5 Ways to Optimise Your Social Media

5 Ways to Optimise and Reframe Your Social Media Use and Rekindle Your Creative Fire

In the beginning, social media use and easy access to the digital world really excited me. The possibilities were vast. Here, finally, was a platform that enabled us all to instantly reach across the planet and make incredible connections with others.

Then, as time went by, the digital landscape began weighing oppressively. There was digital overwhelm, information overload, social media saturation and comparisonitis creeping in at every turn. There were hours of life wasted – never to be retrieved.

However, a few degrees of adjustment are all that may be needed to press reset and recalibrate over these remarkable times we are in. The digital era is not going anywhere. Is it possible to engage with it in ways that preserve our sanity and sustainability? I believe so.

Consider These 5 Tips

Here are five ways to optimise your social media use and rekindle your creative fire:

1) See it as a Creative Medium – just like a collage: I love to look at instagram, FB and my Pinterest pages as a giant creative collage. It is a place I know I can go to express my values and to share creative ideas that have sparked my curiosity, inspired or educated me. My creative streak finds it irresistible to match an image with a quote and to share the genius of others. I don’t know where else we can source such rich and intelligent thought-leadership in an instant.

2) Think of it as a Telepathic modality: Human beings are incredible. Our higher faculties are getting more and more refined. The internet and the world-wide-web are a physical manifestation of instant telepathy. It is nothing short of miraculous that we can reach out to others globally and share from the heart. Imagine what your great-grandmother would think if she knew you had this kind of privilege at your fingertips. What would she love you to share via this medium?

3) Use it as a Tool for Education, Inspiration and Empowerment – yes, there is a lot of trash, fake media, superficial reality stars and so much to complain about. However, there are also incredible opportunities to educate, inspire and empower with your particular unique essence. Social media provides a portal through which you can educate women in remote parts of the world, inspire those who are isolated to feel less alone and to empower those who are feeling misunderstood or disenfranchised.

4) Be Constructive and Disciplined, Intentional and Conscientious when Using – It’s all well and good to ridicule something that feels harmful. However, if we are to take back our power, our digital use can be totally kept in check in the same way our diet and exercise routines are. The problem is, we are still primitive in our adjustments to the new technologies. So we must become extremely intentional in our use.

I personally prefer to jump on to social media with a purpose in mind – to share an event, to reach out to a friend or to support my clients. I find I need to be incredibly disciplined and to be mindful of not falling down the rabbit hole of scrolling and mindless use. My aim is for social media to be about 10% of my marketing strategy. That’s it. And I tend to leverage a lot of my presence through collaborations with other like-minded women and businesses because it’s a huge value of mine.

5) Be Authentic, True to Yourself and Your Values – your values are those emotional states you wish to feel on a regular basis. Your business values are those emotional states you wish your clients and customers to feel on a regular basis. Write out your top 10 values and use these as guideposts to every social media interaction you have.

Being true to yourself and authenticity does not mean over-sharing. Being vulnerable does not mean sharing intimate dirty laundry especially where it involves children and exes.

You are allowed to have a private life and to keep that separate to social media. Over-sharing will have the effect of creating feelings of exposure and ickiness about the platform if you’re an introvert by nature – and don’t forget that there is a real security risk to you and your family.

Sharing intimate dirty laundry stories can also create a case for defamation and a backlash that cannot be undone or unspoken once there is a screenshot. I hear a lot of people saying ‘but I know I’m not getting the full picture about this person’ or ‘this is only part of the story.’ The truth is, in most conversations and interactions, you would filter your revelations according to the appropriateness level (ie you’re not about to share intimate details about your sex life with your boss but you might feel comfortable confiding in a therapist).

There’s also a very real risk to some women of retaliation from exes and dangerous people, so keep this in mind when you’re making these types of judgements. If you’re a private person, then being authentic to you means valuing privacy, so stay true to this. If you’re an extrovert who loves to have it all out there, then go ahead and be free to express your good self. But be true to yourself and don’t get coerced into thinking that over-sharing will somehow benefit you if you’re not that way inclined.

Social Media Use – Write It Out

If you’re not sure of how much to share, I recommend writing three columns. First column – hallowed, sacred and private information not suitable for posts (ie divorce, children, sex-life, relationships, conflicts involving poor professional behaviour from others unless you can guarantee anonymity). Second column – information that you would share if it was going to be valuable, helpful, inspiring, educational but still feels somewhat personal (ie the natural birth you hoped for that turned into a caesarean and how you recovered from the disappointment). Third column – totally happy to share column – your love of meditation, yoga, holistic business practices, the environment, art, inspiring people, helpful tips that have benefitted you personally and why.

It’s time to move forward with renewed purpose and passion in an arena that has become vilified. Become an ambassador for impassioned education and discerning sharing. Be creative and above all else, be true to yourself so you can find the people who share your values.

Questions for Lisa About This Topic?

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