Good customer service can give your business a competitive edge in an otherwise crowded landscape. But what is customer service and how do you build a strong customer service strategy? This article will act as your Customer Service 101 course, as we discuss definitions, types, and benefits of giving excellent customer service. First, let’s tackle some industry definitions.

What Is Customer Service ?

According to Oxford Dictionary, customer service is: The assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.

Customer service is the lifeblood of any company. When it’s good, customers come back for more. When it’s bad, they don’t. But even more than that, offering top-notch customer service helps differentiate you from your competitors. It’s one of the best ways to ensure you have a continuous income stream from satisfied customers.

Definition of Good Customer Service 

Generally speaking, good customer service means providing timely, friendly, and attentive service to your customers. However, we recommend coming up with your own definition for good customer service. It should be aligned to your industry’s standards and your business goals.  

Consider Hilton Hotel’s vision of excellent customer service, “To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality by delivering exceptional experiences – every hotel, every guest, every time.”

How they define customer service may seem a little over the top! However, by striving for a high standard, Hilton outpaces many of its competitors in the hospitality market. 

Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience

Many people confuse the terms customer service and customer experience. But in fact, they are not the same. Here’s a quick look at the difference:

Customer experience is the shorthand term for everything the customer did or experienced when interacting with your business. It includes everything from navigating your website, to ordering, to using your product, to returning an item–and more! How did the customer feel about your business as a whole, across every touchpoint? The sum total of these interactions equals customer experience.

Customer service is just one step in the customer experience. It is the part of the customer journey that focuses on directly interacting with and supporting customers. Every department, from marketing to shipping, is involved in the customer experience. Whereas, customer service is performed by customer service teams. 

Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Support

These terms are also often confused and people use them interchangeably. After all, both departments are supporting customers and use similar tools, like phone calls, messaging, and email. However, customer support is often an escalated form of customer service. A customer support team often has expert knowledge of a product of service and can help solve technical problems. They also may write technical documentation and usability studies, as well as develop product improvements. 

Other Customer Service Definitions

We’ve already looked at the definition of customer service. Some other common terms you’ll hear in the customer service industry are:

Customer Satisfaction: The extent to which your team supports customers and creates satisfaction with a product, service, or experience.  

CSAT: A customer satisfaction score is a measure of how satisfied a customer is with a specific encounter with a business. 

CES: A Customer Effort Score tells you how much effort was required by your customer to get their issue resolved.  

NPS: The Net Promoter Score calculates the likelihood a customer will recommend your product or service to others. 

What Do Customer Service Representatives Do?

Now that we’ve defined our terms, let’s look at what a customer service representative does each day. A customer service professional is a person who works in a call center or help desk to assist customers with their issues. They may do this using a variety of channels, including phone, chat, email and social media. On the surface, it may seem like a customer service team does the same thing over and over again. But to be successful at their job, they need to know how to handle exceptions, such as a lost item or disgruntled client.

Increasingly, new technology, such as CRM software, is automating the more tedious aspects of being a service representative. To succeed in the modern call center, you need to be able to do more than offer routine customer service, such as greet and support x customers. You must be able to resolve any type of problem to create a positive customer experience. This requires problem-solving skills and good interpersonal communication.

Types of Customer Service

Customers have more ways of interacting with your business than ever. The explosion of devices and communication channels—from smartphones to SMS and social media—means that customers can connect with companies on multiple channels.  

To stay competitive and maintain customer retention, businesses must embrace multichannel customer engagement and provide many types of customer service, such as: 

Social Media Customer Service:  Customer service via social media was once a novelty. Today, 64% of people prefer to message a business versus calling. It’s vital for businesses to be responsive on social media channels. 

Self-service support:  The modern customer wants quick and easy interactions and many clients expect service 24/7. If they need help, customers want to find out about your products and services online as well as through your apps. Creating an online knowledge base and customer portal helps you keep your customer service department running after business hours. It also empowers customers to quickly solve simple issues themselves, reducing the pressure on your customer service agents.

