In this digital age it has become important to not only have an online presence but to create one that is active. In fact, many of your customers probably expect that you can be found online so you will need to be as visible as possible online. This means a business website and involvement with social media and even blogging. The question many business owners ask is whether a blog has any real value.

Define business blogging

When we talk about blogging, most people ask two questions: "What is blogging?" and "Is business blogging any different from personal blogging?"

A blog, a portmanteau of Web log, is usually a page on a website where authors post written articles. The content, usually called a post, can be incredibly varied, from along the lines of a journal style to breaking news or even thoughts and opinions to open up debate.

Business blogging is the act of creating content that is related to your business. The topics are usually narrowed down to relate to the products or services you provide. For example, you are reading this post on our blog, which largely focuses on technology in business. The vast majority of business blogs are not profit oriented (the company isn't out to make money directly from their blog articles) and is usually a part of their marketing plan.

Why do businesses blog?

There are 3 main reasons many businesses blog:

1. A blog can increase traffic to your website

One common complaint many business owners have about their website traffic, or the number of people who visit their site, is that it is lower than expected. There can be many reasons behind this, the most common being that the content on the website is static. Think about when it the last time you updated your whole site was.

Even if your site effectively explains what your business does, search engines generally look kindly on websites that are active. It is incredibly hard to keep re-writing your website, so one of the best ways to fix this is by blogging. When you create a new blog post, a new page on your website is usually indexed - added to the site structure, kind of like the index at the back of textbooks. This activity tells search engines that your website is active. Active websites will usually show higher in search results.

Blog articles are also great to share on social media services. By sharing content with your existing customers there is an increased chance of your name and profile being seen by people who aren't your customer yet but could be in the future.

If you have more people seeing your content in different places - search results, social media, etc. - you should see an increase in overall traffic to your website.

2. A blog is a great way to show your expertise

Think about the last time you needed to purchase a new item, say a computer. Did you pick the first shop you saw, then walk in and purchase a computer? Chances are high that you didn't. Most people research companies and retailers who have a good rating or who come across as an expert, and purchase from them.

As many people do this research online, it can be a challenge to establish your company as the expert in your field. Your blog can be the perfect tool to establish your company as a go-to expert. If you answer common questions and provide tips, there is a higher chance that your articles will be regarded as helpful and having potential customers contact you. What this means for you is an increased chance of conversion.

3. Blog articles have a positive long-term effect

When you search on the Internet you will often find a number of blog posts at the top, with some maybe even being from the last year or so. A well crafted blog post will often see a wealth of interest within the first few days of posting largely because of sharing via social media services and users who have subscribed to your posts.

If your posts get a fair number of shares, comments, etc. there is a good chance that search engines will begin to show it higher in results. What this means for you is that the post will continue to be seen in results for a of couple weeks to months or more, depending on keywords, etc. This translates to longer visibility, and a higher chance of traffic and leads in the future.

Of course, not every post will be a smash hit and bring leads pouring in, but an active blog that produces good content could prove to be of great value to your business. It will take time, but most bloggers do see increased payoffs.

Looking to learn more about blogging? Contact us today to see how we can help.

Microsoft's PowerPoint is an important and popular business presentation tool. It has become so embraced that most people nowadays refer to presentations as PowerPoints. There are many elements that lead to a successful PowerPoint presentation, including using lists effectively. While it is easy to use lists, many users often wonder how to use them effectively.

What are lists in PowerPoint?

A common element of many PowerPoint presentations is the list. These lists are usually presented either ordered or unordered. Ordered lists use numbers like 1,2,3, while unordered lists use icons like dots which are commonly called bullets.

If you have a list with numbers or points in it, you will likely be better able to capture and retain the attention of your audience while making your presentations easier to read and follow. In fact, there are some presentation experts out there who only use bullet point lists, preferring to use these as a guide or pointers to note what to talk about.

How to put a list into your presentation

If you want to add a list to your presentation slides:

1. Open your presentation or start a new one.
2. Add a new slide and click on the text box.
3. Enter your content and after each list item press Enter.
4. Select the content you want to make into a list and press either the Numbered list or the Bulleted list icons under the Paragraphs section. This will put your content into a list.

