How I’m running my social media so I don’t burn out

I do not like social media. I try to avoid it as much as possible in my personal life. I find it way too easy to compare myself to what everyone else is doing and get down on myself. But if you’re running a business or looking for work, it feels like it’s essential. So I’ve been looking for ways to reduce the amount of time I spend on content while providing the most value for who I’m looking to serve.

I’m still in the process of figuring out my flow, and I’m sure as I learn more things will change, but this is what I’m currently focused on:

I’m going all-in on long-form content.

Despite what you may have heard about newer generations not knowing how or being interested in reading anymore, I continue to hear more about people being interested in real, insightful long-form content. Blog posts, and email newsletters continue to be successful in terms of engagement. People are tired of AI slop, of being bombarded with content with no substance, and are looking to support businesses that have authentic people behind them.

So I’m focusing first on building out my blog posts on my website and email newsletter. I write everything I want to say in a blog, and then tailor that to be more personalized for an email. Everything I do I want to link back to my website so potential clients can see the work I do, learn about me and if I can help them.

I do most of my networking on LinkedIn.

As the majority of my professional network is there, I find it’s not just good to post there and keep people up-to-date on what I’m working on, but also reaching out to people 1:1. I’ve found that even when my posts get a good amount of engagement, there are still people who didn’t see it, or aren’t aware of what I’m doing. It’s easy to feel like once you put something out there once, that’s it, but research shows someone needs to see you at least eight times to begin to establish trust. Multiply that by how many people have been laid off recently and are actively posting their own stuff, and it’s easy to get lost.

So it’s okay to post the same thing multiple times. This doesn’t mean spam the same thing over and over; it definitely helps to reword things slightly. But you don’t have to come up with new content every time you post, because chances are not everyone saw it.

For me I think it helps to have some sort of graphic. When I scroll on LinkedIn images attract my attention within the walls of texts in people’s posts. It also helps to have an engaging hook above the fold to draw people in.

I have an Instagram, but I don’t prioritize it.

I see more and more people talking about how they don’t see real engagement from Instagram. They put tons of effort into perfectly stylizing the post, figuring out the right hashtags, tailoring their CTA, and then it disappears into a endless void on people’s feeds, never to be seen or interacted with.

And yet, everyone has one. As I look into finding the local businesses I’d like to serve, I find if there’s one social platform they have, it’s Instagram. Sometimes DM’ing them is the best way to get in contact with them, and in order to do that successfully, I need to have some sort of presence there. You want the clients you’re looking for to be able to see you’re legit on the platform you’re speaking to them on.

I create graphics with the main topics of my blog post, tailor the intro of the post for my description, choose a few hashtags that feel relevant (I have a list of hashtags from previous research I keep on the Notion for my business) and leave it at that. Of course I want to be available to respond to any comments, but I don’t worry about engagement numbers. I just want to have a presence on the platform that can lead to my other platforms.

I’m putting more focus on Pinterest.

Pinterest is a great resource for your business because it doesn’t work like other social platforms. Instead of your content disappearing within people’s feeds in minutes, Pinterest works more like a search engine. Even if you posted something years ago, if people search for your keywords (i.e. “How to find a therapist”) your relevant posts will still appear.

This helps me feel much better about the work I’m doing actually being seen by my audience. Plus, when graphics have already been made for Instagram, I can duplicate those onto Pinterest. The only heavy-lifting is deciding on the title and description of each pin. I link each pin back to my blog, and queue them up in Buffer, so I can spend an hour once day a week batching several pins at a time instead of constantly having to post.

How are you making the most of your social presence? Do you have a different approach that works better for your business? Let me know in the comments.