My relationship with social media? It’s complicated.
I’ve never had issues with social media. I’ve neither hated nor loved it. Then 2020 happened. Like the fuzzy Gizmo fed after midnight, my social feed drastically changed this year. No longer warm and fuzzy, it transformed into a destructive little monster.
Time to tame the beast.
Keep the right perspective
Social media is a tool. I use this tool to connect with friends and family, learn and grow, and I use it in my business to market, share, and teach. Recently, I took action and took control.
Curate your feed
1. Prune your contacts
Over the years and iterations of different social media accounts, I had a lot of clutter on my feeds. I went through my contacts (‘friends’) and removed people that are no longer active in my life. In 15 minutes I deleted over 200 contacts from my personal Facebook account. I separated my business and personal contacts. The people on my personal feed now are close family and friends and I look forward to seeing their posts.
2. Edit your content
I want my feed to help me be my best self. I follow accounts that help me learn new skills, be a better entrepreneur, mother, and wife, teach me about the world, inspire, and uplift. I unfollowed any content that does not meet those criteria. Bye-bye politics and fuzzy cat videos.
ACTION: Check your feed. Does the content and contacts in your feed help you be your best self?
Decide who’s boss
I use social marketing in my business. Just as with blogging, television advertising, print media, radio, etc., I control the message I send with my content and posts.
1. Perform a social review
I looked at the content I post and thought about the purpose behind it. I want to help entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits share their stories and thrive in their markets.
I want the content I consume to help me be my best self. I want the content I share to help others in the same way.
I sat down with my social calendar and evaluated my content. Is it helpful? Is it informative? Inspiring? Does it help my audience grow?
ACTION: Check your content calendar. Are you telling the story you want to share?
2. Turn off notifications
There is science behind those naggy little red dots. They cause anxiety. No more! I CONTROL MY TIME! I turned off notifications. I still log on to social, but I do it on my terms. And, I regulate my time by purpose. I log in to my personal accounts on my personal time – and my business accounts stay in my workday. I am not a slave to my social accounts.
ACTION: Just do it. Turn off the notifications.
Your relationship
Should you delete your social media? That’s up to you. Taking control and taming the beast did the trick for me. Only you can decide what is right for you.
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