Don’t Let Your Personal Social Media Presence Fail Like a Fad Diet

I’ve worked in social media for some time now and while I’ve helped many brands develop and grow their social media presences, I’ve sometimes struggled with my own personal channels. It can be so time consuming and sometimes, I just don’t have the energy to engage or think of something interesting to post.

And then I realized, making the decision to establish a social media presence is a lot like making the decision to be healthy. You can take one of two approaches:

1. Go all in, make it your only focus, then burn out and quit. Rinse and repeat.

OR

1. Start slowly and change your behavior little by little until it becomes an established part of your daily routine.

Here are six tips to make your social media presence a healthy lifestyle change instead of a fad diet:

1. Have the mindset of “want to,” not “have to.” People often think they simply have to be on social media. Should they? Probably. But when you start off with such a desperate mindset, you set yourself up for failure and disappointment. If you don’t want to do social media, don’t do it. It’ll just cause you more frustration than it’s worth.
2. Social media is work, but it should also be fun. Much like a new healthy lifestyle, social media takes time, planning and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone. What makes it fun is sharing your passion and seeing the results the come from connecting with people who have similar interests. If you fixate on the sacrifice and ignore the fun, you’ll never stick to it.
3. Do one thing every day, then gradually add more. Change takes time and changing too many things at once guarantees you’ll burn out and quit. Start by engaging with one post per day. Next, start posting your own content on one channel per week. Gradually do more and more as the social media routine becomes more ingrained in your daily life. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your daily habits will change!
4. Take other people’s success stories with a grain of salt. Everyone’s different — a channel or post that works for me may not work for you. Success stories can give you inspiration to try new things, but don’t let them define your strategy or keep you from trying something new. Never forget, social media is a digital representation of you. That means anything you post should represent your personality and reflect the way you want to be perceived.
5. Remember, it takes time to achieve consistent results. You may see some instant success in your first few weeks and then hit a plateau. Don’t give up! Real results take time to build. Social media is all about consistent output and engagement in order to create traction and generate long-term results.
6. Lastly, you don’t have to be perfect. If you fall off the bandwagon and forget to post, it’s not the end of the world. Get back on the wagon and don’t lose sight of why you started in the first place.

How do you stay motivated to keep up with your social media channels?