by Amadeus Finlay
In the 13th century, a Franciscan friar from southern England proposed a problem-solving theorem that would forever change the way world approached streamlined thinking. Known as Occam’s Razor or the law of parsimony, the hypothesis argues that one should not make more assumptions than are necessary; i.e., when in doubt, seek the path of least resistance. And it has stuck. William of Ockham died more than 670 years ago, but his thinking remains very much in use today, and in the frenetic, competitive world of social media, the path of least resistance is probably the only way to be effective and avoid burnout.
With that in mind, the first port of call for any social media manager should be a content management tool that allows information to be generated and scheduled for a later date. In short, if you take a day to write and schedule content for the next month, your mind can be freed to address the myriad other demands of social media management. After years of back-and-forth between various platforms (including some painful moments as each program updated their software), I can finally recommend—without too much uncertainty—Hootsuite as the platform for the job. Equipped to schedule on all social networks, Hootsuite also offers the user a comprehensive data analysis suite full of essential tidbits. The only downside is the inability to post multiple images to Instagram, but nothing is perfect, right?
Speaking of Instagram, here’s another Occam-type shortcut should Hootsuite be down. Open Google Chrome, go to your Instagram account and log in. Next, activate Chrome Developer Tools by pressing Ctrl + Shift +J. This will open some complex-looking data but go ahead and ignore it. All you need do is refresh your page and voila; the upload tool will appear at the foot of the browser, exactly as it looks on your mobile device. Unfortunately, the user is again restricted to one image at a time.
What if you really want an Occamian solution without compromising your personal accounts? Download a mobile app called Dual Space. A nifty, advertisement-driven program, Dual Space houses fresh social media and email platforms that allow you to log-in with business or company credentials, keeping your personal accounts running without interference.
But social media is an unforgiving master, particularly in the world of audience interaction. Facebook even goes as far as ranking a page’s response time by displaying a score visible to anyone who lands there. Get around this cruel Zuckerberg trick by activating auto responses in Facebook messenger. Not only does this prevent poor rating but keeps the user that sent the message onside until you get time to craft a thoughtful response; there’s nothing worse than rushing in order to maintain positive data.
With all that said, business really does owe a lot to good old William of Ockham. So, if you’re ever in Munich, take a wander over to the Bavarian National Theater. For beneath this modern structure lies a medieval cemetery, containing within it the bones of one of the most undercelebrated individuals of modern commerce. What Ockham would make of social media, unfortunately, will never be answered.
Having worked with Groupon, IBM, Nordea, and others, Amadeus Finlay is a global connector of people and brands. He has extensive experience in professional copywriting, social media and script-to-screen video production, including on-camera hosting. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, he holds a Master’s degree in American History. Connect with him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amadeusfinlay/
