Uncategorized - Thoromo Investment

08/05/202408/05/2024

Great Tips And Tricks For Cyber-Savvy Social Media Use

In today’s digital era, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. From connecting with friends and family to promoting businesses, social media platforms offer numerous opportunities. However, with these benefits come risks such as privacy and cyber threats. To navigate the online world safely and effectively, here are some top tips for cyber-savvy social media use:

1. Strengthen Your Passwords

Create strong and unique passwords for each social media account.
Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters like !@#$.
Consider using a password manager, like Clickup, 1Password, many more to securely store your login information.

2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Add an extra layer of security by enabling two-factor authentication, like getting a code on your phone or email.
Implementing this will require a verification code in addition to your password when logging in.
Protects your account from unauthorized access even if your password is compromised.

3. Adjust Privacy Settings

Regularly review and update privacy settings on your social media accounts.
Limit the amount of personal information visible to the public.
Be cautious about accepting friend requests or following unknown accounts.

4. Beware of Phishing Scams

Be wary of suspicious emails, messages, or links asking for personal information.
Avoid sharing sensitive details like passwords or financial data through social media.
Verify the authenticity of requests from official sources before responding.

5. Think Twice Before You Post

Consider the potential consequences of your posts before sharing on social media.
Avoid posting confidential information, sensitive photos, or negative comments.
Be mindful of how your online presence reflects your personal brand or reputation.

6. Stay Informed About Security Updates

Keep your social media apps and devices up-to-date with the latest security patches.
Follow reputable sources for cybersecurity news and trends.
Educate yourself about common online threats and how to protect against them.

“Online safety is a shared responsibility. By following these tips for cyber-savvy social media use, you can enjoy the benefits of online networking while safeguarding your digital presence.”

Remember, staying cyber-savvy on social media requires ongoing vigilance and a proactive approach to cybersecurity. By incorporating these tips into your online habits, you can navigate the digital landscape with confidence and peace of mind. Stay safe, stay secure, and stay savvy! Thoromo Consulting, one of our divisions, can help SMEs with Training on Cybersecurity. Visit Thomo Consulting for more info

19/04/202419/04/2024

Meta Released AI Chatbot for WhatsApp in South Africa

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has launched its highly anticipated chatbot feature powered by artificial intelligence on WhatsApp in South Africa. This is a significant step towards integrating AI directly into the messaging experience of WhatsApp users. Though Meta’s AI assistant is currently only available in English and restricted to specific countries, including South Africa, it offers many functionalities to improve user interactions within the app.

Like other AI assistants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot, Meta’s AI on WhatsApp allows users to engage in conversations, seek information, and receive recommendations seamlessly within the messaging platform. Users can utilize Meta AI in both personal and group chats to ask questions, request news updates, and even generate images based on prompts provided within dedicated chat boxes.

Meta AI is now available on WhatsApp in South Africa, and users can access it by updating their WhatsApp app to the latest version. The chatbot service powered by Meta AI offers various functionalities, including text and image generation, story summarization, proofreading, editing, and translation, among others. Users can initiate interactions with Meta AI within WhatsApp chats by typing “@” followed by “Meta AI” in the message field and proceed with their queries or prompts.

It’s important to note that, unlike regular WhatsApp conversations that employ end-to-end encryption, interactions with Meta AI are not encrypted. Meta acknowledges this and attributes it to the utilization of user data and prompts to train their AI. However, Meta assures users that their messages and calls remain fully encrypted, ensuring privacy and security.

Meta’s decision to introduce its AI-powered chatbot across popular social media platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram in South Africa is a testament to its commitment to leveraging its vast user base to scale its AI offerings. With South Africa being the large market for WhatsApp, Meta aims to capitalize on this opportunity to refine its AI capabilities and enhance user experiences across its platforms.

Once updated, users can check for the presence of a new round purple-blue circle icon at the top of their WhatsApp chats. Tapping on this icon grants access to the Meta AI chatbot within WhatsApp, enabling users to interact with it and explore its various features.

In addition to Meta AI, Meta has also introduced 28 other AI tools for WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, each embodying unique characteristics and functionalities. These AI tools are poised to redefine user interactions within the social media landscape, offering personalized experiences and engaging content to users.

As Meta continues to innovate and expand its AI offerings, users can anticipate a more immersive and personalized social media experience, driven by advanced AI technologies. With Meta AI now available on WhatsApp in South Africa, users can explore its capabilities and discover new ways to engage and interact within the platform.

27/02/202327/02/2023

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for Healthcare.

Doctor looking at how he can use digital marketing strategy in is practice.

