Episode 421: Is this why you hate social media?
In this episode, Fiona explores a crucial mindset shift for social media and business. Learn how to enjoy the process rather than just focusing on the outcome. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
Importance of enjoying the game
Comparison of this mindset to social media and business
The role of social media in business marketing and brand building
Challenges of maintaining joy and creativity
The impact of focusing on engagement metrics versus the creative process
Encouraging a shift in mindset to enjoy and experiment with social media
Personal strategies for rediscovering joy in content creation
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Welcome to episode 421 of the My Daily Business podcast. Apologies, I sound a little husky. I've got a bit of a cold happening. It's a bit annoying. It keeps teasing me, but not coming full-on. Let's move away from that conversation. Today, you are reading a small business tip, and this is one of the best, I was taught this recently by my 11-year-old son, so shout out to him. Before we get stuck into this, I want to acknowledge where I'm coming from and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of these lands. And that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's quick tip episode.
I've mentioned on this podcast before that my eldest son is pretty obsessed with all sports, but in particular basketball. He loves basketball. He lives and breathes it. He studies it. He just loves it. He loves the game, he loves the culture, he loves the music, he loves the style, the swag, all of it. He plays in two teams. He was playing recently in a team and we went out after that, we were at a friend's house afterwards and the friend saw him in a basketball uniform and said: “How'd you go?” He just focused on something that he had done in that game that he was proud of himself for. And then a friend of ours said, “Did you guys win?” My husband and I just looked at each other and my son said I have no idea.
My husband said, “No, they did. They won.” And they won by 20 points or something. My son said, “Did we win? Cool.” And that was it. That was how he reacted. And we have noticed before that in a lot of cases, he doesn't seem to get too phased if they win or if they lose. It's about the game and the enjoyment of the game for him, which we both think is an incredible trait to have. If you have ever watched certain basketball games in youth basketball you'll see that a lot of kids can get very caught up in whether they win or not. And you see them sometimes, like looking back at their parents, you wonder what the conversations are in the car afterwards. Because sometimes these kids, I'm not necessarily talking about my son's team, but just other places that I've seen people play, you think that kid looks terrified, looks terrified of losing, and the whole conversation about him not knowing if they had won or lost.
It's not like he's aloof or he doesn't notice. He notices other times if they've won or lost. But in this particular instance, he was like cool, okay. He didn't care whether they had won or lost. He cared about how enjoyable the game had been. And that is just such a good way to look at life and in particular at business. One of the things I wanted to talk about in this quick tip episode is social media. I work with people all the time who are looking at their marketing, their content, their overall brand awareness building, and their brand authority. And social media plays its role, absolutely plays its role. I have a love-hate relationship with social media, but it is incredible for what it has done for business and access to business and access from business to an audience or multiple audiences.
But the problem becomes when people get so focused on the endpoint. How many followers am I getting? Rather, is it enjoyable for me to make content? And this doesn't just go for social media, it goes for all content that you're putting out across all the different platforms. I get it. It's almost like companies have to become a media empire as well as just run a business these days. But when it comes to things like social media, I want you to ask yourself, are you like some people who play basketball only focusing on Did we lose or did we win? We are champions, if we lose, we are pitiful. Or are you enjoying the process, enjoying the process of perhaps being social on social media, having chats with people in the DM, sending voice notes congratulating people, celebrating their wins, commiserating with them when things aren't going well, sending them a note if you know that they're having a bit of a tough time, even if they haven't shared that on social media, but using the platform in a human way that is enjoyable?
Or are you focused so much on whether you are in air quotes, winning on social media, and if you are beating the competition? I think that mentality ruins the enjoyment of running a business for so many people because they get so caught up in the comparison, rather than, am I doing better than I was yesterday? I have often shared this quote with my son about all sorts of sports, but also with his academics as well. It's from Beyonce of course, I remember her saying, “The only person I need to compete with is who I was yesterday.” I genuinely love seeing this in my eldest son so often the joy that he loves being a team. He just loves playing in a team. He loves the camaraderie, he loves the high fives afterwards, whether they've lost or won.
