The Philippines’ $26 billion outsourcing industry expects to continue growing despite the risks brought by the coronavirus pandemic but sees a three-year government support plan as key to boosting its competitiveness. The industry has shown a “tremendous resilience,” Rey Untal, head of the Philippine Association of outsourcing companies, said in an interview in Manila. “We are cautiously optimistic about sustaining some level of growth for this industry in the near future.” With a high level of English proficiency, a young population, and cheap labor, the Philippines has been one of the global leaders in business process outsourcing. But it continues to grapple with rising competition, having slipped to sixth place in advisory firm Tholons Inc.’s index of attractive outsourcing destinations, down one spot from last year. The Philippines’ $26 billion outsourcing industry expects to continue growing despite the risks brought by the coronavirus pandemic but sees a three-year government support plan as key to boosting its competitiveness. Outsourcing revenue, a key pillar of the country’s economy, rose 7.1% in 2019, according to May data from Untal’s group, officially known as the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines. The association has penciled in 3.5%-7.5% annual growth through 2022 but expects to get the result of a commissioned study next month that will recalibrate targets and map out a strategy for the industry over the next few years. credits: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-23/philippines-to-keep-outsourcing-engine-humming-despite-crisis
6 Reasons why Instagram blocks you and what to do if this happens
Imagine the following scenario. You created a business account on Instagram and kept investing a lot of time and money into your page development. After a while, you are beyond happiness: your page already has interesting and stylish content, a certain number of followers, and unique connections with popular bloggers. But happiness doesn’t last long. One day, your Instagram goes crazy and for some reason blocks your account. And the worst thing is that you are not even sure why you were banned. Instagram does not even warn users before blocking their profiles. Seems like your kind of a situation? Then I’ll tell you what to do. Why Can I Be Blocked on Instagram? Reason #1: Mass following and Mass liking The most apparent sign of receiving a temporary block from Instagram is through trying to grow a significant number of likes and followers at one time. This can happen in both cases if you have used third-party promotion tools or performed manual actions without studying the users’ profiles. Just take your smartphone and check all the spammers that followed you a week ago. I am sure 80% of those accounts will already be blocked. The most likely reason for this would be because they exceeded the limits on follows and likes. Limits and restrictions according to official Instagram reference: a maximum number of likes per hour: 60; a maximum number of comments per hour: 60; a maximum number of follows per hour: 60; a maximum number of messages per hour: 60. But if your account is fairly new, the limits are different: a maximum number of likes per hour: 30; a maximum number of comments per hour: 30; a maximum number of follows/unfollows per hour: 30. Important reminder. Instagram adds up the number of follows and unfollows as well as blocking the unwanted users. In total, you can’t take more than 1440 actions on your account daily. Make sure you spread out these actions accordingly. Violation of Instagram rules leads to a temporary block. It involves limiting the profile’s functionality. You won’t be able to comment, like, follow or write in Direct Messages for a period of time (from 2 hours to 2 weeks). If you are lucky enough to get blocked temporarily, don’t do anything with your profile and don’t write anywhere. Just give it a little rest before it’s completely restored. Reason #2: Excessively Frequent Publications Instagram monitors the algorithm of publications from one account. The thing is, only the social network knows what the accurate and safest number of publications is. Therefore, it would be advisable not to follow the example of other accounts that may frequently publish posts and get nothing for it. The optimal advice for every profile is to make pauses between posts. By doing this, you will not be suspected of spamming and other manipulations. Also, we recommend that you do not publish the same photo at the same time from different accounts. Also, you can use social media templates if you want your posts to look really awesome. Reason #3: Copyright Infringement The copyright issue is a big deal on Instagram. All images in your account have to be either yours or permitted by the author. If you want to share somebody else’s image, tag the author in the photo (provided he has an Instagram account) and give credit to the author in the description. If you use images for commercial purposes, you will need to ask the author’s permission. Moreover, if you post a video with music to which you don’t have the rights, Instagram will remove such a post for sure. What is the outcome of ignoring the copyright rules? The author can report you to Instagram for using the photo without their agreement or specifying the authorship and you can be blocked for copyright infringement. Reason #4: Images/Videos Violating Social Network Rules Photos and videos featuring naked bodies, sexual content, and violence are considered inappropriate. Whatever goals you pursue, posting such inappropriate content can get you banned – so be forewarned. Reason #5: User Complaints Someone thought your account was a threat, so they clicked the “Report” button. If there are other people also reporting your account, Instagram will sooner or late block your profile. People can complain of different reasons: mass liking, mass following, insults, inappropriate content, spam, etc. So, generally speaking, everything that I mentioned above can result in your account being blocked. Reason #6: Different IP addresses and Devices If you log into your account from multiple devices and confirm it via SMS, the platform is less likely to ban you. However, if it happens that you log in from different devices and IP-addresses, Instagram may think your account has been hacked by scammers. The social network reacts to it almost instantly and blocks the profile for your own safety. 