We’ve All Been There and Done It!

As entrepreneurs we’ve all fallen into the trap of the initial excitement of using social media. Wow, what a great tool!

I never wanted to make any silly mistakes using it but I have inevitably done so as I’ve progressed along the social media learning curve.

For instance, when I first went on LinkedIn I would search out my targets and randomly send out invitations to connect. That was before I realized that was a really “un-cool” thing to do – and it could be seen as “spam” and potentially damage your professional reputation on the platform. Come on – you know you’re out there and you’ve done the exact same thing!

In my defence, I honestly thought you were supposed to connect with folks you don’t know who have similar interests, in order to broaden your network. I have since learned that you’re only supposed to send invitations to folks you know and then build your followers from there. In most cases people were very accommodating and polite about accepting my random invitations.  I thank them for that and for their understanding with my lack of knowledge on proper social media etiquette.

There just seems to be so many rules with social media and they differ on each social media platform. Some platforms call your network “friends”, some “followers” and still others “communities” or “circles”. For instance, I’ve been told, (and I may stand to be corrected here), that you use the @ in front of a name (person/company name) and the # (or hashtag) ahead of a topic (i.e. #municipality, #consultant, etc.). While I’m definitely not an expert on any of the platforms, I am making a conscious effort to learn them and play by the rules – honest.

From there, I progressed to setting up accounts in every social media platform I could find – because that’s what all the “social media experts” say you should do. But I quickly learned that some are not suitable for my business. (i.e. muniSERV being on Pinterest just makes no sense at all)

While perusing the variety of social media platforms, I also started to sign up for all these free “something or other” white papers written by experts, who as we all know are really just businesses mining for your email address.  Now, I don’t want to lump them all together because some of these free e-books, etc. have actually been very interesting and quite helpful – but the volume of marketing emails I started to receive after the downloads increased dramatically.

Another hook that got me was when I registered for a referral key platform that one of my valued contacts sent me. It really did sound like a great thing, but it emailed all my contacts and told them I had work for them and I wanted to refer them – What??? I had some explaining to do to clarify to my highly respected and valued contacts that unfortunately, I did not have work or a referral for them. I probably didn’t uncheck something I was supposed to when I set it up but at any rate, that was an embarrassing lesson!

My volume of emails continued to increase consuming more of my time every day. But I was drawn to reading through them though so I didn’t miss out on the next newest information about social media advancements or tips.

That’s when I started becoming overwhelmed. I had finally had enough. That’s when I took back control.

I hired someone to train me on the various social media platforms so I could protect my professional image on social media. Then I went through my emails and started unsubscribing to a bunch of them. Most of them were repetitive anyways (i.e. how to market on social media, how to improve your sales, blah, blah, etc.) I kept some I thought were of value and that I still enjoy reading, but I probably eliminated 80% of them.

Now, I glance quickly at offers and webinar invites. I’ve become like everyone else – very selective. If it doesn’t grab my attention in a couple of seconds, it’s deleted – and if they continue to bug me too much, I unsubscribe.

Sure I still set aside time for social media because, even though I jest, it is an integral part of your business and it is the way of the future. But at least I now feel much more in control of my valuable time.  

If this all sounds too familiar, take comfort. We’ve all been there – we’ve all done embarrassing things with social media and we all need to work our way through the progression of the social media learning curve. Always remember – you can still be in control even when it feels like you’ve lost it!

Susan Shannon is the Principal of muniSERV.ca.  She strengthens and engages municipalities across Canada by connecting them to the right professional.  Helping Municipalities & Professionals Connect!

Susan can be reached at [email protected] or toll free at 855.477.5095