Increase Social Media Productivity in 2015

We are living in the 21st century where there are dozens of social media platforms you can get involved in.

The biggest problem faced by nearly all the social media managers and teams out there?

We only have 24 hours a day and we are always looking for ways to increase our social media productivity.

But before we go deeper into this topic, I know many of you will agree (to a certain point) that social media is really a productivity killer.

Imagine your staffs are eye-ing the latest Facebook or Twitter feed, upvoting videos of cats on skateboards in Youtube or even posting selfies on Instagram as if they are some sort of pop-star.

Yes those happen all the time (worldwide) and like what Financial Post said here, “There’s always going to be the 5% who ruin it for the rest of us.”

1. Plan your social media marketing

One of the biggest challenges I personally face in social media is I need more time.

Just like a million others, 24 hours a day isn’t enough for me and I’m constantly finding for ways to double or triple my productivity.

How can planning helps you in social media marketing?

Planning helps organizations and businesses (including you) to chart a course for the achievement of their goals. The process begins by reviewing:

The ultimate goal
Ways to achieve such goals
Monitoring the levels of achievement

2. Rifle Approach vs Shotgun Approach

For those who are in the digital marketing sphere, you have probably heard about Jay Baer from Convince and Convert.

During the Social Fresh Conference, he highlighted the Shotgun Approach as possibly, the best method when it comes to social media engagements.

But wait!

What is the Rifle Approach?
How about the Shotgun Approach?
Above all, how do these help to increase social media productivity?


In the Rifle Approach, online marketers are commonly targeting just one platform for sales leads and traffic. While this technique is proven to be working very well, you are seriously limiting the reach.

In the Shotgun Approach, you are sharing about the same post but targeting multiple social media platforms. It makes a no-brainer that you are bound to reach to more people using multiple platforms.

Allow me to be extremely clear here; Both approaches work marvelously depending on niche and industry. If you’re having a hard time trying to consider which is the best method, the below are the summaries:

Advantages of the Rifle Approach

Ability to reach specific people with similar interests
Lesser cost involved
Takes lesser time to execute the marketing strategy
Easier for measuring and goal settings

Disadvantages of the Rifle Approach

You’re targeting a smaller range of people
Brand awareness is much lower

Advantages of the Shotgun Approach


Reach out to more people with slightly more effort
Increase the chances of going viral on various social media platforms
Higher chance to get a higher return of investment (ROI)

Disadvantages of the Shotgun Approach

More time and effort needed to achieve the goals
Social media planning is vital to ensure success
Marketing cost is higher than the Rifle Approach

3. Leverage the power of social media management tools for higher productivity

What is your favorite social media management tool for business?

In today’s world, we have all the tools to boost your social media marketing productivity but the question is, “Are you using them?”

According to Neil Patel, we spend approximately 3 hours a day on social media. I know for the fact that I spend around 5 hours a day (at least)!

So, how do you double your social media productivity and save more time?

By using social media management tool of course!

Most social media management tools work as an all-in-one dashboard for your online marketing. You are able to integrate various social platforms into one app and work from there.

Instead of going into each social platform manually to publish a post, you can do everything with just a couple of clicks.

In short, social media management tools help to:

Manage multiple social media accounts under one dashboard
A single posting could easily reach multiple social platforms
Replying and engaging with your followers without login into the native website
Ease all your digital marketing efforts

If you are still doing the old school social media marketing, I would highly suggest you to take a dive at these freemium tools below. These are some tools you can start for free today:

HootSuite
MavSocial
Sprout Social


4. Curating contents

How long does it takes you to curate a content? On average, I spend around 30 minutes hunting down the best contents to share on social media accounts – And this is just for one content.

Imagine how long it would take you to find 10, 20 or even 30 posts to share a day?

When it comes to curating content for social media needs, I would always suggest the following:

Feedly
Flipboard
PostPlanner (for Facebook only)


- Feedly

Want to make content curation easier for your social media productivity?

Feedly allows you to import various feeds into specific tabs and labels. It can range from your favorite blogger to the latest news on CNN.

As you can see above, Feedly makes it real easy for any online marketers to keep track of the latest news.

You also have the ability to share contents into your social platforms directly from Feedly.

Did you know that Feedly is one of the go-to tools for Tony Restell (founder of Social-Hire.com), who manages over 92 social media accounts!

- Flipboard


If you have a smartphone, you would know about Flipboard. It is an awesome tool especially when you love magazine-style reading.

With Flipboard, you can save the article or share it around at any time just by the flick of your finger.

Forget about Google search when you can easily curate anything directly from your palms.

- PostPlanner

I came across a fair share of Facebook tool but trust me when I say that PostPlanner is awesome.

For one, they are basically practicing the Rifle Approach rule (refer above if you had missed it) but it is working extremely well for them!

How can PostPlanner helps you to be more productive in social media?

PostPlanner is a Facebook app and it helps you to queue and schedule content (on a free account). On a paid account which starts at $29 per month, you have instant access to over 10,000 pre-written questions, images and links.

People using PostPlanner for one reason only – which is to be involved in a viral situation.

5. Analyzing your social media strategy

You may have done your social media planning, choosing the right approach, using social media tools and curating content for online marketing.

Is there any other way to increase social media productivity?

Yes – and the last part is all about analytics.

The ultimate goals are to save time and make every effort taken counts. The only way to judge them is to have proper analytics.

Here’s something you need to know about it.

It takes time, and it takes a lot of time.

However, the information you get from analyzing your marketing efforts will (in a long run) multiple your productivity.

Why?

Because you know exactly what works and what doesn’t.

Several common social media analytics used by experts are:

Number of engagements (clicks, comments, likes and shares)
Geographical factors
Demographics
Best time to update a post

How do you increase social media productivity?

As a recap, these are 5 actionable tips to boost productivity on social media and you can easily start using them right now!