Guest Blog: How Marketing Teams Can Collaborate Online
When you market for a small business, it may be easy to gather the team and work around the same conference table on a daily basis. However, when you are working with a corporation that spans across several different offices, sharing information and keeping project management going smoothly is not as simple. Thankfully, the Internet affords an opportunity to share documents, keep your entire marketing team on top of campaign progress, and pitch new ideas. Here are three ways your marketing team can collaborate online.
Cloud Service
Whether it’s a Microsoft Word document or an Excel spreadsheet that tracks the progress of specific marketing tactics, sometimes your team needs to share the same file. Cloud services, such as Google Drive, are often free and allow multiple users to work on the same document from any computer. Without the cloud, the team will have to send the paperwork back and forth over email, which means lots of big attachments that will clog up your email inbox. A cloud service will usually indicate which team member makes changes to a document, so the project manager knows who alters what. You can also upload photos, so your marketing team can keep abreast of the creative scheme changes.
Social Media
When your marketing efforts include social media plans, it often makes sense to get together on social media sites. Fortunately, you don’t have to share your marketing plans with the world just because you’re on a social network. Privacy settings allow you to share photos, comments, files, and polls within your marketing team where no one else can see. For instance, you can create a group with a “Secret” status on Facebook and other users won’t be able to see that your group exists or its content. You can also create an event, such as a marketing team conference call, and invite everyone in the Facebook group. Since social media is accessible via any computer or mobile device with a data connection, checking in with your collaborators is possible from nearly anywhere.
WebEx
WebEx lets you not only share a conference call with fellow marketers, but also share your computer screen so they can see your documents and you can talk them through Power Point presentations. When you’re pitching a new campaign or creative agenda, WebEx comes in extremely handy. Each person at the WebEx meeting is invited via email and can RSVP to the meeting creator in just a few clicks. Participants then receive an toll free number to call when it’s time to log in.
Collaborating online is a streamlined way of getting your entire team together, even when you are working from different offices. Thanks to these tools, you can stay in touch with your marketing team and share everything from brochure copy to creative material like photos and colour schemes. Make sure that everyone on your team is savvy enough to handle these online tools, or some members may end up missing important document changes or having trouble logging in to a WebEx meeting.
Pamela Ramos has extensive experience as a website marketing consultant. Her articles mainly appear on business marketing blogs. Check out the Yodle reviews from customers for more ideas.
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