I have a confession.
I am not a big fan of social media – both personally and professionally. I find myself pulling away from it more and more these days. As an example, a few years ago I switched my personal Instagram account to private (which is totally against the “social” aspect of social media), and I don’t think anyone noticed.
If it weren’t for the fact that Facebook keeps me somewhat connected to our Pennsylvania and Seattle family and close friends, I probably would have dropped it years ago, too. I compensate by taking 1-2 week hiatuses from Facebook a few times a year.
I know I’m not alone in this feeling. It’s a topic that comes into conversations regularly with business professionals and my clients.
In fact in two separate conversations last week, business associates complained that LinkedIn has become nothing more than 1) a cesspool of push marketing and 2) “look at me” or #WhiskeyWednesday posts that add little to no value to their business lives (their words, not mine, although I nodded my head in agreement because I’ve felt the same way, from time to time).
It begs the question: Is social media really all that important to our businesses?
Content strategist and business coach Kim Doyal wrote, “You Don’t Need to ‘Keep Up’ with ALL the Content ALL the Time.” In this article, she encourages the reader to not try to keep up with doing all things social media, and instead, pick 1-2 that you enjoy. Do them well, and add value with the information you share. BTW, Kim produces an awesome weekly newsletter, #FtheHustle.
My friend Carol Stephen of Your Social Media Works wrote an interesting article about how to improve your social media engagement. She notes that there is no magic fairy dust involved; it’s about adding value.
While social media is one aspect of the marketing mix, it’s not the only one. I don’t even think it’s one that should be given a high priority. While there is ROI in social media, it is at the top of the funnel (awareness). The real value comes from engagement. Not just posting more content. The world doesn’t need more content!
So if you are like me and are suffering from social media burnout more and more often, I encourage you to 1) re-evaluate how much time you put into social media against the ROI and 2) focus on those marketing initiatives that actually enjoy – the ones that create good ROI.
I talk about this more in my article, “6 Smart Ways to Limit Social Media Fatigue in Business.”
For me, the marketing I enjoy that returns the best ROI is focusing on the online “real estate” I own:
- publishing my email newsletter regularly
- improving my website content for better SEO.
Sure, I’ll still participate in social media, but I am definitely spending less time trying to do it all. Instead, I dedicate time each week to engage in social media that is informative, valuable and fun.
What about you?
Where You Can Find Me on Social …
I am most active and engaged on Twitter: @TessWittler. I participate in #BldgREChat, a chat for builders, home sellers and home service pros every Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET. I hope you’ll join us.
I’m fairly active on Instagram, too, because I’m a sucker for the lovely home transformation photos ya’ll share! You can find me: @ConstructionWriter.
There is Facebook and LinkedIn. While I do check in regularly, I’m not nearly as engaged on those two platforms.
