Posts Tagged ‘Management Tools’

How many times do you say – “I haven’t got the time”! “Where do all the hours go”?

Personally I manage time in chunks – I allocate set hours for each client.  For my clients who book a set amount of hours a month I allocate specific days during the week  to carry out their work.  My calendar is a colour coded masterpiece – a set colour for each client.  That’s how it works for me. How do you manage your time?

If you need some guidance on time management there are some excellent tips here in a post by Mark Walsh.

We’ve all done it at some point – “my computer doesn’t work”,” I can’t get to grips with the program”,” it doesn’t work for me” and every other excuse we can find to “blame” the tool.

Of course the program works, so does the computer, what doesn’t work is our brain – it goes off on a tangent telling us we should have been able to produce that article in 5 minutes, let’s face it that’s what the program is meant to do – save us time isn’t it?

Well yes – and it does – but first you have to learn how to use it, just like anything else we have done in our lives – step by step, day by day, we get better, more accomplished, more adept at what we are doing but this only comes with practice.

Great article here by Chris Brogan – Hemingway’s Pencil. I can still hear my Father (a solid Lancastrian) who always said in his broad accent “it’s nowt (nothing) to do with the tool, it’s all to do with the bonce (head)”! and so it is.

Take yesterday, the Ryder Cup, what a fantastic conclusion to the event.  Why did the Europeans win?  What did they do differently?  Each player had a golf club, each a master of the game, all worthy of a place on the team.  They took control, they thought their game plan through and they didn’t let their emotions or mind games take over. More importantly they didn’t give up.

How many tools have you started to use and then let go of because they “didn’t work”?

Go back now and try again, give yourself some time, work through the process and one by one the pieces will come together, you will save time, you will produce the outcome you are looking for and then move on to the next “broken tool”.

In my previous blogs I have covered the benefits of using some of the leading social media sites, followed by the advantages of using social media management tools like Ping.fm and scheduling tools like Postlater.com.
I’d now like to move on and take a look at those businesses, large or small, that require a 24/7 presence on the web but don’t have the time to spare to remain quality focused, consistent and constant. Such businesses have my wholehearted support because I know how difficult it can be.

We all know just how important it is to build up a rapport with ones followers’ as well as keeping lines of communication open. The like – know – trust – strap line expresses succinctly the way relationships are built, the same as when we first meet someone face to face.  However, the reality is that when an advert is placed in a magazine there is no way of predicting who might look at it.  In other words you have had no personal interaction with the individuals who are attracted to the advert. Yet this doesn’t stop you from placing the advert and the magazine isn’t going to turn your advert down because you don’t know your target market.  So the key is to adopt the same strategy for your social media presence.  Simply place your posts and adverts linking to your website as you would in a magazine and thereby give your business the exposure it needs on the web.  You will soon start picking up followers, start to build up a rapport, find common interests, hopefully get to like them and eventually trust them.
 
Obviously it takes time to build up a “quality” list of followers on any network.  Don’t be tempted to subscribe to any application that promises to generate 100,000 of followers though – what is the point?  It is far better to have 50 genuine followers who are interested in you and your business than thousands of followers.

As a Virtual Assistant (VA) I look after clients who need a 24/7 presence on the web through the medium of social media.  By setting up their accounts, profiles and producing a continuous stream of posts I am able to give them the presence they require on the web thus giving them the space and time to focus on their day-to-day business.  I do, however, encourage them to spend a few minutes a day ‘personalising’ their posts so that it reflects their own personality and style. 
Sometimes though I am criticised for this approach to social media with comments like:
“You shouldn’t automate your tweets.”
“Don’t post the same information on every site.”
“Not everyone is on Twitter so don’t place an RT (re-tweet) message on LinkedIn, Facebook, FriendFeed etc.”
 
Most people involved with social media will be familiar with the most popular top sites.  Some of them are our preferred sites that we frequent daily, hourly, even every few minutes during a typical day.  Other sites we might just visit once a day or once a week. Occasionally, however, we find something of interest on what I refer to as the “dippers” and it’s often worth remaining with them, both from the perspective of finding interesting articles, potential new contacts and possibly items of general business interest. These may also open up new avenues to further promote your business.
 
In my view I don’t think anyone should say “do this” or “don’t do that”.  Each of us will try our own marketing strategies depending on what we feel comfortable with and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to experiment until they find what works best for them as individuals and as businesses. If you are in business and some of these issues resonate with you, then why not consider utilising the services of a professional VA to help you establish your own 24/7 presence? It might just be just what you need to start getting the phone to ring more often!

Don’t forget that if you want any further information on any of the above topics then please do get in touch. On The Go is already helping successful businesses implement their social networking strategies from helping them set up a consistent company profile through to scheduling their media messages giving them a 24/7 web presence.