Social media automation refers to the use of tools and software that streamline and automate various tasks related to managing social media accounts. By leveraging automation, businesses can save valuable time and focus on other important aspects of their operations.

What Social Media Pain Points Can Automation Resolve?

Social media teams face a myriad of daily challenges that regular usage of automation tools can help mitigate, enabling teammates to pursue more strategic tasks that contribute to the bottom line. Here are just a few:

• Overwhelming post volume. It can be a hassle to have to navigate the maze of posting on multiple social media platforms every day, especially since each platform requires different formatting, timing, and engagement. Social media automation tools can help you schedule and format these posts, which can in turn ensure consistent brand messaging, and save you precious time and resources.
• Content-generation burnout. Having to post content on your socials about the content you just added to your site or blog compounds your task list. And generating new social media content during crunch times in other parts of your operations can increase task fatigue and reduce team morale.
• Analytics overload. If you’re trying to expand your brand online while continuing to operate and deliver, sifting through detailed analytics can be a challenge. Automated tools can transform complex data into digestible reports, spotlighting what truly matters.
• Branding inconsistenty. It’s essential for your brand that you strive for a unified voice across platforms. Social media automation helps you retain your brand voice, and shield the brand from inconsistency and confusion.

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Why Inefficiency is Kryptonite for Your Social Media Strategy

In the fast-moving environment of social media, inefficiency isn’t just a setback—it can be a potential death knell. Every moment counts, and a delayed response to a prospect or customer can translate into a lost opportunity. An inconsistent post can weaken or damage your brand identity. Imagine painstakingly creating content only to post it at a time when your audience isn’t active. That’s not simply a wasted post, but wasted effort, resources, and potential engagement. Inefficiency on social media is about lost time and the kind of missed opportunities no business can really afford. And that’s exactly where automated social media posting becomes invaluable, turning inefficiencies into strengths.

Saving Time: An Imperative for Social Media Teams

The stakes are high for enterprise social media teams. These teams don’t just manage a singular brand voice; they’re curating multiple narratives across diverse product lines, geographies, and audience segments. Every minute they spend on manual posting tasks is a minute diverted from strategic initiatives that can genuinely drive brand growth.

By adopting posting automation, these teams can free themselves to focus on high-impact activities. With the newfound time, they can deep dive into audience analytics, crafting more personalized engagement strategies. They can innovate content formats, test new engagement channels, or refine their brand’s voice based on real-time feedback. They can also put time into proactive crisis management, preparing for potential PR challenges. Social media automation also gives teams bandwidth to explore emerging platforms or technologies, ensuring the brand remains at the forefront of digital innovation. In essence, while posting is foundational, automation ensures it doesn’t overshadow the strategic undertakings that can catalyze brand evolution on social platforms.

6 Time-Saving Features of Automated Social Media Management

1. 1. Scheduled Posting: Planning ahead is the first step toward managing your time more efficiently. Automated tools let businesses draft content and schedule it to post during peak engagement times. Instead of scrambling daily to create posts, you can strategize a month or even longer in advance. It not only ensures consistency but also frees up your time for other pressing tasks.
   2. Bulk Uploading: You’ll remember how time-consuming and tedious to upload each of your social media posts individually. Once you start automating your social media posting, you can conveniently prepare several weeks’ or months’ worth of content and upload it all at once. It minimizes the repetitive tasks and ensures that your social media presence remains active and engaging.
   3. Integrated Platforms: Jumping between different platforms is a time-drain and a potential source of errors. With automation, businesses can manage multiple platforms from one central hub. This integration means a single post can be formatted and scheduled for various platforms seamlessly. Efficiency and consistency combined!
   4. Automated Sharing: It shouldn’t be an extra manual task to post on your social accounts about new content on your website, blog, or other social networks. With dlvr.it, you can set auto-posting about that content via RSS. It can either go out immediately or get added to a queue and be sent out on a schedule.
   5. Recycling Posts: During extremely busy parts of your business cycle, you don’t need to carve out time that you don’t have to generate new content. Features like EverQueue on the dlvr.it platform enable you to automatically reuse your best posts fill the gaps and keep driving traffic to your site.
   6. Performance Insights: Delving deep into metrics can be a prolonged process. Automation tools present these insights in an actionable, user-friendly manner. No more getting lost in a sea of numbers. Instead, businesses get clear guidance on what’s working, what isn’t, and where to focus their efforts next.

   

2. Using the right tools to leverage the digital shift

   The constantly evolving realm of social media demands adaptability, precision, and timeliness, and automation tools let you navigate these demands. The equation is simple: integrating automation means you get to change your social media approach from reactive to proactive. Businesses—including your competitors—aren’t just saving time with these tools but reclaiming it, and engaging more deeply with their audiences. Automation enables you to innovate, strategize, and genuinely connect. The tools that empower businesses to be more present, more responsive, and more strategic are nothing less than necessary for sustainable growth. Harnessing the power of social media automation ensures that you don’t just survive the digital shift, but thrive in it.

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 appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Set up a filing system

First, getting your office nice and clean requires a lot of attention. Setting up your filing system is vital. If you’re the type of person that just throws everything on your desk in a pile or in a bin and never remembers it’s there, this is for you. Set up categories that matter to you. My personal filing system is set up in things that are prioritized by category. First, bills to pay. Then, bills that are paid. Third, just for the records, and finally, things that are archived, but still important to retain (like tax records and such).

Setting up your filing system is more about appealing to what you’re looking at. You may have different categories that are important to you. Incoming correspondence, for example, might be something that is on paper for you. Setting up files to organize your incoming correspondence may be vital to you. Set up a correspondence file for clients and vendors to make sure that you don’t miss anything. If you work in paper contracts, set up a file with execution dates for contracts. This will help keep you honest with deadlines. for upcoming projects.

Or, organize things by date of appointment. Doctors and lawyers are great at this. They have their appointment books and files laid out for the next day at the end of the previous day. If you’re a busy professional with a ton of appointments, take the time to set out your files for the next day in a smaller filing cabinet, or if your files are electronic, set them on your desktop so that you can have them ready when your client comes in.

Take some spring cleaning to your email inbox

I am so guilty of this. If something seems like it’ll be useful at any time in the future, I will keep it forever. I’m an email pack rat. If you’re guilty of this like me, take some time to go through those emails. Find the ones that you’ve been ignoring and make those ones go straight to the garbage. And empty the garbage. This will give you a clean view of your to-do list. If you need some emails just for your records, create a folder in your email for archives and send those to those archives. Keep only the currently pertinent emails hanging around. Trust me, you’ll feel so much better for it. If you’re like me, I will go insane seeing something sitting in my email for any longer than a few days. So, I will be cleaning out my inbox, needless to say.

Don’t neglect your social media channels

If you have a ton of Evergreen posts sitting around, take this opportunity to prioritize the ones that do the best. Use the Analytics on your social media channels to find out what gets the most traction. Once you’ve figured out your best posts, set a schedule around those posts and fill in with the ones that may need a little bit more attention. dlvr.it has a great suite of tools that will help you set your Evergreen posting to the right specifications with the correct categories. Simply set one category with the prioritized posts, and then set another category with the less important posts. Then, set your schedule to alternate posts how you would like. Using your EverQueue, you can avoid posting too frequently.

Take the time to evaluate your vendors

Spring cleaning is the perfect time to re-evaluate the tools that you’re using. I tend to get used to a tool set or two, and never stray from those tools. However, if you’re using a lot of tools for a job that could be done by one tool, it would save you time, effort, and money to use fewer tools. Typically, a single tool will be a much better solution than many. For example, if you can edit sound and video with one tool, you would want to do that. In my case, I prefer SnagIt to capture video, audio, and screencaps. This tool helps to keep things consolidated and very simple. Using specific tools for specific jobs can be great, but if you can combine those jobs, all the better.

Remove unnecessary subscriptions

Huffington Post has an excellent suggestion. They suggest going through your email for subscriptions that haven’t pulled their weight. Check over the subscriptions that you have in your email and see if you’ve bothered opening the emails from these people anytime in the last month. If you haven’t, ditch them! You can subscribe later if you need to. For the most part, though, getting rid of the dead weight is only going to benefit you.

Update your templates

Particularly if you use a standard format for pretty much everything, updating these templates is essential to maintaining your business. Have you updated a policy in the last year? Put it in your contract. Do you now want to make deals via email for the most part? Write electronic templates for common issues. All of these templates will come in handy, whether you use them on paper or electronically.

