5 tools to help marketers save time

I often hear from a few of my friends that anything has a price, but let me ask you: does time have a price as well? How much does time cost? A bit philosophical, right? 

I want to suggest an exercise and I hope that you will understand where I’m trying to get: ask someone who has a lot of time on their hands how much does time cost. Then, ask someone that has every bit of their time organized the same question. I don’t know which kind of person you are, how much time you have or how you use your free time. I don’t personally know you and I probably never will, but if you work in marketing, social media or advertising I assume your time is pretty valuable, right? That is if you’re looking to grow.

I believe that one of the most important things we should pay attention to is time. Because in our time we have to: investigate the field, study the market, read news, execute ideas, analyze results, network with people, make mistakes, fall, get up, learn and then start it all over again. If we’re not careful about how much time we invest in every step we take in our job, we stop being as productive as we first were when we started the job.

And I, for one, I admit I am in a constant fight with time. This is why I must optimize some tasks in my daily life. So I thought about sharing with you 5 “tools” I use almost every day:

1. Snapchat

Snapchat is not just an app that allows you to send pictures and videos to your friends. I believe Snapchat will become a game changer in publishing due to Discover. That feature is a gold mine for many that really pay attention to how they spend their time.

Look at it this way: we don’t always have the time to search for news and read them. That is why Snapchat Discover came up with this novelty:

1. It presents users the news with short, attractive headlines that are updated daily

2. It features stories from all important publications including CNN, Vice and Cosmopolitan for example

3. You get the essence of a story in a slide that links to the entire piece, just in case you want to read more

4. Everything’s easily available on your smartphone

 

If you are interested on how to use Snapchat for your business you should start listening this interview on Social Media Examiner with Gary Vaynerchuk.

2. Flipboard

Flipboard is a news app, available both for mobile and desktop, that easily integrates news from user-selected topics in a useful and visually smart way.

At one point it was very popular with tablet users, but lately I’ve seen more and more smartphone owners using this app. The awesome part is that Flipboard has recently launched for desktop as well.

So we have an all-in-one device app that features news based on user preferences. The app also allows you to create online magazines and acts like a social network to an extent.

3. Twitter

At one time I used this social network just to share my blog articles. Then I realized I was making a mistake and I HAD TO get involved more.

So I started getting involved in discussions, talking with others in my field and giving out relevant information to the people following me. Furthermore, if you want to talk to someone who’s top in your field and you’ve already tried email, blog comments or Facebook messages, Twitter is just the thing for you. That’s how I ended up talking with Gary Vaynerchuk, Rand Fishkin, Neil Patel etc – people who lead the trend in digital marketing.

Though for me, Twitter is also a type of RSS. Why? Because following different publishers I am up to date with news I am interested in. And the fact that you can create lists on Twitter is just extraordinary.

4. Networking

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in “The Tipping Point” about 3 categories of people: Connectors, Salespersons and Mavens.

Connectors are the ones that know how to build bridges between people and information, people and needs, people and people. They are the ones that “know someone who could help” or “here’s an information you might need” – you can call them a type of social gurus. Then there’s Salespersons – they help you sell your product, present your idea and pack your words. They simply know how to sell and that’s it. And last, but not least we have Mavens who know all the facts and statistics, who dig deep for information and will have an answer to a question. Mavens are the people with the information.

I mentioned the three types of people Malcolm Gladwell wrote about because I want you to take a look around and try to find the people who could help you. Take a look on Facebook. Who are your Connectors and your Mavens? Think about the last talk you had with your friends. Who made a connection between you and something or someone else? Who gave you additional information about a specific thing?

Even if you might not be looking for an instrument or an app, networking must be in your blood. You must know where to look for information and who might be able to give it to you.

5. Bannersnack

I don’t need to remind you: visuals are very powerful. All good marketers know that and use them in their marketing campaigns, blog and social media posts. Still, it takes some time to learn Photoshop and we all know that getting a license for it is anything but cheap.

That’s why I love Bannersnack. Browser-based, it doesn’t require any download, install or expensive license. One of the best things about it is that you don’t need to spend countless hours trying to learn how everything works.

Anyone can design a banner, a visual for their blogpost or for Facebook within minutes. You just drag and drop the elements you need and hit save.

These are the 5 “tools” I use to optimize my time and my daily work. And of course, I also pay great attention to what I’m following on Facebook, where have I chosen to “Get Notifications” on Facebook and what articles I read on Medium or other blogs from the field.

Conclusion:

[Tweet “Optimize your time in a smart way.”]

Don’t risk investing it on things that are not worth it. Although you sometimes get back money you’ve lost, you can never get back time.