Futura Software

No. 2 Tech tool for Business

2011-03-08T02:14:00.000-08:00

My next tool that I want to highlight is Evernote from www.evernote.com

Its a fantastic FREE Tool to keep notes in. You can type notes, record notes, keep images etc.

You can load Evernote to your PC and Your Phone and then Synchronise all together in one place simply by plugging your Phone into your PC.

So, if for example you are walking around and something pops into your head, you can simply launch Evernote on your Phone and record a short message or type a note in and when you get home and check your notes or Synchronise to your PC. You will never forget anything again.

You can also organise notes into different Notebooks, so you could have a notebook for work and one for your busy personal life.

The following is a quote from the Evernote website "Put your thoughts, ideas, inspiration, and things to remember all in one place. Use Evernote for work, for play, and for everything that’s noteworthy."

It really is well worth trying out.

No.1 Tech tool for Business

2011-03-07T03:57:00.000-08:00

Ok The first Tool that i think is really cool is blueface.ie.

For just €9.99 + VAT per month you can get a local number anywhere in Ireland.

If someone calls that number it rings through to either a Landline or to a VOIP Phone free of charge. You do pay to forward to a mobile.

You can control everything from a control panel. Well worth looking into it if you travel a lot or are out of the office a lot.

You also get a Voicemail facility and an email is sent when a Voicemail is left.

So go to www.blueface.ie its well worth looking into.

I will post more tech tools in the coming days.

How to start an Online Conversation about your Product

2011-01-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

You have your website up and running. You have your Facebook Page ready to go but how do you go about getting your brand or product out there? Start an Online Conversation about your brand or Product and here's how...

1. Identify your key online influencers..
Do some market research and identify the key online influencers for your brand or product. This is where your potential online customers can be found, boards, forums, blogs etc. These people are already interested in your type of product and are more likely to talk about your product.

2. Join the Online Conversation..
Once you know where these people are you can join in on the conversations. This takes time and persistence and you need to be consistent about participation, offering advice and insights to add value to the conversation.

3. Develop Relationships..
Joining the conversation is not enough you need to develop relationships with some of your key influencers. Interact regularly with them, provide useful information and above all be accessible.

4. Acknowledge your Online influencers..
Once you identify who your key online influencers are and have developed a relationship with them, you then need to acknowledge these people in ways that can lead to indirect promotion of your product through more online conversations. One way of dooing this is to send product samples to them requesting their opinion.

5. Make the conversation lead back to you..
Your online efforts should always lead back to your website where people can get more information on your product. Facebook, Twitter, Blog, You Tube or LinkedIn Groups should also lead back to your main point of sale - your web site.

I hope you find these tips helpful. If you want further information on our services go to www.futurasoft.com

Not Sure if Social Media is of any benefit to a Small Buainess??

2010-11-17T05:08:00.000-08:00

Take a look at some of the stats taken from various sources in an effort to help break social media down into easy-to-understand pieces, so you can make sense of and make use of this powerful resource in a way that grows your business.

• 86% of B2B firms are using social, compared to 82% of B2C. (Source)

• B2B firms aren’t as active in their social media activity with only 32% engaging on a daily basis compared with 52% of B2C firms. (Source)

• More than half (53.5%) of marketers surveyed said they currently use social media as part of their marketing strategy. This is up from 2009, when 45.0% of marketers said they used social media for marketing. (Source)

• The top three social networks—Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn collectively received more than 2.5 billion visits in the month of September 2009 alone. Twitter grew by more than 600% in 2009, while Facebook grew by 210% and LinkedIn by 85%.

• A recent report revealed that, on average, 900,000 blog posts are created within a single 24-hour period.

• The online photo sharing site Flickr now hosts more than 3.6 billion user images.

• The online bookmarking service Delicious has more than 5 million users and more than 150 million unique bookmarked URLs.
So, perhaps this social media thing is going to catch on after all !!

Basic Tips for Promoting Your Business on facebook

2010-11-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

1. Use Facebook pages as hubs — use your Facebook page to launch different campaigns. Promote it and include it in other marketing activates. Remember, Google indexes fan pages as these are public, whereas personal pages are not.