Formatting your list

Once you have added a list to your presentation you may want to format it to make it more visible or even change the type of icon e.g., from 1 to I. You can do this by:

1. Selecting your list.
2. Pressing the arrow beside either the bullet list or numbered list icon in the Paragraph section of the Home ribbon.
3. Clicking on Bullets and Numbering from the drop down menu.
4. Selecting the icon you like, as well as color and size, and pressing Ok.

Tips for better lists in your presentation

• Know the difference between bullets and numbers - For the most part, there is little difference between bullets and numbers. That being said, numbers usually indicate a ranking or steps. Bullets are often used for points that are all equal, or at least don't need to be ranked specifically.
• Limit the number of list items - The best presentations limit the number of list items on each slide. It is a good idea to have no more than 4-6 points per slide. This helps ensure that your audience can read the slides and will pay attention longer, instead of reading the list and stopping listening.
• Bold the main point - If you are going to have a list with text explaining the main point, bold the main point and put it first. Much like this list on this post. This will highlight the main point you are trying to make to your audience.
• Keep text to a minimum - No one likes to read large amounts of text in a presentation. In fact, most people will stop listening to you to read the slides. Try to have no more than one to a maximum of two lines of text per list item.
• Think about whether to animate - In most professional presentations, it is best to leave out the animations. These can take too much time to actually show or can even lead to mistakes that can be difficult to recover from while presenting e.g., clicking advance too early. On the other hand, some animations are useful, especially if you need to draw attention to an important fact.

If you are looking to learn more about using PowerPoint and the other programs included in Microsoft Office please contact us today.

Over the past two years or so, there is one mobile trend that has become a mainstay in both Android and Apple's iOS. That feature is the voice command, which Microsoft actually implemented in their release of Windows Phone 8. The issue with voice commands on Windows Phone are that not every app supports them, and it may not be easy to tell which apps do.

If you have a phone running Windows Phone 8, there are apps that support voice commands. This feature is actually built into the OS through the Speech feature.

About Speech

By using the Speech feature on Windows Phone 8, you can use your voice to launch apps, write an SMS, call people and more. You can also tell your phone to open apps and even navigate to a part of the app.

To access the Speech feature on your phone, press and hold the Windows icon at the bottom of your screen and it should pop up. In the window that opens, you should be able to just speak your command. If that doesn't work, press the microphone icon, and you should see a message flash that says Listening…. You can then speak your command.

Some useful Speech voice commands

Here are five useful commands that you may find useful:

1. "Call 'contact name'" - This will call whatever person you say from your contact list.
2. "Redial" - This will call the last number you called.
3. "Text 'contact name'" - This will start a new text message that will be sent to the contact you say. You can then dictate the the message without having to type it.
4. "Start 'application'" - This will open the application you say.
5. "Search for 'term'" - This will open your browser and search for the term you say.

How to tell what apps you can interact with using your voice

Not every app available on the Windows Store supports voice commands, and many don't actually tell you the app does support them. Luckily, there is a way to see which apps you can interact with using your voice:

1. Pressing and holding the Windows icon on your phone until the Speech feature opens.
2. Saying "What can I say?".
3. Swiping right to the menu that says apps.

This will present you with a list of apps and pressing on each app will tell you what commands you can use while the app is open.

If you would like to learn more tips and tricks for the Windows Phone, please contact us today to see how we can help.

Social media and the various platforms that comprise it has started to move into more of a mature phase. Many businesses are using at least one platform on a daily basis and this is likely to continue. As we enter 2014, social media will continue to become not only more influential but also far more prevalent in businesses of all sizes too. As a result of this, certain trends will be set for the year to come.

Here are five social media trends we believe businesses should track throughout 2014.

Successful content will become more helpful

One of the key rules of marketing is that you need to create content that is relevant to your target audience. If you can't show how your company, service or product will help the customer there is a high chance that they won't invest, or will look elsewhere.

Throughout 2014, we should see a shift of strategy with companies using social media to engage with customers to leverage data and create content aimed at being helpful to 'fans' and followers. This might include tips on how to use products and visual images that show fans how to use products, etc.

The key idea business owners should grasp is that they should not be using social media to promote their company, but rather using social media to help. When you can help your followers, you will see more positive association with your brand and possibly even more sales.

