7 To-Dos for Every Entrepreneur

This Thursday, I had the opportunity to present a workshop at SVI Women in Vancouver, a three-day conference dedicated to women committed to social change in business.

Here’s the presentation in case you’d like to see it. As always, the best part of any presentation isn’t what I’m saying or showing but the active participation with, and among, the attendees.

For a sense of what we discussed in person, jump below the slides.

A few of the questions that I can remember are:

• Should I be on Twitter?
  Only if your business goals include reaching an audience active on that network AND you have the resources to commit to daily engagement.
• When is the best time to post on my social networks?
  Depends—there are lots of studies that can give you general guidelines, but you should experiment with when your particular audience is most active and likely to see your posts in their stream. But here are a few great infographics to start: The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Networks and The Science of Social Timing.
• What can I do to protect my intellectual property on Pinterest?
  Tough one—only you can decide if it’s worth the risk of posting content on Pinterest. Some creative are watermarking images to highlight copyright ownership, but is that enough? Check out Creators Against Pinterest to see what other artists think.

The most divided opinions centered on who should be handling social media for your organization: I maintain that this isn’t a task that you want to delegate to either interns or outside agencies.

After all, you’re using social media to build critical relationships with customers, partners and stakeholders. Entrust the task to those who are invested in your organization, closest to your brand and clear about evolving business goals.

Unfortunately, interns and even agencies come and go—when they leave, you’ll have to start over again.

But that’s just my opinion and there were folks in the workshop who’d had excellent experiences using interns and outside experts, including Denise Taschereau of Fairware.

And that’s the best lesson: what works for me may not make sense for you. There’s never been a single formula for success, especially not in the fast-paced arena digital media.