Social Media: Its Impact on Us, Our Businesses and Our Legacy (Part 02)
Social Media, It’s Not Black and White
BY MAIKA ENDO, IN COLLABORATION WITH BECKY HUNTER-KELM
14 min read
In this post I’ll investigate whether social media is truly the one and only method for marketing your brand or not. I’ll also share some different ways that you can implement it to your advantage -without your having to feel chained to it. I’ll then invite you to consider which approach aligns best with your values as we explore your end goal for content strategy. My intention behind this blog post is to help you make an empowered and conscious decision about how (if at all) to use social media moving forward for your most aligned life and business.
Oh, and let me remind you of this small PDA: This two-part blog will make you think about your life (and death) in terms of legacy and may challenge some of your previous assumptions about social media. :)
1. Challenging the ‘Social Media = Success’ Narrative
In an online world dominated by likes and shares, the more followers you have on social media, the more successful your brand will be, right? But is this actually true? Check out the following about these world brand giants:
Apple: Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, and yet, it doesn't have an online media strategy- in fact, this seems to BE its strategy- to avoid a social media presence altogether. Apple has a Facebook page, but it's not regularly updated. And even though Apple's X (Twitter) account has 5.8 million followers, they don't follow anyone back! Apple's Instagram account contains almost all user-generated or user-created content commissioned by Apple themselves.. Finally, while we don't know for sure if Apple works with influencers on a paid basis or not, it does partner with YouTube influencers for endorsements- and it's clear to see that Apple is big on traditional 'influencer' strategies such as product placement.
Wetherspoons: Wetherspoons is a British pub chain with over 900 locations, but it does not have any social media accounts. The company's founder, Tim Martin, has said that he believes it to be a waste of time.
Lush Cosmetics: Lush Cosmetics is a British cosmetics company with over 1,000 stores worldwide. In 2021, the company announced that it would be deleting its social media accounts, citing concerns about its impact on mental health. I checked, and their grid looks like this, with just nine posts.
These are just a few examples of well-known brands that do not use social media- and are still thriving despite this decision. Many other brands, both large and small, have chosen to forgo social media for different reasons.
You might argue that these are big brands, so they can 'afford it'. This is the biggest objection I hear when I bring up marketing that isn't dependent on social media. Clients object, saying: 'I want to come off social media but I can't afford to.' Or 'My business isn't yet at the point where I can take my foot off the gas on my social media”.
Along with big companies, some individual company owners such as Marie Kondo choose not to have a social media account. Marie believes social media can be distracting and clutter-inducing (which I agree with). However, it's interesting to note that her brand has an online presence despite the founder deciding not to.
So what about you and me? Can 'we' afford to not be on the ‘Gram or X?
Here are some perspectives we can explore to see if we have more of a choice than we think we have…
2. What Social Media Approach is Best for You?
When it comes to having a relationship with social media, it's not black and white, and different social media platforms work differently. Think about your social media account for a second (if you have one). Do you know that there are a variety of approaches and ways in which you can utilize it?
You can have an active approach where you regularly share and post to generate leads and market your operations organically.
You can have an account, maintain a presence on social media, and just check in occasionally without actively posting.
You can run a social media account and pay for ads to support your growth.
You can occasionally be active on social media when running pop-up Facebook groups for boot camps and time-limited challenges.
You can maximize your creative potential with an alluring portfolio on a visual platform like Instagram.
You can use your social media account as a bridge to invite people to sign up for your newsletter or direct people to your website.
The Stark Difference Between Being Active on Social Media and Simply Having an Online Presence
If you regularly post on TikTok, X (Twitter), LinkedIn or others, this has some obvious benefits. It gives you visibility and keeps you relevant in your niche for as long as you keep posting and staying engaged with activity on the platform. If you have a YouTube channel, you could even create a video that goes viral and gets viewed by millions of people!
