How to Work Smarter, Not Harder on Your Business

Is all your hard work paying off? Maybe not. According to Boston University's Questrom School of Business, managers can't tell the difference between employees working 80 hours a week - and those who just pretend to. They couldn't see if their overworked employees actually accomplished more than those just pretending to work hard.

But the research doesn't give us a free pass to just slash our work hours and expect to see success. Instead, we should be working smarter, not harder, on our businesses to see results.

So instead of logging upwards of 80 hours of work a week simply for the sake of hard work, turn those 80 hours into a smart and savvy business hustle to skyrocket your success. Here are six ways to get started.

1. Get Clear On Your Goals

Serious focus and clear goal setting is crucial to your business success. Start by writing down your goals to give your hard work a boost. According to a study by Dr. Gail Matthews at the Dominican University, more than 70% of those who wrote down their goals and sent weekly updates to a friend were successful in achieving those goals. Meanwhile, only 35% of those who kept the goals to themselves were actually successful.

2. Offer Incredible Value

Creating unbelievable value in your business isn't a new concept. But how you do it should extend past the services you bill for. I exceeded last year's goal to connect or help one person a day and expected nothing in return. When I meet to help others or get to know them better, I don't ask for the sale or a return favor during that conversation. By simply focusing on helping others and creating value, I automatically generate leads and acquire new customers to the tune of six figures.

You can offer incredible value in your own business by focusing on what you do best. Give away a valuable ebook on your expertise if you're amazing at breaking down complex theories and jargon into easy-to-understand language. Create a LinkedIn group or a premium membership site if you excel at being a cheerleader for your clients and holding them accountable through their own business-building process.

3. Make It Passive

Earning a healthy income is relatively easy if you're working hard and putting in long hours. But there are only so many hours in the day that you can actually work. Spend too many hours on your actual services, and you sacrifice the time needed to develop new products and services and scale your business.

Instead, make part of your business a completely passive pursuit. Start by selling an ebook or self-paced video course. You can also look into how to diversify your wealth-building portfolio to earn passive income. That income can then be reinvested into your business to continue growing it.

4. Automate Your Systems

Earning money isn't the only thing that can be a passive pursuit in your business. Borrow from that passive concept and start automating your systems. Start by pre-qualifying leads with a survey or follow-up form to learn more about their business. This can dramatically reduce time on the phone going through the same questions you ask every lead, only to find out they're not your ideal client.

Use a system like KissFlow to determine processes, build forms, design the workflow, and set permissions for your team. SalesForce can also help automate processes like your project management systems, quality control, and managing advertising campaigns. Focus on completely automating your most common processes to create more margin and free up your time to build your business.

5. Eliminate Decision Fatigue

There are only so many decisions you can make in a single day before suffering burnout and decision fatigue. Research has shown that judges are more likely to offer parole and favorable terms during the morning hours - as decision fatigue sets in during the afternoon, similar offenders are more likely to be denied parole.

Make the majority of your decisions in the morning when your mind is the most alert and rested. Stack your afternoon with less-intensive tasks like meeting for coffee with a business prospect, answering emails, or getting in a workout at the gym.

And remember to take time to decompress and reflect. I reboot my brain by traveling, writing, and skydiving. In a survey of the daily routines of hundreds of Fortune 500 Executives, VPs and CEOs consistently use their evenings to unwind with a short walk, reading, pursuing a hobby, and shutting down electronics to relax before bed. When it's time to make more decisions in your business, you'll feel energized and more focused.

6. Outsource Strategically

Common sense should tell us we can't do everything ourselves. But in reality, entrepreneurs get stuck in the startup or bootstrapping mentality and keep doing everything themselves. Get more done in your business by outsourcing menial tasks, and anything that isn't within your range of expertise.

Start by outsourcing your bookkeeping to a monthly service like Bench, or your payroll to the experts at Wagepoint. Meanwhile, a service like Zirtual can provide you with virtual assistants to help with everything from travel planning to online research.

And don't just stop at delegating professional tasks. Remember, you can also outsource things like cleaning your office or home, cooking meals, and errand running to free up more time in your personal life and create more of a time margin in your business.

Are you ready to give up some control to work smarter, not harder? It's easy to keep wearing 'working hard' like a badge of honor. But working smart, automating processes, and giving up control can help your business soar and dramatically impact your bottom line.

What's your favorite way to work smarter, not harder, on your business? 

Let me know in the comments below.

