Archive for August, 2010

We’ve had a lot of conversations with clients recently about what I like to call “Taming the Time Suck.” Like a lion on the loose, social media can be a fascinating thing to observe. Or play around in. Regardless of whether you do it for business or pleasure, social media can eat a ton of time if you don’t manage your efforts effectively.

While each day can be different – as well as each opportunity you may capitalize on – it’s important to designate the right time for the right projects.

5 Ways to Tame the Time Suck

1. Designate time to work on your social media projects. – This is especially important when developing or revamping your materials. Setting up, tweaking, etc., can be quite the time suck,  so make sure you plan for your social media activities. Go as far as to close your browser if you have to get other work done and then just open it up with you have time to monitor and manage.

2. Designate time each day to work on your accounts. – You will need time to manage and monitor your accounts. And you should adjust that time if you know your posts and activities relate to a prime media story, a seasonal promotion, or something equally as important to capitalize on.

3. Prioritize - Not everything has to be done each day or in every way. Are most of your customers YouTube watchers? Then spend more time there rather than on LinkedIn. Move things to the back burner as needed, but make sure you don’t embrace the empty storefront scenario – you still need to keep things active!

4. Be effective - It’s tempting to goof off: looking at fun links, playing games, or responding to friends’ posts. But treat your job like a job, and you’ll minimize the amount of time you are supposedly spending on social media for work.

5. Prepare – If you need assistance from other departments (such as graphic design work, customer service, etc.), make sure you are communicating with them in advance or as needed in order to handle your campaigns efficiently and effectively. Preparing properly can make a world of difference!

Have other tips for taming the time suck? Please post below!

We hear all the time about how social media is “free.” And free must mean it saves you money, right? Wrong!

Most social media sites offer free business and/or personal accounts. And this year, many companies are jumping on the social media bandwagon to take advantage of this great, FREE marketing resource. It’s the latest, greatest, hottest thing to do. But just because something free, doesn’t mean there aren’t costs involved.

5 Ways Social Media Will NOT Save You Money:

1. Social media can require investment - Social media is constantly evolving and expanding. Who has time to keep up with all of the latest trends and techniques? If  you do, great. But if you don’t, be prepared to invest the money in on-going training and support for yourself or a staff member! A little money going out can save a lot of time and headaches for you in the long run because you don’t have to muddle through the noise to learn what you need to know.

2. Social media must have someone manage it - Hence, you must pay someone to manage it, especially if you want it done “right.” Social media requires research, planning, management, and on-going follow-up. If you have an active social media audience, it may require the support of more than one person. Time = Money in this case!

3. Social media requires graphics and/or video - While it’s ok if your images reflect a “homemade” look, you still have to develop the look you want, the way you want it. That means paying a graphic designer, photographer, or videographer to get the job done right.  Don’t skimp here – image is everything (or so they claim!)…

4. Social media often requires integration - In other words, few companies promote exclusively through social media. That means your company needs to spend the time and money to add buttons and widgets to your website, URL lines to your business cards (for your various social media sites), and do anything else that makes for smart cross-promotion in your marketing mix!

5. Social media can mean online advertising – Advertising through social media sites can be very lucrative. It’s typically highly targeted and very inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising.  It can be a great form of cross promotion and/or complimentary to a particular campaign. But it requires money to do, meaning there is no “free.”

So while social media offers great opportunity for dialogue, market research, and more, make sure to evaluate your true costs of using this “free” resource!

I was supposed to do a blog post last week. I didn’t. I was supposed to do one yesterday. I didn’t do that either. Why? Because I can’t write if I’m not in “the zone.”  And lately, I just haven’t been in the zone.

And then it occurred to me that is what I needed to write about. Because why was I not writing? I wasn’t feeling inspired. I was bored with my self-assigned topic. I like to have a more free-flow approach. And on top of everything else, I was feeling burnt-out on the “mundane” things in my life.

All business people are human. Stress, anxiety, and simply being busy (even if its ALL good) can still impact performance and that’s what happened to me with my blog post last week. And I simply decided it wasn’t happening. I mean, I’m one of the bosses right? Nothing wrong with switching things up on occasion! So I told my partner I wasn’t writing a post. What does she say? “Ok.” And then “How can I help?” Just saying that helped because it took the pressure off and I felt like she “got it.”

Today, I feel like I’ve finished busting through the blog blahs. I spent some time last week hiking, reconnecting with my business partner, going out with friends, and exploring some other creative projects I have going on. What a relief! And a good reminder that I need to do that on a more regular basis. Starting a business is wonderful, but its easy to lose track of how I spend my time – and to develop a case of the blahs.

S0 watch for a return of our Savvy Tips blog postings, as well as a variety of other posts as the mood strikes us. We’ve busted the blog blahs and now plan to have a little fun with them!