Sep 19, 2019

How to deal with social media and keep your sanity.

Algorithms, likes, trolls and bots, oh my!

If you’re like many others playing the online marketing game, you’re thinking about how to deal with social media because it’s dragging you down.

You’re realizing that you’re wasting your time because you’re not getting any or enough sales from it and engagement is decreasing after each algorithm which is depressing to monitor.

This topic has been on many social entrepreneurial minds lately and I want to help ease yours a bit.

In July, all Instagram users noticed a huge dip in likes.

Yup, once again, new algorithm changes took place and it’s causing quite a stir.

Going from 150 to 10 likes does not mean life is ending though.

Reducing the stress of competition.

Actually, this new algorithm is a good thing.

Why? Because you don’t need to worry about your likes anymore.

Fact is, Facebook and co. have to be a lot more careful because gov’ts around the world are putting pressure on them and they want to keep their fortune to themselves.

Since they’ve helped enable a psycho world full of competition, jealousy and imposter syndrome, they’re now being forced to make it more fair and personable which was the intention of social media in the first place.

One of the things Instagram is currently doing is deleting the visibility of the number of likes a photo has.

So, right now, the Canadians, Brazilians, Australians, Irish, Italians, Japanese and New Zealanders can only see this: “Liked by ‘accountname’ and others“. Without a number. Like this:

Likes mean nothing.

There’s still a heart to like photos though, so that hasn’t changed.

If they click on the word ‘others’, they can see the list of all accounts who liked a particular photo. That hasn’t changed either.

If it’s their own photo, they can also see the number of likes in their insights, but no one else can.

If you have a large account and live by your likes for social proof, you may be upset, but don’t despair.

This is a step in the right direction because not only is the ethical marketing, it eases the enormous amounts of pressure these silly ‘likes’ place on you and others.

Many people who like a photo on IG don’t even read the captions and that’s insulting because you spend valuable time writing yours.

Instead of likes, you want engaging comments from real humans and this new change in IG will encourage you to set that goal.

It’s more important for your business to build a meaningful relationship with your customer rather than posting every day, so spend more time commenting and reaching out via direct message on your customers’ accounts.

That’s how to deal with social media.

Not in a spammy way, but in an intellectual and helpful way, e.g.:

Ask them questions they seek answers to. If you’re an intuitive thinker, this will be easier than if you’re not, but even if you’re not, you know your business and your customers’ struggles, so you can make educated guesses as to what they want to know even before they know themselves. Asking key questions will encourage them to dig deep into the root of their problems and be able to come up with solutions themselves or seek your guidance to help them. This will help you be seen as a thought leader.
Give them food for thought (possible solutions) without selling them your products or services. “Have you tried this yet? I did a year ago and got these results …”
Search for posts from potential clients that ask questions and comment with an educated answer that promotes more in-depth conversations.
Respond to other people’s comments in the same intellectual way.

As long as your mindful, intelligent and don’t offer unsolicited advice, you’ll be able to build relationships.

Intentionally engage with your potential customers instead of begging for followers and likes by posting like a crazy person and spending hours researching hashtags.

Are you posting on Facebook too often?

Over two years ago, Hubspot looked at the Facebook stats of over 13,500 accounts and reported that click conversion is dependent on the number of likes a business page has.

According to their findings, if you have under 10,000 page likes, you should get more clicks per post when you only post 1-5x per month!

YES, you read that correctly. 1-5x per MONTH.

When you post over 60x/month, you should receive 60% fewer clicks per post.

Granted, if you post 60x/mth, your overall number of clicks will be higher than if you only post 5x, but the ‘quality’ of each post is lessened and FB notices that and will ultimately give you less reach per post.

Quality over quantity: Spend your precious time on meaningful and helpful posts, not on constantly posting for the sake of posting.

What you can do.

That Hubspot blog post is over 2 years old, but I don’t imagine much has changed.

But still, stats are stats, meaning, it’s a guideline, not the law, so if you want to increase quality engagement, you may want to consider experimenting because what works for others will not always work for you and vice versa.

