Business Tech

Uncovering your IT vulnerabilities (and fixing them) even before hackers can get to them is a great way to protect your company. After all, if you know the security gaps in your IT systems first, you’ll understand how they can be exploited, allowing you to set up the right protection measures. You can do all this and bulletproof your online store by implementing automated penetration testing, which can help you remediate your IT infrastructure’s vulnerabilities.

It’s a crucial tool in a cybersecurity analyst or service provider’s toolkit to conduct regular assessments to identify potential weaknesses that attackers can use as entry points to take over your systems. In this guide, we’ll look into what automated pen testing is, why it’s a critical part of your business’s overall security strategy, and how it will benefit your company.

Automated penetration testing: A quick overview

To understand how automated penetration testing works, you need to first understand what penetration testing is. From a 30,000 feet perspective, a penetration (or pen) test is a process where security testers attempt to find system vulnerabilities and “exploit” them to assess the IT infrastructure’s integrity.

Data shows that 70% of organizations perform penetration tests to measure their security posture. The testers simulate attacks to the system, network, and applications, adopting a “hacker-like” mindset to find existing weaknesses using tools that attackers will most likely use. However, an automated pen test doesn’t mean a fully automated version of this process. It involves a set of activities that can still require manual on top of automated procedures.

Some of the pen testing processes that testers can automate include detecting software flaws, such as a server with missing security patches, weak passwords, and unintended security credentials that are exposed to the internet. Essentially, automated pen testing refers to the tools and processes testers use to automate crucial parts of running penetration tests.

For instance, running manual scans on each system takes too much time and effort. With automated pen testing, testers can use vulnerability scanners to go through multiple systems simultaneously. Testers can also utilize automated exploit tools to perform simulated attacks and detect system flaws.

Penetration testing vs. vulnerability assessments

While penetration testing is often confused with vulnerability assessments, the two are not the same. Vulnerability scans are automated tests that use off-the-shelf scanning tools to find common system weaknesses.

Automated pen tests have a broader scope and combine human-led and machine intelligence to identify and exploit system security defense gaps. With automated pen testing, security analysts can cover more ground and assess vulnerabilities deeper, helping you understand and significantly reduce potential cybersecurity risks to your business.

Benefits of automated pen testing

Identifying your IT infrastructure’s security flaws can take tons of time and resources. Every minute those gaps are out in the open provides plenty of opportunities for hackers to launch their attack and take over your system.

Automated pen testing helps mitigate this risk, along with the following benefits.

Greater coverage

It’s challenging to perform manual pen testing if your business owns thousands of assets across multiple locations. You’ll need enough resources, time, and skilled testers to cover everything. However, with automated penetration testing tools, cybersecurity analysts can test for vulnerabilities more efficiently and with less human intervention.

Automated tools reduce the manual tasks in the pen testing process, covering a huge number of systems for thousands of weaknesses in less the time and energy it takes using traditional pen testing methods.

For example, testers can perform manual crawling on your system, then guide automated pen testing tools by identifying the scope required for the scan. This helps cover all your systems, assets, and entire IT infrastructure, allowing you to identify existing and new vulnerabilities and implement proper protection measures promptly.

Additionally, automated pen testing tools perform many of the test’s basic parts, allowing testers to focus their time on finding and dealing with potentially more advanced cyber attacks.

A more efficient testing process

Automated pen tests streamline the testing process, allowing you to identify system vulnerabilities quicker and put the right security measures to address the gaps. Automated pen testing also means more tests you can conduct since cybersecurity experts can configure the tools to test targets for various attack types using hundreds (or thousands) of payloads in one go.

Manually doing this would suck up a lot of time and effort, even for a team of testers. However, you can streamline the pen testing process with automated tools. This, in turn, can save your business from some of the average penetration testing costs of around $3,000 per month, and other expenses on tools, service fees, and manpower (among others).

Deliver reports faster

Manually documenting manual pen testing reports can take up a huge chunk of your resources.

However, automated penetration testing tools with robust reporting features can deliver findings quickly, sometimes in a single click (depending on the test’s complexity and scope).

