The Problem and Solution to Facebook Groups

 

On one hand, you do not want to remove yourself because it can be considered a social networking faux pas, offending people that are potential clients, or even genuine friends. But on the other hand, there is the time and productivity issue.

Facebook Groups are a wonderful invention for the group moderator to have a captive audience, share ideas, events, and common interests. For businesses, it has proven to be a largely successful tool in the arsenal of the entrepreneur for marketing, soliciting customer feedback, and exchanging ideas while brainstorming. The point is that they can be used for any purpose. Groups can be closed or open, depending on the goal of the group, and posting abilities can be changed based on the purpose of the group as well. 

Sounds great, so what is the problem? 

The problem with Facebook Groups are that they require more time than busy professionals have or want to spend. If you have just 200 friends, and only 10 of them add you to a group, imagine the time. This brings up another issue -- people can add you to a group without even asking you. This is the marketing departments greatest angle but the entrepreneurs worst nightmare.

Another issue is that many groups do not give out instructions, set rules, or make the goal of the group clearly defined when adding members. Of the several groups that I am privileged to be a part of, only one made it a requirement to read and comment that the introduction statement was clearly read and understood. 

I have come up with a few solutions to these issues for business people, that can help maintain the connections made on Facebook but keep productivity up and distractions down during the work day.

• Immediately Edit Settings when joining or after being added to a group. This will allow you to set up how often you receive notifications, the email address they go to, and whether or not you will receive them for threads you are subscribed to or group messages. 
• Set a time during the week that you will check in with the groups and like posts, read articles and links posted, and interact with the members. Attempting to do this daily will greatly reduce your productivity.
• For groups that spark your interest and you desire to interact with more often, copy the email address into your contact list for email to send messages to the group without having to log in to the 600 million+ member site.
• Make sure you are not posting links and soliciting feedback when you are inactive.
• Remove yourself from any groups that do not interest you, or that you find too time consuming without benefit.

What are your strategies to maintain valuable connections and your productivity when using Facebook Groups? Do share.

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides clients with customized, results-driven web marketing strategies. Our primary business writing duties include: article marketing,  search engine optimized web copy, blog content, social media, press releases, and newsletters  designed to drive traffic to your website and influence buyers decisions when purchasing products and services.

Contact ChrissyBiz today to discuss the impact that web marketing copy can have on your business.

Brainstorm, Extract the Details and Execute

How many times have you heard others say "I was going to do this" or "I wish I had done that?" Not just business people, all people. I believe that one of the dividing lines between those who realize their dreams versus those who just have a dream is procrastination, also known as the arch enemy of success. 

Not one person on this planet is void of some type of gift or ability, yet majority will settle for dreaming instead of putting in the time and effort necessary to achieve the dream. As a business owner, when you are interested in streamlining processes or improving your product or service, a simple formula to use is Brainstorm, Extract the details, then Execute! This also works for the planning process before you start your business, or begin to bring your vision to fruition.

Brainstorm

Take time and allow your brain to think about the issue at hand. Do you need to improve your product or service? Are you consistently receiving negative feedback from your customers? How can you bring your dream to life and start your business?

Be sure that you have identified the correct issue, and not mistakenly narrowed down a symptom to a bigger issue. Brainstorming will allow you to assess everything surrounding the issue. Rambling to a co-worker or jotting down notes on a pad might help in this process. The goal is to allow your mind to focus on nothing else but the issue at hand, whether it's your dream, your vision, or anything else you need to address in your business. 

Extract the Details

This is where you begin to organize all of the information your brain just poured out. The brainstorm can leave you with much more than you need, but extracting the details will allow you to stay on task. If you were brainstorming ways to have a shorter turn-a-round on orders placed on your website, you may have thought of pricing the USPS, UPS, and FedEx based on the sizes of your product. Perhaps you realize that hiring a part time courier 3 times a week will really make a difference, and you need to look into hiring someone. This is an easy way to get sidetracked away from the original issue and leave it unsolved. Yes, hiring someone is crucial and related, however, you must continue on in extracting all of the other details you uncovered to make your process run smoother. It might include: setting a cut-off time for deliveries, creating a filter in your website email to make sure no orders are accidentally placed in the spam folder like before, and instead of forwarding emails, setting a calendar reminder on your mobile device to check it every 4 hours. 

It is really easy to get carried away with one side of the solution if you are not careful. In the example above, all of the solutions gathered will ultimately reach your goal, but hiring the courier and the details that go along with that can easily cause you to stop short of solving the entire problem. By the way, hiring a courier might require it's very own brainstorming session -- might be cheaper to have USPS pick up the orders with their flat rate shipping service when you work out the details. 

Execute

You know the problem and you know the steps you need to take, but don't stop there. This is where many stop. Just knowing the problem is solved is a big burden off their shoulders, but unless the action is executed, the problem remains. Take every detail included in the problems solution (as many have several steps involved) and begin to mark them off the "to-do" list. Do not give yourself any room to rest until every solution is implemented. Taking the example above, the solution would include: posting the new cut off time for deliveries on the website; creating rules in your email and checking spam folders at least twice daily; stop forwarding emails from domain email and manually checking it as often as necessary.

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides clients with customized, results-driven web marketing strategies. Our primary business writing duties include: article marketing,  search engine optimized web copy, blog content, social media, press releases, and newsletters  designed to drive traffic to your website and influence buyers decisions when purchasing products and services.

Contact ChrissyBiz today to discuss the impact that web marketing copy can have on your business.

15 Monday Motivators

We all know the saying "It's a Monday" followed by the wrinkled face and sometimes sluggish productivity. SNAP OUT OF IT! If you are an entrepreneur or work from home, you need to be excited! You work for yourself, answer to yourself, and can control your own schedule.

Remember these motivators next time you want to speak negatively about your Monday morning duties. 

1. You are alive, and have an opportunity to impact your customers today at your own pace, in your own space
2. Your attitude going into the day will definitely reflect in your work and productivity
3. If you planned properly on Saturday or Sunday, you will be fine
4. You determine your workflow and how you want to complete your tasks
5. You decide when you want to take a break
6. Your clients need you, else they would not hire you
7. You can have unlimited amounts of caffeine or tea and save money by brewing it yourself
8. No one will make annoying comments about your Pandora station
9. No commute or secretly cursing the driver in front of you in the AM traffic
10. You're saving money on gas 
11. You're saving money on your wardrobe as well
12. Your cell phone and internet bills can be written off at tax time
13. Even the space you dedicate to your home office is a tax write-off
14. No more avoiding the annoying co-worker at lunch time
15. Lunch is what you want, when you want

These are just 15 motivators I thought of -- what are your Monday Motivators?

ChrissyBiz Solutions provides clients with customized, results-driven web marketing strategies. Our primary business writing duties include: article marketing,  search engine optimized web copy, blog content, social media, press releases, and newsletters  designed to drive traffic to your website and influence buyers decisions when purchasing products and services.

Contact ChrissyBiz today to discuss the impact that web marketing copy can have on your business.