The days of celebrity endorsements are falling into the past. These days, companies are turning to a different group of personalities to help promote their brands: Instagram influencers. In fact, 87% of marketing professionals say Instagram is important for their campaigns in 2020.

Instagram is leading the pack, and it’s not a mystery why. The platform is easy to use, allows for interaction between users, and offers a variety of media types to play with. Each of these different Instagram media types has different applications in influencer marketing. Keep reading to find out how you can use Stories, Reels, and more in your influencer campaigns. Also read, how to get more Instagram free followers and help you become an influencer quickly.

What are Instagram’s media formats?

Instagram provides different ways to publish your content, each with different features to help you express yourself. The key is deciding which is best suited to share your message. A lot has changed since Instagram debuted 10 years ago, so let’s break down each type of media, what it offers, and how it can be useful in influencer campaigns.

Posts

Posts are Instagram’s original media format. These are the photos and videos that you see on the main tab of someone’s profile. You can edit in-app, add filters, and write captions for each post. You can choose to upload one photo or video, or you can choose up to 10 to create a carousel of swipeable content. Keep in mind that videos uploaded as posts are limited to 60 seconds.

In influencer marketing, posts are generally the most expensive type of media on Instagram. This is because they usually generate the most impressions, and also because they require more effort on the part of the influencer. Posts stay on a profile’s feed, and they’re the first thing someone sees when they arrive on a profile, so they take more work than stories. Posts are especially useful for highly visual products like clothes or makeup, or for hosting giveaways.

Stories

Stories work almost like a “status” on Instagram. They don’t show up on a profile’s feed, and they disappear after 24 hours unless they’re archived to highlights. Stories allow for photos, videos, gifs, mentions, hashtags, filters and more.

Stories eventually disappear and therefore require less effort on the influencer’s part. Because of this, they’re easier and cheaper to produce, and cost a bit less for brands to contract. Stories are particularly useful for promoting products that don’t have a very high value or that aren’t well-suited to content creation. For example, a post that highlights a certain brand of tissues may come across as really forced, but stories might offer a more natural way to send the message.

Stories can also be a great tool for driving traffic to your website because of their Swipe Up feature. But, in order to access this, the account must be a professional account and have at least 10,000 followers. We’ll explain more about this later.

IGTV

Instagram TV allows for longer videos than what can be uploaded as a post. IGTV is actually a standalone app that integrates with Instagram; only users who have the IGTV app will have a separate tab on their IGTV content profile. Video limits are 15 minutes when uploading from mobile, and 60 minutes when uploading from the desktop.

This format is especially useful for video content highlighting experiences or complex products. For example, a music festival can be better experienced through the dynamic motion and sound offered by video. Or, an online service might be difficult to explain in photos, but is made simple and concise through a video demonstration.

IG Live

Live works like stories or IGTV, but it’s, well, live! Live lets you share what’s happening around you at the moment. Further, with IG Live, the audience can actively participate by leaving comments or asking questions.

As the IG Live format relies on spontaneity, it lends itself to authenticity. And this is key for influencer marketing campaigns. As an influencer is filming what’s happening to them in real time, their reactions are more likely to be genuine. Live is best used to help the audience experience exciting events first-hand, or for product Q&A sessions, in which an influencer can make their audience feel like they are active participants in the product review.

Reels

Reels is Instagram’s latest media format. They were rolled out in August 2020 and share a lot of similarities with another social network: TikTok. With Reels, you can use a variety of creative tools to upload 15-second videos. You can add music, your own audio, filters, and effects, and change the speed of your video.

Due to its time limit, Reels isn’t ideal for anything that needs a thorough explanation. But they can be great for branding, especially for highly visual products. You could try Reels for montages like a video lookbook or makeover before-and-after. And they could be useful for quick demos or “trailers” to introduce a restaurant or tourist destination. Instagram Reels could also be useful for brands who want to try TikTok-style advertising but whose countries have banned the app. For example, TikTok was banned in India back in June, but Indian brands looking to try a similar style of marketing can now find influencers on Instagram to do so with Reels.

What is a pro account and how can you get one?