Many automated penetration testing solutions also allow testers to customize reports, so you get the granular and comprehensive findings you need to address your system’s security vulnerabilities.

Aid your compliance with regulations

Penetration testing plays a critical role in your business’s efforts to comply with specific standards and regulations. For instance, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Requirement 11.2 mandates regular vulnerability assessments for the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) and its associated critical systems.

Automated penetration testing tools streamlines complying with this requirement for your business. It also helps your company maintain proper customer data privacy and protection.

Automated pen testing tools

An ideal automated penetration testing includes a set of tools that allow pen testers and service providers to automate as many parts of the process while manually following up results (when necessary). Ensure your internal cybersecurity team or chosen third-party individuals (including service providers) use a network vulnerability management suite. This allows security analysts to conduct scans across your company’s entire network to find vulnerabilities efficiently.

Another critical pen testing technique reliable pen testers use is the MITRE ATT&CK® framework. This is a knowledge base accessed globally that contains techniques and adversary tactics based on real-world observations.

It includes systemized adversary tactics and techniques that give cybersecurity analysts the reference framework and taxonomy of the cyber-attack kill chain.

In a nutshell, the MITRE ATT&CK® framework helps testers build meaningful, life-like attacks to help your business challenge, assess, and optimize your system and IT infrastructure security controls.

Additionally, your pen testers should have the basic web penetration testing tools to determine common security flaws such as SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).

Are you ready to implement automated penetration testing?

While there is no 100% guaranteed protection from all sorts of cyber-attacks, automated penetration testing can help you mitigate some of the potential risks to your business.

Automated penetration testing streamlines discovering vulnerabilities within your systems, giving you the information you need to understand your security gaps.

This helps you implement robust security measures to prevent potential attacks resulting from system, network, and web app weaknesses that hackers exploit.

 

Social networks are, without a reservation, the best spot that exists at the moment on the web for the promotion of products and services, to publicize stores, brands, etc., is a perfect channel due to the vast amount of people who form part of programs so as Instagram, the most famous social network of the second.

Instagram has changed the way content is distributed on the network. It has achieved thanks to its highly dynamic operation, which allows all users to share images, videos, comments, and other content in the form of stories or even broadcasts direct. Undoubtedly, all these possibilities offered by the social network can be taken advantage of by companies, which have before them a magnificent opportunity to publicize their new products and services while improving the reputation of their label.

On this platform, as by the support of social networks, it is considered that a brand, company, or person is more prevalent the greater the number of followers it has, something that many companies take into account when it comes to promoting carry out a strategy that allows them to gain in importance, notoriety, and visibility among the users of the social network.

For this purpose, the buy Instagram followers is an increasingly recurring action, mainly because it allows to improve the positioning of an Instagram profile much faster than it would have to achieve those same results manually or make use of other marketing and advertising strategies.

Benefits Of Purchasing Followers On Instagram

Resorting to the buy Instagram followers has different advantages, among which we can highlight the following:

• Domino effect: Once you have many followers on your Instagram account, it will be immensely more likely that other characters will determine to support you for the purposes that we have shown first in this section. Your profile will be much more beautiful than other forms. It will attract them to your account, who will be able to learn more about your brand or company, as well as the products or services you donate. In short, they will have more data on you, and this will enable you to get followers.
• For this purpose, when it gets to buying Instagram followers, you will be indirectly making many other users decide, for themselves, to become your followers, thus making your account grow and become more and more common. This creates a steady spiral that will allow you to expand and grow, which will make you have an ever-larger public, a vast number of likely clients to attempt your services or goods.
• Obtaining benefits: Thanks to the buying of followers, you will secure your account, and this, in turn, will enable you to make savings through different means. Giving more visibility to all your services or products will increase your sales. However, for this, you will have to work to offer good content to your customers.
• In the same way, to give even more prominence to your account on Instagram, it is advisable to choose to carry out promotions or contests, which will make that at the same time that you promote your account, you are creating a connection with the followers, who will communicate and give and relation to your Instagram account. All this will depend on your promotion craft.
• Balance with the competition: If you are a new company or you are already extensive, but it is little known, the purchase of followers can help you when it comes to competing as equals with your main rivals, thus reducing the distances concerning your competition and even work to overcome it.