Source : http://on.inc.com/2dvPxYB

Instagram Now Allows 60-Second Videos: Here's Why

Instagram has just shared good news to Instagram fanatics: the photo and video-based social network is now allowing 60-second videos on its platform. But why?

Instagram rolled out the most recent update on March 29 to all of its users across the globe.

With the update onboard, Instagram is now increasing the allowed length of videos uploaded from 15 seconds to 60 seconds. It appears like the company has realized that 15 seconds is not enough to showcase one's creativity through their posted videos.

Instagram reveals on a blog post that in the last six months, the time people spent streaming videos increased by more than 40 percent. It thinks that longer videos signify diverse stories from the accounts users love the most.

Moreover, Instagram says it wants to bring "fun, flexible and creative ways to create and watch video on Instagram" to its users.

"As part of our continued commitment, you'll soon have the flexibility to tell your story in up to 60 seconds of video," Instagram says, adding that this is only one step of many its users will see within the year.

Sephi Shapira, the chief executive of performance mobile advertising company MassiveImpact says that increasing the video length to full minute is about keeping Instagram users in the feed.

"Unlike Youtube where users jump from video to video, Instagram wants users to finish videos," says Shapira.

Paul Monckton of Forbes believes that increasing the length of allowed video clips on Instagram could prevent users from shifting to other platforms, in the likes of Snapchat or YouTube.

He also adds that it will also enable bloggers to push out more engaging content, for instance recipes or make up tips, that are difficult to cram into only 15 seconds.

Kathleen Chaykowski, also from Forbes, says that perhaps Facebook has realized that videos are key to boosting Instagram’s business, considering the impact of video ads on Facebook.

Forecasting company eMarketer predicts that Facebook-owned Instagram could have mobile ad sales of $1.37 billion in the United States and $1.48 billion across the globe within the year.

In the meantime, to sweeten the pot, Instagram is also dishing out one more great news, particularly to iOS users. It is bringing back a well-liked functionality on its iOS app, which is the ability to put together several video clips into one.

"For iOS, we're also bringing back the ability to make videos out of multiple clips from your camera roll," it says.

With the new 60-second limit on videos, users will certainly have a greater chance to show off what they've got.

Note that iOS users have to download the iOS app's version 7.19 and they're good to go.

Again, the ability to post 60-second videos is pushed out to all Instagram users across all platforms while the feature to stitch together multiple clips is released only to iOS users.

Instagram says that it is rolling out the update in waves starting March 29, which means that there is a possibility that some users can still receive the update on succeeding months.

However, you may check out if the update has already landed on your handset by trying to take a 60-second video and posting it. Once you have successfully uploaded the video, then it means that you can now benefit from this nifty feature, along with other new functionalities Instagram has recently given to its app.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1RPzqRA

11 Common Blogging Mistakes that Waste Your Audience’s Time

Quick question: Do you know anyone who doesn’t suffer from information overload?

We live in a world full of cheap information. At the push of a button we can get our eyes on far more ideas, blog posts, and news stories than we could ever possibly consume.

It’s hard to remember — or imagine, if you’re a lot younger than me — when information was a scarce resource. But time is a scarce resource. It always will be. And with information everywhere, it is imperative that you treat your readers’ time with respect when they give it to you.

Especially if you want to build trust with your audience so they give you more of their time in the future.

Nowadays, words can seem cheap. It doesn’t really cost anything to publish more blog posts, send more emails, share our life with even more social media updates.

But the idea that pixels don’t cost much is flawed.

Occupying more pixels means taking up more time from potential readers. If you’re not adding value with those pixels, you could be wasting the time of your readers.

And time is an irreplaceable resource. Time is precious. We all know it.

So avoid the 11 common blogging mistakes below at all costs. They waste the time of your readers by contributing to information overload without offering value in return …

Blogging Mistake #1: You love complexity

It’s often thought that complexity is a sign of academic achievement, intelligence, or sophistication.

But the opposite is actually true.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

~ Leonardo da Vinci

A sophisticated blogger uses metaphors to illustrate abstract ideas. She tells simple stories to explain complex concepts. She appreciates the time of her readers.

Next time you write, see how you can simplify your message. There’s no need to dumb down your ideas. Just help your readers process your post and be inspired by you in less reading time.

Blogging Mistake #2: You’re self-indulgent

Let’s not pussyfoot around it.

The harsh truth is this: Your readers aren’t interested in you, your life, or your stories.

