Social Media: 4 Tips On Keeping Your Focus
September 18th, 2010 at 11:11 am by Livvie
With all the buzz about social media, social networking, and other social sites, it can get very frustrating not to mention distracting.
Social media is a great marketing tool, but be careful. It is about being social yes…but you must keep your focus.
Facebook has many distractions. Applications, games, surveys, sending cards and flowers, joining different groups…etc. Twitter can be distracting as well with all the tweets coming through, applications, responses, direct messages… etc
I’ve witnessed this first hand. There can be so many things to try to do, applications to try, posting on Facebook and Twitter, creating a profile for LinkedIn and just the day to day “to dos” in addition to so much to learn.
This is one of the main questions asked, “How much time will I have to put into social media”? The answer depends on what you want to accomplish and yes, you will have to spend some time with update, responses, and blog postings.
How focused you are can determine if it’s a lot of time or just the right amount of time needed.
Here are a few tips:
1. Determine your focus: Always stick to your core messages and values. Make sure your posts reflect those messages and values. The general rule is 80%-90% business and 10%-20% personal.
2. Make a list: Write down what you want to accomplish today, this week, this month. Break it down into “do-able” sizes and cross them off as you complete them. There’s something about seeing a list with accomplishments marked off that keeps the energy flowing.
3. Set your timer: Allow specific items a specific amount of time to get accomplished. When the timer goes off, wrap it up and move to the next item. If you’ve time it right, hopefully the item is complete, but if it’s not, it’s well on it way to completion when addressed the next time.
4. Allow times for breaks: This can be one of the most look over items. Stop what you are doing, walk away from your desk and on to your porch or deck. Take a few deep breaths of fresh air. If you can’t go out at the moment, if there is a window near your desk, just turn away from your desk and enjoy the view outside your window.
All through the summer I’ve enjoyed watching several humming birds flying around the hanging basket near my computer room window.
Following through on the suggestions mention above will help with your time. As your blog and your social sites grow, more responsibilities may come into play. You can always outsource to a third party as few or as many of those responsibilities as needed for you to be able to concentrate on getting your content out.
These are just a few things to help you keep your focus. What can you add to the list?
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Livvie, again you are right on the mark. There ARE so many ways to waste time on Social Media… This is a tool to build great relationships, but it is no different than building relationships with folks at an office. If you want to get things done, you hank out with others that get things done, not those that complain about the direction the company is going. Same holds true in social media… How much time spent on Farmville vs creating meaningful relationships with folks that help you grow your business?
One more thing… You talked about being social… that is so important. I read recently a couple guys talking about how much of your effort should be spent on self promotion compared to adding value to others. One guy thought it should be 90% helping others vs 10% promoting yourself. The other guy thought the numbers should be 60% others vs 40% self. Either way, helping others should make up a significant amount of a person’s “social” time if they want to be successful in this medium.
Hi Joe, and thanks for your comments and glad you enjoyed the video as well. I always look forward to your comments. You are also on target with social media. It is a great tool IF used and managed correctly or it can be a big drain on time and energy.