Finding Social Media Balance

Way too often I find myself opening my laptop to complete a specific task and instead, I end up on social media. Half of the time I don’t end up completing what I need to do because I wasted too much time on social media and forgot why I got on the computer in the first place. Does this sound familiar? I’m guessing everyone has gotten sucked into social media when you logged on for a specific purpose. It can be tricky to strike the proper balance on social media because it seems like you need to be present on every platform all of the time.

I’m still working to find social media balance, but I wanted to share three things to try to achieve more balance.

1. | Turn off notifications.

I don’t have any social media notifications turned on on my iPhone. I find them distracting and annoying, plus it drains your phone battery. If you get notifications somewhere else, just turn them off. There is no reason to wait around for people to like your Instagram pic or for someone to comment to your Facebook photo, all of the likes and comments will be there next time you log on.

If you must have a notification on, decide what account is most important and turn off the remaining social media notifications. Not having constant social media notifications on your phone is a good way to start adding balance back into your life. If you are really brave, you could even try deleting some of your social media apps from your phone.

2. | Schedule time for social media.

I wish I was better at this, but I would like to have more prescribed times to visit social media each day. For example, maybe I want to spend 15 minutes on social media at 10 am, 30 minutes around lunch time and 30 minutes in the evening on social media. That gives me an hour and 1.25 hours a day to be on social media replying to comments, connecting with others and finding fresh content to share. If you only give yourself a certain amount of time to be on social media each day, I bet you will find that you will be more efficient with the time you spend on social media.

3. | Use an editorial calendar.

Planning and scheduling your social media posts in advance will save you time and energy during the week. Take one hour each Sunday to queue up your social media posts – write it in your calendar so it’s non-negotiable. Now sure how to schedule your posts in advance? I share my favorite social media scheduling tools in this blog post.

I’ll be honest with you, I wish I was better at scheduling posts ahead of time, but when I do schedule them in advance, it makes life so much easier. I don’t have to worry about what to post because it’s already happening. Then, all I need to do is hop on social media to engage and connect with others.

Do you have trouble finding a good social media balance?  It is not easy, but if you start working on these three ideas, I bet you will find more balance in your social media life. If you are looking for more guidance, schedule a free 30 minute discovery call with me today!