In the ninth day of the 10 in 10 series we answer the question, “What if I don't have time for social media?” If this is your first day checking out the series you can find the links for the first eight days here.  No doubt your work day is filled with important tasks and you could be trying to figure out how to fit one more thing into your schedule.

Everyone talks about how the new year allows each of us to start with a clean slate.  We can make a resolution to lose weight, get in shape, or become a better person.  The same can be said for our social media activities as well.  The new year brings the opportunity for us to change some things about our online identity in much the same way as we do offline.  In that spirit we have compiled a list of the top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for managing your time spent on social media:

1. I will not treat social media like a time waster. One of the things that we hear most often from business leaders about social media is that they assume that it is nothing more than a place to waste time and be unproductive.  This is understandable, however, having a coffee pot or break room in your office can also be a time waster if not used in the correct manner.  The first step to managing your time on social media is to make the commitment that you will not write it off as a waste of time.  When you acknowledge that social media is an important part of your marketing strategy you will not have the temptation to allow it to waste time.
2. I will have goals and objectives. Most business owners would cringe at the thought of starting a new initiative without a coherent plan, however, many of them will start a social media marketing campaign without a plan.  They say to someone, "We need to be in social media."  This is a HUGE waste of time.  A successful social media marketing campaign requires a defined set of realistic goals and a strategy to achieve those goals.  Then, and only then will you avoid wasting time and resources on social media.
3. I will target my audience appropriately. Nothing will waste time more than participating in a social media outlet that is underrepresented by your core audience.  Its amazing to me that companies will spend dollars on market research to make sure they don't advertise their products in the wrong magazine or on the wrong television shows, but jump into a social media campaign without determining if their audience uses it.  This could be the biggest time waster of all on social media.
4. I will utilize applications that allow multiple social media transactions in once location. Last Friday we posted our favorite free social media applications.  More and more services are popping up that allow you to post to multiple social media sites at the same time.  This is a great way to save time posting and generating content.  The alternative is to log in and out of a whole host of social media sites and run the risk of moving off mission.
5. I will keep the attorneys away from social media. It should go without saying, but when you approach an attorney to ask them about the best way to participate in social media they will restrict your activities to the point that you won't be able to participate in a meaningful manner.  And most likely your tweets will sound more like spam than a genuine attempt to participate in community.  There are some that say you don't need social media guidelines, but the truth is you do need some set of guidelines.  These guidelines should be commonsense reminders about not sharing privileged information and that anything written online is just like telling it to a reporter: It never goes away.  You don't need the Socratic Method to tell you that there is inherent legal risk in social media, but get the lawyers involved and you will waste so much time that you will miss the boat.

Okay, what did we miss?  What are your tips for saving time on social media marketing?  Let us know in the comments below!