Top 5 Things to Prepare for 2014 -
Setting Your Budget

We have discussed how much time it takes to keep up with social media. The more platforms you are engaged with the more time you will need to spend maintaining them. Remember the 3 C's.

Courtesy, Content, Communication

You want to be courteous to the other readers. You want to post valuable content and you MUST with others to get them engage with you too.

Blogging and social marketing are things that many people do not want to do, do not like to do or just plain do not see the value in it. Just a reminder that when done correctly, you will see your return on time.

Now, about time: You get up, you read the paper, have coffee and rush off to the office where you begin your hour of power with phone calls. Then you need to run out and put flyers in the box for a listing, now it's lunch and you are meeting with a past client who has a daughter who is getting married and you know "just" the right house for them. Now back to the office to update listings on the mls and your website, gotta stop at the store and pick up dinner, make dinner and eat WITH your family....and now....just now you feel like you may have time to do your social marketing but you are exhausted.

Now you need time to go online and post for the day. Wouldn't it be easier to pay someone? I encourage my clients to tell me what they want from their marketing and what their budget is and then we create a unique package that can get that done. No surprises.

So why not pay someone to do it for you?

You have several options for finding a writer:

You can use services like eLance with an Online Search. A bit of advice, however, places like eLance tend to have many people from overseas who do the writinge. They say they are experts, but many times their writing style is not Americanized and the copy looks like someone foreign wrote it. You want to showcase your professionalism and this may not be the best way.

They may only charge you $3-5 per post, but I would hesitate to work with someone who cannot put the words into the post correctly.

Canned Content. There are many companies who write blog posts for a small fee, or even free. But again, I warn you that the content is canned, meaning it is not original. Google sees this canned content duplicated all over the internet and may penalize you for using it. If you choose this method, my advice here is to change the content to make it unique to you and your area. Add in your keywords and hyperlinks to local events, vendors, service providers or whatever you are writing about.

Finally, and this is my favorite. Hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) who knows your business. A VA with a similar background can write hyper-locally for you. They can comment intelligently on your social platforms and can make sure your reputation is intact. This is probably the most expensive method but I can assure you that you can rest easy that your posts are professional and your reputation will never be sullied. VAs charge anywhere from $20 - $100 per hour. Find someone you are compatible with and make more time to do what makes you money.

Until Next Time:  Sanity Begins with Systems!