Go digital whenever possible

Do you have to keep receipts for tax purposes? Get them input into your computer. Do you have a giant stack of bills taking up space on your desk? Put them into a spreadsheet and shred the paper copies. Keep doing this as your bills come in. Not only will the paper decrease, but you will be far more organized than if you had to remember a silly piece of paper. Also, get ebills as often as you can. Electronic bills can come into your email inbox and garner your attention much faster than a bill that might get lost in the mail.

Putting it all together

All-in-all, spring cleaning is about making your life easier with a clean slate. By getting organized on paper and in your computer, you will usually be happier because you won’t be forgetting things. I have trouble remembering all the items that I have to do, and getting together a to-do list by cleaning out the inbox that you haven’t touched in a year is only going to provide you with more time in your life.

The post Setting Priorities for Office Spring Cleaning appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Scientifically, the adrenal system is the system that produces cortisol, which is the hormone that we use to respond to stress. A chronic amount of this hormone in our systems can mean that we get sick very easily and stay sick longer. This relates very closely to the business world. In business, sick employees are far less productive than healthy ones. Keeping your employees happy means keeping them healthy and productive. How do we attain this level of happiness in our companies?

Make it easy to get out and exercise

The exercise craze has hit offices, and for good reason. Exercise is closely correlated with elevation in mood. The American Psychological Association published an article discussing the mood benefits of exercise. They found that an immediate mood lift happens in individuals who exercise. These individuals usually experience this benefit within 5 minutes of an exercise session.

Not only are there immediate benefits, but those who exercise regularly are less likely to develop long-term depression. Depression and anxiety have both been shown to receive relief from regular exercise. Exercise functions as a sort of exposure therapy for the chronically anxious individual, providing exposure to the results of their fear impulses without any danger being present. You can experience all these benefits by simply exercising regularly. Providing a little bit of office yoga may go a long way. To maximize this benefit, schedule regular intervals of time where you’re up and moving around the office, and set these breaks for everyone in the office if possible.

Play a little music in the office

This may seem a little simplistic. Interestingly, there have been studies conducted about music and levels of happiness, and those who consumed more music were found to be increasingly happy. Those individuals who consumed music and were happier had a level of attachment to the music that was critical. The studies showed that those who danced or engaged otherwise with the music experienced the greatest benefit of the influence of the music. However, engaging with the music didn’t seem to be enough. Those who received the greatest benefit also listened to music in the presence of others.

The best way to use these benefits is to get the whole office involved. Schedule some time during the day where everyone can get up from their desks, listen to music, and dance if they want. Create a safe space where simply engaging with the music and engaging with your surroundings is the goal. The greatest benefit that your coworkers can receive is being engaged with their surroundings at least once a day.

Sponsor some charity work

Studies show that those who regularly engage in volunteer work report higher happiness levels. People do report these feelings, but researchers can also see the results of these feelings using fMRI technology. On fMRI scans, the same regions that light up when we are seeing benefits of cravings are also lit up when we give. Charitable donations provide a sense of altruism that increases happiness levels.

To take advantage of these benefits, schedule some time where your office can go and volunteer. Set up a donation drive for your local food bank. Spend some time cleaning and cuddling at your local animal shelter. Find a local organization that works with teachers and provide donations of materials or cash to these organizations. Spend some time serving at a soup kitchen. All these volunteer opportunities take just a little time out of your day and generate an instant upswing in mood. To find some volunteer opportunities for your team, visit volunteermatch.org.

Give happiness meditation a try

Mindfulness training has taken hold in popular culture. It seems that we hear about meditation every other minute in this growing world, for good reason. Mindfulness is basically a way that we can take stock of what is going on in our body and mind. The thing is, by understanding what we’re seeing and why, we are entering a state of being. What we have found is that when you are absorbed in nothing but the stress of everyday life, your stress and anxiety systems are constantly online, making it almost impossible for you to wind down. This is where mindfulness excels.

Mindfulness carries with it a large set of benefits that can be seen very quickly after beginning. Because we are taking those fear and anxiety systems offline, we are easing the amount of cortisol and other stress hormones in our blood. This reduces the general effect of stress and also reduces the length of illness in most of us. Those benefits that we were talking about earlier with exercise are very much in play with mindfulness, and getting started is very easy. The Huffington Post published some recommendations to get started in this practice.

If you want to set this up in your office, you have a few options. Mindfulness meditation does not take a lot of space, nor time. Provide mental health breaks for your employees and set up a small space with cushions and soft lighting (I recommend a Himalayan Salt lamp for diffused light). Keep the room as quiet as possible, with a little bit of background music. Your employees can start with a guided meditation, or maybe an app on their smartphones that will help guide them through a meditation. Many of these are less than 5 minutes of time and provide a much needed mental rest. Believe me, your employees will thank you for it.

Get some sleep

This one is not really for the employers out there, but more for those like myself. Get some quality sleep. I, myself, have issues with getting to sleep at night and staying asleep. A little bit of that meditation room helps me. I have a Himalayan Salt lamp on my bedside table and will usually read a book before bedtime. Keep the television out of the bedroom, and keep the laptops off. Sleep hygiene is vitally important to your quality of sleep. Studies have shown that those who sleep with a higher quality sleep are generally healthier than those who don’t, so getting your rest at night is super important.

Wrapping it up

All these benefits of happiness are realistic for those who work in your company. Healthy employees are happy and productive employees. Not only will you see these benefits, but your employees will see these benefits and improve their work-life balance because of it. Providing the tools to take advantage of these benefits will help your company’s culture stand the test of time.

The post Increasing your Happiness Level appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Use your competitor’s best ideas

I can’t take full credit for this idea. If I’m being completely honest, I was given this idea by a blog written by a website that I use for SEO. Ahrefs came up with this idea of analyzing your direct competitors for traffic and figuring out what they have successfully published and gained a lot of traffic from. Your competitors have successfully figured out which posts are best for them, and if they are successful, they can help you generate new content. In fact, this can help you steal a little bit of your competitor’s traffic. I have a spreadsheet that I work with to build my content, and ahrefs suggests many techniques to perfect this technique. I highly recommend checking out their video guide to help you steal traffic from your competitors.

Use your favorite keywords and build from there

I like to find a trusted set of keywords and build related topics from there. You’ll notice that when I publish blogs, I usually publish in series. I may have a post on content curation, and evolve to evergreen content. Building a series of posts is a lot easier than building your blog one post at a time. You can also research topics online and start from your last post’s keywords to do so. I use my posts to plug into Google and then I figure out which keywords are closely related to my last blog post’s keyword set. This is a great way to make a set of blog posts quickly and easily, and perhaps create a theme for your blog.

Use your tools as inspiration

You’ll notice that a lot of my blog posts have a lot to do with tools and techniques that I use for marketing. If you use a tool, find out if that’s the best one for the job? Do a little bit of trial and error. Figure out which tool works best for you! Many times, in the process, you will find a tool that not only works, but might work better for the job that you’re needing to use it for. For example, my infographic tool post talked about the right tools to create infographics. As a college student, I use these tools for more than one purpose. I found that one of my infographic tools actually worked very well for my schoolwork as well as my marketing work. You may find that some tools you are researching aren’t great for the job that you need. That’s fantastic too! Write it down for your readers. Your readers want to hear honest feedback about your experiences so that they can learn from your mistakes.

Make it personal

Chances are, your readers may have experienced what you’ve experienced. For example, I have personally experienced writer’s block. Rather than working through it and making it a part of my sordid blogging past, I’m telling you about it. My blog is about a field that involves creating content. This is extremely relevant to my readers. If you have a mommy blog and you have had experiences with a park or a swing set or even a department store, write about it! Your readers want to hear about your experiences and how they are relevant to their interests. You will more than likely have readers that have gone through or will go through the same circumstances. You’re probably reading this because you’ve encountered writer’s block yourself! Instead of thinking about what you want to write, write about your journey to the piece that you publish.

Don’t forget to relax

Writers thrive on different circumstances. I like to write with some low noise in the background toward the evening hours, when I’m at my most productive. Pick your most productive time to write. Find your environment that inspires you. For me, that’s my desk at home with a couple of candles burning and some music in the background, usually with my husband playing computer games in the next room. You may have a different tone of inspiration, but whatever gets you in that creative place, go with it! You can’t create in a state of panic, and that’s what happens when you’re not relaxed when you write. Remember that the content is just as important as the creator.

Keep a journal of your topic ideas

You may have a topic or two in the wings, waiting for the light of day. You may have completely forgotten them. Stop yourself from doing that and write them all down. My topic ideas usually make it into my cell phone jotted down in a notepad somewhere, and when I run low on ideas, that notepad comes out with all my ideas behind them. Usually, I even come up with more ideas related to the ones that are already written down. This post, in fact, came from my notepad. So, you see, there are many ideas that may not be feasible to write about at the time you come up with them, but given time, they may become more relevant to your audience and you might find a perfect time to publish them.

