{Video} How to Avoid Social Media Overload

1.  So you’ve tagged, posted, tweeted, circled, checked in and now what? Another new social media tool?  It seems overwhelming because it is.  My advice is to select a few to use and monitor your time and results.  Social media should compliment your life, rather than compete in your life.

2.  When utilizing each platform, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn, consider how each helps you in your life.  Does it help you keep in touch with your kids? Let you broadcast a message to your business connections all at once? Share photos easily? Just because they are there does not mean you need to use them. I say 15 minutes a day is a good amount of time to engage in social media.  You could save that time up for the weekend or use it for work and personal each day by smartphone. Social media makes it incredibly easy to stay connected if you want to be..

3.  You don’t want to add everyone to each platform because then you overload yourself with repetitive communication AND you overload your followers. Be careful about connecting your posts to each other.

4.   Decide which one you want linked to : Foursquare or other location based applications.  This will save you time when communicating events you want to share with certain groups. Location based social media will become more and more important because of the rise in use of smartphones. Getting discounts and information will be even simpler so using these tools is a smart way to save.

5. These days social media is not simply communicating what you’re doing or who you’re with at dinner.  It’s showcasing the vast aspects of our personalities.  See it as the scheduling calendar for your personality that needs organizing like your personal event calendar. The parent side, work side and just fun side of your personality.

6. What not do – basic etiquette is still important. Recent studies suggest that women and kids share too much information on FB. Who’s to say really?  But learning that your friend is pregnant because she posted a photo of her positive urine stick is just too much. Really?  Ask yourself if that’s a good idea. A good test is : would I tell this info to the person in line at the grocery store?  If the answer is no…Then don’t post it on FB.

Also blunders happen when people drink and post and when they are linked from one profile to another…like Facebook to Twitter. Oops you may have shared the wrong info to the wrong group.  Once a month, review your progress and why you are spending time on sites…and maybe adjust or add new apps, photos and updates to your profile.  Remember, it’s your brand.  You are in charge.

Check out Trio’s Denise Elsbree discussing Social Media Overload on CNN -