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Carmen
@digitalfemme
Perhaps the biggest time saver has been TweetDeck. Because you can organize it into columns, I have my All Friends column and a list I call A-List. I follow way to many people to keep up on all their tweets all the time. What I do is put those in my A-List who I don't want to miss. And this list is a living list. What I mean by that is I add to and take away from this list when I feel I need to.
Social media can be a huge time sucker if you allow it to be. So we have to be careful.
This post has great advice that I can see working for the lion's share of people. The most important of these guidelines for me are giving new sites 30 days (even though I only give 2 weeks and then come back in a month, 2 months or more depending on what the buzz for a site is doing) because social media is far from settled. Innovation is abound and you're only hurting your chances of social media success by not trying everything with potential.
The other important tip here to me is "picking the big stones." I always advise my clients to pick one social network (preferably the one with thier audience already already within it) and do it well before even thinking about another one. Yes, this seems at odds with what I just wrote about innovation, but the key is that you have to be doing one network expertly before you experiment. Once someone has really devoted time and effort to one social network, he/she will have a better chance at already having an audience built in to any new network he/she joins
Now, I don't, by any means, want to devalue what you've written, but the strategies listed in 3, 4, and 5 simply don't work for me. As a general rule, I use social media as a "break" between projects. While I'm constantly Tweeting, I use social media communications as a "reward" when I finish something. This works for me because I am constantly switching hats from proposal writer to video editor to media relations guy to event planning to strategist, etc. A few brief online conversations serve as a palette cleanser for my brain.
Welp, you asked for it, those are my thoughts. Thanks, as always, for a great read.
I actually have a countdown timer that I use for other purposes, and now I'll use it for social media.
There are many tools/apps out there for many platforms, so finding ones which work best for you often help! (For instance, I use several for Twitter pending on the type of work I am doing at the time! Twhirl (when more able to participate whilst doing other tasks at the screen), FireStatus (for active listening) and the old fashioned web interface too amongst others. Twibble works for mobi well too when out and about well)
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/11/soci...
Part of the research I did for an article for TechSoup called the Habits of Highly Effective Social Networkers - looks like you hit them!
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet...
John
If we don't get it under control, then we face the risk of being out of control. I am one of those needing to be more disciplined and your suggestions will help with that.
Cheers,
Graham
@Graham - You are very welcome my friend! I too am always struggling with being more disciplined.
For me it's more the time of the day that affects me more than anything else. I am far more motivated in the wee small hours of the morning and seem to get so much more done.
Using a timer might be an option for me. I'll have to try that as I frequently get caught up in YouTube and Twitter.
But, perhaps just as important are frames of reference. A frame of reference that helps guide your experimentation of what works with these certain set of circumstances from your particular point of view. This post is a great example of one such reference, good work John.
Your idea of the index card is great. It makes sense to sort out them all out and write it down so you remember. It's all too easy to "forget" what the purpose is and get sucked in again.
I already talk to myself quite a bit, but I could use more "Good jobs" and less "What the hell are you doings?"
Grant Griffith's suggestion to turn off the stream while you're on a project is rock solid. That's the only way I get anything done.
The other danger is when you don't have a specific project, how do you keep from getting sucked in?
I try to make projects out of my marketing efforts and work on them with clear deadlines and goals (daily). That way I know what I should be doing and at the end of the day what I've actually done.
It's not an exact science because things like Tweetdeck need to just be open sometimes and I need to allow myself the ability to respond to something random. It's more effective when I do that because I meet more new people and have better conversations.
It's a balancing act for sure, but it responds well to large amounts of coffee.
Again, thanks for helping me with one of my resolutions!
I made a blog post about my social media diet and would love your opinions!
I will definitely link out to these great points you laid out. Look forward to staying in touch.
- Jun Loayza
Thank you so much
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