Social Media isn't me. Should I work at it?

January 14, 2018 12:57 PM

Is it ok to not be into Social Media, especially for work?

Over the last couple of years I've attempted to use social media mostly for my freelance business. Unfortunately I've really struggled to get into it. Until a couple years ago I wasn't even on social media. I've opened up accounts on facebook, Twitter, linkedin, and Insta. But it seems tough to get people to accept friend requests or become a follower. But more importantly I just don't really enjoy it. I can't seem to force myself to take pictures and post them. I'm nervous about saying the wrong thing for fear that I may look bad or even worse do damage to my business. I see so many others with tons of followers and friends. That makes me kind of feel bad about myself. I do pretty well in my work. But I've been at it a while. I am able to market myself directly through email and my website. I'm not old...late 30's. Yet I feel like i missed the social media age by about 5 years. I just never had an interest. I'm also very much an introvert if that gives you more info. My question is, Do you think not being overly active on social media will eventually hurt me and my business? Do you think people can still be successful without being too active on social media? Any thoughts here are welcome.

posted by ljs30 to Human Relations (14 answers total)

What kind of business are you in? How much social media matters is going to vary a lot by industry.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:17 PM on January 14, 2018 [8 favorites]

I think a lot of this depends on your business! If you're a wedding photographer, interior designer, or calligrapher with no Instagram, that's different than if you're an accountant or plumber with no facebook (though even a plumber or accountant might get some use out of facebook).

If it *is* something you need to be doing, remember you don't need to like it to do it. You probably don't like invoicing or doing your taxes either, but it's just part of your business and you can either do it or pay someone else to do it.
posted by mskyle at 1:21 PM on January 14, 2018 [5 favorites]

For some professions, you might be expected to have /one/ of these. But not all of them.
posted by pharm at 1:33 PM on January 14, 2018

Look at what your competitors are doing, and consider how your new customers find you. My neighborhood Facebook group trades plumber recommends a lot, so having a Facebook would work for a plumber in my area. I definitely think a plumber’s Instagram would be...niche, let’s say.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:39 PM on January 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: My work is most closely related to the entertainment biz.
posted by ljs30 at 1:44 PM on January 14, 2018

This is something you could outsource to another freelancer who manages social media for businesses.
posted by bunderful at 1:51 PM on January 14, 2018 [7 favorites]

I'm afraid if you're in the entertainment business you'll have to do some social media. But remember it doesn't have to be a personal statement – in fact, it shouldn't be too personal unless you're already a personality people want to connect with.

On Facebook and Twitter you can repost entertainment news relevant to your niche: keep it professional and don't feel you have to chip in with emotional sidelights about how the items make you feel. You're just putting stuff out there to show you're on top of the latest in your world. I would also keep this politically and socially neutral as a rule. Think of this as simply part of your day, not something you get personally wound up in.

Use social media to boost the shows or people or whatever that you're personally involved with, or working for. If you're an agent or a PR person you use social media to boost your clients by posting or reposting any positive news about them. if you write press releases, use social media to point to them.

Or, as bunderful says, have someone else act as a press clipping service and do this job for you.
posted by zadcat at 1:57 PM on January 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

I feel you on this one, because I loathe social media, but I feel like I will be increasingly at a professional disadvantage if I don't use it for self promotion. And I don't work in a field remotely related to entertainment or celebrity.

If I were in your position, I'd strongly consider hiring a professional to cover it for you, assuming that's within your means. Perhaps other people in your industry can recommend some sort of service (I highly doubt that most people in the public eye are writing their own tweets). If that's beyond your means at the moment, think of it like mskyle suggested: it's like doing accounting, not what you love or even what you're good at, but part of running your business that you need to learn to slog through until you can afford to hire a pro.
posted by ethical_caligula at 2:11 PM on January 14, 2018

I had to do it for work intensely until 2 years ago and one of the unexpected best parts was just abandoning that part of social media, the professional personal presentation online. It's a very weird intimacy and because it had used my own social media, crossed all sorts of lines. I will need to do social media again and this time plan to silo my personal stuff into one online place (knowing there are boundaries and leakage) but also choosing to have a work social media that is my work self and has nothing to do with my other interests and my kids. It's like a house - you can choose which rooms to invite people into, and just the front porch is ok if it's a comfy porch with snacks. You don't owe them access to your bedroom or kitchen.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 4:27 PM on January 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I also vote for outsourcing this. I agree that having a presence on social media is important and, therefore, worth paying for since you don't enjoy it. It's likely a little will go a long way: you don't have to -- or even want to -- become super active but you need to establish a presence that's professional with numbers and connections that look legitimate.

