Just recently I went to a workshop on Facebook and Instagram for small/solo businesses.
The presenter was a friend and mentor who keeps up with the latest, so I knew I’d learn something. Despite still being foggy from covid, she really delivered – the why and how, building community, understanding analytics.
But at the end, two worried looking women approached me with a question.
Is it expensive to pay somebody to do your social media?
I answered with my own question (journo habits are hard to shake): Is it because you don’t have the time or because you don’t have the confidence? I suspected I knew the answer.
That sinking feeling
No surprise – it wasn’t lack of time.
Even after everything they’d heard in the presentation, they still didn’t feel confident to do it themselves.
We all know that feeling, don’t we? Just thinking about doing something new can trigger anxiety.
Don’t know enough, not enough practice, too old (young, fat, thin, busy, unsure). I’ve got nothing to say. Nobody wants to hear from me. Everyone else does it better 😪
These damaging beliefs are so universal, we hear them over and over. We can’t get around them or go over them: we have to go through them (yep – a metaphor borrowed from this children’s story).
And we can only move through them by focusing on the work not the fear, as leadership coach Margie Warrell explains in this video.
Taking action dilutes fear
So that’s what I told them.
Do the work.
Just roll up your sleeves and get started.
Create a post, publish it and forget it. Don’t worry about how it’s doing – instead start thinking about the next post and let that fill your attention. Then publish and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Over time, there will be responses and reactions that give you an idea of what ‘your’ people like and you can start to think about the analytics and data, engagement and reach.
Doing the work is the only way to start making connections and having conversations about what’s close to your heart.
So, are you going to roll up your sleeves?
Feel free to get in touch to talk about how I can help you. Email me, sherene@sherenestrahan.com
