Managing Social Media
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Mar 10 2015
I always tell my clients to manage social media in a way that works for you and that makes it fun for you. It makes it sound so easy, but for anyone on social media or looking to build a brand, you know it’s a juggling act at best.
My social media is varied and while some of it is for work, I do have a few accounts that are purely for pleasure. As a business professional, which we all are, I think it’s important to know when to have that divide. For BookEnds I have the blog of course, Twitter, a Facebook page and BookEnds has a BookEnds Facebook page. I also have a LinkedIn page which I constantly consider deleting in the hopes that I’ll never have to look for another job again.
Obviously I seem to have a handle on the blog. Of all my social media it’s the one I spend the most time on. For a while I debated whether or not the blog, or blogs, were still viable, but now I think I just do it because it’s something I enjoy.
Twitter is easy for me. I feel like I can check it when I want and ignore it when I have to. I like how instant it is and I like how the responses happen quickly. Beth manages the BookEnds Facebook page so luckily all I have to do is send her updates and check things as I feel like it.
It’s my own Facebook page that I struggle with. When I first opened the account I accepted all friendships and suddenly that became so overwhelming. I would log on to see updates from thousands of people I didn’t even know. I tried to make a group just to keep an eye on my clients, but even that feels overwhelming, especially since I don’t do it daily. So do I dump Facebook all together and just accept that it is what it is or do I keep it active for people who aren’t on Twitter, but like to read my updates via Facebook? Do I simply make sure it’s something I check daily and accept all friendships, but only pay attention to the group (if I remember to add people)?
I don’t like having a social media page that goes unchecked and unloved, but it’s a conundrum for me as to how to fix that without regrets. Isn’t it funny that I should have such anxiety over a Facebook page?
–jhf
I know it's not ideal but I'd recommend you treat your personal page as a personal page and only accept people you know. Then you can create a "business" page and accept likes from all comers. And then it's easier if someone gets butthurt to say, "Oh, sorry, that's my personal page, but you can always contact me through my business page." In fact, you have to physically reject people you don't want liking your business page.
You can accept friends on Facebook but not follow them, so all the stuff they post will not show up on your feed. That is how I limit what I see on my feed.
I second the Facebook page option. I have one to keep 'personal me' stuff from clogging up my 'writer me' persona and vice versa. Plus, the page is public and you don't have to accept friend requests because it's more of a business platform than a personal bubble.
An added tip, if you want to keep Facebook but don't like adding to it: you can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts so that when you tweet your updates, they pop up on your Facebook. Then you can just pop into Facebook whenever you're able to see what kind of comments have been left.
I think we're all at that point where social media is too expansive and overwhelming haha!
You can have people as friends that you don't follow — that don't show up in your newsfeed.The easiest way to fix your issue is, when a post from someone you don't want to read appears in your newsfeed, hover over their name. Follow is checked. Click Follow to unfollow. Now future posts by that person won't display in your newsfeed.Repeat until only the people you want to see are displaying in your newsfeed.Do you use a browser other than IE? If so, you can further customize FB by installing FB Purity. You won't see ads, and you can set up your sidebars to display what you want (and only what you want). Best of all, you can add words and phrases that you don't want to see in posts. My FB is much more pleasant since I cut out all the political posts!!
If you don't want to "defriend" those people you don't know, you can always unfollow them. Facebook offers that as a feature, and I've found it useful for friends with particularly obnoxious Facebook habits–people whose feelings I don't want to hurt, but whose posts I don't want to see. It makes Facebook more manageable. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. It's so true!
I think it's like Coke vs. Pepsi you are either a FB person
or a Twitter person.
Me, I prefer twitter (& email for connecting with people I know). I
feel the same way as you do about
Facebook! As others said, you can
link your twitter to Facebook! Or
you can hashtag #fb and that will
make that individual tweet appear
on FB (once you've given the app
permission). When I write,
however, I turn off all social
media. For months at a time.
#amwriting 🙂
PS I just learned via your FB that
you're from MN. My grandmother
taught in St. Peter! She was from
St. James. 🙂