Understanding the Challenges of Digital Marketing in the Healthcare Industry

Digital marketing in the healthcare industry is an increasingly important tool for businesses to reach their customers. However, it is also a complex and challenging process due to the unique nature of healthcare services. To effectively use digital marketing, it is important to understand the challenges associated with this industry. From understanding regulations and privacy laws to developing effective content strategies, there are many considerations that must be taken into account when planning a successful campaign. By understanding these challenges and taking steps to address them, businesses can ensure that their digital marketing efforts are successful and compliant with all relevant regulations.

Digital Is The Future For Healthcare marketing

Best Practices for Developing an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy for Healthcare

Healthcare organizations are increasingly realizing the importance of digital marketing to reach their target audience and build a strong online presence. Developing an effective strategy is essential for healthcare organizations to stay competitive and reach out to potential customers.

In this article, we will discuss some of the best practices for developing an effective digital marketing strategy for healthcare. We will look at how to identify your target audience, create engaging content, utilize social media channels, and measure success. By following these best practices, healthcare organizations can ensure that their efforts are successful and rewarding in the long run.

Developing an effective digital marketing strategy for the healthcare industry can be challenging, but here are some best practices to consider:

Steps to Developing an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy

Understand Your Target Audience: In any marketing campaign, it’s essential to understand your target audience. In healthcare, this means understanding the demographics, interests, and behaviors of your patients. Once you know who you’re targeting, you can create messaging and campaigns that resonate with them.
Create a Strong Website: A website is often the first point of contact between patients and healthcare providers. It’s crucial to have a website that’s user-friendly, easy to navigate, and provides patients with the information they need. Your website should also be optimized for search engines to ensure it ranks highly in search results.
Leverage Social Media: Social media can be a powerful tool for healthcare providers to connect with patients and share information. You can use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to share educational content, promote events, and engage with patients.
Focus on SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to ensure your website ranks highly in search results. Make sure your website is optimized with relevant keywords and meta descriptions, and that your content is high-quality and informative.
Use Paid Advertising: Paid advertising can be an effective way to reach a targeted audience quickly. You can use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engines and social media platforms to reach potential patients.
Provide Educational Content: Patients are looking for information about their health and wellness. By providing educational content like blog posts, infographics, and videos, you can position yourself as a trusted source of information and build a relationship with your patients.
Personalize Communications: Personalization is essential in healthcare marketing. Patients want to feel like their healthcare provider knows them and cares about their individual needs. Use patient data to personalize your communications, and make sure your messaging is relevant and timely.
Measure Your Results: To know whether your digital marketing strategy is working, you need to measure your results. Using tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, conversion rates, and other metrics, and adjust your strategy accordingly can help.

By following these best practices, healthcare providers can develop an effective strategy that can helps them connect with patients, build relationships, and drive results.

Conclusion – Tips & Takeaways to Get

Writing is a skill that requires creativity and passion, but it can be improved. You can do it yourself, if you can invest time to do it. Another way is to use a Digital marketing agency, like Thoromo Media, who have the expertise.

They can develop a catchy interactive website for you, leverage on what Social media can do to grow your brand. They can assist you with video content to use for educating and advertising your brand. You may need assistance with using paid advertising, which expands your exposure.

They will be working as your partners in growing and capturing your audience. They look at ways your brand can grow while you focus on what you do best, healthcare provision. With all being said, it is very important for the practice owner to ave a digital marketing strategy in place in order to grow their healthcare business.

29/03/202229/03/2022

Four Compelling Reasons To Move to Cloud PBX Today

Global dynamics have changed the way companies conduct business. With Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions, companies that traditionally operate in-house IT services, are increasingly switching to the cloud. Services like Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft Azure are now household names. By the end of this year, 56% of businesses estimate that most of their applications will move to the cloud.

More companies, particularly in the manufacturing, financial, and healthcare sectors, are drastically moving their data and processes offsite into data centers. Cloud computing offers compelling cost advantages, amongst other benefits. Additionally, as broadband increases, download speeds are rising at a rapid rate, so this is boosting data consumption.

The role of Cloud PBX in the Workplace

One service that provides a great way for companies to save money, is a Cloud Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Traditional servers are expensive and require expert maintenance. Cloud PBX uses IP-based telephony to provision and access services. It is essentially a telephone system that is built, delivered, and managed over the Internet.

With a powerful and comprehensive set of features, Cloud PBX offers the ideal solution for businesses with a distributed workforce. With that scenario, it is easier for workers to collaborate through voice, Web conferencing, and instant messaging cost-effectively.

