I’ve been reviewing my marketing plan recently and realise that nearly all my marketing tactics involve social media.  It really did surprise me as I hadn’t realise that I’d become so involved in it.  I also took stock of the fact that there is so much I have to learn.  I’m a big fan of continued learning - I love listening to podcasts and audio books.  Even the most insignificant podcast on marketing can give you one nugget to work on and develop your business.

However, I now have a backlog of social media to learn.  I’m looking forward to it but am not sure how to balance my time.  After all, this is for the long haul - for the future and has to be done but equally it’s not bringing me immediate reward so how do I justify the time it takes?  One colleague suggested allocating one day a week to immerse myself in each topic and get on top of it.  Another suggests breaking down each working day and spending an hour a day on the topic.  I’ll try both over the next few weeks and see which works best for me.

In the meantime, my list of topics is growing and I’m looking online for webinars, You Tube clips, support documents and general discussions.  By giving myself a variety of information formats I’m sure I’ll pick up enough tips to get going and develop a good Social Media strategy.  So, if you’ve got any good sites/info on the following do let me know.  My primary subjects, for now are:

Google+: everyone is saying you have to be there and the segmentation is really useful but I’ve not seen any evidence of it’s growth and impact.

Pinterest: I’ve got my account and can see how this can be useful to event discussions but I need to spend some time working in and around it to really get going.

Hootsuite: As above, I’ve got my account and done the basic set up but I really need to set up a Twitter feed schedule and learn how to make the most of this great looking tool.

Mailchimp:  the time for Newsletters has come, I have the database I have some interesting content but I need to get them merged with Mailchimp. 

Wordpress:  I’m fascinated by this.  I use it for my personal and business blogs but would like to become more of a power user so I can make the sites more personalised.

Lots to learn about - I’m looking forward to it. Now where is that Time-turner...

As you might have noticed I’ve  not been writing blogs recently - I took some time off over the summer to sit on a beach and contemplate my navel.  I can heartily recommend it.  I’ve come back to work completely refreshed but with a new burning desire to move onwards and upwards.  I find that I can look at situations afresh and be much more creative about how I’m going to move things forward.

I understand that not every business owner/freelancer can take 3 weeks off work but given the school holidays were upon us and everyone is growing up so quickly I tipped the scales to life and let the work stand still for a while.

• • get fitter.  I’m making time to exercise first thing, following a training programme so that I push myself and don’t just workout at my usual steady level.
• • turn off the Today programme and wake up to some calming music instead (I’m fed up of the negativity of the press)
• • change my home page from BBC news to StumbleUpon (what fantastic inspiration that brings up)
• • turn off my iPod when I’m walking (I seemed to fill my every moment with news and noise and had no time to let my brain run free)
• • set up goals for each of my business ideas and prioritise which ones I’d handle first.
• • print out a weekly planner and divide each week up into the different projects/roles and make sure that I focus solely on that project that day.
• • go to a quiet place once a fortnight and consider the monthly plan and how I’m moving the business forward.

So it’s all about priorities, contemplation and focus...I’ll keep you updated on how I get on but right now it feels really positive and I really don’t think I’d have got here without taking time out for myself and my family.