Beyond ordinary: Unveiling hidden dimensions of event-driven business visibility by Reuben Kalu - ITREALMS

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In the dynamic world of business, every season presents a unique opportunity for growth and brand enhancement. As the calendar turns and the event season unfolds, entrepreneurs and business owners find themselves standing at the crossroads of unparalleled potential. In this article, we delve into the art of harnessing events to elevate business visibility and explore the strategies that ensure this season becomes a catalyst for success.

The Power of Events in Business

Events, both virtual and in-person, stand as vibrant platforms that offer a fusion of engagement, connection, and exposure. They cater to diverse demographics, gather industry influencers, and create an atmosphere conducive to networking and learning. This collective energy has the potential to cast a spotlight on businesses, positioning them at the forefront of customer awareness.

How Nigerians can maximize visibility on LinkedIn

ITRealms:

LinkedIn is one most popular social network for professionals and top social networks in the world today. With over 380 million members, LinkedIn has growing influence as a professional networking tool and could be extremely powerful when the user is aware of the platform's hidden features.

Unfortunately, a lot of Nigerians are not fully aware of the opportunities presented to them by the LinkedIn platform. The few who are users, do not know how to maximize the platform or optimize their presence. Certainly, there is a need for business owners and professionals in Nigeria to tap into these opportunities towards building relationships with potential customers, clients, partners and peers.

Enhance your profile for search

Everyone who is conversant with social media trends, understands the necessity for an outstanding profile. The way your profile is structured and the information made available on it are key to increasing online visibility and engaging others, and so there is need to enhance your LinkedIn profile for search. Very similar to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), all you need to do to achieve this is research the keywords that relate to your industry or service and integrate them into your profile as naturally as possible.

Encourage your contacts to leave recommendations and make endorsements

Recommendations have always been essential to the reputation and credibility of any professional and so, the LinkedIn platform offers a unique feature that functions as form of recommendation for users. This feature enables members to endorse each other’s work within specific job roles and organizations, sharing evidence that adds credibility to the user’s profile and reinforcing both current and future applications. It is therefore important that users ask contacts, from colleagues to clients and even friends to endorse their profile. 

A higher number of endorsements will rank more favorable in LinkedIn search results.

Use video testimonials effectively.

Another way to up your game on LinkedIn is to use video testimonials to reinforce the quality of your work. Most users, especially sole proprietors or small business owners believe they already have a strong, existing customer base, underuse and undermine the video upload feature on LinkedIn’s profile pages. The use of video, however, can help distinguish your brand or service from the vast majority of profile pages that may even be competitors. Do some research, interview, record and upload genuine customer or client testimonials which reflect a positive light on your service. You would be capitalizing on an already existing client base.

Stay active on LinkedIn groups:

A lot of LinkedIn users are not very keen on participating actively in any of the plethora of LinkedIn groups as it usually seems time-consuming. However, its benefits and rewards are long-term. 

Basically, the user has to search for relevant professional groups that are within his industry, make selections based on the group’s popularity, relevance in terms of keywords and existing membership base, then subscribe to daily updates, delivered directly by e-mail. The user can also now participate in group discussions on the go via mobile. It is a great way to remain visible and valuable in target markets. 

The key is being careful not to over commit to too many LinkedIn groups. Simply take five or 10 minutes off your daily schedule to respond and interact with other members, as you share your insight and build strong professional bonds. These interactions usually increase your value on the platform.

*Contributed by Nkem Ndem, a PR Associate @Jumia Travel

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Online visibility matters a great deal - PwC

ITRealms:

The Lead, Tax, Technology and Innovation unit at the Price waterhouse Copper (PwC Nigeria), Mr. Victor Olorunfemi, has declared that at this era of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) online visibility matters a great deal, reports ITRealms.

“In this age of digital revolutions and globalisation, online visibility matters a great deal,” he asserted, at the 2016 one-day Capability Enhancement Workshop for journalists in Lagos hosted by PwC Nigeria on the theme: “Technology and Journalism.”

He noted that it has become very easy to classify everyone as a ‘journalist’ regardless of the quality of their content and this has become prevalent in the face of authentic journalists inability to master the art of online visibility, resulting in society receiving garbage as information.

“The public will be perpetually stuffed with garbage information to society’s detriment,” he lamented.

Olorunfemi stressed that online visibility requires a quick self-check, mostly by online media practitioners beginning with “How strong is your online profile?”

