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.

What is the worst social media practice, you might ask? Because I’m a social media manager, I get to see a lot of websites and social media accounts. There are a few that stand out for all the wrong reasons. Here are just a few. The good news is that most of them are easy fixes. Some may require that you hire a developer to fix your website, but they will help your business!

No e-commerce is one of the worst social media practices

Recently, I saw a social media account with a website in the profile. The website had buttons for e-commerce, but none of them worked. So there was no way to buy anything online. There’s still a pandemic (and even if there wasn’t a pandemic, people want to go online and have things delivered if possible), and people are still busy and tired.

Fix: If you can set up a way for people to buy from you, please make it easy. Don’t make potential customers memorize a secret password, call you, and make an appointment during the one hour a week you’re actually open. (Unless you’re a practical joker, and don’t have any intention of ever selling anything! In that case, two thumbs up!)

Worst Social Media Practices (and how to avoid them). Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay

No profile picture

When you have no profile picture, it looks like no one is home. This is one of the worst social media practices there is. Now that everyone has a camera in their pocket, it’s more critical than ever to have a decent photo. See what Social Champ says in their article The Importance of Social Media Images. “In one study, they discovered that content paired with an image attracted 94% more views on average than content without visuals.”

Fix: This is an easy one to fix. If you don’t have a profile picture please take one. Even a picture of your cat or your puppy is better than nothing. Seriously, though. Get a picture. Even if it’s a crummy picture, it’s better than having nothing. By the way, I’ve talked about the importance of improvising before. You might like How to MacGyver Your Social Media.

Posting sporadically

People may go to your website, where you say you have every platform under the sun. But when you go to any of those platforms, your last post was in 2018. Has this happened to your brand?

Fix: Why not schedule out at least a few posts, but spread them out a bit? Put out one post per month, at the very least, so we know the account is still alive? Please.

Magical thinking is — you guessed it! — one of the worst social media practices

Some people think that social media is magic. But the truth is that it’s a lot of hard work! I’ve written about Magical Thinking before. You might like Magical Thinking and Social Media.

Fix: Sometimes one person tells two people tells four people, and so on. But usually that doesn’t happen. Be realistic about what social media can do and you’ll be happier.

Ugly pictures

By ugly, what I mean is that sometimes the pictures are spammy with big, red SALE splotches all over them, or out of focus, or you can’t even tell what something is.

Fix: It’s 2022, and images are more important than ever. Don’t post an image of a flyer that looks like it’s from 1998, unless your shop is all about the 90s.

Immediately spamming with private messages

This happens on Twitter, and not so much on other platforms, although recently I had someone try to sell me something on Facebook in a private message.

Fix: Don’t do this until you have a relationship with someone. Even then, tread carefully. You risk being blocked or reported, plus losing that person as a follower.

First of all, what the heck is a metaverse (or is it the metaverse?)? And why do I need to know about it? Once I start explaining it, you’ll understand a little better and maybe even realize that you’re soaking in it right now! During the pandemic, we all moved into virtual reality, at least a little bit. Except for a few people who didn’t want to give up their tin foil hats, that is. I’m joking about the tin foil hats.

First, how about a definition?

“The metaverse (a portmanteau of “meta-” and “universe”) is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environment through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Metaverses, in some limited form, are already present on platforms like VRChat or video games like Second Life.~ Wikipedia

Virtual reality has become a way of life for many

With the pandemic, gaming online has taken on a whole different meaning. Since it often wasn’t safe to meet face to face, people and especially kids moved online. It’s a space parallel to the real world where people can meet, talk, and play. I’m italicizing real world because to many, virtual reality is just as real as the physical world. For kids, moving online and into the virtual world isn’t even something they need to think about. They’re already there. Beyond just being online, though, the metaverse is 3D, mostly through headsets, as set out in the Wiki definition above.

How much do you need to know about the Metaverse? Image by Evgeni Tcherkasski from Pixabay

Collaboration is key in the metaverse

In the metaverse, social interaction and collaboration are the new currencies. If we, as social media managers, wanted people to be more social, in the metaverse, you almost wouldn’t survive without being social. There’s still the chance to lurk, as there is on social media platforms, but for real success, you must work with others. I find it similar to online groups where you might have joined initially to learn something or to move forward with a hobby. But after awhile, you might stay on the platform because you enjoy talking with the people online, so you stay. By the way, I’ve talked about social media managers and some fake holidays they might like. You might like it, too!

Mark Zuckerberg’s branding of the Facebook environment

While I don’t always agree with Facebook’s handling of anything these days, using the term meta was a stroke of genius. Whoever came up with the concept of using meta as an umbrella term for the Facebook and Instagram arenas, knew what they were doing. Since the meta umbrella term for Facebook/Instagram, everyone’s interest in the metaverse has become keener.

