What I have learnt in 2011
As the year draws to a close many of us look back and think about out successes and our achievements in the previous 12 months and what has defined our year. I think for me 2011 will go down as my year of learning.
I feel I have gained a whole new perspective and voice in the last year thanks in large part to social media.
This time last year I had never written any type of business blog. Now, not only do I blog a minimum of once a week, I can proudly say that I have twice been a guest blogger and one of those guest blogs was published in a magazine!
I have also found my voice in some of the groups I belong to in LinkedIn. I have been able to participate and in some cases start conversations that have spawned quite a lot of feedback.
I have learned the tricks of Twitter and how to Tweet and though I am on the fence as to how much benefit Twitter is to me or my business, at least I am using it and by next year I hope to have better metrics to let me know the value of spending time on Twitter and Tweeting!
By dipping my toe into the proverbial Social Media water I have embarked on using Hubspot (and I am a big fan, what an incredible tool, technology made easy) and though our website has plenty of areas that need work, I now have a plan to not only improve the content, but to change the whole look and feel. Check back early in the new year and hopefully the new look will be live by then.
I have also started working on our LinkedIn and Facebook Company profiles and again though these are only baby steps they are leaps and bounds ahead of what I did in 2010!
I am certainly not going to sit back on my laurels nor pat myself on the back, though I admit to feeling satisfied with this years achievements, there is still lots of work to do and many areas to improve and enhance. The 2012 Marketing & Sales Plan is the next big item on my agenda and the lessons learnt this year will go a long way to defining that plan.
So as you look back on 2011 how would you describe your year? Did something define how you worked and will it lead you forward into 2012. I asked mystelf today am I looking forward and am I ready for 2012. And my answer to myself "you betcha!"