Optimize Your Online Time

There are numerous guides to organizing and systematizing your social media activity online. “How to Maintain a Killer Social Plan in Only Five Minutes a Day” might be a typical title. While I would not immediately swear to the validity of some of the claims these articles make – I think that it takes a wee bit more of an investment to carry out a legitimate strategy – I certainly agree that having a planned, structured way of going about your online business will save you time and insure a more comprehensive approach becomes routine.

What is not often mentioned in these tutorials, however, is the importance of maintaining your interface in a way that supports efficiency and allows you to make the best use of your time. There’s nothing worse than sitting down at the keyboard to get some serious work done and finding that your computer is working sluggishly, web connections are sluggish, and you are constantly waiting for something to load so that you can move on to the next step.

Here are a few tips which, if followed consistently, should help you make the most of the time you spend in front of your monitor. I’ll warn my Apple using friends that I am a complete MS/Android user, so you may need to adapt some of this advice to your system.

Check Your Connection

The speed of your internet connection may not always be what your service provider advertises it to be. A lot of factors can go into this, including cable integrity, hardware connections, use of home wi-fi networks, and so forth. However sometimes there may be problems at the provider end, and you won’t be getting the signal you expect. These problems can be resolved with a phone call (my provider will reset your connection from their office if you call and ask) of if extreme, a service call. One way to find out what your actual connection speed is at any time is to use Speedtest, a quick online program that will show you your “Ping” rate (basically, how quickly you are connecting to the Internet backbone), download and upload speeds. If you connection speeds are quite a bit different than what you expect them to be, call your provider for assistance.

Close Programs You Aren’t Using

It sounds simple and logical, but how often are you switching tasks between your web browser, email tool, word processor, and favorite online game? When you click out of one window into another, the programs you left behind don’t just stop running, they continue to operate in the background even though you have moved on. An easy way to check what’s running on your computer at any time is to open Windows Task Manager, which you can do with the CTL-ALT-DEL key shortcut combination or via you Control Panel. When you see how many programs are running (and using the tabs on Task Manager, you will also see the CPU and RAM usage) you may decide to start closing those programs instead of just minimizing the windows. It can work wonders for your machine’s performance!

Clear Browsing Data

Whenever you use a browser – Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer – it stores information for later access. Cookies, visiting history, and a variety of other information may be going into your browser’s memory cache, and the more information that accumulates, the slower your browser may respond. It is good to clear unnecessary information regularly, I recommend that it be the first thing you do each time you start your browser, particularly if you have been on some extended Web sessions. For a list of links to browser cleaning instruction sets, see this helpful collection from Indiana University.

Re-evaluate plug-ins and extensions

The availability of a wide variety of plugins and extensions for your web browser can truly optimize your online experience. I wouldn’t want to live without my Pocket and Evernote buttons (for short and long term savings of valuable web sites), and I have a few friends who would wear the “P” off of their Pinterest icon if it were physical and not virtual! However helpful they are, every extension or plug-in that you add to your web browser extracts a price in terms of performance. So, use plugins and add valuable extensions, but periodically (monthly at least) review what you have added on. If you aren’t using a feature any more – or rarely – uninstall it and reap the benefit of better performance.

Install updates

I know, Installing Windows Updates and Security Patches can be a real pain – it always takes longer than we think it should. There are some very good reasons why you should regularly update your system though, including protections against malicious people whose main function in life seems to be to find and exploit weaknesses in the operating system code. The frequent patches that are delivered to us are often a response to such attacks. Updates also address general fixes and bugs in the Windows OS, and deliver new features that are being developed all of the time.

If you do not often take your computer with you when you leave the house, you are probably safe to allow automatic updating, which will result in updates being downloaded and installed as they are made available. If you need to restart your computer to activate a change, you will be given the option to do so. You can also turn off automatic updating, which gives you more control but also creates a responsibility on your part to check for updates from time to time (weekly is good!) and install those  you want to activate. For more instructions, see the Windows help site.

Use Disk Cleanup

The Cleanup tool is already installed on your computer if you are using a Microsoft OS, now you just have to use it from time to time. It will find temporary files and others that are no longer in use, empty your recycle bin, and perform other services designed to reduce the clutter on your computer. Follow these simple instructions to use the Disk Cleanup utility, and perform this task once per week or more frequently.

Use an optimization program

In my experience, there is no better thing to do for your computer than to run an optimization program every week or so. I don’t like spending that much time “under the hood” so the convenience of a one stop solution is very appealing to me. The program I use, AdvancedSystemCare, even provides a little desktop icon that uses “smiley faces” to tip me off when it’s time to start a session. ASC – the free version – will give you basic protection from security threats, support system optimization, maximize your hard drive performance, and block most malware. The professional version, which costs (but not much) adds features like registry cleaning, privacy sweep, and even recommendation and completion of disk defragmentation if needed. ASC is not the only tool out there, but it’s a good one. Other choices include Norton Security, CCleaner, and System Mechanic.

