Do you plan to work during your summer vacation? Or at least check email and voicemail?
If so, you're not alone. Fifty percent of salespeople and 37 percent of information technology and financial services professionals check in with work while they're on vacation, CNN says. It's often just too tempting to check in when your iPhone or BlackBerry is in your beach bag next to your sunscreen, bottle of water and a bestselling novel on your Kindle.
But even though mobile technologies help keep us connected 24/7 from practically anywhere on the planet, it's important to find a balance between monitoring your business and disconnecting from the daily grind. With that in mind, here are seven ways you can put your engagement marketing campaigns on autopilot while you take a well-earned break:
1. Keep email newsletters brief. If you usually include two or three features in your e-newsletter, write just one. Or, if you publish a monthly newsletter, combine two months into one. Think of a topic related to your business or industry that will help your customers through the summer months and write your summer email newsletter in advance so you won't have to work on this as your vacation nears.
2. Pre-schedule your social media posts. You can pre-schedule your business's Twitter and Facebook posts by using a tool such as HootSuite. Just remember, if you're going to start a conversation on social media, someone has to be available to monitor and respond to feedback. Either pack your smartphone so you can respond to tweets from the beach, or assign a reliable employee to monitor the channels for you.
Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing
That goes for anything you preschedule -- whether it's an email newsletter, a social media discussion or other form of customer engagement. Make sure there's someone there to respond when customers express interest.
3. Set an email auto-reply that says "we're open for business." Don't leave your customers hanging while you're off parasailing. If you're prescheduling your email newsletter, an event reminder or other marketing campaign, change your standard auto-reply email that says, "I'm currently out of the office" to something more fun and creative that lets customers know the business is still operating in your absence. Direct queries to whoever is covering for you so your customers won't have to wait too long to get the help they need.
4. Consolidate social media activity. If you just can't bring yourself to completely disconnect, consider using a free service like NutshellMail, which delivers your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media activity right to your email and smartphone.
5. Schedule "work time" on vacation and stick to it. Make a promise to yourself and your friends and family that you'll only check your email once in the morning and once again at night. That's it. Then leave your phone in your hotel room or turn it off and enjoy your day.
Related: What Summer Vacation?
6. Add new acquaintances to your mailing list. Admit it: You'll probably slip a few business cards into your beach tote, backpack or Bermuda shorts. Whether you meet new friends at a resort or on a cruise, or gather with old friends at a backyard barbecue, don't miss an opportunity to grow your connections. Ask your fellow summer celebrants if they'd like to join your mailing list or connect with you on Facebook and Twitter.
7. Clear your head. Sometimes creative brainstorms happen when you're not working at all. While you're soaking up the rays, reading by a lake or hiking up a mountain -- however you kick back -- take a moment to think about what's worked and what hasn't in this year's marketing campaigns. Muse about what would be important to retool or try, and put those items on your post-vacation to-do list.
Related: Five Creativity Exercises to Find Your Passion
If you plan ahead and use the tools and technologies at hand, you'll be able to relax and enjoy your vacation while also remaining productive.
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Comments:
your assistance will be the one to take over your work just make an orientation before you have your vacation
nice tips, you can do at the same time working on vacation this is for the person who has a hectic schedule even on vacation you can still work
This has been very helpful, it makes one enjoy their holidays without frustrating customers.
Great tips! I have been implementing some of these for my social media marketing on weekends- so I can actually enjoy my weekend without checking my phone every 20 minutes. I think it's important to work 100% when you're working, and vacation 100% when you're vacationing.
Using Hoot Suite and other automated forms for Twitter and Social Media have their purpose such as what was written in the article. However do not get handicapped by using these services full time, and make sure you still post genuine content from one social media site to another. This way your not hurting your page rank with your website.
Or perhaps, you may hire a virtual assistant to help you enjoy your vacation fuss-free... and you can even unplug for 24 hours and check all your mails after. What's the point of going on a vacation anyway? I love your tips though - makes sense..
My assistant helps me out quite a bit with phone calls from people looking for apartments or homes to lease or purchase in the Houston area. http://har.com/alanharper and http://cashbackapartmentlocating.com
This is some great advice. I am a college student heavily involved with social media. So rather than vacation time I get paranoid during class time that I am not getting back to people right away. Just thought you should know this article relates to people like me too!
When it comes to a startup in its first six or twelve months, a week-long vacation is equivalent to about 2-4% of the life of the start-up. And because keeping up the momentum is key, working on vacation is a must. I like step 5 the best. Schedule work time AND know what you're going to be doing during that time. If you don't, you may end up spending too much time or accomplishing too little. Keith Hanson Founder, RateYourSeats.com
Hi Gail, Great tips. It is so tempting to look at email on my iphone but last weekend I did take a long weekend and completely unplugged. I find having my assistant cover my inbox while I am gone is helpful and makes it easier to relax knowing if there is an emergency I will hear about it without getting sucked into working. It is so important to keep the marketing funnel full even in the summer. Here are a few tips http://businessoptimizercoach.com/leadstory/how-to-increase-sales-and-profits-in-your-business-during-the-dog-days-of-summer-and-still-have-fun/
I don't divide my life into work and vacation time and I try to make each day balanced so that I don't have to go on a vacation to unwind. I agree with scheduling specific times to work and I like to get up early while everybody is sleeping to get things done.
Hootsuite is a fantastic solution for marketing while you're on vacation. In fact, I use it as part of my strategy for clients and my own projects. Great service. Thank you for the NutshellMail resource - first time I've heard of it. Time to go check that one out! Jon
Great advice! Might we also suggest if you are a local business you might want to stay on top of the chatter about your business from the numerous review sites. With chatmeter's email alerts you can get notified when it happens respond and get back to your vacation http://www.chatmeter.com
I totally agree with this! If you plan ahead then you can get the most out of your vacation. But, disconnecting is essential. The worst thing I see (I live in vacation destination town) is people who are so focused on their phones/laptops that they ignore their family/friends/environment. We've become a society obsessed with our technology; sometimes, we just need to unplug and proper planning will help us achieve total (REAL) relaxation. -Christina
scheduling blog posts is a godsend.