5 To-Do Actions To Restore Your Account Oops, you got blocked for some reason? Sh*t happens, so no worries. Oftentimes, Instagram “punishes” profiles with a temporary block (I mentioned this at the beginning of the article). This means one or several actions normally open to you will be restricted. For example, you are forbidden to like and follow. Like I said, if you have been blocked temporarily, do NOTHING about. It just makes no sense. Wait until Instagram finally hands back your privileges and you are good to go. Just make sure you do not repeat the actions that got you a temporary block ever again. The serious deal is when you have been disabled. Instagram has a right to block users without warning them if their profiles violate the Community Guidelines or Terms of Use. So make sure you read both carefully. As you try to log in to your account, you’ll be notified of an error saying: If you believe that your account was blocked in error, you can appeal the decision. If you do not see the notification, then you may have issues with the login. If you or someone else deleted the account, Instagram won’t be able to recover it. You can create a new account with the same email address, but it’s likely that you won’t be able to use the old username
80/20 rule applies to all social media
Plenty of people may not be aware of it OR is aware but just not sure how to achieve it. As you will have heard, there’s going to be the Facebook algorithm changes to battle with soon, making business posts reach harder, and perhaps Instagram will follow. However if you are putting excellent content on Facebook that gets a reaction from your followers, this is the first step in maintaining your reach on the social media platform. The 80/20 rule applies to all social media when using it for business purposes. Known as the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule means that 80 percent of your outcomes come from 20 percent of your inputs. The ratio has been applied to many situations including: 80% of sales come from 20% of clients The hardest 20% of software coding takes 80% of the time 20% of employees do 80% of the work 20% of the most reported software bugs cause 80% of software crashes How does it apply to your social media marketing? The theory is that the best ratio for engaging and shared content vs sales-led messaging and content is 80/20. So only 20% of your business social media posts should be focused on selling to your audience or promoting your brand. You should be aiming to resonate with your followers in many other ways with the occasional ‘salesy’ post thrown in. As we always say to our trainees, remember that social media is social and your primary aim should be to Entertain — Inform — Educate those that like or follow your business Facebook page. Pushing sales messages too regularly will put your followers off. How to identify content that falls into the 20% If you are communicating a special offer, promoting your own ticketed event, talking about your products or services, you have something to sell. If your content has a call-to-action that aims to deliver a lead, a purchase, or an inquiry to you, then it is sales-led content. Only two out of ten pieces of your social media content should be directly sales-focused. What counts as part of the 80%? Everything else you post needs to fall into the 80%. And there are plenty of interesting, exciting, humorous, informative, and topical pieces of social content that you can create. Added to this, share news or articles from other organizations, things that you believe your followers and fans will enjoy reading or seeing. Try and put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. Here are some ideas to help you achieve the 80/20 rule for social media: Answer customer questions from your blog or any social media page Share other businesses’ events or competitions Share authoritative articles or videos Invite interaction (and do some subtle market research) by asking your audience to respond to questions Start a topical (yet moderated and friendly) debate Highlight a particular customer that is willing to participate – when you tag that person, your post will be seen by their friends and family too Do something for charity and tell your followers about it and the cause Share industry news with your thoughts added Run a contest/ challenge /competition Post images about where you are or what you are doing that day/week Highlight an employee with some personal facts about them Showcase awards shortlisting or win Say thank you to suppliers, customers, supporters Live social media content Live content can be planned to fall into either the 80% or 20%. Here are some specific live social media content ideas: Host a live Q&A and this can also be with a live expert guest Behind-the-scenes/live tours Breaking news Demonstrations Appearances from events/conferences Interviews Product launches Explaining a product or service A regular video show, same time each week We’d love to have your input and ideas too! Do you regularly post non ‘salesy’ social media content? Please share how you achieve the 80/20 rule for social media. If you need help, would like some training or a consultation about your social media strategy, get in touch with us!
