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10 Tech Tools to Be More Productive (and Maintain Sanity)
Armed with laptops, tablets, smart phones and 5 hour energy drinks, we should be able to complete that 4 hour work week that Timothy Ferriss says is possible. With social sites to update, apps to learn how to use and our actual job duties to complete, we just need a few more of those 5 hour energy drinks and 10 times what Timmy estimates, to get it all done!
Avoid Overload
I spend more time playing with and checking out apps than the average person and I’m sure I spend more time on social media sites than most as well, but that is our business. But if you have been feeling that technology, and especially social media sites, have invaded our lives like a swarm of locust coming in to eat our crops of time and productivity, you are not alone. Even I get that urge to take out my bug spray and start crop dusting for locust.
Over the past few years, I have come to rely on a few tools that save me time and make packing a 60 hour work week into at least a 39 hour bag a little more doable. So here are the top 10 tools I feel will help you save time:
Smart Phone
This seems like a no-brainer, but there are still quite a few people who have not seen the value in switching to a smart phone. Having a phone that can access email, edit and send documents, take pictures, respond to questions on your social sites, post content as you see it to your social sites, and more, will save you from having to wait until you can get back to your computer to “get work done.”
iPad (or any other tablet for that matter)
We’ve heard the legends of the magical device that shoots out cotton candy rainbows (also known as the iPad), but once you start using it for more than a giant iPod to play music, you will discover that magic land for yourself. Working mobile is now really possible when you have a device that allows you to check and respond to email, create and edit documents, including presentations and smart looking charts, make reservations for dinner without picking up a phone, join a Skype meeting with co-workers and update your social profiles with the touch of a screen….Can you say Magical Unicorns? Now when you are sitting for 15 minutes waiting for your lunch appointment to arrive, you can be productive. When you have that 30 minutes before your son gets out of football practice, you can get a chunk of work finished. Slip it into your carry-on and pound out work on the plane, train or bus. I believe these power tools are worth shelling out the $500-$600
Zite for iPad (Flipboard is another similar app)
We used to sift through newspapers and trade journals to search for relevant information and even clip articles to send to clients, prospects and friends. Today you can have better, more focused content sent to you daily (on your magical tablet) and even send articles to those clients and prospects with a touch of a screen. Zite and Flipboard are two such apps that I can’t live without. Each morning, I open to find custom information that is pulled from blogs, websites, social sites. I can read it, share it, tell the app whether or not I want more of that same type of content or even more articles from that particular writer. The app will update the content throughout the day so your virtual newspaper continues to feed you information as you desire.
WordPress app
It took me awhile before I actually started using this app and now I am getting great value from it. This app (available on Android, iPhone, iPad and even Blackberry) will allow you to blog on the go or even start a draft post when the idea strikes. It’s wonderful!
Instapaper
I am surprised how many people still have not heard of Instapaper, but this is like having a folder filled with clippings to read when you have those in-between moments. Install this app on your PC, laptop, and mobile devices, and then when you find a blog post that you want to read later, you simply click “READ LATER” in your browser or SAVE TO INSTAPAPER on your mobile devices. Now when you have that 10 minutes of waiting time, simply open up your Instapaper app and read your “clippings.”
Dropbox
A favorite time saver for so many reasons. When you are working with several clients and want to simplify how you share and transport documents, graphics, and more, Dropbox is a must. We create a Dropbox folder for each client and then the community manager that works on that account has access to the folder as well as the client. Photos and articles can be dropped in the
Google Docs
Between Dropbox and Google Docs, the days of emailing “proposal version 1.7″ “proposal version 1.8″ back and forth are over. I have several people that I work with regularly but on different projects. Using Google Docs allows us to maintain one document that can be updated (even together at the same time seeing each other add or change information) and shared instantly. BIG time savings!
