Diane Laney Fitzpatrick

writer, blogger, author and internet socialite

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The Socialite

Keep It Simple, Smarty

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Your small business social media can be a black hole.

Wait. Is that the one that sucks everything into it, leaving you with no time or perspective or patience? Or is that a time warp field? Whichever, social media can be it.

You can spend all day every day reading urgent advice from every social media guru out there, telling you how much you’re missing by not chasing down every last and latest tip and trick. The end result is that you’re buried in so many stats, SEO and analytics that by the time you figure out what they mean, the algorithms have been changed and you’re now being told to chase the next big stick. That will leave you exhausted and unable to do the other 98 percent of running your business. [Read more…] about Keep It Simple, Smarty

Can’t Blog? Here Are Some Alternatives

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“My favorite thing about the work I do is when I sit down at the end of the week and write my blog.”

Said no business owner ever.

Seriously, I have yet to meet someone running a small or solo business who actually looks forward to blogging. They love the idea of blogging; they understand the need to communicate their expertise via a blog; but sitting down at the computer and actually writing one is another story.

I was working with a client recently who was enthusiastically agreeing with all of my recommendations – a jazzed up Facebook page with more engaging posts, an occasional e-newsletter to her customers, a larger presence on LinkedIn, and a foray into Pinterest.

“Yes! Yes to all of these things!” she said, in so many words.

“Now, let’s talk about blogging,” I said.

You would have thought I had suggested she walk through fire while juggling china cups. She refused to even consider it. I told her the benefits of blogging (all 500 of them). I told her what she’d be posting on LinkedIn would be halfway to a blog post. I gave her 10 blog topics off the top of my head that she could write in her sleep. I offered to write the first two for her. I offered to bake her a cherry pie. She wouldn’t budge. (I really thought the cherry pie thing was going to do the trick.) [Read more…] about Can’t Blog? Here Are Some Alternatives

Social Media Tips for Realtors

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How much has changed for real estate professionals since print newspaper ads? Pretty much everything. In the space of a few years, real estate went from buyers suddenly having access to homes for sale on the internet, to now having available homes dropped right into their laps via social media.

According to Sprout Social and the National Association of Realtors, social has become crucial to scoring clients and closing deals across the industry. Here are some of the report’s findings:

  • 77 percent of realtors use social media for real estate in some way, shape or form.
  • 47 percent of real estate businesses note that social media result in the higher quality leads versus other sources.
  • 99 percent of millennials and 90 percent of baby boomer begin heir home each online, as opposed to in-person referrals.

So real estate agents who use social media – and use it well – have the advantage of fast and productive communication with their clients and potential clients. How to use social media well as a real estate agent? Here are some tips from the pros. [Read more…] about Social Media Tips for Realtors

Quality over Quantity: Why You Shouldn’t Stress Over Number of Followers

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I’m going through one of those Twitter phases where I’m losing followers by the dozens. It’s probably one of Twitter’s regular sweeps to rid the social media space of bots and trolls, fake accounts and scammers. Still, it’s pretty discouraging to check my stats and find that no matter how much effort I put into engagement, how many people I follow, and what I do to get more followers, they’re leaving like I just put Spam on the party buffet.

Should I worry? Should I change my strategy? Is the number of followers even all that important?

No, says Gary Vaynerchuk.

“You can have 10, 10,000, or 1,000,000 followers and all it takes is for one post to be noticed by one person to cause a social media chain reaction. The absolute number does not matter. One retweet, one repost, one link in an email is enough to get the ball rolling,” he says.

What’s important is the quality of your followers. Are they engaged with your posts? If they are spurred to action because of one of your posts, how will that action benefit you? [Read more…] about Quality over Quantity: Why You Shouldn’t Stress Over Number of Followers

If Only I Had the Time . . . Well, Now You Do

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The pandemic has brought us a shift in how we spend our time. At home, with social lives dried up, we’re cleaning out closets, painting rooms, and finally getting around to organizing those old photos.

At work, you might be spending less time handling the normal flow of customers. It’s prime time to use the downtime to clean house and do the projects you never had time for; the perfect time to finally focus on digital media marketing projects. Here are some suggestions, if you find yourself wanting to use wisely the time on your hands.

1. Clean up your Facebook page

Just posting on social media is time consuming. Who has time in a normally busy schedule to do Facebook housekeeping? That cover photo you put together three years ago? Change it. Then go over to Canva or PicMonkey and create a couple cover photos to put in the hopper for the future. Get rid of any duplicate pages that you’ve abandoned. If you have multiple pages for different aspects of your business, consolidate them. Look over your About section and make sure it’s complete, up-to-date and accurate.

Incidentally, Canva has a nifty Facebook Maker, a quick and easy tool for making custom Facebook covers. Choose a template for the layout you want, and use your own photos or choose from the free stock photos in Canva’s stockpile. It’s all included in Canva’s free account.

[Read more…] about If Only I Had the Time . . . Well, Now You Do

Time, Time, Time, See What’s Become of Me

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I recently attended a webinar on time management from Jane Friedman, everyone’s favorite business strategist for authors. Hearing about how other people budget their time and set their schedules is like a hobby to me. Nope, scratch that; it’s more like a guilty pleasure. So the idea of spending an hour hearing how Jane Friedman manages her time was, to me, like the circus came to town. Before signing on to the webinar, I made myself a latte and put on lipstick.

The webinar was one of Friedman’s Sunday Sermons, where she talks to authors and others about various topics on writing, getting published, marketing your own work, and managing your writing career. And it was part of my own personal strategy to participate in at least one course, webinar or other learning opportunity for my own development every week.

As I was furiously taking notes on her advice on how to manage your time more efficiently, I texted my friend Barbara, who was also sitting in on the session, and shared my glee over some of the tips we were getting. And while some of them weren’t applicable to me (Friedman was up front about the following facts: She has no children, no family living nearby, and her husband does the housework) I got a lot of valuable tips.

And it led me to more. After the webinar, I went on an internet hunt for time management tips for the self-employed among us. Most are tested and true, since I’ve used them myself. And some come from people whose careers are so successful, you can pretty much figure that it’s good advice. [Read more…] about Time, Time, Time, See What’s Become of Me

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