How can I use an RSS feed reader for business? 5 great ideas

Published on: 13 July 2021 Last Updated on: 10 January 2025

You’re here because you’re searching for that hidden weapon. The one secret that will give you a definitive edge over other companies in your line of work.

Behold the RSS feed reader. It’s not flashy. It can, in fact, be a little bit confusing, if you only have memories of them in the early 00s.

But it’s true. An RSS feed reader can make all the difference for your business.

What is an RSS feed reader?

Or maybe you’re not familiar with RSS. Here’s a crash course.

RSS is a protocol, which was developed early in the Internet’s youth as a way for users to have an easy way to access numerous sites simultaneously. Basically, every website and blog would have an RSS feed embedded in their code, which can then be accessed by an RSS feed reader.

Add any feed to your reader and then receive its content as soon as it’s posted. It’s that simple and was the chief way to stay connected and on top of development during the blogging craze.

Is it going to help my business grow?

Yes.

RSS readers have grown by leaps and bounds from where they started. For one, they now support all types of media files and formats, ranging from YouTube to podcasts. You’re able to cast your net wide – excellent for performing monitoring and research.

Not to mention how RSS feed readers have added tools, filters, and integrations that now place them firmly in the category of productivity tools. Depending on which RSS feed reader you have, you are in the perfect position to streamline your company’s journey to success.

How to use it for business?

a. Monitor your brand

To many, monitoring public opinion regarding their brand begins by opening their social media for a quick scroll down mentions and DMs. Maybe retweet something funny. That’s it. Smaller companies are particularly guilty of thinking ‘we’re small, so nobody’s really talking about us.’

It’s a fact many customers share their impressions of a business without tagging the businesses in their discussions unless it’s a direct complaint. Follow the breadcrumbs no matter how infrequent or small they are through RSS. Here’s what you can achieve with Inoreader as your RSS reader:

Create Google Alerts for important branded keywords and migrate them to Inoreader. This way you get the benefit of Alerts without the ineffective mail delivery.
Create keyword searches on social media, Twitter for instance, and subscribe to them via Inoreader, so you’re instantly updated when posts mention you.
Subscribe to important trade sites and set triggers to receive alerts whenever an article pops up that mentions your brand.

b. See what competitors do

The same principles as above apply here. Users can shift their attention easily to direct competitors in a heartbeat with minimal effort. You don’t have to change much in your monitoring approach, but it can also be wise to subscribe to your competitors’ newsletter, website, and social media.

The goal here is to monitor not just what’s said about your competitors, but also keep a close eye on every possible move they make. If you’re a considerably smaller fish in the pond, it’s smart to know when the market leaders are going to make an announcement, release a product or start a new campaign. That way you can time important marketing pushes on your part during the empty slots in their calendar.

Besides, your competitors are live case studies on the viability of campaigns and marketing ideas.

c. Follow influencers and bloggers

I mentioned trade publications above and the importance of checking for coverage of your brand, but there’s also another important category of sources you shouldn’t neglect. I’m talking about influencers and bloggers. These are the people that are somewhere between your target audience and industry systems.

They’re vehicles for promotion with varying degrees of influence. Some showcase what resonates with your ideal customers and others have economic power thanks to the size of their audience. Influencer marketing is still here for the time being and it’s a truly interesting phenomenon as it allows you to see firsthand what connects with your audience.

Influencers and bloggers thrive on their relatability to their followers. RSS feed readers are made for this exact purpose – follow blogs, newsletters, forums, and now a variety of media formats.

d. Discover new topics

RSS readers have made a sharp turn towards assisting their user base in finding relevant material, not just consuming it. After all, will you ever leave your RSS reader, when you keep on finding new and new feeds to explore? However, this functionality is not just created for leisure. It’s perfect for research purposes.

Inoreader has invested a lot into their discovery features. The very thing you encounter when you make your account is the discovery zone. You have several main branches of topics that further divide depending on how narrow your interests run. Each topic and subtopic is populated by the most subscribed-to RSS feeds in the reader’s database.

Furthermore, you have a lot more flexibility in how you explore suggestions thanks to the Sort by Magic feature, while the browser extension simplifies subscriptions to new RSS feeds and grants easy access to recent updates.

e. Learn more about your customers

Really, through the right blend of branded and non-branded keyword monitoring (we touched on both above), you arrive at a fuller, more fleshed-out profile of your ideal customer. You experience your customers in relation to your brand, which is essential in improving the ever-fragile brand-customer relationship. But more importantly, you get to experience them in their own environment. If you follow the current crop of successful influencers, then you know quite a lot.

Where do they hang out online? What’s important to them? How do they talk? What inspires them in their day-to-day life? What needs does your product meet? What motivates them to buy specifically from you? All these are questions you can answer. All from Inoreader’s dashboard.

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Everything You Need To Know About A Board Meeting

