Social media can be the biggest productivity time suck in the world, or it can propel your business to the next level. You choose. 

Do you contract out your company’s social media work out, or do you enjoy working it yourself? There are a few tips and tricks to staying productive, working your social media accounts, and still coming out with time to spare. 

Put on your favorite tunes, down some caffeine, and stretch out those fingers as it is time to be productive with your social media. Decide what works best for you—do you work on each network on a different day of the week or hit each one daily? Maybe a combination of both would work to keep you productive.

Daily Social Media Tasks

Here is a sample of daily tasks that need to be done on your social networks. It is by no means a complete list, but what most online marketers work daily. Some of these tasks can be scheduled out if needed. And keep in mind that there is no single best way to manage your social accounts. Ultimately, you have to decide which sites work for you and where you get the best engagement.

1) Facebook Fan page (daily)
2) Twitter (daily)
3) LinkedIn (daily, but only to approve new connections and read messages)
4) Google+ (2-3x a week)
5) Instagram (2-3x a week when you have good photos to share)
6) Pinterest (weekly to share a good photo or blog post)
7) YouTube (depends on when you have a new video to share)

Weekly Social Media Tasks

Then there is working each platform once a week to really get the most out of it. Here is a sample schedule to help keep you productive.

Monday: Facebook Fan Page – post updates for the week, analyze insights, create targeted ads
Tuesday: Twitter – use one of the many tools to clean out spam followers, search a specific hashtag and follow new people or join in on the conversation.
Wednesday: Instagram – Add 5 hashtags to old photos to get them back into the stream and follow new accounts based on hashtags that match your niche
Thursday: Pinterest – Clean up your boards, move them around for the seasons, and update the cover photos. Join new community boards and pin your best pins to those boards.
Friday: LinkedIn – Connect with new people, respond to questions in your groups.

Being productive is learning the difference between working hard and working smart. When it comes to your social media presence, quality always trumps quantity.

Spinning your wheels is easy. Just observe a hamster on a wheel. Add more hamsters. They might go faster, but odds are they won’t all be able to keep up the pace.

So chill out. If you have something to say, say it. If you want to engage, engage. If you see something you like and want to share it with others, share it. If you take a photo that you enjoy, post it. If you are intrigued by an image, pin it. If you want to comment, comment. If you want to make a new connection, make a new connection. (Are you seeing a pattern here?)

Increasing productivity is correlated to how you feel, so make sure to get outside and enjoy a walk in out in nature enjoying the sunshine. Call a friend or have coffee scheduled in your day. You will be more productive and happier by keeping everything in perspective. Social media will always there, so use your time wisely so you can enjoy your life when you turn your laptop off.

 Joel Comm is an Internet pioneer, New York Times Best-Selling author of The AdSense Code and Twitter Power 2.0 and serial entrepreneur. An expert on harnessing the power of social media and mobile applications to expand reach and engage in active relationship marketing, Joel is a sought-after public speaker who leaves his readers and audiences inspired, entertained, and armed with strategic tools to create a new media campaign that will explode their business. Joel shares regularly on his podcast, The Joel Comm Show and on his blog at www.JoelComm.com. 

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