Increase your Team Performance with SMART Framework

SMARTGoaResizedl

SMARTGoaResizedl

Goal planning and performance management are commonly done using the SMART framework. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework benefits immensely individuals and businesses, yet it has some drawbacks that you need to monitor to stay on course. In this article, we will examine the SMART framework’s strengths and drawbacks here.

SMART Framework Configuration and Examples:

  1. Identify: Identify your goals. This can be a skill you want to learn, a project you want to finish, a personal or professional milestone, or anything else. For instance, increasing client happiness in a Help Centre
  2. Specific: After identifying your aim, define it. Be definite about your goal. Increase client satisfaction with our company’s products and services.
  3. Measurable: Make your objective measurable by defining measurements or indicators to track progress. This could be a specific amount of sales, a particular skill level, a percentage gain in productivity, or any other quantitative statistic. We will track client satisfaction monthly using a 1-10 scale survey.
  4. Achievable: Make sure your aim is realistic by evaluating resources, time, and limits. Set attainable, challenging goals. For instance, installing a customer feedback system to collect statistics on customer satisfaction and training staff on how to manage client complaints and feedback.
  5. Relevant: Be sure your aim matches your values and priorities. Evaluate how completing this goal fits into your wider ambitions. Increasing customer satisfaction increases customer loyalty, brand reputation, and sales.
  6. Time-bound: Establish a precise date or schedule for reaching your goal. This will keep you motivated and focused on your work. Set six months to check all improvements. Meanwhile, you will monitor your progress monthly.
  7. Document goal: Put your SMART goal in a clear, short statement containing all the above parts. This will help you keep focused on your goal and track your progress.

SMART Framework Benefits

The SMART framework helps people and organizations define targeted goals. SMART goals are explicit and concrete, leaving no space for confusion or ambiguity. This precision in goal formulation helps assigned individuals know what they want to achieve and what to do. The SMART framework also simplifies goal tracking and achievement. This helps track and monitor the goals’ progress, making it easy to see if they’re met.

Another benefit of the SMART framework is that it makes goals more realistic and reachable. By defining reasonable, measurable goals, people and organizations may avoid failure. The SMART framework helps generate ambitious yet achievable goals, making it easier to develop attainable visions for individuals and organizations.

The SMART framework ensures relevant goals. Companies and people can develop goals that are linked to their main goals. The SMART framework also helps define time-bound goals. Establishing a realistic timeline helps people and organizations plan for success.

SMART Framework limitations

Besides the benefits of the SMART framework, organizations and individuals should acknowledge its limitations. The SMART framework hinders long-term goal setting. While defining goals may be realistic within a specific timetable, companies may struggle to identify how these goals will affect them months or years afterwards.

The SMART framework may also impair creativity and innovation. By focusing on measurable goals, individuals and organizations might become too narrow in their scope and may overlook chances for creative solutions. Since fresh ideas may not fit within precise, measurable goals, the framework may inhibit risk-taking.

Some people and organizations find the SMART framework overly inflexible, making it hard to adjust to changes or new information. Occasionally, circumstances change goals. Hence, the framework may impede flexibility or adaptability.

Conclusion

The SMART framework helps set goals and manage performance. The framework helps define clear, quantifiable, realistic, relevant, and time-bound goals. However, the SMART framework can be restrictive and overemphasize outcomes; but these limitations can be overcome by using the framework effectively and strategically.

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Boost Productivity – 4 Social Media Platforms Pros and Cons

Social Media platforms

Social Media platformsA business’s social media presence can significantly increase its visibility, maximize the reach of promotional campaigns, and provide valuable insights into customer behaviour. Furthermore, interacting with customers directly is an efficient and cost-effective way to build relationships and trust with customers, fostering loyalty and long-term relationships. No business can afford to ignore social media in this increasingly digital world. Unfortunately, distractions can outweigh the benefits of many social media networks, reducing productivity. There are a few methods for reducing distractions and wasting time. One method is to make and stick to a schedule. Another option is to use tools that help you better manage your time, such as RescueTime or a social media platform. In this article, we will examine five major social platforms so that you can make an informed decision.