Earlier we mentioned the Swipe Up feature available in stories. You’ve probably seen it at some point while surfing Instagram, and maybe you’ve noticed that you can’t seem to find it on your account when uploading your own stories. That’s because Swipe Up is only available for professional accounts that have over 10,000 followers. There are two types: business and creator.

Business accounts

Business accounts are for brands, companies, retailers, local businesses, and service providers. When you convert to a business account, you’ll get access to Instagram Insights, the app’s analytics tool that reveals information about your profile and audience. In addition, as a business account, you’ll be able to :

• Add contact information so customers can reach out to you
• Create ads from Instagram content
• Label products that appear in your content
• Add a category to your profile to show your industry

Creator accounts

Creator accounts are for influencers, celebrities, artists, and content producers. They’re pretty similar to business accounts, and also give you access to Instagram Insights to learn more about your audience, where they come from when they’re usually online, and other metrics to help you grow your profile. As a creator, you can also:

• Add contact info
• Categorize your profile (i.e. blogger)
• Organize your direct messages with folders and rankings
• Tag products and brands in your posts

How to go pro

If you want to convert your account into a professional account, it’s simple! From your profile, go to Settings > Account > Switch to Professional Account. It’s worth noting that changing to a pro account will make any private account public, and any pending follow requests will be automatically approved.

Choose whether you want a business or creator account. You’ll have to enter your contact information and category. You can also choose to link your Instagram profile to a Facebook page. Once you’re set up, you can choose to hide your contact and category info should you wish.

Conclusion

Perhaps Instagram is the most popular social network for influencer campaigns because it has something for everyone. Brands can maintain a presence and communicate directly with potential customers. Influencers have a variety of ways to express themselves through different media types and features. And together, the two can form collaborations to make just about any marketing goal become a reality.

For the last few years, artificial intelligence has become an essential part of every business. 

You may think that AI is a new technology, but the truth is, we have been using artificial intelligence for many years. For instance, when you send a question to Google, it uses AI to come up with more accurate answers.

Today, artificial intelligence is valuable to both small businesses and big companies. Most companies have used AI technology through applications like attendance systems and automated time.

Artificial intelligence accelerates business operations while still increasing accuracy and infinity.

Many organizations across all industries in the world have embraced the use of AI technology to streamline their operations. 

So, how do AI technology benefits businesses?

In this article, you will discover eight ways in which artificial intelligence can be helpful to both small and big businesses. 

Personalize Customer Support Service

Today, most customer interactions in many businesses are handled without human interactions. 

Artificial intelligence software like chatbots are used to create engagement with customers and respond to their queries. Artificial intelligence systems can also be used to gather information about individual customers and collect feedback. It can observe customer’s behavior and predict what services or products are relevant to them.

Personalized customer service available 24 hours in seven days makes your customers feel appreciated for doing business with you. 

If you want to use artificial intelligence technology in your business, you can get help at www.oraclecms.com.

Reducing Errors 

Though artificial intelligence is not error-free, it is more accurate than humans. 

In many cases, you will find that an artificial intelligence software’s accuracy is 99% even for most complicated systems. 

A recent study conducted by Venturebeat reveals that artificial intelligence is 99% accurate in detecting breast cancer. Artificial intelligence can also manage customer information and make valuable decisions with the available data. 

Generate New Business Insights

In any business, data is an invaluable resource. However, if you cannot be able to analyze your business data and make use of it, it may never benefit your business. 

Artificial intelligence can effectively manage, analyze, and interpret data to generate meaningful business insights. Such insights can be used to improve customer service or products. 

In simpler words, artificial intelligence can convert data and information into useful knowledge. It can also study customers’ behavior and patterns to predict the future.

Saving Time and Money

Unlike human beings, machines can work efficiently without needing to rest, sleep, or take breaks due to boredom. Your business can rely on AI for 24/7 coverage in providing customer service and doing other simple tasks. 

Artificial intelligence can also help in handling tasks like data analysis and repetitive jobs, which can be boring and tiresome to your staff. Some tasks, such as responding to customers’ queries, may seem simple, but they do take a lot of time. They might require you to hire more staff or extend your staff’s working hours.

But with artificial intelligence, such tasks can be handled simultaneously, thus save more time and money. 

Real-Time Assistance in Various Fields

Does your business struggle in keeping up with logistics and customer interactions?

