By Gail Z. Martin
One of the most common concerns I hear from audiences when I speak about social media is the fear that Facebook will take over their lives. That’s understandable, given all the news about “Facebook addictions” and people who can’t go an hour without checking their inbox.
There’s an easy antidote. It’s what I call “intentional social media.” Before logging in, set an intention for what you mean to do and how long you will devote your attention to Facebook. Call to mind a specific action, a desired result and a set amount of time. If you need to, set a timer.
Where most people’s social media efforts go awry is in the lack of strategy. If you begin with a clear business goal for your Facebook use, you’re less likely to get sucked into nonproductive hours following cute videos and chit-chat.
Once you’ve determined your clear business goal, break that goal down into smaller and smaller action items until you have a to-do list of items that can each be accomplished in 10 minutes or less. This could include inviting friends to your profile, or inviting your profile-friends to like your business page, making an interesting post, commenting on someone else’s post, creating an event page, etc.
When you approach social media with a clear, specific intention, and then stop to set an intention for the outcome of every time you log on, you’ll find that you stay on track, accomplish more, and see better, faster results. Se your intention and see what happens!