Writer’s block may be an obstacle, but you can overcome it

Remember that all the best writers have encountered this. You’re not alone in this fight to create endlessly. Blogging is hard work and finding your voice is crucial to your success. Remember that your competitors and fellow bloggers alike are probably working against that endless struggle too. Give yourself time to adapt to the rigorous schedule that is publishing, and your ideas will flow. And don’t forget to publish your blogs to your social media accounts. You don’t want to keep all that creativity to yourself! And I always love seeing great content put out by my fellow writers.

Happy Writing, bloggers! Go forth and create!

The post Quick and Easy ways to Overcome Writer’s Block appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Find an appropriate platform for your social media calendar

Interestingly, there are many platforms that offer free calendar applications. Of course, the most popular is Google, which offers a free calendar application with its normal application suite. If you prefer going outside Google, there are many others that you can use, normally with any free or paid email platform. Microsoft outlook, for example, offers a free calendar application with its software. There is also a free calendar application with any of Microsoft’s email products.

If you are working with a team of individuals, the best calendars to use are shareable calendars. Google makes this quick and easy to share. Fortunately, it is also very easy to set up these calendars.

Make a list of posts that you would like to distribute

Once you have your application selected, make a list of stuff that you would like to distribute. These could be blog posts, carefully curated third party content, or news events. Anything you would like to post on your social media accounts should go into your social media calendar. I recommend planning as far in advance as possible, so that your calendar is set up far in advance and doesn’t require much work to implement.

This list is vital to the success of your planning process. When you’re making this list, I recommend organizing this list into categories. This will make your calendar planning easier when you’re trying to figure out what is posting and when.

Categorize your social media calendar

Your social media calendar should be organized by a few different factors.

1) Social Media Platform

First, you need to determine which social media platforms you wish to use. Do you want to use Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc? Once you have figured out which platforms you want to use, enter your social media platforms on your social media calendar. Use corresponding entries with which dates you are going to post. I also highly recommend color coding each social media platform. This will make reading your calendar much easier for your team.

2) Type of post

Once you have figured out which platforms you wish to post to and when, you will need to enter your posts into entries. You can use the general categories you worked out in your list. For example, if you are a realtor and want to post 3 times a day to Facebook, you can place 3 entries on your calendar for Facebook and enter the categories into these timeslots. You may want to post a listing twice a day, and post real estate news on one of these entries. Enter these categories onto your calendar.

3) Assign these to your team, or enter them into your toolbox

If you are working with a large team, you may be able to assign a team member to work with specific social media platforms. However, in many cases, this is a time wasting effort. There are many tools out there intended for this specific purpose. You are able to enter your posts into a calendar and simply monitor the tool for disconnects. Check out our list of top Social Media Automation tools for assistance in accomplishing this. Of course, dlvr.it is also a great tool to use to establish this calendar. The tool will allow you to schedule up to 150 posts at a time in a calendar for each of your social media accounts.

4) Establish analytics to check the progress of your social media strategy

The best method to determine if your strategy is working is to establish some variety of analytics. Analytics will report back how many unique visitors you’ve had to your site, and how they got there. Analytics also determine a larger variety of factors that you may need to know about. For example, general geographic data for your viewing audience. This may matter if you’re targeting a certain location. If your social media strategy is working during certain times, and not during others, you may want to re-evaluate when you’re posting.

There are many schools of thought as to when to post for most effective viewership, and our take on it is available to view our recommended social media posting times. Your viewership may also depend on the industry in which you market. Some audiences are more active than others during certain times. For instance, if you are marketing to new parents, you may want to post at times that a mom would have time to check her Facebook. Our article regarding best posting times talks about specific social media posting times and how they will impact your social media presence.

Make sure to monitor your engagement

Keep an eye on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other accounts. These accounts will tell you more than any other study. Your audience is either responding or not responding. Analytics will tell you how many clicks you have and how many people are accessing certain articles, but it will not tell you how well your audience is responding. Determining the engagement of your audience is key to making sure that your strategy is working, or if you need to adjust.

Check your comments, your likes, and your shares on these pages. The higher the numbers, the more you know your strategy is working. If these numbers are looking lower than you’d like, adjust! Take a look at your calendar and cross-reference this with your analytics. These numbers will tell you if you’re simply posting at the wrong times, or if there is something in your content that is not resonating with your viewing audience. In the end, the best method to reach your audience optimally is through trial and error. Test and re-test and test again. You will find the appropriate mix of what works for you and you’ll find your happy medium.

It is certainly best to test the tools in your toolkit. Make sure to take a look at the analytics in your toolkit as well and make sure that you’re benefiting from them. Take a lesson from others and study their behaviors. If you work in a similar industry, take a hint from those who may have made mistakes and learned from them.

And as always, happy posting!

The post The Best Way to Free Up your Time using a Social Media Calendar appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Why do I need a free video editing software suite?

Editing your videos is incredibly important to viewing. A raw video may look incomplete or unfinished and will cause others to opt for other content because of the finished look.

According to Dreamgrow, video marketing can enhance conversions and sales. In fact, a product introduction video can improve conversions by 80%. Leaving these conversions on the table. However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

However, a video that markets your product must present your product in the best light possible. This is why you need video editing software. Video editing software will provide the best possible enhancements that your product could receive.

We’ve put together a fantastic list of six of the best free video editing software available:

1 – Lightworks

Lightworks impresses as the most widely regarded free video editing software suite for editing and publishing content. Cleaning up content couldn’t be easier on this platform. Fortunately, Lightworks keeps the novice user in mind when they build features for this platform.

• Lightworks is a pro-level tool that has a beginner-level user interface in some features.
• It is such a pro-level program that major motion picture studios have used it to edit productions in their own business.

While some features may be easy to use, others do require a little bit more expertise. So, for the complete novice user, the learning curve may be a little bit too steep. The free version of Lightworks also is limited in its functionality.

2 – Windows Movie Maker (Windows)

Windows Movie Maker is an application that is available for no cost at all.

• This video editor is a great editor for beginners who want to edit shorter films with less detail.
• Because this is a video editor for novices, it does have a less steep learning curve, but also comes with fewer features.

Windows Movie Maker is a very barebones software program and shouldn’t be expected to yield phenomenal results, but can be expected to provide a polished look to your video content. Windows Movie Maker provides the essentials needed to crop video, edit video snippets together, and speed up/slow down footage. These basic effects are generally enough to make sure that your video gets the attention it deserves.

3 – WeVideo

As a cloud based application, this video editing software is not bulky, nor is it difficult to use.

• WeVideo is targeted for the beginner user, as it integrates well with Social Media, YouTube, and Dropbox.
• The video editor has a built in integration with Dropbox, which will allow you to pull video directly from a cell phone or tablet into the video editing software.
• The application is built around a drag and drop interface, which allows beginning level users the ability to move footage around seamlessly.

Not only is it easy to use, but it is also collaborative. With the application being cloud based, you can invite your friends or other editors to view and change your footage. WeVideo also has a YouTube integration, which allows you to bypass downloading the video to your own computer but enabling you to directly upload the video straight to YouTube.

4 -Avidemux

Avidemux has been described by PC World as ‘Quick and Dirty Video Editing‘.

• This is a product that is perfect for beginner editors.
• Any updates that you make to your content will be updated immediately by Avidemux. You don’t end up needing to update anything further.
• The interface for this program is quick and easy to learn, making it ideal for beginners.

The downside to this software is that it only supports one track at a time, not allowing merging or layering of other tracks. For many beginners, this function is not necessary, but for others, it is essential. This software might conflict with the more advanced users’ sensibilities.

5 – Filmora

By all accounts, Filmora is an excellent alternative to Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. The makers of Filmora looked as if they wanted to strike a balance between complicated features that could make a striking video and tools that would appeal to the most novice of film editors. In that regard, they succeeded. Even the home screen makes it as simple as possible to import your videos and edit.

Using their simple interface, you can apply effects, trim snippets of video footage, and add text. These features will give your raw footage the face lift it likely needs. Filmora also boasts the free price tag, which is an impossible price to beat for what it offers. The full, paid version boasts an even more robust set of features available for premium users. At the price tag of free, though, it boasts a plethora of premium features while avoiding the premium price.

6 – YouTube

Last, but not least, we have to acknowledge the video editor provided by YouTube itself.

• YouTube has added a free editor to their software to help you select the most visually striking content for your YouTube video.
• The software offers options that will help you choose the proper cover photo for your post, as well as trim and crop the video that you are uploading.

