5 Tools for Posting on Social Networks

When I first began the great big dive into Social Media, I was scared to dealth... Literally shivering in my shoes... It can be very overwhelming tweeting, posting, retweeting, favoriting, direct messaging, and so on and so forth. As I began to get more adventurous and brave, I discovered some great tools to better manage my time and help me be the most effective.  I have listed the ones I use below. Each of the tools I use helps me solve a certain struggle I had with new media marketing. I hope you can find these solutions helpful in your efforts as well!

1. Content Aggregation:  When you begin any marketing strategy, it is paramount that you begin with a content blueprint.  This is an outline of what you are posting when, where, and why. It is important to really listen to your audience, and study your industry to filter through only the best stuff to pass along to your audience.  My two favorite tools for this are

Google Alerts and Feedly. Use them everyday and they make researching my content an absolute breeze!

2. Time Management: We all start this social media thing doing the same thing over and over again. We spend hours on end trying to figure out how to listen and share, share and listen. Before long we are speaking in hashtags and dm's. This is where Bundlepost has proven to be invaluable!  I can spend half the time scheduling posts after my content is gathered, and more time listening.  I would much rather listen than speak, that's just who I am!

3. Frequency of Posts: Hootsuite is an absolute must have in the social media arena.  I never knew how awesome scheduling my posts could feel until I realized how normal my life looked after Hootsuite!  Using Hootsuite in conjunction with Bundlepost is a breeze and a true answer to Social Media overload!

4. Analytics: While Hootsuite does a terrific job with analytics, I truly enjoy SproutSocial for my account analysis. The presentation is seamless, simple to read and interpret, and just the most comfortable Social Media Portal I have experienced.

5. Twitter Conversations: TweetDeck is my go to desktop application for twitter conversations. The real live feed and alerts makes following and engaging in any discussion and event simplified and profitable.

And what would be a good social media strategy without a CRM component!  NOTHING! That's why I use NimbeCRM which has a direct integration with Hootsuite! This way I can easily qualify my social leads by importing them into my CRM for more analysis, opportunity tracking, and historical reference across all my platforms, including email!

Without a strategy and a well thought out plan, these tools are not fully utilized and effective. You can waste time and effort figuring out just what to do next with what platform. STOP!  Get some help from an expert.  They can lead you the right way and save you more time for your business. They can even manage your strategy for you!  Don't dive in without your life vest!  Be a smart marketer and invest in the right gear to keep your boat afloat and get you where you intend to go!  You can do it!  Don't wait!

What the Experts Know…

Recently I was called in to work with an IT firm who was trying to implement and troubleshoot issues with a LAN based CRM solution that I support.  When I got on-site, the flustered and frustrated technician told me through angry tears that he had exhausted all his resources: time, technique, and treasure. In the end he lost money on this deal, and he was losing his rapport with the client by the minute.
After assessing the situation, diagnosing the problem, and setting up a plan to solve it, relief immediately overcame him.  I was glad to facilitate this, but it also reminded me of 3 important lessons I learned early on in my career.
1. Always have a plan before starting any engagement with a client.  If you are not an expert in what they are asking you to do, it’s best to evaluate how much time you can spend figuring it out versus paying someone who knows how to do it, in order to prevent you from losing money. If you are not profitable, you will not stay in business.
2. Set the expectations for the client (this is why the plan is PARAMOUNT). If you can explain to the client before hand what steps need to be taken, they will trust you as you walk through the steps with them, and they will likely go with what you determine as situations progress.  People want to know that what you say will be, especially when dealing with their livelihood and business processes. Set the expectations and follow-through with them as described.
3. Develop partnerships: If you are not an expert, work with experts. Partnerships will make you a lot of profit because they save you time.  It is important to remember that time is worth more than your hourly rate! When you think about it from this perspective, can you really afford to sell it for cheap?
Being and all hands technical expert can take you very far, but it limits your ability to get really good at any one certain thing.  Assess your abilities: strengths and weaknesses, and grow your clients in light of them… This is what the experts know will bring them the greatest success all the way around.

Lessons from THE LORAX

I have never been much of a writer... but I love watching movies with the three year old... I love to listen to him hum the tune of each show he has watched 200 times.  There is no better sound to me...

This weekend we watched THE LORAX and as I watched my little guy enthralled by every moment in this movie, I found myself very intrigued by the lesson we can learn in life and business that I took from this movie... As I said, I am not much of a blogger, so I thought I would make this short and sweet:

1. Preserve the SACRED by not using more than you need for personal gain!  Don't cut down the trees translates across many platforms.  Things that are sacred in our environment can extend to things that are sacred in life: TIME is of great value when at home or at work.  We should be careful not to overindulge others who mean to misuse it or discount it.  We should carefully value our time, and the time that belongs to another.  We should show them that in everything we do.  VALUES are another example we can attribute to  SACRED.  Ask yourself what you regard as SACRED in your life and business.  Can you identify those things?

2. Love is a motivator!  We will do all kinds of crazy and wonderful things for love.  That should be an important motivator in life and at work. The Golden Rule can move us to make major moves toward another in various ways.  Even though some of the things we do will not serve us well over time, most of the time LOVE Wins. Pursue all the things you desire that are motivated by love.

3. Let it Grow!  NO matter what it turns into, to grow is better than to die.  Death symbolizes the end of something, sometimes good and sometimes bad.  But to Grow something is the essence of a seed that has taken root. In life and in business the fruit of these seeds should be analyzed by the first two lessons listed: Does this fruit look like love, and does this fruit have attributes of the sacred.  That's how we can foster good fruit, deciphering between the weeds that seek to steal the sacred and remove the love. You cannot, however, examine the fruit without them taking root.  Don't be afraid to let them do that.  There is truth and power in learning from weeds.

I love the LORAX. I love the time that I get to cherish with the three year old, but I also love how these things transcend into all areas of life.  Does your business preserve the SACRED, and is it motivated by LOVE.  These will determine how it GROWS... I want to encourage you to think on these things... Use them to Turn your relationships into Gold...