It is a surprise that not many small businesses are using social media to help market and promote their products and services. While the low numbers of participation could be due to simply not knowing how to use this medium. It’s still worth the time and effort, and the benefits are unlimited.

Here are some tips and advice to help you get started.

Register at ZaaBiz for business driven social networking. Choose a business network available is within your interests and goals. The main home page has a “sign up’ button. Simply click and add your information. Join and get a feel of how social media works and just take it from there.

Its best to learn how the network flows and simply observe. Take notes of what seems to work, or not work, what you like about the site and so forth. What are the members chatting about, what are the popular discussions. Is there real activity or very little movement on the site.

What are your goals? Are you looking to use the medium to gain new clients, keep in touch with current ones, check out the competition? Setting up a plan will help you review your accomplishments as well as areas of improvement.

An vital part to an effective social media campaign is to keep track of who may be chatting about your business or company, what are they saying, and how is the community are reacting to it. Monitoring what may be said about your business will will help you tweak your marketing plan and benefit from it…it may even help you gain new business.

Although your goal may be to gain new business, don’t come across as just business. Interact and be social. You’re time on social network does not have to be all business. Being more real like sharing your day to day comings and goings, special events, likes and dislikes will make you more approachable.

Ask for feedback, reviews and insight to help you reach your target more effectively. One powerful use for social media in business is as a customer service tool. Instead of waiting for a customer to air a complaint, use social media as a way to engage and interact with your audience. And be sure to thank everyone who chimes in individually.

Your profiles, comments, posts and conversations should stay true to your company’s overall mission and values. If more than one person is posting on behalf of your company, it’s vital to have a standard tone and guidelines for consistency.

The 2010-11 general budget today provided considerable relief to income tax payers by raising the slabs at two levels but hiked the central excise duty on non-petroleum products across the board from 8 to 10 per cent and the basic duty on crude and petroleum products besides effecting a one-rupee increase per litre on petrol and diesel.

The basic threshold limit for income tax exemption will remain at Rs 1.60 lakh. Under the new proposal, 10 per cent tax will be levied between Rs 1,60,001 and Rs 5,00,000, 20 per cent on incomes between Rs 5,00,001 and Rs 8,00,000 and 30 per cent above Rs 8,00,000.

The present income tax slabs and rates are 10 per cent for income between Rs 1,60,001 and Rs 3,00,000, 20 per cent for income between Rs 3,00,001 and Rs 5,00,000 and 30 per cent for income above Rs 5,00,001. Proportionately, similar changes have been made in the taxes related to women and senior citizens aged above 65 years.

Mukherjee also gave another relief to individual tax payers by raising the existing limit of Rs 1,00,000 on tax savings by an additional amount of Rs 20,000 for investments in long-term infrastructure bonds.Contributions to Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) have also been allowed as deductions within the overall ceiling for tax rebate besides contributions to health insurance schemes which are currently allowed as deductions under the Income Tax Act.

The budget brings in sense of happiness among the young working class due to a substantial revision of tax slabs. The economy is also expected to boom as the government expects young Indian brigade to spend their tax incentive.

It does turn up as surprise to see Indian employees are the most passionate about their jobs. The world business fraternity for long has been debating about the growing prowess of India and China and its impact on the western world. But among India and China, this seems to have gone the India way. In a recent global survey by HR solutions provider Kenexa, India ranks at a numero uno position when it comes to being passionate about their job while the Japanese employees find themselves at the bottom of the table.

In this global survey the average is 56%, with Indian employees at 72% followed by Brazil at63% and Canada at 60%. USA and Germany are just above the average at 59% followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia at 58%.

The prime reason stated for the top spot is that Indian feel passionate about their job when they feel their skills and abilities are put to good use. They also find that India Inc offers them a good work/life balance which enables to enjoy their work better. Indian employees are confident about the future of their companies and are self-motivated to given their 100% as they feel that their companies growth is directly proportional to their growth.

The US financial crisis may have expedited a shift in global economic power. According to a report by global consultancy firm Economy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), India could become the world’s third largest economy by purchasing power parity, overtaking Japan in 2012. This would be almost 20 years ahead of Goldman Sachs’ projection of 2032 in its BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) report.

India is also expected to grow faster than China after 2020. China, which was projected to become the world’s largest economy by 2041, now looks set to achieve the distinction sometime around 2020, the PwC report said.

While the exact date is open to doubt, it seems highly likely that, by 2030, China will clearly be the largest economy in the world on purchasing power parity.

A.R.Rahman has done it again. After bagging two Oscars for his stupendous musical score in Slumdog Millionaire earlier this year, Rahman is has brought home the Grammy. Rahman’s chartbuster ‘Jai Ho’ from Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ‘Best Song written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media’ while the second nomination for the music maestro is under the category ‘Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.’

Rahman beat Steve Jordan for “Cadillac Records,” Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds”, the producers of “Twilight” and “True Blood” to bag the award in the best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture category. In the best song category Rahman’’s rivals included Bruce Springsteen for his song “The Wrestler,” from the Oscar-nominated movie of the same name.

Rahman’’s Grammy win was similar to his triumph at the Oscars last year where he picked up the best original score statuette before winning the Oscar for ”Jai Ho”, which has become an international anthem. It is Rahman’’s first Grammy.