The only issue with the above examples is that these approaches keep you in the perpetual hamster wheel of content creation. And it's a fast pace to keep up with. You have to keep up with the frequency at which you’ve committed to post and with the algorithm (which constantly changes).
Viral and easy-to-consume content can generate spikes of interest and engagement (IG Reels with captions, for example), but they don't hold your lead's attention span for very long..
However, when you focus on creating high-quality, 'evergreen' content (timeless, search-optimized pieces that stay relevant to readers for the long term), it will get references in other blog posts and articles. Over time this will lead to more exposure, resulting in authority, ranking and conversion.
When you post more evergreen content, and people find you through an online search, you can leverage this with your SEO strategy. This is an organic and slower approach, but it is better suited if you want to build a sustainable business and enjoy a peaceful pace of work on your terms.
With me so far?
And when it comes to weighing up the pros and cons of social media marketing vs evergreen marketing, and the different approaches to social media, the following questions are helpful:
How much of the 'law of marketing' do you want to follow?
Do you want it to shape your creativity and content strategy?
Because the truth is that social media marketing will ultimately mold you into thinking in specific ways- you could even start to formulate thoughts like captions 🤣.
‘Language shapes our perception of the world and how we categorize and organize information. Constant exposure to social media and caption writing could potentially reinforce this effect, leading to a more "caption-oriented" way of thinking."’ (The Language Instinct)
And if you do choose to post on social media actively, are you really creating for your people and what they want to see, for Instagram (and whatever the algorithm will push), or yourself (what makes you happy to share), or maybe a mixture of all three?
These are questions I continually ponder- and which I don’t have an answer. But I can say that I am actively pursuing building a value-driven business and life (more on this later in this post).
Organic Growth vs Growth With Paid Ads
Of course, you can also create content and throw it out on social media in the hopes that you’ll be found organically (may the algorithm odds ever be in your favor.)
If you're creating content to grow your audience, educate, and spread your message, how many of your followers will actually see your post? How often do you have to post for people to see it?
If growing your brand is your purpose, you could consider paying for ads so that you can at least take out some guesswork regarding who your posts land in front of.
Paid ads are a valuable strategy to target your audience with your content. This way, you're at least using your time efficiently and making data-backed decisions. Leveraging paid ads also means you don't have to be consistently active on social media.
So, to summarize these two strategies that don't require you to be chained to your social media account 24/7:
1) The organic way, through your content strategy (more on this - hang on) and optimizing SEO evergreen content. This approach takes effort and time (although it may change as AI develops and search engines evolve) but will nurture a long-term following.
2) Having a social media account and paying for ads. This approach means you're investing financially to speed up the process and get your posts in front of the right people.
Both these strategies require commitment and skills, BUT remember they can also be outsourced. (I have my thoughts on this, but I'll share them in another article).
3.The Impact of FOMO and the Darker Side of Social Media
None of us are strangers to social media's negative aspects:
Scrolling IG instead of sleeping so we don’t get enough rest.
Watching another person's feed and drawing conclusions from it. We can easily judge and misunderstand one another just from one IG story!
Watching someone else's feed and comparing ourselves to their narrative. We then lose motivation and start procrastinating as our self-confidence takes a hit.
We lost track of our goals because we got distracted by 'shiny object syndrome,' signed up for another course/bought another product/planner we saw online, and wasted money on products we didn't need and will never use.
Unsolicited promotions and scams through direct messages distract our attention.
The alarming spread of trolls and fake news (increased with AI-generated videos) which can manipulate us and pit us against one another
Blame culture when others don't post about specific issues or world crises. (People have no way of knowing what another is doing behind a screen, and there are countless ways to be a positive change-maker in the world; social media is just one of these!)
You'll agree that these social media pitfalls don't help us on our (already challenging) entrepreneurial journey.
Also, let's remember that social media is not just another tool, nor is it neutral. It has been engineered to be highly addictive, and the negative consequences on mental health from using it too much are now undeniable (Twenge, Martin, & Campbell, 2018, 'Association Between Social Media Use and Depression in Adolescents').
Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad. I honestly love Instagram. I get inspired, excited, stimulated - and my brain gets its dopamine hit. But then, I put my phone down; the moment is gone, and it's back to reality. And I wonder- did that last hour of scrolling add any value to my life?
I always feel sad when I hear someone say they wish they could take Italian lessons, learn to paint, sing, or whatever it is…but they can’t because they ‘don’t have time.’ This is the most common excuse that we tell ourselves to avoid taking our aspirations and dreams seriously.
Just imagine right now- what if you took the lessons? Made the trip? Went back to school? Whatever it is. And what if you succeeded? How would you feel? How would it impact you and your future?
The caption shows a low count because I took a screenshot at the time of writing this article, before saying bye bye. But when I’m active, it’s a lot more!
Now, I gently challenge you to check your screen time in your phone settings. Yes, right now, go check it.
Annnnnd...there you have it!
That could be where all your time has gone!
And I know we all enjoy scrolling to relax- and if you genuinely do enjoy it and come away feeling rested or uplifted, then great! But the truth is that after an hour on our platform of choice, we are more likely to feel guilty, resentful, and dissatisfied with our lives.
4. A Joy-Filled Business and Life Based on Your Values
We are all unique. And when it comes to running your business, you shouldn't ignore the individual elements that make you YOU! Your gifts and talents, passions, spirituality, desires, and moral compass- all the beautiful parts that comprise you should take center stage because then you can choose to create your brand AROUND them. This not only means you'll be happier, but your CEO leadership will be potent and aligned.
I want to share two powerful self-coaching activities to help draw out your values. You'll need a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
Exercise 1: Use Your Time, Energy, and Resources to Reflect Your Priorities.
Draw the following wheel on your paper with 12 segments.
Take a few minutes to think about your life and label each segment as the different areas that you give your time and energy to. (This could look like family, learning, community, businesses marketing and serving clients, for example).
Now, working from a scale of one to ten, draw a line across each segment to mark how much time you roughly spend on each per month:
1 - little time, not enough time
10 - a lot of time
Now, have a look at the wheel and examine the different segments. Take a pen in a different color and in each section mark off its level of priority. (1 is not much of a priority, 10 is the highest level of priority.)
Then take a few moments and journal your answers to the following questions:
What do you notice?
What insights come up for you?
For example, maybe you notice that you spend a lot of time supporting your community, but you could increase the hours and energy you give to learning.
Exercise 2: Design Your Life and Business in Line With Your Values
Let's imagine we are 12 months from today, and you're reflecting on the year gone by and how you spent your days. You feel satisfied and happy because you gave attention to the most important things.
How did you spend your time?
Be specific as you look at your wheel. Here's an example of what mine looked like:
Spending time with my husband: dinners, dates, lunches, movies, concerts
Travel: France, Iceland
Family: France
My son: cooking, crafts, Japanese, playdates
Learning videography
Learning illustration
Pilates x 2 / week
Piano x 7/7
Language lesson x 1/week
Now consider as you look at your wheel: How does social media fit into your ecosystem? (Don't judge yourself; you're merely creating awareness).
Does this inform how you want to use social media moving forward?
As I did this exercise, I realized that spending a lot of time on Instagram made me less creative because it made me conform to specific standards and expectations- (and creativity is one of my most important values). I find myself following other trends or stalking what others are doing online (or what the algorithm currently favors). It stunts my creativity because I worry about what others might think of me and compare myself to them.
I have also started to see this on the coaching scene; people gravitate toward creating the same things. The same buzzwords fly everywhere; everyone feels pressured to organize VIP days and retreats and to scale quickly. It's like everyone is in a vacuum because all they can see is what everyone else is doing in their business, so they think they should do the same.
