Let's face it, there is never enough time in our day to manage everything, let alone social media. Our intentions are good, i.e., we wake up and think about everything we plan to accomplish today, but sometimes that's not enough. Often our mental planning falls victim to the realities of our inboxes, random assignments and requests, family, friends... you name it. So how do we get in front of this and regain control? How do we add in the importance of managing our social media presence with so much going on?
Schedule It!
That's right, we learn to schedule our social media activities using a good ole fashioned calendar (paper or digital is fine). We have to move away from being reactive to the never-ending distraction of social media Likes, Comments, Tweets, New Stories, etc., to a scheduled approach on our terms.
It may seem trivial, but many people find it hard to avoid checking their accounts around the clock, from the moment they wake up till they go to sleep. According to businessinsider.com, people in the United States spend 114 billion minutes per month on Facebook alone. It's clear we spend a lot of time on sites like Facebook, yet how many of those minutes are unplanned vs. planned? How many of those minutes are spent on specific activities, based on an allocated amount of time and set of tasks?
Tips to Manage Your Social Media Time Effectively
1. Rank your social media sites in order of importance, e.g., 1) Facebook, 2) Twitter, 3) Instagram, etc. Ranking should be based on where you gain the most value related to your personal brand, business, networking, etc.
2. For each site listed above, identify your reasons for using them and what you're trying to accomplish. For example, "I'm using Twitter to establish new relationships with people in the Music and Film industry. I'd like to meet someone that can mentor me in the area of video production and editing."
3. Once you know the sites of importance and what you're looking to accomplish, the next step is define specific tasks that support your objective(s). For example, "I need to search for people on Twitter that tweet about video production and editing, those in the industry, and those that are responsive to their followers, etc."
4. Next, decide up front how much time to allocate and what day(s) are best to take action. Keep your time slots between 30-60 minutes, so you prevent yourself from becoming distracted or bored.
5. Lastly, schedule it! Then treat it like another meeting you have on a specific day and time. Show up, and take action. And when possible, remove distractions like your cell phone. Create an environment where you can focus 100%.