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For my digital marketing agency, social media is the foundation of our promotional efforts. After SEO, it generally provides the best lead source for our campaigns and website traffic attribution. I’ve been fortunate to speak on the importance of social media marketing dozens of times and have written multiple articles on the subject. So you would think I’d be able to better manage my time on social media.
One day, I checked my screen time for Instagram, and it said I was spending two and a half hours a day on the app. It scared me straight as I realized I was wasting both personal and professional time on my electronic device daily, just on one application.
Do you also feel like you’re spending too much time sucked into the social media world beyond work purposes? If so, I’d like to share what I learned from my own experience and offer some ideas for balancing social media time when your job technically depends on it.
Transfer Your (Increased) Time And Energy
Anyone running a marketing agency knows that time is a premium, and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. My first course of action was to delete my Instagram account, which was painful after removing over 2,500 posts. At first, I thought I was going to freak out, but then I felt a sense of calm. I then decided to put more time and energy into our agency accounts with notable results.
By having a clear head, you can reexamine the way you do business and think more in-depth about strategy and execution. With the extra time, I’d recommend sniffing out what your current weaknesses are and investing time and resources to turn them around. Focus on your at-risk accounts, and fortify your strong accounts so they don’t fall off in the future. An extra hour or two a day of dedicated thought can make a world of difference.
Become More Present
Although this may seem obvious, by spending over two hours a day on the phone, I was not necessarily as present as I should have been for both personal and professional relationships. People started to notice that I was less fidgety and listened much better. I was able to ask more questions in order to really learn what made our clients tick and fully appreciate their objectives. Further, my parenting time with my children became more rewarding, as my primary goal is to be a great father before anything.
Being more present gives you more time to ask more questions from your team. They are typically on the front lines, and you can now have the forum to supply real-time information, as well as share best practices to help grow your agency business.
How Can You Do It?
You may be wondering: How do you offer social media marketing while not having an Instagram account? It sounds like the plumber with a leaky pipe. The solution was simple, and I designated the full responsibility to my social media manager, as well as using third-party tools to measure results.
I went back to becoming a results-based manager rather than getting biased by design and other elements. By focusing on the results, you can be more in tune with your clients’ goals, which makes things flow better as well. A renewed focus on results will allow you to home in on leadership tasks and empower your team to execute based on your vision and direction.
Should You Go Back?
I did not go back on social media and actually am only semi-active on LinkedIn. It has not hurt our inbound flow of new business, and our agency is performing well by most metrics. I’m not saying to delete all of your social media accounts, but check out your screen time, and place your efforts where it really matters: on your business and your family.
