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Invoicing can be a daunting experience, especially when many entrepreneurs and freelancers are busy juggling their main work: social media marketing.

However difficult it may seem, invoices are crucial for getting positive cash flow, the real metric to determining the health and longevity of your social marketing endeavor.

In order to help you increase your monthly cash flow and boost your social marketing business, well look at 5 tried and true ways to make your invoicing smarter.

One of the most important things for social media marketers to do when it comes to managing their invoices is to set very clear, direct general policies or Terms and Conditions.

When you create your T&Cs, you are actually giving yourself and your clients a reference point to how your invoicing processes should be going. These are general points that cover all your clients and will discuss the base payment and invoicing issues.

Its important to mention here that these T&Cs are not just client-facing, but inward-facing as well, so that you can keep yourself accountable and be stricter in the way you deal with clients when it comes to invoicing.

Your T&Cs should include the following points:

Setting these up clearly will allow you to point to all your clients what can be expected of you and from them when it comes to payment. This will help you to clarify many issues and avoid any problems later on.

As a social media marketer or manager, you are probably aware of the power of automation. Social media management usually revolves around a few key tools that help you to automate a lot of your daily tasks so that you can focus on other parts of the job.

However, very few social marketers connect this aspect with their invoicing. Instead, they go about the business of manually entering a lot of repetitive information about their clients. This usually means they have to sift through lots of emails to get the specific contact details or to decide what the next unique invoicing number should be.

Manual invoicing can be fine, especially with invoicing templates. However, online invoicing software was created to help small businesses and freelancers automate as much of their invoicing process as possible, giving them more time to focus on their main tasks.

This includes things like saved contact details and job descriptions, prices, etc. It also includes recurring invoicing (when you send similar invoices to the same client on a regular basis), expense tracking, and other features.

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In this digital world, it should be a given that anytime you can automate something, you should do it. That way, you can focus on providing the best service to your clients and growing your business.

As opposed to your general policies from above, you still need to provide a specific job proposal to your social marketing clients.

This is the space where you can clearly help settle your clients expectations. Be sure to answer the following questions:

By addressing these issues clearly in your proposal or quote/estimate, youll be able to further avoid any confusion, delay, or outright payment refusal when it comes time to have your invoices paid.

One thing that affects a lot of entrepreneurs, but freelancers especially, is the energy drain that accompanies a completed task. This happens when you are trying your hardest to complete a project or reach a goal in the waning days or hours of the agreed timeframe. With the amount of energy spent on that, there is great relief in having it done and notifying your client.

However, right after that, many social marketers want to just take a breakfor an hour, a day, a week. And this energy drain then naturally leads to procrastination, where you should have sent the invoice out two weeks ago and still havent started on it.

This is one of the biggest reasons for not getting paid on timesimply, its because you didnt send your invoices out on time.

One great way to fight against that is to use, online invoicing software. You could probably do your whole invoice, from start to finish, in less than a minute. Or, with regular customers and regular prices, setting up recurring invoicing would mean that you wouldnt need to do anything at all. The software will do it for you.

Beyond that, its important to start putting your invoices together even before youve completed the task or the month is finished. This way, you can have a rolling invoice that you update for each itemized job so that you wont have to do it all in one day.

The biggest reason that social marketers dont have their invoices paid faster is because the clients just arent paying them on time. This happens a lot more than you think, and it can cause serious cash flow problems.

One reason that clients pay late is that they are busy and have simply forgotten. Another reason could be that they are holding off payment until their cash flow problems ease up. Either way, its your responsibility to remind them of their obligation to pay you on time.

The best thing to do is to send out a payment reminder to your client before the payment is actually due. The best payment terms is 14 days, and not the standard 30 days. So, for example, if it is day number 13, I will send a quick, polite email reminder that the payment will be due the following day.

If that payment isnt delivered on the 14th day, I will send another email reminder on the 15th day. These emails are all polite, of course. However, that doesnt mean they cant be strict and direct. With the second payment reminder, the client should be able to provide payment or inform you when payment will be made.

For the rare case when there are further delays, you should skip the email and place a personal phone call. Direct interaction with the client will be enough to jolt him or her to recognize their obligations to provide payment for your completed services.

