Time Management for Social Media Marketing

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

Let me start this post by saying I am far from a time management expert. I pretty much resist time structures of all kinds. However, after years of coaching and studying success mentors of all kinds, I have learned that when you want to make best use of your time, plan.

To make sure you don't waste time on the social networks, take some time before you go online to decide what result you are going for and how long you are willing to dedicate to get that result. If you are familiar with Abraham-Hicks lessons on Law of Attraction, you have heard of "Segment Intending." Simply put, it's about focusing on what you want to come from the immediate segment of time in order to more powerfully determine the outcome.

For instance, you may want to post on your blog and promote it to your network. So rather than going all your social networks and checking up on your friends or looking at photos for an indescriminate amount of time (sound familiar?) you can set aside 15 - 30 minutes to write and post your blog, and then visit http://ping.fm to notify all your social networks at once.

Or another example, say you want to expand your network. Take a few minutes to decide which network you want to focus on and how long you are willing to spend. You may decide to search hashtags in Twitter, or visit forums in LinkedIn, or troll through groups and fan pages on Facebook to find folks of like mind and heart. Make a choice, set the timer, and go.

Just make sure that you stop after your allotted amount of time and don't get sucked into watching music videos or checking up on your highschool buddies!