The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 29: Feb/March 2017 | Page 23

INFINITY NATION ’ S DIGITAL PREDICTIONS FOR 2017

TECHNOLOGY REVVED UP
It ’ s been a busy start to the year for Infinity Nation . Since announcing their name change from toinfinity in December , they ’ ve been busy promoting their new website and brand identity .
They ’ ve also had a key win , as founder Al Keck has been accepted onto the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business programme . Out of 200 applicants only 40 people were given the opportunity to take part . Al said : “ This is a huge achievement for me and the company . It gives Infinity Nation greater access to education , capital and business support services , helping us with our growth plans .” The Infinity Nation team have compiled their digital marketing predictions for 2017 . Here are their thoughts for the year ahead .
James Foote Head of SEO
Shannon Kovacs Social Media Manager
“ I expect to see voice search becoming popular on mobile and desktop in 2017 , as well as creating topic modelled website pages that address searcher intent . I think efforts with be refocussed on technical SEO , addressing crawl inefficiencies with websites in Google and making sure a company ’ s blog is a valuable resource for their market and has a defined marketing goal . “ It will also become increasingly important to align other marketing channels with SEO . PR should be a defined avenue for brand outreach and digital awareness and social media should work in conjunction with SEO .”
“ Everyone has said it , but this will be the year of the ‘ Bots ’. They were increasing in popularity last year , but expect to see more big brands using them to answer customer queries to take the pressure off human teams . We ’ ve all become aware of ‘ over-sharing ’ in the digital space , and ‘ dark social ’ is something all brands should be aware of . Expect to see more people sharing content privately – whether that ’ s via WhatsApp or direct messaging .
“ Ephemeral content is going to continue to grow as it allows the user to safely bask in the knowledge that it ’ s not going to linger forever and ultimately come back to haunt you .
“ The use of video will also continue to rise . Facebook has already stated it wants to become a video-only channel in the coming years . if you ’ re incorporating paid social into your strategy , video is always preferred and will guarantee you increased reach and engagement .”
James Martin Email Marketing Manager
Lol Lowe Paid Search Lead
Aaron Challice Senior Designer
“ I believe that video will become a common element within emails , which will increase click-through rates by 200-300 %.
“ Email design will be based on a mobile first approach with mobile accounting for 80 % of all users .
“ Interactive email will also become the norm , allowing for users to effectively pick and choose what they see .
“ A single tap to buy will be introduced , allowing users to make purchases with a single touch .”
“ Google will be looking at more ways of making video ads more achievable for smaller advertisers , as currently the production costs and effort required for slick videos is beyond most SMEs .
“ I ’ m also hoping for innovations in the online shopping experience . There was nothing new in 2016 and improvements for shopping in terms of feed management , campaign management and promotions is long overdue .”
“ More brands will be taking the mobile first approach – mobile first then desktop design .
“ There will be fewer menu options , flat design will be a thing of the past and look to the rise of duotones , which are used to find a balance between a minimal or busy website .”
For more info : www . infinitynation . co . uk
@ toinfinity

How Excalibur can help you protect your mobile workforce

Swindon-based Excalibur are secure mobile technology specialists .
They spend a lot of time developing security solutions that deliver the protection businesses need to survive online . If you manage a mobile workforce , they have launched a new service to meet your security needs .
As a Vodafone Total Communications Partner , Excalibur has access to the latest services and solutions from the country ’ s leading network provider . Their new service , Vodafone Secure Net is designed specifically to secure mobile devices against just about every threat out there right now .
Vodafone Secure Net is a cloud-based platform that keeps mobile devices safe from harm . It includes malware protection , virus scanning , phishing protection , parental controls and monitors websites for hacks or malicious code . Every current attack vector used by hackers is addressed with this solution . It delivers :
• Automatic protection for mobile devices using the Vodafone network .
• Cloud-based protection to take processing away from the devices .
For more info : www .. ex-c . co . uk
• Protection against viruses , malware , phishing attacks .
• Encryption for Wi-Fi connections .
• Warnings over hacked websites or compromised downloads .
• Parental protections that can be used for work too .
To make it work , Vodafone Secure Net downloads a small app onto the device . It interacts with secure cloud servers to monitor all data going in or out of the device . A simple dashboard controls all device settings and can be managed locally by the user or centrally by an administrator . The app then displays a small icon in the device browser to tell users they are protected .
Vodafone Secure Net only checks for malicious code and not content so your privacy is still assured .
Protection from mobile threats With the mobile workforce increasing steadily and an increasing reliance on mobile devices to manage all aspects of our lives , protecting these devices is becoming highly important . From apps to hacked websites , malware to vulnerabilities , the threats are many and require a robust solution to protect users from them .
According to the McAfee Mobile Threat report for 2016 , the company detected over 37 million unique instances of mobile malware over the past 12 months . Around 9 million suspicious apps , 3 million infected mobile devices and over 1 million bad URLs . The company expects these numbers to grow as our reliance on mobile devices increases and the sophistication of these attack vectors improves .
Vodafone Secure Net is one answer to this problem . It monitors apps , web use , downloads and many aspects of mobile use and protects users from harm . It is a comprehensive defence against a growing threat . It is also available to all Excalibur mobile customers .
If you want to protect mobile devices from the worst of the current security threats , contact Excalibur to find out more .
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