Well, artificial intelligence could be of great help in your business. AI systems and chatbots can be used to pass important updates to customers and inform them about certain things. 

For example, in aviation, artificial intelligence systems are used to inform and update customers about their fight schedules through personal notifications. 

Handling Marketing

Artificial intelligence systems are capable of analyzing data to generate buyer’s personas. Then they market the relevant services to the right buyers.

With artificial intelligence in your business, you can easily determine your customers’ needs and interests and, in turn, match them to your products. In this case, marketing will effectively be done targeting potential customers only. 

Increase Productivity

Artificial intelligence systems will handle all the repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing your staff to focus on other important tasks. 

Your workers are likely to be more productive when they are not overworked with routine tasks.

This will also be more helpful, especially when you have limited staff to work with and don’t want to extend their working hours. Therefore, your limited staff will be more efficient when repetitive tasks are lifted off their shoulders. 

Security and Risk Management

Artificial intelligence systems can automatically identify the security risks associated with the various business process. This will help in protecting the business information and ensuring that customers’ data is safe. 

AI systems can also analyze patterns of online behavior to detect credit card frauds. Thus, it will save your business from losses caused by security issues. 

Final Thoughts

Artificial intelligence is here to stay and can help your business run more effectively and profitably. This technology will not replace your employees, but compliment them and lead to better productivity.  

Hardwood floors look great, especially if you want to exude a classic style that never goes out of fashion. However, keeping them clean at all times can be very challenging. Mopping using wet rags can damage them over time while ordinary vacuums can scratch their surface.

Luckily, there are robotic vacuums that are designed to work great on the hardwood floor. Unlike traditional mop, it makes cleaning easier and faster while preventing any damage to your floor. With just a few clicks, this machine can do all the dirty work while you enjoy watching your favorite movies.

The tech market is oversaturated with many robot vacuums that come on different prices. Because of this, selecting the best brand to clean a hardwood floor becomes difficult.

Here are the factors you need to consider when buying the best robot vacuum for hardwood floors:

Cleaning Performance: This aspect depends on the floor area you need to clean. Some models work better on an apartment-size room, while others are powerful enough to clean the floor of a bungalow.

Choose the model that can vacuum the entire floor in one cleaning cycle. Also, pick the machine that has a good suction power to ensure high-quality cleaning.

These features depend on the battery life of the machine. If you need to vacuum a big area and with deep-cleaning power, select the model with longer battery life. For large houses, a device with two hours of battery life is preferable. If you have a small house, a robot that can work for at least an hour is good enough.

Type of Floor: Aside from hardwood, are there parts of the floor with carpet? If yes, you might need to look for a brand that automatically switches into different suction levels when going from hardwood to carpet.

Smart Connection: Many robot vacuum brands can be connected to an internet source. This feature enables you to control the machine remotely.

You can go online, access the robot vacuum app, and set up its cleaning schedule, suction mode, virtual wall, etc. If you like, you can program an automatic cleaning schedule so that it will do its work even when you are away.

Return to Dock: The robot must return to its dock after cleaning. If it does not come back to charge itself, you need to search for it every time. Also, it might always be on a low battery by the time you need it because it did not charge itself automatically.

Navigation System: If you have a big budget, go for a robot with high-end mapping capability. This technology ensures that the robot accurately recognizes the floor, objects, and walls. Then, it stores all the information to its data bank. Next time you use it, it will “remember” the same map that it cleaned the previous time.

The factors mentioned above are just some of the many considerations you need to weigh in when looking for a robot vacuum. Other tech reviewers can come up with additional lists. For instance, one writer suggests that you also need to consider the noise level, height, and size of dust bin on robot vacuums.  Read what he said on this blog.

Top 5 Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floor

Here are our top 5 picks for the best robot vacuum for hardwood floor:

Neato Botvac D7 Connected

Neato’s D7 has a unique d-shaped design that helps it get closer to corners and walls. One valuable feature of D7 is its ability to “climb” from hardwood floor to medium-pile carpet, cleaning them extensively with ease.

