Community Manager Productivity: Reviving Your Inbox & Evernote Success at Work
Last Tuesday was the first SF Community Manager Meetup of 2013 and we focused this session on productivity. For community managers, one major challenge is finding that balance between daily tasks and time for strategic planning. One area where I'd like to improve upon is bringing more productivity into my daily tasks, which include email and content production. Luckily, I invited Aye Moah, Head of Product, Baydin and Joshua Zerkel, Evernote Ambassador, to teach the group some tips and tricks on how to do just that.
Last Tuesday was the first SF Community Manager Meetup of 2013 and we focused this session on productivity. For community managers, one major challenge is finding that balance between daily tasks and time for strategic planning. One area where I'd like to improve upon is bringing more productivity into my daily tasks, which include email and content production. Luckily, I invited Aye Moah, Head of Product, Baydin and Joshua Zerkel, Evernote Ambassador, to teach the group some tips and tricks on how to do just that.
Moah gave us stellar tips and tricks on finding success in your inbox and Joshua taught us the best way to organize your work life with Evernote.
Here are few highlights from these productivity thought leaders:
Inbox Productivity:
- Archive everything over a month old - you won't get to it anyways
- Make subjects searchable for YOU - be selfish so you can find it later
- To increase response rate, summarize what you need in the first sentence
- When asking for something, try to send when the recipient's blood sugar is high (right after lunch!)
- Use Boomerang by Baydin to keep your inbox actionable, send reminders and find "Inbox Few"
For more inbox tips make sure to follow Moah on Twitter @AyeMoah and download Boomerang for ample productivity. www.reviveyourinbox.com
Using Evernote for Work:
- Evernote is a perfect tool for creating and capturing content
- Create a notebook for your eBooks, whitepapers and PDFs - drag and drop, read later
- Use tags for serious search power - Evernote can even search scanned articles
- Set up a recipe with Zapier to send Twitter mentions to Evernote
- Be clear on how you want to use Evernote and be strategic about your notes
Joshua just released an eBook about using Evernote at work - make sure to check out www.NotesAtWork.com and follow him @JoshuaZerkel
It was extremely educational and I walked away with items I know I'll use in my day-to-day. Make sure to join the SF Community Manager Meetup for news on upcoming events: http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Community-Managers/
Email Hacks: How I (Attempt) To Respond to 100+ Emails a Day
Oh email. Some people don't get any at all; some get a lot. Some people have to power to not answer emails, unfortunately it's a huge part of my job. Community managers are in constant communication with team members and said managed community - this includes emails.
Oh email. Some people don't get any at all; some get a lot. Some people have to power to not answer emails, unfortunately it's a huge part of my job. Community managers are in constant communication with team members and said managed community - this includes emails.
"If it's important they'll email twice" - have you heard that before? That's actually a terrible philosophy, particularly if you are a representative in your user community or a manager. Over the past few years I've picked up a few tips and tricks that help me get through this abundance of daily emails.
First Things First, Data!
Do you even know how much email you get? Who's sending it? Who are you responding to the most and how fast? Meet Gmail Meter - it's just a simple Gmail script but at the end of each month it sends you all kinds of data on your email:
Where are you spending most of your time? Who's sending you tons of email? I personally like to measure how long my emails are outbound vs. how long emails are that people send to me. Which brings me to...
TL;DR - Make Emails Short
Your emails should be 3-5 sentences. If you must make them longer, provide a TL;DR at the top. Sometimes you need to provide links, more information, etc which is fine, just make sure the important information is in the top 3 sentences. For you as a sender, the reader will only read the first 3-5 lines which you know is true for the mail you receive too. Thus, I fly through emails because I don't read past the 3rd sentence.
I would actually recommend crafting important emails like you would a PR person pitching a journalist to make sure they are read and responded to. Short and Sweet.
Make Responses Actionable
You know when you send an email and the person comes back with a million questions? Or maybe the email just says...nothing. When you respond to an email thread try to close it out - meaning create action items and/or end the conversation. Here's an example:
"Did you see this event? It looks like it might be valuable for us to attend or sponsor. What do you think?"
Your response might be:
"Does look interesting! Any details on sponsorship? What fun things could we do there?"
That response is terrible! You just spurred a never-ending email thread. Here's what your response should be:
"Looks valuable. You take lead on getting sponsorship information. I'll coordinate with team to figure out who is available to attend and let's put a 30 min time on the calendar to re-group on Thursday."
Now people are moving to action and you won't have another email on that thread. Great job! Always Be Closing...email threads.
Timing is Everything
If you work in Startup Land, do not try to do emails Sunday evening - you will just get responses from everyone and start Monday with inbox 200. My general tips for timing include:
- Monday is email day - commit and knock it out. It's what everyone else is doing anyways.
- Evenings and particularly Friday afternoons are GREAT for emails - no one responds, you will get to inbox zero and close out everything for the day or week.
- Sunday afternoon is risky, definitely don't hang around your inbox after 3pm.
- See top right graph.
Boomerang isn't a Tool, It's a Lifestyle
If you have yet to discover Boomerang by Baydin, now is the time. Get emails out of your inbox and have them return to you when you're ready to take action. Think about email follow ups, get it sent back to you if no one responds to a thread or when you need to re-ping someone. Now with calendar integration you can set meetings and dates without leaving your inbox.
Go Forth, Find Email Productivity
The most important part of email productivity is to get out of your inbox. You have to get up from beneath the daily grind to strategize, plan and move things forward. Best of luck to everyone with exploding inboxes.