At the NSNC conference in Cincinnati, I taught the “Facebook for Writers” session. At the end of it, someone asked, “How much time do you spend on social media?” I had to think about that for a minute. I spend a lot of time on social media but only because it’s a big part of my job. Not only as a columnist but as the communications director for the NSNC. I understand that the majority of people listening to my talk do not consider social media management as part of their job even though it is the marketing portion of their writing job. I don’t expect all columnists to put in the same social media time that I do. Also, for someone who does not enjoy using social media, the tasks of creating a community and curating a Facebook page can seem daunting.
If you are one of those people, let me say this: You do not have to be on social media to post on social media. Read that again. I’ll wait. What I mean by that is you don’t have to scroll through feeds and collect memes and videos and stories. Those are fed to you by others whom you friend and follow anyway.
I would actually argue that what social media needs more of is outside words and images instead of the rehashing of the same old things over and over again. This is where you can really make an impact in your circle of influence.
Though you don’t have to be a consumer of Facebook you do have to be a consumer of words. You have to read. You can share links from outside sources and you should. I spoke a lot in my presentation about curating your Facebook page, curating your social media presence. To do this you need to be a consumer of the words and ideas important to your industry and to be someone who understands the readership and the community that you’ve built around your perspective – the one you share in your columns.
If you use an app like Buffer , you can schedule posts to your various social media sites. Buffer allows you to customize the format of each post without ever having to visit each individual social media platform. You can even pay a curating service built around your interests through apps like Dlvr.it – if your marketing budget allows.
You will still have to log in to engage with readers who like and comment on your posts, but you can schedule time to do that throughout the day.
My biggest social media management tip? Remove all notifications from your phone. Don’t let pings and ringtones interrupt your productivity. You control your phone. Don’t let your phone – or social media – control you.
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Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is NSNC communications director and an award-winning columnist and features writer.