Hootsuite (or TweetDeck)
With content to post, read and respond to on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook, these tools are essential for saving time and staying on top of all of your social activities. They both have similar features but Hootsuite allows teams that manage social media to collaborate and share duties. Using the “schedule posts” features on either of these, you can plan ahead with many of your posts and then sprinkle in the spontaneous.
Evernote
This time saving app is like carrying around a trunk to throw everything in for your business. Snap a photo of a sign that you want to incorporate into your blog and save it in your Evernote Blog Notebook. Have an idea hit you while your stuck behind the train? Record an audio message and save it to an Evernote notebook. Add documents, graphics and even the kitchen sink…or a picture of the one you like. Unpack WHAT you want WHEN you want it…WHEREVER you are. This amazing tool is available on your desktop, iPhone/iPad, Android and Blackberry!
ManyMoon is a wonderful project management tool whether you work alone and need those daily reminders of what needs to be completed to stay on task with your projects, or you work on a team and need to keep tabs on who has finished what. This was part of Google’s lab tools and integrates well with all Google tools, calendar, docs and more. (Not just for Google calendar either). The fact that it is free makes it even more desirable!
Well these are my favorite apps and tools to stay organized and on task. I’d love to know what your favorites are.
App Fanatic
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
Spring Cleaning on Your Social Sites: FACEBOOK
It Is TIME!
Last weekend I decided it was time to clean my office. Not just put away papers or bring coffee cups back into the kitchen, which I also did, but I mean, unplug every device and reroute plugs, shred stacks of old bills, dust under and around printers kind of cleaning. I had so many cords woven under and around my desk, I was sure there would soon be a fire (at least I wouldn’t have to shred or file the paper!) I had old files and empty binders that I was saving “just in case” that need for a used ugly, white binder would come up. I had sticky notes that would have sent shivers down any professional organizers back piled up “to read later.”
I had been putting this off, but lately found that it was taking me longer to find things, and I was always trying to guess which plug I could safely unplug so I could fit in one more gadget! Spending a couple hours cleaning can save you multiple hours of time. This same principal applies to our social media platforms. Let’s tackle one at a time, as not to overwhelm you. Here are 7 tips to help you be more efficient and much more effective with your Facebook account.
Let's Get Cleaning
Cleaning Your Facebook Profile
- Go through Facebook contacts and put into lists (clean out unused Lists).
Simply go up to ACCOUNT and EDIT FRIENDS (yea-too bad we can’t do this in real life!). Now you can CREATE A LIST or EDIT CURENT LISTS. You can send content out to specific lists and most importantly, you can read updates JUST from a specific list when your time is limited–so create your lists accordingly. - Unfriend people you never communicate with or that you do not know...It’s time.
Yes, most of us have been guilty of “friending” someone just because we had 500 people in common with them, but if you have not engaged in conversation or learned anything new about the person…it’s time to break it off! Go to their profile and look for the UNFRIEND link under their profile picture. I know, some of you who are conflict avoiders will find this difficult, but it’s actually easier than sending a Dear John letter! - Pick your fab five photos for your wall.
Facebook showcases 5 of your most recently tagged or loaded pictures on the top of your profile page. Some Facebook pages look like a random mess with photos of someone’s abdomen or the side of a building that you can’t make out. Start by clearing out the UNDESIRABLES. Click on the tiny X in the upper right corner of the photo. It will ask you if you want to HIDE PHOTO–say YES. This does not delete the picture. It will still be in your photos tab or on the page of the person who tagged you in it, but it will not be displayed on your profile banner. Now YOU decide which 5 photos you want representing YOU. To keep those 5 up there, you will have to check regularly and HIDE any new tags that try and encroach on the space. - Remove apps you are not using.