It would better if you ever kept in memory that Instagram followers can help you when it gets to moving fast on social networks and at the same time start earning money through the provision of some service or the sale of a product.

In this way, buying followers on Instagram is one of the best strategies to grow an account on this social network, which is currently the most used by users. In this way, you can achieve good results and the visibility you need to grow your business or brand.

Beyond buying followers because they represent several popularity within the platform, what is essential with this growth is encouraging other people to do the same, deciding to follow you and interacting with the company or brand through comments and likes, and even becoming clients of the same, which is the main objective of this type of actions that are carried out on social platforms.

So, you already know the advantages of buying followers, so we recommend that you take a look at all our packages. We offer you pack at meager prices, so you can increase your account in groups that range from 50 to 100,000 new followers on Instagram. You can also complement it with the purchase of likes and other actions.

Some celebrities found out the hard way that sending and uploading private photos and files to the cloud doesn’t guarantee that they won’t fall into the wrong hands. Whether or not they meant for these “accidents” to happen is not the issue. The fact is that if you’re a regular joe, you need to add reinforcements to cloud services to keep your information and data extra safe.

Computers and smartphones now have a cool way to store the images you take. They upload them automatically to the cloud. This means that your photos are safely stored in the cloud even if you lose your phone or laptop. What cooler way is there to never lose a single travel photo again, right? Although online photo storage services have become more convenient and highly secure in recent years, you can take extra measures to ensure safety and security when uploading photos to the cloud.

Check Your Phone’s Settings

Is your phone set to upload photos automatically from your phone or laptop? If you are planning to shoot some sensitive photos that are for your eyes only, then you need to turn that feature off. Once you upload the files to the cloud, you have no way of knowing who is going to see them. Of course, the idea is for the cloud service company never to let anyone near your personal files, but no one really knows what can happen in extreme cases.

After taking the photos and transferring them to a safe space, delete them from the folder in your phone or laptop that’s linked to your cloud account. You can then turn it on again, so you don’t need to upload future photos manually to the cloud. Automatic upload is still the most convenient way of using your cloud account.

Deleting Doesn’t Always Mean They’re Gone Forever 

When you lost your travel photos in the past, you moved heaven and earth to retrieve these files from the cloud. You were successful and became even more careful in organizing your files. Don’t you think the same system that allowed you to retrieve these beautiful photos in the Maldives will also keep the bad or sensitive ones? Deleting photos from your phone or laptop doesn’t always mean that they’re forever gone. That’s the idea, but some cloud companies do keep a copy of these in case they were deleted by accident. Keep in mind that this is normally a really good feature that would be a selling point for many people. So it’s your responsibility to be careful with your usage.

Every time you delete a sensitive file from your computer, check manually if it’s also deleted from the cloud. Once you delete it manually, there’s a better chance that it’s gone from the system forever. Don’t expect the system to read your mind and comply with what you need. Always check yourself.

Encrypt Your Files

You can protect your files locally and online. All you have to do is encrypt these files before uploading or sharing them with anyone. The easiest way to encrypt files is to zip them into a folder. You can then lock the folder and assign a password to it. There’s also an option to encrypt each file rather than the whole zip folder.

When setting a password, make a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Never use information that can be linked back to you. Don’t use words or phrases that you might have mentioned a time or two. Always be random when it comes to setting a password. Make it a habit to change it once every six months, too.

Turn on Two-factor Authentication

If there is an option for two-factor authentication, turn it on. This ensures that even if someone knows your password, he/she still cannot access your account. The second authentication will consist of sending a one-time code to your registered mobile number. Unless you lost your phone, no one should be able to access your accounts.

If you do lose your phone or laptop, make sure to access your cloud account and close it. You can also ask for help from the cloud company to help restrict access to your account until you retrieve your number. This will ensure that no one will be able to get into your accounts, even if they do have your phone or laptop.

The cloud provides huge convenience for everyone — whether in a personal or professional setting. But it is not without its challenges. With diligent, technical know-how, and a bit of investment, you should be able to protect all the sensitive files stored in your cloud system. You don’t need to suffer through sleepless nights because of the fear of what others might see.

