5 tips for leveraging social media for productivity

5 tips for leveraging social media for productivity

by Samantha Owens Pyle

A few weeks ago I ran across a fascinating infograph from LearnStuff.com that claimed social networking costs the American economy $650 billion per year because of the countless hours employees spend on social media sites at work. After the initial shock, I really started to consider how much time people are wasting with social media and how business professionals could ensure they're using social media to improve productivity instead of hinder it.

While some CEOs and business owners are trying to figure out how to block social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, I've learned that it can actually be a valuable business tool if used properly. As I started thinking about it, there were five primary guidelines I personally use to make sure I'm leveraging social media to increase productivity and avoid spending countless hours scrolling through my Twitter feed.

Here are five tips to help you leverage social media to increase productivity in 2013:

• Only use downtime (before you start your workday, waiting for a meeting to start, breaks) to catch up on your social media sites.

• When using social media, focus on engaging in conversations that provide the opportunity for offline results.

• Don't feel as if you have to read every Tweet or status update.

• Create ways for using social media to eliminate communication barriers for your business. (e.g., Google+ hangouts, private Facebook groups, internal Twitter feeds)

• Download software like Anti-Social that blocks all other Internet sites when you have to be productive.

If you were guilty of spending a little too much time on Facebook or Twitter in 2012, commit to adopting these tips to help leverage the power of social media to improve productivity and results this year.

What other tips for leveraging social media to increase productivity would you give?

Source: Nashville Business Journal