power for little cash. You can read more of Reaper's features here.
Ableton Live (Win/Mac)
Ableton Live draws a bright line between making music and editing audio files. It's a very powerful DAW, and popular too?many of you noted it for its professional-grade features, specifically geared towards live recordings, but it's no slouch if you're looking to write music as well. It sports an almost ridiculous number of features for the advanced user, and caters to both live musicians and DJs alike. If you want to edit existing files you may have a hard time getting around Ableton's features, but it does support virtually any type of audio you try to import, features pre-loaded effects and processing tools, a host of built-in instruments, and more. You can read all of Ableton Live's features here.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to put them to an all out vote to determine the winner.
Honorable mention this week goes out to Goldwave, which many of you said has been a killer application for a very very long time, and still gets the job done when you need it. Also worth noting is Soundforge, which several of you noted for its professional-grade features (and price tag.)
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Make your case for your favorite?or alternative?in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
Risk Management used to be merely a wing that purchases insurance for multi-million dollar companies.? Over the years Risk Management has begun to evolve and play a more strategic role within a company.? This evolution is evidenced by companies? adoption of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) philosophies integrating them throughout organizations.? One example of such integration is the relationship that is developing between Internal Audit and the Risk Management departments.
An article that appeared on the Business Insurance website outlines this blossoming relationship.? The article was written by The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) IIA in response to a collaborative report that was composed by Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) and the IIA.? The report was released to coincide with the RIMS annual conference in April and provided case studies for risk aware organizations like Cisco Systems and the Whirlpool Corporation.? Carol Fox, who is the director of strategic and enterprise risk practices at RIMS, is quoted as saying that the role of internal audit and risk management are complimentary and would be ?more effective working together than separately.?
This common understanding is something that The ALS Group whole-heartedly agrees with because to us the internal audit?s function is to determine the financial impact of risk on the companies? operations. This essential tool can be used to improve the effectiveness of risk management within an organization.? Therefore, if a company begins to incorporate Enterprise Risk Management into its? philosophy, Internal Audit department can use this process to evaluate the effectiveness of a company?s risk management systems.? This symbiotic relationship will than allow a company to look at risk from a more strategic view that examines a company?s profitability and will provide a deeper understanding of its significant risks.
To get more information on integrating Enterprise Risk Management into your company?s internal audit function, contact our Managing Principal, Albert Sica at 732.395.4251 or at asica@thelasgroup.com.
To read the Business Insurance article referenced above, click here.
Looks like Windows Phone OEMs finds it hard to keep their upcoming devices under wraps. Back in June this year, details about HTC?s Windows Phone 8 line-up were leaked, with three devices reported ? the HTC ?Zenith?, HTC ?Accord?, and HTC ?Rio? ? going from high-end to low-end. Today, images of an alleged device said...
At the trial, which was continuing after the summer break, Mercep's 1991 interview with a Serbian TV was shown as were several Croatian television 1991 news items from the Pakrac and Gospic area, where Mercep's unit operated.
Pavilion 22, a 55-minute film from 2002, was made by Croatian documentary maker Nenad Puhovski through his independent production firm, Factum. Croatia's state television bought the film but never aired it.
In the film, several former members of the "mercepovci", their victims, politicians, judicial experts and NGO activists, testified about the unit's activities, saying they illegaly arrested people in Zagreb and collected them in pavilion 22 of the Zagreb International Fair before transferring them to Pakracka Poljana.
The then Croatian minister, Zivko Juzbasic, who is to testify in the trial, said in the documentary that the pavilion was a private detention camp, calling it "a black stain in the history of the Croatian capital, Zagreb".
Miro Bajramovic, another former member of the "mercepovci",? also testified in documentary. In 1997, he told the Croatian weekly Feral Tribune that he had personally killed 70 people while working with the mercepovci.
He later stood trial and was jailed for four years following that admission but nobody else was charged over the crimes.
Bajramovic confirmed in the film that the civilian detainees, mostly ethnic Serbs, were imprisoned and tortured in the pavilion before transfer to Pakracka Poljana.
Mercep is charged, as a commander of the unit, with having personally ordered the?unlawful arrest, torture and killing of civilians from October 8, 1991 until mid-December 1991 in?and around Zagreb and in the towns of Kutina and Pakrac in central Croatia.
He was captured in December 2010. The trial started in February this year. Mercep was released from custody this July due to health considerations.
Whether you need a soundtrack for your film, you're a DJ and need to polish up your sets before sharing them, or you're a musician looking to produce the next big club hit, you need a good audio editor to eliminate noise, convert your files, edit tracks, and output the whole thing. This week, we're going to look at five of the best audio editing applications, based on your nominations. 