With thousands of software development companies and software houses out there, it can be challenging to find the perfect match. It’s not impossible, though. All you have to do is follow this list of five crucial elements you should bear in mind when looking for a software development company. With all these boxes ticked, you’re on a straight course to a successful, long-term relationship.

As always, when you’re looking for a business partner, you have to do some research before you sign the dotted line. Software development is an important area of every modern company, and picking the wrong company can waste time and money. So, without further ado, let’s examine what you ought to remember about:

The best software development company: 5 elements

OUTSOURCING OR TEAM AUGMENTATION?

For starters, you have to think about the appropriate business model. In software development, there are two major models. The first one – outsourcing – works the same as everywhere else. There is an external software development company that provides services for you. This option is good when it’s your first software project, or you don’t have an internal IT team.

But what about team augmentation? Sometimes large corporations already have an in-house software development team. When new projects emerge, though, this team might not be sufficient. This is where team augmentation ups your game. That’s a blend of outsourcing and employment where you “hire” new specialists who temporarily support your team working on this new project. Both these models have some pros and cons. It all depends on your needs and capabilities.

AREA OF EXPERTISE

Although software development can be perceived as a relatively narrow field of expertise, it’s not. After all, we have web development, mobile development, video game development, and several other sub-branches. Before you make a decision, make sure you’re talking with a company that can really help you with your project. If you want to build a new mobile app, look for mobile development companies. This way, you can make sure the company of your choice has got whatever it takes to finish your app without unnecessary delays or complications.

THE SCOPE OF SERVICES

This point is related to the previous one, but here, we mean something a bit different. Our advice for you is to look for a company that can help you with software development and further maintenance and upgrades. Make sure you won’t be left on your own once the project is finished. After all, many apps and IT projects require regular maintenance and upgrades, not to mention dealing with potential glitches.

COMMUNICATION

Let’s be honest here; there has to be chemistry between two parties. If you find talking to your potential partners difficult or irritating, look for someone else. It’s the same situation with questions and doubts. If the company you’re negotiating with can’t provide straightforward, transparent answers to your questions, it’s not a good sign. Professional software houses understand that clients don’t have to know how the IT world works. Usually, it takes just 1-2 meetings to make a final decision about the quality of communication between your company and the software house.

AN AGREEMENT

Find a company that will have no problem signing an agreement with you. When it comes to software development, the agreement is essential. It should contain all the relevant conditions and parameters of the expected outcome. Make sure the contract you sign indicates both parties’ responsibilities and describes the result along with its functionalities and features.

If you’re looking for a software development company, see EL Passion.

 

The businesses that have not modernized their account payable functions face costly services that include manual data entry errors, lack of control, and fraud. They also witness the issues that involve disconnected communication efforts that are spent on tracking the invoice approvals.

One of the best ways to improve the Accounts Payable process is by taking all the invoices or bills into a centralized manner with the help of the accounts payable software. With the help of this tool, the bills can be automatically generated and entered into the central nervous system to have complete visibility of the invoices. In addition, modernizing the account payable functions also provides full control over the procure-to-pay by creating various digital audit trails that help track each step, communications, invoice changes, and the approvals associated with the invoice.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence is being used. Key information suggestions are provided like vendor information, invoice number, GL codes, and many more for manual data entry. With the help of the automated payable method, the potential duplicate payable invoices and the purchase order mismatches can be easily notified.

The AP automation can solve several other issues caused by the manual processes and increase the payable account efficiency in the workplace. Here are some ways in which AP automation helps in improving the account payable process-

1. Helps In Invoice Verification

The main role played by the accounts payable is to verify the invoices. When the invoices get approved manually, the verifications need much more time, and the three-step matching is nearly impossible for the invoices without the POs. However, the automation can make the verification process much more straightforward and offer control to all types of invoices.

Another important benefit of using AP automation is the ability to relate with anyone involved with the purchase, like the shipping receivers, procurement managers, and purchase requesters.