The obvious issues with this product are that it may not contain your requirements to edit your video correctly. This video editing software is a software suite that is intended for very basic editing.

Let’s wrap it up

Video editing could not be more crucial to your marketing strategy. It is important to use the editor to make your product look great and appeal to your target consumer. Make sure that your content is relevant to your audience, of course, and follow a few best practices to make sure that your content is the best it can be.

And remember, dlvr.it can help you publish your awesome videos as soon as you post them to your YouTube channel.

The post The Best FREE Video Editing Software appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

How do I set up a feed in Cronycle?

To set up a feed using source feeds, just click on the Sources tab on the left side of your Cronycle account. This will bring up a page that will allow you to search for feeds. Once you have reached this page, you may enter your search keywords into the search box. Cronycle also allows you to enter a topic or a Twitter handle. You will then see a list of possible feeds related to your search terms. Select your feeds by clicking the plus sign next to the feed. Drag and drop your desired feeds into the Create Custom Feed box. Name your feed and continue.

Once you have named your feed, in the same area, you can add filters to your feeds. If you don’t wish to have too many items, you may filter them by keywords. You can choose to exclude items, or include items based on your keywords. Click the Create New Feed button. This will import the content that you have just set up into the Feeds tab.

From the Feeds tab, you are able to view the articles that are currently set up for your feed. You can also change the filters that are on your feed. This is also where you can modify the visibility of your feed from private to public. This can be done by clicking on the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page. Then click the dropdown menu to change the privacy setting from private to public. This will provide you with the URL to your feed so that you may add this to dlvr.it. Cronycle has also created a fantastic how to video to help you make the most of your dlvr.it and Cronycle integration.

How do I use this in dlvr.it?

To use this feed in dlvr.it, you will need to add the feed from Cronycle into your automate section in dlvr.it.

dlvr.it will allow you to add any public feed into your account.

To add a feed, click on the Automate tab, click on Add New Feed and then enter the feed URL from Chronycle. Once you have entered the URL, our systems will connect to your feed and then ask to connect to your Socials. Once you have connected your socials, your content will begin automatically sharing.

Why is this helpful?

This makes curation quick and easy. By employing Cronycle’s toolset to filter your content, you can easily curate content that pertains to certain subject matters. This is also a quick and easy way to consolidate content into one feed and remove articles that you don’t wish to publish. Cronycle’s tools are the best for filtering content and creating personalized feeds. While Cronycle will help you coordinate which content you would like to share, dlvr.it will take care of the heavy lifting and share the content for you. dlvr.it will automatically check your Cronycle feed and share any new content found, without you needing to lift a finger to do so. dlvr.it can also help you pick the right images for your feed and filter within dlvr.it so that you have an extra line of defense.

The post Supercharge Your Posting Power Using Cronycle and dlvr.it appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Some were too complicated for minimum value; others don’t allow any kind of teamwork. A few cost too much and lack of integrations broke the deal for others.

The bottom line is that to create the best blog content you can while not wasting your time; you need to be picky with your tool belt.

If a carpenter’s only as good as his tools, then a blogger is limited by the apps they use. Luckily, our team has found seven standout examples that have endured.

7 Standout Blogging Productivity Apps

In the right hands (and when used correctly), these productivity apps can save an immeasurable amount of time. They also bring insight that would otherwise be inaccessible – from finding out what’s popular in your niche to keeping you focused and quantifying your success.

Natural talent and general writing skill will certainly make up the bulk of your efforts (tools don’t make the perfect blogger, after all) but using these seven blogging tools will make sure that you can be more productive, and that your efforts are getting the maximum return.

Let’s get to it.

Grammarly

Grammarly is practically God’s gift to bloggers. If you somehow haven’t heard about it, it’s a productivity app which checks your spelling and grammar as you write.

Sounds good, but why not just use a spellchecker?

Well, Grammarly has a Chrome extension which allows you to track and check the accuracy of your writing across the web (aside from a few exceptions). Whether you’re typing in Facebook, Google, Slack, or Trello, you never have to worry about being off the mark again.

Admittedly, it isn’t entirely foolproof. The most notable exception that Grammarly can’t track is Google Docs. Unfortunately, it’s a little awkward for those in our team who prefer writing in docs before transferring to WordPress.

However, once inside WordPress the checks begin, pretty much nullifying any awkwardness caused.

Not only that, but you’re given an email every week which rounds up your word count, number of mistakes, and number of unique words used while comparing it to the weekly average for the rest of the Grammarly user base.

These stats are perfect for keeping yourself motivated! At the end of the week, you can see that you’ve been more active than 99% of Grammarly users, and even share stats with the rest of your team in a mini-competition.

Just remember that these stats aren’t exactly accurate (unless I “really” did manage to write 200,000+ words in a week).

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a great tool which allows you to search for the most popular content either on a website or using a keyword. Honestly, I can’t count the number of times this has saved our hide and clued us in on what keywords we need to be targeting.

For example, let’s say that you wanted to target the keyword “business processes.” Using Buzzsumo, you could search that keyword and see what the most popular content is, and therefore get an idea of what you could write to get some traction on social media.

Alternatively, if you wanted to guest post for a particular site but weren’t sure of the kinds of posts they’re most open to, plug their blog’s URL into Buzzsumo and check out what their top shared articles are.

Chances are, pitches with a similar format or topic will go down better than if you pitched something out of the dark.

There’s a fundamental distinction here though. BuzzSumo shows you the most shared articles on the site or in the keyword you search for – it doesn’t show you the highest ranking.

Remember – just because you shared something a lot does not mean that it will secure your place on the first page of Google and bring in recurring traffic.

Ahrefs

After the most recent updates to Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs has taken over as our primary keyword research app.

It is now much easier to search keywords by bulk. Ahrefs keyword explorer suggests helpful variations without any extra input on your side – it’s a win-win, especially as our old process made use of 3-4 different apps just to make sure that we generated enough variations to cover all bases.

Just plug your keyword idea into the keyword explorer and away you go.

Their site explorer is also an invaluable tool for our team once we’ve chosen a keyword and are deciding the kind of content we want to create. By putting the URLs of the current top ranking sites for our target keyword into Ahrefs:

1 – We get a better breakdown of the reasons for why a post is ranking

2 – How hard it will be to beat it

Focus@Will and Spotify

Yes, yes, this is a bit of a cheat, but both are absolutely invaluable even though it’s best to only use at a time. Hence I present you with Focus@Will and Spotify.

It’s next to impossible to keep up your concentration levels in complete silence reliably – your brain starts to stagnate, and your ideas turn to mush. At the same time, we all know how difficult it is to focus on something when there’s non-stop blaring noise.

Focus@Will and Spotify do a great job of filling the dead air with music that’s not sufficiently interesting to be distracting, and engaging enough to frame the task at hand in a better light. The choice between them comes down purely to preference.

I, for example, use Spotify because that’s where my personal music collection is (so I already have the paid account). I’ll search for a focused music (or classical) playlist to put on in the background at the beginning of the day, and then get cracking.

On the other hand, Ben Mulholland prefers to use Focus@Will due to the lack of anything but music designed for focus – he doesn’t like to have the temptation to put on his favorite artists and jam along, and Focus@Will stops that by not providing him with them.

Focus@Will also lets you set timers and track your productivity at the end of every session. The app creates a graph over time which is invaluable for showing you your ideal time of day to get things done.

Pomello

Pomello is a simple app which can be boiled down to a time tracker which uses a variation of the Pomodoro Technique.

The timer sits at the front of your desktop, lightly ticking away and chiming at the end of each session. Sounds pretty run-of-the-mill, right?

Well, Pomello’s integration with Trello is where things get interesting.

By linking it with your Trello account, you can:

1 – Assign the time you track to Trello cards

2- When a session is finished (by either the timer running out or you, manually finishing it), you can move the Trello card to different columns from the Pomello interface.

Plus, every card you track time on gets a cute tomato on it, which is nice.

Trello

Trello is a beast of a project management app, and without it, our team would probably have fallen into disarray long ago.

It works on a system of boards, columns, and cards. Think of each board as a new cork board on the wall, each column as a group for your tasks, and each card as a task.

For example, we have a “Blog Articles” board which is separate from our “Guest Posting” board and all of our personal boards. Then, inside the “Blog Articles”, we have columns for “Ideas”, “Work in Progress”, “Needs Review”, and more. Finally, cards in the columns contain a single post each.

This means that you can:

• Create a card in “Ideas” and give some details on it
• When writing the post, move it to “WIP”
• And move to “Needs Review” when the post is ready for peer checking/approval

So, those are the blogging productivity apps which our team couldn’t live without – what about you? Do you have any others which are vital to your own approach? How do you use them?

