A couple of weeks ago, I did a post on Why Writers Should Spend Time Offline. That post spoke more generally to the importance of unplugging, but this post focuses more on day-to-day writing/social media balance.
There’s also a little bit of a story behind my motivation for both of these posts.
Regardless of where you are in your writing journey, there’s a lot of emphasis on building an author platform. You may have even heard that it’s never too soon to start.
That’s something I would agree with. Followers will absolutely help you out when it comes to selling or promoting a book, so the sooner you start building your account, the better off you are.
But, if you’re not careful, it can be really easy to let that social media eat up a lot of your writing time and energy. This is something I know all too well.
I went through a period where I realized I was spending way too much time online. Checking my phone and social media accounts had become a compulsion. I also found it was getting in the way of my writing and my life.
I knew I needed to do something to right the ship. It turned out that when I focused solely on managing my time on social media, my overall internet time cut down across the board. I didn’t want to ditch social media entirely–there’s a lot I like about it–but I did want it to take less time and be less of a distraction.
4 Great Tips to Balance Writing and Social Media
If you find yourself spending more time on social media than you’d like, here are four tips that really helped me cut back without disappearing entirely.
1) Only check in at specific times each day
This was one of my first techniques. I had gotten into the habit of jumping online and scrolling anytime I had a free minute. Then I’d inevitably find myself following a thread of posts, doing more research on something I’ve read, or contemplating a response to a mention.
I also found myself scrolling mindlessly and taking “quick breaks” from writing or work just to see what was happening.
One of the first things I did was limit the time I went on social media. I picked three times a day–once in the morning, afternoon, and night to check-in online. Each check-in was no longer than fifteen minutes long.
2) Limit the devices you’re logged into
Of course, limiting your social media check-ins is a good plan, but it can take some serious self-control. After all, you’re breaking a habit here.
I caught myself mindlessly opening socials on my browser on several occasions. What helped was to limit the places I was logged into.
I work on my computer a lot, so being logged into the social media on there made it way too easy to get distracted and sucked back in. So for me, my phone made the most sense. Now when I use social media, it’s almost exclusively from my phone.
And if you’re thinking, “Well, that sounds great, but what’s to keep me from constantly checking my phone?” Here’s tip 2a).
Before I started cutting back, I checked social media on my phone so much that I often burned through my battery by the end of each day–sometimes sooner. Perhaps you’ve been there?
To keep my phone time and social media time-limited, I found it really helpful to play a game with myself to see how long I could make my battery last. For whatever reason, that really helped me stay off my phone and cut down on social media time in the process.
I went from charging my phone at least once a day to only every three days.
Another option is to hang on to an old phone or device and use it to connect with WiFi. You can log into your social media accounts on that device only. Then use it exclusively to manage your social media.
3) Only log on when you’re posting something
After a few weeks, I had gotten pretty good at my three times a day check-ins and I was ready to take it to the next level. I decided I would definitely check-in once a day to see what’s going on (like I said, I do like social media), but aside from that, I only log on when I have something to post.
This was when the habit really broke for me. Now from time to time, I actually forget my once a day check-in.
4) Make your posts purposeful
When it came to posting, I found I spent way too much time thinking of and writing posts. I posted more frequently then than I do now, but I was also sporadic. Some weeks I’d post three times a day and then nothing for a stretch.
Once I decided I wanted my accounts to have more of a theme (which is writing), it got a lot easier to post on a fairly regular schedule. That’s not to say that I don’t share other stuff. I do–but I try to focus my regular content on my theme.
This has given me a focus and has made it easier to come up with posts.
I also try to plan and write a lot of these theme posts ahead of time, which means I don’t have to constantly remember to write and post.
Also, I don’t post nearly as much as I did in the past, but I’m much more consistent, which has helped be maintain a good balance.
I hope this gives you a good idea of how you can balance writing and social media!
Now it’s your turn: Have you had trouble balancing social media and writing? What’s something that’s helped you? What’s something you’ve struggled with? Let me know in the comments!