Social networking is a mixture of sharing and creating good content, understanding and utilizing new technology (Hootsuite, etc.), and networking like in the olden days just via comments and likes and shares. People can get degrees in Digital Marketing now: you could hire a recent grad or upperclass/wo/man at a nearby college to do this for you. Even if you were just to meet with someone once for a (paid) consultation, you would get some great advice and insight. Since you're already established and successful in your field, you would also be sharing your experience and expertise with the young person you hire so it's really ideal!
posted by smorgasbord at 4:27 PM on January 14, 2018

It helps to start by thinking of your social media(esp. Instagram) as an online portfolio. Your page is there to give someone an overview of you and what you have to offer. I've been relying on social media for many of my clients and projects, and here are my tips:

-Learn how to take decent photos, and on instagram, always use the same filter. Try to aim for cohesion.
-Don't post more than 4-5 times a week, and keep personal stuff out of the feed(it should stay as instagram or facebook stories)
-Don't overfollow or overtag, it looks desperate. But you should always follow local people who do similar work to you. If they comment on a photo of yours, that's often a good opening to message them and network.
-Never whine about your day or how depressed/anxious you're feeling, people deal with enough of that from friends, they don't want it from a business connection(I see a lot of freelancers get burned by doing this).
-Put your social media on your business cards. Most people would rather throw you an instagram follow or facebook like instead of looking through your website.

And lastly, if you choose to outsource this, please ask fellow people in your industry for recommendations. Lots of "social media managers" are total charlatans and will charge you a lot of money for nothing. A good rule of thumb is that if no one knows who they are, don't hire them. Anyone with the skills and clout to help you will also be very well known in local and online circles.
posted by InkDrinker at 4:32 PM on January 14, 2018 [3 favorites]

I disagree that this is something you need to work at. LinkedIn is about the only important social media network for professional reasons and you can leave it as an up-to-date resume. You don't need to interact on it.

I have been a social media marketer and now manage and train social media marketers and other staff. My Facebook is locked down tight (I use it for sharing pictures of my kids with family but not for work stuff), I tried and gave up on Twitter (the profile is still up but locked for privacy and I never log in), and I don't have and never have had an instagram. I use our company accounts to stay up to date on the things that affect my job, like algorithm changes. As a hiring manager of non-social media related work I do look for people's social media accounts but more to make sure they are being professional online. I'm impressed if their profiles are totally private because so few are. I would be a bit concerned if I couldn't find ANYTHING.

I suggest you just make all your accounts private and never log in, and keep your LinkedIn up to date when you update your resume. It's enough.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 6:59 PM on January 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I guess it all comes down to what you hope to get out of it - "entertainment industry" is such a broad term I still have no idea what you want/need to get out of social media. If you're trying to sell a screenplay in Hollywood I imagine your social media needs would be very different than if you're an opera singer or a talk show host or a PA.

Do you know other people who do what you do? If they have a professional social media presence, what does it look like? If you don't know other people who do what you do, can you find such people on social media and follow them - not necessarily with an eye to being followed back, but with an eye to seeing what they're doing and maybe occasionally replying to something that *actually* resonates with you?

There are at least two ways to do professional social media: one is very much along the lines of traditional marketing, where you tell potential customers about your projects/deals/accomplishments/great thoughts on The Industry; another is more to build relationships with people you might not be able to get to know in real life. The first is easier to outsource/automate; the second takes a lot of time, though exactly how much time it takes depends on your field and the circle you're interested in breaking into.

Don't outsource unless you know what you want to get out of it.
posted by mskyle at 6:00 AM on January 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Social media can be a useful tool for reaching out to a different audience than what you're usually doing, or reaching out in a more casual, non-intrusive way.

Likes are not necessarily an accurate measure of how social media positively effects your business. When having a conversation (if possible) with a customer, ask how they found you. If social media is one of those avenues, then consider it working, and keep on keeping on.
posted by Giggilituffin at 4:18 PM on January 15, 2018