Are you new to being a director of a company and are not sure how board meetings work? Well, this is something that you will become acquainted with quite well as time goes on. But, before your first one, you may have a lot of questions. For example, what exactly is a board meeting and how do they work? We have created a guide that is going to give you a rundown of what you can expect. This way, you can walk into the room with some confidence. So, let’s get started. What is a Board Meeting? Let’s start off nice and simple. What is a board meeting? Well, this is when the directors of a company of its board members all get together and discuss what is happening at that company. In particular, a board meeting is often called to discuss the growth of that business and how it can move forward. So, in a board meeting, it is likely that the directors and those present will discuss topics such as the company’s performance, as well as any concerns or issues that have to be resolved. Of course, the overarching aim is for the company to progress. Note that a board meeting is supposed to be a formal meeting. It is going to involve people that have power at the company and that are capable of making decisions. Often, minutes are going to be made during the meeting so that they become a document afterward. Language is formal and so are the topics discussed. How Often are Board Meetings? When it comes to board meetings, every company is going to be different. Namely, some like to have them twice a year. Alternatively, it can be more often than this. But, they are usually decided on in advance. You can learn more about who can call a board meeting when you click on the link. This is going to be communicated ahead of time so that the meeting does not come as a surprise to anyone. There is no official amount of notice that you should give before calling a board meeting. For example, this could be a few days or even a month in advance. But, it is best to give everybody enough notice so they can prepare and make the most of the meeting. Generally, months in advance is too much and not standard. But, only a few hours or a day before is also unrealistic. You will need to think for yourself what a reasonable time is for giving notice of a board meeting. Is a Board Meeting Important? The simple answer to this question is yes, a board meeting is considered an important business date in the diary. Indeed, it is essential to review how the company is doing and how it can grow in the future. Think about it as an opportunity to review objectives and goals and to see if progress is being made. Plus, it is the chance to create more. Therefore, board meetings are not something that should be treated lightly. If you are invited to one, it is expected that you attend. You may have to do some work to prepare for one too so that you are up to date with what is going on. Do Board Meetings Have to be Face-to-Face It used to be the case that board meetings would always be face-to-face. This was how they were done. But, over the years, technology has changed the way business is conducted. Indeed, it has changed some board meetings. So, it is possible to have virtual meetings where you are on a video call or voice call. But, some companies still prefer to meet face-to-face for board meetings. This is a good way to understand nonverbal communication and body language. Plus, it avoids the problem of technology going wrong and being unable to see or hear people on the other end. Ultimately, it will depend on what everyone is comfortable with. Virtual meetings will still have a place in the future. For example, if there are board members that cannot attend for some reason, they are still going to be able to join this way. All they will need is a computer or a phone to join in the meeting. As long as all board members are happy with the way the meeting is going to take place, there are no rules on whether it has to be face-to-face or held virtually. Additionals Best Business Meeting Agenda ExamplesFive Ways an Employee Recognition Can Help Employees Perform Better

Best Office Design Trends for 2018

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What Are the Benefits of Using Change Data Capture (CDC)?

Do you need a more effective way to track changes to your business database? You can easily do this with the use of change data capture (CDC). CDC is a useful tool for businesses using databases across a wide area network. Using one of four methods, you can easily become aware of any changes made to your database. Typically, this process is resource-intensive and takes a long time to complete. There are several great benefits to using CDC, which includes enabling analytics on data in motion. This is a critical function because it allows you to make decisions based on the most relevant data available. Let’s take a look at a few other advantages of the CDC so you can see if it will help your business. Benefits of Using Change Data Capture: All Changes Are Accurately Identified The first benefit of the CDC is that all changes are accurately identified. If you’re considering using CDC, then this is likely your primary objective. Understanding what has changed within your database is essential to know what is different. CDC is excellent for this because it functions solely to identify changes. Knowing that something is different is one thing, but knowing precisely what has changed is critical. When you understand the changes that have been made, you can critically analyze this data. Old information will never be as useful or relevant as your most recent changes. Understanding this, you need a technique for streamlining the acquisition of changes made. Manually searching for changes is tedious and leaves room for error. Using the CDC, you can quickly and accurately see the changes that have been made. Greater Business Analysis and Decision Making With the most relevant data available, it allows for greater business analysis and decision making. Business analysis is imperative if you want to understand the trends of your operations. The data you process can indicate when something isn’t working and needs to be changed. Furthermore, conducting business analysis will improve your ability to grow and become more efficient. If you can complete the same tasks at a quicker pace, it saves you precious time and money. From your business analysis, you can then better craft your decisions. As you likely know, solid decision making has a direct impact on how successful you are. Because of this, you need data to back up your decisions. With the use of Change Data Capture, you’ll have the most useful data available to digest and make decisions with. Undisturbed Production Workflow Another amazing perk of implementing the CDC is an undisturbed production workflow. When you need to analyze the changes of information in your database, it holds up everything that you need to do. This process can be quite time-consuming and will delay more important work. The problem with tracking changes without CDC is that you don’t have real-time insight. This means that any changes you come across will be from a few days ago and may no longer be relevant. When you do use CDC, there’s no need to stop what you’re doing and investigate for changes. All of your updates are easily accessible and production can continue to flow. Lower Data Transfer Costs The last benefit of using the CDC is lower data transfer costs. Depending on the size and reach of your business, you may be accessing data from across the country. This can get expensive, especially when you’re working with a large volume of data. You’re likely using a wide area network to do this. If you were to transfer data across your wide area network without Change Data Capture, then you’re likely working with a lot of unnecessary data. This translates to paying for data transfer that you don’t need. CDC simplifies this by only transferring data incrementally. More specifically, the CDC will only move the changes that you make. This means that only critical information is being transferred, which allows you to pay for exactly what you need and nothing more. Even if you don’t need CDC for the other benefits, a lower wide area network cost may be worth it by itself. Closing Thoughts If you need an effective way of tracking changes made to your database, then change data capture (CDC) is the answer that you’re looking for! This technology simplifies the process of keeping tabs on new data and provides several great benefits. This includes accurate identification of changes, better business analysis and decision making, undisturbed production workflows, and a cheaper data transfer cost. Should any of these advantages be useful to you, then find a great Change Data Capture delivery method that works for you! There’s no need for change tracking to be difficult. Use CDC for live insights into your business that aren’t achievable in any other way! Featured Image Read Also: Best Deleted photos recovery Apps for Android

How can I use an RSS feed reader for business? 5 great ideas

What is an RSS feed reader?

Is it going to help my business grow?