A few downsides to the Metaverse

On the other hand, there are also some negatives to big tech and the metaverse, as outlined in this New York Times article: Everybody Into the Metaverse! Virtual Reality Beckons Big Tech. For one thing, the headsets are cumbersome and sometimes make people dizzy or sick. And who remembers the big failure of Google Glass? Also, in many parts of the world (the parts where there is money to be made selling lots of ads), privacy concerns could keep the momentum of the metaverse from moving forward.

Recently, I listened to a podcast about Tiny Habits on Guy Kawasaki’s podcast. In the podcast, Guy Kawasaki interviewed BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits. The gist of this productivity hack is that you anchor a tiny habit to another habit. The new habit needs to be very, very, VERY easy to accomplish. As in, 30 seconds or less. Here are some takeaways, and how I’ll be trying out this new idea.

It’s super easy

Really. If there’s something you tried for your new year’s resolution last year that failed, this is much more apt to succeed. Seriously–it’s so easy that anyone can do it. For me, personally, I want to start doing squats again, since it’s been many moons since I’ve been to the gym. It just doesn’t feel safe with all those people sweating and exhaling. But I can do this at home, so yay! I’ve talked about New Year’s Resolutions before, in case you’d like to read about them: Simplify Those New Year’s Resolutions So They Don’t Make You Crazy.

The anchor can be any habit

For me, I tied my tiny new habit to brushing my teeth. BJ Fogg says the anchor needs to be specific, though. So, as I put my toothbrush in the cleaner thingie, I then do two squats. That’s pretty easy, right? You could also anchor your tiny habit to finishing a cup of coffee, feeding your cat, or anything you do regularly. But make it as specific as possible. So, for instance, not just feeding your cat, but putting the bowl on the floor in front of your cat. Or opening the can of cat food.

Don’t do more

You can do more, of course, if you really want to, but–and here’s the key–you don’t have to. The habit doesn’t build on itself with you doing a Squat Marathon or anything equally silly. You just do the two squats, or whatever tiny habit you chose to do. It’s pretty easy to succeed. Don’t get stuck thinking you have to constantly up the ante. You get credit if you just do two squats (or whatever).

Tiny Habits Could Help You Achieve Your Goals. Image by Lorri Lang from Pixabay

Less effort and less motivation

If you run out of steam with the new habits you want to acquire, then tiny steps is a good way to go. You need barely any effort and even less motivation. Also, BJ Fogg considers celebration a part of the mix. Whenever you have a small win, you get to celebrate! By the way, if you’re looking for motivation to write, you might like this: how to find motivation to write.

If you get stuck, there’s help

Not only can you get the book, BJ Fogg has coaches to help you refine your goal. So if the idea doesn’t sound that simple to you, you can contact BJ Fogg and find a coach.

Recently I was listening to a podcast (Thought Row Podcast), which featured Terri Nakamura talking about harnessing the power of social media. She mentioned filtering Twitter by creating conversations with people, responding to those who reach out to her personally. It’s very similar to the way that I use Twitter. I think we all need to filter our social media accounts. If we listened or read every single message that came across our screens we’d surely go insane. So here are some of the ways that I filter what I read, not just from Twitter, but from Facebook and Instagram, too.

Twitter lists, lists, and lists

On Twitter, lists are my saviour. I’ve noticed lately that people aren’t as excited about them any more. I wonder why?! To me, they’re one of the best things about Twitter! In fact, I’ve written about this feature: Twitter Lists for the Power User. It was written and updated a few times, by the way. Of course, responding to those who mention you is another great way to filter. There are people on Twitter with whom I’ve had conversations spanning years and maybe over a decade now. So if you do nothing else, respond to your notifications and you should be in pretty good shape.

Facebook groups

On Facebook, groups are a terrific way to filter. I use just a few of them and ignore the rest. Those that my friends run, or groups where I can discuss my interests are my favorites. History, social media, and knitting are some of my interests. There are also some nifty ways to filter out what you see in your news feed. Why not check out this post from Facebook, err Meta, itself? You can also filter by type of post. For instance, I like to watch videos on Facebook, so I’ll often only watch those. Or you could filter on status updates.

Filter Instagram using hashtags or close friends

On Instagram, I usually look at what my closest friends are doing first. However, I’ve noticed that this feature doesn’t always work. So I might be filtering social media by hashtag, which also works. In my area, the hashtag I like is #SantaCruzMountains. When I’m posting for clients in San Francisco, I use #SFBay, #SF, and #SanFrancisco. There are many others, since you can have up to 30 hashtags. I’ve written about hashtags before: How to Discover a Wealth of Friends with Social Media Hashtags.

Filtering the Social Media Firehose So You Don’t Go Insane. Image by Pexels from Pixabay

How do you filter?

If you have some other way of filtering your social media, I’d love to hear it. Probably everyone would love to hear it. It’s so exhausting to always be hit by so much stuff, isn’t it? Short of leaving the online world, there has to be a better way to make sense of it.