Planning ahead will become increasingly important

It used to be enough to simply have a social media account, but now you need to also be active. As more companies break into social media, you will need to post more content on a regular basis.

Because many managers and business owners are busy, they often lack the time to concentrate on social media, especially as demand grows. This means that companies will have to start planning ahead if they want to be successful on social media. What this means is likely hiring a new employee, or appointing a staff member, to run your social media activities. You will also need to schedule posts and content well ahead of time, as well as set budgets.

If you just post occasionally now, or have a profile that isn't that active, the first step you need to take is to schedule a day each week where content goes out. Take a look at older posts and see what worked well with your audience and create similar content. Schedule the content to be posted at roughly the same time each day. Over time, ramp up when you post - try posting new content on different days to see how reactions and interest changes. The key is to stick with it, and you will begin to see some positive returns - likely an increase in Likes, Shares and Comments.

Content will need to be mobile

It's not difficult to see that the mobile device - smartphone and tablet - has become the gadget of choice for many social media users. Some have even gone so far as to stop using social media on their computers entirely. This trend will grow throughout 2014 and what this means for businesses is that they need to be creating content that can be viewed easily on mobile devices.

Because mobile screens are smaller, and many companies are starting to create mobile oriented content, we should see some more visually oriented posts, including both movies and images. At the very least you should ensure that your content posted on social media platforms can be easily viewed by users on mobile devices and your other social related sites, like your blog, can also scale to fit on smaller screens.

Social data will play a key role in company strategies

As the number of users on social media continues to grow, we are starting to see a trend where many users are basically using social media for everything. Because these systems are online, data regarding nearly everything is being tracked and made available to companies and users. This social data can be a huge help if leveraged properly. For example, it allows you to see what users like and dislike, and the content that works best in certain regions, and different dynamics, etc. You can extrapolate this information to your products or services e.g., if post on how to use your product is liked more than other posts, you can assume that the product is seen to be good.

In 2014, companies will increasingly come to realize that they have access to this data and will start to use it to plot their marketing and social strategies. If you aren't already tracking your social data, now would be a good time to start. It will also pay to learn how to analyze it and develop useful insight.

Social integration is the next step

The first step in social media was to get users, including businesses, online and interacting. Now that this is happening, it's time to move onto the next step. For businesses this means integrating social media into their company. In 2014, that's what we predict we will begin to see businesses doing in larger numbers.

This trend has already started with businesses linking their websites to social media profiles but we predict it will go even further with companies integrating social data and plans into the organization as a whole. This will likely be the connecting of social data with other streams of data to make marketing and overall business decisions. In other words, social media will become an integral part of business.

What do you think the biggest social media trend will be in 2014? Let us know today.

Technology has become one of the most important concepts that businesses rely on in order to do almost everything. Over the past decade or so, some form of advanced technology has made its way into nearly every business function and drastically improved the way we communicate and work. As we enter 2014, all eyes are on the horizon, looking into what the year will bring in terms of tech developments.

Here are five tech trends small to medium business owners and managers should keep their eyes on for 2014.

Tech we wear

Wearable devices like the smartwatch will become one of the hottest gadgets in 2014. While this concept really began in 2013, with devices like the Google Glass and the Samsung Galaxy Gear, you can bet that most device manufacturers are developing some form of wearable tech for this year.

The biggest evidence that supports this claim is the inclusion of newer, faster BlueTooth standards in both iOS and Android updates. These updates allow devices like phones and tablets to connect to existing wearable devices like fitness bands and wireless headphones.

What this means for businesses is a potential increase in the number of devices connecting to networks, such as from employees bringing devices into the office. Companies will need to look back at their mobile device policies to ensure that their systems remain safe. Concerns aside, these devices could pose a new way to interact with customers or even to create different, engaging content.

It really remains to be seen as to how businesses will benefit from this type of tech, but there is a good chance that many companies will find a productive use for it.

Changing views on the cloud

Many experts like to think of cloud systems as a new concept, but it's really reaching the end of this part of its life cycle. By now, most businesses are using at least one cloud-based system and have at least a basic grasp of what it is.