In general, the most important takeaway here is that smarter invoicing is possible if you follow these steps. Not only will you see better revenues and boosts in your social marketing business. Youll also find that the relationships with your clients are improved and more professional.

Uwe is the Founder and CEO of InvoiceBerry. The online invoicing softwarehelps small businesses and freelancers to create, send and manage their invoices online. He's been in the tech scene since over 15 years with companies ranging from FinTech to AdTech and games publishing. Viewfullprofile

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5 Ways Smarter Invoicing Can Boost Your Social Marketing Business - Business 2 Community

Vancouver-based Hootsuite has announced that it has acquired New York-based LiftMetrix, which offers a tool to measure the return on investments on social media platforms. This marks Hootsuites second acquisition this month.

The addition of LiftMetrix will allow Hootsuites users to create more effective marketing campaigns as they will gain insights into the return on investment (ROI) of their paid, earned, and owned social media marketing campaigns. With access to LiftMetrixs tools, social media marketers will be able to monitor and drive the impact of their campaigns through social-to-web conversion tracking, content recommendations and insights, and social data-warehousing and integration with business intelligent tools.

Its critical for marketers today to prove the impact of social advertising on the companys bottom line, said Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite. LiftMetrix offers easy-to-use analytics solutions that helps our customers make sense of data to maximize social marketing results. LiftMetrix will be a fantastic complement to the Hootsuite platform.

This deal comes two weeks after Hootsuite announced the acquisition of AdEspresso, which allows small and medium-sized businesses to split test every aspect of their Facebook and Instagram campaigns.

By joining Hootsuite, we will be able to offer increased value to our existing enterprise customers around their paid, earned, and owned social initiatives, said Nik Pai, co-founder and CEO of LiftMetrix. Its exciting to be a part of a company with Hootsuites velocity and trajectory.

LiftMetrix and Hootsuite have previously worked together through Hootsuites ecosystem of partners and applications. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Hootsuite acquires New York-based LiftMetrix to help customers measure social marketing ROI - BetaKit

Here in the United States, if the internet isnt working, or is working slowly, the solution is often as simple as calling tech support. In most cases, theyll have the user run a speedtest, and there are millions of sites and applications that provide this service. However, there arent so many sites that allow users to see who has access to their information, and for people in countries where the internet is censored or restricted, even the fastest internet connection wont grant them open access to information.

This is one issue the team working on the Open Observatory of Network Interference project hope to address with their new Ooniprobe app, which, as of Feb. 9, is available in a beta version for free on Google Play and in the App store. The app has three main features, a speed test, a web connectivity test and a test that detects the presence of components that could be responsible for censorship or surveillance.

Without a tool like Ooniprobe, governments have plausible deniability in terms of censorship events, and actually, people claiming that they can't access a website is not in itself proof of intentional, government-commissioned censorship, Arturo Filast the creator of the app said. Now, anyone around the world can run Ooniprobe and can inspect how their network is working and whether censorship is being implemented. The type of data collected by Ooniprobe cannot really be denied by governments since it provides a clear picture into what is happening in a user's network.

Filast believes access information is a fundamental human right, but in the current state of affairs, many countries either censor or severely restrict the internet; with countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and India showing thousands of blocked sites - including many messaging sites like WhatsApp and Telegram, according to OONI World Map Explorer.

While countries like the United States have considerably fewer reports of censorship and blocked sites, the country isnt entirely free of censorship. Even here at Western Michigan University types of censorship are in place, but according to Chief Technology Officer Tom Wolf, there is a fine line between censorship and internet security.

In my opinion preventing malicious cyber activities that are illegal in nature and/or intended to disrupt normal internet traffic would not be considered a form of censorship. I would view this as cyber security, Wolf said.

This begs the question of exactly where one should draw the line between security and censorship. Most firewalls, such as Merits Palo Alto - the firewall currently in place here at WMU - scan for evidence of malicious activities and dont otherwise censor content.

Filast addressed the very fine line between security and censorship, distinguishing that security measures should restrict themselves solely to universally bad content.

Internet censorship, in any form and of any type of content, is a slippery slope. We see this in countless occasions where it's implementation is passed as an excuse to restrict access to content that is universally bad, but then the same system gets used to implement censorship for content whose value is much debatable, Filast said.

