Making Social Media Work More Effectively for You

One of the most common issues I hear discussed when it comes to social media is the idea of how much time an individual or company should spend on social media pursuits. The answer, of course, is unique to each situation. But regardless of how much time you designate for social media pursuits, you'd better make sure you're making the best use of that time.

One tip as to how to do that: Use one of the various tools/products that will allow you to centralize most of your social media outreach. In my case, I recently started using a product called HootSuite. HootSuite allows me to pull various social media accounts -- in my case, my two Twitter accounts (personal and Gaithersburg Book Fest), a Facebook account and a LinkedIn account. (There are other social media outlets you can link there as well.) It also allows me to schedule messages to go out via these networks at a later date and time.

The real beauty of the system -- and where it makes my life easier -- is that:

1. Any status update I type into the "compose message" line can be distributed via whichever network(s) I select.
2. The feeds from all the different networks feed into this one location where I can easily monitor them.

It's a great way to centralize all my social media interactions and allow me to cut down on the time I spend cross-posting and having to flip between different screens.

I recently educated a colleague about HootSuite, and she, too, is singing its praises, saying she felt completely overwhelmed before she started using it.

My only criticism: HootSuite is not yet integrated with Google+ so I haven't been able to add my Google+ account to my interface. (Hear me HootSuite! And you, too, Google! Get on this, STAT, please!)

The bottom line: One of the keys to social media success is to find a way to make it work for you. For me, that means using tools such as HootSuite to help streamline my interactions.

(NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure: There are other similar products, including Ping.FM, Tweetdeck, and Digsby. I went with HootSuite based on the recommendations of some social media guru colleagues. I can't speak to the usability of these other services.)