Once you get into an inbound marketing campaign for a while, you realize that it's easy to spend way too much or too little time on it. Time to find a nice daily rhythm that nets results but doesn't completely destroy your "day job". Here's mine.
7:00 AM to 8:00 AM - The Pre-Work Zone
- Time to Blog. I've been thinking about it in half-sleep mode for the past hour or two, so why not let it flow? This is when I get my best ideas anyway, unpolluted by the normal distractions of the day.
- Promote My Blog. Tweet it, bookmark it using Delicio.us, Digg, and Technorati. My RSS feeds pick it up automatically, so my subscribers and friends are good to go. I usually add it to discussions in several Linked-in groups as well just to cross-pollenate.
- Check My Feeds (Google Reader and Alerts, Friendfeed, Alltop) and tweet about anything new and interesting I don't already see in Tweetdeck.
- Check My New Twitter Followers. I actually look at each profile and follow the ones that make sense for inbound marketing, social media, etc. Any spammers or whackos get ignored.
8:00 AM to 11:00 AM - The Productive Work Zone
- If no meetings, I focus on getting my projects done - one at a time, highest priority first. I used to multi-task, but now that I'm getting a bit older, it helps to focus.
- Approximately every hour, I take a "break" and glance at Tweetdeck for interesting new url's and ideas and either reply or go to the blogs and comment if the spirit moves me. I think this consistent access to Twitter is really helping by keeping me engaged with my community, learning new stuff and increasing my "street cred", which will hopefully lead to interest in me and my company.
LUNCH
- I try to get completely away from the computer for at least an hour. This is crucial.
1 PM to 6 PM - The Less Productive Zone
- Do things that require less creative thought. You know what I'm talking about: e-mail, proposals, research, database stuff, and last but not least, customer support stuff. Somebody has to do it.
- At the end of the day I work on extending my social media network. I use Twitter Grader, Twitter Search, Twitterholic, Twinfluence and TwitterSheep tools to find more influential people to add to my network and follow them on Twitter, invite them to connect on Linked-In etc.
- At the very end of the day I always reward myself for a job well done. Yes we're talking about a glass or two of wine. I have done my "real job" and accomplished some things in Social Media space as well. I'm feeling balanced and life is good.