Let me know in the comments below!

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Guest author Benjamin Brandall is a writer at process.st and writerzone.net. He has appeared on TechCrunch, The Next Web and FastCompany.

The post 7 Productivity Apps Guaranteed to Make You A Blogging Rockstar appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

eMarketer estimates more than 52 Million people in the US use Twitter on a monthly basis. So, it makes sense to automatically Tweet blog posts to reach potential customers. Nevertheless, there is a right way and a wrong way to post your blog to Twitter.

We’ve outlined a smart auto tweet strategy that will not only help you avoid spamming but also increase followers. In general, the basic idea is to understand your audience and then deliver the right content at the right time.

1 – How to Auto Tweet Blog Posts and RSS Feeds

The recipe below will show you how to auto tweet blog posts or any RSS feed to Twitter in just a few steps. Of course, you are not limited to just your own blog RSS feed. You can also auto-tweet RSS feeds from any blogger as part of your content curation strategy.

1) Go to dlvr.it and create an account with your email + password.

2) Enter your RSS Feed URL from the Automation tab.

3) Once you have this entered, configure your Feed and click on ‘Next: Connect Socials’.

4) Under the Connect Socials screen, click on the ‘Connect New’ button.

5) Click on the Twitter icon and authorize dlvr.it to post to your Twitter account.

That’s it! Now whenever you create a new blog post, dlvr.it will automatically send your blog posts to Twitter.

Here’s what a completed dlvr.it Route looks like:

Now that you can send blog posts to Twitter, we need to add some intelligence. When creating a smart auto tweet strategy, there are a few more steps to take if you want to avoid spamming your followers.

2 – Know thy Audience

To auto-Tweet is not to Spam. Not knowing thy audience coupled with irrelevant Tweets is considered spam.

Twitter Analytics provides detailed performance stats that are not accessible by 3rd party social media analytics tools. Additionally, these stats contain a wealth of information and are available to anyone who has created a Twitter account. However, the key is to understand how to unlock this meaningful data to get the most value.

When you view your Twitter stats, ask yourself a few questions: 

• How does time of day and day of the week influence the performance of your tweets? Do certain times lead to more impressions?

• What is your optimal tweet frequency? Are you burning out your audience by over-tweeting or can you stand to tweet even more than you currently do?

• Is your audience more responsive to a fun and conversational tone or more business-like, professional-sounding tweets?

• How does media perform in your tweets? Do people love videos and photos, or do they prefer text-based tweets?

• How does link placement in your tweets impact engagement?

• What kinds of calls-to-action (CTA) generate the most engagement with your audience? Are blatant CTAs more impactful, or does your audience appreciate subtlety?

I encourage you to read through this helpful guide in understanding Twitter Analytics: 3 Informative Twitter Analytics Reports With the Most Value.

For the purpose of creating our smart auto-Tweet strategy, we want to pay particular attention to Audience Insights and Audience Comparison.

The reports tell us:

1. Who our audience is
2. What blog post to send to Twitter

1 –  Audience Insights

Click the ‘Audiences’ tab at the top of the Twitter Analytics page (see diagram below) and you’ll see detailed stats on your followers, including:

• Demographics: Gender, County, Household Income, Net Worth, Languages, Home value, Region
• Lifestyle: Interests (by category), TV genres
• Consumer Behavior: Aftermarket auto buyers types, Consumer buying styles, Consumer goods purchases
• Mobile Footprint: Wireless Carrier, Device categories

Tip: If your audience is not sufficiently large enough to provide insights, read How to Get Twitter Followers in 7 Easy Steps.

2 –  Audience Comparison

The above provides me with a great level of detail on my Twitter followers. However, one of the hidden gems is the audience comparison feature.

I can compare my followers to what Twitter calls “organic audience.” Your organic audience looks like this:

Your followers + Your followers’ followers

= Your Organic Audience

For example:

If your follower retweets your content, your content is exposed to that audience of your followers = viral marketing!

In the example below, I compare my Followers to my Organic Audience.

(1): My Followers

(2): My Organic Audience

As mentioned above this comparison can be helpful to figure out what to auto tweet.

3 – Use Twitter Search to Find More of The Right Followers

Next, we need to find more followers just like the ones we have. Again, assuming we find customers who would be more interested in what we auto Tweet, plays into our smart strategy.

The first thing to remember when you grow Twitter followers is to  “follow to be followed“.

In other words, this is a gentle way of saying “Hello, pleased to meet you” without being pushy. As a result, if you follow them, and if they like what they see in your Twitter feed, they’ll follow back.

Success on Twitter (and social media marketing in general) is having the right people to follow.

The purpose of Twitter Connect is to help you find people of interest much quicker than before.

The Connect tab also makes it easier to connect with your friends and family by giving you the option to automatically sync your address book.

If you have the Twitter IOS or Android app installed, look for the tab in the upper left of the screen. Click it to expose a wealth of new people to follow.

Twitter recommends people to follow based on the following:

• Who you already follow
• Tweets you like
• Popular accounts in your local area
• What’s happening in the world right now

Furthermore, this handy Twitter Search tool organizes the recommendations using the above criteria, so you know exactly why Twitter recommended someone.

***You control how good Twitter’s recommendation engine is and the results they display.

For example, let’s say own a pizza joint in San Jose, California. You want to find people who love pizza within your given geographical area. Do a Twitter Search for ‘pizza’ in your zip code (continue reading to learn how). Scroll through the Twitter Search results and like tweets.

In the long run, you’ll  start to notice how Connect recommends more people in San Jose who love pizza.

To get even more out of Twitter Search, I encourage you to read: How To Use Twitter Search To Quickly Find More Happy Customers

4 – Schedule Tweets to Avoid Clumping

Scheduling Tweets can be a productivity aid when used “smartly”. Moreover, scheduling Tweets offers the flexibility to plan your message in advance and saves hours of time every week.

Generally speaking, the best time to auto Tweet is between 1 pm and 3 pm, Monday through Thursday. With that said, you will have to experiment with your audience. Review Twitter analytics to learn more about the best time to Tweet.

Not only is scheduling an important piece of a smart auto Tweet strategy but it also avoids having too many Tweets going out at the same time. One of the many reasons Twitter followers unfollow is because of ‘clumping’ – that is the rapid firing off of Tweet after Tweet after Tweet.

Auto-scheduling Tweets is how business savvy professionals build time back into their day.

Smart automation scheduling tool

Queue, by dlvr.it, is a smart social media scheduling tool. Not to mention, Queue delivers a consistent flow of perfectly timed content throughout the day to keep your Twitter audience engaged. Queue manages your Twitter feed while you are out to lunch, on vacation or just not available.

Send RSS to Twitter with Queue

Link any RSS feed to Twitter as a backup content source. With an optimized continuous stream of content, you will increase traffic, engagement and brand recognition. No clumping, no spam and not to mentioned delivered at just the right time.

5 – Find the Right Hashtags and Automatically Add to Tweets

Many studies have shown that tweets with hashtags generate up to double (if not more) user engagement.

1. Increase viewership: Similar to keywords used for search optimization, hashtags help people discover your content in social. You can instantly become more visible and become part of a trending conversation.
2. Build Social Followers: Hashtags help build social followers. If you are an authority on barbecuing, hashtags will help people find you within a room of desperate conversations.
3. Create new customers: Find new prospects and customers. Monitor important hashtags in social and jump on relevant opportunities. For example, you could find a prospect in need of your service or discover a prospect unhappy with a competitor. Hashtags discover conversations that are happening ‘right now’ vs. keywords that will last a long time. It is important to set-up an alert within your favorite social media monitoring tool monitoring the conversations (hashtags) you want to follow.
4. Branding: Hashtags can help brand your business. You can set-up a branded hashtag specific to your business. For example, if you are running a sale, you could create the hashtag #Bobs_barbeque_blowout. If you add the hashtag to your customer communications (email, twitter), your customers can follow the hashtag to stay current on your latest promotions.
5. Revenue: Hashtags help you quickly determine what people are talking about so this will help guide new content decisions and create new product ideas to boost sales.
6. Competition: Track your competition. See what conversations they are a part of or what people are saying about them.

With this in mind, finding the right hashtag is the first step. The last thing you want to do is spam Twitter feeds with irrelevant content because you used the wrong hashtag. Leverage popular hashtags – search for hashtags on Hashtagify

Now that you have relevant hashtags, use them to categorize your content on your blog. In WordPress for example when you create a new blog post you can also add a category.

With that said, by using dlvr.it, we can automatically turn that category tag in the RSS feed into a hashtag on Twitter!

To enable this feature on your Twitter account, you will need to access the Socials Tab.

