There seems to be a number of self-proclaimed social media experts. The result is strategic confusion. Sadly, people and organizations in need are falling victim to misinformation. Sometimes unintentionally, and sometimes not.

Market your skill set honestly. I by no means would consider myself an expert really in anything at this stage in my career – still far too much to learn, experiences to be had and mistakes to be made. I believe I have a responsibility, which is to appropriately, and honestly, communicate my abilities, skills and knowledge. I’d like to believe we all have such a code.

I’m not here to point fingers. In fact, the responsibility is twofold. As entrepreneurs, small business owners, or large organizations it our responsibility to select the best candidate or candidates for the job. Typically our goal is to address knowledge gaps and fill areas of need that are perhaps beyond our own scope of experience.

Arm yourself with information. Just like with any employee hire or consultant contract make sure you take the time to better understand your candidate options. Don’t fall victim to buzzwords. Just because someone may know how to talk in social media speak doesn’t mean they are necessarily an expert.

Know your organization’s needs. Do you really need a social media expert? Do your homework ahead of time. Maybe the need is deeper than that. As an organization have you clearly mapped your goals, objectives and/or strategy? If not, then social media isn’t where you need to start.

There are people who I would consider experts. Individuals who are respected, offer wisdom by way of experiences and have the results to back it all up. More often than not I find that they are incredibly modest. They are busy doing rather than boasting or bragging. Instead the communities around them are helping them to build a credible reputation infused with collective confidence.

Expertise takes time to cultivate. Be willing, open and patient to learn from others.

Image: monster in a bag courtesy of arimoore, Flickr

The perks of a nontraditional workspace seem almost endless – no cubicles, tea at the ready and flexible work hours. Though it also requires major self discipline and means holding yourself accountable by developing a workflow that’s flexible, productive and motivating.

Up and at ‘em. Each morning, I tackle the day as if I am in fact heading out the door to an office. None of this working in my bunny slippers stuff. It’s the same deal each day: up no later than 7AM, shower, breakfast, a large pot of tea and an outfit to promote productivity. Dressing for success doesn’t necessarily require you to go anywhere (but you’re ready if you do). You never know when an impromptu meeting or lunch will present itself.

The perfect spot. Usually, I’m not one for working all day from home. Circumstance and limited mobility has resulted in me converting my dining room into the ideal workspace. I’ve reworked the space so I can spread out, be comfortable, productive and most importantly minimize the distractions of being at home. It’s important to know where you work best. Is it one location – or a variety throughout the week or even day.

Routines that work. Find a routine that works for you. Identify what makes you most productive and motivated, then go from there. For me, I know I need to take the time to breakdown tasks, tackling the most important ones during my most productive peaks and making sure I have some form of daily social stimulation. The primary thing I miss about being in an office is the people. I love a good sounding board. Therefore, I leverage networks daily to ensure that I am able to stay connected and challenged.

Make it manageable. Make task lists (daily, weekly and monthly) and employ time management to keep you on track. Identify the priorities – and then break the day into manageable chunks based on client needs and your own. I always make sure to integrate time to write, research, listen and interact with others. The trick is to create a list that’s manageable. Think about what has to get done, considering each item in detail, then note realistic times for each. It’s amazing how quickly even eight to ten hours can be allocated – use them wisely.

Motivational milestones. Working solo means lots of self motivation, especially on tougher days. I thrive on goals. I like to be able to set a goal and work diligently to accomplish it. There’s nothing more motivating or rewarding. Goals come in all shapes and sizes. Set customizable goals weekly to foster not only productivity, but a sense of accomplishment. When setting goals, don’t forget to include ones specifically for you. If you’re a freelancer, make sure you make time to market and better yourself weekly.

Setting boundaries. Perhaps my own greatest challenge is knowing when it’s time to stop. It can be easy to work all day, but I don’t – and neither should you. To ensure maximum output and avoid burning out be sure to decide when you’ll be shutting down – and try to stick to it. Be flexible and let the day’s workload help you decide on that particular day’s length, but remember to be diligent in this practice. Otherwise, it will all just run into each other and the freedom, enjoyment and balance of freelancing dissolves – with work/life balance going out the window.

Flexible working is a great opportunity for many of us. It enables us to pick and choose the projects we are most passionate about, while being able to do so in a manner that’s conducive to our own lives. Though it’s up to us to toss out those fuzzy slippers and establish a workflow and community that maximizes productivity, quality and satisfaction, while fostering accountability and promoting balance.

[Image: Green Fuzzy Slippers courtesy of Jamiesrabbits, Flickr]

What about me. Twitter can be a great communications tool. It’s been great for me personally and professionally. Caveat: knowing that everyone’s not using Twitter. Knowing who’s using a tool is equally as important as knowing who’s not. Don’t forget who isn’t here to contribute to the conversation – they may have something amazing to contribute, but are voiceless.

And it’s not just Twitter. There are plenty of platforms and tools where folks are missing. For instance, Facebook, yes, there are millions upon millions of users, but who’s missing. For example, me. I don’t have a Facebook account (…really, I don’t). I might have something valuable to say.

