social media Archives - Page 3 of 3

When you are creating social media profiles, take into account your personal brand (you), and how professional your username will appear to others. I could easily use the name TLcrazycatlady on my social media profiles, and my family would know where to find me. But, while it may accurately describe me (according to my family), it’s not the best username for personal branding.

Be consistent across social media profiles

I recommend that if you are new to social media, you start out with a consistent branding approach when choosing usernames. For example, I purchased the TerryLeague.com domain before I started blogging; then I set up my Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook Page, and Google+ accounts with the same username (TerryLeague). That way, when someone tries to find me on social media, I’ve made it easier for them – and given myself a better chance of showing up in search results.

If you’ve already created accounts with a variety of usernames, you may want to consider changing them all to one, consistent name. But note that with Facebook Pages you may have to go through a review process to prove you are who you say you are.

Also keep in mind that you’ll have to update any links on existing profiles and sites/directories when making a username change.

Do some research

You may want to do a Google Search on your name (or the username you want to use) just to see what comes up in the results. If you share your name or username with a public figure or celebrity, consider customizing the username so you don’t have to share the spotlight.

I usually have to share the spotlight with John Terry, captain of the Chelsea football (soccer) team and member of the UEFA Champions League, when doing a simple search on my name. One area I personally need to improve upon is images – I need to post a few more of myself for better search results.

If you look at the image search results for Terry League, you’ll find a whole bunch of John Terry, with one of me popping up in the mix (see below for a screenshot I took from Google Search)…it’s a good thing I like soccer, and don’t mind sharing results with John Terry 😉

But images are definitely an important part of personal branding, so make sure you keep them in mind as well when setting up your username and profiles.

Brand your visual content

Speaking of images, when you create visual content for your personal brand (Image quotes for example), brand them as well by putting your username on them.

For example, if I create an Image quote like the one below and put @TerryLeague on it, I’ve made it easy for people to find my account on Twitter or Instagram, since TerryLeague is my username on both accounts, and the @ sign is a way for others to tag me or Tweet me.

So there are a few things to keep in mind when setting up or editing your social media profiles when it comes to usernames. Even if your business has separate profiles with its name prominently featured, you’ll want to make sure any of your personal accounts are identified with the best username for both yours’ and the business’ appearance.

Top Photo Credit (derived from): Kuba Bozanowski via Compfight cc

Multi-tasking is normally one of my strengths. Juggling major projects and deadlines in the corporate world was exciting and I enjoyed the challenge.

After I had children, I took my multi-tasking to new heights – maybe the demands of my new job as a mom weren’t quite as intellectually stimulating as my old job, but I became an expert at doing more than 2 things at once, while taking care of 3 kids. Making dinner, feeding a baby and explaining “why the sky was blue” to another child at the same time were all just parts of my normal balancing act.

As the kids got older and I started working from home, I fine-tuned my multi-tasking skills even more. You really learn to get organized when you have to, and I developed systems for keeping up with things at home: meal planning, grocery shopping, housework, scheduling – while keeping my business “to-do” lists separate from home life.

So why do I feel like I just can’t juggle as many things now? My kids are older and more independent (my oldest doesn’t even live at home full-time), I’m not as involved in their school activities (no classroom moms in high school), two of my three kids drive so I’m not playing “chauffeur” as much…what happened to my multi-tasking skills?

Yes, I have to admit I’m getting older so maybe I can blame a mid-life crisis. But I think the real culprit is – the Internet.

As the Internet continues to grow and more of my business takes place online, my ability to multi-task is just not keeping up! I think it’s because the Internet and social media require an entirely new set of multi-tasking skills – and I certainly haven’t mastered those yet!

Between email, friend requests, online advertising, tweets, blogging, forums, connections…I’m feeling just a bit overwhelmed on what to do first and how much time to spend on every social media platform out there!

I remind my (laughing) kids that when I was growing up, there were only a few ways to communicate with people: face-to-face, phone calls (1 land line, no call waiting, no cordless handset) and written letters. That was it! Now I realize just how many different ways I can communicate with people and keeping up with all those different outlets has my head spinning!

So I’ve realized that I’m going to have to develop a system and strategy for managing my online communication, just like I have strategies for handling other parts of my business, my home and my family’s school, sports and social schedules.

Here are a few strategies I’ve come up with so far:

Set a timer for general online “surfing” to keep me focused (and prevent me from losing track of time and burning my bagel in the toaster like I did this morning!).
Make a weekly plan with a day-to-day schedule for social media and online communication to help me keep track of posts, ads, articles and such.
Set aside time for using social media for “fun” and keep that separate from my online business tasks to help me balance my work and my life.

Maybe just the realization that I’ve got to take my multi-tasking skills up a notch with the Internet and social media will be a great start for taking control of the many new responsibilities I find myself balancing now.

Let me know if you’ve got any good strategies for multi-tasking!