With all the many 'to-dos' that come with social media management, it's key to identify efficiency processes which enable you to generate maximum results with limited time.
From setting up Facebook Messenger chatbots to avoiding multitasking, here are nine productivity tips that will help you work more efficiently.
1. Batch Similar Tasks
As the name suggests, batching is all about doing similar tasks in a single batch.
Batching, rather than switching from one task to another, will help you maintain focus - case in point: Let's say you're scheduling the social media posts for the week or creating images to accompany those posts.
By doing all of these at once, at least you have them out of the way, and you can proceed with other tasks afterwards with equal focus.
You can also combine this with other productivity hacks, like the Pomodoro technique (where you alternate between 25 minutes of work and 5-minute breaks) or working during your own peak hours.
2. Install a Chatbot
Having to respond to every single message on the business' social media pages can be incredibly time-consuming.
Solution: automate your messages with a Facebook Messenger chatbot.
Facebook Messenger chatbots can be created in minutes (without using any code) and can deftly handle many inquiries. Plus, if the query is advanced, an actual person can take over the chat at any time.
Using automated chatbot technology will save you tons of time - Facebook Messenger chatbots are so helpful, in fact, that last year I launched MobileMonkey, a Facebook Messenger chatbot building platform, in order to help others can create and use them easily.
3. Use Post Scheduling Tools
Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Edgar are great for scheduling multiple posts on multiple social platforms.
They're intuitive, with easy-to-use interfaces that let you plan out your posts efficiently from a single dashboard.
4. Recycle Social Posts Strategically
Most of your social media content will focus on new content, but it's good to resurface evergreen material and give it a boost on social, as well!
As you schedule out posts, make sure to re-promote content which is still relevant, and/or performs well historically.
5. Use Smart Automation
Automating repetitive tasks is always a good idea - especially for social media managers with a lot on their plate. Smart automation tools like IFTTT (If This Then That) and Zapier can help you with a variety of busy work.
IFTTT can do things like automatically reshare posts from one social network to another, or send you custom emails when you're asked questions on Twitter. There are hundreds of tasks you can assign to IFTTT.
Zapier can automate tasks between different platforms - for example, you can use Zapier to send out a tweet from your Twitter account whenever you publish a new blog post or YouTube video.
6. Don't Multitask
You might feel like you're getting more done when you're writing an article, texting a colleague and waiting on hold with your doctor's office all at once, but the truth is your concentration and effectiveness are diminished in this state.
There's a cognitive cost for multitasking: studies have shown that your IQ drops and your stress hormones increase when multitasking. Doing one task at a time, wholeheartedly, enables you to think critically, and work faster than attempting to do multiple things at once.
7. Pay Attention to Social Metrics
Every month, review your social media performance to assess what's working and what's not.
There's no point in doing the same old thing if it's not yielding results -- that's why it's important to review analytics to study performance and trends, and then adjust accordingly.
8. Track Your Time
Performance isn't the only thing you should track - you should also track how you spend your time.
You can better determine the ROI of a social media project if you know how much time it took to create and run, while tracking your time will also help you anticipate how much future projects and tasks will require, enabling you to budget your time accordingly.
It's easy to track your time with free apps like Toggl.
9. Learn to Say No
Of course you always want to say yes, but sometimes the best thing to say is no.
It's all about prioritizing and then acting accordingly - maintain your focus on your social media marketing priorities, and if a request comes along that's outside those priorities, sometimes it's best to say no.
With these productivity tips, you'll find yourself getting more done in less time. Work smarter, not harder by making use of the tools available.