Aligning audience and means of communication. Are there voices being left out of the conversation that could add exponential value to your organization, goal or community? Twitter can be used in the execution of a portfolio of communication means to tap into a range of audiences, but that should only happen once audiences have been identified. Have you taken a moment to determine who your audience is – and where they are?

Who’s making the decision. What happens when you don’t take the time to identify where your audience plays, well, you miss an opportunity. Someone misses the message, the chance to be engaged or an invitation to participate (either physically or virtually). Case and point, my ten year high school reunion, the reunion invitation was only sent via Facebook. As I said earlier, I’m not on Facebook. Meaning, I found out about the reunion only after it took place. The point isn’t that I missed the reunion, it’s that I never got a chance to decide for myself if I wanted to attend or not. The means of communication decided for me.

Take the time, do the work. Don’t let voices go unheard or leave communities ignored just because you missed the mark. Take time to understand your audience and then communicate to them in the space where they play. Why should they come to you? If they are that important, then you should go to them. In time, that may reverse, but you have to reach out and cultivate the relationship first.

Tools are going to change, audiences will change too – and where they intersect is going to change. What shouldn’t change is critical thinking around how best to link the two.

Remember, 80% of Twitter accounts are inactive. That’s whole a lot of people not paying attention to those thoughtful, value-filled, community building tweets you’re spending hours crafting. Make sure your audience is where you’re focusing your attention, before you start trying to get the attention of an audience that may not even be there in the first place.

[Image: The empty playground #1 courtesy of soulholder, Flickr]

A personal heart-to-heart. Have you checked in with yourself lately to identify areas where you can improve? Taking a self inventory is incredibly empowering not too mention valuable to those you work with and support. Take a moment to ask yourself: What’s been added to my plate over the past few months? What activities have fallen off the radar – and gone incomplete? Are there areas of value that are no longer getting attention?

We’re always juggling something. For me, it’s several freelance projects and a baby on the way. It’s easy to get caught up in everything and simply look away from items that have gone ignored. However, being able to acknowledge where you can improve makes you better equipped to tackle whatever gets thrown your way. You’re aware and will be able to appropriately allocate yourself to the most important tasks. This type of self awareness is sometimes (and too often) misinterpreted as admitting weakness or failure. Wrong.

Self assessment is about being able to review all aspects of your working self – the good, the bad and the ugly – then doing something to improve the bad and the ugly.

Take manageable bites. Self improvement doesn’t require a complete overhaul, start small. For me, I know “blog commenting” has fallen to the wayside. For a while I was simply kicking myself (…so not a productive response). I read so many wonderful posts daily, but failed to truly contribute or participate in the conversation. It’s something I wanted to fix and focus on – right now.

No time like the present. Therefore each and every day I’ve added to my daily work list: comment on one blog post. Just one. This might seem like a marginal, arbitrary goal, but one is better than zero. One is manageable, I can take my time, be intentional in my contribution, and will enable me to set up a new daily routine. Will I increase this target number, probably, but not yet.

For now, it’s just one comment daily. It’s about identifying an area of improvement and setting up a realistic, non threatening goal to achieve in a sustainable way. From there, I’ll take stock and improve further. The constant self assessing results in an organic checks and balances system that will ensure I’m always learning and offering the best istrategies and solutions to my clients and contributions to my communities.

[Image: Work courtesy of alexanderljung, Flickr]

Choosing to respond. The typical feeling in social media these days is that responding is better than not responding. When a customer mentions your product in a negative way the web grants a unique opportunity. You can engage openly. You can listen and learn from the individual or community. The result is the overwhelming potential for a productive dialogue and outcome to the initial criticism.

Reigning in instantaneous communication. Here’s the caveat. What happens when engaging results in something that isn’t productive? The web enables instantaneous responses, but that doesn’t mean we should respond instantly. This is where I found myself – I needed a reminder of the power of pause.

Opting out of the conversation. Twitter was a flurry of activity last night. I tweeted a few items that were reflective of my nervousness and unrest. I received a response. It wasn’t particularly negative, but it was in direct contrast to my particular political pursuations – and was intended to instigate. I took a moment before responding:

- What did I want to say? Would it be valuable or purely based in feelings?
- What was the intention of the responder in writing such an aggressive statement?
- What would be the potential outcome if I responded to the statement?

In my ears rang my mother, “…if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Granted, this wasn’t simply an instance of me not having anything nice to say. I have learned the value of thinking through my responses and self censorship when appropriate (especially in the context of a digital age). This was about someone on the other end wanting to instigate an unproductive conversation. I chose not to participate.

Lessons learned: First, I need to think about which topics I want to pursue digitally. Politics is not one of them. I keep away from it at larger social gatherings and I think it’s time to follow my personal rule of thumb on that for my social networks as well.

Secondly, there are instances when silence is an appropriate solution. If the result is an unproductive conversation and/or the intention of the provoker is an online altercation, then don’t respond. Find other ways to reflect and/or to address the situation, um, like blogging about your experience for instance.

[Twitter bird logo icon illustration courtesy of matthamm, Flickr]