1. Helps In Centralizing The Invoice Communications

Communication always plays an important role in the Accounts Payable and approval of the invoices. Making an invoice can involve several people in the chain, like the purchase requesters, the receivers, contributors, approvers, and vendors. With the help of AP automation, you can easily track and log the communications that happen on the invoice, one of the primary account payable process improvements that the AP platform can solve.

The invoice acts as the centralized communications hub in various ways for answering the queries, field updates, approvals, and rejections. It makes the communication thread and information fast accessible and helps the approvers to approve the invoices soon. The long emails, unreturned phone calls, and voicemail messages are no longer needed in this case.

1. Detecting Potential Frauds

Many large and small companies have spent lots of money by paying fake invoices. With the help of AP automation, companies can now detect these potential frauds. Apart from reducing the data entry, the Account Payable platform helps in identifying duplicate invoices.

These are some ways by which the account payable automation has helped businesses make the invoice handling and proper business management.

Workplace health and safety is a vital component of every single Australian business. Not only are there rules and regulations to abide by, but you also want your employees, visitors and customers to be within a safe and secure environment.

This article is going to focus on some tips to ensure your workplace is safe for everyone involved.

#1 – Everyone Needs To Be Involved In Health and Safety

Health and safety in the workplace isn’t the sole responsibility of the business owner or management staff. Everyone involved in the daily running of the business, from owners to employees, are responsible for workplace health and safety. After all, everybody there is already playing a role whether they realise it or not.

So, how do you get everyone involved and onboard?

First, it’s important that all employees are aware of the rules and regulations that govern your industry. People can’t be expected to abide by the laws if they don’t even know what they are. It’s not just about following the rules though, as all involved should have a focus on practising common sense and trying to guarantee safety and hygiene at all times.

Regular staff meetings are also a positive idea. This way, any changes to regulations can be relayed to everybody all at the same time. You can also use these team meetings as think tank sessions, where ideas and concerns regarding workplace safety can be brought to everyone’s attention.

The most effective way of guaranteeing a safe work environment is through a team effort, a constant focus on problem areas and coming up with solutions

#2 – Identify Hazards In the Workplace

This ties in with the section above, where you want everyone involved in identifying any hazards or potential problem areas in the workplace. All businesses should develop a risk management plan and risk management strategy anyway, and this will entail creating a list of possible problem areas that need to be addressed to prevent an accident or incident from occurring.

It’s always preferable to prevent something before it happens, rather than having to deal with the consequences after an incident has taken place.

Get everyone involved in monitoring processes and systems and identifying any possible hazards, then come up with possible solutions and have problem areas rectified as soon as possible.

#3 – Install Workplace Health and Safety Software

Software to help with workplace health and safety compliance, also known as WHS software, is a tool that will make keeping your workplace safe and secure so much easier. The software is designed to enable you to remain compliant with laws that govern your industry, and also offers you the ability to easily and readily report any workplace incidents to governing bodies.

You can have the software tailored to your business and it even helps you to identify risks and potential hazards before they have a chance to cause a problem.

WHS software is an investment in your business future and the cost is tax deductible, so you’re not really losing anything by purchasing this software and you have so much to gain. In fact, WHS software could potentially save your business loads of dollars over time.

If you wanted to take things a step further, you could hire the services of a professional risk manager or health and safety professional to oversee the process for you.

#4 – Come Up With Some Health Initiatives

Having a safe workplace isn’t just about preventing accidents and injury. You also want it to be a healthy environment, so come up with some health initiatives to ensure this.

One obvious example would be disallowing smoking in the workplace, perhaps creating a designated smoking zone somewhere outside. Keep bathrooms and staff kitchens well-stocked with hand soap, sanitiser and cleaning products. Create a regular cleaning schedule and task the job to various members of your crew.

A clean, hygienic workplace helps to create a safe work environment.

The Wrap

It’s vital that everyone gets involved in workplace health and safety, and this includes understanding the rules that govern your industry, as well as having everyone contribute to discussions on safety issues and possible hazards. Professional software will also serve to make life easier in this regard. A safe business is ultimately good for business.

Generally, the employers use staffing agencies for recruiting the candidates temporarily or during an urgency of hiring on behalf of the company. Recruiting from the staffing agencies also help various candidates to find suitable career opportunities in the given field. The position can be full-time or be temporary, contract-basis, or direct hire full-time basis.