The other Indians who have won the award, known as the Oscars in music, include Pandit Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain

Republic Day is India’s great national festival. It is celebrated every year on January 26, in New Delhi with great pomp and pageant and in capitals of the States, as well as at other headquarters and important places with patriotic fervour. Although the Independence from the British rule was achieved on August 15, 1947, on 26 January, 1950, the Constitution of India framed by the Constituent Assembly of India came into force and thus it is celebrated as the Republic day of India.

The most spectacular celebrations include the march past of the three armed Forces, massive parades, folk dances by tribal folk from the different states in picturesque costumes marking the cultural unity of India. Further, the streak of jet planes of Indian Air Force, leaving a trial of coloured smoke, marks the end of the festival.

The President of India at New Delhi, on this most colourful day, takes salute of the contingents of Armed Forces. In the States, the Governors take the salute, and in Taluqas and administrative headquarters on same procedure is adopted.

The Republic Day celebrations have rightly become world famous as one of the greatest shows on earth drawing thousands of eager sight-seers from all over the country and many parts of the world. No other country can draw on such a wealth of tribal traditions and cultures, so many regional forms of dances and dress. And, no other country in the world can parade so many ethnically different people in splendid uniforms as India’s Armed Forces. But they are all united in their proven loyalty to the Government elected by the people and in their proud traditions and legendary gallantry.

ZaaBiz India wishes all Indian members a very happy republic day.

It is interesting to note that young India B-school brigade is more focused on choosing the right career path with a miniscule emphasis on monetary benefits. According to a recent study, most of the B-school goers are interested to work in India with 68% opting to stay back in India. Amongst these candidates atleast 30% students are eager to be entrepreneurs.

The survey conducted by MBAUniverse.com had 500 second year respondents from famous B-schools’ like IIMs, IIFT, Xavier institute of management, Jamnalal institute of management studies and prominent IIT institutes.

Management and consulting is the most preferred job profile amongst these respondents with McKinsey & co. stands as the dream company to work. Ratan Tata stood as the most famous business icon, followed by Infosys co-founder Mr. Narayan Murthy.
As far as the remuneration is concerned 60% expect the salary to be above 11-15 Lac per annum while some dream to crack the figure of 20 Lac per annum.

Wish all our blog readers a happy and prosperous new year. Year 2010 could not have started on a better note for Blog ZaaBiz than to receive the good news that Indian employee confidence level is among the highest.

The Indian employees, along with their peers in Brazil and China, portray highest levels of confidence in the future of their companies. As per global HR solutions provider Kenexa, the global employee confidence index score saw a slight improvement to 98 in the fourth quarter ended December 2009 from 97.9 in the third quarter.

Brazil (107.5), China (105.6) and India (101.3) reported the highest levels of employee confidence in the fourth quarter of last year. On the other hand, France (94.9), Japan (94.0) and Spain (92.4) reported the lowest confidence levels. The US employee confidence declined 0.6 per cent to 97.1 in Q4 compared to the previous quarter.

In the September quarter of 2009, Indian employee confidence index was 100.2 points, China’s 102.8 and Brazil’s 105.3.  Employee confidence fluctuated throughout 2009, with the majority of countries reporting both increases and decreases. India and China were the only two that had an increase in scores, quarter over quarter.

A high level of employee confidence is achieved when they perceive their firms are being effectively managed and competitively positioned, and believe that they have a promising future in the organisation, job security and skills that are attractive compared to other employers. The Kenexa Employee Confidence Index is measured quarterly taking opinions from employees in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Britain and the US.

Celebrations of Christmas are marked by carols, cakes, candles and decoration of Christmas Tree. In several parts of India, especially in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, Christmas Festival has assumed secular overtones and is joyfully celebrated by people of all religions and communities. Christmas Day called ‘Bada Din’ (Big Day) in Hindi is a national holiday in India and people from all religions join their Christian friends to make the most of the joyous celebrations.

Euphoria for Christmas in India is largely based on the American media depiction. Days before the festival markets take a colorful look as they are decorated with traditional Christmas trees, stars, images of Santa, balloons and festoons. Gift marketers too create hype for Christmas by launching a rigorous advertising campaign through newspapers, radio and television.

We at ZaaBiz are grateful to all our members for their ongoing support throughout 2009. The journey of so far has been excellent and we wish to achieve greater heights in the coming year  with your continuous support.

Merry Christmas to you all our members. May this festive season bring joy and prosperity you and your family.

Highlighting the influence of managers on the performance of an organization’s staff, Indian employees have reported the highest levels of manager effectiveness as compared to their peers globally. According to a study by the research arm of global HR solutions provider Kenexa, an immediate manager has more influence on the employees beyond their role as delegator, evaluator and motivator.

Employees in India report the highest levels of manager effectiveness. The study results revealed that as much as 68% of subordinate employees in India rate their managers as effective as compared to the global rating of 60%.Employees in Brazil with 61%report the second highest ratings of managerial effectiveness, followed by those in the United States 60%, Russia 57%, Canada 56% and China 53%.

Meanwhile, workers in France (41%) reported the lowest ratings for manager effectiveness, the study said.

Employees’ evaluation of their managers are driven by the extent to which the manager displays the fundamentals of managerial competence: doing a good job at managing the team’s work and the team itself, and being perceived as a leader. For employees in India, an effective manager provides useful feedback, evaluates employees’ performance fairly, provides a sense of a promising future and practices open, two-way communication.