1) Click on the Twitter account and click on the Edit icon

2) Click on the Advanced tab

3) Click on Auto Hashtag placement and choose where you would like to post your Auto Hashtags (Hashtags Before and After content are limited to 5 hashtags)

• Before Content: This will be placed between any prefixes that you have set and the content itself
• After Content: Placed between your content and any suffixes defined
• Inline: If any category tags are matched within the text, this will automatically be changed into a hashtag

4) Select the maximum number of hashtags that you would like us to generate

5) Choose how you would like blank spaces handled (either eliminate or use underscores)

6) Save, and you’re done!

Additionally, read more about other ways to automatically add hashtags to Tweets.

6 – Add Filters to Target Content

For one thing, followers will call anything irrelevant in their Twitter feed as spam. Again the goal with your auto Tweet strategy is to share the RIGHT content with your audience to avoid the perception of spam.

This tactic is where filters make the most sense. Before the auto tweet is sent, dlvr.it can share or exclude specific content based on keywords you enter.

You can filter by the following:

• Title
• Content
• Category
• Author
• Link

You can filter these categories in a number of different ways. The first selection that you must make is to filter by either ‘Match Whole Words’ or ‘Match Sequence Anywhere’.  We have described these cases in more detail below:

• Match whole words: Applies filters on words/phrases only if they appear as a whole word. For instance, if filtering on the word “state”, a) “state” will trigger the filter, while b) “statement” will not.

• Match sequence anywhere: Applies filters on words/phrases if they appear anywhere in a sequence. For instance, if filtering on the word “state”, all of the following will trigger the filter: “state”, “statement”, “understated”, etc.

Once you have opted for one of these two cases, you will be asked for your filter terms. You can choose to filter by the following:

• Must contain all the terms
• Must contain any of the terms
• Ignore items that contain any of the terms

Save your filters, and now your auto tweet strategy just got that much smarter!

___

Do you auto Tweet? What are the best practices you follow? We would love to hear from you.

The post 6 of the Best Ways to Auto Tweet That Will Avoid Spamming Twitter appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Featuring:

• 

• Noisli

• NATURESPACE

• Workers in Open-Plan Offices Are Much More Productive If You Do This

• How Background Noise Affects The Way You Work

• FYI: WHY DOES WHITE NOISE HELP PEOPLE SLEEP?

What is Background Noise

noun

1. Also called white sound. A steady, unvarying, unobtrusive sounds, as an electronically produced drone or the sound of rain, used to mask or obliterate unwanted sounds.
2. Physics. Random noise with a uniform frequency spectrum over a wide range of frequencies.

Background Noise Apps & Productivity Tips

1 – Coffitivity

Are you easily distracted at home? You’re not the only one! Sometimes, it feels much easier to get stuff done when you’re at your favorite cafe, but what do you do when it’s closed, or you can’t afford to go?

Coffitivity is a site created by Justin Kauszler that will play the ambient background noise of a coffee shop right in your browser. Coffitivity aims to increase your productivity, citing research that claims ambient noise is better for concentration than either complete silence or a loud workspace.

The Coffitivity background noise cafe library includes:

• Morning Murmur: A gentle hum gets the day started
• Lunchtime Lounge: Bustling chatter of the lunchtime rush
• University Undertones: The scholarly sounds of a campus cafe
• Paris Paradise: Energizing ambiance from the City of Light
• Brazil Bistro: The musical chatter of a Brazilian coffeehouse
• Texas Teahouse: Hefty sounds from a big state

2 – Noisli

Quick Tip: Use White Noise for Greater Productivity

In this age of endless information and clutter, productivity “Nirvana” has been searched for by so many, yet achieved by so few. While there is no ultimate solution for everyone, there are various processes and tools which have differing levels of impact for different people.

Noisli is one of these tools. Simply put, it’s a background white noise generator that helps you drown out annoying noises, and that lets you create your perfect environment for working and relaxing.

• Improve focus and boost your productivity.
• Mix different sounds and create your perfect environment.

Noisli is definitely something you should try out when everything else is failing. It probably isn’t a solution to all of your productivity problems, but give it a try particularly in situations where you are struggling to block out distractions.

This noise app lets you mix different sounds including rain sounds, ambient noise, coffee shop sounds and more.  The app can create an ideal environment for whatever mood you desire. Before making layers of sounds, choose if you are feeling “Random, Productive or Relaxed” and go on from there.

My favorite is listening to rain sounds: Try it here.

3 – Naturespace – Holographic Audio

If you’re more of a nature person, Naturespace could be the perfect noise app for you as it doesn’t have any other featured noise or sound than the sound of nature.

These sounds include:

• Birds flapping their wings
• Crickets chirping
• Forest winds that rustle the trees
• Every sound you can imagine when outside camping

Unparalleled for managing stress and anxiety, insomnia, tinnitus, and PTSD, our recordings are also a fantastic tool for enhancing focus and concentration, stimulating the imagination, fueling creativity, and eliminating distractions by masking unwanted noise.

Productivity Tips

4 – Workers in Open-Plan Offices Are Much More Productive If You Do This

Got an open-plan office? Playing this sort of sound could make your team more productive, science suggests.

Walk into any open-plan office, and you’re almost certain to see employees taking extreme measures to achieve a little privacy. One New York Times article reported on workers huddled in broom closets for a quiet chat. More commonly, everyone will just be bopping along to whatever their headphones are piping into their ears.

Why not try playing the sound of soothing waves or a mountain stream and see how your team likes it? You’ve got nothing to lose and, science suggests, a whole lot of additional productivity to gain.

A babbling brook beats white noise? Read more.

5 – How Ambient Noise Affects The Way You Work

Think you can’t get anything done without listening to that dance playlist? Think again!

Is it better or worse to listen to music while you work? What about white noise? Sometimes we don’t want to work but have to, so we decide to work in front of the TV to make ourselves feel a little better about it. Are we just fooling ourselves into thinking we can still be productive that way? Well, it depends on…

• First, the bad news: Researchers have found that environmental noise—background music, city sounds, people’s conversations—leads to a decrease in performance for most people.
• The good news: Noise isn’t always bad, and it may provide some benefits to certain kinds of work challenges under the right circumstances.

A moderate amount of noise may actually propel creativity.

6 – FYI: WHY DOES WHITE NOISE HELP PEOPLE SLEEP?

On its face, flipping on white noise before hitting the sack must be the most counterintuitive idea out there. Want to sleep better? Simple solution: make a bunch of noise. Sweet dreams ahoy.

• When a noise wakes you up in the night, it’s not the noise itself that wakes you up, per se, but the sudden change or inconsistencies in noise that jar you. White noise creates a masking effect, blocking out those sudden changes that frustrate light sleepers, or people trying to fall asleep.

“The simple version is that hearing still works while you’re asleep,” says Seth S. Horowitz, a neuroscientist and author of The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind.

Read more.

___

Have any social media trends, tips, tools or tricks to share?

What’s your favorite background noise?

We’d love to hear from you.

We’re serious! Go to our blog home page and click ‘HAVE A TIP’ in the right-hand corner.

The post Background Noise: How to Improve Focus and Boost Productivity appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

This week featuring:

1- Roundup of reasons to create a Snapchat marketing strategy

• 5 Reasons Your Business Should Be On Snapchat

• 6 Ways Small Businesses Should Use Snapchat

• Making it snappy: the marketer’s definitive guide to Snapchat

• How the Real Estate Industry Can Use Snapchat and Facebook Live Video for Sales

• This is just how much Snapchat dominates with millennial users

2 – Productivity

• 13 Critical Things Ridiculously Successful People Do Every Day

3 – Question: Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

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Snapchat Marketing Strategy

1 – 5 Reasons Your Business Should Be On Snapchat

Want to know the no. 1 reason why your business can no longer afford to ignore creating Snapchat marketing strategy?

→Its user base has reportedly hit 100 million people.

Here are the five reasons why your business should be taking active steps to make a profit on Snapchat:

1 – Reach The Younger Audience

2 – Show A Behind The Scenes Look

3 – Get Real One-On-One Engagement

4 – Easy To Partner With Influencers

5 – Prove How Cool You Are

2 – 6 Ways Small Businesses Should Use Snapchat

Snapchat is increasingly becoming the platform to be on in social media marketing these days, but in reality — it has some big limitations for small businesses.

• It is expensive
• It is nearly impossible to advertise via the “Discover” channels
• You can’t embed a link for clicking

That being said: there are some great reasons to be on Snapchat.

