The power of bread and butter.

What do you do when you don’t have time to do whatever it is that you do?

It’s not easy. Things change, that’s inevitable. That roadmap that you had, it’s kind of pointless. You may well reach your destination but the actual route is ALWAYS going to change.

When change comes, you have to devote a lot more time to the fallout. You have to make new plans, deal with consequences, and pick some new routes.

It doesn’t leave you much time to do the stuff that used to make you tick. But you have to have a plan. It’s important that you set yourself a base level of activity and stick to it.

When it comes to social media, there are some stark choices to make. Work out where you can maintain the highest profile with the least effort. If your audience are funky young things who hang out at the Google+ party, then make sure that you are keeping them entertained there. If they are gobshite Tweetheads, then don’t drop out of their stream entirely. Or if they’re on Facebook, you might want to consider a bit of advertising.

Look for maximum interaction. Use the limited time you have to focus on plans which promote sharing. Don’t pontificate about yourself, give them something that makes them use a bit of their own self to spread the love. Now is the time to be rolling out your polls, competitions, offers. The sharable stuff.

It’s not the big picture. It’s not following all the smashing advice that I’ve been laying out here. It’s almost crass. But it’s bread and butter promotion and it works.

Then, when the dust settles. You can get return your social media hatchback, and get back on the road.

Trying something different

Are you tired of doing the same thing every time? You’ve absorbed all the knowledge and you know the right thing to do. A problem comes up, you’ve seen it before and you tackle it the way you always did. Problem solved. Or is it?

Whenever you solve a problem by doing what you always did you create a little bit of apathy. You take a little less care in what you’re doing and what you don’t notice is that the root of the problem is shifting each time it arises. This fluctuation is down to external pressures. Technology moves on, people change, paradigms shift. Before long you find yourself doing what you always did but not getting what you always got. Then, suddenly you’re behind the curve. You look down and there are all the ninjas swarming past. You’re old and can no longer cut it.

This is not a new thing, it’s not borne of modern technology. Just as the move to a web where content is user-generated and easily shared has changed our world, the change from hunting to farming changed the world for our ancestors.

It does happen a hell of a lot faster now though, Sometimes from day-to-day.

So what’s my point? Don’t keep doing what you did last time. Try and stay fresh. Look at each problem as a NEW problem, regardless of how similar it is to the last. Ask yourself, did you learn anything yesterday that might help you do it differently? Have a look at how your peers have tackled similar problems. Try something different.

It’s people who are constantly pushing the envelope and coming at things from different angles who shape our world. I love Twitter but it wouldn’t exist if someone hadn’t decided that blogging was getting tired. So micro-blogging was invented and in turn it has given old school blogs a shot in the arm changing the digital landscape vastly. That’s got to be a good thing right?

So, here’s what I’m trying to do: every time I see an issue that needs to be resolved I’m trying something different.

This blog post is in a different style to my others. I’m hoping that it might interest some people but I don’t know. I hadn’t blogged for a few days and I could easily have just chosen a current event in the social media world to pontificate about. Maybe #ashtag or the death of free Ninging but I couldn’t see how I’d do it much justice given the noise that’s already out there.

So there you have it. Waffle now complete.