Does Social Media Usage Actually
Improve Time Management at Work?

While most employers discourage their workers from using social media on the clock, digital communication and navigation skills are more useful than they might think. As the business world moves toward online organization and interaction, a massive overhaul of traditional office skills is underway. Common tasks and practices are being reimagined as tech makes communication, file sharing, data analysis, and storage more convenient than ever.

Convenience, however, does not necessarily equate to ease for workers who are not well-versed in tech. Many traditional business practices are quickly becoming outdated as tech outperforms old marketing, management, and organization methods. The employees who will thrive as more and more business functions are uploaded and automated are those who spend the most time online and on their devices. Below are some of the ways that the age of online connectivity positively affects employee performance and furthers business goals to get ahead in a tech-focused world.

A New Standard for Communication

While technological literacy is a basic expectation for nearly all members of the working world in 2021, competence is the bare minimum for successful online communication. To effectively entice and engage with the masses online, the proper tone and mission—which varies from platform to platform—has to be understood and convincingly replicated.

While the younger generations are commonly credited with social media mastery, anyone can gain a working knowledge of these practices by engaging with tech and learning its faculties. Workers of all ages gain these new communication and organization skills by immersing themselves in the online environment, picking up social nuances between different platforms, and analyzing (consciously or subconsciously) how different forms of content are formatted and received.

Slacking on the job is certainly problematic, but employers should not shy away from the social-media-obsessed on principle. The value of knowing how to translate a brand goal into a trend-appropriate tweet is indispensable in today’s market.

Navigating Software & Boosting Productivity

In addition to the social changes that have irreversibly affected the business world, tech advances have made traditional business tasks and practices vastly more convenient, secure, and efficient for those who know how to navigate the new programs.

Hard copies, voicemails, and even email attachments are all but disappearing. With a few clicks and memorized shortcuts, documents can be created, edited, shared, and accessed from anywhere via cloud storage. Businesses are already taking advantage of these changes with programs like ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, which connect and track all of a business’s activities for maximum accessibility and convenient review.

Social media skills work hand-in-hand with beneficial programs like this to streamline business functions while exercising important tech skills, ensuring that current and future employees can stay sharp.

Maximizing the Benefits of New Standards & Systems

While ERP programs can massively improve productivity and time management at the workplace, transitioning to new software can be difficult. Resources like JD Edwards consulting can help businesses get the most out of their new programs and utilize all of their features, translating tech navigation skills into beneficial workplace habits.

It is key to recognize that not only do these skills serve actual workplace tasks and enable employees to work effectively, but they bring out the human element of business in a unique way. Ultimately, social media is about learning to connect with people in new ways with unprecedented reach. Finding employees with a knack for communicating across a broad span of channels, inherent networking skills, and the ability to learn new software is undeniably beneficial.

The best way for businesses to increase productivity, manage time, and make the most of available resources is to utilize the budding skillset created by a social media-centric world. Social media certainly isn’t all play and no work; it is a new and exciting way to observe and track the social trends and communication methods that pertain directly to business success.