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5 Must Have Skills for Social Media Manager in 2018

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Imagine you launched a brand and within two weeks you were able to garner over 5000 audience as ‘loyal fans’. It is actually in this era of social media that such can become very possible, owing to the fact it the networks have become ubiquitous. Yes, from Facebook to Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, the convergence they bring makes it possible that any brand can easily be noticed. Oh, but it is not quite easy to achieve. It takes a ‘special hand’ to bring your brand to the ‘flash spot’ on the social media space. As Celestine Achi, the founder of DigitalPR-Wire would say, “We are in the era of engagement economy where the digital natives will enjoy the competition whereas the laggards will be digitally punished, because they will continue to lose customers”. This is very true, and in this article, GrassRoots.ng want to show you the skill sets to look out for while searching for a Social Media Manager

  1. Writing Skill

It may not be necessarily advanced writing skills, however, a social media manager should have a good command of the language and the ability to express him or herself in writing. While your social media manager may not be writing blog posts, he or she will be communicating with customers on a daily basis – and 99% of this communication will be in writing.

Can he/she clearly convey your brand’s idea in writing? Is he/she able to maintain a consistent voice when writing on behalf of the company? Can he/she convey passion and excitement for the business or products(s) through his/her writing? Can he/she maintain top-notch professionalism and avoid embarrassing grammatical or spelling errors? These are questions you must ask yourself.

  1. Graphics production

When he/she has finished penning down the article, can this person translate the piece to work of graphics that can ‘sell’ or ‘tell’ the brand’s message?

According to Jeff Bullas, articles with images receive 94% more views than those without. Buffer says tweets with images receive 18% more clicks than those without, and research from Wishpond shows photo posts on Facebook get 120% more engagement than other types of posts.

So, the choice is yours because for businesses targeting women, millennials or teens, images are even more important. Visual-centric platforms targeting these demographics – like Pinterest and Instagram – require a near-constant influx of high-quality, original images.

  1. Near perfect understanding of SEO and content marketing

Yes, we say near perfect understanding of search engine optimisation (SEO), because it is difficult to get someone with 100% skills set in that area in Nigeria. But as a person involved in the day-to-day management, promotion and distribution of blog content, an understanding of SEO and content marketing is a must have skill for your social media manager. He or she should have a big picture understanding of how blog and social media content fit into search rankings, and how all content operates within the business’s marketing funnel.

  1. A customer-service orientation

Please, take this very seriously, because lack of customer service acumen is actually one of the reasons customers fall out with brands these days. With more customers than ever using social media to get assistance from brands, your social media manager must be customer-service minded. Posting pithy or clever sayings, captivating images and inspirational content will only get you so far if you’re not responding appropriately to customer-service queries.

Your social media manager should understands what a quick response to questions and complaints, and “customer first” mindset really are! The SMM’s ability to move difficult questions offline are all important aspects of social customer service. A successful social media manager knows that your social media presence is your brand’s face online; that everything they say or do on social media is a representation of the brand – for good or for bad.

  1. Social advertising experience

Now, focusing directly to the SMM: According to the Salesforce 2015 State of Marketing report, social media advertising is one of the top two priorities for marketers this year. In fact, 70% of marketers say they plan to increase spending in this area in 2015.

Social ads may look like traditional ads, but come with their own unique challenges and opportunities. You need to understand this. Unlike traditional magazine, TV or newspaper ads, social ads are competing directly with content created specifically for the user – from friends and family members. Despite this challenge, social ads also offer the ability for unprecedented targeting and the ability to take advantage of online word-of-mouth marketing. A social media manager must understand how to utilize social ads to take advantage of these opportunities and to scale their organic social media effects.

(You can consult GrassRoots.ng for your SMM concerns).