These practical solutions to optimizing your computer’s performance, when combined with strategy, scheduling, and efficient Social Media practices, should insure that you make the most of your time online, and reap the greatest rewards!

Content Curation – Why Should Your Nonprofit Bother?

This is Part Two of a Multi-Part Series on Content Curation, see other installments linked below

Part One: What is Content Curation (and why should Nonprofits practice it)?

It’s not really a big stretch for most nonprofits to get into content marketing. In many ways, most nonprofits have been doing this for a long time. We have created countless newsletter, written op-ed columns, developed informational brochures, penned direct mail appeals, and issued press releases. Most of us have files of news stories, professional journal articles, curricula and lesson plans we have created or borrowed (or stolen) from others. Becoming an effective content curator isn’t so hard, or so different than what we have been doing all along, and yet it will help us tie everything together, and even better, to proffer our content to those we serve and care about.

Content curation allows you to add value to all of your social media efforts. Integrating your messages across your Twitter feed, your Facebook page, your LinkedIn account and your email campaigns potentiates the effect of each of these efforts and insures that you reach the widest audience possible with your important information and message.

As an effective content curator, you become the “go to” source on the web for those seeking information about topics relating to your nonprofit’s mission. Delivering quality content on a regular basis leads to becoming recognized as an expert, trusted as a resource, and appreciated as someone “who has my best interests in mind”.

An effective content curation strategy has intrinsic value as well. As you build up your list of resources, you develop a rich, useful repository of information that you and all of your staff can refer to constantly to help you do your work effectively, efficiently, and successfully. You will also find that you can engage your staff by encouraging their participation in content creation and discovery, stimulating them to become constant students and researchers, improving their professional skills and contributing to their development.

Content curation is a very subtle marketing strategy. By answering questions and providing information, methods and or strategies that are relevant to readers’ interests or helps them overcome challenges or teaches them something new, you (at the very least) tie these valuable experiences to your organization’s name, brand and mission. In some cases you can tie content you find or create directly to your products and services, effectively marketing without being heavy handed. Your audience will always be most interested in what you can do for them, and delivering good content answers that question in a very important way. With content curation, you stop being an “Outbound Marketer” pushing your sales pitch or message to a giant audience, most of whom are either not interested or so bombarded by similar messages that drown out everyone. Instead you become an “Inbound Marketer”, meaning that your market comes to you, because they know they will find answers that they seek. They identify themselves to you as possible customers, clients, and supporters.

The process of curating good content (which we will describe in detail in a later installment) is deceptively simple, straightforward and relatively inexpensive. So, even a small organization has the potential to compete on this stage with much larger groups which might otherwise prove to be daunting competitors. Particularly if you serve a niche market, or focus your attention on a few specific issues or a well-defined geographic area, you might find it even easier to provide personalized content that your customers actually want.

The delivery of compact containers of content is perfect for short postings on a regular basis on a variety of platforms. Whether you are creating a blog post, penning a new post to your LinkedIn platform, or writing in any of the different ways that you need to in order to optimize your time and space on Twitter, Google+ or any of dozens of other social media stages, curating content allows you to consistently provide your audience with regular, fresh, up-to-date facts, observations, or lessons. This always renewing source in turn gives people a reason to keep connecting with you over and over. The marketing journey has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades, with buyers/users taking individualized and often circuitous paths to a decision point – whether to buy a product, use a service, decide to financially support an organization. Because of this, the old methods of moving a buyer from point A (I know nothing about you) to Point B (I am ready to engage fully with you) is no longer dominated by advertising or marketing methods that used to be the mainstay of any business. Too, the massive changes that have occurred in how people get information means that large corporate behemoths (think TV, newspapers, radio) are no longer in charge of what gets published or broadcast. Now we have dozens of ways to connect with others, most of them are free or very cost effective, and we are in charge of what information is shared, not the media moguls. We are the publishers, we are the editors, we are the broadcasters. Those who learn how to stay on peoples’ radar and wave a sign gently in front of them day after day are the most likely to succeed.

If the above is not enough to encourage you to make your organization into a content curator, I’m not sure what will. I’m sure there are still some skeptics, and if you’ve read this far, stay tuned for our next installment where we will outline the strategies and tactics of effective content curators. You’ll see how embracing a few principles and deploying some relatively simple approaches bring the benefits of content curation into every nonprofit’s reach.

Nine for Nine – Smart Twitter Tips

It’s February 9, 2015 and although I don’t publish Innovaision’s “These Nine Things” newsletter (subscribe here) on Mondays, I thought it would be appropriate to extend the NINE theme into today’s article. Herewith, then is a list of Nine Twitter Tips for Nonprofits that many readers will find interesting. Note that these tips are valuable for most any business!

1. Avoid jargon and abbreviations that will not be easily understood by people outside of your industry. The brief nature of a tweet might encourage this, but if you want to communicate across a wide spectrum, make sure your message is intelligible to the greater audience.

