Like most of you (I'm betting), I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Sometimes it's great: I love the connections I've made with new friends, and the ones I've been able to maintain with old friends as I have wandered from state to state. But sometimes, I think I feel it breaking my brain. Literally (studies show it is). For example, I have been on and off twitter at least 3 times in the last few years. The problem I've had in the past, is that at some point I start thinking in thoughts of 140 characters, wondering what witty quips I've made are the most tweet-able. I don't like that. At all.
But like I said, I also love the connections I'm able to make and maintain, and I think that's been a huge benefit to me in many ways. Also, I love sites like Pinterest and Instagram for the mountains of visual and creative inspiration they've given me.
How to find a healthy balance? Set boundaries. I came across Red Parka Diary's Year of Marketing project a few months ago, and the plans she outlined seemed so eminently reasonable, I've been inspired to incorporate some of her tips into my social media routine.
One of the other biggest helps has been discovering and using new apps to help manage everything. Here is what I'm currently using //
- Twitterfeed to post my blog posts to Twitter automatically
- Bloglovin' to post my blog posts to Facebook automatically
- Buffer to schedule posts of interesting content I want to share
- Feedly to keep up with blog reading at home and on my phone
And the last two aren't apps, but are features that help immensely //
- Pinterest "secret boards" feature to help organize post ideas and other content I'd like to share
- Lists on Twitter to make keeping up easier, and to keep the clutter down in my feed.
With these tools, I have slowly re-upped my efforts at some of my old haunts. So far, I've been able to make a bigger presence with smarter effort rather than more effort. We'll see if I'm able to keep up!
How do you tame the beast that is social media? Any tips or other cool services out there that I should know about? And most importantly, are we following each other? I'd love to see what you're up to! All of my links are up at the top of this page; leave me a comment with your username if you'd like me to follow back.
shanti >> sondra
But like I said, I also love the connections I'm able to make and maintain, and I think that's been a huge benefit to me in many ways. Also, I love sites like Pinterest and Instagram for the mountains of visual and creative inspiration they've given me.How to find a healthy balance? Set boundaries. I came across Red Parka Diary's Year of Marketing project a few months ago, and the plans she outlined seemed so eminently reasonable, I've been inspired to incorporate some of her tips into my social media routine.
One of the other biggest helps has been discovering and using new apps to help manage everything. Here is what I'm currently using //
- Twitterfeed to post my blog posts to Twitter automatically
- Bloglovin' to post my blog posts to Facebook automatically
- Buffer to schedule posts of interesting content I want to share
- Feedly to keep up with blog reading at home and on my phone
And the last two aren't apps, but are features that help immensely //
- Pinterest "secret boards" feature to help organize post ideas and other content I'd like to share
- Lists on Twitter to make keeping up easier, and to keep the clutter down in my feed.
With these tools, I have slowly re-upped my efforts at some of my old haunts. So far, I've been able to make a bigger presence with smarter effort rather than more effort. We'll see if I'm able to keep up!
How do you tame the beast that is social media? Any tips or other cool services out there that I should know about? And most importantly, are we following each other? I'd love to see what you're up to! All of my links are up at the top of this page; leave me a comment with your username if you'd like me to follow back.
shanti >> sondra
Thanks for the tips! I'm checking out twitterfeed. :)
ReplyDeleteUm, bless you for recommending lists on Twitter. I must use that!
ReplyDeleteSoooooo useful for me. No more sifting through all the marketing and promos for the good stuff!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, it's super easy to use!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on Twitterfeed, will definitely be utilizing this one!
ReplyDeleteYes -- it's flawless and simple!
ReplyDelete