Ten Simple 10 Minute Tasks to Optimize and Maintain Your Online Presence

Ten Simple 10 Minute Tasks to Optimize and Maintain Your Online Presence

I love this image of the astronomical clock of Prague in the Czech Republic. Installed in 1410, it is the only astronomical clock in the world that is still working. It is a fascinating combination of astronomy, astrology and a daily monitor of the passage of the sun, shifting with the seasons to adapt to the change in the time of sunrise. To me, it is a wonderful reminder of the larger picture of time and of how there is neither ‘too little’ nor ‘too much’ of it, but that it is just a construct to mark the movement of the sun and stars.

That said, I know that many of you feel that there just isn’t enough time to do everything, especially when it comes to Social Media and maintaining your online presence. In an effort to make that all more manageable, I have come up with ten simple tasks which each take about ten minutes to complete. The first five are Social Media Maintenance tasks which should be done on a regular basis. The second five are Network Building and Online Branding tasks that will help you optimize your online presence. By scheduling in these short, ten minute tasks and having this list ready when you find an extra ten minutes to spare, this sometimes overwhelming job will become more manageable.

Social Media Maintenance Tasks: To be done on a regular basis, ideally at least once a week.

1. Visit your LinkedIn account and check your LinkedIn updates. Comment, ‘Like’ and/or share at least one or two.  If you are not finding at least one or two updates that are worth sharing, please focus on building your network to include people that ARE sharing information of value.
2. Check your LinkedIn Messages and Invitations – while these should be forwarded to your email, you should still double check that there are none that need attention and archive (file) or delete all old ones.
3. Visit your Twitter Timeline and reply and/or re-tweet at least one or two tweets. Again, if you are not finding at least one or two comments worth sharing, please work on following some new people that ARE sharing information of value.
4. Check your Twitter @mentions to see if anyone has mentioned you and reply and/or re-tweet as appropriate.
5. Visit and comment on some of the Facebook Pages that you have ‘Liked’ in the past (remember to change modes to visit as a ‘Page’ click here for a tutorial on how to switch into Page mode on FB https://lisamariediasdesigns.com/2011/04/05/facebook-as-page-tutorial/). To see the Pages you have ‘Liked’, go to your own Page and they appear in the left column, under your own number of ‘Likes’.  Click ‘see all’ to see more than the top 5 shown.

Network Building and Online Branding Tasks: To be done when you can find 10 minutes to spare, ideally at least once a month.

1. Check the ‘Who to Follow’ suggestions on Twitter – found in the right hand column of the Twitter.com interface, the algorithm used to make these suggestions gets ‘smarter’ the more you use it.
2. Check the ‘People You May Know’ suggestions on LinkedIn – click on the ‘Contacts’ ‘Add Contacts’ then ‘People You May Know’ link (last in the secondary navigation options at the top of page). Like the Twitter algorithm used above, this too gets ‘smarter’ the more you use it. See this tutorial on how to include a personalized note when using this feature https://lisamariediasdesigns.com/2011/05/19/new-on-linked-in-personalize-your-invitation-when-using-the-people-you-may-know-feature/
3. Answer a Question on LinkedIn – switch the search bar drop down to ‘Answers’ and insert a keyword into the search bar.  You can use this to do research and to learn more about your own field as well!
4. Create and/or update your listings on any of the Free Online Directories. See http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=124953394198216&topic=351 for a list of suggested directories.
5. Google yourself – your name and company. Try multiple spellings (and mis-spellings) Try Yahoo and Bing as well.  See what you find. If you are on LinkedIn, Twitter and/or Facebook, these should come up. If not, make sure that you have your name spelled the same across all platforms and sites. If you do not find much, make an effort to broaden your online presence by creating accounts on LinkedIn, making sure you have a Google Profile and by participating online via commenting on blogs and posting your own content.

If you tend to get sucked into networking sites, loosing track of time, set a timer before you go in and stop when the alarm goes off. Scheduling these ten minute tasks, a few times a week can help you help you stay on top of this so you do not feel overwhelmed and may leave you some time to contemplate the movement of the sun and stars.

To learn more about this fabulous clock you may visit Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock and the clock’s Google Page