This is both, good for cleaning up your page from looking like that of a 14 year old with quizzes and POKES all over it as well as for safety and security! Third-party apps are allowed to use the Facebook platform, but they are not necessarily governed by Facebooks privacy policies. Only use apps that you NEED and know are not malicious in nature. Many people recently got snagged by the SEE WHO CAN SEE YOUR PROFILE app that once you log into, takes all of your contacts and spams them. Zynga (makers of Farmville, Words with Friends and many other games) is a reputable company–annoying at times–but reputable. The random quizzes and guessing games may not be. Go up to ACCOUNT, then PRIVACY SETTINGS, scroll to the bottom to find APPS & WEBSITES. A list of apps that you have installed will display. Delete the apps you are not using. Here’s a Gettin’ Geeky video we did about kicking the Farmville apps to the curb (or any other for that matter). - Remove wall posts that are not serving your brand.
Similar to the quizzes and games, some people will post things on your wall that just don’t represent your brand well. You can remove any post or item that gets put on your profile. Simply click on the X that displays to the right of the post (you have to hover over there to see it appear) and delete. This is for your WALL not your HOME page. That page is news for your eyes only. Your WALL is what others see when they search for you. - File those Facebook photos and set privacy settings accordingly.
This can be time consuming but very important. Depending on the day and position of the planets, the easy method of moving photos on Facebook will work…. part of the time. When you load a photo from your mobile device the default file is called…MOBILE UPLOADS. Now to move them from MOBILE UPLOADS to a more organized filing system you have to either save them to your computer and then REUPLOAD into a file or occasionally it will work to OPEN THE PHOTO, refresh your browser, when the photo changes into the old Facebook view, look to the bottom for the EDIT PHOTO link which will allow you to MOVE it into another folder location! I have had this NOT work, more often than it WORKS! When you load photos from the UPLOAD tab on your PHOTOS link, you can decide where the photos should go. You can set privacy settings on each photo ALBUM separate, allowing you to have a FAMILY PHOTOs album that only FAMILY MEMBERS (in your LISTS) can see, CRAZY FRIENDS photos that only “those friends” can see. - Separate Personal and Business.
Lastly, if you have been using your Facebook profile for business and you struggle with keeping personal and professional lives separate, perhaps this is the time to launch that Business PAGE. Here is a post that explains the simple steps to get that going!
Now don’t you feel better? Sure it took some time, but you won’t sneeze as often when you open up your Facebook account and you might even find yourself saving so much time that you will be ready to do some cleaning around that Twitter nest! That post is next!
The tidy team at SynapseConnecting is always here to help you use today’s technology tools to build your business and manage your brand. Please let us know if we can help you in any way. We have loads of helpful content here on our website or you can give us a shout and we will bring our brooms and dusters to help you clean things up a bit!
@GinaSchreck Chief Duster
Social Media Marketing for Your Business: 6 SUPER STEPS to DO SOCIAL RIGHT!
Perhaps your business has been trying to make sense of this new social world and searching for that elusive ROI to help justify the vacuum sound you have heard as your time has been sucked away. You may have set up accounts, and tweaked the accounts, even had your college son or daughter post content for you on Facebook or Twitter, and still the frustration grows. You wake up and ask “Is there anything interesting to post today for our business?” You leave work asking, “Why can’t I get more people to follow our posts or take action on them?” You are probably standing on your desk right now, crying out, “What am I doing WRONG?” Okay, so perhaps that’s a bit melodramatic, but hearing your cry and rushing to your aid, we bring you 6 Super Steps to Do Social RIGHT!
SUPER SOCIAL
- Have a plan. Why are you wanting to set up social media sites? Do you want name awareness? Will you use these avenues to be more responsive to customers? Do you want the ability to share your expertise and be branded as the go-to person or company in your industry? Are you wanting more sales, or are you just wanting to make sure you aren’t the only person left on the planet who doesn’t have a Facebook Page for their business? The answers to these questions will determine who should manage your social media (marketing, customer care, communications) and how you connect strategically on each site.
