New Year’s Resolution: less social media!

Happy New Year! We hope you had a fantastic ringing in to 2013, and that you’re all fired up (or will be, tomorrow) to write your novel this year. In case you’re still searching for a New Year’s Resolution, may we offerusing social media for marketing one to you? How about less social media this year… That is, less personal social media! If you’re promoting your book, that’s just fine. The trick with managing the time spent online plugging your social media channels is to consciously commit to it not taking over your life. Remember real people are right in front of you, your family, your friends and maybe even your readers.To put all your time and effort into building your techno options is not optimal as, (a) there’s nothing like face-to-face and (b) signing up to this tsunami comes with its risks and it can quite easily become your drug of choice. Be warned. After one has committed to all or a few social media platforms in terms of signing up; twitting and tweeting, ‘booking, blogging, yammering, pinging and dinging here are few tips on how to manage your chosen channels efficiently and aligned with effective time management to suit your lifestyle as well as market your book run; as well as keeping the faith in terms of your creative flow? We learn when turning to the pros, in this case Dennis Shiao Director of Product Marketing at INXPO, a virtual events platform (www.allvirtual.me), of the first steps he takes every day, before breakfast, in terms of managing his social media. He is quoted as saying: “There’s not a sound in the house (besides the slow drip of the coffee) and I’m basking in solitude. I suppose it’s “me time.” The first sip of coffee gets me started and I’m off to the races. I don’t try to solve the world’s problems in the first hour of my day, but I do just enough to set up the day for social media marketing strategies success.”

ATTAINABLE NONPROFIT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

It is that time of year again! Many individuals are setting social media marketing manager personal goals and challenging themselves to achieve them at the turn of the New Year. The tradition of the New Year’s resolution can be traced back over 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. Why the tradition still exists, when under 10% of individuals succeed in achieving their resolution, is another question, which we won’t tackle today. Instead of considering New Year’s Resolutions a challenge, treat them as goals. Creating realistic goals is a valuable habit for any organization. BidPal Experts have suggested the following achievable goals for any nonprofit in 2016.The reality for most nonprofits is that building new marketing content requires additional resources that are not readily available. So use what you have strategically. Repurposing content when applicable can save serious time and resources and still be effective—change the image, replace or rephrase your text, use a different color, update statistics and repurpose.Still not enough? Consider establishing a Free Suggestion Box. Allowing your colleagues to provide their input at any time anonymously means more content ideas for you.Marketing and customer service are two critical factors in the overall donor experience. While donor satisfaction is more valuable than a strong social media presence, both are necessary to maintain fundraising momentum and to retain donors throughout the year! BidPal was thrilled to see a remarkable increase in Twitter and Facebook traffic on Monday, November 30 and throughout Giving Tuesday on December 1. Unfortunately, marketing with social media activity the next day was dropped in half, returning to pre-Giving Tuesday levels.

Hold Yourself/Others Accountable

Goals and resolutions are all about the follow-through. The key to this step is holding yourself and others social media marketing software accountable to make these resolutions happen. In running, I could only hold myself accountable to get outside and run, but I enlisted the help of others by posting my resolution and updates on social media. While some friends might have viewed this as obnoxious, it let others know about it and they would ask me how I was progressing with my target. The key for your nonprofit is to find out what motives yourself and other employees. Is it the sense of pride? Accomplishment? Prizes? Tangible items? Trips? Extra vacation? A pat on the back? If you learn what will keep their eyes on the prize you can close in on that resolution. If you need a little help with accountability, you can start by sharing your organization’s New Year’s resolutions below. The idea behind New Year’s resolutions is setting something on Jan. 1, and then being able to check it off your list by Dec. 31. Well, let’s break the mold a bit here. If things aren’t going your way, change it up. But only do so if you’ve exhausted every possibility. Flexibility is not meant to be a cop out. You can also change up your resolution to challenge yourself more. How to use social media for marketing you’ve already conquered your resolution by August, then add another layer to it or up your target.Again, I don’t care what your resolutions are, it only matters whether you accomplish them. Don’t let your resolutions go unresolved. Start simple with solid goals, make a plan and be accountable. Then you can really party next New Year’s Eve.