If you are a small business, here are a few items to include in a Snapchat marketing strategy:

1. Flash sales

2. Events

3. Behind the Scenes

4. Feedback and Pop-Quizzes

5. Product Demos

6. Collaborate with Nearby Businesses

3- Making it snappy: the marketer’s definitive guide to Snapchat

The speed of Snapchat’s ascent in the social media world is matched only by that of its monetization efforts. While the platform itself still has to prove its chops, the challenge is for brands to harness the app’s popularity without looking like the awkward uncle.

4 – How the Real Estate Industry Can Use Snapchat and Facebook Live Video for Sales

• The value of the platform that most real estate people are overlooking is the emerging 30 to 45-year-old demo on Snapchat. In the next 2-3 years, Snapchat will skew much older and age much like Facebook has. There’s a lot of value in being a first mover on the platform.

• Just as interesting is Snapchat’s growth among the elite top earners within the 30 to 45-year-old demo, especially on the coasts. (It is very obvious to me that Snapchat has the attention of my “rich” friends right now.)

5 – This is just how much Snapchat dominates with millennial users

Everyone knows how addictive the app is with teenagers and twentysomethings, but now we are aware just how influential it is compared to other social networks, thanks to comScore’s latest report.

___

Productivity Tip

1 – Critical Things Ridiculously Successful People Do Every Day

Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them. – Vaibhav Shah

→They focus on minutes, not hours.

→They focus on only one thing.

→They don’t use to-do lists.

→They beat procrastination with time travel.

→They make it home for dinner.

→They use a notebook.

→They process emails only a few times a day.

→They avoid meetings at all costs.

→They say “no” to almost everything.

→They follow the 80/20 rule.

→They delegate almost everything.

→They touch things only once.

→They practice a consistent morning routine.

Read more.

Question

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

Results according to:

• Dictionary.com: To imitate someone is to pay the person a genuine compliment — often an unintended compliment.
• Charles Caleb Colton, 1780-1832: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
• Oscar Wilde: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.

But, how about imitation and social media?

I recently finished GuyKawasaki’s book, The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users. One of the points made in the book is the key to social media is to find things that your audience is interested in and to share them in such a way that your followers will reshare them.

Resharing, not imitation, is the sincerest form of flattery on social media, Kawasaki writes. The book suggests lots of places to find things to share and offers some ideas of how to keep on top of the “content monster.”

___

Have any social media trends, tips, tools or tricks to share? 

Read any interesting social media facts recently? 

Run across any fascinating infographics?

We’d love to hear from you.

We’re serious!

Go to our blog home page and click ‘HAVE A TIP.’

The post 5 Reasons to Create a Snapchat Social Media Strategy [May 1 Roundup] appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

First up:

A crazy but awesome productivity tool…

Proven by social media research:  Coffitivity

Today, our goal at Coffitivity is simple: we’re here to help you work better. We started with a way to boost your creativity, and now we’re working on a suite of tools to give you the extra kick in other aspects of your work day.

Also featuring:

Social Media News & Growth Hacks

1 – How to Turn Anyone Into a Blogger

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. – Douglas Adams

Maintaining a regular blogging schedule can be extraordinarily difficult. But that does not change the fact that maintaining a regular blog is one of the best ways to keep leads coming into your site.

So how exactly are you supposed to blog 15 times a month when you can barely manage one a week?

1 – Put Out the Call

2 – Uncover Expertise

3 – Be Flexible

4 – Provide Resources

5 – Give Great Feedback

6 – Set Your Bloggers Free

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Reader Submission:

The following is a great list of the best local SEO posts of 2015, which also throw light on what this year has in store. Reader submission from Vivek Patel (a regular reader of our blog):

2 – 68 Great Local SEO Posts of 2015

Here’s a snapshot from Local SEO Competition Analysis:

3 – 50 Everyday Words That Actually Started as Brands and Trademarks

Madonna. Shakespeare. Oprah. Fabio. Bono. Adele. Picasso.

 You know you’ve made it when you’re known by just one name or word; when a single spoken breath can trigger everything about you in the minds of the listener, and it’s practically synonymous with your product.

4 – YouTube, Advanced Technology, And The “Billion-People Problem”

The planet’s biggest video service boasts increasing technical sophistication. Every bit of it has to scale up. And much of it is invisible.

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Have any social media trends, tips, tools or tricks to share?

Read any interesting social media facts recently?

Run across any fascinating infographics?

We’d love to hear from you!

Please share!

The post Awesome Productivity Tool: Social Media News & Growth Hacks appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Want the secret to success with social media?

Here it is: “Pre-crastination.” The opposite of procrastination.

In other words – do those things you dread the most, first thing in the morning.

Say what?

Yes, tackle the tough stuff right away!

“But isn’t that counter intuitive or go against conventional wisdom?”

Yes, but science says we should tackle the hardest things first!

Social Media Marketing Before Breakfast

Roy Baumeister, a leading expert on willpower, claims we have the most self-control in the morning. That makes it the best time to do that thing you’re trying to avoid.

Putting off tasks until later, or procrastination, is common.  After doing a series of studies, Penn State discovered the new trend called pre-crastination – hurrying to complete a task as soon as possible, may also be common.

Brian Tracy author of Eat That Frog claims that if you do your difficult tasks first, your other tasks won’t seem so bad.

Do any these sound familiar?

• Hate writing tweets?

• Combing through social media analytics get you down?

• Always putting off getting more Twitter followers?

How can you stop procrastinating?

Make doing the tough stuff part of your daily routine. Research shows the first 2.5 to 4 hours after waking up is when your brain is the sharpest. Roy insists the longer we wait doing the hard stuff, the more unlikely we will do them at all.

When you do the hard stuff first, a few outcomes will happen:

1. You have the rest of the day to focus on things you like (vs. stress on that one task you don’t like)
2. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment to start your day.
3. You’ll feel good about yourself.
4. You’ll get more done in your day!

And now if we can only get out of bed for that early morning workout!

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(Running out of time for social media marketing? Read 5 Social Media Tasks You Should Automate in Your Small Business)

The post New Research… Is NOW the Best Time to be Doing Social Media Tasks? appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

As the cliche goes:

Rule #1: The customer is always right.
Rule #2: If the customer is WRONG, refer to Rule #1.

Does this still hold true to this day?

First, a little history.

The origins of the “customer is always right” is attributed to retailers such as Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamaker and Marshall Field, who owned retail stores in the late 1800’s.

These retailers advocated that customer complaints should be treated seriously so that they should not feel cheated or deceived. This attitude was novel and influential when misrepresentation was rife and caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) was a common legal maxim.

Variations include:

• “Le client n’a jamais tort” (the customer is never wrong) which was the slogan of hotelier César Ritz, who said, “If a diner complains about a dish or the wine, immediately remove it and replace it, no questions asked.”
• A variation frequently used in Germany is “der Kunde ist König” (the customer is king).

Back to the Original Question: The Customer is Not Always Right, Right?

Is the customer always right? A quick Google Search shows 178 million hits for that phrase. Clearly, helping customers is on the minds of a lot of people!

A variation of the original question:

With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp putting the power of voice flatly in consumers’ hands via social media, is the customer always right?

Here’s a sampling of responses from five business leaders across the web:

1 – Andy Beal, CEO, Trackur:

Why The Customer Is Not Always Right And Why It Doesn’t Matter

Here’s the secret that many business owners are afraid to admit: the customer is not always right. In fact, some customers are so wrong; you sometimes feel like a fired-up baseball umpire that just wants to get in their face and scream at them just how wrong they are…BUT, the customer always thinks they are right. That’s what’s important to remember.

→The key is to swallow your pride and look beyond the need for you to justify your company’s actions.

→Treat your customers the way you would want to be treated—even if you knew you were not right—and your business will flourish because word of mouth will treat you well and you won’t get distracted by the Mr. W. Rong’s of the world.

2 – Salesforce Blog:

The customer is always right. For businesses that rely on consumers to provide direction and profit, no adage or truism so perfectly sums up the supplier-purchaser relationship. Of course, in order to be right, customers have to be heard. Luckily, modern technology makes it easy for customers to become involved in the conversation.

3 – Michelle King, Sustaining Engineering Triage Manager at SuccessFactors:

The Customer is Always Right, Except When They Aren’t

The customer is not always right. Sometimes they are wrong. How we handle those moments when the customer is wrong is the magic key to gaining customer trust and continuing a successful relationship.

