The Pros and Cons of Scheduling Your Social Media Posts

If you run your own business, the chances of you being busy are quite high. With all the different tasks you have to perform during the day and all the inbound and outbound calls being made, chances are you have little to no time for those social media promotions. Let’s face it, social media isn’t something to be ignored. It is an essential part of marketing in reaching your customers, gaining new clients and generating business for yourself. If you aren’t finding enough time in the day to devote the time you need in social media each day, scheduling your posts ahead of time is what many have turned too. With programs such as Hootsuite, Uberflip and Sprout Social, they have made it easier for you to do the promoting through social media. But with every pro, comes a con. Here are some pros and con of scheduling your social media posts ahead of time.

Pros

Flexibility. If your work day is very hectic and you aren’t sure you will be able to update your social media accounts regularly every day, let a pre-scheduler program handle that for you. By scheduling your posts ahead of time, your posts will go live at the time and days you need them to do. Rather than worrying about finding that time to schedule your needed post when it needs to be live, you can worry stress free by planning ahead. You don’t have to to physically be at the computer to do it.

Reach your audience better. By scheduling your posts ahead of time, you know your audience will be tuned in making your post more effective. Without scheduling, there may be some days where you aren’t able to post when your audience is checking their social media. Scheduling will always help you stay in tune with your audience, even on those super hectic days.

Save you time. Being able to set aside some time in your week, to simply schedule and lay out your social media posts for the week can save you lots of coveted time.  It will open up the rest of your week to be worry free about making sure you have posts going out when needed be.

Cons

Mistakes can happen. Sometimes when you schedule post and tweets several days ahead of time at once, things get mixed up. You may end up posting the wrong link with the wrong tweet, or misspelling words in your post and you won’t realize them until it actually goes live. This can potentially cost some of your audience members to unsubscribe if they find your social media pages to me poorly-run or confusing.

You may not be able to respond in live time. If you schedule your posts to go out at a certain time that you may be busy and not able to respond to any activity from your audience, you won’t be able to respond in real-time. This can make your page seem less personal, and readers will sometimes be able to pick up on that.

Your page won’t seem in touch. By scheduling ahead of time, you are reducing the relevance of your posts to current events. So if a piece of breaking news hits, you wouldn’t be able to incorporate it into your posts. As you have your posts already scheduled out, it would be difficult to adjust the posts when that breaking news comes in.

Scheduling social media posts has it’s pros and cons, but can definitely be of much value if used right. Here are some tips to successfully use a scheduling program to your benefit. Don’t schedule posts too ahead of time, meaning schedule out for the next few days and not the next few weeks. You don’t want to reduce the relevance of your posts. Always be sure to check for spelling grammars and correct use of links. Even if that means, reviewing the content for spelling errors a few times and hitting every link making sure it takes you to the correct location for each post, be SURE to do it. And lastly, give yourself time to plan it out. I recommend setting up a block time to solely focus on your social media posts, that way you can get it out of the way and will reduce chances of making mistakes.

 

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Going on Vacation? Here’s What A Small Business Owner Should Do Before

For a lot of people going on vacation means relaxing and seeing new places, an escape from anything related to the ‘real world’. Not only is a vacation a great way to decompress, but it can often be beneficial for your business. You’ll come back recharged. But there are yet many small business owners find themselves working from a lounge chair at the beach or spending their entire vacation worrying about work when they should be relaxing as that is what vacation entails. With some preparation and planning, you can have an enjoyable vacation while your customers are taken care of back at the office.

Write down your tasks, current and upcoming. A few weeks before leaving for vacation, you want to make sure you go through all your current projects and responsibilities. Make a list of all that need to be done before you leave, as well as everything that will need to be done while you leave. Figure out and determine what you can delegate to another employee, as well as what can wait to be done upon your return. Doing a majority of your tasks that are possible before you leave can make things go smoother while you go away.

Be sure to give your employees specific instructions. Be sure to meet with all your employees before you leave and discuss who will handle current projects or tasks that need to be done while you’re away. Let every one of your staff know who will be covering your responsibilities. If you have any new or relatively new employees who will be performing certain tasks, it would be ideal to provide detailed written instructions. The day before you leave, make sure to communicate with your team and make sure that they have everything they need from you. Meet with your employees about a week before you leave to discuss their current projects and determine tasks that need to be done while you are away. Tell the staff that will be covering your responsibilities while you are away. If an employee is relatively new to your company or will be performing new tasks during your vacation, provide detailed written instructions. On your last day in the office, hold a quick meeting to wrap up any details and make sure that your staff has everything that they need from you. One of the keys to taking a successful vacation is to train a specific employee to fill his role.

Schedule times with your staff to check in. If you want to keep yourself from checking emails 30 times a day or fielding endless calls from your staff, let your staff know when you will be checking in or under what circumstances they should call you. It is recommended to only give one staff member your contact information and have all other staff requests to go through that employee to limit the number of times you get called upon on your trip.

