Cortex Marketing

October 8, 2018

Social Media Scams and Hoaxes

Social Media scams and hoaxes come around every year and unfortunately, unsuspecting Social Media users are perpetuating and helping spread these erroneous tales.

Who Are Creating These Social Media Scams and Hoaxes?

Unfortunately, with tremendous popularity, also comes a dark side. Virus writers and other cybercriminals go where the numbers are and the most popular Social Media sites are Twitter, LinkedIn, and the biggest, Facebook.

Why Are Social Media Scams and Hoaxes Created?

By empowering users to share and connect, social media platforms open the door for a variety of different security and privacy concerns.

Make no mistakes about it, Social Media scams and hoaxes can do damage. If not direct damage to your pocketbook, it can do damage to your reputation — both personally or professionally. In fact, one of the fastest ways to get singled out by your employer is falling for these tricksters.

“As any security professional will tell you, allowing your employees to use social media sites on corporate networks could make your system increasingly vulnerable.” ~ SecurityIntelligence.com

So, How You Can Protect Yourself Against Social Media Scams and Hoaxes?

According to several consumer protection agencies, most scams start with an approach through contact you weren’t expecting. If someone contacts you out of the blue – whether over the phone, through the post, by email, on a website, in person or on social media – always consider the possibility that it may be a scam.

Beyond the basics above, I suggest keeping your personal information “locked-down” and not exposed to public view. In fact, because some sites, e.g. Facebook, like to prompt you to secure your account with your contact information (usually your cell phone), I would go one step further and make your settings so that only you (and not even your friends) can see your details. If your friends need to contact you, they will have all the info needed, and as such, there is no need to share it on Social Media.

What To Do If You Suspect Social Media Scams and Hoaxes?

The #1 thing to do if you suspect you are the target of Social Media cams and hoaxes is to change your password(s) and sign out of all devices!

The Seven Biggest Social Media Scams And Hoaxes Of 2018!

According to SecurityIntelegence.com, the seven biggest hoaxes and scams of 2018 have been as follows:

1. Catfishing
Catfishing is an internet scam in which a cybercriminal creates a fake online profile to seduce a victim into a fictitious online relationship — usually to get money or other benefits from the victim.

2. Profile Hijacking
The Facebook profile hijack is another take on using a fake profile for nefarious means. In this case, cybercriminals often use the attributes and details of real people — like their photos, hometown and occupation — to set up profiles pretending to be that person.

3. Lottery Schemes
A ruse emerged earlier this year involving fake profiles that appeared to belong to top Facebook executive Mark Zuckerberg. The cybercriminals sent messages to other users informing them that they’d just won lottery prize money.

4. Quizzes That Mine Your Information
Which “Stars Wars” character are you? What city were you meant to live in? Which celebrity is your soulmate? Sound familiar? These are all popular quizzes that have been widely shared on Facebook, imploring users to take a few minutes for what seems like harmless fun.

5. URL-Shortening Cons
While URL shorteners are very useful for sharing a website link within a tight character limit, such as Twitter, they can also be used to mask a malicious page

6. Chain Message Hoaxes
Social media app Snapchat has run into a problem with chain message hoaxes, according to Tech Advisor. The ruse here involves trying to alarm users about something terrible that is going to happen to their data within the app.

7. Money-Flipping
Money-flipping is a growing financial scam on Instagram and other social media channels. Criminals seek to extort money from users by convincing them to make a bum investment.

This is a summary; read the entire blog from SecurityIntelligence.com here

Lastly, on this subject, reach out to me directly. Nothing beats “peace of mind” like a good phone call. Go to my contact page and send an email or, if you are within North America, call me direct at 1-888-502-3523.

August 14, 2018

You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression!

You know the saying: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”; and equally, it is reasonable to say that, what your customers say about you (especially online) matters, right?

When consumers have something to say, everyone can hear it – everywhere. How good is your social media listening? Are you managing your online reviews? Why are your customers leaving? Can you discern what’s really important for your business?” ~ Cargo Digital

A First Impression Is All About Reputation

Your online reputation is essential and with today’s online review sites being so prevalent, the need for reputation management is crucial!

So, what is your reputation? What are people saying about you?

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Often overlooked because of its non-tangible life within a business, the long-term reputation of perception is always at play; and perception is never a negotiation, it is always one direction in the marketplace. That direction is from the angle of the consumer.

A First Impression And Subsequent Reputation

First Impression factors are distinct and represent the actual character — or behaviour in many cases — of the company. There have been many examples across the business landscape over the years, and there are some great lessons to learn from others’ mistakes.

“BP [learned] this the hard way. The energy giant [had] striven to portray itself as a responsible corporation that cares about the environment. Its efforts have included its extensive “Beyond Petroleum” advertising campaign and a multibillion-dollar initiative to expand its alternative-energy business. But several major events in the past [few] years are now causing the public to question whether BP is truly so exceptional.” ~ Harvard Business Review February 2007

First Impression And The 4-Truths Of A World-Class Reputation

1. Business Rationale: Building and protecting corporate reputation has a direct business impact.

2. Strategy Informed by Intelligence: Most firms do not need more data; they need better intelligence from the data they get.

3. Management and Accountability: You can’t manage reputation from a corporate silo. Reputation and support are driven on a day-to-day basis by the actions and communications from people across the organization.

4 Activation: Building trust and support are done across three influencer channels: a) what people experience directly with your company, b) what you say through your marcoms, and c) what other people say about you.

Let’s talk about your reputation and how you are making a first impression. You can contact me directly here.

July 11, 2018

Networking and Answering “So, what do you do?”

Networking. How do you do it effectively; and “what is the importance of being able to answer the question, “So, what do you do?” in a concise and interesting way?” queries and answers the team at Shepa Learning Company.