Because of its prevalence and increased use, it's difficult to actually completely avoid the cloud. Many have started to realize this fact and we think 2014 will see an increasing number of business owners begin to change their views on the cloud. They will start educating themselves and looking for systems that really meet their needs instead of simply picking one that everyone else uses.

This change of view, and increased education will likely lead to an increased adoption of cloud systems. This will be due to strategic decision-making rather than because business owners feel they simply need to be in on the cloud. This also likely means that many cloud providers will become even more transparent and likely more willing to help customers by creating systems that are truly useful to small businesses.

Mobile marketing will become mainstream

It is pretty apparent that mobile devices are the next big thing, and in 2014 mobile marketing will become one of the most popular forms of marketing. From developing mobile specific content to advertising only on mobile platforms through apps like Facebook, we should see a rise in the number of mobile ad campaigns.

Overall, this should lead to more ads being shorter, visually forward; essentially easily digested by mobile viewers. Beyond that, businesses of all sizes will start to pay attention to mobile related data, distinguishing mobile users from desktop users, and looking for ways to cater to both crowds through different campaigns.

Increased use of two-factor authentication

Security is always an issue that many business owners are worried about, as well it should be because there is a good chance that security concerns will increase in 2014 - especially if mobile wearable devices really take off.

In order to make it more difficult for accounts to be hacked, many of the larger companies like Google, have introduced two-factor authentication which requires users to enter a password and another form of information, usually a PIN number sent to a mobile device.

In 2014, it is highly likely that we will see an increase in the number of services that offer this form of authentication. What this means for many businesses is increased security, which should be welcomed.

IT becomes more of a core business function

Historically, IT has been seen as a separate business entity, something that supports core business functions. But, as many companies increasingly rely on technology, it has started to shift and become more of a core business function.

Many business owners will begin to question their existing technology and whether it really is giving them the best value possible and if they are using it effectively. Because of the largely complex nature of many systems, small business owners that take an interest in their IT will likely find that they struggle with managing and optimizing it. They will instead turn to an IT management partner who can help them find customized solutions.

While this isn't a new trend by any means, technology is becoming increasingly advanced and many companies are struggling. If you are looking to make IT more of a core business function, or would like to gain control of rampant systems please contact us today to see how we can help.

Microsoft's spreadsheet program, Excel, is one of the most useful tools that any manager's disposal. This dynamic tool can be employed in a multitude of ways, from tracking time, to finances and even sales. One of Excel's most useful functions is the ability to develop graphs and charts from information which can then be easily analyzed. If you use Excel 2013, you have Quick Analysis - a powerful feature that allows you to quickly analyze data.

Below is an overview of the Quick Analysis tool in Microsoft Excel 2013.

What is Quick Analysis?

In older versions of Excel, if you wanted to visually analyze your data, you would have to first create a chart or graph and then format it. This could take some time and also lead to mistakes, not to mention the fact that it can be a challenge to pick the correct type of chart or graph for your data type.

To make it easier to visualize your data, the Quick Analysis tool was introduced with Excel 2013. This feature allows users to instantly create charts and graphs with the click of a button. It even suggests a visualization method that best fits your data, making picking the correct way to show the information far easier. You can even add miniature graphs to single cells - called Sparklines - that allow you to quickly spot trends without having to look at a full graph.

How to use Quick Analysis

Enter your data in a spreadsheet, and if need be include column headings.

1. Select the data you would like to visualize.
2. Press Ctrl + Q to open the Quick Analysis gallery. You can also select this by hovering your mouse over the bottom-right corner of the selected cells and clicking the icon that pops up.
3. Select the tab you want e.g., Charts for suggested charts. Note: The options available to you will change based on the type of data you have selected.
4. Hover your mouse over an option to see a preview of the selected visualization.
5. Click on your choice to create the visualization in a new worksheet.

Which Quick Analysis is best?

