I first joined the world of social media in 2007. It was a double hitter that year: Facebook and LinkedIn. In those days my accounts were only accessed at a computer, quick checks on my lunch break; I didn’t even have the internet at home. Now, 12 years on, the list has grown; Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp have been added to the list. Since getting my hands on my first smartphone, the use has expanded; now the majority of my social media use is via my palm. However, since starting my own business four years ago, my social media use has exploded, and to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it! How do you use social media for business when you always don’t want to be on there?
With family and friends based all over the globe, I get instant access to their lives and pictures. I can feel connected and updated on a daily basis, catching up with my family’s overnight antics in Canada whilst I catch up on my morning coffee. When my good friends moved to New Zealand and America, it meant that we could still check in regularly without the need for snail mail.
Yet, whilst all of this was developing, something else was too. Whilst my usage was going up, I was also feeling uncomfortable with the line between personal and professional on my social media channels. Facebook and LinkedIn get the most of my attention. LinkedIn was originally used for my profession. As an employee, what I was sharing and how I was sharing was heavily influenced by the tone and the content set by the role and the project I was working in. On the flip side, pre-2015, my Facebook profile was only for fun; to share snippets of my life with friends and family. It was rare that the professional and personal would meet. Yet, once I started my own business and wanted to share a little bit more of “me”, the line became blurred. This is particularly present on Facebook – which many people use as a business networking tool within groups. Strangers would reach out to me to connect as we have a business acquaintance in common.
Sharing our lives is part and parcel of building a business; we all know the “know, like, trust” elements of engaging with people, and the benefits of being present on social media go past the business building element. I have connected with a whole range of supportive people through LinkedIn and Facebook; some of these have become real-life friendships (where we actually see each other, in the flesh!) whilst my first coach as a self-employed person was found through her social media content.
However, over the last two years, I have become more wary of social media. Privacy concerns have started to grow; I am sure the revelations of the Cambridge Analytica data usage changed what we share and who with. But it goes further than that, in the last six-months I know of at least two people whose personal pictures (including those of their children) have been used to create fake profiles by scammers. I know I spend a little too much time on social and want to change my relationship with it. I’m sure it be long before social media addiction becomes clinical defined.
It isn’t just me who feel likes this. I recently reached out to my connections on social media to see how they feel about their profiles for business purposes. And YES, I get the irony of asking that via LinkedIn and Facebook. Two wonderful women, Imogen Allen (Umbrella Digital Media – WordPress Consultant & Web Designer) and Olivia Siegl (Author, Writer and Founder of The Everymum movement and The Letters of Light Project) shared their thoughts on social media.
Like me, they have utilised the power of social media for their career, business and community, but have found their approach to using it has changed over the years.
Oliver Siegl: I started using social media around 6 years ago after having my first little girl. I set up a community called “The Baby Bible” on Facebook for mums to be able to talk about all areas of motherhood – No judgement and also used to use Twitter as well.
When I first started out I loved the sense of community it gave me whilst during a time where I felt quite isolated. After having my little girl I suffered with my maternal mental health and the community (The Baby Bible) I’d set up on Facebook filled with lots of lovely, none judgemental mums really helped get me through some of the darkest and loneliest of times. I also started writing articles around this time on the realities of motherhood and also on my experiences of mental health and used social media to share these articles to help raise awareness and to help other mums. Receiving messages and emails from mums on social media who had been through or were going through the same ,was so reassuring and made me feel less alone. The mums I spoke to inspired me to keep writing and to keep raising awareness and I struck up some fantastic friendships with some fantastic women who still support me and what I’m doing today and for that, I am truly grateful.
Through the blog and popularity of my articles I managed (after a long and arduous path of rejections) to secure myself a book deal and had to use social media to help promote the book “Bonkers – A real Mum’s Hilariously Honest Tales of Motherhood, Mayhem and Mental Health” and it’s message of empowering mums. Around this time I also founded The Every Mum Movement – A global movement empowering every mum to take care of their mental health and once again social media was key when it came to connecting with fellow like-minded women and organisations and again the incredible people I’ve met through it are second-to-none.
Promoting a book and a new social movement using social media tools is a full-on 24/7 job and it became all-consuming on the run up to the book being published and the movement being launched. It was around this time I started to realise the pitfalls of social media and the negative effects it can have on your mental health.
Firstly, from a business and community point of view, having a well-populated and popular social media account plays a huge part in the success of your venture. And can win you invaluable support and connections in the field you are working in. However, as I soon learned it can also play a big part in you not receiving the support you need to get a project off the ground too. And that, if you’re not considered to be an “influencer” with a specific amount of followers then it can also act as a barrier to getting a project or a message out there, to the people who need to hear it most – In my case mums suffering with their maternal mental health.
From a business point of view, I discovered that social media as well as providing an outlet for your product (in my case a book) and its promotion, it also determines the level of promotion the book receives. For example; if your social media following is not substantial then neither will be the book deal or the marketing budget behind it. And as any product success (especially books) these days is reliant on making a huge splash on social media for it to be considered a “commercial success” with the publishers (which then secures you the golden nugget of a follow up book etc..) you can see how a book sold by someone with 4,000 followers compared to 140k followers doesn’t really stand a chance commercially, no matter how well written or how well received by its readers and the authors peers.