2. Use hashtags wisely. Sure, the #hashtag can draw attention to your message topic, and also make it easier to find tweets on a particular subject, but too many hashtags negate the value. Common wisdom is to use no more than two hashtags in any single message, lest your readers start to think of you as a spammer. Also, make your hashtags short words – #goodadoptions is much better than #findingsafeandhealthyhomesforkids.

3. If you are using a Twitter account that is designated for your nonprofit (and we recommend that you have one for exactly this purpose) use your nonprofit’s logo or an avatar (the small square picture in the upper left corner of your profile) based on that logo on your account to strengthen organizational “brand recognition”.

4. To encourage retweets, and allow followers to add their own brief comment or thought, consider putting 100 – 120 character limit on your tweets. If use the full 140 characters available on Twitter, there is no room left for any additional notes from the re-tweeter.

5. Tweet some interesting fact about your area of focus that will lend itself to being retweeted by your followers. Examples could include things like “The average American diet requires almost 1,000 gallons of water per day – more than the worldwide average for all uses, including diet, household use, transportation, and energy” or “A single drug-addicted person has a significant impact, often negative, on the lives of 4 to 10 other peoples – family, friends, co-workers, etc.”

6. Use Twitter lists (see instructions here) to keep your followers organized into logical groups such as Financial Supporters, Volunteers, Board, or Professional Colleagues. It will help you in so many ways!

7. Put a Twitter “follow button” that links to your nonprofit Twitter account on everything you post online. Blogs, newsletters, web pages, downloadable document are all good places to give people an easy way to connect with your account and become avid followers. Suggest that all email correspondence originating from your nonprofit staff include a link to the company Twitter account in the signature space.

8. Spread your tweets out over the course of the day! Twitter is like a stream running by your reader’s front yard, and they aren’t sitting out in the yard all day. If you bunch all of your tweets in the morning or after dinner, the chances that they will be missed entirely goes up astronomically. Send one message early, then one at midmorning, noon, mid-afternoon and so forth. This increases the chance that more of your followers will see at least one of your daily postings. If you are writing interesting content, they are likely to click through to see what else you wrote today.

9. Follow your followers, and follow people you hope would want to follow your nonprofit. It’s all about networking. When you follow a person or organization you think you might want to do business with, or ask for help from, they are more likely to follow you back. Similarly, following your followers and reading what is on their minds is a great way to get inspiration for your future tweets, to insure they are relevant and READ.

Never send to know for whom the phone rings…

…it rings for thee.

Apologies to both John Donne, and Ernest Hemingway, but let’s face it – the smartphone revolution is upon is, with great vigor. Just think of what these little devices have done since their introduction only a few short years ago, if you, measure the key date as 2008 – when the first iPhone was introduced and the helldogs of Android were subsequently unleashed.

Smartphones have, for all intents and purposes, replaced digital cameras, GPS devices, laptops, handheld scanners, tape recorders, compasses, iPods and even flashlights (and virtually put out of business the product lines and sometimes companies that produce these items)! Most smartphone manufacturers make tablet devices as well, and now many are making smartphones a little bit bigger, which could likely kick their own tablet lines to the curb. The smartphone is making a good run at replacing other devices as well, including televisions, small ones at least. My smartphone can be programmed to function as a tv remote at the very least!

And this is just the device end of it. With the proliferation of Apps and the rise of cloud computing as a trusted place to store and retrieve information, the disruption is becoming logarithmic. The taxi business is being shattered by Uber and Lyft, credit card companies are feeling the pinch from companies like Softcard and Apple Pay, ATM machines could someday be a thing of the past, and Rand McNalley – when was the last time you bought a globe, or a road map? All of these once thriving businesses are falling to the portability, convenience and consumer control that is being made possible by the Holy Trinity of phone, app, and cloud.

The smart businessperson should be asking “How long will it be before the smartphone puts US out of business? Already entire occupational categories are threatened, including the guys who drive those cabs (although they can always go work for Uber), fleet managers, schedulers, logistics specialists, reference librarians (all librarians!), meter readers. And phones, apps, and data-in-the cloud is being used to upend the worlds of higher education, financial planning, and even medicine. Some of the top mHealth apps out now, for example, help us monitor our weight, set up a fitness program, track our heart health, provide first aid information and treatment recommendations, manage and treat our diabetes. Taking pictures of skin conditions or our eyeballs and sending them to a physician can avoid a trip to the clinic or emergency room and make the cost of such a visit cheaper when it is needed, and mental health apps can provide us with calming advice or connect us with a therapist around the clock or around the world.

The new technologies, wondrous to behold and use, are letting us do things we never thought we could do so conveniently, effectively, and cheaply. But make no mistake, it is also threatening almost every major institution in the world of work, business and commerce. If you understand that the bell is tolling for you, it’s time to start thinking about how you can participate in the digital revolution. Resistance, in the long run, will likely be futile. Don’t become a bookstore.

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