How to be Productive on Social Media
We’re all guilty of picking up our phones, scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, only to realize that hours have passed. This mindless scrolling is something each and every one of us has fallen victim to. After all, there’s just so much content to consume on social media!
However, using social media in this way isn’t very purposeful. Instead, it’s better that we learn how to be more productive on social media so we can cut back on the scroll and create more powerful content. Then, we can truly get the most out of our presence on these platforms.
How to be Productive on Social Media
Here are 10 tips that will boost your social media productivity:
1. Know What Your Goals Are
To get the most out of your social media presence, you need to know why you’re on these platforms. Odds are, being on social media will assist you in reaching the various goals you’ve set for your business and your brand. As a result, the content you share should be tied back to your goals. For example, sharing tips to build authority or promoting offerings to generate sales. When you’re smart about what you’re sharing, you’ll have more of an impact with each post you publish.
2. Have a Dedicated Place to Store Ideas
Generating fresh ideas for your content is probably one of the most difficult parts of being a creator. That’s why it helps to have a singular place to store ideas when the creative juices are flowing and inspiration strikes. This way, you can easily refer back to them when you need ideas to fill up your social media scheduler’s empty queue.
Evernote is a great tool for storing and organizing all of your ideas. You could even use a project management tool like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp if you prefer. However, if you want to keep it super simple, the notes app on your phone will do. Try creating a dedicated folder for your social media ideas so everything is all in one place. You’ll never again have to complain that you don’t know what to post.
3. Set Daily Themes for Your Content
If it’s not a lack of ideas you struggle with, but rather knowing when to take an idea and turn it into a post, this tip will be beneficial for you. Theming your days will allow you to better organize your ideas. For instance, if you have an assortment of motivational messages you’d like to share, post them for a Motivation Monday. Or if you know you’d like to post some quick tips, do so every week for a Tip Tuesday or Thursday. Whatever works!
Here are some weekday theme ideas:
- Motivation Monday: share famous quotes or inspirational messages
- Tip Tuesday: provide a quick tip that your audience could easily implement
- Wednesday Wins: showcase a testimonial from a past client or customer
- Throwback Thursday: share content from your blog/YouTube/podcast’s archives instead of an old photo of yourself
- Follow Friday: bring back the trend of recommending other accounts for people to follow by sharing curated content from their website
4. Schedule Your Posts in Advance
To be productive on social media, one of the best things you can do is to schedule posts using a third-party tool. This eliminates the need to post in real-time (unless you’re creating Stories) and therefore frees up your time to focus on other tasks. Plus, when we’re posting in real-time, we often get sucked into our feed and wind up scrolling to see what others are sharing. And that’s not going to be helpful if your attention should be elsewhere.
There are tons of affordable, easy-to-use tools that will allow you to schedule posts in advance. Not only is it great for making you more productive, but you’ll be able to have posts going out at different hours to reach a wider audience. No more missing people due to time zones!
Related: 7 Top Twitter Tools Everyone Should Know About
5. Set Aside Time for Social Media in Your Calendar
There’s no denying that social media can be distracting. Far too often we find ourselves reaching for our phones and opening Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram. Before you know it, way too much time has passed and your to do list is far from being done. Instead, it’s better to keep your phone in another room while you’re supposed to be working. Silence those notifications too so you aren’t tempted to drop what you’re doing to check it.
Consider scheduling social media time blocks in your calendar. It could be 15 minutes in the morning, afternoon, and night before logging out at the end of the day. If you need to allow for more time (like I’m sure most social media managers would), go for it. Just don’t allow yourself to go too far over your allocated time. When that social media block is up, move onto something else so you don’t get sucked in.
6. Use Tools to Help Monitor Mentions and Engagement
With so many different platforms and so little time in the day, it can often feel overwhelming trying to keep up with everything and everyone. Luckily, there are tools that can make life a little bit easier, especially if you’re a social media manager.
There are different tools that can help with this, but Brand24 is a favorite of mine. Brand24 is great for helping you to be more productive on social media. That’s because you have instant access to all of your brand’s mentions across various platforms. With everything in one place, it’s easy to see what others are saying and to respond quickly.
7. Check Your Stats at the End of the Month
Our analytics hold a gold mine of knowledge that can shape our content strategies moving forward. They tell us which topics and content formats are resonating with our audience, ensuring we can post more of what they like. This is great if you want to be more productive on social media because you want to ensure the content you share is serving both you and your audience. Your posts should help you reach your goals, while also appealing to their needs and interests.
Once you’ve done a deep-dive into your analytics, you can tweak your strategy for the next month. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing massive growth in your follower count and engagement.
Related: 5 Important Twitter Metrics You Should be Tracking
8. Don’t Stop Learning
Being productive on social media can be a little tricky when algorithms and best practices are always changing. So, what are you to do? Prioritize expanding your knowledge on social media marketing. There are tons of amazing free resources online that will help you become better and more efficient at creating social media content and growing your presence online. Use these tools to stay updated on changes in the algorithms and adapt when needed.
Looking for some great resources? Two of my favorites are Social Media Examiner and Social Media Today.
9. Be Willing to Ditch Platforms That Don’t Resonate
Gone are the days of feeling like we need to be on every single social media platform. After all, it’s just not realistic. To truly be productive on social media, you need to prioritize the platforms that deliver results. Determine which ones you’re actually seeing growth and engagement on and which ones are leading to conversions. Those are the platforms you’ll want to invest more time and energy into. If a platform simply isn’t working, either tweak your strategy or move on.
10. Be Willing to Outsource
Guess what? You don’t have to do everything completely on your own. If managing your social media presence is taking up too much of your time or it’s a task that feels draining, outsource it. There are plenty of amazing social media managers and virtual assistants that would be happy to take on this task for you. Don’t be afraid to outsource so you can free up your time to focus on other important tasks, like building your brand.
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