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Making time for social media....
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It’s an ‘exciting’ time to be working in advertising … at least that’s the word my therapist tells me to use. I mean really … the rapid change combined with the new product rollouts are enough to make me want to go back to school and do something easy … like medicine … or law.
Social media is a great way for people to communicate and it’s also a great way for companies to speak to their current customers (and potential customers…oh and former customers). It does, however, have one significant drawback …it takes an enormous amount of time.
Like many of you I have to find time to keep up with work, family and life and still be the ‘social butterfly’ I’m expected to be. I’m not gonna lie … it’s tough. I envy those of you who have the time to update your status six to eight times a day … write clever messages on walls … tweet out your Starbucks order and participate in a discussion group or two. If that’s all I had for the day I’d be golden … unfortunately I have a full time job, a family and a desire to sleep for a few hours each night.
For a marketing professional it’s even more difficult. After a full day of ‘socializing’ for our clients we have to continue our own initiatives when time permits. Often times we end up like the plumber who lives in a house with a leaky faucet … fortunately there is help on the way.
The best and the brightest tool I’ve found so far is Ping.fm. This site allows you to rock over 40 social networking sites with the click of just one button. I thought the site was still being beta tested but at press time it looks like it’s functional. More on that later … but it sounds really promising especially for business purposes.
Mobile apps don’t suck either. Helps to turn down time into up time (trademarked). Mobile isn’t getting the pub it deserves even though industry experts all agree that it will be a big player in the future. If you don’t have a phone that supports social media mobile apps then you should move to a third world country where you belong … I’m just sayin.
Other time savers are more primitive…like consolidating your notification emails and leaving a set time in each day to ‘socialize’… I like to have at least one social media site up all day each day … you smart kids can do more…no one is judging here.
I have a few blog writing timesavers as well … but since this blog entry took me six days to write I disqualified myself on sharing any shortcuts. I will say this … I’m not a fan of ‘ghost blogging.’ If it’s absolutely necessary shoot me an email (ed@rethincadvertising.com) so I can save you some heartache there.
Reduce your social network clutter … I don’t want to upset anyone … I understand the underlying premise of social media is to share whatever you feel like sharing (double caramel macchiato!) regardless of its value to others … it’s just that I have found that I can optimize my social time by updating more significant events like attending a conference in Chicago or off to Vegas for the weekend. Irrelevant stuff is just that … irrelevant.
New technology, mobile capabilities and good habits will go a long way in making your time spent socializing (TSS) more enjoyable while freeing up time for the other more important things in your life … like dinner, sleep and sex (not necessarily in that order).
As always I welcome your feedback … I’d love to hear your thoughts on how busy professionals can make their social media experience less time consuming. Send me your thoughts at ed@rethincadvertising.com or feel free to write on my wall … if you have the time.
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