Social Media Marketing for Business

The digital age has seen a great increase in the rate at which established technologies become obsolete. As older technologies continue to fall by the wayside to make way for newer, more convenient and more efficient ways to do business, it becomes easy to overlook the many tools and resources that would have disappeared completely if not for the Internet.

Digital versions of conventional technologies and online versions of established business tools continues to breathe new life into many technologies that often go overlooked in today’s modern and increasingly digital workplace environment.

1. Faxing

In past decades, countless businesses relied on the ability to transfer large volumes of documents with a fax machine. While there is far less need to have a physical fax machine on-site and many newer businesses are choosing to do away with the fax machine altogether, many older businesses and established organizations still rely on this technology for any number of critical workflow processes.

Software and services that allow digital text documents and images to be transferred to a conventional fax machine, without the need to purchase and maintain costly equipment, such as Faxage internet and email fax, has extended the usefulness of the fax machine and provided a new lease on life for a technology that was once an office standard.

2. Radio

The growing sophistication and falling costs of MP3 players, smartphones and other portable devices seemed poised to end the era of radio as a broadcast medium. The ability to carry an entire personal music collection on such a small device saw a drastic decrease in the number of people listening to commercial radio.

Webcasts and podcasts that allowed broadcasting organizations to reach a much wider audience, as well as Internet-based radio services, such as Pandora or TuneIn, that offer listeners the chance to customize their own station, has done much to revive the medium.

3. Long-Distance Phone Calls

The Internet has created many changes including doing away with the need to pay extra to place a phone call based on geographical distance. Email and chat programs lessened the need to rely on long-distance calling services early on, and today even low-end smartphones are able to utilize video-chat services and applications that allow people to communicate more quickly and easily than ever before.

Effective communication is one concern that no small business can afford to overlook, and thanks to the Internet, placing a long distance call can be done more easily than ever before using Skype or Google Hangouts.

4. Time and Attendance Tracking

Analog punch-cards and time clocks, used by countless industries throughout the 20th century, have given way to far more accurate and convenient methods of logging time and tracking attendance. As more and more businesses utilize outsourcing and telecommuting the need to find more versatile and flexible ways to track and log employee times has become a paramount concern.

Online time and attendance tracking services and applications, such as TrackSmart and TimeSheets.com, can be used by employees regardless of their location or working environment, which have become the new standard, one that ensures payroll and attendance related issues do not create problems for today’s small businesses.

5. Mass-Mailing Advertising Campaigns

While conventional mail and printed promotional materials still have a role to play in successful marketing campaigns, the days of stuffing envelopes and physical mass-mailings are long gone. Email marketing tools, such as Litmus and MailChimp, and social media have provided small businesses with a more convenient and cost-effective way to attract and acquire the customers and clients they need to ensure greater commercial success.

The Internet has alleviated the need to bother with time and labor-intensive marketing efforts by providing businesses with the means to market themselves electronically.

Are there any “obsolete tools saved by the internet” that you can’t live without? Comment with your thoughts below!

Meet Jessica Kane

Jessica is a professional blogger who writes for Faxage, a leading company that provide internet fax services for individuals and businesses.