Walk-in Customer Service: Online transactions can create distance between you and the customer. Stores that still have a brick-and-mortar location are at a distinct advantage. Offering in-person customer service provides the chance to build extra rapport. 

Phone Customer Service: Sometimes talking to a human is the fastest way to solve a problem. Customer service software can help you avoid some of the complaints common to phone support, such as setting maximum wait times and automated call routing. 

Email Customer Service: This is no one’s favorite way to reach out, given the traditionally long response times. However, you can distinguish yourself from competitors by setting short response times. Software, like CRM, can also automate email responses and provide templates for common customer service issues. 

Live Chat Customer Service: Live chat allows customers to have their questions answered without having to navigate away from your site. Real-time, easy interactions increase the likelihood of a conversion. Live Chat service also allows agents to manage more than one customer at a time. 

AI Chatbots: The use of chatbots increased 81% in 2020. Chatbots allow you to automate customer service. It’s especially useful for common queries and requests. A chatbot can manage many tedious, top-of-funnel interactions so your service customer team can focus on customer relationships. 

Top Benefits of Customer Service Done Right

If you have a business, then you probably realize that good customer service is very important. In fact, it can help your business stay successful and grow your customers and revenue. Customer service can also help your company reduce costs in the long run by making sure that your customers are satisfied with their experience when they do business with you. Here are some of the top benefits of companies that exceed service customer expectations.

A Happy Customer Is for Better Business

Happy customers are loyal customers. And that’s great for revenue, since existing customers spend more than new customers. A whopping 300% more, according to RjMetrics. If you gain trust with good customer service skills, customers are more likely to subscribe to expensive services and buy premium products. They also refer new business. On average, each satisfied customer refers three new potential customers. 

Customer Service Can Make or Break Your Reputation

By contrast, an unhappy customer can wreck your reputation and your bottom line. Just asked United Airlines. In 2009, a frustrated customer posted an entertaining song called, “United Breaks Guitars” on YouTube. It went viral and received over 20 million views. Within a few days, United Air’s stock plummeted by ten percent, costing the company an estimated 180 million dollars. They could have replaced the singer’s guitar 51,000 times for that amount of money. The lesson? Poor customer experience is expensive. It pays to keep customers happy. 

Customers Pay More for Great Customer Service 

One-quarter of customers are willing to pay up to 17% more for great customer service in almost every industry. Some industries get an even greater lift in revenue. In the hospitality sector, for example, 31% of customers are willing to pay more for exceptional service. In retail, 24% are amenable to paying more. Overall, companies with a customer focus are 60% more profitable, according to HubSpot. 

Examples of great customer service

Ask yourself, what is the best brand experience you’ve ever had? It may have been an airline, a hotel chain, a car manufacturer, or a restaurant. At the time of your experience, they were at their absolute best. How wonderful was that? That’s the kind of service customer level you need to strive for. 

Online clothes retailer Zappos is an example of excellent customer service. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh relays an anecdote about an out-of-town meeting. He was entertaining clients late into the night when they craved a slice of pizza. Room service at the hotel was closed, so Hsieh suggested the client call Zappos and request a pizza. Indeed, at 2 am, the Zappos customer service agent found a nearby pizza parlor that was open and ordered on the caller’s behalf. Now, that’s an amazing customer experience.

Another company that comes to mind is Chick-fil-A. Customers rave about their fast, consistent, and friendly service. They’re also willing to go the extra mile. Consider the time an unexpected snowstorm his Birmingham, Alabama. People were stranded on the Interstate for hours. The local Chick-fil-A sprung into action, with staff hand-delivering hundreds of free chicken sandwiches to the stranded motorists. 

This just goes to show that exceeding customer expectations, in ways big and small, can generate goodwill and customer loyalty. 

Tips to Improve Customer Service 

Excellent customer service is a fine art that many businesses have yet to master. Here are a few recommendations to help you improve your customer care and turn first-time customers into long-term relationships.

