It’s easy to be overwhelmed when notifications, messages, and comments from all your social media accounts are coming at you left, right, and centre. It may seem impossible to stay in control of it all.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. You can make some smart and strategic moves by planning and being savvier about how you manage your time on social media.
Here are my top tips to help you stay in control of your social media:
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Clean up your social media accounts
Do you find that when you’re scrolling through your social media feeds there is a lot of content that just isn’t relevant to you or your business? Then it is time to clean up.
It may seem unfriendly to unfollow or unfriend people, but it is necessary in maintaining your social media.
By letting go of accounts that are irrelevant to you or your business, you make space for more valuable connections.
Here are a couple of sites that can help you clean up your social media accounts:
Tweepi: This site will find those accounts that don’t follow you back and clear out the inactive accounts.
Crowdfireapp: Instead of going through all your followers who don’t follow you back on Twitter or Instagram, Crowdfireapp collates and lets you unfollow in bulk with one simple red button.
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Finding relevant accounts
Now that your clean-up is done, it is time to search for people or influencers that are relevant to you or your business.
It can be difficult to find these people, but there are sites that can help you find your hubs.
Twitter search on Twitter is really helpful for searching keywords, hashtags, or people you want to follow. Just type in keywords that are relevant to your industry and suggestions will start to pop up.
Find social network sites that are suitable for you to find people or influencers to follow and engage with. Other social media network tools include Sprout Social, Social Mention, and SmashFuse.
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Scheduling
Scheduling posts makes it really easy to post at more popular times, be time efficient, and get more engagement with your audience.
HootSuite and Buffer are two great sites that will schedule your posts for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ in advance. With this, you can sit down, plan all your posts and have a site post them at your convenience.
So now you only have to go in and out of your social media accounts to respond and engage with people engaging in your content.
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Set limits
Being productive when it comes to social media can be really hard. You can fall into the social media black hole and before you know it, you’ve spent hours scrolling through your feeds and reading articles. By setting limits, it can help you be more productive.
Limit the time you spend on each social media platform. Set a timer so you don’t lose track of time and when the timer goes off, return to your regular work or activities.
Try setting up a couple of 30-minute timed social media sessions a day, and soon you will feel that you are being much more purposeful and effective with your time.
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Take a break
Being overwhelmed and bombarded by your social media can lead to fatigue. Take a break from social media on a regular basis to take time to renew, recharge and come back refreshed.
Social media can be overwhelming, but by thinking about managing your sites laterally, you will be able to stay in control.