 

 

GrassRoots.ng is on a critical mission; to objectively and honestly represent the voice of ‘grassrooters’ in International, Federal, State and Local Government fora; heralding the achievements of political and other leaders and investors alike, without discrimination. This daily, digital news publication platform serves as the leading source of up-to-date information on how people and events reflect on the global community. The pragmatic articles reflect on the life of the community people, covering news/current affairs, business, technology, culture and fashion, entertainment, sports, State, National and International issues that directly impact the locals.

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inq.Digital Supports Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1.0]

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PAFOn 1.0
PAFON SPEAKERS

Inq. Digital Nigeria Limited has been announced as a sponsor of Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1.0] maiden edition holding this Thursday in Lagos.

inq. Digital Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of inq. Group is an emerging leading digital and cloud solutions provider that delivers simpler seamless solutions to complex business challenges.

With offices in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano, inq. provides reliable and affordable Intelligent Connectivity, SDN/NFV, Cloud and Digital services (including Edge –AI) for Nigerian businesses including those in the payment space.

Participation is FREE, however, pre-registration is required: https://bit.ly/4c4N19H.

Speaking ahead of Payments Forum Nigeria [PAFON 1,0] scheduled to take place at Oriental Hotel, Lekki Road, Lagos on Thursday, March 21, 2024 by 9am under the theme: “Payments: Trust, Security and Privacy in AI Era”, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, the co-founder of TechCastle Foundation, the organisers, said the goal is to enable information exchange and knowledge sharing on key industry insights issues amongst key stakeholders, with the objective of ensuring a collaborative and proactive approach to push for policies that enable growth, tackling/mitigating fraud and limiting occurrences and losses.

Speakers

The following speakers are lined up for the Forum: Chibuzo Efobi, Director, Payments System Management, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Festus Amede, Chairman, Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial institutions (CCISONFI; Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, Chief Visionary Officer (CVO), Digital Encode Limited; Adetokunbo Omotosho, Chief Executive Officer, Cybervergent; Roosevelt Elias, Founder, Payble; Ikenna Ndugbu, chief compliance officer, Moniepoint MFB, and Peter Evbota, Sales Director at inq. Digital Nigeria Limited.

Payments Forum Nigeria is organised by TechCastle Foundation and sponsored by: inq. Digital Nigeria Limited, Cybervergent, Moniepoint, Digital Encode Limited, Payble with support from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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S Mobile Tech Hub Opens Registration to Entrepreneurs in Southeast

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Kingsely Adonu, founder and CEO, S Mobile Group

•⁠ ⁠500 successful candidates to get starter-packs

•⁠ ⁠Rolls our Free Data, Airtime to Civil Servants, Students, others

S Mobile Tech Hub, an offspring of S Mobile Group has open applications to technology entrepreneurs in the Southeast Nigeria.

S Mobile Tech Hub was recently conceived by Mr. Kingsley Adonu, a visionary entrepreneur and CEO/Founder S Mobile Group, who aims to manifest the Group’s deliberate programmes towards building a dynamic and vibrant startup ecosystem in eastern region of the country.

APPLY by visiting www.smobilegroup.com to register.

Speaking against this backdrop, Mr. Adonu, said that even against tremendous challenges faced by the youth in the Southeast, they must be actively engaged in digital skills development in order to eschew social vices and make positive contributions towards maintaining peace and progress in the region.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our young people are facing numerous barriers to participating in formal and informal sectors today. In December 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. The resolution was the first to recognise the important role young people can play in preventing conflicts, and sustaining peace.

“It is on this premise and more that S Mobile is thinking out of the box by extending digital skills programmes to empower the youth to be more economically relevant. This will also go a long way in supporting the efforts of the Governors in the Southeast who are not resting on their oars until we have crime-free society with less poverty index.

“S Mobile Tech Hub has been positioned as a platform for entrepreneurs to leverage trends to accelerate their skills and innovation especially in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, etc., which have become embedded in our daily lives.

“We are rolling out free data and airtime to civil servants, students, farmers and other entrepreneurs, for connecting with MTN Nigeria services.