Be sure to use your business phone system features. Set your business phone system so that it provides the maximum customer service while you are away. Change the message to let the caller know you are out of the office. There are also many applications that allow you to forward phone calls to your cell phone or any other employee. You can also use a feature that lets you opt to receive an email with the text of all voice mails which allows you to quickly determine any urgent messages from your smart phone.

Let your customers know you will be gone and who they should contact. Communicate with them before you leave and let them know about your vacation and absence. You want to make sure they know who to contact with any issues, as well as let them know when you will be back. It is ideal to set up an out of the office message on your email account the night before you leave. Let the sender know the time-frame you will be out and when they can expect to hear back from you, as well as any instructions on who they can contact if it is urgent.

Once you walk out the office door, do your best to enjoy your vacation and work as little as possible! By taking time for yourself, you will be energized and more productive when you return.

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Coworking History

The practice of coworking, where individuals and entrepreneurs come together in a shared office environment for increased collaboration and productivity on their separate projects, has exploded in popularity since its inception just a few years ago. The phrase “coworking” was first coined in 1999 by games designer Bernie DeKoven in an interview where he described it as the use of computer technology to facilitate remote meetings and fuel collaboration between people miles apart. This was a far cry from the definition of coworking as we know it today, but the seed had been planted.That same year one of the world’s first coworking spaces, 42 West 24, opened its doors in New York City. The space started when a software company decided to rent out the extra office space in its building on a flexible basis to independent workers and entrepreneurs. Though the flexible desk space was there, this new workspace did not feature the strong culture and collaboration that defines a coworking space. A few more shared office spaces began to appear sporadically over the next few years across the world as telecommuting, freelancing, and entrepreneurship all became more common ways to work.Then, in 2005, the term “coworking” met the growing phenomenon of flexible office space and individuals sharing a work environment. In San Francisco Brad Neuberg created the “Spiral Muse Coworking Group,” a house where members would sign up to work from. Spiral Muse emphasized its individual members coming together as a community: the day started with meditation sessions, lunch was taken as a group, and each day featured a group break activity such as a bike ride. Following the launch of Spiral Muse coworking spaces started to crop up in other cities, most notably in 2006 with Jelly in NYC. Unlike other coworking spaces, Jellies are location-independent meetups where entrepreneurs and freelancers could collaborate and use each others’ experience. The community that forms through a Jelly frequently leads to the eventual development of a permanent office or institution, i.e. a coworking space. The same year that Jelly launched in NYC, Brad Neuberg founded The Hat Factory back in San Francisco as a larger, more professional followup to Spiral Muse’s success.

As the months and years passed coworking spread out across the country and the world. 2007 was a breakout year, as it appeared as an entry on Wikipedia and trended as a Google search term for the first time. This increase in attention and awareness lead to an article on the phenomenon in early 2008 by the New York Times. In 2009 the industry matured substantially: the first coworking chains, such as NextSpaces in California, established themselves and their satellite locations; the world’s largest coworking conference, Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC), was launched, and “I’m Outta Here! How Coworking is Making the Office Obsolete,” the first book written on the subject of coworking, was published.

The number of coworking spaces worldwide continued to rise astronomically, hitting over 1,100 at the end of 2011 and breaking 2,000 just a year later. And this increase in coworking space was matched by rising demand that is still unmet. By early last year over 100,000 people across the planet were members of coworking spaces.  How many worldwide coworkers will there be by the end of this year?

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Must-Haves for a Great & Functional Co-Working Space!

Whether you are launching your own business or looking to join a co-working space to expand your current company, it is important to implement the right working environment. So how do you know what the right working environment is? With the number of co-working locations growing, it is essential to know what the must-haves are for a great and functional co-working space. Here’s a list of ‘must-haves’ we think is essential for every co-worker out there:

1. Awesome Atmosphere

The more inviting the workplace is, the easier it is to maintain positive work morale.

2. Functional Layout

It is also important to consider a functional layout when choosing  a great co-working space. It is essential for you to easily navigate from one location to the next without interruption or disturbance.

3. Fast Internet

Ensuring the co-working space has fast internet speeds at all times is one of the most essential factors of a productive co-working space. The 21st-century entrepreneur relies on the web for everything from finding clients to managing their finances, and high-speed internet ensures you don’t waste valuable time waiting for websites to load.

4. Engaging Tools and Projects

Having resources and tools not only helps to boost morale throughout the office, but it also assists in maximizing productivity when completing projects and tasks.

5. Perks

Whether there’s an on-site bar, relaxation room or even a ping pong table, it will be appreciated by those who use it at work. Co-working spaces that give away freebies, provide food and snacks and even allow you to have a bit of free time during work each day is a great component of a desirable co-working space.

Knowing what a great co-working space provides is not only allowing your work to become much more enjoyable, but it can also assist with the way you work. The more desirable the co-working space, the more you’ll enjoy working out of a space other than home.