Social media is a good employee but a bad boss
How to keep your experience on social media a positive one
Like Michael Scott from The Office, social media can be difficult to love sometimes.
No one knows this more than me, the social media manager currently planning content for seven different wineries.
So today, we are talking about how you can improve your relationship with social media. This will make the necessary job of marketing on social media easier and, dare I say, even FUN?!
Here are my five favorite ways to keep social media a pleasant place to be
Choose where you'll show up.
Your business does NOT need to be on every single social media platform. I recommend being on whatever platform your audience is most likely to be on (I personally find Instagram to be a great place for most wine brands these days). If you're like me and enjoy being on multiple platforms and have the capacity for that, then go for it! But know that being on more than one or two platforms can be challenging.
P.S. I have an old podcast episode about choosing what social media platforms your wine brand should be on.
Find a sustainable posting frequency.
I talk about this often, but you don't need to post every single day! In fact, I highly discourage posting every day for many reasons, one of which is that it's not sustainable and can lead to burnout, especially for small wine brands who often wear all of the hats in their business. I recommend first finding your minimum posting schedule (ideally at least twice per week) and then improving from there once that gets comfortable.
Note: I’ve found that once you get into the habit of posting more frequently, it becomes much easier than posting once a week, but you do have to build that habit first.
Mute, unfollow, or block accounts that no longer serve you.
Another way to keep social media pleasant is to curate the content that you are consuming regularly. I touched on this recently in my article, Marketing During an Election Year.
What I mean by curating the content you are consuming is to only follow or consume content from accounts that serve you in some way (either by being educational, entertaining, or fulfilling in some other way). Those accounts that don't serve you have got to go. What's great is that Instagram and other social platforms often have multiple ways you can regulate the content you consume.
Block accounts, especially those that are harassing you or are spam.
Restricting accounts is a less extreme measure of regulating what accounts DM you or comment on your posts. They can see that they've left the comment, but the comment is hidden from you and other users, and, importantly, they won’t know that they've been restricted.
Unfollow accounts: Every quarter or so, I go through the accounts that I'm following and assess whether or not I want to continue consuming their content. This helps keep my newsfeed a more pleasant place (and also indicates to the Instagram algorithm the kind of accounts I want to engage with!
Mute accounts: Perhaps there is a family member or other account for whom unfollowing isn't a very tactful option. Muting their account allows you to take a break from consuming their content without having to unfollow them. I used this a lot during 2020 when I knew unfollowing an account would cause more drama than quietly muting someone and just not consuming their content. It helped a lot with my mental and emotional well-being during a really turbulent year.
Create a custom words list: Don't have a specific account in mind that you want to block? You can create a list of specific words and phrases that will allow Instagram to filter out unwanted comments and DMs. I've used this to keep spam accounts from commenting on my clients posts like “Promote it on…” Do be cautious with what words you filter out, though, as sometimes important comments may accidentally get filtered out.
Hide Content: You can also hide content you no longer want to see. Just tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of any post you don’t like, and Instagram will do its best not to show you similar content in the future.
Select Favorites: If you only like content from a select few accounts, you can designate those accounts as “favorites” and their content will be prioritized in your feed. Just go to their profile, tap the arrow next to “Following” and select, “add to favorites.” You can also tap the “Instagram” logo in the upper left corner of your feed and select either “Following” to see chronological posts from only accounts you follow, or “Favorites” to see chronological posts from only your favorited accounts. (Note: you’ll have to designate which feed you want to see each time you log in, as Instagram defaults to their algorithmic feed.
Reset your Recommendations: Sometimes, your algorithm forces you down a random/irrelevant content rabbit hole. If it's gone off the rails, Instagram has now enabled you to reset your Suggested Content (the content in your Explore Page and Reels tab). Note that this is a bit of an extreme solution as it will take you back to “ground zero;” you’ll need to curate the type of content you want to see a little more intentionally for a few days before it gets back to a place you want it.
Turn off notifications.
This is one of the first things I do when I onboard a new management client, and it has been an absolute game changer in how I exist on social media. Once, I forgot to do it when I first onboarded a client, and the first 24 hours of running that account were rough because of the constant pinging and notifications popping up when I was trying to focus on other stuff. Turning off notifications allows me to show up more intentionally. Speaking of which…
Show up intentionally.
Speaking as someone with ADHD, it can be really easy for me to get sucked into the scroll (hi, dopamine, I miss you). So, I've had to set parameters for myself around using social media professionally and personally. I set specific times each day to show up and engage on my client's accounts, and when I'm really on top of it, I will set a 5-minute timer to know exactly when to move on to the next task. Being intentional about your time on social can really help improve your social media experience and not let it run your life.
*Bonus:
Sometimes, all we need is a plan to make social media more enjoyable! Book a 1:1 Strategy Session* with me, and we will spend a day together creating a custom marketing strategy for you! By the end of the session, you will have a marketing calendar for the year, a custom strategy to implement on your Instagram, and a weight off your chest!