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September 13, 2013 

 

Used wisely, however, it is possible to exploit technology without spending your entire day surfing Twitter and LinkedIn or emailing prospects. Here are three tools you may want to explore to  improve your productivity and market your services more efficiently.

 

 

  

 

  

 

If you struggle to resist the siren's call of your email inbox, Facebook, or your latest fantasy football rankings, consider installing Rescue Time. The SoloPro edition costs $74 a year, and there is also a free version that offers reduced functionality.

 

Rescue Time monitors your computer use and reports where you are spending your time and whether that time is categorized as "productive" "neutral," or "highly distracting." A weekly report tells you what your most productive times of day were and how much time you spent on various activities, such as Communication and Scheduling, Social Networking, or Entertainment. 

 

While the application has several default settings, it also allows you to customize your settings. For example, a website such as CNBC.com might be automatically ranked as "distracting." But you can customize the settings so that time spent on that site can be reported as productive (assuming you believe it to be).

 

You can further customize your settings and create your own categories, such as "research." You can even add subcategories to distinguish between pure social networking sites (kitten videos on YouTube) and professional networking, such as connecting with a prospect on LinkedIn.

 

The "get focused" feature is another great tool that keeps you on task and prevents you from wasting time online. Let's say you have an important letter to write, but your attention keeps wandering and you find yourself reading the sports section online. Simply click on the "get focused" button and the application will block access to all sites and applications that are categorized as distracting for however long you wish to remain productive.

 

The application automatically blocks certain sites, such as Facebook, but also allows you to temporarily or permanently allow access to a particular site.

 

 
 Hootsuite allows you to post new content simultaneously across multiple social media channels. Rather than posting the same comment, article, or photo on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, you can enter the information once in Hootsuite and see it published on all of your accounts.

 

One of Hootsuite's most convenient features is the ability to schedule a batch of posts in advance. So, rather than spending time every day updating your social media presence, you can post a week's worth of posts (or more) in one session and then get back to business. I try to do this every Sunday night for the upcoming week. There is also an auto-schedule feature that automatically posts your updates at the most optimal times.

 

Hootsuite is free if you link to no more than five social media accounts. If you have more than five accounts that you want to update, you can upgrade to Hootsuite Pro for $5.99 a month. This allows up to 50 social media accounts and includes other features, such as archiving, reporting, and access for other users in your office. The Hootsuite dashboard allows you to view all of your social media activity for each channel at a glance. You can access Hootsuite online or via the Hootsuite mobile app.

 

   

 

Social media is all the rage these days, but the fact remains that email is still a highly effective way to market to clients, centers of influence, and prospects. A professional looking e-newsletter helps position you as an expert and is easy for clients to share with co-workers, friends, or family.

 

There is no shortage of email service providers, but I recommend Constant Contact. Constant Contact offers a wide array of email and e-newsletter templates, or you can choose to create a customized template. There is a learning curve, but once you get comfortable with their tools, you will see that it's easy to quickly design an attractive email that people will open, read, and share. Of course, that assumes you are providing high quality, authentic content, rather than "canned" content.

 

With more content viewed on smart phones these days, it's also critical that your emails are viewable on mobile devices. In a recent survey of 1,497 consumers, 75 percent said they are "highly likely" to delete an email if they can't read it on their smartphone. Constant Contact emails are mobile-friendly and can be easily integrated with your social media channels.  

 

The three tools highlighted here can save you time, improve your productivity, and help grow your business. If you have other tools you recommend, please share your experiences on my blog.

 

P.S. In the interests of full disclosure,  I do get compensated when someone signs up for these providers, but believe me when I say it's small potatoes. I would not recommend these tools if I didn't use them myself.

 

Sincerely,

  

    

Neil Rhein

Chief of Content Development

Bull's-eye Financial Communications

774-719-2324