Entrepreneurs and small businesses know they should add social media marketing and digital tools to their customer acquisition and outreach plan, but time, money and a steep learning curve often hold them back. I asked a group of digital marketing professionals to share one tip, technique or tactic they use to shave time, money and frustration from their marketing plates. Each of these tips come from full-time marketing, PR and/or digital strategy professionals who work on-line and in social media every day.
Time is our most valuable asset as business owners.
Karmen Reed of Kick Off Topic
My password manager: I use Roboform. This awesome tool is not just a security peace of mind, but also a time saving “must have” tool. Roboform manages all your digital, online passwords and you have to remember only one master code, that you set yourself, to access any site or tool on your computer requiring a password. It can be synced between your multiple computers, and Firefox as well as Chrome extensions allow for super easy access. Extra points — Roboform is available on your iPhone as an app too.
Lisa McKenzie* of Red Carpet Strategies
Once a month I religiously use ManageFlitter to ensure that I am connecting with my ideal community and audience on Twitter. ManageFlitter allows me to quickly delete spam and inactive accounts leaving my Twitter steam filled with people I want to stay connected with and tweets I want to read. The “drag” feature across profile avatars is my favorite for quick deletes.
Gail Doby of Design Success U
Google Docs is our baseline tool for communicating with our global team. We are able to maintain a central filing system in the cloud, which is extremely helpful with a team working on projects at different times of the day or night.
Mary Lengle of Madison and Company
I help clients tell their stories through video and I’m able to meet with people via SKYPE to go over our scripts, shot lists and overall video strategies. I use it on my iphone, ipad, desktop and laptop. It’s a great communication tool and time saver.
Nancy Leyes Myrland of Myrland Marketing
I set up search columns in TweetDeck, (or whatever Twitter management tool you are using) for the exact title of my three most recent blog posts, then watch those columns periodically throughout the day to find and thank those who are sharing my blog posts. Your Twitter name isn’t always included when people share your post, so this helps you catch them so you don’t miss the opportunity to nurture a relationship by thanking someone for their kindness. This also saves times because you don’t have to check different sources to find these shares of your blog posts.
Keri Francek Jaehnig of Idea Girl Media
My time-saving tip and everyday lifesaver is Workflowy. It’s up on my computer all day long. I use it to organize note, tasks and collaborate with clients and colleagues through the select sharing feature.
Holly Kolman of Mobile Site Store
Dropbox is a tool you can use on your computer or internet-ready phone. I have sent enormous files like audio and video files, and when I give my clients password access, they can access them at any time. It’s very convenient and makes it a lot easier to keep track of files than email.
Doug McIsaac of CBS Television affiliate, KTVQ
Use a mind mapping tool like Mindomo when you are planning projects
If you have tools, techniques and tips to share with entrepreneurs and small business people, please share them here and we’ll take a look.
*Full disclosure. I am also a partner in Red Carpet Strategies.
Workflowy is great! For any job/career searchers out there, you can use this to organize your search using a digital, easily accessible program.