One major task I relieve my clients of is planning and scheduling their social media. I do this a month in advance, generally, and my clients can approve or deny anything in the plan well ahead of time.
I talk a little about this in another post, which you can find here.
But you might be wondering, “What types of content go into a general social media plan?” This is an excellent question, one that is asked often, too. In this post, I’ll answer that question. (more…)
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a huge Google fan. I mean, there’s just so much you can do with Google… it can literally organize your life! And for me, it has.
But you might worry about how secure Google might be. Let’s face it, if you’re depending on Google for storage of anything that’s important, the last thing you want is to have security issues
Did you know that if you’re using a Chromebook, it is unhackable? That’s right, read this article to learn more.
Now, we don’t all have Chromebooks, but I believe in the security that Google has to offer. In fact, I’ve backed up all my photos and important documents using the Google family of products.
Someone I know accidentally deleted her Google Drive and didn’t know about Google Takeout until afterwards (she’s still bitter). Thankfully she shared her knowledge and now I religiously, every two weeks, back up my Drive.
I touched on this in a previous post, but I wanted to discuss it a little more in-depth in a separate post
Data backups have never been more important. In fact, using the cloud to back up your data is the best option. By backing up your data to the cloud you have access to it on any device, it’s simply a matter of signing in to your account.
Choose ‘none’ so all your products are turned off.
Toggle the blue button next to Google Drive only.
Click the down arrow and then select specific files and folders (or all, depending!)
Scroll down to the bottom and click on ‘Next’.
Select how and where you’d like the documents delivered then click ‘Create Archive’.
Google Takeout will then export all Google documents in Microsoft Word or Excel formats that you can save as a backup.
It’s a good idea to back up your data on a regular basis. I back mine up every two weeks, but it depends on how often you’re adding/removing files from your Drive.
Once I download my data, I transfer the compressed file to a USB drive, and delete any previous Takeout files.
You can use this exported file as a backup, or you could import it into another application.
Maybe you’re overwhelmed and you need help. You keep hearing about virtual assistants and think, “Hey, maybe this will help me cross some things of my to-do list!”.
So, you either ask around in your network for some recommendations, or you Google VAs in your area, or maybe you even track them down on LinkedIn. If all goes well, you sign the contract and start to tackle that to-do list together!
Things are looking up! You’re finally going to get stuff done! You sign the contract, discuss the initial task list, and everything is off to a great start.
Maybe a little while later, your attention is needed elsewhere, or you’re focused on a project that requires much of your time, or you can’t think of anything off the top of your head to delegate.
There is nearly always something you can delegate to a virtual assistant 🙂
Here’s what many of my clients ask me to do:
Social media images
It could be inspirational/motivational quotes. Or it could be industry tips. And almost always, my clients want to acknowledge the holidays or special days of the year. Creating social media images is something that I not only love to do, but my clients are very happy with my work.
General Research
Whether it’s to find out how to do something, where things can be found or curating articles to share via social media, research is key to any business owner. Many of my clients don’t have sufficient time to do this themselves.
Writing/Formatting Blog Posts
Publishing a blog post on a regular basis is crucial for SEO. Regular social media posts and publishing regular blog posts go a long way in boosting your SEO results.
Newsletters
As you can see from this post, this is also one of my services. Most of my clients like a monthly newsletter. If they don’t already have an email marketing platform they’re working with, I help with setting up the account, mailing list and the layout of the newsletter. I never publish a newsletter without final approval.
Social media scheduling
One of the most requested services I offer. I recommend using a spreadsheet to plan out content, one month at a time. A good social media scheduler is important, and I can give you my recommendations. Scheduling includes sharing quotes, articles authored by others, your own blog posts, video content (yours or someone else’s if relevant).
Don’t forget to let your audience know you’re on another platform, too. A Facebook post can let them know you’re also on Twitter or LinkedIn!
And did you know, it’s a great idea to share your newsletter to social media, as well?
I know first-hand that these services make a big difference in your marketing and exposure.
A little while ago, my husband and I wandered into Best Buy. My laptop was still functioning well but was clearly on its way out.
We scoped out possible replacements and I really liked how small the Chromebook was. If I decided to purchase one in the future, I’d be using Google Drive as my hard drive.
Then I got to thinking about this blog post I wrote. I’ve been steadily seeing my file space on Google Drive grow since I got it down to 2G. I didn’t understand why this was happening. I regularly go through my files and delete unnecessary ones.
After some research, I not only found out what the issue was, I ended up with less than a gig of used space! How awesome!
If you use Google Drive for anything, here’s how to find out where all your space is being used:
Storage Summary
Just like with your smartphone, you can’t solve any space issues if you don’t know what is taking up all your space.
Now that you know WHERE your space is being used, it’s time to hone in on the culprits! What files are taking up the most space, and do you still need them?
This will show you a comprehensive list of your largest files, in descending order, which you can right-click on and select ‘Remove’ from the menu.
Be sure you don’t need the files for anything before you select ‘Remove’. You will get one last opportunity to review these files in your Trash bin, which you should empty on a regular basis as well. If there is a file there that you change your mind about, right-click and select ‘Restore’. It will return to where it was originally stored.
 Photos
Photos now take up space on your Google Drive if you upload them to Google Photos.
Use Google Formats
I didn’t know this, but if you are using Google formats for your files, they take up zero space on your Drive. However, if you are uploading Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint files, they will.
By comparison, Google Documents, Sheets and Slides do not take up space.
There is an option to change this setting. After switching this option on, anything uploaded to Drive will automatically be changed to a Google format. To do this, visit https://drive.google.com/, click on Settings (the little gear icon) and select ‘Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format’. Click done.
While these tips really help, it’s important to schedule a time each month to review and cull your files, anywhere you have them stored.
Bonus Tip – Use Google Takeout to back up your data:
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. -Benjamin Franklin
Picture this: it’s the end of the week, Netflix is calling your name (maybe a bottle of wine is as well, who am I to judge?) and you can’t wait to get into pajamas and call it a day.
In the back of your mind, you know you should probably put a plan in place for next week, but it’s been super stressful and you just want to chill. (more…)
In short, it’s about making your marketing look a certain way so that it’s easily recognizable to your audience. A symbol, a logo, a colour scheme – these are all important to creating a brand that’s all your own.
Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Microsoft – these are all great examples of branding. When you see their logo, you feel a certain way about their brand, and they’re easy to recognize because you’ve seen their logo or name for many years and have come to think of them a certain way.
Branding is important for building trust with your customers or clients. (more…)
