When you log on to your social networks, do you suddenly feel as if you’ve entered a vortex, only to confirm your suspicion when you next look at the clock and 15 precious minutes have gone by?

You are not alone. But, of course you know that. That’s what social media is all about. A nifty infographic from MediaBistro shows that in January of 2012, users spent an average of 405 minutes on Facebook alone.

The addictive quality of social networking can provide you with a powerful marketing advantage (talk about audience engagement!) as much as it can inhibit your productivity. Social networking can also seem overwhelming, particularly when you are trying to incorporate it into your marketing strategy. As with any marketing method, it’s important to set realistic goals for yourself, and in the case of social networking, it may help to set initial boundaries as well:

1)    Identify how much time you can commit a day to social networking. Stick to it.

2)    Research each social network of interest and choose no more than 3 to start.

3)    Build your presence one network at a time.

4)    Use social networks to get more mileage for your content.   

⇒Our friends at SIPA are hosting their Digital Publishing and Marketing Institute in December.  The keynote speaker is Jay Berkowitz, of Ten Golden Rules. SIPA recently brought this to our attention, as well as Jay’s social media management model, Cascading Content. Cascading Content is particularly useful for those who don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to social media—and it also helps you get the most out of each piece of information/content you create.

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell:

1)    Use your enewsletter to send useful articles to your audience.

2)    Create a separate page on your website for each article.

3)    Create brief blog posts to summarize each article and provide a link back to the full text.

4)    Post headlines with an image to Facebook, add the image to Pinterest and Instagram if it is remarkable and relevant. Make sure all link back to the full text on your site.

5)    Tweet the headlines, and also post them on Google + and LinkedIn. 

*You can do this with any content you create—whether videos, podcasts, webinars etc.

As usual, the key to making all of this work is a dynamic, flexible SaaS CMS that supports your website with strong social sharing capability and mobile readiness. Your website is the start and finish line for the content you are driving across social platforms.

Bonus Tip: Get yourself a timer, set if for the amount of time you’ve committed to social media. Use it. It’s amazing how fast the miles add up.