What is the role played by the staffing agencies?

These agencies generally check the references, collect the resumes, shortlist the candidates, schedule the various interviews, and place the candidates in suitable positions. No matter how well the company is recruiting the employees, shortage of staffs occur generally.

Employees need time off due to medical or family emergencies; the overtime pay cost becomes high, employers have no time to recruit the candidates, a short project needs more staffs to work temporarily, the company is facing issues to recruit the staffs in a particular position- there are so many more reasons why the companies do need to hire the staffing agencies. There are various staffing agencies around, and one of them is Scion Staffing, which has gained much popularity recently.

Here are some of the major benefits of choosing the staffing agencies

1. Reduced Overhead Costs

The permanent employees cost you more than the salary they are being paid. The healthcare plan, the retirement plan, vacation pay, and sick days are some of the costs included for the permanent staff.

But with the temporary staffing, an employer does not need to pay any of these; they pay for the work the staff are doing with no additional costs. So, if you are looking for effective ways to save your money on the staff, you can opt for the temp agencies.

1. The Urgent Need For Short-Term Staffs

In some situations, when there is a project, and you are looking for temporary staffs, you do not need to think anymore. Just choose the best staffing agency and recruit the employees for your short-term project. Hiring via the temporary staffing company will allow the employer to pick someone for a short period and handle the emergencies.

1. Staffing Agencies Generally Save Time And Increase The Sales

Sometimes employers look for candidates who are specialized with some particular skills to handle the project. If it is a temporary project that will need some time to complete, it does not make sense to hire employees permanently. The temporary staffing companies will provide staffs who can work for a short time for any company.

 

1. The Chance To Hire Fast

Any employer can face the situation when a current employee leaves and the position calls for an urgent requirement. In such cases, temporary staffing plays an important role.

1. Helps In On-Boarding And Payroll

The temporary staffing agencies help in onboarding and payroll management system. The team helps in onboarding paperwork, worker’s compensation and many other services.

These are major benefits of choosing the staffing agencies for your company. Whether you look for temporary staffs or want to spend less money on recruitment, you can hire staffing agencies that provide direct staffs to your companies.

For a company to manoeuvre through a competitive industry, it is essential to take advantage of the most marketable tactics possible. In a lot of ways, internet marketing is more important than most aspects of business management, as a lack of relevance can quickly lead to a business falling into obscurity. When the competition is fierce, it’s crucial to ensure that every business decision is a marketable one.

That said, wanting to build a more marketable image for the company and knowing how to get the job done are two different things, especially for companies that do not have the necessary experience. In such cases, it would be a good idea to look for professionals on web design in North Wales for any company owner operating in the area. The reason why web design is so essential is the fact that it is where online users are converted to buyers. Here are some marketable web design tips in a competitive industry.

Technical search engine optimisation (SEO)

Most people have probably already heard about SEO tactics and how they can help lay a marketing foundation for a company. Technical search engine optimisation is rather different from traditional SEO, however. Instead of looking to get the Google algorithm’s attention through outreach and keywords, technical SEO is all about developing a website’s infrastructure to make it more visible to the most popular search engines. It’s a great first step for any company that wants to take advantage of marketing while simultaneously making improvements to their site.

Keeping things short and sweet

If you want to attract as many online users as possible and ensure that they stay after reaching the main page, make them feel like you respect their time. Ensure that the website is designed in such a way that getting to where they need is as easy as a single click. An easy-to-navigate website can go a long way to boosting the overall conversion rate, boosting not only traffic but also company revenue.

The same thing goes for any of the site’s content. Making things easy to digest and short enough that anyone can read them within a few seconds is one of the many reasons why some company websites are more profitable and marketable than others.

Using video content correctly

There’s no denying that video content is quite profitable for just about any industry, as more and more people enjoy consuming media and entertainment through videos. You could even take it a step further and add captions to your videos, showing that your business prioritises accessibility. A bit of inclusivity can go a long way, especially in a world where so many people have visual and hearing impairment.

