25 hours of status updates

Every day, there are more Social Media venues that demand your attention. Every day, there are more people that you need to connect with and respond to. Yet every day, there are only 24 available hours. Time is finite, but what you "need" to do each day seems to grow, and grow, and grow. What to do?

Consider these four approaches:

1) Strategy: Over the last few years, most people have been experimenting with social media. This isn't bad, as it has allowed learning to take place. Now is the time to think about doing social media strategically: goals, measurement, venues etc. It's time to quit experimenting, and only do what gives you a positive return on your efforts.

2) Integration: given the nature of social media and the underlying RSS technology, content from one site (your blog, for example) can automatically appear within other sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and many others. If you're spending the time to create content, why not magnify the impact? (www.onlinePRsocialmedia.com can tell you how.)

3) Scheduling: work the tasks that are left into your calendar by scheduling specific times to do specific things. Send a Tweet or update your status first thing in the morning. Respond to questions over lunch. Check your friends' posts and photos later at night. Whatever your scheduled frequency, lock social media "care and feeding" into a specific chunk of time.

4) Share the load: must you do everything? Here are a few ideas reduce your personal social media load even further.

• Ask a guest blogger to occasionally write your content
• Do a team blog, sharing writing responsibilities with your colleagues
• Delegates status checks to an admin person

This week's action item: Are you spending too much time on social media? If the answer is yes, then do something about it. Spend more time connecting in the real world, and if you must be online, then at least be efficient: before you start: strategize, integrate, schedule and share. You can't create a 25th hour each day, but you can use the 24 you have more effectively.

Randall Craig is an expert on Social Media, Networking, and Career Planning; to find out how his workshops, webinars, and keynotes can help your team or add to your event, contact him through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com, or by email at editor@ptadvisors.com.

Make It Happen Tipsheet
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Copyright © 2010 Knowledge to Action Press and Randall Craig. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: June 15, 2010