One of our customers who bought and took Social Media Rx, our social media assessment, told me this morning how frustrated she is that she doesn’t have enough time to spend on social media.
I suggested that she set aside a block of time twice a day, say as soon as she starts work in the morning and again before she closes the office for the day, to blog, post to her Facebook and Twitter profiles and do what needs to be done on LinkedIn.
When she hemmed and hawed about how difficult it would be to find the time, I asked her, “How much time do you spend on email each day?”
“A lot,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because it’s a way for me to check in with my clients and other people who I like to hear from,” she said.
“How profitable is answering email?” I asked.
“Not very,” she said.
That’s when it dawned on me that her schedule—and mine—should be reversed. She should spend the same amount of time on social media that she now spends answering email, and vice versa.
But for some people, me included, that’s like asking a junkie to just stop using.
I wonder how many other people complain about never having time for social media, but check email 15 times a day, every day, and find themselves catching up on news at news sites, watching funny videos a friend sent to them, or frittering away time on the million other distractions in their email boxes.
I’m entering email rehab
Starting today, I’m going to try really hard to change these bad habits:
- I’m going to try to check email only three times a day: in the morning, at lunch time, and in the late afternoon.
- When I’m not checking email, Outlook will NOT be running. (Why be tempted?)
- Try to whittle down email responses to half their usual size.
That should free up more time to blog, answer questions on Linked In, engage in more conversations on Twitter, and be more productive.
Want to help? Please share your own tips on how you make more time for social media.
What rules have you set up for yourself? What are you doing differently, and where are you seeing the biggest return on your investment of time—on social media or in your email?
(Photo by Shutterstock)
For me, email deals with ongoing operations and social media actions are usually involved in meeting new folks who could be interested in my products and services. So email is more an address of the present and social media is creating the future.
What a good reminder. I too find myself taking too much time with email. Of course the important ones need my attention but all that other stuff. I started through the “maybe” email in a folder and look at it much later. By that time I can throw throw throw. I guess it is like a closet!
thanks for the reminder
Wow – if that isn’t looking in the mirror!! Thanks so much for the wake up call!
I can’t imagine checking email only three times a day. That might be helpful for me, but I’ve got people out there who can’t do their job unless they get my reply. There are situations that require quick answers. There are times when failing to respond would give the impression that the writer isn’t important to me. Communication is a two-way street. It’s not just my time, but the time of others I must consider when I develop time management solutions.