As a blogger and content marketer it’s your job to help your readers, to guide them, and inspire them. Talking about your experiences is fine — it can add color and personality to your posts — but only if it helps your readers become healthier, happier, or more productive.

When you want to write a story about your life, ask yourself this: What’s in it for my readers? How can my experience help them?

Blogging Mistake #3: You think you need to publish daily

Are you clogging up people’s inboxes with your announcement of yet another post? Or are your readers excited to see another email of yours arrive?

When you publish blog posts without adding any value to conversations, you end up wasting space. You waste precious pixels.

Don’t waste people’s time with an endless stream of blog posts. Only write when you have something to say. Your audience would rather read one post that inspires them than 20 crappy posts with recycled content.

Blogging Mistake #4: You write purely for SEO

Writing exclusively for Google will bore the boots off your readers. If you’re onlywriting for robots, then you might be wasting human time. Your readers aren’t interested in regurgitated keywords that exist for crawling robots.

Don’t allow Google to turn you into a keyword-processing machine. Don’t allow Google to kill your creativity.

Always write for your audience first, then optimize for search engines later.

Blogging Mistake #5: You focus on word count

Does this sound familiar …

You’re staring at your computer monitor. At the bottom left hand corner you see you’ve written 537 words. You wonder what else you can write.

The idea that more content is always better has been heavily promoted by some, but this is wrong. The task of a writer is not to write more “text”. The task of a writer is to communicate a message in the length it takes to fully communicate that message.

Got your message across in 537 words? Well done. Now, try to do it in less than 400.

Blogging Mistake #6: You don’t write in plain English

Jargon, gobbledygook, and bombast slow your readers down.

Jargon requires your readers to stop and think about the meaning of your words. Gobbledygook takes up their time without adding meaning. Bombastic sentences slow them down because they’re full of unnecessary words.

When you cut excess words from your sentences, you’re doing your readers a favor. When you replace long words with simpler words, you’re delighting your readers.

Make your posts as easy to read as possible. Write as if you’re writing for a 12-year old. Show your readers you value their time by writing in plain English.

Blogging Mistake #7: Your conclusions are stale

It’s an easy mistake to make.

You’ve poured all your energy into writing your post. Now you’ve gotten to the end, and you wiz through writing your conclusion so all is done.

But serving up an uninspiring conclusion is like presenting the cheapest supermarket ice-cream after a lavish home-cooked meal. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Don’t disappoint your readers with a bland conclusion. Try writing your conclusion first. Or write it the day after you’ve written your post.

Put all of your enthusiasm into a conclusion that inspires, motivates, and energizes your readers.

Blogging Mistake #8: You don’t know who you’re writing for

The idea that you’re writing for hundreds (or thousands) of readers may sound great, but it can kill your writing voice … fast.

When you don’t know who your audience is, your blog posts become generic. They end up speaking to no one and just taking up space.

Instead of addressing a crowd, write as if you’re having a conversation with your favorite reader. If you’re not sure who that is, make up an imaginary friend:

• Write down what she’s dreaming of and what keeps her up at night
• Consider what you can do to help her realize her dreams and take away her worries
• Write down at least 20 ideas for how you can help in your blog posts

Having lots of people read your posts is great (of course!). But when you write your next blog post, just think of one person. Your post will instantly become more personal, more conversational, and more engaging.

Blogging Mistake #9: You don’t care about your topic (anymore)

If you don’t care, why would your readers care?

Boring text slaughters people’s appetites for reading. A good blog post is written with passion. When your enthusiasm shines through, you invigorate your readers.

But how can you get excited when you’ve grown bored with your topic?

• Talk to clients and understand how you can make their lives better
• Find a good salesman and ask how he or she would sell your ideas
• Look for an expert and learn about fascinating details
• Explore other topics and see how they can be related to yours
• Challenge yourself to write your most inspirational post ever
• Take up a writing challenge—come up with a new metaphor, write an ultra-short post, or write a poetic post

Write when you feel enthusiastic. Get blissfully happy and share your excitement. Get angry and passionately argue your case.

You can’t make a dull draft exciting, but you can improve the structure and polish a text dripping with your enthusiasm.

Blogging Mistake #10: You edit your posts in less than five minutes

Are you a super-writer who writes almost impeccable posts in one go?