When you open the Quick Analysis gallery you will notice that you have five different options:

1. Formatting - Lets you adjust the data you have highlighted. You can set a color for the data to set it apart and quickly see both high and low values, or even remove formatting altogether.
2. Charts - Lets you select different charts and graphs based on the data you have selected. This can include pie charts, bar graphs, line charts, etc. If you press More Charts you will be able to select from a larger list.
3. Totals - Lets you calculate numbers in rows or columns. Some useful options include Running Total which keeps a total even when you add more data, and Sum which will total either a column, row or the total sheet. Be sure to pay attention to the colored dots in the icon as they indicate whether a row or column will be calculated.
4. Tables - Allows you to create tables or sub-tables using just the selected data. You can also create a pivot table. You should also be able to select More if the type of table you need isn't there.
5. Sparklines - Allows you to add small charts beside your data. These one to two cell visualizations are great for quickly identifying trends within your data.

If you are looking to learn more about Excel 2013 and how you can leverage it in your business, contact us today.

Social networks have become ingrained in many people's lives, so much so, that businesses are also finding that by using social media they can connect easily with their customers and colleagues. While Facebook is the most popular social media service, there is another service that many businesses find useful, which is the business oriented LinkedIn.

To get the most out of your personal profile on LinkedIn follow our five top tips:

1. Specialize

A popular feature of LinkedIn is endorsement. You can view other people's profiles and endorse their skills. Some popular users have hundreds of different endorsements. The purpose of these endorsements is to highlight the important skills of each user.

If a user has say 30 so-called important skills that they are all endorsed for, it kind of looks like these aren't really that important. It is a good idea to pare down your skills and endorsements to 3-5 which you feel best represent what you have to offer.

2. Don't connect with people in order to grow your following

One of the main goals many users have with other social media networks is developing content that encourages people to essentially connect with the business. This in turn increases the reach and popularity of the business. With LinkedIn, connections and content are still the goal, only the type of desired connection is different.

You shouldn't be aiming to connect for the sake of connecting. Instead, try to develop connections that will help your business meet its goals and objectives. Some good examples of this include connecting with suppliers, colleagues and even other businesses you work with.

3. Think socially (What's in it for them?)

LinkedIn is really just online networking, and as with most forms of networking you are looking to build rapport and establish a connection. This is usually done by being interesting, which means creating content.

When creating content or developing your profile you should keep in mind that it is for the people looking at your profile and not you. With everything you write or create, try to keep in mind: WIIFT (What's In It For Them?). If you can create something that your connections and profile viewers will be able to benefit from, they will be more willing to listen to you when you actually need to contact them.

4. Look at your profile

As we stated above, your content and profile should be oriented towards your viewers and connections. Look through your profile and posts to see that the information does reflect this purpose.

Try looking at the different sections of your profile and focus on how you can help your connections. This includes giving detailed descriptions on your roles and how you helped the company or customers. Above all else, make sure your profile contains the information that is relevant to the people you want to connect with. If it isn't, you likely don't need it.

5. Join groups

Possibly the best way to get the most out of LinkedIn is to join groups. There are groups that cover nearly everything in the professional world. Try joining groups that are relevant to your profession and interests. There are usually some great conversations going on that you can really learn and benefit from. If you are an active member, you will become well known over time.

This is positive, as it makes other members more approachable and willing to listen to you, and engage with the content you share. Joining groups also gives you a great way to connect with people of varying experience. If you need the help of a specialist you can look through group members until you find an expert with the experience you need.

LinkedIn can be a useful platform for business users and if you are looking to learn more about how you can leverage it, connect with us today to see how we can help.

When it comes to marketing, companies have a number of methods and mediums they can use in order to reach their customers. One of the more popular, is to create and send out an email marketing campaign. While these email blasts can be an effective way to grow your company and better connect with your customers, there is a good chance your emails won't reach your audience because they get blocked by spam filters.

If you are developing a new email marketing campaign, you need to first know a bit about spam filters. Because there are no set rules that all spam filter developers adhere to, you will notice that filters vary in how effectively they can block emails. Some filter nearly all spam while others filter only the most obvious spam messages. Getting past these filters takes trial and error but there are tips you can employ to succeed.

1. Take a look at your content

It is worthwhile looking at the coding of your email. Because some email scammers include hidden HTML or other coding that the recipient won't see in an email, many filters are now set up to scan the code of an email as well. You should get someone who is proficient to either develop a cleanly coded email template you can use, or to audit the code to ensure there are no problems.

