Yewande Oyebo: How Do I Make Social Media Profitable For Me?

Social media: the sweet legal drug for millennials. The necessary evil that has purported to be the cause of an increase in both depression and elevation, depending on how it is used. I love social media, and if you are reading this post, I’m sure you do too. But how can you make sure that Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube elevate you and not depress you?

Here’s how:

Schedule time for social media
Make out 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours of your day for social media. Put it on your to-do list, and make out time in your google calendar for it if you have to. Yeah, this might it feel like a task, but knowing that you have time already scheduled for Instagram later in the day might make you click on notifications a little bit less.

Follow people in your field and with similar interest to you
As a product manager, following other product managers on Twitter helps me to see what they are learning, the resources they are using, and the challenges they might be facing. This has been of immense benefit to me. I know so many developers who have gotten jobs and clients on Twitter. Look for people with job titles similar to yours and follow them. Some people write educational threads that you could learn from. Others share their experiences in real-time. This means that every time you log into the app, in between the memes and ads, you still get some info that will boost your learning/awareness or career.

Block people, mute words… if you have to
If a topic that’s trending offends you, mute the topic. You don’t like the person tweeting? Unfollow or block. No hard feelings. A picture is making you feel inadequate? Mute. Secure your mental health and stop leaving social media angry and sad. I prefer to mute for a while than unfollow, because there are just some people you don’t want to unfollow for a reason.

Put a price on your time
The price may or may not be monetary in value. Using myself as an example once again, I looked at my set goals and tried to see how social media could be a tool to reach them. E.g.: You have a goal to get a new job. 10 minutes of your time spent on social media can be reading articles on CV writing, another 10 minutes can be spent following and interacting with recruiters or other people trying to get a job. You might not get a job ASAP, but ensure that every-time you close the app, you are one step closer to your goal in either knowledge, leads, or funding.

Replace social media time with time spent on learning apps
This is my best tip. Set a goal to learn something new and download an app for it. Trust me. If you have space on your phone for Twitter, you’ll have more than enough space for Duolingo. And they are both free

To get more tips, check out this post on my blog here