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Ransomware and What To Watch Out For – OMA Comp

OMA-Comp-Blog-Post-11-13-2013With the ever-intense shopping season right around the corner, it’s also the perfect time for hackers and cyber-thieves to hunt, and now lock you out of for your sensitive information that cost you hundreds in repair/retrieval. The latest thing to wreak havoc across the internet is a form of malware known as ransomware– yes, you read that right. Sweeping helpless consumers across the world the last couple of weeks, Black Friday could be a potential goldmine for these wrong-doers.

A rather new form of malware, ransomware typically arrives in the form of an email made to look like something legitimate using social engineering, causing the user to think it’s a trustworthy message. There is a zip file attached where the user then opens it, allowing the encryption software to run on their computer. Before you even know what you’ve obliviously initiated, it’s far too late. Your computer brings up a lock-out screen telling you have a certain amount of time to pay a fee or you will lose you data. Reports are stating that prices are falling anywhere between $300 and $2000. Only after you pay the fee will you get your files back, but some reports claim that even then you’ll be out of luck. If it came down to this the only savior in such an event would to have a backup somewhere, but many users don’t use any form of backup whatsoever.

Anti-Virus companies try their hardest at keeping up with the newest tactics and devices as to update their software as often as possible, but sometimes it’s just not enough. You need to keep your malware software up to date as to have the latest version, keeping the latest and most dangerous viruses at bay. Telling the difference between a legitimate email and a fake one is becoming increasingly difficult as well, so it’s important you leave any messages you don’t know about alone and leave it to the Anti-virus and Anti-Mal ware software to clear out.

OMA Comp uses only the best software and hardware when it comes to protecting your computer and your files. Daily backups and a proper security setup are the best protection against such an event, so be sure you’re in good shape for a day’s worth of online shopping. The last thing you would want to happen is to open that email thinking it was from a major department store, only to find out it was fake with a digital ransom minutes later. Are you thinking of something you’d like done to your system to better prepare yourself? OMA Comp can do it all so call today!

MMS Marketing & The Future of Text Message Advertising- OMA Comp

I-Phone-OMA-Comp-MMS-Marketing-AdvertisingA few major corporations have started to believe that something as simple as a text message could become the best source of advertisement. In fact, ABC, Fox, and CBS have developed and enacted advertisements via MMS messaging, which greatly expanded the amount of people that can be accessed at a time.
In Chicago, thanks to a $3 million sponsoring fee from numerous local firms, Iris Mobile was created, to help increase the amount of promotional campaigns and secure customer support. One of the founders of the company, Deep Malik, claims that thanks to this company, companies can text any phone. He claims texting is the best way to expand customer base because they’ll check their texts, whereas emails can easily be placed under spam and ignored. Other parts of various firms are developing the same idea because they too, see the potential in this.

In the past couple years, the amount of MMS messages sent has exponentially increased. For example, in 2012, nearly three quarters of a billion messages were sent. Although this way of advertising has been rising quite slowly, it is predicted that it will be subjected to change in the near future. In May 2013, it was found that only 38% of 745 marketers have used this way to advertise. However, when used in 2010, it was found that 98% of these texts were opened.

Some companies like Starbucks used a program that hacked MMS messages to determine each person’s type of phone and whether they should continue sending them advertisements or not. Although the message only had an image to capture the attention using visual media to spread the word of Happy Hour, it achieved more than expected. The successful use of MMS, however, was claimed to have been not as efficient as that of SMS, because for SMS one could track location to determine consumer density.

The MMS messaging tactic is an expanding idea, and it could be a great source of advertisement; just depends on the firm.

Pinterest and It’s Gain in Popularity

pinterest_badge_redPinterest is gaining speed on the train of social media very recently behind Facebook and Twitter. Starting in 2009, Pinterest is a website that allows users to share photos on “Pinboards.” Users can organize their photos based on themes they choose such as food, clothing, home decor, etc.

With the know-how, Pinterest can be an extremely useful and profitable marketing tool for businesses as a lot of referral traffic can be obtained through the site.

Why Pinterest Is So Appealing

People are visual-based creatures and they like to see beautiful photos that catch their interest. People are more likely to post photos of things that strike their interest and will share these images with their friends via their individual Pinboards. The trick to effectively use Pinterest for marketing is to share captivating photos and allow users to share the photos.

At this point, you may be wondering how Pinterest will drive referrals and traffic to your business. Each photo is a link to the source of the image — i.e. to the business website thus leading potential customers directly to the site to gain more information.

Professional & High Quality Photos Are Important

The quality of your photo can make or break driving traffic to your website. If you are posting photos that are of low quality with poor lighting, most Pinterest users will pass over your photo. Using only high quality photos is vital to capturing customers. The image should appear professional with each space shown clean and organized. The size of the image is also important because the image needs to be easily accessable by potential customers. Keep the resolution of the photo around 800 x 1000 pixels.