Beyond this, take a look at the actual content you are including in your email message. If you are including special offers, sales, and content that isn't overly useful, there is a high chance that recipients will flag the email as spam, causing future communication that comes from you to be blocked.

The most successful emails tend to provide useful information like how the product or service can be used, updates from the company, and even industry-related articles. Basically, anything that drives interest and the desire in the recipient to contact you about the service you provide.

2. Know the common spam trigger words

In an effort to cut down on spam, many email providers scan the subject line of emails for potential spam words. If these keywords are found, the email will likely be blocked. The challenging part about this, is actually figuring out which words will get through filters and which will cause an email to be blocked.

One of the best resources we have found is this article on Hubspot. In general, good advice is to avoid cliche, and words that have come to be associated with sales oriented talk or jargon e.g., price, cheap, and no fees. Avoid special characters, like '$' and '!' in the subject line, as many spammers use these to try to grab the attention of the reader.

3. Audit your subscriber lists

In order to maximize the percentage of users who open your emails, clean out your subscriber list on a regular basis. Take a look for email addresses that have been deleted, or users who no longer work at the business. By auditing your subscriber list, you raise the chance that your emails will be opened and read by more recipients.

You should also look into the email addresses themselves. If you are sending an email to a general account i.e., sales@company.com, you may not be actually reaching a real person, but an account that automates tasks instead. Try to send your email to individuals instead of general accounts.

4. Test before you send

Testing your email before sending it out to your audience will help in ensuring that your email makes it through spam filters. The best way to test is to look for a spam testing solution. These solutions allow you to essentially send the email to a number of different services and clients, before presenting you with a report on whether your email managed to get through to the main services.

You can test the email itself in different browsers. While many Internet browsers can render or show most emails, they will often render them slightly differently e.g., text will be bigger, or content may not expand to fit screen size. If the content looks weird to the viewer, there is a high chance that it will not be read and may be flagged as spam instead.

5. Ensure you follow established verification procedures

As you may or may not know, there are actually verification procedures that users who send bulk emails must pass. These various procedures essentially let the different email services know that you, as the sender, are a legitimate business and not a spammer.

Many of the bigger email service providers have set guidelines on their websites for bulk senders, so try looking on the Internet for the different guidelines. Some of the more general requirements include:

• The email be sent from the same IP and email address.
• The same name, address and information is in the From: header of every bulk email you send.
• Ensuring that the DNS (Domain Name System) records and address you use points to your company and are correct.

Of course, this can take time and some knowledge of how the Internet and email works, so one option is to work with an email expert who can help you set up your server or third-party platform so that emails from you will be verified. If you are looking for a way to make your email marketing efforts more successful, or to ensure that they make it through spam filters, please contact us today to see how we can help.

Did you know that, according to Microsoft, there are more than one billion people using Microsoft Office? There is little doubt as to the popularity of this program. While the vast majority of users focus on the threemain programs - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - there is another that is equally useful - OneNote. This note app could be really useful for your business.

So what is so great about OneNote? Here are five things you may not know about this program:

1. It can do math!

If you are in a meeting where figures are flying fast and furious, or you are struggling with some math and have OneNote open, you can use this program to help. Simply enter the numbers into any blank line in a note, add an = sign and hit the spacebar: e.g., (4587x2)-(3900x4)=. The answer should pop up right beside the formula. If it doesn't, try using different symbols like the asterisk instead of x.

You can also insert more complex equations by clicking on the Insert tab, selecting Equation followed by Insert New Equation. You can then select, draw or even type the symbols to create your equation.

2. There are some great templates

By default, new notes are created using a white background, or 'paper' as it is called in OneNote. However, you don't have to stick with a white background, as there are actually a plethora of templates you can choose from in order to make your notes stand out.

To change the template click on the Insert tab and select Page Templates. A menu will open on the right side of the screen with the different templates to apply to the note. For some users, the templates may be too much. Try looking at the Insert tab and you will be able to select the page color and the lines.

3. It's also a great recorder for meetings

If you are in an important meeting and don't want to miss anything, you can actually use OneNote to record proceedings. The first thing you will want to do is to create a new note and enter the details of the meeting. Then press the Insert tab and select Record Audio. After the meeting is finished, you can stop the recording and it should be saved in the note.

