Drastically Improve your Social Media Success
Can you drastically improve your social media success with one tip? Yes, you can. The one thing that's really holding you back from success is you.
Yes, you. Comparing yourself to other people.
Comparison could make you feel jealous and unhappy, and possibly crush your creativity. Stop it!
Looking around on Facebook and Instagram can create FOMO (fear of missing out). Keep in mind that you're seeing the highlight reels with photo editing and polish, not raw, real-life. Everyone has bills to pay, dinner to make, and life to deal with, but these aren't the status updates that people share. Social media success isn't gained by posting the most memes or Snapchat stories.
My suggestion is to stop comparing yourself to someone else's glossy vacation, or whatever thing it is that's inspiring jealousy in you. Sometimes, you need to check yourself and realize that focusing on yourself and what you're creating is the thing.
Someone else may have more followers and friends. Or make more money. Have better cars—all those things. Someone else will also have fewer followers and friends, and someone else may have the same as you. It doesn't matter.
“The University of Missouri, for example, released a study in 2015 indicating Facebook is linked to feelings of envy, which can, in turn, lead to depression, but what if the user already has this overwhelming, narcissistic, mentally and physically taxing disease?”
More reading: 5 Reasons Why Facebook Can Be Dangerous for People With Depression
“Facebook can be a fun and healthy activity if users take advantage of the site to stay connected with family and old friends and to share interesting and important aspects of their lives,” Margaret Duffy said. “However, if Facebook is used to see how well an acquaintance is doing financially or how happy an old friend is in his relationship—things that cause envy among users—use of the site can lead to feelings of depression.” from the study.
Obsessing over what people have or how other people are doing things is a problem. Trying to copy someone else's style, ideas, or plan of attack isn't going to work for you.
Also from the Facebook envy study, “Facebook can exert positive effects on well-being. But when it triggers envy among users, that’s a different story. Users should be self-aware that positive self-presentation is an important motivation in using social media, so it is to be expected that many users would only post positive things about themselves. This self-awareness, hopefully, can lessen feelings of envy.”
A person told me recently on Instagram that when she tried to be me, she was lost out in a cornfield. Don't do that!
There's a lot of competition between people on social media and who work in social media. Look at things positively, if someone else achieves success that doesn't mean that you can't be successful as well.
I highly recommend reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz – it will help you get your thinking straight about a lot of things.
More reading: Create Your Personal Path
Things to do instead:
Keep your eyes on your own work. [this is the only thing you can influence]
Make your work better. [read a book or blog that you love]
Learn new skills and improve your blog. [try Skillshare or Lynda.com]
Spend time with the positive people who help feed your passions and inspirations – use these interactions to fan your own joy and spirit. [that's why we love them, right?]
Don't obsess about the latest tools if you're already overwhelmed. [read up on review sites]
Simplify things as much as you can to stay on track.
Fight FOMO with FOCUS.
Being your own authentic self is the thing that will bring you joy. And success. Keep doing the work and making progress. Nothing happens overnight for anyone.
When there's a lot of horrible news or political drama, take a step back from the computer to connect with the important people in your life. It's not healthy for us to absorb large amounts of negative news and imagery.
Working on social media every day I've seen a lot of things. Take my advice to create your own best practices and guidelines for yourself. Only compare with your own best days and improve on them. Set realistic goals for yourself based on the time and energy you have for your social media.
Being the best version of you is your truest path to success.
You've got this!
I read The Four Agreements recently and it made a huge impact on me. You bring up so many great points here and this is such a great, encouraging reminder that following your own path is the best way. Thanks for this!
Stacy,
Thank you for reading – The Four Agreements really helps put things into perspective. I’m so happy you had a chance to read it too!
Peg
I couldn’t agree more, Peg! Excellent post.
A lot of my coaching clients feel depressed and overwhelmed when it comes to social media and they have a love-hate relationship with it. I always tell them that they should stop comparing themselves to other professionals and just use social media in a constructive way, to continue the conversation with their clients and to be… social with others!
Thank you for sharing Peg! We have to be reminded of such simple but amazing concepts. I’ve been taught in school that envy is the second cardinal sin (if I recall it correctly). Parents, preachers, friends share this and this can be useful in social media too.
This Huffington’s article on why Facebook can be dangerous for people with depression was a quite interesting read…obsessing over what others have or how they are doing things is a big problem, yes, I agree!
You raised a very crucial point. I too get depressed something seeing people glossy life on insta & facebook. But I think this is a waste of time. Depressing over something stupid and irrelevant.
Great post.
“Fight FOMO with FOCUS”, this is a great advice for everyone who really want to improve their social media success. FOMO will only distract you from achieving your goals. Stay on track and focus on how you can improve yourself and your social media strategies.
Being active on social media sites is also a great way to engage customers. As most of he online users are on social media, its important to keep a check there.
Best
Mirian Shade