Social media can be overwhelming. Especially if you’re a highly sensitive person.
The problem is that if you’re a soulpreneur with your own business, having a social media platform is a crucial part of attracting clients.
If you find that you’re struggling to spread yourself across your different social media accounts, try these tips to reclaim your power and avoid overwhelm!
⋆☽ Set a time limit, and stick to it ☾⋆
As my platform grew, I had to sacrifice my ability to reply to messages right away. Can you relate to the feeling of getting lost in your phone replying to messages and when you finally come up for air, you notice that a whole hour has passed?
It can be dangerous for your productivity and sense of calm if your precious time is disappearing on activities that aren’t at the top of your priority list. As I tell my clients if I don’t reply straight away – it’s not because I’ve forgotten – it’s because I dedicate a time slot in my day to replying to all of my messages in one fell swoop…
This means that I have the mental space available to focus on each activity fully, instead of ending up frustrated that my time has vanished from picking up my phone every 2 minutes and responding to each message as it drops in. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed from replying to messages all day, try dedicating a time slot to replying to everything in one go – it’s a game-changer!
⋆☽ Switch to voice notes instead of written replies ☾⋆
If you’re not used to talking on video (like Insta stories, YouTube or Facebook lives), then it might feel a tad awkward and uncomfortable at first. But I promise you that it’s a hell of a lot faster to send someone a 1-minute voice note telling them everything you want to say, instead of spending 10 minutes writing out a wordy response.
I find that coaches often use this technique because they’re used to responding to clients all day. Not only does it save your time, but it’s actually a much more fun and personal way to reply anyway. It’s so easy for sentiment to get lost in translation with written messages, but with a voice note, you can express everything that you want to, in less time!
⋆☽ Focus on a few platforms, and do them well ☾⋆
My favourite? Definitely Instagram! But you can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tik Tok and YouTube…. phew. It’s a lot, and if you’re a soulpreneur, I’m guessing that you also have a few different social media profiles as well as an email list to maintain.
If you’re still at the solopreneur stage where you don’t have anyone helping you, it’s vital that you’re respectfully managing your own time and expectations. Maybe this is your year to focus fully on Instagram, while your other accounts keep themselves ticking over. Or maybe YouTube is your calling and where you’re having the most traction, so it’s time for you to dive deep into creating new videos.
Think about where you’re collecting the most followers with ease, what you enjoy creating content for, and which platform is actually giving you the best return on your time investment – eg, reads for your blog or sales for your service. When it comes to social media, you can’t do them all and you definitely can’t do them all well if you’re just one person. Choose one or two platforms that you’re going to be a boss at, and then maybe you can reconsider next year; for example, mine are Instagram and Facebook.
⋆☽ Create a posting schedule you can honour ☾⋆
When does this blog drop? Wednesday. Every Wednesday without fail. The only times I haven’t posted since October 2018 were the week I got married and the 2 Christmas weeks (2018 and 2019). Each time this was planned and announced on social media.
I often have people say how amazed they are that I manage to post a new blog every single week, but the truth is that there are other people who manage to post a new blog every single day! I wouldn’t be able to honour that posting schedule, so I stick to once a week instead.
Being overambitious with how often you want to post can be the death knell of your social media life. You can begin posting every single day on Instagram and feel buzzed about it, but if it isn’t sustainable then you end up feeling frustrated that you’re falling behind and give up completely. Sustainable is better than a schedule that sounds sexy but isn’t destined for the long-term. Post once a month or once a week if you need to – whatever you think is actually realistic and feels good for you.
Drop it down so that you can keep it up.
☽ ☆ ☾
So, there you have it – the secrets to how I live my social media life.
Do you have any social media tips of your own which could help someone else to avoid overwhelm? Post it in the comments to help your fellow soulpreneurs!
