Managing Social Media... it takes time.

New social media platforms seem to be emerging from the shadows. Each one provides a unique and/or new functions to connect you with your family and friends, if you are like me you want to join each platform just to see if the new platform is as cool as other say it is. What you end up with is a headache.

So many platforms to check, too many passwords to remember; wouldn’t it be cool if a site existed that combined the news feeds of all these sites so all you have to do is sign onto one site and get caught up on everything more efficiently; they are called aggregators.

Mashable gives what it considers to be the top 5 aggregators. Whether you want an aggregator for personal use that is simple in design and user friendly, Tweetdeck is what you want; or if you are part of a firm that manages social media for multiple companies whom expect a high return on investment you want Spredfast.

If managing personal accounts isn’t hard enough, I can only imagine the amount of work it takes to manage social media for a business. According to Forbes, it takes a medium sized company it takes 32 hours a month to manage one social media platform; in my personal experience companies will often have at least two.

The article continues on by quoting the CEO of a firm that function to handle your company’s social media, “I advise all my clients on some basic principles.”

First, decide what you want to achieve. You can’t just join social media because someone says it’s crucial for conducting business. If your social media platform lacks purpose. Second, don’t spread yourself too thin. You won’t need more than three platforms, if you jump on every new platform that emerges you will lose focus. Third, keep some social media in house. It should be easy to find an employee who likes to spend the day on Facebook, use that to your advantage.

In summary, aggregators and other tools should be used in both your personal and professional life.