- Be Realistic with the Time it Will Take to do it Right! Many think if they throw a Facebook page or Twitter account up, people will flood to their doors. It doesn’t work that way. You must dedicate time each day to update sites, listen and respond to the community and be fabulously interesting…well at least somewhat interesting! In the beginning this may just be 15-30 minutes in the morning and then 15-30 minutes in the afternoon, but when your business grows and the community starts engaging, you will need time to analyze where your community members are coming from, what links are getting the most click-throughs, what content gets the best conversations going and more. Many organizations start by bringing in an intern to help with their social media marketing and find that they need someone with more of a marketing focus and it turns into a full-time position or they outsource a big chunk of the daily tasks.
- Don’t BROADCAST! It is called SOCIAL Media, not BROADCAST Media. Those who just post (and usually it’s automated…even worse) get tuned out quickly. Unless it works for you to go to networking events and just stand in the corner handing out your business cards and postcards as you yell “BUY FROM ME!” it probably won’t work in your social networking either! Here’s a list of 7 things you can share BESIDES your products.
- Listen More Than You Talk. Like any good sales person will tell you, the key to success is to spend more time asking questions and listening to your community in order to learn how to best serve them. Listen and respond to what they are talking about in your social circles. Spend some time each day scanning and replying.
- Be Interesting and Helpful. My rule in social media is, “Be interesting, be helpful, or BE QUIET! Be sure your posts are worth reading and passing on. Too many people post content that is so over used or trite that no one will forward, share or ReTweet it. And when people ask me how to get their information to be more viral or ReTweeted more often I simply say, BE MORE INTERESTING!
- Use the right tools. If you took a pair of scissors and set out to cut your lawn, you could certainly do it, but it would take you all of Saturday and Sunday…for the next two months. Using the right tools can make all the difference. There are many to choose from and each one does something different. For conducting searches, connecting strategically to your target audience members, tools like Hootsuite, TweetDeck (both tools to manage Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn), JustUnfollow (a service that shows you who you have followed or connected with on Twitter that has not followed you back so you can clean house a bit), SocialMention (a site that sends alerts like GoogleAlerts on information heard on the social vine), Analytics HD(iPad app to measure site traffic), or even good ol’ Google Analytics to see where your clicks are coming from and how to be more effective. These types of tools will help you be efficient, strategic and much more effective.
- Be consistent. Posting once a week or two times a month will not get you anywhere in the social media arena. Your customers and potential customers are out here everyday talking, sometimes about you and your topic and sometimes talking about or with your competitors. You can choose to engage in the conversation or hang the GONE FISHING sign up in the window. If you cannot commit to posting regular content (daily at minimum) hire someone to help you with this piece. It is important that you find someone who can be “on” when your customers are “on” and that the person or company you hire understands your brands personality, values and policies for replying to customers. I did an earlier post about that.
What SUPER Tips do YOU have? We’d love for you to share your superpowers with us!
TWEETERWOMAN
Like Batman, Superman, or Tweeterwoman, Gina and her team of superheros are just a tweet or phone call away! Let us know how we can help you succeed in this new social world! Gina (at) Synapse3Di.com or of course on Twitter @GinaSchreck
Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
Social Media for Business: Is Any Business Exempt?
LIKE Our Coffins
I am in gorgeous Naples, Florida speaking to a group of funeral home directors and owners about social media and the new world of marketing. I didnt exactly have 100% buy-in and a couple of them got their cables in a knot when I said, “If done RIGHT, every business can benefit from the use of social media….even the funeral industry.”
This is an industry that in the past has been run primarily by Mom and Pop, who inherited the business from their parents, who inherited it from their parents and for generations these folks have been involved in their communities. They visit the senior centers, play BINGO with the neighbors and volunteer at the annual health fair. They advertise in the Yellow Pages and personal referrals are their main source of new business. A good marketing strategy, unless your future customers are not going to the Senior centers or joining you at BINGO nights, and they thought the Yellow Pages were just for helping short dinner guests reach the table.
