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Not only is social media overwhelming for introverted entrepreneurs, but it is usually something that many would like to outsource. It can become a place of constant information overload, struggling to engage with others, connect with others, or write content that is authentic to who you are and what your business stands for. Social media can be more fun again when you incorporate simple strategies that you can be consistent with. You get to choose what is right for you when using and growing your social media platforms, even if that means not posting daily.
Our guest on the podcast today is Social Media Strategist, Andréa Jones. She has built an online business committed to empowering businesses to utilize the power of social media in a positive and impactful way without being overwhelmed and drained by it. With over 7 years of experience in the game, Andréa hosts the acclaimed podcast Savvy Social Podcast. She leads a team providing done-for-you service inside of her marketing agency named a Top Digital Marketing Agency in 2021 serves over 200 students in her membership Savvy Social School.
In this episode, Andréa and I dive into:
- How social media changed her life and used that to start her own online business
- What makes social media seem so complicated and overwhelming, especially for introverts
- Instagram and how engagement can be a struggle
- Collaborations and connections on social media
- …and much more
How Social Media Changed One Corporate Woman’s Life
In 2004, Andréa started blogging online, and her family and friends thought it was weird that she would put her life online like that. Then in 2007, she started her YouTube channel, and that’s where she ended up meeting her husband. They collaborated on a video together, and from there, they just kept talking. They lived in different countries with Andréa in Atlanta, Georgia, and her husband in Toronto, Canada. It’s one of the main reasons she started her online business with them living in different countries. They both fell in love and got married.
Then Andréa decided to move to Canada to be with her husband, so she left her corporate career working for Marriott Hotels as a manager and began freelance social media work. This was in 2014, and she started out doing all the things as most people do and found out very quickly that people didn’t actually like social media. Many businesses were picking up on the need to be on social media, but again they didn’t want to do it themselves. This gave Andréa a very repeatable business model doing services as a freelancer. That’s how she started her business online and now has an agency with 15 team members, serving between 25 and 30 clients, and teaching her strategies to smaller businesses in the Savvy Social School.
Is Social Media Too Complicated and Overwhelming?
Would you agree that many people make social media a little more complicated and overwhelming than it has to be? When we see all of the complex things that people are posting out there, Andréa says that what you don’t realize is that people have teams of people behind them to assist them with their social media accounts. She says she knows this because it’s what her agency does, as well. The clients working with her agency are typically life coaches, thought leaders, or personality brands, and they have a team of 15 people making it look like they just woke up and decided to post whatever they posted today. The reality is that these posts were planned weeks or months in advance.
Part of this overwhelm with social media is that, as business owners, you’re trying to compare yourselves to other people. You try to do the most but just get burnt out and don’t have the capacity for that. A great analogy that Andréa uses to explain this is to compare this to getting fit or working out. She likes to take walks daily, and that’s pretty much it. Sometimes she will ride her bike or roller skate, but in her mind, she is not trying to become a CrossFit or Ninja Warrior type person. That is not her life. As business owners, you’re looking at other people on social media going, I should have muscles like that, and you begin to overwork yourself to get to that point.
What you fail to realize is that even the CrossFit person had to work on growing their muscles for years themselves. On social media, you are trying to post every day or even multiple times per day, but it may not be sustainable for you. On Instagram, you have stories, reels, IGTV, carousel posts, or feed posts, and what you are doing is overwhelming yourself with all of the potential options. When you’re on social media, you can choose to show up in a way that serves you and your business. Just know that it doesn’t have to be a long list of doing all of the things.
Instagram and Struggling with Engagement
Instagram is Andréa’s favorite marketing platform for her business. She says it’s like 10 platforms in one because, as a business, you can connect with individuals and businesses. Other platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn may have a personal profile and a business profile that are entirely separate. That’s the main reason she loves this social media platform.
As an introvert, you may struggle with the engagement piece of being on Instagram. Everyone says you need to engage consistently and build a community, but sometimes it can be so draining to force yourself to engage. Andréa gives herself a time limit because she is a huge fan of batching and time blocking. She suggests that you spend 15 or 20 minutes, five days a week, on engagement. If there is a day you don’t feel like doing it, you can skip a day. It is very helpful, and you can also get assistance to help as your business grows.
One of the things that helped her with community-building was to really focus on other people. She leaves compliments on the stories of other people, or she will reply with an emoji. She likes it to be a more one-on-one interaction instead of having it on display for everyone to see. She sees it as building collaboration partners. She doesn’t necessarily go directly after her end consumer, the person who will join the Savvy Social School or become a client, but she looks for people who will send other people to her. This gives Andréa such a warm feeling about social media because of the relationships that she has gotten to build over the years, all without leaving her house.
Collaboration & Connection on Social Media
A quote that speaks volumes is collaboration over competition. Collaboration and connection are huge factors in your business online. The way Andréa uses social media allows her to focus on other individuals and businesses. With her complimenting others on social media in the way that she does, it opens up communication for connection and collaboration. If you focus on adding compliments and boosting someone else’s day, that is a great way to not only build your own community but build those relationships and collaborations with not only your potential clients but with those who have the same clients as you.