If you’re used to posting everyday on FB and have less than 10,000+ page likes, try reducing it and see what happens. In order to get viable results, you’ll want to test it for at least 3 months.

Compare your website traffic during this testing phase. In Google Analytics, your clicks from Facebook are located under: Acquisition / Social / Network Referrals / Facebook.

Where is your traffic coming from?

Also, are you even getting clicks to your website from Instagram? For me, my IG audience doesn’t visit my website as much as my FB audience does, so that tells me that I have to nurture my IG audience differently if I want to lead them to my website.

And I’ll tell you one thing, a mere ‘link in bio’ statement in the caption won’t cut it as IG users are often blind scrollers who just want to see pretty pictures. You don’t want to attract those people though.

You want to attract those who can – and do – read.

If you’re hesitant to drastically reduce the amount of posting, I’d suggest to create a post stating that you’re trying out a new strategy and will be posting less and ask your audience what they want to see.

Your goal here is to offer your audience an excellent customer journey that will help them make a more mindful and better decision.

That’s what ethical marketing is all about.

What’s also important for you is learning how to deal with social media by knowing what makes you happy and refusing to allow marketing to drag you down.

Marketing should be easy, fun, creative and worth your time, not depressing, stressful, annoying and ineffective.

Learn how to deal with social media by knowing what makes you happy and successful. Marketing should be easy, fun and effective, not depressing and overwhelming.

Key takeaways on how to deal with social media.

Put social back in social media.
This is one thing you definitely should implement in your ethical marketing strategy because social media is about engagement. It always has been and always will be, so use your valuable time engaging with your audience by intelligently commenting on posts from your ideal customers more than posting and just liking other posts.
Be free.
I know it’s difficult, but try not to obsess about numbers or what others in your field are doing. Worrying about this kind of stuff won’t help you get more followers or engagement. It usually only keeps negative, competitive thoughts in your head which could block you from being successful.
Warm up ice cold leads.
Your social followers usually don’t know you or your offer yet. Concentrate on the right timing by giving them the information they want to hear at any particular time. Set the intention of offering a valuable customer experience by guiding them from being an ice cold lead to becoming a loyal, happy customer.
Build up and nurture your mailing list.
You will never have control of your social channels because they change so much and so often and it’s out of your control. BUT, you do have control over your mailing list – to a certain extent as mailing tools have their algorithms too, just not as much or as often. Not only that, your subscribers are usually ‘warmer’ than your social followers, so try to concentrate on nurturing your subscribers more than your followers.
If you need a break, take one.
If you’re getting exhausted from keeping up with your social media accounts and aren’t seeing the results you want – or even if you are – then maybe it’s time for a break.

Do more of what makes you happy and successful.

About taking that break.

A successful business friend of mine took a one month break this and last year and didn’t see much of a difference in her stats. There was a small dip, but overall, it didn’t matter.

But what that break did for her mind, body and soul would have been worth a huge decrease in her stats. She felt energized again, as if she were freed from the shackles.

Social media can make it seem like you’re in prison sometimes and that you have to do this, that and the other in order to get people to notice.

Well, truth is, no one cares about your social media accounts but you and you can either listen to the noise or do what feels right for you and your brand and if that means getting off the social media grid for a month, then so be it.

Again, you’re as free as a bird. It’s your business, so give yourself the permission to do more of what makes you happy, not what keeps you stressed.

By the way, I also took a social media break for about 1 1/2 months last summer to write my book and am now a published author. I didn’t see a dip in anything and no one minded. Was that break worth it? Absolutely. Will I do it again? You better believe it.

Do more of what makes you happy and successful.

You want to be happy and increase sales, right?

Absolutely, let me schedule a free 30 min. strategy call with you.

How do you feel about social media these days? Are you thinking about changing your own social media strategy? Have you ever taken a break from it completely? How did that make you feel? Comment below and let’s talk!

Peace,