The more I dig into Social Media, the more I am entirely perplexed at how people who have more on their table get anything accomplished. The fact that they do all they do, in fact, begins to appear downright miraculous.
This weekend, I have been giving a lot of thought to priorities. Actually, this started last Thursday. Someone mentioned that one way to make #30Thursday more valuable would be to make sure I comment on every post that I include. I had already been thinking that.
Today, I realized that I am severely lacking in tweeting about peoples’ posts to my followers.
I am disappointed in myself that I am falling short in those areas. However, I also have a little problem – I am not sure how to budget my time.
Two Full-Time Jobs
Everything that I do here in the Social Media world really has come to comprise, in terms of time and effort, a full-time job. That would be awesome, except that I already have a full-time job. Working for my family’s agency, by itself, with none of the Social Media stuff I’m doing, does an ample job of using my time, my thought, my passion, and my effort. This is not a complaint. I love what I do for my job. I love what I do here, obviously, or I would just stop. However, I will fully admit that I also really enjoy eating, sleeping, and maybe even being unproductive sometimes (but not often).
Priorities are a muddle
I am trying to determine what I should add to my Social Media work and what I should perhaps cut back on. Here are some ideas.
Make 10 comments on other peoples’ posts for every post that I write
Promote 5 peoples’ posts on Twitter for every 1 of mine
Cut back on the number of chats I participate in each week (these take 1-2 hours of time…is this the best way to use my time or is it just really enjoyable and educational for me?)
Of course, I would love to grow my breadth of experiences someday and start to work on presentations and other things that extend beyond the computer machine. Where do those fit into priorities I have going now?
What am I doing that helps you the most? Would it be better for me to comment on your blog rather than write my own blogs here?
I’m all ears.
Image by Ray Smithers. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Ray7775
View Margie Clayman's profile
I hate to answer to a question with another question, but “what do you want to accomplish?”. Feels to me the priorities would fall into place quite nicely with that in mind.
That said, two thoughts
– I perceive you as highly engaging on Twitter. Someone who knows how to connect and build dialogue. So I would suggest more chat, not less, rather than blog and tweet comments. Seems you enjoy it too.
– your #30Thursday initiative is great, very useful, and could become your “brand” on Twitter. Don’t try too many things at once. Get this one “right”
Tom
@TomMoradpour
I’m on the same page with Thomas, and also wanted to add a little bit more.
I think any person who utilizes social media well (such as you do Marjorie) knows that social media is a 24-7 job…*if* you decide to make it so. One could literally be on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, their personal blog, other people’s blogs, Twit chats, etc. 24 hours a day.
I think any job that is 24-7 is going to eventually burn a person out, so it’s important to balance the world outside of media with the world that is media. You do a really great job at communicating, engaging, presenting insights, personal thoughts, strategy, etc.—but you can’t be expected to be doing that 24-7. A person needs to sleep, eat, spend time with their family, friends, enjoy the sun, etc. In other words, a person needs a “life” so to speak or else media just becomes a cumbersome task (imo).
I think you have a terrific blog and should continue writing—however—I think it’s important to write when you feel inspired to do so (which seems to be the case with you, and that’s terrific). But don’t feel a need to write each and every single day because you feel your readers are expecting that. Your readers, like yourself, are also trying to have a life and can’t read, comment, etc. on every single piece out there in the social media world. Plus, your readers I am sure favor content over scheduled posts.
I guess what I’m getting at is this: don’t feel a need to do anything where you feel like you are overwhelmed. Breathe, take your time, and find your balance and stay true to that balance. At the end of the day, a balance between life and work should come first, not social media. Social media is nothing without an engaging, optimistic, excited human being behind it—and one can’t be that without having a life outside of media—not in my opinion anyway.