Empathy: Great customer service requires a certain level of empathy. You have to be able to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and give every issue, no matter how trivial or complex, your full attention. Communicating empathy through voice tone is also important. 

Respond quickly: Everybody’s busy these days, and one of the fastest ways you can alienate customers is to waste their time. People are busier than ever, and the fastest way to turn a customer off is to waste their time. Speed doesn’t mean rushing the client. It means serving them within the timeframe they expect. Increasingly, that means offering an immediate response.

Practice active listening: Active listening is not the same thing as being quiet. It involves listening intently and reflecting back what the customer said, withholding judgment, and offering verbal nods. 

Resilience: It’s important to have a thick skin. Handling customer complaints and angry customers is part of the job description. The best agents can their feelings from the work and remember negativity is part of the territory. Often, you can kill’em with kindness. It’s difficult for a customer to remain angry with someone who is kind, humble, and agreeing with them. For managers, try screening for resilience during the hiring process. The best customer service reps already have resilience baked-in.  

More than a phone service: Customer service is more than just answering the phone when it rings. It’s dealing with problems on Twitter, Instagram, Gmail, or Facebook. It’s making product demos on TikTok, answering questions on Quora, and offering a live chat box on your website. In other words, good customer service is multichannel. 

Invest In training and tools: It’s essential to provide excellent customer service training to employees in areas like product knowledge, customer service, and communication skills. Also consider improving your internal processes through technology. For example, a CRM platform can automate many tedious tasks letting agents focus more on the customer relationship. It can also centralize all communication channels, from email to social media, into one convenient platform. 

Hire for a spirit of service: Many customer service skills can be taught and scripted. But the heart of the industry is having an attitude of service. And some people have a natural talent for it. In your interviews, look for core traits such as warmth, humility, and helpfulness. The best talent cares about the customer’s business and can handle many different customers. Customer service experience is also very helpful.

The Importance of Good Customer Service

Why is customer service important? According to the Harvard Business Review, it’s a major revenue driver and can make the difference between business success and failure. Yet many companies give customer service a low priority.

You can make your business stand out by treating customers like a valuable asset. At its simplest, customer service is creating a satisfying brand interaction. But you can use our tips and examples above to go from good customer service to great. Improve your customer service skills today and see your businesses thrive and your customer contacts soar. 

We all know when we’ve had exceptional customer service. We are not just satisfied with our transaction–we are delighted. Every step of the customer journey is easy, efficient, and pleasant. 

Consider an international success story. The Waldorf Astoria is known for delivering world-class customer service. Guests are given a personal concierge upon check-in. Housekeeping stocks the fridge with your favorite beverages and snacks. And they didn’t just invent the Waldorf salad–they invented room service itself.  The unparalleled Waldorf experience has made them a household name, with 32 locations worldwide and tens of millions in revenue.  

Clearly, great customer service is a strategy that pays. Eighty-four percent of companies report increased revenue after improving customer service. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a titan of industry like The Waldorf to deliver good customer service. You can follow these thirteen steps to improve your customer service now and keep customers happy.

Rules for the Best Customer Service Experience

We’ve reviewed the best practices in customer service across dozens of industries.  Here’s our list of the most effective ways to improve the customer service experience. 

#1 Set clear, consistent service standards with staff 

Even if a customer service process seems obvious, map out the steps for your staff.  For example, if you operate a hotel, you’ll have a series of actions that take place when checking in a guest.  Codify these tasks into a blueprint and keep it in plain sight, whether that’s online or in a simple printout. This ensures that even on an off day, your staff never misses a step in your process.  Every customer gets a consistent customer experience every day, with every rep, at every location. 

#2 Exceed Customer Expectations

The example above ensures your guests receive a standardized, competent customer experience.  The next step is figuring out how you can add value to the basic interactions your business performs. That’s what takes customer service from good to great.

