When it comes to social media, it can be one of the best business tools in your arsenal. It gives you an ideal way to find, connect and interact with your perfect clients, as well as build potential joint venture partnerships.
But social media can also take over your life! We’re told we have to interact several times a day on the different platforms AND interact; so how can you manage social media without it taking over your life?
Use an editorial calendar
An editorial calendar serves to main purposes. Firstly, it helps you plan your content, so you can easily see at-a-glance what you will have in store for the month ahead. Secondly, it enables you to see exactly where your potential downfalls may be. This includes gaps in your calendar and/or potential overloads and bunches of information. If you need help with your editorial calendar, check out our previous post here.
Schedule in advance
There are several platforms out there that enable you to schedule your content in advance. Hootsuite and TweetDeck are two popular platforms and you can also use Facebooks own scheduling facility for scheduling onto your Facebook pages. You can then allocate an hour or two, once a month to forward schedule your entire month’s content onto the various different social media sites.
Minimise what platforms you use
When it comes to selecting which social media platforms to use, less really is more. If you join all the different sites, you’ll never keep up with the content needed on your own. Look to select 1-2 different sites and learn to master those, before deciding if you need to move onto any more sites.
Limit your notifications
We have gotten so used to being available 24-7 – especially when it comes to social media. We have it linked to our main laptop or pc, our tablets and phones but this isn’t always a good thing, as it can distract us from focusing on things that are more important. Don’t become a slave to social media. Turn off those notifications and check for updates when you’re ready to do so.
Limit the time spent on each platform
If you want to really tame social media, you have to limit the amount of time you spend on there. Set yourself a set amount of time AND a set time (or two) per day, to go in and check for updates, interact and browse. If you need to, set a timer to remind you when it’s time to leave again!
Interacting on social media doesn’t have to be time consuming or difficult. Follow these five steps to really tame your social media – before it takes over your life!
How do you tame your social media accounts? Which of these five steps was the most helpful for you? Maybe you have another useful tip you could share with us? Why not share your tips and experiences in the comments box below.