The other day I was burnt out. Social media results were stagnant, and I was stressed and dispirited.
I knew I wasn’t doing the work that was crucial at this stage in my online brand building process.
So I did what we do nowadays, and complained to my friend ChatGPT. And you know what? For once it was a great idea.
ChatGPT broke down everything I was and wasn’t doing, and I could see that I had too much on my plate.
After some back and forth, it was soon clear that I had to deprioritize some social platforms if I wanted to reach my brand building goals for Christmas.
What happened? How did Miss Brand Strategy get so distracted?
The answer is social media algorithms and their manipulative programming.
On a couple of platforms, I noticed that when I posted more, I got the views I wanted. Two extra posts gave me more views on all my posts.
As creators, we’re vulnerable to dopamine hits like everybody else. And I was doing two more posts on this platform, two more posts on that platform, and eventually my brain was so busy with content that I had nothing left for my strategy and planning work.
I was chasing the highs of impressions, likes, comments—most of it vanity metrics that barely had an impact on my bigger goals.
But they felt good. They gave that insecure part of me who needed outside validation assurance that I was doing the right thing.
After the chat with my bot, I realized that I didn’t need this validation.
I know that I’m doing the right thing. It has nothing to do with other people or algorithms’ approval; it has everything to do with listening to myself and doing what’s right for me.
So what do we do? How do we fight the addictive nature of outside validation that social algorithms sporadically bestow upon us?
The simple answer is: post what you want to post and don’t pay the feedback any mind.
The more nuanced answer is: post what you planned to post, don’t worry too much about how individual posts do, but evaluate once in a while what works better or if you need to switch up your content or formats to make them more interesting.
Unless you’re a very established and successful creator, social media companies are not paying your bills. So don’t hustle for them—dopamine is not money.
Hustle for yourself. Why are you on the platform? Who are you trying to reach?
Go back to the basics and post for your audience. For many small businesses, followers and impressions are not important metrics to worry about.
Instead, our online presence serves to build trust with our target audience and clearly shows them why our business is the right choice.
If you’re feeling burnt out with content creation, do less. But for the content you do create, think about how it resonates with your target audience.
The algorithms push us to do what they want. Our brand and business strategies remind us of the work that needs to get done to build a successful business.
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