After a while, you can feel burnt out and exhausted by it all and start to doubt yourself and your ideas, asking yourself: Is this really what I want, or is it an idea borrowed by someone else? Only when we silence the outside noise can we truly listen to our calling and hear what we are being led to create.
5.Finding our Balance through Experimentation
I have one life, and I want to make it count. I want to look back and know deep in my soul that I used my freedom and creativity the best I could- not that I lived enslaved to the marketing laws of my era.
Social media also trends come and go. Remember Clubhouse in 2020? The novelty wore off, disappearing shortly after its brief moment in the spotlight. And my younger friends say that the only people they know who use Facebook nowadays are their parents (I feel old!). If trends come and go, I want to build a livelihood that can stand the test of time, and I also want to focus my energy on using ways to process and communicate in ways that will never go out of style (for me, that means my fountain pen and paper journal.)
How we spend our time is down to us- no one else can decide for us. I want to use social media by design, not default. I love Instagram, and I curate my feed consciously. I don’t follow coaches or influencers; instead, I follow people doing different things around the art of living and creating.
Social media stifles my creativity because I create content to fit into a confined space that does not give me the space to share deeply. I’m looking forward to exploring what my creativity could look like in other spaces- (both offline and online) and seeing how much my brand can expand if I explore beyond the confinements of Instagram.
Will I return to IG again with a newly found inspiration?
Will I reinvent myself somewhere else?
Maybe I'll experiment with ads?
Or create YouTube videos?
Or rediscover podcasting?
Write a book? Journal and read more (for sure!).
Will my business be impacted? How?
There is only one way to find out, so I’m leaving Instagram in 2024!
Conclusion
So, can you afford to reassess your relationship with social media? I hope my perspective and some of the questions I have posed will instill some curiosity in you and help you consciously design your social media relationship to work for you and your most aligned calling.
My decision to step back from Instagram is a personal choice, and I'm not saying everyone should do the same. I appreciate it is not a universal solution because we all have a unique relationship with social media platforms.
For me, this break from IG is possible because I have a substitute to stay connected – my newsletters. So, if you DO decide to take a break from social media, I encourage you to choose a substitute to stay connected, and that will spark your creativity- whatever it may be for you.
Let's create more than we consume. Let's live and build with purpose. And life is short, so do what brings you joy (yes, even if that means using IG!)
You Might Also Like …
“I don’t think social media is “evil” or “ruining the world.” I think social media is completely amazing — and it can be used in so many beautiful ways. But for me, social media often felt like an alluring, tempting “distraction.”
Why I don't use social media anymore, Alexandra Franzen.
“An Instagram presence and activity online is not the litmus test of whether someone is happy, successful, or “ok”.”
Why I left Instagram. Is it time for you to quit social media too?, Alena Kate Pettitt.
"Strange things happen in the silence of your own thoughts. Without any packaged reminders of what I or my friends liked, I mined my own memories."
I Gave Up Instagram For A Year And I Was Shocked By How Quitting Transformed My Life,
Laureen Laglagaron
“Stepping away from social media also made me take my work more seriously. Instead of channeling my creativity into captions, it went into my actual writing – my Ph.D. thesis, a novel.”
In the year since I quit social media, my screen time has fallen, my mood is up – even my resting heart rate is lower, Philippa Moore.
“I think we’re all getting a little tired of being at the mercy of social media algorithms and want to take control of our content and livelihoods.”
The End of Influencers on Instagram, Stephanie McNeal.
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About Maika
Maika mentors heart-centered, impact-driven entrepreneurs to build the foundations of their businesses with her signature Intentional Business Building™ method. Her approach is holistic and integrates the entrepreneur mindset, marketing strategies, and systems to help create sustainable changes and long-lasting results. A lifelong passion for the human psyche, healing arts, and personal growth brought her to coaching. French-born in Japan and now in Istanbul, she's an Epicurean who loves cooking Asian cuisine (especially ramen these days), playing piano and harp, and workshopping everything.