Ideally suited for growing and changing environments, this is a true Unified Communications as a Service solution. Shifting to a highly flexible, feature-rich and low maintenance solution will free up valuable resources for any business.

Four top reasons to move to a cloud environment

#1: Scalability

Scalability (both up and down) is important so that your phone system can grow with your business needs and pressures. As such, there is no need to invest in a big system when the business is downsizing., or be stuck with obsolete technology.

#2: Lower cost

Cloud PBX does not require expensive investments for in-house installations nor for regular maintenance. There is no requirement to purchase physical devices, and costs are predictable, usually a monthly service fee.

#3: Flexibility

Your business will benefit from the latest features and functionality without costly hardware updates. Cloud PBX is designed to simplify administration and deployment, with features and functionality added at the tick of a box.

#4: Extended presence

You can create and manage virtual offices, departments, and branches with all the functionality of a physical setup. This enables you to create a local, national, and global presence.

Speak to us to find out more about making the shift to this flexible solution. Our Cloud PBX (often called hosted PBX) brings you all the enterprise advantages of a fully-fledged PBX without costs headaches.

With us, our Customers are able to entrust the management, to the experts, therefore leaving them to take care of their business. Our Cloud PBX solution not only saves calls over the Internet but also saves on risky infrastructure.

08/02/2021

New Microsoft Edge To Replace Microsoft Edge Legacy

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the default Windows web browser back in 2015. Six years later, Microsoft is replacing that version of Edge with a newer model.

Microsoft announced on its tech blog on Friday that Edge Legacy (the older version of the browser that comes pre-installed on Windows 10 PCs) will be automatically removed from those computers with a software update on April 13. Anyone still using Edge Legacy on Windows 10 is strongly advised to switch over to the new version of Edge based on Google’s open-source Chromium software, which launched a year ago.

If you don’t manually make the switch before April 13, your PC will do that for you. Those who have Edge Legacy on their task bars or desktops will see it replaced by the new version of Edge. You could theoretically keep using Edge Legacy if you just don’t install the April 13 software update, but the Chromium version of Edge is the only one that will keep getting new features and, most importantly, security updates going forward.

For what it’s worth, Microsoft promises the new Edge is fast and reliable, but we’ll let you be the judge of that. This should go without saying, but if you use a third-party browser like Chrome or Firefox, this change will not affect your daily routine in the slightest. It’ll be like it never even happened.

The removal news isn’t entirely a surprise. Microsoft confirmed in August 2020 that Edge Legacy browser would no longer be supported after March 9, 2021. The latest development reinforces the coming change, with Microsoft taking the dramatic step of removing the browser automatically.

Internet Explorer will be sticking around, though that, too, is set for some changes. Microsoft started winding down support for the browser in November 2020, and that’s expected to end on Aug. 17, 2021, when Microsoft 365 ends its support for the now-ancient browser.

That doesn’t mean Explorer will follow Edge Legacy into oblivion, however. Microsoft wrote in the 2020 announcement that the browser “isn’t going away.” The reason? “Customers have made business-critical investments in IE 11 legacy apps and we respect that those apps are still functioning.”

All that said, you definitely shouldn’t still be using Internet Explorer unless you have a specific reason to do so.

29/10/201801/01/2020

4G expansion! Its opportunities for rural communities!

09/03/201809/03/2018

Listeriosis- A Typical Real Cost of Corruption!

Why Be Concerned About Corruption?

Many think corruption ends with the person accepting a bribe and that it ends there. They reason that they are not criminals because no one is killed, when in fact, the opposite is true.

There are many examples we can look in order to prove otherwise, but for now, let’s take this recent outbreak of Listeria in South Africa, where more than 190 people lost their lives. It is alleged that the real source of this bacteria is from chicken Imported from Brazil. These are used by the cold meat manufacturers to make polonies and other stuff as we know it. The question then is, were these imports not checked for such infections at arrival in South Africa? How could they have gone through the system undetected? This cannot be by mistake, since foodstuff security is something health officials should take serious since it has a vital impact on the lives of the citizens. 190 lives were lost as a result of this bacteria, something that could have been prevented, Many more are receiving treatment for it.

With Is The Real Cost of Corruption?