For example, Holiday Inn Express greets its guests with a freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie. Nothing beats free food, especially after a long journey.  It’s a thoughtful touch that surprises and delights customers.  And it keeps Holiday Inn top of mind the next time they need a hotel.  With just a cookie, a new customer becomes a loyal customer. 

Welcoming gestures exist in the world of online business, too.  When you call retail giant Zappos, you don’t wade through a complex automated phone system.  A warm and friendly human answers the phone. Why not give them a ring?  Zappos is a great case study in how to provide excellent customer service over the phone. 

A personalized touch can be replicated by your business too.  Try putting yourself in the shoes of your customer. What would make your customers happy? What service enhancers could deliver even better customer service? This is a great way to turn new customers into loyal customers.

#3 Seek and promote customer feedback

Often, customers know your business best and have the best customer service tips. So, embrace and analyze customer feedback to improve customer service. Online reviews, social media feeds, surveys, and rankings give insight into what it’s like doing business with you. 

It can be hard to keep track of the many avenues for customer feedback.  A CRM can track and measure important customer service metrics, like Customer Satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (NPS).   Some even offer ‘reputation management. This feature helps you track what people are saying about your brand online. You can respond to customer concerns and share positive comments, all from a single platform. Collecting and leveraging customer input also ensures you never stray too far from the needs of your customers.  

#4 Make it easy for customers to complain

It may seem counterintuitive to encourage criticism.  But customer complaints are a necessary part of doing business. If you’re unaware of a problem, you can’t fix it.  All customer feedback, good and bad, is an opportunity to learn.  Plus, giving customers a place to vent makes it less likely they’ll broadcast their complaints on social media.  It’s not that hard to turn a poor customer service experience around.  Sincerely responding to issues and correcting them often turn an unhappy customer into a brand advocate.

#5 Treat your staff as you treat your customers

It’s best to lead by example.  If you want your staff to treat customers with kindness, consistency, and respect, do the same for your employees.  Your entire organization then serves as a model for how to serve customers.

A willingness to listen, learn and admit mistakes also help create the humble attitude customers expect when voicing a problem.  Encourage employees to talk to you and listen to their problems.  When you care about how the staff feels they care about how customers feel.  This creates the added benefit of greater employee productivity.  When you build a positive work environment, absentee rates go down and performance.  

#6 Invest in customer service training

Starbucks once suspended business in all of its stores in the US (nearly 7,000 locations!) for a three-hour training session.  They even paid employees to attend.  To what end?  CEO Howard Schultz wanted to give all employees an intensive training course in preparing a great cup of joe and delivering a great customer experience.  How much did it cost in lost revenue?  Seven thousand stores do an awful lot of business in three hours.  But consider the long-term cost of not training employees. Starbucks recognizes the importance of training to improve customer satisfaction. 

And if a global giant like Starbucks still has room to grow, you probably need to improve customer service skills too..  A thoughtful, thorough training helps customer service teams meet their potential and customer expectations. Using an outside customer service trainer can have the added benefit of teaching customer service tips you may not have thought of. 

#7 Make use of customer data

Every day, your customer service agents collect huge amounts of data through customer interactions.  Each time someone answers the phone completes a service request, or follows up on a shipment, they learn something new and potentially valuable about your business. 

But where does this customer data usually go?  It ends up scribbled on a notepad or locked inside the employee’s head.  

You can set your customer service apart by leveraging customer data.  Software such as a CRM can collect customer data and make sense of it.  Imagine getting reports on the average time to handle a service issue or the number of calls that went unanswered.  CRM and other customer service software can identify patterns in your customer service performance. You can then improve customer support with data-driven insight. A CRM can also measure improvements in customer service. 

#8 Check out your competitors

Stealing customers away from rival brands is every business owner’s dream.  One way to do it is to exceed their level of customer service.  You can use market research and CRM software for a little competitor analysis.  What do their customers say about your rivals and their customer care?  Maybe there are customer issues you can exploit. Alternatively, if customer satisfaction is high, study what their happy customers have to say.  You can also do business with them.  Or simply ring up competitors to see how they treat customers.  You’d be surprised how many companies can’t provide good customer service over the phone. Big and small, other businesses can provide data to improve customer service ideas. 

