This post originally appeared on Service Magic’s blog Pro Connection. See our weekly blog posts there every Thursday!

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The times certainly are changing. Not only is social media something that a majority of small businesses recognize they should be using, but the medium is changing faster than ever. Truthfully, who has time to sit at their computer all day monitoring Twitter and Facebook? It just isn’t practical. After all, someone needs to be running the business. Here are three ways you can easily manage and create social media content from your smart phone:

1. Set up instant email alerts so you won’t be stuck monitoring all day

Postling offers instant email alerts to all Plus and Premium members. So what exactly does this mean? Well, to put it simply, as soon as someone @ replies you on Twitter, writes on your Facebook wall, or comments on your blog, Postling will send you an email showing what the person wrote. Better yet? You can reply to the email to directly respond to the comment. No need to go to the social network, or even Postling. See the email, respond, and Postling will send it off to the right account!

2. Social networking apps bring the conversation to your fingertips

Twitter and Facebook have their very own apps for smart phones. This way, on-the-go professionals can do their work and check updates on their phone when they’ve got a free moment. Maybe this means you pick up your phone and scroll through new tweets during your coffee break, or while you’re waiting in line for lunch. We highly recommend exploring the social networking apps that are available for your phone.

3. Create engaging content with the press of a button

There are dozens of new and fun to use apps out there that make it so easy to share photos across various social networks. One example of this is Instagram, which allows you to easily take a photo, apply filters, and then send it out to all of your social networks with a text caption and location information. In under a minute you can send a photo out to Twitter, Facebook, your blog, Flickr, and Foursquare. Photo sharing apps make it easier than ever for you to create interesting and engaging content for your community of followers.

Do you think bringing the social media conversation to your phone will ease the burden some? Were you aware tools like these existed? Do you have tips we didn’t think of? Let us know in the comments! 

This post originally appeared on Service Magic’s blog Pro Connection. See our weekly blog posts there every Thursday!

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We’ve talked a lot about social media over the past few weeks, provided tips and tricks, and hopefully helped answer some of the big questions ServiceMagic readers have. However, one thing still remains — there are so many things that can go into social media that getting it all done seems a bit overwhelming. By using social media management tools like Postling you’ll be able to easily manage, post, and handle all of your social media activity.

1. Put it all in one place!

Is there anything more annoying than having to log in and out of Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and other social networks all day long? It’s probably one of the biggest time wasters you could possibly be indulging in, and you don’t have to! Using social media management tools (Postling includes all major social media services) you can link up every single account you have and post to every platform from one place. It’s so easy you’ll be questioning why you wasted so much time.

2. Go with your creativity and schedule your posts.

Sometimes the spark of inspiration strikes us at funny moments. Maybe it’s midnight, maybe it’s Sunday afternoon. Either way, when you write something great you want it to be seen. Using social media management tools you can write full blog posts, upload photos, and schedule your tweets and Facebook status updates to publish any time in the future. Using scheduling features ensures the most people can see your content.

3. Monitor what people are saying about you online.

We talked a lot about online reviews over the past few weeks, but you should also be listening to what people may be saying across the web about your business. Using Postling Tracking you can stay on top of what people are saying about you in blogs, news articles, and tweets. You can also use Twitter Search to see tweets that relate to your business. If you see something positive, try responding! Sending words of thanks or appreciation makes any social media user feel important and listened to.

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Do you think some of these tips might help you be a more effective social media marketer? Do you already have your own tips and tricks in place? Share them in the comments so your fellow readers can learn!

This post originally appeared on Service Magic’s blog Pro Connection. See our weekly blog posts there every Thursday!

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The thought of starting a blog is admittedly totally and completely daunting. What am I going to say? Will people want to read it? Am I even going to have time to keep up with it? It seems like an impossible challenge. But here’s the truth — it’s completely in your grasp and can have amazing benefits.

First thing’s first — choosing the right platform for your business.

The different blogging platforms have a lot of pros and cons. If you imagine your blog is going to be very text-heavy with long, in-depth posts that advises and provides guidance to your readers, then I would recommendWordPress. It’s an extremely popular platform, is a great product, and is ideal for those wordier posts.

However, and this is the route I would recommend more for people who are just getting started and are unsure what they’ll blog about, try out Tumblr. Tumblr is literally the easiest way to blog. It’s a bit more image-heavy (which makes your blog look interesting) and couldn’t be simpler to use.

Be yourself.

People read blogs to get information, learn about businesses, and because they find it interesting. Think about your audience and what they’re going to want to read — keep it light at times, crack a few jokes, let people see your personality. Contract work is so personal that it can only help! Maybe you’ve just finished up some work in a client’s home, why not take a photo of the finished product as well as one of you and the client and post them to your blog? Easy, interesting content is what’s going to be the key to your success.

Highlight your blog on your other social networks.

You have a community of followers there, so why not cross promote? Using a tool like Postling it’s easy to write your blog post and then highlight your new content on your other social networks, all from one place. Even if you don’t do this through a management tool like Postling, you should still spread the wealth! Maybe someone tweets a relevant question. Why not respond to them and say you discussed that in your blog post and send them a link? Let people know the content exists! 

Do you already have a blog? If so, what platform is it on? Do you struggle with content? If you don’t have a blog, what’s been your biggest barrier to starting one?

This post originally appeared on Service Magic's blog Pro Connection. See our weekly blog posts there every Thursday!

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I’m pretty sure that if I counted, I would say/speak/type the words “social media” at least 100 times every day. Surely if I mention it that many times in a day it must be important, right? Everyone can’t be jumping on the bandwagon over nothing!

Let’s get down to the barebones of social media and why it’s important to be engaged on these platforms. 

One-fourth of small businesses are using social media. That’s right, a quarter of all small businesses have profiles on at least one social network. And another 13% plan to get on social networks in the next two years. We think that given the adoption rate, small businesses will hit that 13% number sooner than later. Now say you and your top 3 competitors are standing in a room. If we assume of the four of you, one of you is on social media and is using it to reach out and connect with potential customers, surely they’re going to pull in more business.

Staying engaged with your customers is the number one priority. Your customers are already on social networks. And, believe it or not, they’re probably already talking about your service to all of their followers. Why? Because that’s what people do on social networks — they talk! Social media is your opportunity to provide customer service unlike previously done before.

Your customers want you to be on social networks. Recent studies show that 93% of Americans want companies to have a presence on social networks. As contract workers, this doesn’t exclude you. In fact, it may be even more important. You have a personal relationship with your clients. Social media is your chance to interact with them on a whole new level, to promote your business, and to get involved on a whole new level.

Are you already engaged on social network? If so, how? Share with us!