Google Plus is getting real, for real!
Neil Patel of KISSMetrics has a very thorough article on writing good blog posts - worth the read
I agree with everything except number 1. I guess it depends on your audience? You certainly don’t want to alienate anyone, but I’d rather not dumb down any posts—I like to give readers more credit than that, I guess.
New Year’s resolutions for your business aren’t all that different from personal resolutions. The important thing is to set realistic and attainable goals. We recommend setting few of them to ensure that you take them seriously.
1. Trim the fat: Nothing to do with the stash of chocolate you have at your desk (though you might consider getting rid of that for your personal resolutions;). For your business though, get rid of any extraneous stuff. January is a great time to evaluate your spending. Is your money going to the right causes? And equally important, is your effort going to the right causes? Make sure you’re not wasting either of these precious resources on minutia. Focus your resources on what can help your business in the long run, especially.
2. Work less: I don’t really mean that;) But make sure your’e making the most of the hours you’re working, and that you’re taking sufficient downtime in order to give your optimum performance when you are working. If you’re freelance like us, take the time to structure your week down to the hour. This way you can see how much time you’re spending on what, and exactly how many hours on average you’re working per week. Of course there will be unforeseen changes each week, but rearrange accordingly.
Also, make your work hours as potent as possible! Don’t check your personal social media, and don’t browse the web! Set separate time for that kind of stuff. Idle web browsing crushes productivity. Do you really need that many tabs open right now?
3. Do some soul searching: Many companies have annual evaluations; these are great! Take them seriously. But equally as important, and often more effective, is self-evaluation (incidentally the only option for the freelancer). Be honest with yourself: what are you doing well (give credit where credit’s due)? and what can you improve on? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a veritable failure formula. Set goals for self-improvement, and get after them. The New Year, is after all, our best opportunity for a fresh start.
(Source: NPR)
Don’t say anything at all…in social media. I know, I know, every time you check your Twitter feed, 700 new tweets have transpired. When you log in to Facebook, it takes a good 40 seconds to load all the new stories, and the “ticker” on the right is relentless. Even your Tumblr bubble seems to be awfully chatty. How are you supposed to contribute to a conversation when there are so many competing voices? I don’t know that there’s any one specific answer to that question, but I do know what NOT to do: don’t try to talk over all of those voices. Simply because you’ve put in the effort to tweet 4x a day, and you’re updating your Facebook status hourly, does not make you a compelling participant in the social media conversation. Does the chattiest person at the party=the most fun? Does the loudest? No. Please, for the love the internet, think about your content!
“Just because you’re excited doesn’t mean you have to end the sentence.” Truth!
Our twitter feed is often crowded with tweets boasting the impossible: “how to get 500 likes from a single post,” “how to triple followers in one week,” “know which days NOT to tweet.” And while statistics and analytics are increasingly important tools in social media marketing, the methodology is startlingly similar to pre-SM days: listen to your consumers, know your target audience, and provide interesting and innovative ways to present your product or service. In other words, there is no quick fix. Your web time will be much better spent generating interesting content for fans, followers, and prospective consumers than trying to figure out the magic solution that unlocks the internet holy grail.
Conversations on a social network led the category of what most influenced all decision makers at 15%, while direct mail was second at 13%. It was just a touch higher for senior decision makers at 16%, which was even with sales presentations for these senior leaders.
Who still isn’t convinced????
#Social Media #marketing
