Social Media Marketing & Productivity

Social Media Marketing & Productivity

Social Media Marketing – Time Wasting?

Edited 29/05/2024: (A lot has changed since this post was written 10+ Years ago)

Over the last few weeks I have fortunately had the opportunity to train a new team member and this in itself was an exciting prospect, the problem was I actually didn’t realise how addicted to technology and in particular social media I was.

Thankfully training a new team member again has made me realise how much time is wasted and what I can do to fix this sad situation of technology controlling us rather than helping us be more productive. 

This great video will help you to understand what’s happening with your brain, make sure you come back and read the rest of my post though without being distracted!

What I realised was that my brain had actually got used to this ridiculous random behaviour of checking emails, messages and social media profiles over a hundred times a day.

As an avid Taichichuan practitioner this social media technology ADHD is completely out of character and has been something my subconscious mind has been snowed under for the last three years.

Fortunately, my daily exercise regime has enabled me to break free from the constant barrage of thoughts that keep coming at me when working on a task, or at least attempting to!

This week I attended an IBM event and whilst I was tweeting, taking pictures and attempting to listen to what the speakers were saying I noticed that the speakers looked kind of miffed that so many people were not actually making eye contact with them but looking at their gadgets too.
 
This then got me thinking how about I take a tech break for at least an evening, to see what sanity I may be able to take back; like a lot of people in social media, I check my phone first thing in the morning and probably the last thing at night. Time out is needed to find clarity and plan out a work schedule as I cannot live like this anymore!
 
I decided against all advice from some of the social media gurus that I know to set up an auto-responder from my Twitter account announcing this to anyone who sent me a tweet, the autoresponder was just unashamedly one tweet embedded here is the tweet and a few responses.

This was the second out of office Twitter autoresponder that we had set up, the first one we did when I went sailing a few weeks back and people kept tweeting me back asking me where I had gone. That was a bit of a pain and it defeated the object, which was to take a break.

I switched my phone off knowing that my new colleague Kate had total control of the Team account which was being copied in with the auto-tweet.

This was an exciting prospect as it didn’t remove the human aspect entirely and gave people the opportunity to chat to Kate if they really want a conversation about what we do and how we can help them.

So last night I spent with an old friend and his family relaxing drinking some wine and discussing his up and coming move to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Being an acupuncturist, martial artist and musician he has also some experience with managing his own marketing campaigns and being affected by technology addiction also. I’m really excited to go and visit him to discuss this subject again with him again.

He totally gets the ideas that IBM were discussing during their presentations on Thursday read my blog on automation here

He actually understands the fact that marketing campaigns will be and are pretty much becoming all automated these days, leading consumers to the point of purchase….I didn’t discuss the automated virtual assistant that I am waiting to arrive as this may have been a step too far! lol

Here are a few resources for you to fix your mind and understand what’s happening if you do have a problem with technology addiction and how to also fix your productivity. If you found my blog interesting please comment below or Tweet me up @natschooler for some help to give you the freedom you deserve and create the results you require.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/technology-addiction/

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/distractions.htm

 http://business.time.com/2013/05/28/take-a-weekly-technology-break/

http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/88356/53364272.pdf?sequence=1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-oliver/yoga-retreat-turn-off-twitter_b_5815210.html

14 thoughts on “Social Media Marketing & Productivity”

  1. Lovely thought provoking blog, food for thought on a Monday morning!
    We need to go back to basics sometimes and appreciate what’s around us! However, without this addiction, I would never of found this post so every cloud…….
    From one addict to another – have a great day!

  2. As I work from home alone I find my social media is a must making my day brighter.
    My customers are actively on Facebook since it’s a brilliant social media to reach people. So I decided to create a new Facebook account for work only.
    Hardly any of my friends are on there (except for co-workers who I consider as friends) and I only look at it when I’m waiting for something at work.
    I do find my main account however very addictive at times so I am quite strict with my time management.

    • Thanks for sharing Kim, social media can be a lot of fun…
      I work from home too and it is not an easy thing to control!
      My partners and clients are on social media a lot too, but I made the decision to only have one account on facebook.
      Have an awesome afternoon and I look forward to speaking with you soon x

  7. Here are the ways you can stop getting addicted to social media :

    1. Don’t look at your devices for an hour from the time you wake up.
    2. Similarly, don’t use gadgets an hour before going to bed.
    3. Celebrate a “NO Social Media Day” atleast once a week.
    4. Go out for a walk everyday and walk 1000 steps.

    This can free you from Addiction!

  8. Some of the more misfortunate…er, entreprenurial types might not be able to take a whole day off, but I definitely love your message! Slowing down and taking a breath amidst the madness of social media (especially in marketing) is a must if you don’t want to lose your marbles! Excellent post 🙂

  9. Very productive thank you very much for your kind words, I agree entirely…being in business for yourself is not easy as you always think about things that you need to do to get to the next level of development…but generally when you take a break the magic happens thought right! 🙂

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