The Three W’s of Social (Media) Anxiety
We get it: When you’re a business owner, you have so many responsibilities that priorities can be shuffled regularly. You wear all the hats and managing your socials can fall low on the to-do list. Then, when you have down time, you may casually open the Instagram app and suddenly start to panic when you look at what others are doing. Self-doubt, imposter syndrome and an overwhelming sense of dread may take over as you scroll through the profiles of other therapists—you may start to believe that you could never make this work! Who’s got the time???
The Three W’s of Social (Media) Anxiety—What, Who, Why—creep into our mindsets and invade our bodies, making us believe that managing social media successfully is impossible. But with a little education, strategy and planning, you can manage your anxiety and learn to make social media work for your business!
What is Social Media Anxiety?
What is social media anxiety? It happens in the form of doomscrolling: this is when your social media activity brings you feelings of anger, frustration, fear and angst. If you’re a business owner, this looks like going to other business owner’s profiles to see their content, how many followers they have and how many likes their posts get, even though it makes you feel worse about your own business’s Instagram presence.
Social media is really important for business owners, though, especially therapists. Trust is a big part of what creates a successful client/therapist relationship, and social media helps to establish and reinforce that trust. When your social media content is current, expresses who you and what you do, and establishes you a credible expert in your specialty, prospective and current clients will have a greater sense of trust in you and your practice. When you direct new people to your Instagram (via your website, emails, Psychology Today profile, or in-person networking) and they see that your an active participant, they’ll feel an innate sense of security.
We tell all our clients this fact right off the bat: SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A LEAD GENERATOR. It’s purpose isn’t to get people to send you direct messages and ask for appointments. On top of instilling trust, social media is meant to create brand awareness for your practice. Once your audience feels they can trust you, they’ll start to follow your profile and engage with your content. Regular posting of branded content will create brand recognition with your audience, and when they see you and remember you, they’ll be more likely to check out your website or recommend you to a friend.
>>> According to a Facebook-commissioned survey, 83% of Instagram users discover new products and services on the platform.
Who Gets Social Media Anxiety?
I mean, we all do! We have all fallen victim to comparing ourselves to others on social media. Whether you’re an individual or a business owner, it’s easy to look at the other guy and feel like crap about your own life. If you’re a business owner, you may wonder how the heck the other guy has time to run socials this successful! How do they think of this stuff? They make it look so easy!
But remember—everyone on Instagram started exactly where you are now. It took consistency and strategy to get them where they are today, and YOU can get there, too! Not everyone who is successful on social media is outgoing, creative and an expert in marketing—but their strategy makes it seem that way. It’s all about positioning, baby! (That’s what she said!)
Why does Social Media Anxiety Exist (and How You Can Manage It)
Social media takes the concept of “Keeping up with the Joneses” to a new level. Everyone’s life highlights are put in your face as they brag about their vacation to Aruba or share pictures of a speech they gave at a conference. Once upon a time, business owners were only worried about keeping up with direct, local competitors, but with the invention of social media, even small businesses are competing on a regional and national scale!
The deeper social media infiltrates our lives, the more we rely on analytics to define our success, and often, it’s the wrong ones! Follower count and Reel views doesn’t define success alone. But it’s those vanity metrics—the ones that look pretty and make you feel good—that make us feel the worst when we’re comparing them to others.
Here’s how to manage your social media anxiety:
STOP looking at other people’s content! Focus on building your brand, connecting with your audience, and building your business. Don’t know how to define your brand? Read our blog!
Redefine success for yourself. What does success mean to you and how do you measure it? Knowing these will. help you avoid Insta jealousy.
Plan your social media content every month and organize in a calendar format using a platform called Trello. This allows you to see your content in a monthly view and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment! Then schedule your content so then posts will auto-publish and you can focus on only posting Stories daily. Here’s how to plan, create and schedule your posts!
Engage every day! Engaging with your audience on Instagram will help your account grow. It takes time, but when you start to see your analytic numbers go up, your anxiety will be lowered! Here’s how we perform engagement.
Better understanding what social media anxiety is and how to combat it will help your practice grow! And if still need help managing your socials, give us a shout! We are experts in growing social media accounts (and a result, their practice) through social media.