Somebody or a group of people, somewhere up in the value chain, decided to turn a blind eye or not even bother to check these chicken imports and test them as required by law. Somebody up there must have received some ‘incentive’ to let them through the system. At what cost? Lives are lost. The company Enterprise may be shut down, leaving thousands of workers without jobs. Many analysts say that the company may not survive the crisis. Newspapers are reporting on the shut down

Logistics companies contracted to Enterprise will lose out on revenue. Surrounding businesses that depended on the existence of Enterprise will be affected. A bakery owner was crying tears the other day. Trays and trays of his bread that he uses to supply those Mammas selling Kotas are not sold. Schools are barring kids from buying from these mammas. These women, many of whom are sole breadwinners at home, most being single mothers, depend on selling the Kotas to make a living. Supermarkets have had to refund consumers for recalled items. VAT charges has to be reversed. Small business owners who were selling cold meat hampers are sitting with no business, the list goes on.

It all starts with corruption. Somebody gets few thousands in his pockets to let things go through, affecting millions down the value chain. This unfortunately, is the real cost of corruption.

28/08/201721/09/2017

CRM And Small Businesses

Customer relationship management or CRM software is no longer just for large companies. In today’s highly competitive world, small and mid-sized businesses everywhere should be looking at gaining an edge ahead of their competition. Leveraging the best solution for small business can help you achieve exactly that.

CRM software was originally designed to help businesses build and maintain relationships with new and existing customers. However, these days this solution can do a lot more. It can drive higher productivity and efficiency by streamlining your sales cycle. It can also organize your data, and allow you to view company performance at the click of a button.

If you’re still not sure whether this is the best option for your business, consider a few benefits.

What are the benefits of a CRM Solution?

For starters, a CRM can help you centralize your contacts and interactions, decreasing the time you spend searching for information. With it, you have access to information like email, phone number, notes from your last conversation with a prospect. You can also see their website, LinkedIn profile, and so much more in one centralized location, thus saving you time.

Tired of tracking your sales cycle in a spreadsheet? With a CRM for small business you can create views and dashboards to better manage your prospects. For example, with solutions like Bitrix24, and Insightly CRM you can create a view that allows you to view your prospects in a specific stage of a sales cycle. A CRM solution will also allow you to have better visibility into where your prospects are in a sales cycle. This will ensure you’re focusing your time on the prospects that matter most.

Another great reason to leverage a CRM solution is its ability to sync with your systems. Today, CRMs are robust tools that can communicate with just about any system you’re already using. Integrating tools like Microsoft Office365 with your CRM can streamline your inbound marketing process. For example, when a lead fills out a form on your company’s landing page made through Office365, it will communicate with your CRM, automatically create a lead in your CRM, and prompt a team member to follow up. This type of configuration drastically increases efficiency and reduces the risk of recording incorrect data.

Leveraging a CRM to serve as a single source of truth will help keep your team on the same page, which fosters better internal communication. Storing information in one place saves everyone time (internally and externally), and improves overall experiences.

Most solutions have features that allow you to build customized templates and send mass emails, allowing you to track both open and response rates so that your marketing efforts become super quick and easy evaluate.

What’s Next?

If you choose to use a CRM solution, make sure it’s a cloud based. Also, make sure to research its mobile platform. Cloud based solutions allow you to access information from anywhere so you can update your records while on the go, waiting at the gate for your next flight, or working remotely. A solution with good mobile platforms make managing your contacts even more accessible and easier.

Reports generated from CRMs are only as good as the data you put into them. However, a CRM can help small businesses tap into insights on a more granular level such as customer information and correspondence, individual sales performance, trends and more to enable you to make effective decisions to grow your business.

CONCLUSION

Running a successful business is not easy, but leveraging a CRM will help drive your business forward by empowering you and your team to be more productive, efficient, keep your data organized, and give you a more precise view of your business’s overall performance. Our Team at Thoromo Investment are at hand to advise you on the best approach.

22/08/2017

Buybrown Mall, our Brainchild!

Why BuyBrown Mall?

Many small businesses find it expensive to afford mainstream media advertising. They rely on Word of mouth, and thankfully, Facebook has made it simple and free to advertise your business. This is well and good, but it has it’s limitations. What has that got to do with BuyBrown Mall?

How can you trust what your friends will say about your business? How about that Customer you had to threaten with legal action to get them to pay you? What they say to others about your business can either make it or break it.

How Social network helps

It is true that many have made a lot of money through social network marketing. By posting on their Facebook pages or in other business related groups, some had made money. But that also has its limitations. Your post is only visible as when people see it. Once others post after you, it disappears into oblivion. Now how are you going to make sure your potential customers always see you?

We came up with a solution

Thoromo Invesment, a Black owned investment company, came up with an idea of pooling together, as much as possible, all black owned businesses. The aim is to promote them in a formal platform, a Business directory. Their Web Development team had to spend a lot of time and other resources in developing this platform, not knowing how the market will receive it, but they had faith that it will be positively accepted. As they are a small developing business themselves, they understand the challenges facing the small business owners and their needs, so hence this platform, BUYBROWN MALL.

