What’s your bad social media habit? Do you scroll endlessly? Do you get stuck in the comparison trap? Are you following people that you… shouldn’t be?

I was on a call earlier this week and we were talking about what we were letting go of in 2024. Mindless scrolling came up a few times, as did being more intentional on social media, and not following people who don’t bring us joy.

I had mentioned something alluding to the comparison trap of social media managers and content creators - and how we’re a dime a dozen, and it’s really easy to follow them all. But then you compare - why don’t I have 10k followers (you haven’t tried); why doesn’t my content look that great? Why am I not posting multiple reels per week?

It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? This is true of any business BUT then we also got to talking about TRAINING the algorithm. If you engage with your competitors, it’s going to show you your competitors. If you engage with your ideal audience (and use keywords that attract them), you’ll start to see them and they’ll start to see you.

So I got to thinking about the bad habits we should all break as business owners who engage on social media. Here are SEVEN that I’m letting go of/starting in 2024.

1. Stop following your friends, your family, your frenemies, your old coworkers on your business account. Are they your ideal client? No? Leave them on your personal account. Engaging with content from your college roommate is doing nothing to get you in front of your ideal client or customer.

2. Stop posting and ghosting. Social media is a two way street y’all! You gotta engage. It doesn’t take much - in fact, OVER ENGAGING can be just as detrimental to your algorithm and how you show up (too much = spammy and IG doesn’t like that!)

3. Stop falling into the comparison trap. This goes back to the stop following,.. but also stop following your competitors. Stop following people who are not your ideal audience. I mean some industry accounts are FINE. But really, anyone who makes you feel bad about being on social media, about what you post, or just… bad in general is not worth your follow. UNFOLLOW.

4. Stop Overthinking your content. OMG I am GUILTY of this - see also comparison trap. If you keep your drafts in draft form, you’re not going to get ANYWHERE. Without posting them how will you know if they’re really a hit, or if they’re going to flop? What are you afraid of by NOT posting them? By not showing up, because you’re overthinking how you look, the lighting, the caption - whatever it is - how is that helping you accomplish your goals? This is true of both social media AND long form content.

5. Stop using only stocky photos. Content shoots are worth the spend - whether branded or whether you want something a little posed. I’m super excited to offer VIP day content shoots starting in February. The other day I was on site with a client and I LOVED shooting their content. I mean, I’ve been creating content for clients for a long time but I always LOVE being behind the camera and too many business owners just don’t make the time to shoot content. We know that video is where it’s at, and we know that authentic photos perform BETTER. Authenticity always wins. So leave the stock photos in 2023, and schedule a VIP Content day (more coming soon! Subscribe to my email newsletter to get dibs on the limited number of sessions available for February!!)

6. Stop Keyword Stuffing. Listen, the algorithm DOES NOT care if you put your keyword on your reel and move it off-screen or make it the same color as your background so it can’t be seen. It’s called keyword stuffing and it’s so 2013. Stop it, especially on social media, but also on Youtube, on your website, and anywhere else you might be adding keywords thinking they’re going to get you extra search engine juice.

7. Be consistent. Consistency ALWAYS wins my friends. Do you want to grow? You gotta show up - authentically and CONSISTENTLY. Whether it’s once per week or seven days per week, just be consistent.

8. Stop SELLING. No one goes to social media to be sold to. No one goes on social media to be sold to constantly. Change up your calls to action. Change up your offers. Do you want to sell? Run some ads! Stop blatantly selling and start building connections. Once you connect authentically with your audience, the sales will come.

Here’s the deal, a lot of people DISLIKE social media. I get it. As someone who works here, is on 24/7, It’s not always the best place to be. BUT when it works, it really, really works and it’s AMAZING because of those connections. Because of seeing the audience - the number of people who know and trust your brand - GROW is kind of incredible.

I first got on social media in 2004 - well probably before then because LiveJournal was an early social media (a blogging platform that was definitely social!); Facebook back then was an easy way to hate stalk ex’s and to show off what you were doing to the cool guy or gal you had a crush on. Status’s were updated like it was 2007 Twitter before Twitter existed. Is there some unhealthiness to social? ABSOLUTELY. But, the connections it allows us to create are also pretty incredible. So noodle on that.

Let 2024 be the year that we connect and stop comparing.

Need some help showing up authentically? Get in touch to learn more about our VIP Content Creation Day, or our social media strategy sessions!