2. Be exclusive — Use your Fan page as the hub for social activities. Run offers exclusive to Facebook. Once the word gets out, others will want to join. “Being ‘in’ is a key emotional driver for Facebook users. The more exclusive, the more likely people will flock to join. But it has to be compelling.

3. Use coupons — Customers respond to coupons, regardless of the medium in which it appears. For example, a photographer can easily post an offer on Facebook that gives free sessions for large parties or make it time sensitive.

4. Integrate Facebook into your overall marketing plan — Don’t work on Facebook in isolation.

5. Make sure taht your Branding is consistent across all Marketing media.

Futura Software announce the Launch of our Auto Dealer Software

2010-06-22T08:28:00.001-07:00

Futura Software's Auto Dealer software is an all-in-one Dealer Management Software System that allows the dealer full control over their inventory at an affordable price. Call us today on 01 2606886 or email emurray@futurasoft.com to arrange an Online Demo.

Digital Marketing News

2009-12-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

Google is rolling out its customised search function to all of the search engine's users, affecting anyone involved in SEO.

Previously only Google users who had signed-in and had enabled their web history on their account have found their search results customised. Now all users will find that if they favour a certain site Google will feature it higher in its search results.

Google says the aim of the move is to provide better search results to its customers. It will also be able to target ads more precisely by building a profile of its users web activity.

As search results will vary from user to user it will make it harder for SEO specialists and marketers to convince Google's algorithms to push a site higher up its search ranking.

A website's position in a Google results page will also be harder to analyse as it will vary from user to user.

"Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible", said software engineer Bryan Horling and product manager Matthew Kulick in a blogpost announcing the change.

Users can turn the personalisation off it remains an opt-out rather than an opt-in service, alarming privacy campaigners.

Ways to Promote your Company on Facebook

2009-11-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Why Do You Need a Facebook Fan Page? You may ask, “Why do I even need a Facebook fan page?” Here’s why: Right now Facebook has an Alexa ranking of 2. They are the 2nd most trafficked website next only to Google!

This means your Facebook page will get indexed faster on Google and other search engines, so if you don’t have a fan page, be sure to create one and promote it.
Here are some ways to grow your Facebook fans:

#1: Invite People From Your Facebook Friends List
You can invite these lists as groups to your Facebook fan page rather than sending individual invites. This is the easiest and fastest way to jump-start your fan base.
As you add more people to your network, remember to go back to your same lists and send the invite to the new people you have added. The names of those who have already been invited will be “grayed out” and the invite will only be sent to your new contacts.

#2: Find People With Facebook Search
The updated Facebook Search feature (see the Search bar at the top of Facebook) gives you a view into conversations of your friends and status updates that may even show you who may be looking for the services you offer.

#3: Attract People With Facebook Social Ads
Facebook Ads provide advertisements alongside your Facebook sidebar which show related actions your friends have taken on the site. These actions may be things like “Leah is now a fan of The Offspring. Would you like to become a fan too?” It is possible to tailor ads to your friends and their interests, which makes it more appealing for them to take action because you are interested as well.
This strategy requires a small budget, but can be very effective in finding your target market. It is very important to do a Facebook search with specific keywords in your particular niche to find out if it’s being talked about on Facebook (see #2 above).
If you click on “Promote With an Ad” on your fan page, you can start a campaign. You can set a daily spending limit of as little as €1.00 or other appropriate amount.

It’s possible to run your Facebook ads for only 4 to 5 days with a (say) €25 per day budget. Then stop the ad for a few weeks if you like and run the same ad again.

#4: Facebook Fan Page Twitter App
The Facebook Fan Page Twitter application is a great tool that brings your Twitter following back to your fan page. When you post a status update, a link or a photo (you can choose) on your Facebook fan page, there will be an update to Twitter with a shortened link back to your fan page. This is just pure genius to drive traffic from another source right to your page.
There are other Facebook and Twitter integration applications; however, this is the one that leads people directly back to your page. This gives them an option to become a fan of your page right at that moment if they click on the link from Twitter.

