Your social media experience all comes down to how you choose to curate your experience.
I recently posted an Instagram Reel called 8 hot takes I don't think should be hot takes: ✨social media edition.✨
I included things like "People are watching you a lot more than you think, even if it doesn’t seem like it." and "Don’t fall victim to 'What about ME?!' syndrome. Not everything you see has to apply to you and not everything you create has to apply to everybody."
The eighth and final hot take I had was this: "Social media itself isn’t actually that bad, your attitude towards it can be."
I got a really great response specifically about that particular hot take:
"I'll bite! #8 - I contend that social media really is not only that bad but probably worse than I realize. (that said, I did just hear about a study that finds social media "addiction" mostly isn't a thing - it's just a habit)"
I responded back with this: "I can see where you're coming from! I think it's all about how someone's relationship with it is. Everybody is going to have their own subjective experience with it. And their experience is going to be unique only to them. Every side is worthy of being heard of course. Just because I love social media and think it's actually better than we give it credit for, that doesn't mean I'm excusing it for the harm it DOES cause. It's a two-way street, like yin and yang, like good and evil. But that boils down to how people choose to use it. It's like two people getting superpowers and one uses it to save the world, and the other person uses it for mass destruction and doing whatever they want. It all boils down to the person's hands, not social media itself."
I always find it interesting how different people interpret different things.
One person may like alcohol, somebody else is willing to ban it from their house.
Someone may appreciate french vanilla ice cream while another person thinks cookies and cream is the greatest flavor ever. (Let's be real: cookies and cream is the best ice cream flavor besides Ben & Jerry's cheesecake brownie flavor. But those boobs discontinued that flavor forever and I will forever MOURN😭😭)
Curating your social media experience, whether that's for personal or business pages, is the main purpose of social media management.
When you manage your social media well, you're able to market on social media more effectively.
Social media marketing vs. social media management
Everybody has heard of social media marketing.
But not many people talk about social media management.
What the hell are they? What are the differences between them?
There are a lot of people who will give you multiple definitions of the two.
They mean well but most people don’t know what they’re talking about.
Managing and marketing are two completely different animals to tame with different diets, activity levels, and playtime activities.
Social media management is the process of overseeing social media channels including updating posts, responding to messages and comments, and having content strategies in place.
It’s operating your social media channels and efforts in an organized, calm, structured way.
Managing social media involves things like:
- planning what to post
- knowing when to post
- organizing your ideas
- having systems that save time
- creating content without stress
- managing engagement without burnout
- staying consistent with less effort
Social media marketing is a general term for the type of marketing it is. It is a business strategy that uses appropriate digital channels to promote your products and services.
It is what you do when you want to spread awareness of a product or service within a certain target group. It’s convincing people to buy or care.
Marketing social media includes:
- storytelling
- branding
- persuasion
- awareness
- selling
- launches
Marketing is about why people should care.
Management is about how you show up.
Solopreneurs, content creators, artists, creative business owners, and any user of social media needs to have both if they're trying to get anywhere with social media.
With these two practices together, social media isn’t just about “showing up more.”
It’s about showing up as someone specific, for a clear reason, in a way that feels sustainable to you.
If you skip straight to strategies without knowing who you are, what you stand for, and what you’re actually trying to build, every system will feel heavy, confusing, or pointless.
Social media helps us connect intentionally and authentically, if used appropriately.
Sometimes things will show up that may make us uncomfortable or angry or all of the big things, but we DO have the power to choose whether or not we want to focus our energy and attention on it.
It reminds us to choose our battles wisely.
It's interesting because it reminds me of how special the human experience is.
We are all each other's teachers, and it's healthy to outgrow our knowledge and learn new things that could benefit us in the long run.
If our sink is shipping and we get new information that may make us uncomfortable in the moment but allows us to get to land safely, why wouldn't we give ourselves that chance?
🧠 Brain-Picks
🫀 Tips for creating and living creatively
- "Be obsessed with your own content. Post because you love it, not to go viral." - Juliette Mirella
- If somebody is openly talking shit and being opinionated about multiple people around you and it’s like that every time, I PROMISE you they’re doing the same thing about you too when you’re not around.
- You build confidence through action, not overthinking.
With gratitude,
Katrina
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