Actively disagreeing with a customer will certainly lead to distrust and dissatisfaction, but we can avoid those circumstances by following some simple guidelines:

1. Know your stuff. If you are providing a service, you should always be more educated than the customer on what you are selling. Being knowledgeable creates trust.
2. Think. Before you act on a customer request stop and think if your action is in the best interests of the customer and your long-term relationship. Sometimes overreaching to fix an issue now will cause you to have to continue to overreach just to keep the customer happy.
3. Care. Many times a customer reacts because they feel that the service provider doesn’t care or understand their concerns. Listen, acknowledge and work with the customer on a plan of action to resolve the issue. Treat the customer with respect.
4. Communicate. Take the time to explain the circumstances thoroughly. Ensure that the customer understands what you are saying. Ask questions, to confirm that the customer has absorbed the information you have shared.
5. Negotiate. Before saying “no” outright, attempt to negotiate. Negotiation allows the customer to gain something even if it isn’t exactly what they believe they want. Ask questions to ascertain what the customer really needs.
6. Be comfortable with the hard conversation. Telling the customer “no” whether directly or indirectly is never an easy conversation but knowing that you are giving the most accurate assessment of the information that is in the customer’s long-term best interest should provide you with the courage for the discussion. Remember that you are not telling the person “no,” you are saying “no” to the request.
7. Follow-up. After resolving the issue, confirm that the customer is satisfied and be available to answer any follow-up questions. You can create long-term goodwill with customers by just reaching out and following up.

4 – Bill Flitter, CEO of dlvr.it

I’m a big believer in Karma. I know how I would like to be treated if an issue arose with a product I purchased. I aim to treat our customers the same way.

→If you are in a service business, treat the customer as she is always right. If your goal is just to prove you are right, your head is not in the right space. Swallow your pride. If the outcome is going to cost you a significant amount of money, negotiate with the customer. I find most people are reasonable when you explain the facts and try to keep emotions out of the situation.

→If you did no wrong, sympathize with the customer. You don’t necessarily need to apologize, but customers want to know you are listening and that you heard them.

Ford Motor Company did a study many years ago. They discovered customers who had a problem with a product or service that was resolved quickly, bought more than customers who had no problems at all.

Lesson learned: Acknowledge the issue with the customer quickly, set expectations on a resolution time frame and over-communicate.

5 – Tom Martin, CEO of Glance Networks:

When it Comes to Customer Service, the Customer is Not Always Right

There’s nothing wrong with going out of your way to make your customers happy. Creating a good customer experience has become a differentiator that can make or break your business, in particular when it comes to online and mobile activities.

→“The customer is always right” sets a bad example for your employees. Why? Because it implies, if employees disagree at all with something the customer says (or can’t fix an issue), the employees are now the ones at fault.

Here are a few suggestions on a more effective way to provide good customer care:

1) Provide your employees with the right training to enable them to make the right decisions about how to handle customer situations.

2) Provide your employees with the right tools to allow them to communicate with your customers in the way that makes the most sense for them.

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So, what do you think? Is the customer always right? Or do you believe the customer is not always right? We’d love to hear from you!

The post 5 Experts Truthfully Answer Is the Customer Always Right appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.

Then you’d better be a good storyteller and (quick)!

• Stories engage the hearts, minds, and souls of the readers. According to Jenifer Aaker, a professor of marketing at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, stories raise over twice as much as statistics alone.

• 56% of individuals that support nonprofits on the social Web confirm that compelling storytelling is what motivates them to take action on behalf of nonprofits. That means that if you’re not telling your stories, you may be missing out on funding and other support.

From NTen.org: Storytelling, The Spice of (a Nonprofit’s) Life

The Nonprofit World Thrives on Stories

Storytelling is the most powerful way to engage donors and supporters in your nonprofit’s work. Good storytelling can connect people emotionally to what your charity does in ways you can’t achieve through other means. Storytelling brings your work to life. – Charityinfo.org

Storytelling is everywhere:

• Storytelling in your appeal letters
• Storytelling on your website
• Storytelling in your videos

And, for a good reason:

Stories drive engagement.

Why do stories raise the bar and raise more money?

Because, stories are impactful, compelling and memorable. As importantly, they connect on a personal level.

The problem is:

• Telling a story isn’t easy. People spend years crafting that skill.
• Telling a story is not good enough; you’ve got to tell a GOOD story.

Make sense? Thankfully, there are some tried and true storytelling devices out there that make that task a whole lot easier.

And thanks to the magic of GoPro, here’s one easy storytelling solution…

3 Ways to Capture + Share Your Nonprofit Cause Using GoPro

GoPro’s cutting edge camera line is extremely affordable, easy to mount, and built for adventure. With so much flexibility, it is the perfect compliment to your nonprofit marketing efforts!

Using GoPro‘s slogan Capture + Share Your World, here are three easy ideas from the Salsa Blog on how you can Capture + Share Your Cause:

First: If you don’t have one, borrow your kids GoPro (any model will do)

1. Awareness Building

— > Idea: Record highlights from your latest event, mission, or success story, and then share on newsletters, your website, or on social media pages.

— >> Goal: By sharing your latest activity, your donors will see your organization as an actively engaged nonprofit that is taking steps to help the cause you’re passionate about. These highlights will give you loads of fresh, relevant content to keep your constituents interested.

Example 1: Humane Society. Use GoPro to show volunteers playing with new animals that have come to the shelter, or even feature a “New Friend of the Month” and include new shelter animal videos in e-newsletters.

Example 2: International Ministry. Bring a GoPro on your next international missions trip and record gatherings, faith-encounters, and outreach events.

2. Volunteer Onboarding

— > Idea: Attach a GoPro camera to a volunteer for a day to show behind-the-scenes work and detailed videos of tasks that a potential volunteer would be completing. Edit and share the video on the Volunteers page on your website and use it in volunteer recruitment outreach!

— >> Goal: This shows potential volunteers a preview of their responsibilities, and can assist in showing them how to handle certain tasks and situations. These videos will also reduce the amount of time your staff has to spend physically training new volunteers.

Example 1: Retired Race Horse Rescue. Show volunteers at work feeding and caring for horses. While volunteers obviously should still see an actual demonstration of these methods, previewing these tasks with a video will reduce the amount of time staff will have to spend explaining the jobs.

Example 2: Food Bank. So many different volunteers come in and out of food banks and homeless missions. Having a short interactive video that shows how to get the work done would speed up training for all the brand new volunteers.

3. Promote Advocacy

— > Idea: Show before and after video of work your organization has accomplished. Create time lapses that showcase an event, from preparation to execution to take down, all from a bird’s eye view. With GoPro mounting capabilities, you’re only limited by your imagination.

— >> Goal: Show the world the work your supporters are doing or share how your mission can accomplish change. Videos compel supporters to join the fight!

Example 1: Park Conservation. Show a time-lapse video starting with a littered park and let GoPro capture your team revitalizing the area. Use mounting accessories to mount the GoPro to a tree, bench, or pole. Pro note: The video could lengthy, so use the time-lapse feature on GoPro’s free software to move quickly through frames.

Example 2: Political. Record political supporters at rallies and on the road, interview them and record unique perspectives of events as they unfold. Upload them to social media, tag the participants and let the sharing begin.

You’ve Filmed Your GoPro Masterpiece – Now What?

Share, share, and share:

• Post in your social media updates (see smart automation below)
• Share in emails to potential donors
• Share in thank-you emails to current donors
• Share in your E-Newsletters
• Promote in upcoming events
• Create a YouTube Channel of your videos (see below)
• Add to website pages

More ways you can use social media and storytelling in your nonprofit:

1 – Using Periscope:
Power of Using Periscope for Nonprofits and Storytelling

2 – Using YouTube: 

Nonprofits, YouTube, and Content Curation: A Perfect Marketing Mix

3 – GoPro For a Cause

The program allows nonprofits to leverage GoPro’s deep understanding of brand engagement.

From the beginning, we’ve had a vision to scale GoPro as a platform to inspire. Our goal with GoPro for a Cause is to help social causes inspire a global audience with their stories. The world has given so much to GoPro and we’re excited to give back.” – Founder and CEO Nick Woodman

Each cause will receive GoPro products, production assistance and the powerful reach of our global platform to get the word out about their mission and to assist in their fundraising efforts.

GoPro and Smart Automation using dlvr.it

Take away the difficulty of sharing outside the GoPro environment. Sharing videos from GoPro to social media is easy using dlvr.it’s smart automation. All you need is an RSS feed and a little creativity.

Automation is easy. By following the steps in our post on dlvr.it

Use dlvr.it to go from:

GoPro > Instagram > dlvr.it > Social routes (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Pro Tip: After uploading your video to one place (example: YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo), dlvr.it can distribute it to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr and more.

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“ At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

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Does your organization use GoPro to help tell your story?

We’d love to hear your stories.

Please share!

The post Storytelling with GoPro: Watch Your Nonprofit Engagement Rate Soar appeared first on dlvr.it | blog.