  1. Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a popular social media automation platform for managing and scheduling posts across multiple social media networks.
  2. Buffer: Another social media automation tool that allows users to schedule posts and track their performance across multiple social media channels is Buffer.
  3. Sprout Social: Sprout Social provides a suite of social media automation tools to help businesses manage their social media presence and online reputation.
  4. Later: Later is a social media scheduling tool specializing in Instagram, allowing users to plan and schedule posts, stories, and reels in advance.
  5. Agorapulse: Agorapulse is a social media management platform that provides automation tools to schedule posts, engage with followers, and monitor analytics on different social media channels

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Hootsuite?

Hootsuite is a popular social media management platform that provides various tools to assist businesses and individuals in managing and automating their social media marketing efforts. Here are some of Hootsuite’s advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:

  1. Support for multiple platforms: Hootsuite allows you to manage multiple social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others, from a single dashboard.
  2. Hootsuite has robust scheduling capabilities, allowing you to plan and schedule your social media posts in advance.
  3. Team collaboration: Hootsuite enables groups to work on social media tasks, assign tasks, and track team performance.
  4. Hootsuite offers detailed analytics and reporting on social media performance, including engagement, reach, and audience demographics.
  5. Social listening: The social listening feature in Hootsuite allows you to track social media conversations and mentions of your brand or industry keywords.

Cons:

  1. Complexity: For users who are new to social media management, Hootsuite can be overwhelming. The platform includes many features that make navigating and comprehending it difficult.
  2. Price: Hootsuite can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget. While a free plan is available, the platform’s more advanced features are only available with paid plans.
  3. Limited post-editing capabilities: Hootsuite has limited post-editing capabilities, so you may need to edit posts directly on each social media platform.
  4. Learning curve: Hootsuite has so many features mastering the platform can take some time.
  5. Pushy sales, a lack of adoption training and support, and dubious business practices.

Overall, Hootsuite is an effective social media management platform that provides various features to assist businesses and individuals in streamlining their social media marketing efforts. While it has some disadvantages, its advantages make it a valuable tool for social media marketers.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of Buffer?

Buffer is a well-known social media management platform that provides various features to assist businesses and individuals in managing and automating their social media marketing efforts. Here are some of Buffer’s advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:

  1. Support for multiple platforms: Buffer allows you to manage multiple social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others, from a single dashboard.
  2. Buffer offers robust scheduling capabilities, allowing you to plan and schedule your social media posts ahead of time.
  3. Teamwork: Buffer enables teams to collaborate on social media tasks, assign tasks, and track team performance.
  4. Analytics and reporting: Buffer offers detailed social media analytics and reporting, including engagement, reach, and audience demographics.
  5. Social listening: You can monitor social media conversations and mentions of your brand or industry keywords using Buffer’s social listening feature.
  6. Integration with other toolsBuffer integrates with various tools, including Zapier, Google Analytics, and Canva, allowing you to streamline your social media management processes.

Cons:

  1. Limited functionality: Compared to other social media management platforms, Buffer’s features are somewhat limited, particularly in terms of social media listening and ad management.
  2. No direct Instagram scheduling: Buffer does not currently support direct Instagram scheduling; instead, you must approve and post via the Buffer mobile app.
  3. Price: Buffer, like other social media management platforms, can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget. Its most advanced features are only available through paid subscriptions.
  4. Learning curve: Buffer can be challenging to learn and navigate, especially for users new to social media management.

Buffer is a dependable and efficient social media management platform with various features to assist businesses and individuals in streamlining their social media marketing efforts. While it has some limitations, its advantages make it a useful tool for social media marketers.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sprout social?