However, Nathan Tabor, a visiting professor and historian focusing on South Asia, expressed concerns over this slippery slope mentality, pointing out that when someone knows their internet activity is being censored, theyre more likely to change their patterns of consumption in a form of implicit censorship.

A lot of my work is in Persian, so I often access sites from Iran, another place that has very restricted internet access. The things that I access have to do with history and literature, pretty innocuous subjects, but perhaps my internet history comes up on the radar of some overzealous homeland security official because Im accessing sites from Iran. With the data mining that happens with my search history, Id look like a terrorist, Tabor said. The sites that you read will fall into some kind of aggravated pattern decided by a security apparatus, regardless whether or not youre doing anything wrong.

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New app to bring awareness to internet censorship - Western Herald

Two members of Congress defend and sue, while several colleagues join the censors.

On August 9, 2003, a story in National Journal described a Washington trend: On at least three occasions recently, members of Congress have offered themselves as thoughtful cartoon critics.

That piece detailed how lawmakers lately had enthusiastically written letters to oppose or support several editorial cartoons. These scandalous images depicted: the mocking of an American activist killed after she was run over by a bulldozer in Gaza; President George W. Bush paving with dollar bills a bridge between Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat; and one panel in which Bush, drawn as the Mad magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman, points a gun at himself. Two of these are by Pulitzer Prize winners. The Bush gun cartoon earned its creator, Michael Ramirez of The Los Angeles Times, a visit by the local Secret Service office.

I quote that 2003 piece, which I wrote, to show that, in light of a couple recent incidents, the Capitol Hill art critic instinct has a history. Both liberals and conservatives simply cannot resist. And media love to cover it.

This week, Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), filed a lawsuit in federal court full of entertaining claims, stemming from a single painting that has caused continued consternation in Washington since the beginning of the year. The painting is by a St. Louis high school student named David Pulphus. For half a year, it hung undisturbed in a passageway into the Capitol from the Cannon House Office Building, as part of an art competition. It depicts a police officer as a uniformed wart hog, aiming a pistol at a dark-colored wolf. The St. Louis arch looms in the background, signifying this is all about the 2014 Ferguson shooting of a black teenager by a white officer.

Over several weeks in January, several members of Congress, all Republicans, simply snatched the painting from the wall multiple times, each time helpfully dropping it off at Clays office. Clay would then re-hang the work. The media found out. The Hill covered each moment, but St. Louis media and conservative outlets joined in. House Speaker Paul Ryan called the work disgusting. This is not a question of First Amendment rights, he said. It certainly is, replied Clay, who seemed to enjoy the fight.

A pro-cop blog led the charge against the painting, even after a work representing the law enforcement blue line was tacked up immediately above the painting. Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers eventually removed the painting for good in mid-January, after determining it violated rules against art of a sensational nature or depicting political controversy.

Clay makes the case that the painting was reviewed and accepted like all the others in the competition, with no objection. He adds, in a press release: Davids painting was wrongly disqualified and removed from the public exhibit at the direction of the Architect of the Capitol who shamefully chose to retroactively censor and suppress Mr. Pulphus artwork in response to the enormous political pressure he experienced from the Speaker of the House and certain right-wing media outlets.

This is indisputably correct on every count.

But Clay then claims in the suit that he is experiencing ongoing stress and anger over the retroactive and viewpoint-based exclusion of his district from the competition and that his and his staffers time has been diverted from important legislative responsibilities as a result of the Architect of the Capitols decision, The Hill reports.

No word on whether the offending Republicans are counter-suing, as a result of their daring, not-so-undercover raids on the Congressional high school art show, claiming back injuries or perhaps insufficient access to OSHA-approved ladders. But one Republican Senator stood up to art censors recently. Curiously, hes also from Missouri. The painting served as a backdrop during the traditional Inauguration Day luncheon in the Capitol. The one where President Trump asked for recognition of Hillary Clinton.

Executed in 1855, Verdict of the People, by Missourian George Caleb Bingham, depicts a small town reacting to the announcement of the outcome of an election, some with joy and others in despair. As the inauguration approached, an artist and an academic attracted more than 4000 signers to a Change.org petition to stop the display. The petition notes that since Trump received fewer popular votes that his opponent, the result is certainly not the verdict of the people. Trump did win Missouri by nearly 19 points.