He told ITRealms, this could be done by looking up one’s name on the internet on any of the search engines including Google and Bing among others.

“What comes up first? Your profile? Or your name sake’s?” he asked, but quickly added that usually the top results arise from social media, Wikipedia and online publications.

He also made a case for those practicing trade online to have accounts on various social media platforms and be mindful of how to use them.

“What can a stranger in Singapore find out about you or your work from the internet? • How credible do you appear,” Olorunfemi wondered, pointing out that perception is a powerful force that is not too difficult to build and project.

As said by him, branding a company online, for instance, cannot be distanced from the social media, by way of making oneself and company more visible with the platforms around them.

This, he said, is because of the underlining advantages attached to these platforms if well used such as LinkedIn which is known with its professionals, has the capacity to stand you out peers.

For the journalists, he explained that LinkedIn offers media practitioners premium account after completing a given survey in profile, post and shares, and similar advantages could be taken on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google+, Instagram, Medium and Quora.

He further explained that with Facebook one could easily showcase a profile, status updates, pages or groups, just as Twitter showcases bio, tweets, retweets and lately likes, even as YouTube primarily offers videos, Google+ takes on profile, communities, posts, whereas the Medium affords individuals to post articles; the Quora enables responses to questions, comments and Instagram is a microblog which usually is photo-driven.

Ujunwa Nweke/GEE

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Pix: Victor Olorunfemi

Digital Direct grows portfolio with iPowerPlus

ITRealms:

Leading Information and Communication Technology company, the DigitalDirect is growing its visibility with introduction of iPowerPlus, a smart, efficient range of alternative power solutions into the Nigerian market, reports ITRealms.

Managing Director, Digital Direct, Mr. Tolu Ijogun told ITRealms that the addition of the alternative power solutions range to its wide array of products and services was borne out of the desire to offer Nigerians a genuine, cost-effective option to the challenges of incessant power supply which has severely hampered many businesses and households in the country.  

According to him, the introduction of iPowerPlus is in line with the company’s mission of constant innovation in the delivery of world class ICT products and solutions which directly addresses clients’ business needs and requirements.

“At Digital Direct, our finger is constantly on the handle of innovation. We have a track record of delivering products and solutions guaranteed to add value and provide true bottom-line results and measurable benefits to all clients. It is in view of this that we have expanded our offerings with the introduction of iPowerPlus,” he said.

Ijogun also said that iPowerPlus is an efficient, pocket-friendly and environmentally-conscious energy solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and households in Nigeria.

“It is a product of years of extensive research into the peculiarities of energy supply and consumption in the country and is widely seen as a reliable solution for Nigerian homes and offices,” he said.

In addition, Ijogun noting that fluctuations in electricity supply has held back the nation’s economic growth by hampering the activities of SMEs and households in the informal sector, Mr. Ijogun affirmed that for Nigeria to harness the benefits of its booming economic potential; the role of stable, affordable and reliable electricity supply through sound alternative channels is a major requirement.

Nigeria’s electricity supply currently fluctuates between 4,000 to 4,500 megawatts.

“With iPowerPlus, many businesses and households can have access to steady power supply at a cost which makes sense. What is the benefit of paying huge monthly fees for non-existent or at best erratic supply when one can have constant power for a fraction of the cost,” he queried.

“iPowerPlus is a hybrid pure sine wave inverter system with an in-built technology that connects both the solar system and utility electricity which  has gained wide popularity in the country, having already being installed in over 1,761 institutions nationwide as well as other choice residential locations in the country.

“We have partnered with leading power solutions companies in Germany and Asia as well as renowned local brands to make iPowerPlus available. Bear in mind that these solutions provide enough power to runs homes and offices 24 hours a day. We are looking at a compact solution that powers a home or office independently with its solar panels or interfaces with utility electricity and seamlessly resolves the common power interruptions in Nigeria.

More importantly, iPowerPlus comes with certified guarantee and one-year warranty which ensures that the client gets value for money spent. Furthermore, we will provide core after-sales support through Direct Care with our team of certified on-site engineers. Hence, every client is assured peace of mind and confidence, knowing that our relationship with them does not just end when the sale is closed,” he concluded.

With a legacy of delivering a wide range and multiplicity of projects, Digital Direct has grown in stature as an industry leading provider of ICT products and services for business organizations in various sectors as well as Small and Medium Enterprises.

+ITRealms DSA +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Digital Direct 

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