Sprout Social is a popular social media management platform that provides various features to assist businesses and individuals in managing and automating their social media marketing efforts. Here are some of Sprout Social’s advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:

  1. Multi-platform support: Sprout Social allows you to manage multiple social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others, from a single dashboard.
  2. Social media scheduling: Sprout Social has powerful scheduling capabilities that allow you to plan and schedule your social media posts ahead of time.
  3. Social media listening: The social listening feature of Sprout Social allows you to monitor social media conversations and mentions of your brand or industry keywords.
  4. Analytics and reporting: Sprout Social offers detailed social media analytics and reporting, including engagement, reach, and audience demographics.
  5. CRM integration: Sprout Social integrates with CRM tools, enabling you to manage customer data and engage with customers across multiple channels.
  6. Bot and automation tools: Sprout Social offers bot and automation tools to help you automate repetitive social media tasks like responding to messages or comments.
  7. Ad Management: The ad management feature in Sprout Social allows you to create and manage social media ads across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Cons:

  1. Cost: Sprout Social can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget. Its most advanced features are only available through paid subscriptions.
  2. Learning curve: For users new to social media management, Sprout Social may take time to learn and navigate effectively.
  3. Limited functionality: Some users may find Sprout Social features somewhat limited compared to other social media management platforms, particularly in terms of listening and ad management.
  4. No direct Instagram scheduling: Sprout Social, like many other social media management platforms, does not allow direct Instagram post scheduling. Instead, you must use the Sprout Social mobile app to approve and post.

Overall, Sprout Social is a comprehensive and dependable social media management platform with many features to assist businesses and individuals in streamlining their social media marketing efforts. While it has some limitations and is relatively expensive, its benefits make it a valuable tool for social media marketers.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Agorapulse?

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of using Agorapulse as a social media management tool:

Pros:

  1. Comprehensive feature set: Agorapulse provides a wide range of social media management features, such as scheduling, analytics, social listening, and CRM integration.
  2. User-friendly interface: Agorapulse’s interface is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, allowing users to navigate and manage their social media accounts easily.
  3. Collaboration tools: Agorapulse provides robust collaboration tools that enable team members to collaborate on social media management tasks and assign tasks to specific team members.
  4. Social inbox: The social inbox feature enables businesses to manage messages and comments from all of their social media accounts in a single location, streamlining their workflow and saving time.
  5. Social listening: Agorapulse offers features that enable businesses to monitor social media conversations about their brand, industry, and competitors, allowing them to maintain a strong social media presence.
  6. Contest and promotion management: Agorapulse includes features for running social media contests and promotions, such as sweepstakes, quizzes, and photo contests, which can assist businesses in increasing engagement and growing their following.
  7. Excellent customer service: Agorapulse is known for providing excellent customer service, with a responsive team ready to answer questions and resolve issues quickly.

Cons:

  1. Cost: Agorapulse can be costly, especially for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget. Some of the most advanced features are reserved for more expensive plans.
  2. Limited platform support: Agorapulse does not support all social media platforms, such as Pinterest or TikTok, which may be problematic for businesses that rely heavily on those platforms.
  3. Limited automation: Compared to other social media management tools, Agorapulse’s automation features are somewhat limited, which may be a disadvantage for businesses looking to automate more of their social media management tasks.

Agorapulse is a comprehensive and user-friendly social media management tool with powerful collaboration and social listening capabilities. It may not be the most cost-effective solution for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget. It may not support all social media platforms or provide as much automation as other tools.

To simplify this process of selection, we build this comparison table.

Software Pros Cons
Hootsuite – Offers a wide range of social media platforms
– Advanced analytics and reporting
– Robust team collaboration features
– Can be overwhelming for beginners
– Limited reporting in the free version
– No direct Instagram publishing
Buffer – Simple and user-friendly interface
– Affordable pricing
– Integration with multiple social media platforms
– Limited social media platforms supported
– Basic analytics in the free version
– No direct Instagram publishing in the free version
Sprout Social – Advanced social listening and monitoring features
– Detailed analytics and reporting
– Comprehensive team collaboration features
– Expensive pricing plans
– No free version available|
– Some features are limited to specific pricing plans
Agorapulse – Intuitive and user-friendly interface
– Advanced social listening and monitoring features
– Comprehensive team collaboration features
– Expensive pricing plans
– Limited social media platforms supported in the basic plan
– Some features are limited to specific pricing plans

Note: Pros and cons are subjective and can vary depending on individual needs and preferences. Please refer to the respective software company’s website for more detailed information.

