Hey all,

Here’s a new feature I want to try out: Small Biz Topic of the Week. A number of you have asked about which social media platforms you should focus on, which tools to use to post to multiple sites, or advice on automation tools.

So, for this week, I’d love to hear about your techniques for getting all of your marketing done. They could be tools, resources, hacks, techniques, websites, etc.

Maybe you use a VA, or an intern, or consume insane amounts of Red Bull.

As a fellow small business owner and entrepreneur, I know how hard we all work. But I’d also like to know how smart we could all work, too.

And, if you have suggestions for other Small Biz Topics of the Week posts, please send them over to me.

Rich Brooks
Your Fearless (Club) Leader

Like Apryl, I also use Hootsuite to manage several accounts and to get an overview of what’s going on.  One day of the week, usually Sunday afternoons, I take an hour and schedule messages for all of my accounts for the following week. During the week I use Hootsuite to retweet and mention randomly.  On accounts with specific campaigns I take about an hour and do the “strategy” – search, list, follow – Search for topics or people, add to list, follow them.

Evernote – I can’t say enough about that. Finding things easily and quickly is very important and you spend more time looking for stuff then you realize.  Evernote is great for saving time finding things.

One Time Rule – It’s a rule I learned as a legal assistant – Paper passes through my hands once and same rule applies for email.  I don’t open it (snail or email) unless I can address it right then – it gets added to task list, calendar or I deal with it.

Cell Phone – My phone basically replicates my computer and I use it to keep track while I wait at the post office, wait to pick up kid, read the news, etc.

Getting ready to hire an assistant in 2012

Google Calendar – I wear many hats and I keep my  projects and time separated by color and calendar.  That thing keeps me organized.

Google Voice – I didn’t realize how much time I spent listening to voicemails until I got Google Voice.  It transcribes my messages and I can basically tell what it’s about and if I need to address it now or not. I also like that I can email myself the messages and then save them in my client folders as a record.

Gmail – you waste a lot of time looking for things.  I organized my gmail a long time ago and can find things dating back to 2007 and beyond in a snap.

My practice has been to focus more on productivity – with networking, this means more discipline with planning and accomplishing pragmatic objectives.  I seldom participate in Twitter chats anymore unless I’m at an event.

Same approach with content creation – more emphasis on creating quality content. As much as I don’t want to skip a day on my blog, I’ll do so rather than lay something down that doesn’t add much value.

As for tools, much of what I’m reading here is working for me: Google voice, Postling, Ping.fm, etc. For lists I like Wordly and Checkvist – both much faster and simply than Evernote, at least for me.

Thanks for all your thougths on this – really helpful.At this point, my company runs as a small consulting firm so time is everything. We can’t actually manage time – it just keeps going – so managing how we spend our time is critical.@leilajones hit on a great resource that I love as well – “Getting Things Done”. This book gives great tools and techniques for being organized and moving fast.The othe key for me has been staying focused. I find just about everything interesting so this is a challenge, but trying to go deeper instead of wider – and really knowing what my business is – has made a tangible difference.

I wrote two posts recently that really dive into my productivity.

1) Apps I use – http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2011/10/05/10-apps-i-use-every-single-day/

2) My perfect day – http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2011/08/30/my-daily-productivity-routine/

I found some great suggestions here, and already do a number of them. This will help me.

Plus, I recommend to my clients they NOT use me to monitor, but get an intern or someone like a receptionist with time (who is usually stuck to their desk) to monitor Hoot Suite and other SM work.  I am too expensive and it takes too much time away from what I need and want to focus on.

My scheduling is a bit two-sided, because I am a Virtual Assistant, so I have my scheduling to work with as well as my clients.

For my own business, I am an avid user of Hootsuite, Evernote, and Google Calendar.  I check email at certain times of the day, as well as monitor my social media accounts.  Many of you will probably laugh, but I still have a giant white board in my office with all my client projects on it.  I am a very visual person, so having the giant board right in front of my face helps keep me on track when managing projects for 20 clients.

As for the client side, in many cases, I have to use the systems they love.  However, Hootsuite definitely ranks on top for monitoring social media accounts.

I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab (sorry – not an iPad/iPhone person) that syncs beautifully with my phone and computer.  With three kids, there is a lot of time out of the office at this practice or that practice, so people usually see me in the bleachers plugged into my tablet.  It’s very productive and saves time for me to focus during the actual games/performances!

Great topic and I too provide support in these areas.  We are starting to use a new tool know as marketmesuite – it helps with branding you vs. the tool.  Still learning it with a client of mine, but I do believe it will provide many of the same efficiencies that Hoot Suite provides.  I still need to be more efficient for my personal business vs. my clients.  I tend to work best with more pressure vs. none.  These are some great suggestions.  Interestingly I have had Evernote since 2010 and just started utilizing it last night due to another new client.  I love how we learn from each other! Gonna have to check out the book mentioned earlier by @leliajones!

Wow! Great info. Now I have to add Getting Organized to my Get Organized sheet…

I use Hootsuite to schedule different articles that I think would be useful for my customer base or to make certain comments or ask questions to engage. 

I also use Google Alerts for news/blog postings on various subjects.  I have these scheduled to arrive at 6:45 in the morning so I can plan out my day.

Usually check/post all social media first thing in morning, during lunch and then right before I leave for the day.

@lisaschulteis – I also have a whiteboard in my office to keep track of projects!