I am currently prepping for a trip to Lisbon, where I will be working with a client to develop a soulful, effective social media strategy for their business and personal brand. Social media can be complex, as it is an ever-changing landscape that requires numerous skill sets. My approach involves simplifying things through listening to your soul in order to achieve personalised success in this space.
As my mind buzzes with all of the possibilities for this amazing human, her team, and their mission and vision within the realms of social media, I keep coming back to this formula of soulful simplicity.
I say this time and time again; social media is A LOT.
It’s a digital world, a sprawling metropolis, that keeps changing and growing. New highways are built, and roads are re-routed, new suburbs pop up in the form of features and updates... Then there are all the people, the adverts and videos that show up in our timelines through sponsored posts and ads. Knocking on our digital doors every day, often unannounced or uninvited, is like having the double-glazing sales guy, the amazon man and the postie dropping all the marketing and sales leaflets through your letterbox and knocking at your door all at the same time.
Woooaaah there. Back off, people!
Then we have our friends, our contemporaries and colleagues sharing about what they’re up to and with whom, and we then consciously and unconsciously compare ourselves to it all.
There is a lot going on and lots of opportunities to feel overwhelmed daily.
Someone told me recently that it makes her feel like her ‘neurons are on fire’.
For those who are trying to grow a social media following for their businesses and to support their dreams, there is also another deeper layer of overwhelm and frustration that can come into play.
Social media appears to work like a dream on the surface for many, with people seemingly building large audiences on pages and groups overnight, driving sales and making thousands, nay millions, of $£... But for those on the other side of that ‘reality’, it can feel very different. It feels disappointing and frustrating and often leads to feelings of lack and feelings of ‘not good enough'.
This creates a negative spiral, a vortex.
The social media vortex of doom.
Taken from the OG Social Media for a New Age book.
How do we create a social media strategy that is both soulful and simple, yet successful?
This is a question many people want answering! While I do not have all the answers, I have gained valuable insights and experience over the past 20 years supporting thousands of small business owners and personal brands, witnessing both successful and unsuccessful endeavours in this space.
First, I suggest spending time with your vision.
What is your vision for your social media?
What do you want it to do for you? For your business? For the people who follow you?
Your intentions for the space are paramount, and you want to create a plan for it from this intentional place.
So many jump into social media and just do what everyone else is doing. Of course, depending on the platforms you choose, there are certain things you will need to do in order to ‘succeed’ in a traditional sense. But this is a multi-dimensional space, and just like in the physical world, you can choose your space and your pace.
One person’s vision will be different to that of another. The way you approach social media, from the platforms you choose (space) to how often you post (pace), can all be different.
No one way is the right way.
What is the right way for you?
A connected community of a few hundred to a thousand people that you connect with online… Or do you want to reach tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of people?
What impact do you want to create now or in the future? Why?
How do you see social media helping you to do that?
And, importantly – What can your nervous system handle?
What are you ready for?
Feel into your body right here and now.
Pause. Take a breath.
Put your hand on your heart and ask your soul to show you a vision.
A vision of what your social media looks and feels like this year.
Breathe into this question from your soul space.
Take 5+ minutes to meditate on this.
Do this practice regularly and ask yourself – What do you see? What do you feel?
People, platforms, colours, content?
Sensations in the body?
Feelings of excitement? Fear?
Each time you do this, ask your soul for more insight.
Grab a pen or your device, make notes.
Scribble. Draw.
Feel into it all.
Listen to this, your inner guidance – ask it to play with you and your social media. It will help you to be more creative, and it will support you in creating an authentic and soulful strategy – just from the very nature of the check-in!
You are unique, and the way you approach social media will be unique too.
In terms of making social media simple, that will totally depend on what your vision is and what your capacity, your passion, and available resource for it is.
Again, all totally unique.
Social media can be simple, and it can also be very complicated.
But it is only as complicated as you make it.
For example, simple for me this year means doing two articles a month on Substack and sharing them to my other platforms, alongside sharing to Stories on Instagram.
This is what I am available for and feel excited about. I don’t have the mental, nor energetic capacity to run my own platform in the same way I help run them for some of my clients. We are all on different journeys and at different places on our path. I have had to ask myself why I’m not for example making Reels on the regular and the answer is that this is not my soul’s vision for right now.
For clients where it is and who want to build big audiences on platforms like Instagram, having a team can be a good way to make it more simple, through help with batch creating, scheduling, and having support to deliver the vision.
Have a read of ‘Does Teamwork make the dream work?’, an article I wrote last year about this topic.
You can also read ‘To Schedule or Not to Schedule? That is a question.’ for more insight on using scheduling tools to make things more simple on your road to social media success.
We all know that social media can be overwhelming, especially for those trying to grow a large audience and market services or products. However, by setting clear intentions and creating a plan for your social media strategy, it can become a thing of joy, beauty, and a space for meaningful connection.
Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to social media, so catch yourself comparing yours to others. Take time to check in with your soul, reflect on your vision and the impact you want to create. Feel into what your nervous system can handle so that you can navigate the social media landscape in a way that creates a positive experience for you and your audience.
Let me know how you get on!
PS: Some new moon guidance that is in alignment - esp. if you frame the questions with social media in mind:
AQUARIUS SUPER NEW MOON: JANUARY 21, 2023
Esoterically and psychologically, January 21st is the marker for New Year 2023, rather than January 1st. It heralds the start of the Aquarian Years 2023 - 2043.
The trajectory - the Field - of 2023 is wide open, to be created, experienced, lived. The possibilities are endless. It’s impossible to create a new world, let alone a New Earth, by clinging to your old paradigms and models of how things should be. The switch has to happen at all levels - in your thinking, your body, your values, your trust in life to support you. The old was about Separation - the new is about Integration within your body, consciousness and experienced realities.
Open up your connection to your own higher guidance by asking powerful higher-level questions which get to the heart of your purpose - true Inside/Out Thinking. Ask yourself:
Q: imagine it’s one year from today and I’ve had my most aligned year yet... what happened? what’s different in my life now?
Q: what would my life look like if it’s full of what works?
Q: if everything is up for grabs and nothing is a given, what do I want to create in the world and how would I go about creating it?
Q: what are my highest trajectories, expressions, services or creations for this next phase of my life?
Lorna Bevan M.A.Astrologer Coach Psychotherapist from the 5D Astrology Report: Subscribe: hareinthemoonastrology.co.uk