#9 Hold regular customer service internal review sessions

With your CRM reports in hand, you can hold customer service teams accountable.  Internal reviews ensure that best practices in customer service skills are being followed.  Without accountability, a customer service rep may serve up empty promises, excuses, or worse–blame the customers!  Collaborative reviews also provide insight and teaching moments between colleagues.  For example, you may have a call center agent who nails customer service interactions every time.  They are sure to have tips for great customer service over the phone. You can use your star performer in each department to deliver customer service tips. From there, turn tips into a customer service strategy.

You can use these sessions as a reality check on where your customer service stands and where you can still do better.  Customers see their feedback is acted upon.  When you use their own feedback to boost customer satisfaction.

#10 Use service level agreements (SLAs)

The customer’s always right.  Or are they? Some days, you may wish you could improve your customer.  Jokes aside, this truism may be an impossible standard. Internal reviews can lead to better service-level agreements.  You get a realistic perspective of what your customer expects and what your agents can realistically deliver.  Realistic expectations prevent burnout in your customer service agents. 

SLAs also set measurable objectives for customer service.  You can then use a CRM to track all the hours, tasks, and other metrics that ensure you meet your contractual obligations. And having an SLA may woo more potential customers to your business. With an SLA you can offer customers something many rivals can’t–clarity and an official guarantee. 

#11 Hire for attitude

Great customer support begins at the point of hire.  While most customer service skills can be taught, attitude is ingrained.  Before hiring a new customer service rep, screen for the right attitude.  Add plenty of theoretical questions to the interview that test their commitment to customer service.  For example, you can question how they’d handle a difficult customer.  You can also test for how far they’re willing to go the extra mile for customers.  Humility is another important mindset for great customer support.  Most customers will be forgiving if your team can admit mistakes and make things right. 

#12 Personalize you customer service

Today, there is no average customer.  People want to be seen and treated as individuals.  One of the best ways to make a customer feel special is with a detailed customer profile.  You can create a 360-degree view of your customers using CRM software.  A CRM platform lets you collect customized customer data, such as a nickname, hobby, birthday, and more.  You can also attach a client’s entire interaction history to their profile.  That way you always keep the conversation personal and relevant.  You also don’t make customers repeat themselves every time they deal with a new customer service agent.  Anyone in the organization is equally capable of helping the customer and providing seamless interaction with the company.  

#13 Have a formal system for handling complaints

Having a formal review of customer complaints helps reduce churn.  It ensures no customer walks out the door without you attempting to solve the problem.  And strangely enough, handling a customer issue skillfully can make them more fond of you than a customer that’s experienced zero customer service issues.  So make sure your complaint handling process is known to both customers and staff.  Put a deadline on complaint resolution.  Then, you’re well on your way to creating loyal customers versus losing customers. 

Improve Customer Service To Keep Customers Loyal

Customer service teams are the face of your brand.  They can literally make or break your business.  The above tips offer plenty of areas to improve customer service.  Invest in your teams, tools, and training to create a great customer experience that yields lasting client relationships.

At times, while trying to switch between single to multi-user mode, you may encounter QuickBooks Error H101. The error appears on your screen with a warning message. There are several reasons that can trigger the error code H101 such as incorrect file configuration, PC is unable to connect with the server, incoming/outgoing communication is blocked, and so on. This blog will help you get aware of the possible causes and the resolution methods that may help you fix them at the earliest.

What Are The Possible Causes Of QuickBooks Desktop Error H101?

Here, we have mentioned some of the possible causes that may bring forth the Error H101 in QuickBooks:

• You are unable to connect your personal computer with the Server.
• The correct allocation of a file is not accessible from the server.
• QuickBooks error H101 takes place if QuickBooks firewall settings block access to company files.
• When the incoming and outgoing communication gets blocked, you may end up with error code H101.
• Another reason is damaged or incorrect file configuration.
• You won’t be able to access the File on the system.
• QuickBooks is unable to track the IP address of your system.
• It takes place when the file is located in none installed server.