“Here’s an example: you are at a company reception with your significant other (who is off talking to someone else) and the person next to you asks what your partner does for a living. You should be prepared, rather than fumbling around for an answer.

“She works at an analytics/data company. I don’t really understand exactly what she does. It’s complex, algorithms and all that.” This is not a good answer.

“Stephanie is a data scientist with Meto Technologies. She designs machine learning models. Major brands use her models to accurately predict a customer’s next purchase. She’s a math wizard.”

The latter answer makes you look smart too. :)” ~ Shepa Learning Company

Networking To Sell

Further, being clear with your messaging makes it easier to sell. If you can connect with the emotional relevance, you will have a much higher close rate with your prospects.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” ~ Simon Sinek

Networking with Cortex Marketing

Networking Is An Art

Networking is an art because it requires imagination. In-person interaction — not social networking, which is a chapter by itself and complementary to in-person networking — is an indisputably critical part in the hunt, and it’s easy to make mistakes.

“Building a network that works is both an art and a science. It is an art in that it requires basic human skills in communication, connection, authenticity and the ability to be ‘in the present’ and engaged with people and conversation. Building a network strategically requires an ongoing analysis and audit of the people within the network and a sustained curiosity around the levels of diversity and connectivity within the group. It’s about seeing the lines that connect people and ideas to create opportunity.” ~ Janine Garner, entrepreneur and Fortune 500 mentor and author

Networking With Me

I love making new connections. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook… not to mention that I always ask people to connect with me outside social networks, or simply be bold and call me direct at 1-888-502-3523.

Cheers to your success!

July 3, 2018

Email Signatures That Drive Conversions

Email signatures can help you drive conversion — and yes, email not dead. An estimated 205 billion emails are sent and received daily, according to The Radicati Group Email Statistics Report.

Here are 4 email signatures that drive conversions and that can foster a personal relationship with prospective or current customers, partners, vendors, and industry influencers.

Email Signatures That Drive Conversions

1. Video

Video content is dominating the visual marketing sphere with 52% of marketers worldwide naming video as the type of content with the best ROI.

So it would only make sense that your email signature is adorned with an awesome promotional video, even one that shows your company’s culture. The purpose of a video is to offer the recipient more information about your brand – in the form of a campaign, an offer, event, etc. – in a more engaging way.

2. Share News

Got some news you’d like to share with your audience? Perhaps your company has been recognized for its accomplishments or received a nomination or industry award. Spread the good news! Add a tag on to your email signature the link to the news article, blog post, or press release in which highlights your company news or headline. It’s sure to spark interest and result in higher traffic to your website.

3. Include A Call To Action

One of the best capabilities of an email is that you can affix content that invites an actionable response. It’s clever and personable. For example, including a CTA to a case study, white paper, webinar or to schedule a consultation, tells your audience that you’re easily reachable, available, and ready to help them. Concurrently, you can get recipients to share your content.

4. Make It Look Social

While every email you send is an opportunity to acquire a new lead or customer, email signatures that drive conversions should never be without clickable social media icons. Being present (and active) on social media is no longer optional in today’s modern business world, so letting your audience know that you exist on various channels gives them the opportunity to connect with you on their favourite platform.

Email Signatures that drive conversions and Email That Is Not Dead Yet So you see, email is not dead – far from it. We are so fixated on writing the perfect message that we often forget about our signatures — they too can influence interactions, sometimes in a subtle way.

Ask me how you can email market to your target and get the results you desire from your marketing, You can also check out these other blogs about email marketing.

July 2, 2018

Choice Paralysis — How It Affects Your Conversion Rate

Choice paralysis; it is one of the most common mistakes businesses can make in the development of their marketing.

What Studies Have Shown.

Have you ever gone to a shoe store and been unsure which sneakers to buy? Have you ever debated with co-workers what you should eat for lunch? If so, you’ve experienced one of the most common and understudied phenomena impacting a consumer’s pathway to purchase: Choice Paralysis.

“Back in 2000, psychologists Mark Lepper and Sheena Iyengar were involved in a study where two tables of jam were presented to grocery-store customers. One had 24 choices; people who sampled from this table got a $1-off coupon. The other table only had six choices, yet people ended up buying more from the table with fewer choices!” ~ Mark Schenker

Choice Paralysis and the Jam-Study Results

Are More Choices Creating Choice Paralysis?

Needless to say, helping client’s fix choice paralysis is one of the cornerstone needs of almost every business I work with. From Landing Pages to Email Campaigns, you will always get a higher conversion rate the less you distract your target form doing what you want them to do.

“Choice can no longer be used to justify a marketing strategy in and of itself. More isn’t always better, either for the customer or for the retailer. Discovering how much assortment is warranted is a considerable empirical challenge. But companies that get the balance right will be amply rewarded.” ~ Harvard Business Review

While choice paralysis does not affect all brands or all types of people in the same way, based on an analysis of more than 200 social media conversations, the data showed:

A majority of consumer indecision is around products consumers use every day.
78% of choice paralysis conversations center around products consumers spend a moderate to a considerable amount of time within their everyday lives.
Fashion, gaming and mobile device purchase decisions showed the highest levels of choice paralysis, likely because they are directly tied to self-identity.
Nearly 1/3 of choice paralysis conversations were about products within the same brand.
Over 60 percent of choice paralysis occurs when a consumer must make a decision between one or two items. Most people know what they want, but have trouble pulling the trigger on a purchase.

The Choice Paralysis Analysis

Lastly, one concept that is often discussed when seeking solutions for overcoming the risk of choice paralysis is the concept of removing fuzzy messaging. Fuzzy Messaging tends to not speak to a clear choice adding to the paralysis. Read more about Conversion Rates and Scientific Marketing, and how we can now use methods and metrics to help us market more effectively!

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