Also during the cohort 1 of S Mobile Tech Hub programme 500 successful technology entrepreneurs across the Southeast region will be sponsored with the starter-tools to live their dreams.

“Together, let’s turn technology into your personal pathway to empowerment, growth, and societal well-being. Don’t just dream about a brighter tomorrow; let’s build it together today!”, the company said on Wednesday.

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GRTech

2024 Sophos Threat Report: Cybercrime on Main Street Details Cyberthreats Facing SMBs

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Sophos Launches Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
  • Data and Credential Theft Malware are Top Two Threats Against SMBs in 2023, Accounting for Nearly 50% of All Malware Sophos Detected Targeting this Market Segment
  • Ransomware Still the Biggest Threat to SMBs; Business Email Compromise on the Rise, Along with More Sophisticated Social Engineering Tactics

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today released its annual 2024 Sophos Threat Report, with this year’s report detailing “Cybercrime on Main Street” and the biggest threats facing small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs*).

According to the report, in 2023, nearly 50% of malware detections for SMBs were keyloggers, spyware and stealers, malware that attackers use to steal data and credentials.

Attackers subsequently use this stolen information to gain unauthorized remote access, extort victims, deploy ransomware, and more.

The Sophos report also analyses initial access brokers (IABs)—criminals who specialize in breaking into computer networks.

As seen in the report, IABs are using the dark web to advertise their ability and services to break specifically into SMB networks or sell ready-to-go-access to SMBs they’ve already cracked.

Sophos
Above: Discovered by Sophos X-Ops: a sample of a dark web forum post advertising access to a small U.S. accounting firm. Additional examples of cybercriminal forum ads targeting SMBs, by industry and country, are in the 2024 Sophos Threat Report.

“The value of ‘data,’ as currency has increased exponentially among cybercriminals, and this is particularly true for SMBs, which tend to use one service or software application, per function, for their entire operation. For example, let’s say attackers deploy an infostealer on their target’s network to steal credentials and then get hold of the password for the company’s accounting software. Attackers could then gain access to the targeted company’s financials and have the ability to funnel funds into their own accounts,” said Christopher Budd, director of Sophos X-Ops research at Sophos. “There’s a reason that more than 90% of all cyberattacks reported to Sophos in 2023 involved data or credential theft, whether through ransomware attacks, data extortion, unauthorized remote access, or simply data theft.”

Ransomware Still the Biggest Cyberthreat to SMBs

While the number of ransomware attacks against SMBs has stabilized, it continues to be the biggest cyberthreat to SMBs. Out of the SMB cases handled by Sophos Incident Response (IR), which helps organizations under active attack, LockBit was the top ransomware gang wreaking havoc. Akira and BlackCat were second and third, respectively. SMBs studied in the report also faced attacks by lingering older and lesser-known ransomware, such as BitLocker and Crytox.

Ransomware operators continue to change ransomware tactics, according to the report. This includes leveraging remote encryption and targeting managed service providers (MSPs).

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of ransomware attacks that involved remote encryption—when attackers use an unmanaged device on organizations’ networks to encrypt files on other systems in the network—increased by 62%.

In addition, this past year, Sophos’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team responded to five cases involving small businesses that were attacked through an exploit in their MSPs’ remote monitoring and management (RMM) software.

Attackers Sharpen Their Social Engineering and Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks

Following ransomware, business email compromise (BEC) attacks were the second highest type of attacks that Sophos IR handled in 2023, according to the Sophos report.

These BEC attacks and other social engineering campaigns contain an increasing level of sophistication. Rather than simply sending an email with a malicious attachment, attackers are now more likely to engage with their targets by sending a series of conversational emails back and forth or even calling them.

In an attempt to evade detection by traditional spam prevention tools, attackers are now experimenting with new formats for their malicious content, embedding images that contain the malicious code or sending malicious attachments in OneNote or archive formats.

In one case Sophos investigated, the attackers sent a PDF document with a blurry, unreadable thumbnail of an “invoice.” The download button contained a link to a malicious website.

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