Losing Your Soul To Social Media
We are constantly barraged with news and information and if you are like me and exist on several social media channels, it can feel like an onslaught at times. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great and there is a lot of power in having information at our fingertips, but it can also become a distraction to the work that needs to be done. Think about how many times a day you become distracted by some piece of content that is flying by your screen. Perhaps it’s an enticing headline or one of those killer click-bait titles that just begs you to delve further than the 150 character intro.
You click.
You read.
You follow some embedded links
and before you know it, you just removed 20 minutes from your day.
Poof. Gone.
My business is social media marketing and it’s my responsibility to stay on top of changes in the industry for my clients and for the benefit of my training programs. There are days when even I feel overwhelmed with the information overload.
I wanted to share a few tips that I have incorporated that help me focus on what’s important to my day and assist me with avoiding the pitfalls of adding to the commodity of lost time.
1. Begin at the end: review your accomplishments and opportunity areas at the end of the week and set goals for the following week.
2. Avoid checking email or social media sites until you have settled into working on one of your daily goals.
3. Review all of your online subscriptions and RSS feeds- are some redundant? Can you change your subscription to weekly vs. daily?
4. When you are ready to tackle your email inbox- act on each piece of correspondence and file it accordingly.
5. Pre-schedule social media posts for the week- don’t neglect your personal digital brand (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.).
6. Leave notification alerts on the platform (don’t forward to your email or phone).
7. Avoid being sucked into a long, drawn out online comment conversation on trending news topics. Save for later, and perhaps the heat of the issue will be over by the time you are free.
8. Don’t charge your phone overnight within arms’ reach- this will avoid the temptation to check info streams in the middle of the night.
9. Choose an evening or weekend day to completely unplug- WALK AWAY FROM DIGITAL!
10. When you do have time to hang out on social media, set a timer so you don’t get carried away. Hours can seem like minutes when you are surfing content.
Love this quote from Robert Hatch, owner of Media Group Inc., about how social media can sap our energy:
“Everything that causes us to react has the potential to derail us from our chosen actions.
Every time we react, we expend energy that we could otherwise direct to things that matter to us, to our growth, and the growth of our business.”
What keeps you from being focused on your business? I’d love to know!
Give me a call at 513-445-2180 to chat or schedule a complimentary 30 minute phone consult here.
Michelle Beckham-Corbin,MBA