After getting aware of the possible causes, you can move to the resolution methods mentioned below to QuickBooks error H101.

Solutions To Troubleshoot Error H101 QuickBooks

Below we have mentioned some of the effective solutions that can help you fix QuickBooks error H101 without any hassle: 

Solution 1: Verify Hosting

• In the first place, you need to open the QuickBooks software on every computer.
• After that, select the required file and then click on utilities.
• In case you see Host Multi-User Access on the list, you can move to the next PC. You don’t need to make any changes in case you see Host Multi-User Access.
• Then, select the “Stop Hosting Multi-User Access” icon.
• At last, you need to repeat the above-mentioned steps on every system.

Solution 2: Verify QuickBooks Services

• To begin, press the Windows +R keys simultaneously for opening the run box.
• Then, in the run box, you need to type services.MSc and press the Enter key.
• You have to scroll down and in the services window, search for the QuickBooksDBXX service.
• After that, you need to make sure that the startup type is set to automatic and service status is running.
• Right after that, click on the recovery tab and then click on the drop-down menu for the first failure to choose to restart the Service.
• In case, if it fails, do the same for the Second failure and Subsequent failures.
• Click on OK to save the changes made.
• After that, repeat the steps from 1-6 for the QBCFMonitorService.
• Lastly, you need to open QuickBooks on every affected workstation, in multi-user mode.

Solution 3: Create a New Folder For Your Company File

• Firstly, you have to create a new folder and share it at the hosting computer.
• Then, set windows to get the entry for sharing company files.
• You have to copy the “.qbw file” to the new folder.
• At last, open company files in multi-user mode.

Solution 4: Run QuickBooks File Doctor Tool

QuickBooks File Doctor tool can help in detecting the error itself. Along with that, it successfully resolves several QuickBooks errors. Thus, you can download QB File Doctor on your system and once it is installed, you can run the program. It will surely help you fix the H101 error in QuickBooks.

Conclusion

We hope the resolution methods mentioned in this blog would have helped you resolve QuickBooks error H101 without any hassle. If you need any further assistance, we suggest you give us a call on our Toll-Free Number +1-855-948-3651 and get in touch with our experts.

Certified Information Systems Auditor is offered by ISACA. CISA certification validates the skills and expertise of the candidates or professionals in auditing, security, and monitoring.

Some of the most important CISA interview questions and answers:

1. Define RFC.

Request for change is a method which brings up changes to the system by setting up the authorization. The harmful changes should be detected and identified by the CISA auditor before it damages the security of the network. RFC monitors any changes occurring in the system.

2. Explain Change Movement.

The individuals who are responsible for detecting any harmful or risk generating elements in the system and also the ill impact of the various changes in the system are called change movements. The threat of the change that impacts network security is detected and located by CISA.

3. Explain the network encryption purpose.

Network Encryption is used for protecting and securing the privacy of the data or resources which pass through the network.

4. If you locate a defect in the system while working as an audit, what will be your response?

The existing defects or error is not fixed by auditors. However, these errors are noted down in a report, which is then submitted to the owners of the system to review the report. It is the responsibility of the system owners to decide the steps to take regarding the existing defect or error.

5. Define sociability testing.

Sociability testing is done to check whether the application is working accurately or not in a particular environment.

6. What are the two categories of backup methods utilized for the remote backup sites

?

The two types of categories of backup methods are electronic vaulting and shadow file processing.

7. Define one benefit of having endless auditing.

The security and safety of the organization are enhanced due to continuous or endless auditing.

8. What is the downfall involved in the utilization of long asymmetric encryption keys?

Although the asymmetric encryption is considered to be more safe and secure, it is considered to be a slow technique, and it also increases the expenses charged.

