This means that if you hire someone else to write your content for you then it isn’t coming from your heart. It may be from your mind based on your best efforts to convey to someone else what it is that you want, but no matter how well you do at transmitting your message to someone else, the final translation will never truly be from your heart. It’s not the same.
Even if you think you’re a terrible writer I have 2 suggestions for you:
- Write anyway – the more you do the better you will get at it.
- Write something and then have someone edit that writing.
It is my belief that when you do #2 the information is still yours. It’s still coming from your heart. Sort of like building your own car and then having someone else paint and polish it for you.
So how can you “find a way” to make the time to do social media?
The answer is simple. By using the tools that are at your disposal to help store, categorize, and easily reference your content. Here are 5 tips on how to kick your social productivity into high gear.
1. Use an RSS Feed reader to track your own blog content
Google is terminating its reader. I’ve been looking at the alternative and in this video (above) I show you how I am now using Netvibes to keep track of posts right here on the
2. Keep a log in Microsoft
Many of us are accustomed to using excel for many purposes, perhaps mostly financial. As you’ll see in the video, Excel is a very handy tool for keeping track of lists, and in this case I am suggesting doing just that. Keep a list of all of your posts. This lets you sort it quickly by Date, or title. You can easily add hyperlinks to your posts so that when you want to find and access something quickly you can do so. This is not covered in the video but you can use CTRL+F to quickly find keywords from your post titles. I find this comes in handy when someone asks me a question and I know I have a post on the topic but I can’t remember exactly when or where that post is. Finally with a link shortener like bit.ly you can combine your post title with a shortened link to create a tweet for the post and then use a “Len” formula to make sure your tweet is less than 140 characters. This lays the foundation for easy content publication and syndication on Twitter. More on that later.
3. Use The Brain (A Mind Mapping Tool) to keep track of your content.
You might be thinking something like “why do I need this if I have the Excel log?” The answer is you may not, but I like to show you alternatives and options. You will also find that this is really a different tool. I like the layout, and to be very direct I use this while I am developing my content. The Excel log comes in after I publish the content. I like that I can create my “thought” and then add “attachments” in the form of both documents and URLs, especially since I am often referencing other content in my posts. This allows me to easily compile a bibliography while I am writing and recording so that the writing process itself gets much easier. The Brain also has it’s own powerful “Google-like” search capabilities, which really helps me when I am looking for something later.
4. Use Evernote to create a Profile of each post.
Again you can use this in addition to or instead of The Brain and/or Excel. Excel by contrast with Evernote or any other solution is unique in its ability to help you design the “tweet” for each post and easily make sure you stay under 140 Characters. What I like about Evernote for this purpose is the “notebook” aspect.
I have a 2 notebooks worth discussing here.
- “Web Cast and Blog Post Ideas”
- “Web Casts – Profiles.”
The first one is self-explanatory. Many times during my day when I am at a client site, something someone says or does will trigger a thought that leads to an idea for a great blog post. I love to whip out my smart phone, which has the Evernote app installed, and log a quick note about that idea so I do not forget.
How do I love Evernote, let me count the ways. The best way to illustrate is if I demonstrate. Here is an example of a complete profile I have on a recent post that I posted: How Can I Share Content Without Overwhelming People? Do you see what I did there? You can share the whole note on the web very easily. If you did click over then you can see first hand what the advantages are here. The original word doc where I wrote the post is there (it’s in The Brain as well, and that can also be shared on the web but not as easily). Then I have the links to the blog post and the video. I also have the screen shot used in the post and the notes I wrote up before I even started writing/recording. With all of this content in a “note” when I search my “Web Casts – Profiles” notebook you can bet this one will come up whether I search for “Buffer”, “Share Content” or any number of other phrases contained therein.
While I was writing this post I received a reply from @CamtasiaTips on twitter. This is the official twitter handle from Techsmith, the makers of Camtasia. It gave me an idea for a post, so I e-mailed the tweet to my evernote e-mail, which sends the e-mail right into Evernote and put this note into my “Web Cast and Blog Post Ideas” notebook. You can see that note here. By the time you click on it, the post may be done and published either here or on my own blog. The point is now you can see a direct example of the application of my concept for both “ideas” and published content and how I use Evernote to store, categorize and easily reference them.
5. Automate your content with Social Oomph
This will be covered in Part 2 as it is detailed so please check back next week.
This post was written by Seth David.