He loves listening to the coach and getting their input. he likes analysing games afterwards as well. Just in a what could I have done better myself? Not in a, what could this person have done or that person didn't do the right thing, it's all him. It's like, I could have done that past better or in that shot. What would've changed if I had moved my footwork? Or like he just enjoys analysing it. He is also obsessed with Rubik's cubes, analysing things and challenging himself with those brain testers. I think that's part of what he loves about basketball, that he is learning constantly and his brain is being activated along with the physical benefits of running around for an hour. But so many of us don't have that. I have to say I've been guilty of this at times when I've been fed up with social media because I've been focused on the wrong things in social media, as opposed to just going, what made it enjoyable?
When I started my Instagram, for example, I loved showing up there, I loved it. It was creative. It was such a fun outlet. I would challenge myself that every Wednesday I would talk about a different brand and I had this hashtag brand watch Wednesday, and the brand had to be one that I hadn't seen all over everyone else's feed. It had to be one that I thought would be interesting to my audience, even though my audience at that stage might have been like 30 people. But I had that excitement about it. I think that's what I'm trying to go back to with social media because, in the last couple of years I've gone up and down, up and down, particularly with Instagram, I've enjoyed TikTok. I love being on TikTok, and that's because it's new, it's novel.
Whereas I think Instagram for me had got pretty stale. I think for a lot of people it's getting stale. I know new apps are coming out. I think there's a Cara for artists. If you are an artist, go and check out Cara. I think it's the Cara Artist app or something. I've been seeing a lot of people talking about that and that it's just a nicer community over there. But if you do use social media as part of your business, which the majority of us do, then consider how you might take that beautiful mindset that my son has around basketball and take that for what could make it enjoyable again, and what could I do better? And rather than blaming the algorithm or blaming this for basketball, blaming the court or blaming the coach or blaming something else other than thinking, well did I play my absolute best?
If I did, cool, I don't care about the outcome because I'm proud I gave it my all. Or if you are concerning yourself too much with the outcome, think about why does that matter. Is it all about ego? Is it something that you've put on yourself, some pressure, or how can you get it back to a place where it's just enjoyable? When you experiment and learn new things, just like my son, if he's experimenting and doing something different, it's like I did that or I didn't do that, or I tried to do that. But you see it like he's constantly smiling. He doesn't play the whole game smiling, but we as his parents can see that he genuinely enjoys the game. He just loves the game.
We always say to him, if ever you stop loving the game, then it's time to get out because yes, it keeps you healthy. Or just play it as healthy. Don't worry about what team or league. I just wanted to put that out there. This idea is that sometimes social media, just think of it like a game and enjoy it and be creative and get out there and test things and experiment. And don't put so much pressure on yourself that everything has to get this amount of reach and this amount of saves or shares or that I put that out and only these many people watched it. You put something out. Let's say somebody says I put it out and only a hundred people watched it. Imagine a hundred people in real life.
That's a chunk of people like concerned with what you have to share that day. I think that's amazing. I just wanted to put that into a tip episode. consider if you are focusing so much on winning, that you are not just enjoying the game, the game of social media, the game of life, the game of business. Because we all know life is short and you've got a certain amount of energy every day. I also say that a lot to my son. You have 24 hours of energy, what do you want to use it on? We can all get consumed with stuff that does not matter in the long term. Take a leaf out of my son's book and just enjoy the game and figure out how you're going to enjoy it if you haven't been enjoying it. For me, I'm not going to say I haven't been enjoying it, I have, but I am going back to batching.
I'm going back to setting time in my calendar every Monday. I am going back to researching things and enjoying that, the finding of discovery and uncovering and sharing anything with my audience. Thank you so much for reading. I'd love to know what you've taken away from this particular episode and your relationship with things like social media. If you have too much of an I need to win, I need to beat the competition mentality that is preventing you from just enjoying the experience. You can send me a DM over on Instagram @mydailybusiness_, or if you're on TikTok @mydailybusiness, I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks for reading.