Build Pinboards For Your Business and Keep Customers Coming Back

If your business is selling a product, there is no excuse for you not to create a Pinterest page with Pinboards to assist with selling your products. The first step is to create an attractive account with attractive pin boards. This could take some time but it will be well worth it in the end once you notice an increase in customers. Keep in mind that people tend to be more inclined to follow an individual versus a business as an individual tends to be more believable unless the brand is well-known. Create your Pinterest board under your own name to increase your followers.
As you gain followers, you can create Pinboards that are in relation to your product or idea. For example, if you are selling skincare products, then you should create Pinboards with titles “DIY Skincare,” “Moisturizers” or “Healthy Skin Diets.” You can then pin images back to your website that are related to these ideas.
With millions of users on Pinterest daily, gaining new customers is quite easy. Keep in mind that people are on Pinterest to discover and learn new things so take advantage of this and make this wonderful marketing tool work for your business.

Social Media and Handling Negative Comments About your Business PART 4 of 4

By checking and answering to your clients you are creating good bonds and providing great customer service for your clients.OMA-Comp-Positive-Feedback

Since social media is extremely public these days, you are letting your clients see how good of a job you are doing for other people. With showing people how good you are doing through social media you are establishing a good brand reputation and showing that your company is a social business.

Everyone likes to think that they run a terrific business, but that is not true every business has its flaws. By being open minded to your customer complaints allows you to notice problems that you wouldn’t have noticed on your own.

Noticing your business’s problems can help prevent issues in the future.

 Remember…

Social media can help your business blossom. Acknowledgment of rational criticisms can be benign by making your reputation grow and making your business out to be social.

What can you say about feedback on social media? How do you respond and why? Let us know!

Social Media and Handling Negative Comments About your Business PART 3 of 4

OMA-Comp-Negative-Feedback-3customers, you should at least consult the issue positively. Thanking them would also be helpful.

What you can take from all of this

As your business expands, you will gain more customers; hence, more opinions and feedback. What a business does with this feedback dictates the character of the business. The feedback could either be accepted and lead to changes, or ignored and forgotten.

There are businesses who avoid using social media because they wouldn’t know how to handle the negative feedback the right way. Social media offers a lot of ideas for improvement, and not all of these ideas have to be used. It helps to keep your options open.

Negative feedback is inevitable. Just because some businesses don’t want to use social media and see criticism publicly, doesn’t mean that the negativity isn’t out there.

Listening to your customers and making changes in their favor can help gain major company supporters. Customers love a business who cares about what they have to say.

 A 40/100 is better than a 0/100

The people who keep quiet and don’t give feedback aren’t being as involved as those customers who point out flaws. Disinterest is worse than concern.

Complaints are just another part of owning a business. There are always going to be customers that aren’t fully pleased.

Acknowledging the concerns of customers can turn them from judgmental to spokespeople who only praise your business. Ignoring them can either not to do anything at all or make things worse. Getting a customer to support your organization can help with the development of it.

 Social media is making customer interaction that much more important

These days, if clients have a question or complaint, there is a greater chance for them to contact you using social media, instead of email phone or using a contact on your site.

Social Media and Handling Negative Comments About your Business PART 1 of 4

OMA-Comp-Negative-FeedbackSocial Media and Dealing with Negative Remarks about Your Place of Business

Social media is convenient when it comes to receiving and tending to complaints and negative feedback. Constructive criticism isn’t the end of the world, and a successful business knows how to respond to this in the right way.

The larger the business is and the more data you put out for everyone to see, the more people will talk about it. Their views can be easily spread by means of social media, and these feedbacks should be accepted and learned from.

Loyalty to a business is very important. Social media allows for the customers to communicate with the business and vice versa. This helps create a personal connection between the business and consumer and can help promote the legitimacy of the company.

With the easy communication between a business and its customers, it unfortunately makes it easier for the customers to give negative feedback. Tending to the negative feedback should be immediate and should be done in a righteous manner.

This is how you can righteously deal with negative feedback:

a. Brand observation

If you see how often and see the location of where your brand is mentioned, you can find negative feedback much more quickly and you can deal with it immediately.

b. Turning negatives into positives

The faster you respond to negative feedback, the better. Leaving negative feedback unattended could cause the problem they have to spread. Negative feedback should be responded to, even if there is no fix for their complaint, to assure the customers that you are doing everything you can.

c. Take the truth into account

A business has to be able to admit when it is wrong if the negative feedback it receives is true. If it doesn’t, it could damage the reputation of the business and lose the customers trust.

d. Stay level-headed

Don’t take negative feedback personally. Rather than reacting emotionally, react by fixing the problem and learn from the feedback.

PART 2 COMING SOON