Can productivity tools help me?
Time management is a challenge for everyone, but even more so for those creating a new business. Juggling all the day-to-day development activities and the support functions as well as directing staff takes its toll. As your business grows, so does your need for collaboration.
Three team tools
- Asana is a web-based project management system, free for up to 15 users. It is a type of ‘teamwork without using email’. Many entrepreneurs have adopted Asana, they use it to set and assign tasks to themselves and their team members. All members can view, comment and update their progress. It must cut down on meeting time, writing reports and providing written feedback.
- Trello is a bit like Asana but more of an organiser and works well on mobile apps. It has a to-do list and is a bit more visual as it uses cards and boards. You can even use this to make sense of your personal life.
- Primarily through word-of-mouth alone, Basecamp has become the world’s number one project management tool. For the last ten years, emerging companies have been switching to Basecamp because it’s famously easy-to-use and reliable. It’s free for 60 days.
Three social media marketing tools
Social media provides a great opportunity to connect with customers and prospects and share useful and valuable content. Most people are familiar with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but managing multiple platforms is becoming time-consuming. And are these the best and only social media outlets for your products and services?
- Buffer helps you manage multiple social media accounts at once. ‘Buffer for business’ is designed to provide the means to schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook and any many other applications on your time plan. You can schedule your updates for any time in the future, which is great for well-planned marketing campaigns.
- The main competition is Hootsuite, which is just as popular and very similar. It uses one central dashboard where you can track your social media campaigns and it produces simple and easy to read reports. It even knows the best time to schedule Twitter and Facebook messages using their AutoScheduler.
- Don’t overlook LinkedIn. It is especially useful for recruiting skilled staff. You can also use it to highlight your wins, share fresh content and commentary, (not marketing copy) and engage in groups with like-minded people. Your personal profile can be linked to your business page so make sure it showcases all your achievements.
You probably need to find a system that can help you personally as well. A productivity tool that is highly rated is Evernote. You can record your flashes of inspiration in your notebook but you can also share files, reminders and attachments, even voice notes. The Clipper is very useful; you can save articles or important links. The big plus is that Evernote works well on most devices and the basic plan is free.
Invest in a bit of time to get up to speed, it will save you time later.