It’s not long that this platform has been launched, but the response from the target market has been so tremendous. Thoromo Investment, as the custodian of the campaign, is looking forward to be of service to you, as a partner.

In it’s offerings, there is a 14 days Free listing, to allow you to list your business, with no obligations, to ‘test drive’ the platform. It is expected that by the end of the trial period, you will then upgrade to a 6 or 12 months subscription. There is a Special introductory price on the paid subscriptions until end of August, thereafter normal subscription fee will be applicable. So we invite you to take advantage of the special price, which is about R3 a day, calculated from the annual subscription fee. So, take action today, subscribe with us! Subscribe Now

It’s like being at a mall.

We want to give you a mall feel, from the comfort of your lounge or office. The difference here is, it’s a black-owned mall, for the black-owned businesses, to promote black-owned businesses. Somewhere along the floors, your shop is waiting for you. Come get your key.

Happy to help.

You may have some questions or you want to speak to one of our consultants. Feel free to call us at 010 534 6002 or email us at listings@buybrownmall.co.za

21/08/201722/08/2017

Reason Why Small Businesses Must Consider Adopting Digital Transformation

Many small business owners think that digital transformation belongs to major corporations. They seem to ignore that they also need to be rapidly engaging with the transformation process in order to remain competitive. This article would like to asses the trends in the field and enable small businesses to see how they can fit in the process.

What Is Digital Transformation?

It is a broad term but in the context of small businesses, it generally refers to the process of adapting current business processes to incorporate digital strategies and technology. This may include adopting new devices so that employees can work away from the office, using mobile apps to improve internal communication, going paperless through digital data capture, putting more services on-line and allowing consumers to use on-line payments services and the means to make payments either on-line or directly through no contact payment systems.

We are hereby going to look at a few of the emerging trends and strategies small business can consider adopting.

Automation

Many small businesses are looking at automation. An example of this is using databases to capture information to make the searching for information faster when the need arise. The advantages of automation is that it allows employees to focus their attentions on more skilled tasks, and on activities that will bring income or lower operating costs. An example of software that can help lower the administrative burden is Microsoft Bookings an online and mobile app for small businesses who provide services to customers on an appointment basis. Examples of such businesses include hair salons, dental offices, spas, law firms, financial services providers, consultants, and auto shops. Bookings has three primary components:

A booking page where your customers can schedule appointments with the staff member who should provide the service. You can show this page on Facebook, where your customers can schedule appointments, or your own web site.
A set of web-based, business-facing pages where business owners can record customer preferences, manage staff lists and schedules, define services and pricing, set business hours, and customize how services and staff are scheduled
A business-facing mobile app where business owners can see all of their bookings, access customer lists and contact information, and make manual bookings

Virtual office

Solutions like cloud productivity platforms, including Microsoft Office 365, allow employees to work and collaborate at peak proficiency without wasting time. In addition, documents can be accessed at any time from any working environment. Such cloud solutions also affect the changing world of work. The concept of the workday being 9 to 5 and the office with four walls is no longer the norm. Many employees want to work at different times and locations. Many businesses, especially those that trade worldwide, want a 24-hours-a-day operation.

Meeting customer service expectations

Customers expect faster services from business, according to Microsoft Business, and are often expecting to engage with businesses digitally, from communication to making payments. Customers also expect faster, round-the-clock services and faster deliveries of goods. It is only through digital platforms that businesses can meet these expectations. Customers are also a rich source of data for the business which many smaller businesses fail to collect and use. Such information can help the business to meet changing customer needs, such as which channels customers want to engage with. Can they engage on-line, via mobile devices or even accessing services or paying for goods by use of smartwatches)

Small businesses should take care not to rush in and adopt technology for it’s sake; this could lead to inefficiencies. Before adoption, businesses should evaluate technology on the basis of:

Clarity: The technology should be for a precise reason, answering a direct need.

Simplicity: The solution should allow for less time to spent on IT management, not more

Security: The technology should maintain a top level of security.

Reliability: External service providers must guarantee a specific level of service.

Sustainability: If the platform becomes obsolete, the data must be able to be removed and used with another system.So a scalable technology needs to be considered at the planning stage

These are important considerations for any small business and may open up new possibilities. Digital technology, to a degree, levels the playing field for small businesses versus larger corporations. It opens up new possibilities for growth and being competitive.

One immediate driver for small businesses is the adoption of mobile payments, which is fast growing in small enterprises. Companies like Yoco have developed solutions no small business must be without.