When getting the help of web design professionals, it would be wise to take their advice when it comes to building a foundation, as too much creativity and inspiration can often overcomplicate things. Keep in mind that a professional website is a simple one, and it will outperform needlessly complicated business websites.

Social media has firmly established itself as a primary marketing channel for brands in the modern age. Companies of all sizes will often maintain a presence on each of the major social media networks and entire teams can be dedicated to making sure they get that presence just right. One trend that has emerged from this focus has been a general shift from social media as a tool for broadcasting messages to a more interactive platform for communicating with customers. To explore this phenomenon in greater depth, we’ve turned to the work of Jesse Willms. The career of the successful e-commerce entrepreneur provides a great jumping-off point for a look at online marketing in general.

Previous Social Media Model

To understand the impact of new shifts in social media activity, and the insights of Jesse Willms, let’s first look at how social media has often been used previously. From its early days, social media has thrived off its ability to create viral messaging. This type of messaging can take place when a particular social media post or piece of content gains widespread interest and is shared by users to others in their networks. In doing so, these users can increase the reach of a particular message and, through that, the reach of the brand itself.

This concept of “going viral” has long been a coveted high watermark to reach for social media brands. If a brand could achieve this type of widespread sharing, the philosophy has gone, then the added visibility has the potential to turn into growth for the customer base. As such, plenty of effort has been allocated to the creation of content that may have the potential to go viral. Posts have been sometimes meticulously crafted by marketing and social media teams to try to determine what might capture the imagination of users on social media and, ultimately, increase the brand’s online presence.

Jesse Willms and the New Social Media Model

Somewhere along the way, however, the way we use social media has changed and the above model has become somewhat outdated. At least, that’s what may be concluded from the work of some online marketing experts like Jesse Willms. We can witness this shift through the manner in which many users now interact with brands online. Rather than merely sharing content from the brand if it appeals to their tastes, users will now often reach out to brands directly and hold them accountable as a face of the brand.

This can often be publicly seen in the comments section of a brand’s social media post. Where these comments may have previously been focused on a particular piece of content, thereby allowing a brand to control its own narrative, nowadays a post’s comment section can be an open space where customers will ask questions of the brand about a number of ranging topics. These topics may or may not have anything to do with the post, but they do indicate that customers are seeing the brand as a legitimate part of the company’s overall business.

We can see an understanding of this concept reflected in the work of Jesse Willms, who first came to public prominence for his highly successful use of targeted marketing in the early days of search-engine fueled ad campaigns. His leveraging of that technology reflected his ability to see his work from the perspective of his customers and cater his efforts to what would be most beneficial for them. This same ethos is now alive in the manner in which he approaches social media, where he now incorporates a philosophy that is reflective of the new need for responsive feedback from brands.

How Feedback Manifests

The type of feedback exhibited by Jesse Willms is characteristic of the larger shift of brands, in general, to respond to the new types of incoming messages from social media users. This messaging often requires brands to be more responsive to these messages and think even more critically about the face they present to the world through social media. In some cases, this can mean a reimagining of a brand’s online presence that incorporates elements of both viral messaging and responsive customer service.

As one can imagine, this type of shift can be difficult and can necessitate large social media teams where each member of the team has a unique specialization. It’s not uncommon for these teams to coordinate efforts through a single social media account, with multiple team members responding to customer concerns and working to create a unified brand voice. This practice has become even more commonplace as online retail has grown and even more of the world’s purchasing transactions take place through an online outlet.

Jesse Willms Showcases Implementation

While this type of social media responsiveness can sometimes appear to be the exclusive purview of large brands, this same model can be beneficial to brands of all sizes. Jesse Willms has spoken previously on the importance of internalizing the lessons exhibited by large brands, even if you are an entrepreneur just starting out on your business journey. By doing so, a novice business owner can exhibit sound business principles right from their start and can hope to place their endeavor on more solid footing.

In the realm of social media, this can mean implementing proactive policies that take into account the evolving desires and needs of customers in the space. While entrepreneurs may find it difficult to implement this on the same scale as a larger brand, they can often still take a smaller approach that mimics this impact. This can mean setting aside time to respond to customer messages, critically think about outgoing posts, and generally craft a social media strategy that balances viral messaging with customer responsiveness.

