Social media, how to keep it in a healthy balance

When I first added a social media themed blog to my ideas brainstorm, it was at a hugely different time in the world. Social media has such a prominence in our lives during these uncertain times (sorry for the over used phrase.) In these modern times of Wifi and smart phones, social media has become an extremely useful resource in so many ways. It is great for learning from others as well as marketing; spreading your message and networking to build relationships especially as the online world can be accessed from anywhere. Which is great if like me your business needs to fit around family life, or in recent times lockdown restrictions! No need to leave home to interact online and the silver lining is you can reach a wider audience location wise than is practical in physical meetings.

With the current health crisis controlling our world, social media has become even more crucial, not just for keeping us all connected but for co ordinating support efforts and keeping many businesses functioning in a new capacity. Whilst having these ways to communicate is a great blessing now, I still find social media has always and still does bring up strong mixed feelings in most people I talk to!

In business it is for most; a necessary evil, to have an online presence. To make social media work for your business requires consistency if you want results. Social media is so fast paced that to stay visible can create a pressure that feels relentless. It is a time consuming to achieve this and to many small business owners it often feels like social media steals time that could be spent on more crucial tasks. To those people relief is out there. Outsourcing even just elements of your social media can be a great way to reduce your burden. Depending how much of these tasks you want to outsource depends on the type of support package that will appeal to you. There are many options available.

Spending time on social media for business or pleasure inevitably results in comparing ourselves to others. This can have a negative effect on our mental health, that coupled with some of the fake news that is often banded around and suddenly some of the “social” and constructive sides to using these platforms has been tainted.

We all know social media can be addictive, it has been designed that way. We are creatures of habit and falling into the “scrolling” habit, can not only be bad for our mental health but it can also impact our physical health; less movement and more screen time means less fitness, more eye strains and headaches!

So how do I manage to keep things in balance when a lot of my business hinges on using social media and maintain a presence online.

Limit your scrolling time

I try to limit my time on social media into small chunks spaced throughout the day. If you need to check platforms daily, I suggest trying to structure the necessary slots in among other jobs. I have three obvious points in my day for social media check in and ideally I like these times to be for interaction. I find for my own stress levels and productivity I do my best to create and schedule content in bulk as this can save a lot of time as ideas grow when you get in flow. Content will evolve even quicker if you also set aside time to plan what your content will contain. A lot more can be achieved when you are not using your block of time to think of the ideas as well as create them. The planning stage gets its own time block. There are many planners out there both virtual and physical. If using scheduler, planning, or even creating content is something you struggle with, this is something I can offer support and guidance with, to discuss any queries simply book a call with me.

I personally like to do my planning on pen and paper; I find ideas flow more freely from my brain through the pen in my hand when I can just jot things down. It’s also a good way of having a screen break whilst still working.

Plan none techy activities

Planning in activities that have absolutely nothing to do with technology at all is another method to combat any negative effects from social media. Like I said I enjoy handwriting so where I can I draft things by hand and I also have other hobbies that I plan in for in my wind down time such as which ever craft project is a work in progress.

Don’t worry about not being “everywhere.”

One last tip I have implemented myself is a little controversial to some! When I began my business, I heard a lot of advice saying you need to be on every platform all the time. Now let’s face it that would be a full-time job on its own and the most unrealistic to achieve. So those platforms that I didn’t gel with, I deleted my accounts for and it felt very liberating! I figured if I don’t like a platform then my ideal client probably wouldn’t either!

I feel I have given social media a bit of a bashing now so I want to share a slice of positivity to end with. I recently joined The Tribe, a local Ladies Networking organisation for an online 12-week programme. I watched a live from the founder Sarah Cook, who created an impromptu 6k challenge (if all members of the wider group spent £5 with another member, we would create 6k of revenue!) I thought it was a brilliant idea but I didn’t have a relevant service available. Sarah helped me grow a seed of an idea I had in the background, into a great Online group session for brainstorming ideas for Blogging with tickets fitting into the price criteria for the challenge! I launched my first event and all my marketing has been done via social media, especially within that supportive group I have managed to fill 12 spaces within 7 days so undeniably a powerful resource!