Is outsourcing social media management worth it???
Nearly 97% of all Fortune 500 companies use at least one social media network, such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, orYouTube, in order to establish a good communication line with stakeholders and advocates. Moreover, McKinsey & Company reports that over 70 percent of companies surveyed are trying out social customer care as a way to further connect with and support their audience. And, they’re reporting significant benefits from using these platforms. If you run a business of any size, you likely don’t have time to manage all those social networks yourself. In fact, you likely don’t even have time to manage even one channel. So, should you try to manage it yourself? Or should you outsource social media management? Power up your workday Reach your goals faster with time tracking and work management. In-house vs. outsourcing social media management Many businesses decide upon the do-it-yourself method of work. That would be absolutely suitable if it wasn’t so badly executed. Namely, it’s common that companies approach social media marketing with a few ground mistakes. They will decide upon posting news on social platforms only when they have the time, which is usually during working hours. This is wrong for many reasons, one being the fact that most social traffic comes in outside business hours. They will post only what they want to sell. Social media isn’t about sales, but rather building a strong communication and feedback system that would lead to sales, if done correctly. They will delegate this to someone in-house or to an intern, both of which have other responsibilities to handle. When I say in-house, I mean someone who will do this for barely 5 hours a week, which isn’t really enough, is it? The truth is that no one should run your social media marketing better than you can. But the question you should ask yourself is – can you? Can you really? According to a Forbes article, for a medium-sized company, managing a single social platform could take roughly 32 hours a month. This is alarming, considering the fact that, for example, the majority of Facebook page owners do not reply to customer comments on their pages. And who would blame them? Their business certainly won’t run itself. This right here is the sole drive to outsource something. To delegate certain parts of your business in order to achieve a greater purpose, a purpose that would benefit you, i.e. your business, long-term. The goals of successful social media marketing can be divided into three separate categories. Brand impression: The thing that makes your brand “pop out.” Brand reputation: Knowing how far your brand extends in the public’s eye. Trust development: Creating positive feedback, a productive connection with your audience. Outsourcing your social media management can bring you closer to these goals, while still freeing up your time. Here are seven reasons to consider it for your business. Seven benefits of outsourcing social media management 1) Expertise When you outsource anything, one of the greatest outcomes is gaining expertise that isn’t currently available to you. This is especially true when you’re considering outsourcing social media management. Social media managers should have marketing or public relations experience, an aptitude for communications, and a passion for connecting with people. They should thrive for a challenge and understand the digital landscape better than anyone. They must also have a great understanding of the various platforms and be able to predict upcoming trends. Finally, the ability to generate genuine content that the public wants to interact with is key. Many people who use social media for personal reasons may think they possess these skills. But social media for business has its own rules and knowledge base, so hiring a professional is often the best way to go. Outsourcing social media to a professional means that they understand how businesses can utilize the platforms to promote, test new ideas, and create new connections every day. They also likely know how to measure and improve the business performance of social media. As this is a professional service, you can expect a high quality of output, backed by the expertise that person has gained over the years. 2) Platform-specific knowledge Most people no longer see social media as a flash in the pan. It’s been around for years, and experienced consultants have been there to watch it rise. Some social media agencies have found the platforms they deeply understand and get value from, and go all in. They will then specialize in Twitter or Facebook, for example. When you’re considering outsourcing social media, you’ll want to ask your prospective vendor which platforms they’d recommend. You can likely get a good idea of where they excel through that conversation. Other agencies choose to stay ahead of platform trends, so instead of becoming Facebook specialists, they create comprehensive digital campaigns or strategies. This can be helpful, especially if you’re unsure of where your prospective customers currently reside. 3) Knowledge of useful tools One reason that social media may be taking up too much of your time as a business owner is because you aren’t using the right tools. Social media consultants and agencies have tried out software for managing content, writing, designing, and publishing, so they’re likely using the best of the best. Taking on the challenge of scouring the internet for apps, trying them out, and then comparing features could easily take a couple of hours each week (if not more). Social media consultants have the processes and software in place that save them time and money, which in turn, saves you time and money, as well. 4) Content When you’re too close to the business, it can be difficult to see things from the perspective of a new customer or client. This can even keep you from communicating your ideas to your audience in a way that they fully understand and appreciate. An outside agency or consultant can take the time to get to know you, your business, and your customers while adding a fresh take or perspective. A professional can tell confusing jargon from casual