In July, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, asked if the painting, housed at the St. Louis Art Museum, could be displayed during the inauguration luncheon. Blunt chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Any decision to put a representative of your collection into a political situation makes a political statement," Ivy Cooper, one of the petition organizers, and a member of the faulty at Southern Illinois University, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "If there were a discussion of the meaning of the painting, it would be different. But it's being used as a prop."

But Cooper makes no effort to lead that discussion. Her petition makes no reference to the content of the painting. That left The Washington Posts Phillip Kennicott to provide a surprisingly intriguing tour through the fraught, pre-Civil War moment Bingham depicts. Kennicott, eventually, determines the painting to be a break from tradition for the luncheon, a politically charged representation of one of the darkest moments in American history. So thats bad? Does the painting even work? Kennicott really never seems to decide. So a conservative senator is defending art, and a progressive critic waffles. Weird.

The painting stood in the Capitol for one day. No violent marches or Starbucks window smashings by black-masked art censors were reported.

These individual dust-ups attract way too much attention, relatively, but they speak to the censorious instinct of the country at large, in a time when claiming grievance has power as never before. A letter to Ryan from Clay and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD, invokes Hustler magazine, Animal Farm, Antonin Scalia and William Brennan. In America, we dont arrest artwork, the letter begins.

But, in America, of course we do. All the time.

The Gaza activist cartoon referenced in the 2003 National Journal piece was produced by Daniel J. Friedman, for the Diamondback student newspaper at the University of Maryland. The cartoon mocked the action by an American woman to block demolition of a house. A student sit-in at Maryland followed publication, and a pro-Palestinian organization published the email addresses and home phone numbers of Diamondback editors.

The citizenry loves to censor and bully and petition demanding its elected representatives censor and bully and sue. And its elected representatives pay attention. With two recent exceptions.

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The Missouri Delegation: Standing Against Censorship - Splice Today

Written by Rahul Tripathi | New Delhi | Published:February 25, 2017 5:37 am The report suggests that some of the financial schemes of the Centre may be implemented through these people that may help to bring more people in their area of influence. (Representational photo)

Control of the mosque, madrasa, print and TV media, changes in political atmosphere, strengthening of intelligence set-up and reaching out to the moderate faction of Hurriyat are some of the suggestions in an assessment report prepared by the Centre about the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley. The report, compiled after securing inputs from ground, suggests long-term actionable points and has been sent to National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, sources said.

Discussing the three-decade-old insurgency in the Valley, the report makes no reference to Pakistan but suggests that the political atmosphere in the Valley needs to be changed and those who were part of the 2014 election victory need to be supported and promoted by the government.

The report suggests that some of the financial schemes of the Centre may be implemented through these people that may help to bring more people in their area of influence.

Giving the break-up of Shia, Bakkarwal and Pahadi Muslim population, it suggests that a special development scheme can be implemented for them before they get lured by separatists or what it calls the widespread cult of Wahabism within the Valley. The moulvis at the mosques need to be engaged that will go a long way to quell insurgency in the Valley, it was stated.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting needs to revive its Jammu and Kashmir division that is largely defunct, the report says. It lists TV channels as pro and anti-India and newspapers that it says should be promoted for perception management, states the report. The report says those news organisations in the Valley fomenting anti-India sentiment should be discouraged from telecasting any negative propaganda.

On the role of separatists, the report calls for crackdown by Income Tax and other agencies on them but at the same time advocates engagement with the moderate faction.

To curb cases of stone-pelting, it has been advised that those indulging in such incidents need to be booked under Public Safety Act and for first-time offenders, especially teenagers, special juvenile homes may be set up so that they do not get influenced by more radical elements.

For economic development and to tackle unemployment, it has been suggested that the government come up with a special provision or legislation related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that business houses carry out activities under this head in the Valley and yearly targets for the companies may be fixed.

Suggesting an overhaul of intelligence and police management, the report suggests that to tackle militants from across the border, Special Operation Group (SOG) needs to be revived as it was done in 2002.

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MHA's report: Need to control mosque, madrasa, media for Kashmir ... - The Indian Express