If you like smart devices, this is a great choice. It comes with an app that lets you track its performance and see where it is on the map. With its superior mapping technology, it allows you to program virtual boundaries to protect your robot from bumping into obstacles or going inside an open room.

iRobot Roomba S9+

iRobot Roomba S9+ is a cut above the rest in terms of design and performance. Unlike other models, Roomba S9+ has a compartment that compresses debris and dirt, which means that you don’t need to clean the bin often. It also delivers 40x the suction power of an ordinary robot vacuum, which is strong enough to take out deep-seated dirt.

Deebot N79

Deebot N79 is a versatile robot for deep cleaning. This device comes with Smart Motion System and multiple cleaning modes. If you choose the right cleaning mode, it can vacuum more floor area in less time.

N79 comes with an app that lets you program its cleaning schedule and monitor its performance when it’s on. It works well on any floor size and shapes through a repetitive but thorough cleaning process. This way, it leaves your floor looking good but without scratching the surface. You can  watch Deebot N79 working over the hardwood floor here.

Xiaomi Mi

Another vacuum cleaner that makes it on our list is Xiaomi Mi. This device has all the features that you need, most notably its navigational system and pathfinding abilities. Through its mapping software, it divides an area into smaller squares sections then cleans them one by one.

Eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11S

If you find this brand on Amazon, you will be amazed by its thousands of positive reviews that it truly deserves. It works silently while its triple filter system and powerful suction feature do all the dirty work for up to 100 minutes.

Are you tired of emptying the bins quite often? You don’t have to do this anymore because 11S can hold up to 0.6 liters of debris.

There are more high-quality robot vacuums out there, which we might have missed. For more recommendations, check out some of the  models discussed in this video.

We all know the recommendation to keep an antivirus installed on our computer, even the most inexperienced users know it.

The Windows 10 systems today come with a powerful built-in antivirus — Windows Security and the vast majority of users still not satisfied with this built-in feature. So users opt to install third-party antivirus when they buy new computers.

But many will have a trial license that will last only a few days. After the trial period, the antivirus itself informs us of its lack of security and invites us to buy a license for a year or more.

Many of us, at that time, look for some free alternative. The truth is that there are much more false antivirus than real ones circulating on the internet, and what we will happen if we install them, is to infect the computer with some type of malware.

The fake antivirus programs use a similar strategy to the phishing but applied to programs and apps. The phishing is a false website that simulates your bank’s website or a social network, so you enter your account data and steal what contains: login credentials, bank account, and credit card details.

The fake antivirus is programs that have the appearance and the name of an antivirus. They even pretend to check and clean your system. But it’s actually malware infecting your system — right before your very eyes.

Most commonly, this type of fake antivirus malware is advertised through pop-up windows or banners that appear on certain websites while you browse, announcing that you are infected with Trojans or spyware. Then they offer you a free antivirus to remove it.

These malicious antivirus programs often closely mimic legitimate applications, using a style packaging and a similar (or even identical) to convey legitimacy. As such, it can be difficult for technical and non-technical users to differentiate between legitimate and rogue applications.

At first glance, they are not easy to detect, so here are some tips to learn how to uncover these types of fake antivirus:

Investigate its origin

Before downloading or installing anything, do an Internet search to find out about the name of the antivirus, its creators, and its website. Check out reviews of that particular antivirus in some trusted websites. For example, this review of ZoneAlarm covers almost all the necessary information you need to know about that antivirus.

This way, you will know if it is to be trusted. The more we know, the safer we will be. So don’t forget to gather information before making a decision.

Only download from official website

Most of the top antivirus has a free version with limited features to protect your system. So download this free antivirus directly from their official website, and update them regularly.

Suspicious activities

If the antivirus asks for your credit card, email, or any other personal information to update it, it is a sign that it is not what it seems.

Configure the Security of your Operating System 

Many of these fake antiviruses stay installed and pretend to carry out periodic checks or protect you in the background, but in reality, they are using your computer as a botnet to commit crimes. 

So take a look at what are the security configuration options of your Operating System. Activate the firewall and adjust the settings so that the free antivirus that you download from the official source makes constant automatic updates. 

Thus, we will improve past errors and improve functions. In addition, we will have the system updated with its latest versions while we are protected.

With these simple tips, you can avoid fake antivirus that is becoming more frequent and sophisticated.