Dear Mindful Marketer, Social Media is Optional
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I’ve been Instagram/social media-free for over three years.
There were a lot of reasons why I decided to back away from a platform that was once a supportive and creative space for me. The content treadmill grew tedious and I no longer wanted the pressure of having to be continuously ON, to feed the content machine, and to assess every moment of my life for its sharability or package it neatly with a quippy, poignant caption.
In short, I wanted to reclaim my presence in the world. I wanted to exist authentically without viewing my life through the lens of social media and how I could use each moment to identify and extract the teachable moment for pure consumption. I wanted to allow myself to bask in the beauty of the present, to allow my senses to fully embrace my surroundings instead of outsourcing this particular memory to my camera roll. I wanted to find a way back to being just me — not Maggie Gentry Thought Partner + Mindful Marketing Strategist.
I wanted to just be. I wanted my attention back.
We are clearly in the attention economy now, where companies are vying for the amount of time our eyeballs, brains, and thumbs stay connected to whatever they have created for us. This constant state of arousal for our brains is highly addictive.
The problem with this constant appeal for our attention is that we are getting further and further away from our center. Our minds need downtime to process everything that happens in a day. Creative thought happens in those moments in between. (This is why you think of your best ideas in the shower or while driving!)
Instagram had me constantly scanning each place and experience from the lens of, "How can I take the right photo that captures the essence of this?"
By thinking about how to get that Insta-worthy photo, in those moments, I was allowing the app to take me out of that moment. I lost my ability to be present. I was willingly taking my attention away from the actual humans who were there with me and the real-time, real-life experience I was (not) experiencing.
I felt extremely disconnected from myself.
As a way to combat the power the app had over me, I needed to step away and reclaim my attention, and be in the present.
And it’s been liberating.
You never realize how much mental bandwidth you were missing until you get it back. The relentless din of information overload and social media is easy to get used to even if it ultimately drains us. (You’ve heard the frog in the boiling water metaphor, right?)
This mental load is especially heavy for business owners because we’re so often told that we MUST be on social media to grow our businesses, so the fear of not being on social is very real.
We may fear that we won’t find another way to stay relevant if we aren’t on social media. After all, we’re taught that it’s through repeated touchpoints that lead to conversions, so we can feel like social media is a great way to get in those reps that build the know-like-trust factor. We may fear that we’ll lose connections and opportunities for collaboration (this was a big fear for me). We may fear that we’re inadvertently leaving money on the table.
And all of this brings me to the biggest presumption that we may hold onto…
So really it all comes back to this question:
What role does social media play in your overall marketing strategy based on your unique business model?
As with all things in Mindful Marketing, we want to blend the practical with the energetic. So, yes, there are some very real considerations that must be examined in terms of how to continue making money in order to meet your needs and the marketing efforts that are required to match that. And you also get to decide HOW exactly you do that so that the process is supportive to your energetic capacity.
While I do have some personal opinions about the impacts of social media, I also realize that (as with all things) there is no simple black & white solution. There is only what works best for you in this particular moment in time. There was a point as I was just starting out when Instagram was the exact stepping stone I needed to start sharing my thoughts and writing with the world. It is how I got comfortable sharing my words and developing my voice.
And, ultimately, I realized that all the time I was spending on the app was zapping me creatively, and I wasn’t showing up for my life or my clients in the way I wanted to. I had begun to use it unconsciously and compulsively, and like anything else, when we engage without intention, it began to detract from my well-being rather than add to it.
Revisiting my relationship with social media not only felt like I got an essential part of myself back, but it also helped me to get creative with how I approached my own marketing strategy. I leaned into what I love more, long-form writing via blogs and newsletters, which is discouraged on an app that promotes brevity because it wants you to keep scrolling. The time I gained back from not creating content that went into a void meant that I could strengthen relationships with partners and collaborators, and that has been truly rewarding for me.
So I’ll leave you with these questions to explore if you, too, are re-evaluating the role of social media in your business.
What might your business and marketing practice look like without social media?
What does a conscious relationship to social media look like for you and your business?
What marketing methods would you like to put more energy into once you've adjusted your relationship with social media?
Brainstorm some ways you could keep the benefits of social media by utilizing other platforms or marketing methods. (i.e., If you cherish the relationships you’ve developed on social media, then what other messaging app might you take those conversations to? Or do you make more space for virtual coffee chats?)
Let’s open you up to all the new possibilities! What might your marketing and business look like without the time and energy spent on social media?
Here are some prompts to help you get clear on this. (This really is an exercise in opportunity cost.)
When I am no longer expending time and creative energy on social media, I will instead _______.
When I am no longer utilizing social media as an integral part of my marketing strategy, I will instead _______.
What are the steps I need to take in order to feel ready to shift my relationship with social media?
At the end of the day, social media is just one way to promote your business, not THE way. As with anything you allow into your life and spend time and attention on, it’s a good idea to consciously weigh the costs and benefits.
If social media is costing you more than it’s benefiting you, you have complete permission to change your relationship with it or… let it go completely.
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Photo credit: Creating Light Studio