It seems to me that most freelancers either love blogging and social media or they think it's a big fat time suck. I happen to fall somewhere in between, so I've chosen not to participate in the two freelance-driven social media movements/experiments that are now running simultaneously.First there's Michelle Rafter's 2nd Annual Blogathon, where participating bloggers post every day for the month of May to rev up their blogging efforts. Then there's David Hochman's UPOD Challenge, which challenges participants to forsake Twitter, Facebook, and one other online addiction for a full week to see if it impacts productivity.
Now, I have a ton of respect for Michelle and David, and I admit that both projects sounded intriguing, but I think the key to success here is moderation. Sure, there are bloggers who succeed by spending every minute of every day tethered to their keyboard and iPhone. But I don't want to be a blogging success at the expense of having a real life.
That's not what Michelle is advocating, but still. I know I could post every day, but my readers don't necessarily need fresh content every single day (correct me if I'm totally off-base here). In fact, I think there's some value to leaving up a great post for a few days and giving people a chance to absorb it and share it via social media before the next post overshadows it. Frequent posts can be overwhelming to both the blogger and the reader. I made the decision to post less often so that I can focus on my paying projects, and blog traffic has stayed roughly the same.
The Blogathon and the UPOD Challenge don't have to be mutually exclusive, but it would be difficult to do both, because many bloggers promote themselves via social media. I thought about giving up Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader (my other addiction) for a week to join David and co. in the UPOD Challenge, and I realized that I'd be incredibly lonely. Who would cheer me on when I finish an article or land a new client? How would I unwind and clear my head in between projects?
It's not that my social life is based completely in social media, but when you work from home and live alone, those sites become your virtual cubemates during the workday (and the best part is that unlike real cubemates, I can shut them off at will). Yes, I might be more productive if I limited my Twitter and RSS time to certain periods of the day, but I don't think going cold turkey would help me. If anything, I'd be too cranky to get actual work done. Maybe that means I'm addicted, but I do manage to get work done and pay my bills each month.
Obviously, the right amount of blogging and social media time varies depending on your personality and your professional goals. But how do you find the right balance? And if you're part of either project, I'd love to hear your insights!
Flickr photo courtesy of Daniel Conway
16 comments:
I'm a new freelancer. Technically, I've relied on freelancing as my "full-time" gig for just over a month and a half.
Already, I found how important balance and moderation is. Working from home and making your own hours takes much self-discipline and planning.
So far, I've tried to maintain balance by setting "mini-goals" throughout the day. For example, after I finish an outline, write emails or read over notes, I allow myself to check my reader, facebook or email.
The trouble for me comes with checking Twitter! I can get sucked into that thing for hours. So, I usually only check it in the morning before I start any work or after my creative juices are tapped at the end of a long, productive day.
I love this blog! I'm so glad I found it! Thanks! :)
I'm taking part in Michelle's blogathon for the month of May, but I'm not stressing it. For instance, I spent the weekend with my family to celebrate my sister's graduation and as a result did not post an entry on Saturday or Sunday.
To me, the benefit of the blogathon is to get us writers to think outside the box. Can we come up with new content? A new topic to cover? A new angle to look at? Writing more frequently forces you to ask those questions. But I'm not sacrificing my life for a daily post.
I think they key to figuring out how often you should post on your blog or SM site is to look at the type of content you are posting and to consider how your readers digest it. If you are posting a daily photo, or a short humorous entry that people can digest quickly, daily posts are great! If you are posting tech news, or any kind of news updates, daily posts are excellent. If you are posting, long, arduous, thoughtful articles about the life of a freelancer, maybe once or twice per week is plenty.
I think the best policy is to find a way to mix it up on your blog. Save the long, detailed posts and limit them to 2-3 times per week. Then, add in a fun meme or short "amuse bouche" type post in between.
Not that I'm a terribly successful blogger yet, but I've tried integrating "photo of the day" and "factoid fridays" into my blog to allow for some quick, fun posts. In between those quick, fun posts, I writer longer posts that require more reading and comprehension.
Someone who is a successful blogger who varies content like this is dooce. (dooce.com). She often posts "Daily Style," which pictures a great style item and tells readers where to get it - and of course "Daily Chuck." Then, she also posts longer posts about her life as a mommy blogger. While she posts more than those of us who aren't earning a living from our blog, she's still a great example for content variance and management.
As far as how much is too much, I think the best way to tell if you are spending too much time on social media is to look at your hours for the day. If you are spending 4 hours on client work and 4 on social media, that might be too much. It's just like watching what you eat - one day, write it all down and take stock of the situation. That way, you know if you are peppering your day with helpful conversation or wasting time and unnecessarily delaying client work (which I'm likely doing right now).
Guess that's my cue to get back to work :).
Oh and one other thing - sometimes what I do to help keep up with everything is write four or five posts all at once when I have a block of free time and then schedule them to post over a period of time. That way I spend the time when I have it and save time when I don't.
Great article! I posted a question recently on twitter: How many blog posts a week seems reasonable? The answers: 5 days a week for commentary and 3 days a week for food /recipe blogs (I'm a food blogger). So I decided to post 4 blogs a week: 3 recipe-related and one food-related commentary. I've decreased my FB activity and my twitter activity, and neither has impacted the traffic to my blog. Though, I have to say, my blogging, FB & twitter activity are now more strategic.
@Ashley: I do something similar where I give myself a little SM break in between projects. But I admit it's tough to keep those breaks short!
@KT: I think you have a healthy attitude about the Blogathon. I know I'd have a hard time letting go and allowing myself to skip a day or two.
@Julie & @Lousie: I agree - it does depend on the type of content you're posting. That's an excellent point.
