Social Media, love or hate?
It almost feels instinctive to hate posting on social media. I meet so many people that ‘hate’ it, but consume endless hours every day. Don’t want to ‘be annoying’ but watch everyone else's videos and content. They ‘can’t believe how much time it takes’ but will scroll for hours every day, (no judgement by the way).
I’ve been there, I’ve sat scrolling while resenting the app I’m mindlessly consuming.
It’s mainly Instagram for me, but I’m sure Facebook, TikTok or any of the other social media sites cause a similar level of friction for anyone or any business owner.
The question I hear all of the time is ‘do I have to post on social media to grow my business?’ the short answer is no, no you don’t.
However my reply to this is always ‘but why wouldn’t you?’
It’s a free marketing tool, and by free, I mean free in terms of monetary cost. What you pay in is time and your data. Meta says thank you by the way, especially as while you’re resisting using social media as a tool, you’re using it to consume, and they love the users that consume.
So how to make social media feel like something you can work with rather than fight against? How to make social media and your business feel aligned to you as a person?
I have so many conversations with business owners that have blocks and triggers with social media, and I’ve experienced some of them myself. However I have done the work to overcome a lot of them, as all they’re doing is holding me and my business back, the blocks were keeping me small and preventing me from creating the life I want.
I would argue that 2 things needed to happen before I started to shift my mindset towards social media, and the first had to happen, or I don’t think the second one would’ve hit home at all.
But this doesn’t mean you need to go through some massive change or reconsider your entire life. That was a me thing, so I’m hoping you can get there in a few, slightly smaller, steps.
What you hate and why I hated it too:
Knowing what your triggers and blocks are is key. Why do you hate it? Can you actually put your finger on what you dislike about posting on social media?
The common reasons I hear are:
I’m not creative enough
I don’t have time
I can’t do all that, I don’t have the first clue in how it all works
I’m not getting in front of the camera
No one cares what I have to say
No one wants to ‘look at my ugly mug’
What if I get it wrong
People are horrible on social media
No one likes what I do post, so why should I bother
Any of these ring a bell for you? Let me know your go to reasons
You can bet I have a way of talking you around all of them, we can break those barriers with a conversation if you want, but this isn’t what I’m here to do.
I’m here to share with you that you can do that all on your own. You don’t need me.
I hated the perceived ‘waste of time’ most, how long it took to create content, how much effort it required to video the right thing, from the right angel. How I needed the space, the outfit, the content idea. It all took so. much. time!
But then I realised there was one thing I was consistently doing… scrolling. For ages! And I finally acknowledged that if I spent the time creating rather than scrolling I’d probably be up on my ‘available’ hours in the day.
And this was the second thing that shifted my mindset (don’t worry I’ll get back to the first soon)…
“Spend time, every morning, creating before you spend any time consuming”
*source unknown unfortunately (I read it, it blew my mind, I deleted Instagram for the rest of the weekend and I’ve not seen the quote again since).
That was it. The switch that flicked in my brain, and thank goodness I had some ways to start creating in place already. Don’t scoff, I bet you do too.
My morning routine is pretty legendary amongst those that have followed me for a while, mainly due to the fact that it starts so early and has included cold water. My morning routine is pretty established these days and I know it sets me up for the day. And I only perceive it as ‘legendary’ due to the number of comments along the lines of “OH, I’ve heard about your mornings” (see, legendary).
But there are a couple of other things (on top of the early start and the cold water) that help too, firstly, I journal every morning.
Currently I use the Morning Pages style of journalling. Just free writing for about half an hour. But in the past it’s been more structured, more reflective, more prompted, currently however, the free writing is serving me well, and this kind of brain splurge is a form of creativity. I am creating something physical from thought alone.
I also spend 3-8 minutes (depending on how hard it is) learning every morning. This isn’t creative as such, but I’m not consuming. My morning routine helps me step into a growth mindset right from the get go, rather than into a mindset of effort and scarcity.
The above quote sits with me like a little angel on my shoulder, and every time I go to shop (Vinted), scroll social media, peruse something entertaining, I have this lil’ voice ask “have you created yet today?”
Hmmm, a great question… have I?
Find out how to discover your creativity and how to fall in love with social media for your business
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