#5: Facebook Fan Box Widget
The Facebook Fan Box Widget http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets/fanbox.php is a great feature to add to your blog or website. This widget allows you to show your fan base and allows others to become fans instantly. This is just one way to promote your page across several social media sites. It is important to cross-reference all of your social media sites so others can find you and your websites on other networks.

2009-11-16T02:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.commoncraft.com/socialmedia
An excellent Video to Watch. Gives a great explanaition of Social Media.

Having Problems opening a Microsoft Ofice Word 2007 Docx File in an Earlier Version of Office?
2009-11-12T03:21:00.000-08:00
To open Microsoft Office Word 2007 .docx or .docm files with Microsoft Office Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000, you need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats and any necessary Office updates. By using the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system, you can open, edit some items, and save Office Word 2007 documents in previous versions of Word.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/ha100444731033.aspx

2009-11-09T03:40:00.000-08:00

A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log.

Five Tips for Bloggers
You can't afford to miss this wave -- and even more important, you can't afford to do it wrong

Blogs represent an explosion of information, from inside and outside companies. Those who figure out how to mine this treasure while protecting their own gems will fare just fine in the new world. But it's a risky world, full of hazards. Here are six tips for companies setting out into the blogosphere:

No. 1: Train Your Bloggers
Who's on your communications team? It used to be a small group, but now everyone who blogs at the company is spreading the message. And it's important that these people be trained. Every employee who blogs can be making contacts with potential customers and enhancing the company brand.

No. 2: Be Careful with Fake Blogs
Companies are eager to establish one-to-one links with customers, but they're often reluctant to plunge blindly into the blogosphere. So they set up fake blogs. These are blogs that are created by corporate marketing departments to promote a service, product, or brand using a fake character or name.

These pseudo-blogs are risky because many of the most passionate bloggers view them as an affront to their community.

No. 3: PR Truly Means Public Relations
Blogs knock down the barriers between a company and its customers. Businesses need to take that into account and adapt.

Some companies, start blogs to build loyalty and address people's comments and concerns. For businesses that don't set up corporate blogs, pinpointing and developing relationships with the top 10 or so influential bloggers in their area is key.

No. 4: Be Transparent
No hard and fast rules for navigating the worlds of blogging and marketing exist. Still, a few principles are emerging, including the importance of full disclosure. Being open about the kind of marketing you're doing is critical.

No. 5: Rethink Your Corporate Secrets
Consider one secret you have under lock and key at your company. Maybe it's a list of projects for next year or details of the scandalous bill from the latest software installation. There are all kinds of things you're trained not to leak to competitors.

But what's the value of a locked up secret? In the world of blogs, you may find more value in sharing what you used to think of as secrets. Blogs are certain to make you rethink what should be squirreled away, because companies are increasingly sharing such information to win new partners and harvest fresh ideas. This doesn't mean they don't keep secrets or that you shouldn't -- only that you should reevaluate whether you can get more out of sharing information or keeping a lock on it.

Companies are now finding that a few of its secrets are worth more in the open than gathering dust in a strongbox.

Is Tweeting For You?

2009-11-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

A Lot of Clients have asked me in the recent past what are the benefits of tweeting? 2008 was a huge year for tweeting and 2009 is even bigger.

The micro-blogging site is a great social networking tool, putting individuals, businesses, celebrities and spammers on the same ground. Twitter is a micro-blogging tool which allows up to 140 characters of short messages to be broadcast from its interface, which can be read by any other Twitter user. Unlike Facebook or Linkedin, Twitter allows users to declare who they are interested in following. A User who is being followed by another user doesn’t necessarily have to reciprocate. In comparison with our regular blogging, which is limited to a few posts in a month, Twitter fulfills the need for a faster mode of communication as it demands very little need of time and thought for content creation.

There has been a lot of hype about Social Networking in the press recently and below are just some of the benefits of Tweeting:

* You can reach your target audience free of charge.
* Watch what your competitors are doing
* Drive Traffic to your Site
* Remind Clients / Customers that you are still in business
* Alert Clients / Customers of Special Offers, Events etc.