Most of us can’t even edit in one go. Consider at least four rounds of editing:

• Review the flow of the post. Can you remove any paragraphs without impacting your story or argument? Does each paragraph naturally follow the paragraph before it?
• Take out the funny asides that aren’t funny or aren’t relevant.
• Polish each sentence. Cut overly long sentences in two; replace difficult words with simple ones; and cross out redundant words.
• Correct any grammar or spelling mistakes

The more effort you put into editing, the easier your post becomes to read. Your message becomes clearer, and your readers will be grateful.

Blogging Mistake #11: You don’t show your personality

Let’s be honest.

Hundreds — maybe thousands — of bloggers write about exactly the same topic as you. What makes you different? What makes you stand out?

When you share useful tips without letting your personality shine through, you become interchangeable with any other blogger in your niche. You become a “me-too” blog, a commodity.

How can you let your personality shine through and increase the value of your blog posts?

• View topics from a fresh perspective
• Present arguments to suggest an opposite approach to what most people believe is right
• Share your personal experiences to guide your readers
• Entertain with your unique sense of humor
• Develop your own blogging voice that speaks strongly to your tribe
• Share a glimpse of who you are to bond with your audience

Your personality, your experiences, and your voice make your posts unique. Your readers don’t just come back for more useful tips. They engage with you because of who you are.

The harsh truth about blogging …

Your readers don’t need another blog post.

Your readers don’t need even more tips.

What your readers need is you — your wisdom, your ideas, your unique stories on your chosen area of expertise.

Never take your readers’ attention for granted. Their time is precious. Use it wisely.

Source : http://bit.ly/1phEAiW

5 Online Marketing Strategies That Work on Any Budget

The following marketing strategies can theoretically work on any budget--as long as you're willing to put in the time.

When you're trying to get a startup off the ground or keep your small business running, every dollar counts. You're working with a limited pool of revenue, a restricted number of resources, and pressing expenses that demand your immediate attention--so it's no wonder why marketing often gets neglected.

Unfortunately, marketing is a necessary expenditure if you want your business to grow. Otherwise, you might remain strapped with those limited revenue streams indefinitely, and all your scrimping and saving will turn into a self-perpetuating cycle. Is it impossible to break out without spending an exorbitant amount of money?

Of course not. This is the digital age. The following marketing strategies can theoretically work on any budget--as long as you're willing to put in the time:

1. Content Marketing. Content marketing can refer to a number of different interrelated tactics, but they all boil down to one idea: earning more traffic for your site by producing high-profile, valuable pieces of content. For example, you might publish a whitepaper or eBook that attracts people to learn more about your brand, or distribute an infographic that leads users back to your site. If you have a computer, a website, and an Internet connection, you have practically everything you need to get started with the basics of content marketing. Write about what you know--write something original, with specific and detailed information, that's valuable for your target audience. Do this regularly, at least a few times per week, and syndicate your material to increase the visibility of your work. In time, you'll build an audience and you'll be able to invest in better content (posting more frequently, posting new mediums, etc.). Content marketing offers a ridiculously high ROI over the long term, but you can get started for almost nothing.

2. Social Media Marketing. Don't be fooled into thinking that social media marketing is quick or easy. It's not a get rich quick scheme, nor does anything on it happen automatically. There are several fundamentals you have to pay attention to, and even maintaining best practices, it's easy to lose traction or visibility. Still, it costs nothing to establish your brand on most major social media platforms, and you can distribute all your content for free. If you engage with individuals, spark conversations, and syndicate truly valuable content, you'll naturally attract more followers, who can spread the word about your brand and convert to paying customers given the right opportunity. In combination with a solid content marketing campaign, this is even more effective.

3. SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) has developed an almost mystical reputation; professional SEO experts are seen as practitioners of magic, who can make a site rise to the top of Google search results by executing their secret tactics. The reality is much less fanciful. SEO is actually pretty simple if you break it down to its bare components. You'll have to dig into code for onsite optimization, but it's nothing a few online tutorials can't walk you through. Beyond that, content marketing and social media marketing can help you build your domain authority (in coordination with a link building campaign), and they're both nearly free as well. Granted, you won't be able to compete on a national level without the help of an agency or an in-house expert, but you can get started with the basics after a few hours of independent research.

4. Email Marketing. It's free to create a basic MailChimp account, and not very expensive if you want to buy some extra credits. You can also start building a list based on your current or prospective customer base (and I don't recommend buying one). From there, one email a week, backed with good content and special deals, can help you earn more traffic and conversions, and not just a few--email marketing can net you an ROI of 4,300 percent or more. It takes time and effort--but not much money upfront.

