Social media can be a serious time suck regardless of your reasons for visiting the websites. It is not unusual for you to log into your Facebook account just to upload some photos and you end up spending hours doing things that you won’t even remember when you’re done. It is particularly tricky for authors to use social media because they must have a social media presence, but they should also avoid spending too much time there so that they forget to write. The following are ways that authors can maximize their time on social media.

1. Curate information, don’t create it

To make sure that your social media presence has an impact on your audience, you must come up with relevant and authoritative things to say about your field. However, it is a time consuming and sometimes difficult task to create the information yourself. When you want great information to post on social media sites, you should spend some time each morning scouring the web for great information that you can share with your audience. By doing this, you will be able to establish credibility as an expert in your field and you will also save a lot of time in the process. You can write about the highlights of the information you collected or post links to photos, videos, and articles that are relevant to your field.

2. Schedule

Although some people seem to be always present in social media websites, very few of them actually have big chunks of time to spend on their computers doing whatever they do on social media. Professionals have significantly less time to participate on social media and so do authors. You should take advantage of technology to help you manage your social media interactions. For example, you can use TweetDeck, Buffer, or Hootsuite to schedule your posts. These posts could have been made in advance when you had time. Automated posting services like those mentioned above will enable you to post on your behalf at predefined times even when you are not around. These services enable you to have a presence on your social media sites, but you must still find time to interact with your audience.

3. Socialize

The main point of social media websites is to socialize with other people, regardless of who they are. You should therefore not use social media only as a one-way street for information targeted at your audience. In the evenings you should spend some time interacting with your friends and followers on social media. You should enjoy this time thoroughly. Also make sure that the people you talk with are engaged and entertained. Social media should not be just about telling people about your works and trying to sell them things.

4. Return on investment

At least once every week, you should take in some statistics about your social media presence. Figure out if you are getting enough returns for the energy, time, and money that you have put into developing your social media presence. You can analyze statistics based on people’s demographics, engagement, and your influence. Use these statistics to know the areas you should improve on.