Now there is something a bit odd about a funeral home asking you to LIKE their Facebook Page, or discovering the Undertaker is following you on Twitter. But IF DONE RIGHT any business can benefit and build a successful online community to AUGMENT the physical or face-to-face relationships. Here are my 3 tips for DOING SOCIAL RIGHT:
- Keep your ideal community in mind and provide content they would find helpful and interesting. In the case of a funeral home, going beyond the obituaries and providing hospice or elder care resources and guidelines for writing a will or moving your parents home with you would be great engaging content. Join hospice care groups on LinkedIn and source great content from twitter. If you are pet sitter or a karate school owner, what content or resources would your community be looking for? Keep them in mind as you post content on your social sites.
- Blend the old with the new. You do not throw out the relationship-building activities that have been working for you, and you don’t ignore the new members who are busy connecting online. Be sure to add your social contact information on all traditional marketing pieces (brochures, business cards, presentation slides, stationary, thank you gifts and cards). Perhaps funeral homes can sponsor a SENIORS CONNECT class to have someone teach the seniors how to create a Facebook profile, so they can share recipes, oogle at grandbaby photos and write embarassing things on their kids’ walls. If you own an adventure vacation or promotional products company, what old marketing efforts can you apply a new social sheen to?
- Lastly, don’t take on too much too fast. Many businesses new to social media, think they must do it all and they create a blog, open an Twitter account, start inviting people to join their Facebook page, load an eight-year-old video clip onto YouTube, and jump into 25 groups on LinkedIn…the first week. After spending 22 hours a day trying to keep up with it all, they start considering life as an Alpaca Rancher in the outer skirts of Montana. Perhaps the first week, you create a Twitter account and find 10-20 people to connect with. The second week you start searching on Twitter to find keywords being used on Twitter. Afte a month, you might feel ready to take on setting up a Facebook Page or joining ONE LinkedIn Group and exploring how to contribute to this knowledge group. Plan on 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. As your online community grows, you can shift more and more time from one group to the other.
So whether your current customers are using social media to stay connected or Mabels BINGO nights, you would be wise to start embracing this new world, before your business ends up in the casket.
What business have you been most surprised to find on Twitter, Facebook, other social sites?
@GinaSchreck
Gina and her team of Alpaca ranchers can help you take on those dreaded daily tasks of managing your social platforms…Just give us a shout! 303-978-0887 or Gina@Synapse3di.com
Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
Facebook for Business: You Invited Me Over, Then Made Me Wear Duct Tape
Let Me Talk
I found a Facebook page for a business that I frequently visit and quickly clicked the LIKE button. I looked forward to reading their posts, receiving alerts to specials they may offer, and connecting with others on the page who have a similar passion for their great products. When I looked at the WALL, or the main page on Facebook that a company would post content, I expected to see lots of comments and posts by community members but there was nothing.
Many businesses fear the comments and feedback of their community members. They are afraid people will post spam or worst, they will post negative comments about the products or services, so they block all comments from the community members. Some do this by accident in their settings, not understanding the difference between “Page Admin + Others” or “Just Page Admin.”
Click the OPTIONS link,
Sure you run the risk of having them say something you don’t want to hear, but what if you create a space where people share how fabulous you are and they invite their friends to come and learn more about you and your services? You and your fans can handle the occasional negative comment when you create an environment that is engaging. It can also show others how well you handle problems…when they do occur.
If you are going to spend the time to create a Facebook PAGE and then work hard to get people to come and join you, take the duct tape off and let them speak.
The FABULOUS Team at SynapseConnecting can help you set up and manage an engaging place for your community to hang out and have great conversations! Give us a call and ask us how.
Join us for more tips on OUR Facebook Page (It’s a Duct Tape-Free Zone…unless you need help fixing the internet…We have PINK Duct Tape!)
Gina Schreck
Gina Schreck
President & Chief Hooligan at Synapse 3Di
@GinaSchreck
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