These relationships are vital to the success of your business. It’s not just a one-and-done; I hope you give me a client or a customer; it’s how can we lift each other up over the years. Even big companies or celebrities, Andréa says they all have someone backing them, and they have their teams in their corner, so you want to think about how you can build that up for yourself.
With social media, it’s so easy to compare yourself to someone else. It’s so easy to feel like the person you look up to has 1000s more followers than you, but it took them some time to build that up for themselves. Remember that you are human just as they are, and we’re all trying to figure things out to the best of our abilities. A hashtag that I love to look at is #keepsocialmediasocial because it is so true. For a while there, it felt like social media moved away from the actual social aspect, especially with the changes in the world right now, but everyone is craving connection even more. This past year has been a great example of how being on social media and the digital tools at our disposal make those connections possible.
You have to figure out a way to make it work for you and actually take the time to figure that out. Once you do, it’s so rewarding. The temporary pain of learning how to use one of the new features or figuring out your own frequency for consistency is worth the long-term positive effects of really nailing down a strategy that works for you and your business.
How to Handle Overwhelm on Social Media
One of Andréa’s favorite ways to navigate overwhelm on social media is to time block, and she has her social media notifications turned off. She started this in 2017 after having been in business for three years. And she didn’t have panic attacks because she wasn’t diagnosed with anything, but the anxiety of hearing a notification was paralyzing to her. She was overly anxious, and if an email, an Instagram DM, or any other social media messages came in, she would overthink things and wouldn’t be able to get her work done.
This was actually her new year’s resolution to turn off notifications that year to see how it went, and she hasn’t looked back since. It has been a lifesaver in her relationship with social media, and she can enjoy it a lot more now. She no longer feels interrupted by it, and now she doesn’t feel pulled away by other people’s demands. If you think about it, social media is 24-7. People are all around the world connecting with you, so it is important to set and stick to those boundaries you have.
As your business grows, you can hire someone to assist with this if it’s still not something you enjoy. You could hire someone just to engage on your account while you create the content. With the stage that Andréa is at in her business, she does have an administrative assistant to check her messages as a backup. Having other people support you is such a great way to alleviate the stress of running the business on your own. You can focus on doing more of those business-building activities that help you grow in the long run. People on social media connect with different things. Whatever your audience is looking for, ultimately, they want to hear it from you. Otherwise, they will go follow someone else. You want to get comfortable with being okay to show up as you are and bringing that to the table.
Tips to Figure Out Which Social Media Platforms Are For You
The best tips for you as you are figuring out where to show up and what to focus on are taught in Andréa’s free mini-course, Social Media Rockstar Framework. It is a cheat sheet to help you figure out which platform or platforms to be on, but ultimately, it relies on two questions to ask yourself.
Where do you like spending time?
How do you like to create content?
As business owners, if you were told that you have to be on LinkedIn, but once you got it, you decide that you don’t like it, you’re not going to use it. Regardless of if it’s the best platform for you or not, you want to start with which platforms you already spend time on and enjoy. The other piece is about creating content for your business. Some of the students that Andréa and her team work with like to design graphics; others may prefer to write captions or use video. It tunes in to how you want to communicate to your audience and how you like to show up to become consistent and grow.
Andréa gave so many helpful tips on navigating and making social media fun again as an introvert on this podcast episode today. She shared about how social media changed her life and used that to start her own online business, what makes social media seem so complicated and overwhelming, especially for introverts, Instagram and how engagement can be a struggle, collaborations and connections on social media and how they can help you grow your business, handling all of the overwhelm you get from using social media, and tips on how to figure out which social media platforms are right for you.
Don’t forget to follow Andréa on Instagram for more tips on making social media more fun. If you want a more simple social media strategy for your business, then grab her free mini-course now called Social Media Rockstar Framework to grow your business in a more effective way using methods that work right for you.
What social media platforms feel right for you and your business? Incorporate some of Andréa’s tips to make social media more simple and fun for you!
a breakdown of this episode
[1:29] How Andréa got started with her social media business online, and why she really loves social media so much for entrepreneurs
[4:40] Do people actually make social media more complicated and overwhelming than it has to be?
[7:45] What Andréa’s favorite marketing platform is for her business and the introversion struggle with social media engagement
[10:32] Using social media to make a connection with others, building a community, and collaboration opportunities
[15:23] Handling overwhelm on social media and ways Andréa navigates her own overwhelm
[23:43] Savvy Social School membership, who it would be great for, and what platforms are covered inside the membership
[26:14] Tips for you to figure out which social media platforms are best for you to focus on
If you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to take a screenshot and tag me on your Instagram stories @introvertcoach and tell me your biggest takeaway!
resources mentioned this episode:
- Thetarareid.com
- Join the Introvertpreneur Club
- Apply for a VIP Creativity Day With Me
- Andréa’s Instagram
- Andréa’s Facebook
- Andréa’s Twitter
- Andréa’s LinkedIn
- Andréa’s YouTube
- Andréa’s Pinterest
- Andréa’s Tik-Tok
- Andréa’s Website
- Free Mini-Course: Social Media Rockstar Framework
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