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Build a High Performance Marketing Team in 8 Steps

High-Performance Marketing Team

High-Performance Marketing Team

Building a high-performance marketing team requires a combination of effective strategy, organization, and execution. This includes building an effective strategy, coaching the team, providing the necessary resources and tools, and ensuring that performance is maximized through best practices and proper policies. Here are some steps you can follow to build a successful marketing team:

  1. Define your goals and objectives: clearly defining your marketing goals and objectives would facilitate the creation of a well-defined, integrated Go-To-Market strategy. A successful strategy should include research and analysis of the target market, competitors, messaging and positioning, and goals. This strategy should then be shared and agreed upon between leadership and team members. 
  2. Hire the right people: Once a strategy is in place, you should focus on securing the right resources and business structure to execute the strategy. A mix of technical and creative skills, who are self-motivated and able to work in a fast-paced environment. Consider the individual’s experience and ability to work well in a team.
  3. Provide the right tools and resources: Ensure your team has access to the right tools and resources, including policies, processes, and best practices, to help them do their job effectively. This should include technology, marketing software, access to research, analysis, content management systems, mobile device programs, and training opportunities.
  4. Establish clear roles and responsibilities: Ensure that each team member understands their role and responsibilities. Goals should be measurable and should have timelines and deadlines. Every team member should understand what is expected of them and be clear about the roles and responsibilities of each team member. This will help minimize confusion and ensure everyone is working towards the same goals.
  5. Create and share Policies: Policies provide structure and serve as a roadmap for how team members should conduct themselves. They help ensure that teams stay focused on their collective goals and avoid miscommunication or wasted resources. They also help keep everyone on the same page, ensuring that everyone has the same understanding of what’s acceptable and unacceptable in terms of conduct. Ultimately, effective policies allow marketers to build and execute creative campaigns while also keeping them accountable and efficient.
  6. Coach, train, and adopt best practices: Coaching and training provide the opportunity to develop skills, promote collaboration, and continuously foster a growth mindset within the group. They encourage creative problem-solving, leading to innovative solutions that differentiate the team from its competitors. On the other hand, processes and best practices allow marketing teams to continually improve the effectiveness of their campaigns by aligning them with what works in their respective field. It is an essential tool to optimize marketing strategies and efforts. Training and best practices should include new marketing trends and technology, crafting a targeted, creative message, and effectively using the company’s internal and external resources and marketing tools. 
  7. Encourage collaboration and teamwork: Collaboration between multiple marketing professionals and other internal and external stakeholders would result in a successful marketing strategy. Collaborations between different departments, including creative, sales, production, finance, evangelists, champions, and influencers, can create more effective campaigns that reach a wider audience and increase customer engagement. Finally, collaboration leverages the strengths of each team member to produce high-quality content and improve problem-solving skills within teams, overall boosting positive brand sentiment and driving greater sales for the company long-term.
  8. Set performance metrics & evaluate: Establish clear metrics to measure your marketing success, and regularly monitor and analyze your campaign’s performance. Tracking progress will enable the team to identify areas for improvement and proactively make necessary changes to increase customer engagement and accelerate leads conversion into wins.

Creating a high-performance marketing team is an essential step in the success of any business. Taking the time to assess the team’s size, skills, and expectations is essential, as is providing team training, market research, policies, processes, and utilizing the right technology. Doing so ensures that your team can deliver outstanding results and drive exceptional business growth.

