Social media is distracting and it often leads to you wasting hours of your time, which is perfectly acceptable – if you are just a person. But if you are a person handling a brand page or profile on social media, wasting time isn’t an option.
We are all aware of how quickly news cruise and disappear on social media. If you want to have an effective and viable social media page, you need to be quick, present and productive.
Knowing how hard it can be sometimes, we have prepared a quick guide to not wasting your time on social media.
Start with a strategy
First, you need a goal. What do you want to achieve with your social media page? Is it to gain more followers, raise brand awareness, get more conversions or something else entirely?
Once you set your goal, it’s time to come up with a plan on how to get there. Each of the goal mentioned will require a different strategy.
With a goal in mind and a solid plan on how to get to that goal, you’ll have a good head start in your social media efforts.
Automate what you can
When handling a social media page or a profile of a brand, you end up doing a lot of tedious, time-consuming tasks that waste time and don’t do anything to bring you closer to your goals.
Find a way to automate any unnecessary task.
For instance, create auto-responses for different comments or messages – something like “We are not here at the moment, someone will get back at you in a bit”.
You can also automate your posts as per your schedule and get that out of the way. Find any task that you can automate and do it – it will make your job so much easier and bring your focus to where it matters.
Set a time for social media
“One of the best ways to prevent yourself from wasting time on social media is to set a dedicated time to log in. For instance, you can log in twice a day – once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Make it a 15 to a 30-minute task. This way, you’ll do only what needs to be done – check and respond to comments and messages, share or like relevant posts and so on”, – says Isla Gerrick, a content writer from Boomessays and Essayroo.
Have a purpose every time you go online
Don’t just go online for the sake of being online. Have a goal each time. For instance, maybe you want to spend time interacting with consumers in the comment section, posting an update about an event or engaging with other brands.
Each action you make online should be done with purpose and thoughtfulness.
So, you would interact with customers in the comment section because you want to build a good relationship, post an update about an event because you want to inform and entice engagement and so on.
Use a content calendar
A surefire way to avoid wasting your time is having a content calendar.
For instance, you gather your team at the beginning of each month to brainstorm ideas and come up with a schedule – what and when you’ll post, what and when you’ll share, what you’ll repost etc. Always leave some wiggle room in case something exciting and surprising happens so you can share about it.
But other than really important events, stick to your original schedule in order to be productive.
Be a real person
“Even though the whole purpose of your social media efforts is to achieve a goal and be effective, don’t forget to be human. Respond like a real person, not a machine. Engage as you would with your friends and be aware that your customers need your attention if they have a problem”, – says Tom Baker, an SMM from Ukwritings.
Spend Your Time On Social Media Wisely
With social media, it’s easy to go down a rabbit hole and forget about effectiveness. However, there are tools that can help you change that as well as some mindset changes that you need to make. Make sure that each step you take in your social media efforts brings you closer to your goals while remaining humble and human with your followers.
