Ending the social media overwhelm in your business

Feed the beast! 

Do your social media channels ever feel overwhelming? The comparisons I hear a lot from clients are that it feels like futilely going round in circles, or the never ending job of feeding a great beast. Without any real sign of getting anything back for your efforts.

Sound familiar?

How have we got to a point where with wonderful, collaborative, community building tool we were gifted has become a pit of wasted time and resources? Something that used to feel fun and engaging, is just another pointless thing to tick off our to-do list, week in week out.

And all these supposed rules we need to follow? Don't miss a day's posting, otherwise engagement falls off a cliff. Post 3 times a day, otherwise no one will see your post. Don't post on two consecutive days, otherwise you cannibalise your views.

I just find social media SO overwhelming

Do you every feel like jumping off the carousel?

To stop feeding the beast?

I highly encourage it. Stop it. Stop it right now. I'm sure you deserve a break anyway. Here's your permission slip to stop posting on social. You're welcome.

But what I would encourage you to do is use the time away from posting that cute behind the scenes snap to think about WHY. Why were you going to post that? What purpose would it serve?

In fact, what purpose does your social media serve? Where does it fit in your marketing mix? You do have a marketing plan, don't you? (If you don't, you know where I am!)

Are you trying to attract new customers? Or stay front of mind for others? What problem are you solving for your customers? What's your mission? And how does your content fit into that?

I'm a big believer in quick scribbles. Sometimes if you give yourself too much time to think about something, you never finish it. 

How to feel in control of your businesses' social media approach

If you want to start being more strategic in your social media content (or any kind of marketing for that matter) here's a quick exercise for you.

First, set your timer (phone, Alexa, egg timer - whatever you've got to hand) to 15 minutes. I promise that's all you'll need for a 'good enough' first effort.

(Reminder: done is better than perfect)

Second, grab your notebook and sketch out a who, what, when, where, why.

• Who do you want to reach/speak to /influence?

• What do you want them to think/feel/do?

• What do you want to say to them?

• When do you want them to do it?

• Where do you want them to do it?

• And why? Why do you want them to? Why do they want to?

If you have time, rinse and repeat with another audience.

That's it! You have started the journey to being more focused with aligning your social media content to work harder to get the results you want to see for your organisation.

Bonus tips

I originally wrote a version of this post on my LinkedIn, and some of my brilliant marketing pals added to the conversation, so I thought it was only fair to share their wisdom with you too!

Kelly Ling, Business & Marketing Strategist

Always coming back to the WHY and the other Ws is so important! 💪🏻 So many valuable tips in here! 😍Love the 15min timer and not striving for perfection, just getting it done! And, I would add, test and reflect, gain learnings, tweak, test and repeat again (data-backed).

Ivana Petrovich, Results Driven Marketer

Too many rules and guidelines. Taking the time to clarify what you want to say and why is definitely the first step. And how your message can be helpful, although sometimes posting to reveal a part of you, even if it's not necessarily "helpful", but is honest, raw, brave, funny, etc. is great too. It gives you an opportunity to connect with other like minded people.