9. What is a honeypot?

Honeypot is known as a device or instrument which provides safety and protection against the unauthorized access of unknown sources by creating a fake trap that includes information that looks real and legitimate.

10. Define BIA, and its uses.

BIA is commonly known as Business Impact Analysis, which is helpful in building up the Business Continuity Plan.

11. You are an auditor evaluating and analyzing the network of an industry which offers the wireless access for a decided price, which is needed to complete the financial resource processes. SSL and WTLS are applied in the wireless network connection of the organization. What should be the topmost fear?

The topmost threat or fear may include the possibility of a hacker compromising the WAP gateway.

12. What are the features which should be evaluated and analyzed by an IT system auditor?

The system IT auditor must guarantee that all the staffs or the users have the entree to the user guides and system documentation.

13. Define CA.

The PKI technology has a certificate authority which is also known as CA.

14. What are the processes that can be carried out by a CA?

The CA is responsible for creating a link amongst the requesting entity and its public key.

15. Define BCP.

The response to any incident is made through the utilization of the Business Continuity Plan, also known as BCP.

16. What are the downfalls of having a weak control application and policy definitions?

The downfalls of a weak control application include providing access to unknown sources, which increases the threat and breach, and bad quality network configurations, which can result in a decreased quality of performance.

17. While providing access to the third part associations, what are the controls that should be implemented?

Allowing the creation of a guess account or profile which has limited access and has an already determined deadline.

18. Name the risk which might occur from insufficient software baselining

The risk or defect which can occur from an insufficient software baselining is known as scope creep.

19. Name the standard protocol which is utilized by the internet.

The protocol mostly used by the majority of the internal networks and also by the internet is the TCP/IP.

20. Name the dynamic analysis tool used for testing the modules of software.

The tool used is the Black box test.

21. Mention the methods through which data of a company can be lost.

The two harmful methods of losing data include malware and hackers.

22. What is a CISA audit trail?

Audit trails are used to monitor the confidential information of the company.

23. What are the kinds of processes that can be included in the deployment process to improve security?

Forms can be given out to the developers in order to fill it up to detect and track each and every change and note down or document the systems in which changes are applied during the deployment process.

24. If a change harms a system, what happens next?

The change management employees and the CISA are in charge of announcing a rollback.

25. Explain the methods that can assist CISA auditor in gaining an enhanced idea of the working of the system.

Reading documents, communicating with the management, watch the other employees perform the processes, and understand the system log and data.

Are you planning to increase your brand’s social media engagement? Starting your social media content with a proper plan can help you enhance your engagement rates and help in kick-starting your social media game. However, setting up a plan for various social media channels can be intimidating.

With every business on social media, it is quite challenging to develop a strategy that beats the competition. Marketers often complain that they spend so much time scheduling content; they hardly have any brainpower left to think of innovative content ideas.

Although several planning tools and technologies are available to help you plan your content, they are not sufficient. For a content marketing strategy to be effective, you need a deep understanding of your target audience, well-defined objectives, and effective content management systems.

We have compiled a simple guide for you to plan your weekly social media content. Below are the 7 steps which you can easily follow to organize and manage your content:

1.     Identifying Platforms

The first and foremost step is to analyze which social media platform suits your business model the best. To get a better insight at why is this important, let’s have a look at a few stats:

• More than 70% of Facebook users are 18–24-year-olds
• More than 74% of Instagram users are 18–24-year-olds
• More than 40% of Twitter users are 18–24-year-olds

Similarly, usage varies from country to country and interest to interest. For example, LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals as compared to Gen Z, which are more interested in social media platforms like TikTok, which is why you need to identify the right platforms for your business.

Knowing where your target audience is highly engaged can help you in developing a perfect social media content plan.

Key Takeaway: Look at your social Medias insights to monitor and track your audience’s engagement.

2.   Different Goals for Each Platform

Each social media platform works differently; hence the content displayed on it requires to be platform appropriate as well. Having a separate goal for each platform can help you identify your progress across each platform without confusing them all in one.

