Could You Cope Without Social Media!?

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** C is for COPING **

I hope you're keeping up... 
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Could you cope with not touching social media for a few days? Have you ever taken a significant break? I have and it's liberating. The wonders it will do for your writer's alias and muse! 

Here's why I decided to cope without social media for a while...

1. Breaking up with a social network (or two or three) can refresh your love and appreciation for what it brings to your writer's page. You can take a break and reassess the uses it provided.
2. Does looking over your most recent posts send you to sleep? Perhaps you need to get some new life experiences and some more interesting stories to post!
3. Has the honeymoon period worn off? Does your Facebook page need refreshing and updating? Fresh eyes after a week of no contact might do your online profile wonders.
4. So many hours, so little time? You could potentially increase the "free" time you have in your day if you take a break from social media. 

Ok, point taken. But I hear you ask...

HOW WILL I COPE?????

Make a plan and stick to it

Specify a time period for which you will not log in. Don't break that promise!

Schedule some auto-posting

With tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, you can pre-schedule anything so there is no 'down time' for your page while you are detoxing. I used these tools when I was working in Costa Rica between rainforests and beach wildlife refuges with no electricity, let alone a wifi connection. This maintained my page while I was away. 

Caution! Use this wisely... You will lose your personality and personal touch and potentially followers if you appear like a spamming robot! Automation should be used if you cannot access the internet for a period of time, or to give yourself a break. 

List the social networks you belong to

Do you need/use all of them? Which ones can you axe guilt-free and without repercussions? Focus on the ones which get you results. 

Also, consider linking your postings between social profiles (e.g. get the posts you make on your Facebook author page appear as tweets on your Twitter account). This will save you a lot of time and expand your reach with no effort. 

Focus on why you use each network and return to it feeling enthusiastic and refreshed!

Who are you trying to reach? What do your followers respond to most? What is the purpose of the page? Do you need to think about the frequency of which you post new items? Consider if you are overdoing it - you do not want social media fatigue to set in!

Spring Clean!

When you return, take a few minutes to really take note of who and what your writerly persona follows. Making them more relevant will do wonders for your brand. Don't follow irrelevant things like Marmite or Dove Soap - concentrate on writers groups, writers pages and interesting and useful writing blog links. 

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Don't forget, social media is about connecting with your audience. If you do not take a break to reassess your methods, content and enthusiasm you will fail to engage. 

Go on. Consider it. See you tomorrow for the next installment of the alphabet blog challenge... 'D', in case you're wondering...!

Lou x

And now, slightly ironically...

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Born To Be A Tourist

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