How To Use Social Media So It Doesn’t Overwhelm Your Life

Hey, it's Marie Forleo. I didn't even know if that was my name.

Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching Marie TV, the place to be to create a business and life you love and this is QA Tuesday. Today's question comes from Ms. Morgan and she writes, "Hi Marie, I stumbled upon your website just a month ago and have been thrilled at all the valuable information you give. Thank you so much for that extra kick I needed to get my business going. I love entrepreneurship, but find myself aching for a simpler way of life. One that doesn't involve me updating Twitter every two seconds and posting on my blog every day. I've researched this thoroughly, but I feel like every God I come across recommends doing more and more and more for each new social media outlet that pops up. Is there a way to successfully market my business online that doesn't involve me constantly checking in or is that just wishful thinking?"

Great question Morgan and I got to tell you, I am with you girl. I for one, do not want to be on social media all day and if you haven't noticed, I update my blog just one time per week and I'm doing just fine. Here's the thing, you do not need to be on social media 24/7 in order to be effective. In fact, here are four tips to help you be on social media without having it overwhelm your life.

Tip number one, realize you don't have to do it. Yes, I know there may be social media experts out there that want to shoot me right now, but the fact is, if you don't want to do it, you don't have to do it. If you don't like Twitter, screw Twitter and that's a tweetable.

No, I'm just kidding, but seriously, social media is not a hairnet. No one's going to shut you down for not using it. Now, that's a tweetable. While there can be a lot of benefits to being on social media, it's not right for everyone. In fact, I found this great article on Mashable about 10 successful small businesses who are not on social media at all. Now granted, these businesses are more B2B, business to business, but they are successful and they're not on Facebook or Twitter.

Tip number two, less is more, or menos es mas. Now just because everybody says you should be on 50, a thousand different social media sites does not mean that you should. In fact, I think that's a really bad piece of advice. What you should do if you want to be active on social at all is to just pick one or two places at the most to have a presence and then happily ignore the rest.

Morgan, I took a look at your business and it's very visual in nature. So for you, maybe it's Facebook and Pinterest or maybe it's Instagram and Twitter or maybe it's something different. The point is choose ones you like, commit and have a presence on those only. I'd rather see you be really effective on one or two platforms rather than being sucky on a punch which could turn out to hurt your business more than it helps. And remember this, Morgan, either do something full out or don't do it at all. As my man, a big daddy Kane says, ain't no half step in.

Number three, get organized and make a schedule. If you're going to do this, decide how active you want to be on a platform and then get yourself organized and create a little schedule. Do you want to post one time a day, two or three times a day? Do you want to post weekdays or every other day? There is no right answer. Just start somewhere and adjust as you go.

So in my business, we keep a running list of articles, videos, images, great things that we want to share with our audience. And because we're organized and we have a schedule, I never wind up spending any more than 10 to 15 minutes a day tops on social media.

Tip number four, remember, every open channel is a liability. If you do decide to have a presence on social media, you have to remember to monitor all those outlets because as a business owner, they can become liabilities.

For example, if a customer reaches out to you with an issue or a complaint and you're often, you're just ignoring it, no bueno. In fact, Pete Blackshaw even wrote a book with the title, a Satisfied Customer tells Three Friends, an Angry Customer tells 3000. The bottom line is if you're going to be on social, do it right and keep an eye on it or don't do it at all, which again is just fine.

Morgan, that was my A to your Q. I hope you liked it. Definitely let us know how it goes. Now I would love to hear from you. Do you ever feel pressured to do more than you think you have to on social media? What are your tips and tricks for keeping it simple? I would love to hear your story and your experience. As always, the best discussions happen after the episode at marieforleo.com, so get your buns over there and leave a comment right now.

Go do it because mama Maria said so. Did you like this video? If so, subscribe and share it with your friends and if you want even more awesome resources to create a business in life that you love plus some insights and updates from me that I only talk about in email, get over to marieforleo.com right now and sign up for email updates.

Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time on Marie TV.

I'm going back to my Jersey days putting the oil on. Grease it up, girl. Just grease me up. I don't know [inaudible 00:05:47]. This show's really gone downhill.