How does a work-from-home mom avoid the social media spiral and still promote her services?
I see you, mama. You’re finally striking out on your own, working on your terms, and following your own passions.
You know that you need a social media presence in order to get more clients, regardless of the industry.
But it all feels so overwhelming, whether it be from a time perspective or a technical one, or both— I mean, come on, you’re already running a business, taking care of one or more kids, running a household, and trying to find time for yourself, and TikTok doesn’t come naturally to all of us.
Or maybe, like me, you’re more overwhelmed by the mental and emotional impacts of social media (I’m talking about the comparison game if you didn’t catch my drift).
Either way, there are some strategies you can use to maintain a social media presence without letting it consume your life — or your mental health.
The ugly truth & the elephant in the room
After nearly two and a half years of full-time motherhood and experimenting with different business ideas, I finally chose to go back to work — on my terms.
I decided to trade the 9-5 with a “business casual” dress code and micro-managers hovering over my shoulder for the freedom of self-managed hours, negotiable compensation, and — here’s the ugly truth — unreliable income.
There, I said it. The dirty little secret no blogger wants to talk about — the fact that when you become an independent contractor or go into business for yourself in any capacity, reliable income goes out the window.
This is where social media has been particularly problematic for me because I know that I need to have a social media presence to attract new clients — and fix that pesky income problem — but I also know that it shatters my already shaky self-esteem.
So how do we avoid the comparison game and still have a social media presence while building a business?
Avoiding the social media comparison game
The two biggest enemies for any WFHM who needs to leverage social media are time and authenticity, and both play a key role in avoiding the social media comparison trap.
Tip no. 1: Set time limits. If mental health and productivity are concerns for you, set realistic boundaries around the time you invest in social media.
Start by evaluating how much time you feasibly have to put towards content creation, posting (captions and hashtags can take forever if you don’t have systems in place), and engaging (everything from sharing stories to liking and commenting on yours and others’ posts).
Then, decide how you want to divide your time. At most, I have an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to devote to social media. In general, I’ll use the mornings to post and engage and use the afternoon or evening to create more content.
Don’t worry if all your time goes to one or the other at first — maybe content creation is a breeze but you struggle to share stories and engage, or vice versa.
With time and practice, you’ll become more efficient and be able to do more with the time you’ve set aside for yourself.
Tip no. 2: Only post content that feels real. I had to learn this lesson the hard way because posting content that doesn’t feel authentic to who you are will just burn you out.
There are so many social media gurus (and I don’t claim to be one) who say that showing up with something, anything, is better than not showing up at all, and I have finally worked up the courage to declare that I fully disagree.
People can tell when a story or a message or a post is inauthentic, and it invariably drives them away, so it won’t serve you from a business perspective.
If that weren’t enough, forcing yourself to produce inauthentic content in order to stick to an unrealistic content schedule is just a quick way to make you hate what you’re doing.
The only tip you really need: Post when it feels right and you know you have something to say that will either resonate with others or help them (hopefully like this post).
Don’t forget to meditate, hydrate, and recalibrate
No matter how good you are at limiting your scroll time, the green tendrils of envy and the crippling fingers of doubt will almost assuredly worm their way back into your brain at some point — I hate to say it, but it’s true.
Whenever I start to feel my thoughts spiraling in the direction of self-doubt and deprecation, there are three things I fall back on: meditating, gratitude journaling, and making sure I’m meeting my basic needs — it’s amazing what a meal and a bottle of water can do for your perspective.
If you can diffuse a scent that you find particularly uplifting during your meditation and journaling session, all the better to stimulate feelings of positivity and gratitude.
comptonrae lifestyle 