5. Influencer Marketing. What if you could get someone else to market your company for you, for free? Sounds sweet, right? The truth is, you can accomplish this with a little bit of research and a decent value proposition. Influencer marketing is the process of identifying high-authority individuals in a given industry (for example, a thought leader in your industry with a massive social following), and getting them to meaningfully engage with your brand. That could mean sharing your content, hosting guest posts, or even engaging in an interview with you. How can you accomplish this without bribery? Simple: you ask. Make it worth their while, stay respectful of their time, and be genuine--eventually, you'll have no problem recruiting influencers to your cause.

These aren't the only marketing strategies that can be executed for next to nothing, so don't limit yourself. Do your research, diversify your strategies, and keep progressing toward your ultimate goals. The beauty of these strategies is that they can work on a passable level with a minimum investment, but if you invest more money, the payoffs start increasing proportionally. You can start off with almost no investment, and by the time you start earning enough revenue to double down on these strategies, you'll be experienced enough to know how to maximize your ROI.

But in order to get to this point, you have to get started--and the sooner the better. Stop using a limited budget as an excuse not to market your business, and start building the momentum you need to succeed.

 Source : http://bit.ly/1KZ8Ok8

What You Need to Know About the Rise of Social Trading

For the past several years, social media has been all the rage, and for good reason. It allows family and friends from every corner of the world to keep tabs on each other as if they were just next door. However, that’s not the only thing social networks do these days. 

They give people a way to play games together, video message each other, and far, far more. However, it seems as though the social environment and the technology behind it is changing once again. 

There’s a new social network concept that is rising in popularity incredibly quickly. That concept is called social trading.

What Is Social Trading?

Social trading is an entirely new concept. In fact, I first heard about the concept myself just last year. Essentially, social trading is a social network platform designed for traders, as the name would suggest. This new technology combines several features of the average social network like being able to follow, message, and communicate with people around the world, with features you’d generally see on a trading application. Using this new technology, traders not only have a way to make friends, but can also help each other profit. Experienced traders have the ability to share how they earn the money they earn and beginner traders have the ability to tag along on the strategy to reduce the incredible learning curve associated with trading. It’s a match made in heaven.

Why Social Trading Is Becoming So Popular

At the moment, there are only a few social trading websites out there. In fact, the only platforms that I know of off of the top of my head are CopyOp and Etoro. Nonetheless, these websites are becoming incredibly popular. So, why are they growing in popularity so quickly? There are a few reasons…

• Reducing The Learning Curve – Trading successfully is not the easiest thing in the world to do. In fact, to become a successful trader, there’s an incredible learning curve that you’ll have to make your way over. However, social trading greatly reduces the learning curve associated with financial trading. This is because beginners have a way to copy the moves of professionals and ask them questions in the process to see why the moves that are being made are good for the overall portfolio. Believe it or not, this functionality has the ability to shave months, or even years for some, off of the learning curve!

• Avoiding Excessive Research – Without social trading, finding strong trading opportunities takes quite a bit of research. However, social trading platforms use a technology that picks up on what the popular trades are. This means that finding a trending stock, commodity, currency, or any other asset is a relatively simple process. Let’s face it, even the professional traders can use a hand when it comes to research.

• Making Friends With Like Interests – I’m a professional trader myself, and I have to say, the industry does get a bit lonely. After all, I work from home and when I talk to friends about what I do, I’m usually met with a mix of blank stares and snarky remarks. However, I’ve found social trading platforms to be a great way to have an intelligent discussion with other like minded people with regard to what’s going on in the market. For me, this is absolutely priceless!

Social trading is an incredible concept that meets a need that many traders didn’t even know they had. This incredible technology is yet another example of how technological innovation shapes the way we live, and will likely continue doing so for years to come!

Source : http://bit.ly/1nVCSTe

7 worthwhile ways to automate social media

Social media is an essential part of 21st century life. And, that’s especially true for business owners who are looking to connect with customers, influencers and even potential investors.

While having a social media marketing strategy is a necessity, it can become extremely time consuming. Between updating your profile, responding to customers, coming up with content and sharing content, managing your social media accounts can become a full-time job.

Over the past six months I've really been dialing in my social media efforts for minimal time effort and maximum output. Thankfully, there are a few tools and strategies I've found that help automate social media so I can focus on growing my business. If that sounds like a plan, then give these seven techniques a try.

