Let’s talk about some of my strategies for approaching social media in a healthy, productive way. (I definitely have to be intentional with my time and make sure I’m not repeatedly going to it for a dopamine boost!)
Things You Need to Do if you want to learn to love social media & use it for the purpose of growing your business:
Step 1:
Set up your environment.
In the beginning I followed a bunch of accounts similar to me, thinking it would help me stay on top of trends. This was a mistake! If you’re in a competitive market, especially the health/wellness realm, this can lead to unhealthy comparisons.
One of the things I learned from Marie Forleo was to look to industries OUTSIDE of your own who do things well. The best companies don’t just try to top their own competitors, they look outside their industry for ideas on how to improve.
If they don’t bring you up, hit unfollow.
I DO like to follow:
Industries I enjoy and find uplifting and educational, like therapists, psychologists, design and décor, etc! I love beauty and simplicity, and feeling inspired. I also typically follow important political topics I care about that I feel help stimulate change. (In a roundabout way, it helps inform my business decisions somewhat.)
I like to find accounts I find inspirational, thought provoking, and that are driving change in directions I want to see. (Also hilarious things my audience would appreciate or find positively impactful!)
If it doesn’t help push my mindset in the right direction, I’ll unfollow. Before doing this, social media was an emotional drain and time-suck.
Step 2:
Set some structure.
iPhones give us the ability to set time limits for certain apps in its settings! I’ve limited how long I’m on Instagram and Facebook. If you reach the limit, it will prevent you from opening the app unless you manually extend it.
Another step to take might be hiding, re-arranging, or re-naming certain apps. For example, if you name a category “Work,” that will set the tone for what you should be doing when you’re opening those apps. (The actual location of the apps also affects how often you’re opening them! Gotta love those effective little mind tricks.)
We have something called a “Workday Startup” with our team. Every morning when we log in to start working, it has us going through a checklist of items like email, Slack, etc and once we’ve checked all of them, we don’t go back to those items again until the end of the day.
Step 3:
Set an intention, and use it for what it was made to do.
Whether it’s to find content inspo that is relevant to your ideal customer, engage with people, or make a post- set a goal and a timer for it. For posts, I find it helpful to write it beforehand, then when the time comes I can just copy/paste it and it takes less than 10 minutes.
Intentions, time limits and goals make it so much easier to get your list done! I hope those steps are helpful to frame what you need to get done, and reduce the negative consequences that come with consuming social media on autopilot.
I don’t think it’s social media that we hate, it's the way we hate to consume it. It lacks boundaries, intentions, and alignment. Ultimately, social media can be an extremely helpful tool if it’s set up in the proper way!
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
My book, F*ck What Your Upline Said.
My favorite therapist on Instagram: @the.holistic.psychologist
WHERE WE CAN CONNECT:
Don’t forget….. If you loved this episode, screenshot it and share it to your IG stories and tag me @theashleyshaw. I would love to connect with you!
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