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Increase Your Productivity With These 8 GMAIL Tricks

google-gmail-data-mines

google-gmail-data-mines

Why work harder, when you can work smarter?

We heard it first in a 2009 Apple commercial and it still holds true today – if you need your device to do anything, there’s an app for that.

Apps and extensions are always in development, and constantly evolving in functionality and usability, to enhance our productivity. In the world of email we see this same drive to improvement, with endless additions and alterations, all promising to make our lives easier.

But how do we know which ones to choose?

As someone who is always on Gmail for both business and personal communication, I’ve found that these eight extensions and set-up options have really helped me to maximize my efficiency and minimize hassle.

ADD A PROFESSIONAL EMAIL SIGNATURE

OK, so I’ll admit that this may seem like “Professional Email 101,” but honestly, a good, clean, professional email signature takes you from looking like a newbie to an established businessperson. Beginners can do well with simply filling in the signature information within the “settings” tab, and turning the signature on to ensure that it is attached to every email. But those who want to up their game and add social media links, icons, and other accoutrements, Wisestamp is a great cost-effective choice that adds a professional touch without breaking the bank at only $4/month.

DOWNLOAD GMAIL OFFLINE

It’s summer, and for many of us that means going off to the cottage or some other off-the-beaten-path area that is enriching and calm…and without Internet *gasp!*. But now, not having a connection doesn’t mean that you can’t get your work done. With Gmail Offline, you can access your email and complete your work anywhere, any time, regardless of whether or not you have a live connection. Take that, Mother Nature (and subway tunnels)!

WRITE EMAIL WITHOUT CHANGING TABS

Some days I feel like I’m lost in a sea of tabs, desperately staring at my screen to find Gmail because I just want to send one. little. email! Thankfully, I’ve been thrown a lifejacket by the name of Open Compose Window for Gmail – an extension that allows you to send an email faster than you can say “Open Compose Window for Gmail” thanks to its addition of a small Gmail icon to your navigation bar. Opening a new message window with one click? Yes please!

USE SHORTCUTS

One of the easiest ways to navigate your Gmail account is by using tried and true shortcuts. As someone who is always looking to improve my efficiency, I’m forever learning new shortcuts for my programs and applications. KeyRocket, a Gmail extension, offers users a crash course in shortcuts, teaching you how to use them quickly and effectively. Or, if you’re looking to improve your Gmail performance without having to download anything, just turn on the shortcuts in Gmail itself, which will allow you to use a variety of keys to perform various functionalities, like using “has: attachment” to find emails with attachments, or even using “!” to report spam.

SPAM, SPAM, and SPAM

Now that’s got me thinking – I can’t be the only person who remembers that amazing Spam skit by Monty Python (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE). As much as Monty Python’s spam is great, inbox spam is the worst! All of that clutter from websites and organizations really cuts into my productivity as I wade through all of the useless emails to get to what I need. So, I’ve enabled Block Sender for Gmail – a free extension that allows you to block all emails from a specific address or website. Want even more than these basic features? Check out one of their paid plans.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHO IS EMAILING YOU

Sometimes messages show up in my inbox and I’m not convinced they’re spam, but I don’t really know who they’re from. Thankfully, Rapportive knows. This app discretely offers you all of the information that can be found about the sender’s email, allowing you to decide whether it’s worth opening their message, or moving on.

GET INSTANT NOTIFICATION WHEN YOU RECEIVE AN EMAIL

So I don’t know about you, but when waiting for an important email I used to end up stuck in front of Gmail, frantically refreshing the page until it arrived (at which point I breathed a sigh of relief and carried on with my day). It was a HUGE drain on my productivity, wasting not only my time but my mental energy. But then I discovered the email desktop notification tab under my Gmail settings, and now I get an instant alert on my desktop whenever an email comes in. Productivity win!