1. Social media automation software and apps

The easiest way to automate social media is by using automation software and apps. These include Hootsuite, Buffer, SproutSocial, HubSpot, Social Oomph and Social Flow. Each tool may have unique features of their own, but essentially they all allow you to schedule social media posts in advance and monitor your accounts when someone mentions your brand or leaves a comment.

If you’re just starting out, select just one tool and experiment with it by scheduling a couple of updates. I personally use Buffer and really like it. Most of the tools above have apps so that you can stay up-to-date with your social media accounts while on the go.

I also like using Brand24 to find out who is talking about my company online. This is a social listening tool that shows me every person that mentions my brand both on social media or a blog post. They don't do any social posting but the social listening feature is amazing. You can then acknowledge these mentions and thank people publicly.

2. Fill in the gaps

Automation tools like Hootsuite can be a real timesaver. But, you can take that automation to the next level by using tools like Zapier and IFTTT. Basically, these resources make it possible for apps, systems and websites to talk to each other. For example, you could create a "zap" that automatically posts new WordPress posts into your Facebook page.

IFTTT gives you the ability to create "recipes" so that you can sync your online profiles or Google Calendar with social media so that you never forget a birthday. The possibilities are endless. Check out this Buffer post to help you get started with IFTTT.

3. Sync your blog

You’ve worked pretty hard on that blog post or creating that infographic. Why not ensure that it’s going to be seen by your friends and followers on social media? If you use WordPress, this is pretty easy to do since there are more than enough plugins that allow you to add social share buttons onto your page or automatically post on social media whenever you publish a new article.

However, you can also sync your blog content and social media updates in advance with a tool like CoSchedule. This handy service lets you plan out your editorial calendar in conjunction with the social media channel that you want the content to be shared on. Remember not all types of content will work on all social media channels. Share content on the channels where you know your fans will see it. I find that the content that does super well on Twitter doesn't do as well on Facebook for my audience. My Google+ audience likes more in depth articles while my Twitter likes short nuggets of advice. Test out and see what your audience likes and then automate it as much as possible.

4. Recycle evergreen content

Unless you literally started a blog last week, there’s a very good chance that you have some old blog posts in your archives. While it wouldn’t make much sense to share an article that discussed the hottest marketing trends of 2010, you could share evergreen content.

Evergreen content is timeless content that is still relevant. You could go through your archives, or you could also use a WordPress plugin like Revive Old Posts to simplify the process. There is also a killer tool that I use called MeetEdgar that allows you to publish a post and then automatically recycle your top posts several times on a schedule.

5. Tweet multiple times

While you don’t want to be the person who is flooding your fans' feeds with the same link to a recently published article, there’s also no rule saying that you can’t post that multiple times. In fact, the most effective Twitter users tweet 3 times per day. Even if you only send out the same content, you’re increasing your chances of it getting noticed by a different audience.

If you look at your audience and get to know them you'll find that they are from all over the world. This means that whenever you tweet, you'll have followers online. I like to setup a schedule for tweeting several times a day at specific times. I then go online and find the best content (mainly motivational quotes as they do super well as you can and schedule them out over the coming months. This allows me to spend two to three hours once every three months finding good quotes. Keep in mind that you can always post something important to social media whenever you want. This is just scheduling out so when you get busy, you don't look inactive.

6. Curate content

Social media isn’t just about sharing content that you’ve created. It’s also about sharing other people’s content. Thankfully, curating is easier than ever with the help of those automation tools that you’ve been using. For example, Hootsuite gives you the option to discover suggested content that you’re interested in based on keywords. Buffer allows you to create a posting schedule based on updates from within your network.

Newsfeeds like Feedly, dlvr.it and Scoop.it can also be used to curate and share relevant content. But, if you need a more robust content curation tool, there’s no better option than Curata.

7. Focus on one task when you have down time

Finally, you have to realize that you can’t automate 100% of your social media activity and have it be exactly what a dream account would look like. If you want to have a huge strong following, automation won't ensure this. There needs to be moments when you have an actual interaction with customers, fans or followers. And, trust me, people can easily notice when an account is basically a robot. Instead of getting overwhelmed, focus on accomplishing one task whenever you have some down time.

This could be anything from responding to or leaving comments, personally sharing updates or refreshing your profile. You don’t necessarily have to do this every 30 minutes, but try finding a little bit of time each day or each week to give your account a human touch. I find that the more personal touch I give my account the more real I am to my followers. This gains their trust and with their trust you can make a more powerful impact online.

Source : http://on.mash.to/1PqKt3x