Another sticky point that people shy away from talking about is how social media can be incredibly cliquey and exclusive and therefore, another hurdle to clamber over when promoting your business or message. On numerous occasions when trying to entice influencers with a substantial following to help me promote the message of empowering mums to take care of their maternal mental health, I’ve come across what I like to call as the 3k barrier. This basically means that anyone with 3k followers or less is more than happy to help out but anyone over (unless you also have a substantial number of followers) a little bit trickier to convince or even get a reply from. Something I think we should all be honest about as these are all barriers to you getting the message of your business, project, product or movement out there.
This mix of constantly feeling like I was fighting a losing battle to get the message of my book and the movement out there and also the 24/7 hooked up to my phone it was taking to get any traction was the catalyst for me taking a step back from social media and really taking a hard look at what I was doing and why I was doing it? Social media, which to me was once a sense of community and support, became a drain and something that chipped away at my confidence in my projects, with me measuring the success of them by the amounts of likes, comments and shares they had received. It had me questioning why someone posting about oven cleaning hacks was now a social media sensation, when those working tirelessly to raise awareness of important causes that actually help change the world for the better were left on the side-lines. And don’t get me wrong I appreciate a clean oven, but it had me screaming “seriously come on people!”
So I took a step back for a good 6 months, took social media off my phone and just lived my life and thought about what I was going to do next. I took the golden chalice of a gazillion followers and being an influencer off my “To do” list, gave myself a good talking to and listened to my true self when it came to what I wanted to do next and how I measured my own success in life. I went back to my grass roots and why I started the work I was in, in the first place – which is to help mums and to help them feel empowered to take care of their maternal mental health.
Imogen Allen: I started using Facebook 10 years ago on a personal basis. It wasn’t until I set up my first business 5 years ago that I started using it for business and at that time joined the ranks of Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram.
I always enjoyed the conversations I had with other people whether they were customers or other business owners. At one point, I helped run a popular daytime daily hashtag hour once a week on Twitter. I spent a lot of time creating and responding to posts and conversations to the point that I was on too many different platforms all of the time. If I had notifications I would always need to respond to them all and there never seemed to be a break from it all. When I started to look at the benefits of spending so much time in social media, I started to question what they actually were.
My step back from social was a gradual process. I realised I was spending far too much time on social media and was questioning what I was getting out of it. It began to feel empty. It began to affect my confidence because I felt I was comparing myself to others and not feeling good enough. I felt I didn’t have anything interesting to say but also there was just too much information and noise to take in.
I started by turning off all notifications on my mobile to stop the distraction. I installed Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator on my PC so I could not see my FB newsfeed on my computer. I posted less on all platforms and stopping entirely on some. I chose the times I went in to check social media because I wasn’t bombarded with notifications. I took back control.
Now I’m selective with how I use it. I use Facebook for its groups so I can connect with industry colleagues who work in the WordPress community. I have conversations in LinkedIn and publish my articles there. I’m in a couple of communities where we use Slack as a way to communicate and it’s perfect, no distractions and noise. I’m glad those communities chose to come away from Facebook as a way for their members to come together. I decide when I dive into social media or not these days rather than it dictating to me and my life is so much better for it.
Feeling overwhelmed by social media? Then these are our top tips.
My advice to you is to trust your gut. If you aren’t comfortable with what you are sharing, then don’t! I have pulled back how much of my children I share on my business social media; recently IF they appear you will notice their face isn’t always partially covered. Likewise, I don’t feel guilty if I don’t accept people on my Facebook profile – I will often redirect them to my LinkedIn profile. I only engage with profiles, pages, and groups that are beneficial to me; from a business and a personal perspective. I try and limit how much time I spend on their too, that’s a work in progress. I have also started clearing up my social media channels!
In terms of future plans, whilst I will always create my content, I am considering getting someone to schedule it – this again will keep me off the platform when I don’t need to. Currently, most of my content is batch created. I know of lots of organisations that totally outsource their social media content and management – it allows them more time to BE and not Do.
IA: My advice to others is to use social media in a way that feels right for you. From a business point of view, choose one platform which works best for your business and stick to that one platform. Find out where your potential customers hang out rather than think you have to be everywhere. Don’t rely on social media for your business, use your website as a place to create content which helps your prospects customers and develop your online presence there and repurpose content to the right social channels. Tip: Talk about things which help your audience rather than about yourself. Most importantly be yourself and not someone you think you have to be.
OS: From the simple start point of taking a step away, I’ve now designed and started to implement campaigns that have helping mums at the heart of them. Campaigns and projects that matter, not because of the likes or share they get on social media but because they actually help real people in the real world. It’s made me realise an important lesson that when it comes to social media you need to be authentic, yes to the people you engage with through it, but most importantly authentic to who you are. Most importantly I’ve realised the importance of social media when it comes to raising awareness of an important message and that regardless of your number of followers, whether they be ten or ten thousand, that we are all influencers in our own right and we therefore need to own that right!
So very simply, YOU are in control of your social media channels. Remember WHY you are doing what you are doing and keep that reason firmly in mind, for every interaction and post you have. Social media can be an overwhelming positive tool, as long as it’s kept in the right hands.
How do you use social? Come over to Creating Careers to Enjoy (one of the places I use social for a positive reason) on Facebook.
Clara Wilcox is a straight-talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance. Isn’t it time you had a career to enjoy, not endure? Talk to me NOW about how I can help.
Clara Wilcox is a straight talking, practical and experienced coach helping clients navigate the tricky waters of returning to work, career changes and professional development. The Balance Collective is a social enterprise focused on improving the lives of parents, by working together to build inner confidence and promote a healthy work/life balance.
