The tips to relieve the pressure of social media
Have you felt the pressure of social media?
Felt anxious to show up and show your face but then also pressured because you haven't shown up "enough". Do you compare yourself online and think "I could do better".
We are here to tell you this is very very normal! We all have felt this before and to be honest, still do. With the rise of social media, new features on each platform we can find ourselves in a spiral of comparisonitis and not feeling enough!
That’s why this week we are here to give tips and strategies on how to handle all pressures social media presents us!
But remember, it is normal and your mind can help you relieve the pressure you are feeling!
Handle the pressure of showing our face and showing up online
The pressure of showing up all the time, going live, speaking on stories, and being active on your platforms can seem a lot to deal with, and guess what? You are not alone in this feeling!
Even my team and I have felt this on Content Queen, but we quickly recognised this is no way to be if you want to keep moving onwards and upwards in your business.
Ultimately what helped me through this was being aware of how I was feeling and making the conscious decision to take it slow, practise, and to stop comparing!
Practises I've learnt through being more holistic in my business, looking after myself, and, of course, having fun in what I do and just focussing on my path has all really helped.
All you have to remember is that you’re not alone and there are so many ways to overcome this fear of showing up. Try practising in front of a mirror, write down some dot points of what you want to say and there are even features to help you practice going live before actually going live (on Instagram)
Overall, just have fun with it because guess what? It’s supposed to be enjoyable! The video will capture how you are feeling so if you have to, try and do something fun before you show up so you can show up happy and energised.
How can we handle the anxiety of not showing up online? Thinking “we are not doing enough”
We have all been there…
Believe it or not, just recently I was feeling like this. Can you believe that the Christmas of 2020 was the first Christmas I really took a break?
I really needed this break after months of showing up throughout the year - definitely a lot of burnout! However, instead of soaking up the time off, I actually felt AWFUL about this.
I tried to remind myself that breaks are important to recover from a busy year, however, I still felt horrible about it.
However my perspective definitely changed when I fell sick and landed in the hospital, this made it so much easier to not show up every day - I even gave myself permission to not show up!
But then, when I wasn't showing up, this left room for me to start scrolling and comparing myself to other businesses - NOT the place you want to be.
Compare that to how I handled time off and not showing up over my break this year, and the two are very different!
This Christmas just gone had me in a completely different mindset, I was organised and had prepared myself for time off by taking short breaks throughout the year already - it didn't feel like an all or nothing situation.
I had an understanding of the importance of time off and felt comfortable enough to not feel guilty for simply taking a break because at the end of the day this short time off isn't going to make or break a business.
When you go on a break you also need to remember that clients you have will come from all over in many different areas of your content strategy. For example, I have clients that find Content Queen through Google searches, blogs, podcast episodes, and networking; not just social media! So make sure to have a look at your stats (that’s how I found where my audience was coming from) and see where your traffic is pulling from.
Seeing that your audience and followers are still coming from different areas will allow you to feel more comfortable in taking time off. This is a big reason as to why this year, I didn’t feel guilty when taking time off and not showing up.
However, if you still feel as though logging off is something that gives you anxiety - here are some quick tips to help you handle those emotions:
Stick to your content marketing plan and accept it is ENOUGH (we can help you plan that with our FREE content strategy template) then stick to that
Don’t overdo it
Look at the RIGHT metrics. Focus on the ones that will help your business. Conversions over followers for example
Set benchmarks for these goals for those metrics. Don’t overdo the benchmarks (10% conversion rate is not realistic, look at the industry).
Define what is “enough” for you? What is enough? Then stick to the good enough. Don’t compare yourself to content creators, everyone's industry is different. Influencers might show up more because it is their industry
See! There are so many things you can do to set you and your business up for success, as well as having a guilt-free mindset, whilst heading off on your break!
How can we handle the pressure of comparing ourselves with others online?
Comparing ourselves to others, much like being hard on ourselves for taking time off, is not a place we want to be. Social media is just one big highlight reel of people’s lives, so it’s important to remember to not compare where we are at privately with where someone is at publicly - you don’t know what’s really going on behind the phone screen.
And if you do find yourself spending a lot of downtimes comparing, then here are a few takeaways to help you discontinue this thought process!
Unfollow accounts that trigger you
Follow accounts that inspire you (show the highs and lows)
Find your uniqueness and then you know that we are all different (this also helps you market yourself too)
Remember that we are all travelling through life on different paths and we all have different experiences we’ve been through
No one is you and you will stand out in that way
Your aligned audience will be attracted to you
At the end of the day, your story is exactly that: YOUR story. So stay in your lane, don’t worry about what others are doing, and be confident in telling it!
Final thoughts
Remember social media is just ONE channel to use as a marketing strategy, you have so many other aspects where you can grow and flourish as a business owner. To really hack into your anxiety around showing up, try and identify your struggles with social media; audit how each channel makes you feel and audit the purpose of that channel - once you’ve done this, stick to it!
Social media is a ME channel, make it a WE channel - a serving channel for your clients and what you want them to know. You can do this by continuing to remind yourself WHY you do what you do each day and stay true to your purpose. Once you do this and form a strong strategy you can stick to (download the Content Queen content marketing strategy template to help you) you can say goodbye to anxiety and hello to comfortability, confidence and success!