What to Do When You Hate Social Media

Hi, I’m Ruby McGuire. I’ve recently taken on the role of Content Writer for the IAPC&M. I thought I’d kick off my new role by sharing one of my most popular messages with you. It will give you a bit of insight into me too.

When I was working as a Visibility Strategist a few years ago, I was getting increasingly burnt out by social media.

My message was all about being visible, and I was kind of done with it. I was sick of showing up on social media day in, day out, tired of all of the advertising and the ‘buy me’ promoting, bored with being consistent and wondering what it was all about, this ‘machine’ that takes over our lives.

I began to notice that it wasn’t just me that was tired of social media. It seemed that more and more people were and are finding it exhausting. They realise that this is not how they want to do business.

Lush, a cosmetic company in the UK, were one of the more prominent companies saying they were coming off social media. It can be relentless. BUT you do have a choice in how you play.

You don’t have to push yourself so hard. You get to set boundaries and ‘work it’ how you want to.

Over the last couple of years, I started to reduce the amount of social media I did; last year, I quit altogether.

Before making this decision, I sat down and reviewed my business to ascertain where my past clients had come from, and none of them had come from social media. Not a single one. They came from my writing, podcast show, newsletters and referrals. When the lightbulb went off, I realised I needed to rethink my business.

What is interesting is that as a result of not being on social media, my mind is clearer. I have space to think, and I have more creative ideas. I’ve co-authored a few books, written a couple of online programmes, had time to get my IAPC&M accreditations, and so much more.

Life slows down when you’re not constantly checking your phone/computer. Instead of losing clients (my number one fear), I am working with more clients now than before and at a higher level while working fewer hours a day.

In contrast to my ‘I hate social media’, though, I’m very aware of how amazing social media is.

The irony of my plan is that if it weren’t for social media, I wouldn’t have a business, not a successful one anyway. Facebook has been the lifeblood of my business for many years. So, If it’s something you’d like to consider, you still need a good platform or network before taking the leap.

You don’t have to go to my extremes, though. You could take a break as I did. A break to process. A break to help you think more creatively and strategically about the direction you want to take your business.

I still showed up for clients but didn’t do Facebook Lives. I didn’t do that many blog posts. I didn’t ‘do’ visibility that much at all.

In 2018, I moved from England to Scotland.  Everything changed – My husband left his full-time job to run a self-employed business, we moved from a busy town life into the middle of nowhere, and essentially had to build our lives back up again. This calmer life reinforced my desire to quit social media and enjoy living more in the moment. It’s been refreshing not living and breathing social media.

My inspiration for reducing and then ultimately stopping social media was one fantastic lady, Alexandra Franzen.

In an interview with her years ago, she told me that if she’d carried on with Twitter, she would have lost over three years of her life. What could you do with an extra three years of your life?!!! I could not get that message out of my head. It was my turning point.

So, what do you do when you completely lose interest in marketing your business?

• Check-in on what’s going on – Ask yourself if you’ve lost complete interest in your business/social media or if you need a change.
• Keep the content rolling out – You can decide when to show up.
• Do a LOT of soul searching – Why do you want to run your business? What excites you? Who do you love to work with? What’s the real problem?
• Talk to people about how you’re feeling – I talked with friends. Many friends. They were amazing (you know who you are!)
• Mix things up a bit – I did many things unrelated to business. (I am growing veggies, gardening and started rescuing chickens, something I never would have done in England!)
• Slow down – I still plotted and planned, but in a calm way. I now focus on three main things daily; honestly, it’s liberating!! It’s incredible how much you focus your mind when you only allow yourself three things to do.
• Create a daily routine to allow some thinking space – I started meditation and doing Qi Gong daily.
• Think about the bigger picture – I started creating a vision board about what I wanted. That bit was tricky.
• Get help – I coached myself, I got coached.
• Release any emotion around it – It’s okay to feel how you do. Let it all out. Emotional release is a strength, not a failure.
• Be gentle with yourself – If you need the break, that’s okay.
• Give yourself permission – I am permitting myself to stop when something doesn’t feel right, even if it goes against everything everyone else is doing. Permit yourself to let go of any beliefs around how you ‘should’ run a business.

Stepping back from social media is a very big decision. If you’re feeling burnt out and would like a break, the best way to start is to reduce your time spent online and notice what happens. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

So, while you might not see me much on social media, I’m a different, perhaps calmer, and wiser version of myself now. The one that knows it’s okay to have a business AND a life and that you can create it all on your terms. You can too.