How do you measure your own social media productivity? Is it a simple measure of how many items get checked off your to-do list, or is there something else you use to measure how well you’re doing? As a social media manager, here are some ideas I’ve developed over the years. I hope they spark some ideas of your own.
Group by platform and task
That is, usually I take one social media platform and work on that platform for all my accounts. So I’ll read through Twitter for all my accounts, for instance, before heading over to Facebook. I’ll check comments, reply, and post for the future on Facebook. Then head over to Instagram, interact with people, and plan some posts for the upcoming day or two. You might enjoy some other productivity tips here: 11 Ways Being Outdoors Can Improve Your Productivity. Yes, they’re different than the ones you’re reading now! (For instance, there are ewoks.)
Watch your language and hashtags
For Instagram, I usually schedule separately through the Meta scheduler. There, I can schedule for both Facebook and Instagram at the same time, but use different language for each. Although the boundaries between the different platforms are merging, there are still some benefits to using different language for each platform. I’ve written about this back in the day, and you might like Had Enough of the Boundaries Blurring Between Social Media Platforms? So, for instance, hashtags are minimal on Twitter (even though hashtags originated there), whereas on Instagram they are encouraged. If you use boatloads of hashtags on Twitter, your reach will drop.
Take breaks–even from social media and even from being online
Taking lots of breaks is key to staying sane. I like to take Sundays off, at the very least. Usually Saturdays, too. And this week, I also took Monday off! It was wonderful! In a Psychology Today article, Social Media Breaks and Why They Are Necessary, Kristen Fuller, M.D. talks about using apps to track your time on social media so you can scale back.
Social Media and Productivity: Five Simple Ideas Image by นิธิ วีระสันติ from Pixabay
Plan for the next day
Maybe you do this already? Do you? I leave myself about 15 minutes each evening to go over what I need to get done the next day. Then each item gets prioritized according to how important it is. Leave lots of white space in your planner for those unexpected tasks which always seem to crop up out of nowhere.
Plan to not do everything
If you love to get things done, this one might be the most difficult for you! It is for me. A couple or maybe a few of those things are not going to happen. And if you can decide ahead of time which are low priority, your life will be better. So maybe in terms of social media productivity, you’ll only check LinkedIn once a week. Or maybe you’ll choose to ignore TikTok. Or what the heck–both! What not go for broke?
What things do you leave off your to-do list?
Is there anything you don’t do, that maybe other people do? Leave me a comment! And thanks for reading.
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