Simply write down your desired goal for each platform without mixing them. For example, Instagram is more effective than other social media sites for enhancing user engagement so you can develop your Instagram goal as:

• To increase brand engagement in the primary target audience by 5% through user-generated content

On the other hand, Facebook can give you access to a broader audience, and so you can set goals to increase your brand’s reach through attractive posts and linking them with your website landing page.

For instance, Boohoo, a fashion retailer, continues to drive sales and engagement through its innovative social media strategy. They use a mix of video, images, and text-based content to keep their users engaged and entertained. On Insta, you can peruse through their delightful posts that take a Boohoo spin on current trends and pop culture to increase user engagement. On the other hand, they do sales promotion on their Facebook page as it has a wider audience.

3.   Styles

The tone, style, and content are different for each of your social media platforms. Although you need to present a unified message, the style of content should be different for each platform. For example, Instagram is famous for its stories, live casts, light-hearted content, and photography-based content. On the other hand, TikTok is more for video content that includes music, voice-overs, animations, and so on. Paying attention to the style you want to follow for your social media is important, and it helps deliver the message that you are trying to get across.

Many small businesses are using social media to their advantage, especially during COVID. One such brand, carpet cleaning, is utilizing social media effectively by maintaining the same friendly tone and yet using different styles of content to reach their target audience. For instance, their Facebook contains detailed information on how to contact the business along with feed ads. On the other hand, their Instagram is geared towards creating brand recognition and engagement through conversational content.

4.   Plan Ahead

One of the most common mistakes that people usually make in content is that they don’t plan, which makes it difficult to manage your content schedule. How much is going to post in a day, and at what time? How many posts on each platform? How many videos and how many audio posts are you aiming for?

You must have a planned answer for all these questions and more to form a coherent and well-executed content strategy.

Similarly, you need to plan for upcoming events, specially curated content that promotes the brand in the relevant socio-cultural environment. Planning ahead can give you room for creativity and experimentation with your content, such as surprise sales, giveaways, influencer collaborations, etc.

5.    Create a Content Calendar

Having a content calendar has multiple benefits, but most of all, it helps you stay on track and focus on meeting your targets. Having a content calendar can take away a lot of your stress and help in keeping things aligned.

A social media calendar can help you:

• Stay consistent
• Save times
• Can help you brainstorm more ideas before posting
• Fewer chances of making typing errors

Using a social media calendar can help you strategically observe worldwide global moments and events and then plan your content accordingly. Another advantage of planning content is that it gives you more time to plan creative content strategies. When marketers don’t have to worry about posting content multiple times a day, they can direct their energies towards creating the most engaging content.

6.   Content is Visual Too

Now that you are focusing on content creation, you should be careful about the graphics and visual appeal of the Images and Videos you choose. There are millions of posts on social media every day, and to leave your mark, your content must have amazing graphics.

Also, be careful about the dimensions of each platform and create your posts accordingly. There is no need for high-quality equipment to create content; however, learning some basic editing software can help you improve your social media game.

Some of the tools, including VSCO, Lightroom, and Snapseed, have made editing easier and faster. You can also try Canva to create custom dimension posts for specific channels.

7.    Track and Analyze Your Content

Now that you have started posting your content, you must track analyze their performance. Most of the social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram show insights through which you can monitor your post-performance.

Other than inbuilt analyzers, you can also use online tools like Google Analytics, to track your performance. These tools will monitor multiple factors like what time is your audience most active on, which posts got the highest reach, etc.

The analysis can help you focus on improving the areas that are lagging and can provide you a detailed review of your efforts. Through these analyses, you can monitor your campaigns and improve them based on the reach and response you got.  You must also perform a social media audit at least once a month to figure out all the problems in your strategy and work on it.

Final Thoughts

The above mentioned step-by-step guide indicates how you can create and manage a social media content campaign while saving time. Remember to focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to content creation. The more relevant posts you create, the better response rate you will receive.