ASLU 076: The Social Media Mindset Struggle
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Welcome to Season 3 of the podcast! Not only are we launching a brand new season this week but, the podcast also hit the 5000 download milestone this week! To be honest, there was a point where that didn’t seem like a realistic goal but… perseverance and downright stubbornness - along with some fantastic guests in Season 2 - helped get us here!
This week Melissa is back with Heather Travis with an episode on everyone’s favorite love-hate relationship: their business and social media.
As small business owners, we pour an inordinate amount of time into social media for the benefit of our creative businesses. Every day there is a hungry algorithm to feed that regularly changes what kind of content it's in the mood for. And we have been trained to feed this insatiable beast whenever and whatever it wants. We twist our businesses to fit what social media asks of us rather than making social media work for our businesses.
Is it financially, creatively or mentally worth it? Is it healthy or even good for our craft to feel the pressure to create art or content that must be shared on a daily basis? Melissa & Heather get into the pros & cons of creating endless content to feed an insatiable beast and whether or not it benefits our businesses as much as we're encouraged to believe.
This Episode is Great For…
anyone who struggles with mixed feelings about social media
anyone who has concerns about the impact of their social media activity on their mental health
anyone who needs help putting boundaries in place with social media
anyone who struggles to create content consistently for social media (hint: you don’t have to)
anyone who has wondered if social media has an actual ROI for their businesses (Return on Investment)
If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.
Listen To the Episode
Here’s a direct link to the episode . You can also listen via the player below or on your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more). Just search for And She Looked Up!
set healthy boundaries
In This Episode We Talk About
In this episode we are not encouraging you to give up on social media. Instead we want to encourage you to take a step back and critically evaluate how social media serves you and your small business:
Are you using it as a tool, or is it using you to feed its need for a constant stream of fresh content?
Does the algorithm control you? Or do you control the algorithm’s place in your life?
Where can you set healthy boundaries that work for you?
What would happen to your business’s actual bottom line if you were to post less frequently?
Do you consume more than you create or vice versa?
Do we need to share everything we create? Should we share everything?
Are you posting less than stellar content or content that’s influenced by trends that aren’t really your jam or style just to have something to post?
How does your body feel when you are on social media? Do you physically feel good? Or not?
Is your activity on social media being influenced by what others tell you that you must do to have a successful business or is your activity a reflection of what actually moves the needle for your business in terms of growing your revenue and generating repeat business?
What would happen to your business if your favourite social media platform were to disappear tomorrow? Are you building a community of paying customers that would be unaffected by the loss of a platform?
If you had to pay $100 a month to use Instagram with the promise that all your followers would see all your content when they log in, would it be worth it?
Mentioned in this episode
- I Don't Think Instagram is Good For Artists - Holly Exley on YouTube.
- EP 22: Promoting Your Work Outside of Social Media
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