6 Things Really Productive People Do

By Kevin Daum Have you noticed that some people just seem to accomplish tons and still appear happy and relaxed? Here are six tips for becoming more productive. People often ask me, amazed, how I manage to do so many things. Aside from writing two columns every week, I speak regularly, travel, create videos, manage my business, write books, consult with five companies, network, socialize, cycle, run, read, cook, sleep six to seven hours a night and have dates with my wife. Oh yeah, I watch a lot of television while hanging out with my dog as well. Okay,...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Conclusion

Traditionally, marketing efforts have focused on finding customers through television, radio and print advertisements, direct mail, telemarketing, frequent email blasts and so forth. The idea was, “throw a big enough net and you’re sure to catch some fish.”Today’s businesses can take a different approach. Rather than hunting down clients, businesses can now use social media to make it easier for their potential clients to find them. This approach is less intrusive than older marketing techniques, and because social media relies on people being,...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Hiring A Social Media Manager

As your online presence develops, you may find that you no longer have adequate time (or energy) to devote to social media. If you are fortunate enough to have created vibrant and active social media profiles for your business, maintaining them could become a full-time job. You may have to hire a manager if your social media activity is:  Taking up more than two to three hours of your work day Preventing you from performing your other duties A distraction that is affecting your productivity No longer fun  Another reason to hire a social...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Maintain Your Profiles

Effective social media involves more than making regular posts. Although these are extremely important, there are a number of other tasks that small businesses should perform on a regular basis to keep your followers happy.Check Social Media ProfilesAs mentioned previously, social media is not a set it and forget it strategy. Even if your plan dictates that you will send two tweets each week, you still need to log on to your Twitter account each day to see what’s going on. Have you added followers? Have people retweeted your messages? Are there...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Build And Develop Your Social Media Presence

Once you have selected the social media platforms that are most appropriate for your business and have made decisions regarding the type and frequency of your content, it’s time to establish your social media presence. Keep in mind, more is not always better;  it is far better to use one or two sites than to have a user profile on every social media site, but never add content or interact with other users. It’s okay to pick just one or two to begin with and add more later, if you have the time and resources.BuildYou will need to create on...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Plan Your Content

As you develop your online presence, it is important to have a plan for the type of content that you will deliver to your existing and potential clients, and the frequency with which it will be delivered. You need to decide what you are going to post and when you are going to post it.Content Categories and TypesThe type of content that you deliver will be largely dependent upon your business and your goals for using social media and should be appropriate to both. Your content should be relevant and fresh, and focus on the clients rather than...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Research The Platforms

There are dozens of social media platforms that you can use to connect with and engage your current and potential clients. While it may seem like a good idea to cover your bases and have a presence on all of them, it is better to focus your energy on several carefully-selected platforms that match both your goals and audience. Each social media platform has its own unique traits, and your content and audience may be appropriate for one platform and not another. For example, photos have good impact when posted on Facebook and Instagram, but...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Define Your Target Audience

Going hand in hand with establishing your social media goals is defining your target audience. Companies have traditionally relied on market research to figure out where to most effectively put their radio, print and television advertising dollars. Today, small businesses can look to research organizations that provide information on how consumers use social media. Knowing how your existing and potential customers use social media is an important part of developing an effective social media strategy.Your target demographic is specific to your...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Define Your Goals

The first step in creating a social media strategy for your small business is to define your goals. What do you want to achieve through social media? How will you use social media to promote your business? For example, you may want to use social media:  or general branding purposes To interact with your audience To share coupons and offers To drive traffic to your Web site To market a new line of products  Get SMARTWhen making your social media goals, it can be helpful to take an organized approach to ensure your goals are both concise...

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Implementing A Small Business Social Media Strategy: Introduction

A hundred years ago, most businesses were local brick-and-mortars that relied on door-to-door marketing to engage the public. As technology evolved, motion pictures, radio and television opened up new avenues for business marketing, eventually expanding to include direct mail, telemarketing, print advertising, trade shows and e-mail blasts. While these practices have proven successful over the years, many of today’s consumers now view them as intrusive, and have consequently become quite savvy at ignoring traditional marketing attempts.Enter social...

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