While the audio is recording, you can make small notes that should put a play button beside it. When you press the play button, it should start the recording at the time you made the note.

4. You can access it on almost any device

Many times when you are heading to meetings or appointments, you probably don't want to take your laptop with you so you can take notes. Luckily, OneNote is available as an app for Windows Phone, Android, iPhone and iPad devices. If you log in with your Microsoft account, any notes you create will be synced and available on any device. Check out the OneNote site for links to the apps that you can download and install on your device.

5. It's easy to share notes with your colleagues

So many business tasks are now collaborative, you will likely need to share notes from time-to-time. With some note apps this can be a bit of a chore, but on OneNote it's actually quite easy: Simply press File followed by Share and then Get a Sharing Link. This will generate a link that you can send to people you want to collaborate with. When you press Get a Sharing Link you will be able to set whether people will be allowed to just view or edit your note.

If you choose to allow others to edit your notes, they will be allowed to change everything and have changes sync across all versions of the note in their own version of the OneNote app or in their browser. This makes it a great tool for collaboration.

Looking to learn more about using OneNote in your office? Contact us today to see how our solutions can help.

The key ingredient to many successful businesses is good connections. This might be links with customers, suppliers, or colleagues, etc. Simply put, companies that can connect with their stakeholders will be better able to build a strong brand. And for many companies the best way to connect is via various social media platforms. If you are having trouble connecting with people, it may be because it is too difficult for them to find you on social media in the first place.

If you are struggling to make your existence known on social media, and missing out on those all important connections, then here are five tips to make you easier to find.

1. Use your actual name When it comes to social media, you want to be easily found. When your customers try to find you, they will almost always enter the name they call your company by. Therefore, your profile on social media needs to register this name even if it isn't your company's official name. Use the same name in various places on your profile e.g., in the About us section and even in your posts if it fits. If they can find more than one of your social media profiles (because you have used the same company name for all of them), there is a higher chance they will connect with you.

2. Become more recognizable We are highly visual people and when we see patterns, will normally begin to associate it with something. Many of us are also on more than one social media platform, so companies can leverage this in order to gain more connections.

Try having the same profile picture on all of your profiles too. What this does is make you and your brand more recognizable. If people are looking at other social networks that you have a presence on and they see the same profile picture, they are more likely to recognize you as the same company and potentially be more willing to connect with you. If you change your picture on one profile, be sure to update it on the others.

3. Create more social emails We don't mean start emailing people asking them to connect, as this will likely drive people away because they will think you are spamming them. Instead, try putting links to your social media profiles in your email signatures with a suggestion to connect. Because you likely send a fair number of emails out on a daily basis, having links to your social media profiles can help increase the chances of people reaching out and connecting with you.

4. Don't use multiple email addresses It can be tempting to use different email addresses for each social media platform - this can help track integration and engagement - but in truth, this can actually confuse people and could make more unnecessary work for those who manage your profiles.

Many personal users have only one email for social media, largely because it's easier to manage and quickly look at traffic. So, in order to make things easier for you or whoever manages your company's social media, it might make sense to just use one email address for all of your profiles.

If you have already used more than one email address for different social media profiles you have two options: You can choose to change the email addresses so that they are all the same, or you can simply link the other email addresses so that they are included in all of your profiles.

The most professional looking option is to pick just one email as it will reduce uncertainty as to what email address to use when customers want to contact you via your social media pages - e.g., email you about your products.

5. Make your website social Finally, you likely have a website. While many people will find you on social media, it is a good idea to include links to your social media profiles on your website. The reason for this is because it helps you build your brand image. It is a way of letting people know that you are not only on the Web, but also have social media profiles and that as a company you interact.

The most popular way to display your social media presence on your website is to include icons on the homepage, or in the footer. When you click on each of these, a new window or tab opens and takes you to the relevant social media page.

In general, the more locations you broadcast your social media presence, the higher the chance of gaining more connections. It follows that the more connections you have and the more active you are on your social media profiles, the greater consumer interest and engagement is, and the stronger your brand identity becomes. Over time, you should see an increase in sales and ultimately profitability.

If you are looking to learn more about how to leverage social media in your business, please contact us today.