I have been posting a blog daily since November, but that is because I am working on a project in which I am giving my life a Martha Stewart makeover and committed to doing one Martha project a day for a year. I think it's quite hard to come up with content for a blog on a daily basis if you're doing a different kind than mine and I don't know if I would want to read someone's blog every day.
Gee, now everybody's going to think I'm addicted to my blog.
Seriously, I'm glad that the blogathon is inspiring Susan and other writers to think about these things. Last year when I proposed the blogathon I was still a relatively new blogger and posting very sporadically, so writing something every day was a good way to become a more consistent blogger. And it definitely improved traffic to my blog. Over the rest of the year I settled into a routine of posting three times a week, and I agree with Susan that sometimes you need to give a post a few days to pick up momentum.
But when May rolled around, I was ready to give my blog a little more attention than I had been, and a second blogathon seemed like a natural. Plus, the topics I cover - the publishing industry's evolution to digital production and delivery and how it's changing the freelance business - is red hot right now, so there's a lot to cover. Already my blog's gotten me speaking engagements and other work, and right now I'm using it as a platform to pitch myself for several paid blogging gigs on related topics.
I agree with the other writers that blogging every day doesn't have to be hard. You can mix short posts with longer thought pieces. You can pre-publish - which is what I'm doing to cover myself on weekends. You can have guest bloggers.
And once the blogathon is over, I'm doing to take a social media sabbatical like the other UPODers - by then I'll deserve it.
Michelle Rafter
@Michelle: I'm glad you're taking this in the good-spirited way it was intended. I definitely think the blogathon is a great idea and I've seen some bloggers on FLX doing great things with it. And yes, I know you're not addicted to your blog. But for me, I could practically spend all day every day on my blog and it probably wouldn't bring me a higher ROI.
I've done spurts of guest bloggers, which can be valuable, but let's not forget that it CAN also be just as time-consuming as writing the content yourself. There's the back and forth with the guest blogger, the uploading of photos, editing the posts, scheduling, etc. That surprised me a lot!
Glad to hear it's going well! You definitely got me thinking about this topic.
I find it hard to balance time on social media and time working and I tend to feel like I need to stay off Facebook and even my email in order to get my work done. I make a living as a full-time freelancer and support a family of five. I'd like to do more social media but I don't know how I can do more than I am and still make a living.
I am envious of people who can manage Twitter and blogging and Digg and Stumble and Facebook and still make a viable income -- I am definitely not there yet. I only update my two blogs once a week, at most, but I also don't expect that many people to read them. I'm not counting eyeballs though maybe this will change as we get deeper into the media age...
Thanks for this post, though. It's good to hear from someone else who is middle of the road (I guess I fall in that category too).
Jennifer Margulis
I'm in the blogathon, ironically, just at a time that I had decided to skip Saturday and Sunday. I need time to read the books that I talk about in the blog, after all. But I find my readers (which sounds rather grand for a 5-month-old blog)quickly jump ship if they don't get in depth content. That's what my blog has led them to expect, and when I do a short round up of links, or such, I get very few hits.
Hey there,
I'm Danielle Buffardi and I am in Michelle's blogathan for the month of May. I have stuck to daily posting because that's the point of the blogathon. I haven't decided if I will keep posting daily after the blogathon ends because I've been receiving lots of writing/editing positions and they are taking up most of my free time (I also have a 3 year old). I have decided that regardless if I stick to daily posting, I will not post less that five times a week. Reader's and follower's of my blog deserve new content. I know myself that if I don't see new content weekly on the blogs that I follow...I simply "un-follow" them.
I can tell you that I've gained some great fellow "blogger-friends" being part of the blogathon and I've also seen my blog traffic increase tremendously since May 1. The blogathon has done nothing BUT help my writing career and I'm grateful for that.
I'm a freelance writer/editor and you can find my blog at www.daniellefreelances.wordpress.com. I blog about writing and parenting tips. Hope to see there...leave a comment or two....I love to hear from my reader's.
I guess I'm just a windbag because I blog every weekday already! LOL
Like you, I find the sociability of these things necessary. We're too secluded all day, so a little online interaction beats talking to the goldfish.
I tend to blog when I've finished a project or early (7:30) before I start the day. Twitter comes on for 5 minutes just after 8:30, and I hit Facebook throughout the day (it's a widget on my iGoogle page). That's enough for me. Any more than that and I'd never work. :)
BTW, come over to my blog and mention your Writers Worth widget, hon. That's all you need to enter the giveaway! :) And let me know if you're planning to Tweet it or blog it. I'll include a link or a mention on my Friday blog.
@Lori: I do NOT think you're a windbag. In fact, I'm impressed by how you consistently come up with new posts every weekday. You seem to have your process down. Some of my posts take over an hour to write and edit, and I wouldn't want to spend that kind of time every weekday when I could be working on paying projects. But I always enjoy your blog!
Susan, I'll admit - some days are easier than others! Today was just one of those things that happened. Tomorrow's is a Writers Worth tip that came out of the blue. I have no idea what I'm doing for Friday or even next week. I just sit down and let the brain dump begin! LOL
I love having you as part of my blog world. Your blog is GREAT and I enjoy it very much. I found you on a number of Top Blog lists just today - you've deserved every listing, too!
I'm still getting the swing of it. I'm a private person by nature, which doesn't always fit into my writing lifestyle, or blogging. So much that I pretty much abandoned my blog for 3 months, thinking I was done with all that.
But I realized I could still do it for me and some of my loyal readers (former, it's been 3 months after all) and contribute to the conversation so to speak.
But for now, I'm not that interested in plastering myself all over the social network stratosphere. Baby steps. Otherwise it's really freaking overwhelming.
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