ENGAGE A TRACKING SYSTEM

Now the flip side of this situation is one where you send of an important email and spend the rest of your day checking your inbox, waiting for a reply, and thinking “Did they get it? Did they get it? DID THEY GET IT???” If you need something to help ease your mind, enable MailTrack.io – an email checking app that not only confirms that your email was sent, but whether and when it was opened by the recipient (AND what device they used to open it!). You can’t put a price on this kind of peace of mind – so, naturally, it’s free!

Do you have any of your own tried-and-true Gmail solutions that you find really work? Tell me in the comments below!

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How Can I succeed In Social Media : Goals Setting

gols setting

Step 1: How Can I succeed In Social Media – Social Media Goals Setting

Financial Social Media Today’s question how can I succeed in social media – Goal Setting ? The reality is, all discussion in social media happens in the open, in public, so if you make a mistake and you’re in a company that is regulated, you can cause lots of trouble for yourself and for the company. So it’s very important to go through the ten steps of success in social media.
The first step is goal setting. You should always think of what are you goals? Goals setting means success in Social Media and it will also magically let you see who other than you has succeeded in the same field and what they have done. I will give a very fast example. If you want to buy a red corvette, you will start seeing who are the people who are driving a red corvette around you.
The second thing about setting goals is that they have to be reachable and they have to be tangible, which means it [a goal] has to be small so you can achieve it in that time. So if you want to go to the moon, your goal wouldn’t be how to go to the moon, it would be how can I build a shuttle, how can I be an astronaut.
By setting small social media goals you will achieve them and succeed . I hope you get the point of how to set goals, and that will be the first step in your way to succeed in social media.

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What Social Media Network Should I use

socialmedia

 

The question that we are addressing today is: what social media network should I use: Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn? The reality is that there are four major networks — there is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube. Which one should you decide to use? If you are the type of person who likes to make friends, and wants to communicate fast online, within 140 characters — that means that you don’t like to write too much — then Twitter is the social network that you should use. If you’re the kind of person who likes to communicate and write longer updates, and to be able to write a full essay or full blog post and notes to people, then Facebook is your Social Network that you shoudl use and Facebook is the largest of the networks. And if you are a business or person in business who offers services to other businesses, then LinkedIn is your social network because LinkedIn is not just for finding jobs, it is for businesses who are looking for other business providers to give service. Finally, if you are the kind of person who does not like to read, and you know there are many people who do not like to read, and you like to convey your message via a video, then YouTube is your Social Network that you shoudl use. The best of all, you have to be — and my recommendation is — you have to become very active on all networks, that is, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Youtube because all of them together will give you an advantage over all of your competition and will give you not only a social existence and proof but give also to your website and business an SEO advantage.

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Dominate Google with Double indented listings

Seo Toronto

what is double indented listings

Recently we started noticing double indented listings when searching Google. A two indented listings i s a none indented search result for a domain followed by two indented search results related to the same domain.
For example if you search “fadisemaan.com” you will notice that a 3 listings will show up in in the search result  page.

what does that mean?

[Read more…]

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Social Media Catfood Is it a good alternative to Hummingbird

catfood

In our series of reviews of social media follower applications, we have tested in the last few weeks Catfood follower. Our testing result in good results, but are we convinced that Catfood is a good alternative to Hummingbird? Should we be satisfied by the Zero cost social media  software and dump the $200 software? [Read more…]

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Keywords are the Queens of SEO

se

Some entrepreneurs believe that their limited knowledge of the market, of the potential client and a few SEO rules is enough to label themselves as a SEO Guru. They call themselves SEO copywriters and engage in writing their website content. They spend a few hours borrowing content from some other similar websites and finalize the process by sprinkling keywords randomly into their content. Finally they wait and hope for the best. [Read more…]

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Should you spend any money on Twitter automation software?

automation

One of the most controversial practices widely used to build up influence on Twitter is now cause for account suspension. Using third party software to systematically add a large number of social connections each day, then break those connections with anyone who doesn’t reciprocate, will put you at risk of suspension, according to Twitter’s Doug Williams. [Read more…]

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