While social media has now firmly established itself as a key channel for modern brand marketing, its nature has subtly shifted over time. Though this area was once the domain of a predominantly broadcast-based messaging system, it has now evolved to incorporate more of a back and forth dialogue between brands and consumers. The work of Jesse Willms has reflected this shift, which can be seen in the way he’s moved from previous forms of advertising to a strategy that incorporates more brand responsiveness. If you are an entrepreneur entering into the online marketing space, consider incorporating this philosophy into your own work to strengthen your brand’s foundation.

New York has been home to business ever since the Dutch set foot there back in the 1600s. The stock exchange is there, most of the major brands of the world, and your business could set roots there as well if you know what you’re doing.

Starting a business in the state of New York might be more challenging than in some other places across the country, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. There are many opportunities and advantages to New York that are well worth taking on as a small business owner. You just have to know how to start.

What do you need to know about how to start a business in New York state? Read on, and we’ll walk you through the basics.

Have a Business Plan in Hand

This step is one of the most important for any business owner, no matter where you’re planning on starting your company. While you may be ready and rearing to get your feet on the ground and your company up and running, you’ll need to take a moment and ensure that you have a safe and steady plan mapped out in front of you.

A business plan is a written document that outlines the basics of all elements of your business. It will include a description of your product or service and how you intend to offer this product or service in a way that helps you stand out from the competition.

It’s a good idea to break down your target audience and how you plan to gain their attention. Will you buy ads, hire a New York SEO company? It’s important to plot out the steps you might take to gain attention.

It will also include your business structure, management system, and other information on how you plan to organize your business.

Your business plan will also need to include information about your finances: the money you’ll need to raise to successfully launch and an outline on how your business will eventually reach profitability.

This document will serve as an important blueprint for yourself. It will also be a handy tool in getting other collaborators on board with your vision for the business.

Register Your Business With New York State

Have a solid business plan in hand? It’s time to make this dream into a reality, and the first step is establishing yourself officially with the state government.

To do so, you’ll need to decide officially on a name to do business under and a business entity in which to do your work. You’ll want to make sure with the New York Business Entity Database that there is not an existing business already out there with the name that you want to use.

As far as it comes to your business entity, the structure you choose will depend on your preferences and the work you do. Most businesses in New York State end up registering as sole proprietorships, LLCs, or corporations.

You might consider an LLC, as they are the most easily formed and maintained while still providing important legal coverage.

If you’re unsure of where to start with selecting a business entity, you might want to seek help from a professional who can advise you on which might be right for your business. If you’re ahead of the curve, you’ll already have figured this all out when planning out your business plan.

Each business structure will have different requirements for your application with the state. Get familiar with these requirements, file, and provide everything that the state requests.

Register For Taxes

You’ll also need to do a separate bit of registering with the Tax Department of New York. If you’re going to be running a business within the state, you will need to stay on top of paying your taxes; there’s just no way around it.

It’s a very smart idea to get as familiar with the tax laws in the state as possible before getting started with your business. This way, you won’t be caught by surprise when something comes up that needs your attention.

The laws you might need to be aware of will vary depending on where you are located and what kind of business you do. For example, businesses located within New York City will be required to pay additional taxes on city business income.

When you apply for your tax status, you’ll apply for a number known as an EIN with the IRS. This identification number is what you’ll file on your income tax return for your business.

You’ll also use this identification number to open a business bank account, apply for loans, and several other financial tasks related to your business. For this reason, it’s something you’ll want to do as early in the process as possible.

Permits, Licenses, and Insurance

You’ll also need to get familiar with the other legal requirements for your business within the state. Again, depending on what kind of work you do and where you are located, different requirements might be present.

New York state does require some form of insurance in place for most businesses. You’ll need to look into the requirements or speak to a professional to determine what will be necessary for your business.

Starting a Business In New York State

If you’re looking to launch the next phase of your career, you may be looking to branch out on your own as a small business owner. Starting a business in New York might sound challenging, but it can be easy enough if you follow the above steps.

Need more business advice and information? Keep scrolling our blog for more.