15-minute marketing ideas that can take your business to the next level

Have you ever had 15 minutes here and there and weren’t sure how to use them to grow your business?

You know those moments where you have just enough time to do one smaller task before you have to jump on that client call or need to leave for your kid’s activity? What usually happens is that you end up scrolling through your favorite social media site.

Instead, consider these ideas to fill that “spare” time. You may just find that they add up to substantial business growth!

01  Make a list of what social sites are bringing you the most traffic // To make this list, log in to your Google Analytics and click on the links to follow this sequence: Acquisitions/All Traffic/Referrals.

You’ll see a list showing which social site is generating the most referral traffic to your website. Each site is linked to a breakdown of the actual posts people clicked on to reach your site.

If your top referral source is LinkedIn, then when you’re in that section, click on the LinkedIn link to discover a breakout of the top posts that brought people to your site. To help better understand what people are interested in, write out your top 10 posts and the number of traffic clicks from those images to add to your list of top social sites.

You can also track traffic from Twitter, your newsletter and all the places where you might have content except Facebook. Right now, Facebook is the only program that won’t give you more information other than the number of people who came to your website.

02  Check your top posts in your Facebook business page // To access this information, go to your business page. Look for the tab on the top of your fan page that says Insights and click on that button.

Then start tracking the activity from your Facebook posts. You could use a Word document, but you might find it easier to set up a spreadsheet. At the very least, write the information out on a piece of paper.

After you’ve logged in to your Facebook business page Insights, review your posts and answer the following questions:

• What were your top five posts for the week?
• What time of day were they posted?
• What day of the week were they posted?
• What was the topic or message of these posts?
• Did you add a video, photo or ask a question?

The more you check your Insights, the more you’ll start to see patterns emerge. You’ll start to see what type of content speaks more to your followers and what posts create more engagement with your potential customers.

03  Check what’s going on with your Twitter account // To see what’s happening with your Twitter account, click the Notifications link. This is where you’ll be able to view your recent activity.

When reviewing your notifications, consider the following:

• Did someone new follow you? Click over to their profile and decide whether you want to follow them back. Look through their tweets and retweet one of their posts or comment on one of their tweets.
• Did someone share your blog post or promote your products? Hit the Reply button under their post and thank them for sharing. Adding a personal note is a nice touch to show that you’re listening and not just automating everything.

04  Update your LinkedIn profile // We all get busy. Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to add what we’re working on to our LinkedIn profile.

Your LinkedIn profile is important because if someone is following through with their due diligence and researching you, your LinkedIn profile will show in the search results. This may be one of the first places where a potential borrower or partner will first learn about you. Make sure that your information is up-to-date.

To update your information, go to the Edit Profile section (you’ll see the edit pencil next to all the sections) and ask yourself these questions:

• Did you recently add a new product or service? Add it to your profile under the Project section.
• Did you write a guest post or article? Add the link in the Publications section.
• Have your services changed? Update that in your Summary section as well as in the
  Experience section.

05  Find new people on Instagram to follow // Searching for people who do the same work as you is a great way to see how others are using Instagram. Run a search for your company’s keywords in the search feature and see who comes up.

Also make some notes about what hashtags they’re using. You may discover some of your strongest hashtags by checking out what others who are doing the same type of work as you are using.

06  Check your numbers in your social sites and set monthly goals for each one // Today’s customers want to build connections with their favorite companies. The question is, how do you make sure your social media efforts have the right impact on your target market? It’s a simple answer. Data.

It’s impossible to know for sure whether you’re making the right business decisions unless you are measuring your performance though key performance indicators or metrics. Being able to understand your KPIs will help you set goals and ultimately help your customers. The trouble is that most people don’t realize that measuring your social media metrics goes beyond “likes.”

Although there are countless metrics to measure your social media efforts, the most important for most companies include:

• Whether people hear about/see your brand.
• How often people engage with your company.
• The rate of engagement that turns into a conversion.
• The overall impact on your customer base.

Get into the habit of checking your numbers at the end of every month. You’ll be able to track what’s growing and what needs a little help. You will be able to create SMART goals once you have analyzed each of your outlets.

07  Have a mini brainstorm social session // Is there one social site that you’ve been meaning to give a little attention to help you grow your followers?

Start by looking at the top content on that site, and make notes about what’s connecting with your fans. Next, list five ideas that you could implement to help you create or find more of the type of content your fans want to see more of.

Since you’re keeping this exercise to 15 minutes, there’s no time to judge your ideas. Just keep writing down everything that comes to mind.

08  Read and comment on one of your favorite blogs // Take the entire 15 minutes to really read articles—not just scan them—and think about your comment. What could you say to really add to the conversation and reflect your company’s core values and services?

If you can’t add to the conversation, move on to the next post or another site. It’s OK if it was posted a couple of weeks or a month ago. The point is to spend some time crafting your comment so that you can contribute to the conversation and maybe even start a connection with your favorite contributor.

09  Remember how much you ROCK // Take a moment to think about how far you’ve come and all the cool things you’ve done. Then make a quick to-do list of what you want to work on next. ∞