images 99. How Do I Keep from Being Overwhelmed?

Participating in social media can take a lot of time. There are hundreds of millions of people using it, and just as much content being passed around. It's easy to start feeling overwhelmed. So what do you do?

Following are steps that you can take to keep from being overwhelmed.

  1. Make a schedule. Similar to an editorial calendar, develop a schedule that can help you keep track of your content. Start by keeping track of your brand's key dates such as product or service releases. Then, taking the different types of content, schedule your topics in a manner that allows you to post during times that are important to your audience.
  2. It's all about the tools! So many companies were founded on the idea that they could make the social media experience better. Third-party media companies such as Hootsuite, Seesmic, and UberMedia all have products that are supposed to make participation easier and more efficient. Most of these tools have scheduling features that enable you to post content without having to be tied to the computer.
  3. Take advantage of lists. Twitter and Facebook both enable you to create lists for filtered content. Use these lists to help you more efficiently review content based on what you are interested in at the time.
  4. Learn to turn it off. As you start to become involved in social media sites, you may find yourself drawn to participating ...

Get Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.