Intentional Social Media Use

[00:00:00] Emily Thompson: Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creatives, business owners and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their work and live life on their own terms. I'm your host, Emily Thompson. And in this episode, I'm joined by Corey from the Being Boss team to explore the topic of using social media for personal or business purposes, with intention, ensuring that you're showing up in a way that feels good and feeds your business and just the way you need.

[00:00:26] You can find all the tools, books, and links we referenced on the show notes at www.beingboss.club. And if you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe to this show and share us with a friend.

[00:00:39] All right, bosses, it's time for another podcast recommendation. And this one is a deep dive into all the unsexy industries that are often overlooked. The podcast is Unsexy hosted by Elaine Zelby brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network. In each episode of unsexy, Elaine explores industries, such as campsite booking and outdoor tropical, agriculture, chemical industry, and more. And sure, she claims her unsexy, but many of the episodes are exactly the kinds of businesses that I would love to know more about.

[00:01:10] And I feel like many of you will to. Learn more and listen to unsexy wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:01:21] Corey. It has been a hot minute since you've been on the side of the mic.

[00:01:24] Corey Winter: I know I've been getting the things that you were avoiding me. I think you were avoiding the conversation of why I don't have a name tag yet.

[00:01:35] Emily Thompson: I knew this was coming. I need this. Maybe I'm waiting for that 30th birthday you have next month.

[00:01:41] Corey Winter: That's my birthday present. You know what I'll be. I'll be okay with that.

[00:01:46] Emily Thompson: Literally. That's like, that's a very like adult birthday present is like a professional name tag where your desk. Is it not? That I told you and back pain and knee pain we get on. Corey tells me already there. We got on and Corey tells me the next month, his 30th birthday.

[00:02:05] He's like, do I get something like a tax deduction?

[00:02:09] Corey Winter: I think that's the thing like, as you get older, you should just like start paying less taxes.

[00:02:16] Emily Thompson: It's a price costing the system more money as you go tax breaks. Well, I am excited that you are here tax breaks or not knee pain or not. Is it nearby you have back pain, right?

[00:02:30] Corey Winter: That's I don't even know what hurts anymore because I think everything hurts and such as, I think the pain I feel is actually the opposite of pain.

[00:02:38] It's like the feel-good because everything hurts. I think I'm thinking of just the use of the pain. So what I don't hurt. It's weird.

[00:02:48] Emily Thompson: Jeez

[00:02:53] pain is my normal state of existence. I heard that. Well, just wait until you hit 35, plus you got, you got so much further to get forward to it. I love it. Okay, so you are here today to chat with me about social media. And very specifically social, like using social media intentionally is what we were talking about.

[00:03:16] Shay, you ready for this conversation? I'm excited to turn this around on you a little bit and otherwise make this do,

[00:03:23] Corey Winter: So you asked me if I was excited about it. No, actually hate this topic. I hate social media so much.

[00:03:32] Emily Thompson: Okay. Tell me about this though. W why do you hate social? Are you on it? Are you using it?

[00:03:36] Like, what does it look like for you to be using social media?

[00:03:39] Corey Winter: Yeah, I have, I have the Facebooks and I have the Twitters and I have the Instagrams. That's really about it. I don't use Facebook anymore. The only reason I still have Facebook is. 'cause people still messaged me on Facebook messenger. For some reason.

[00:03:54] I don't know why I use Twitter a lot just to get like news and updates and stuff. And the only reason I have Instagram is so I can share dog pics, but like I miss, I miss, I miss my space and that's a very millennial thing to say, but it was a simpler time where it was all about just sharing music and pissing off your friends about who was in your top 10 or not.

[00:04:19] But like I missed that.

[00:04:20] Emily Thompson: It was top 8. Yeah. Right. If you were friend number nine or 10, you were

[00:04:25] Corey Winter: like nowadays social media is just all opinion. Yeah. I just don't like it. I agree.

[00:04:32] Emily Thompson: I okay. But I don't, this is going to be a happy episode every

[00:04:38] Corey Winter: week. Well, see, that's what I was going to say. Like that's why another reason I keep Instagram is because I follow like all of these dog accounts.

[00:04:44] I just, I get dog pictures every day. It's awesome.

[00:04:48] Emily Thompson: Yes. In our family, we, like we say, funnies air quotes, funnies, like, let me show you my new funnies. And then we'll sort of all gather around and it's all dogs mostly, or sometimes, a hippo or similar, like some sort of cute animal doing something funny are phonies.

[00:05:05] So I wanted to talk about this. This, this came up, that will one, this comes up all the time, all the time, this conversation around using social media and in particular using social media intentionally, especially as a business owner, obviously, because that's why we're here, comes up all the time in our body.

[00:05:25] And our boss community stuff, Being Boss community does meet ups. And, like actually we're doing local meetups now, just so sparingly mostly in Chattanooga where I am, but we do Monday meetups virtually every single Monday, we're doing virtual coworking. We have our clubhouse conversations for, clubhouse members.

[00:05:44] And I would say out of every three boss, gatherings, virtual or IRL in two of them, we're talking about social media. It is just like such a big topic for doing business these days online or offline doesn't even matter. And so we're having lots of conversations around strategy. What's working, what's not working.

[00:06:06] I hate it. I love it, whatever it may be. And. I recently though, was in a session. I was leading a session. I can't remember exactly which one it was. And a boss came in with a very pointed question asking me how it is that I intentionally use social media. And she asked me this question out of all of the conversations that I've been a part of, where I talk about how intentionally I use it for the most part.

[00:06:34] And I'll sort of show you the like behind the scenes in a minute and how I have really adjusted my mindset around social media in a way that. Bosses who were trying to really figure out their relationship with it or coming to me to ask me like what mine looks like. So the team was together. We were talking about what we want to do some episodes around and, and, someone brought up doing one on this topic in particular because it comes up so often in that question was such a poignant point.

[00:07:06] Corey Winter: I don't think you pronounce the G boy. Oh, well now I can't say it.

[00:07:15] Emily Thompson: It's such a question too hard about, just say it. I know I did. I said it, I immediately was like, eh, but I think I did it right. Okay. So here we are, comes up all the time. I do stay off social media a whole lot, but you'll also see that like even I have my weaknesses for sure. And really social media has just become so much of how we go about our life and business that I think that the lines between appropriate or appropriate or inappropriate or intentional and mindlessness use is sort of getting really blurred.

[00:07:51] And a lot of people, I think, especially after sitting inside for two years, just scrolling, because what else were we going to do? Or sort of feeling a little messed up with their relationships with social media, right? They they're feeling a little addicted. They're sort of feeling the heat of, of having been on social media so much and maybe really rethinking or finally for the first time, maybe even thinking about their relationship with social media.

[00:08:15] And this is a conversation that I've been having for years. I was off Facebook before anyone else was, I was off Instagram before anyone else was like, I've been very mindful about my relationships with social media since before it became a cool thing to get off Facebook or whatever it may be. That's what we're here to talk about it.

[00:08:33] I also want to throw in, I guess, sort of one more point in that it has become such a huge part of how we exist, both as people and as businesses that I see too many bosses thinking that social media is the only way to market. And that's another thing I really want to tackle in this episode, sort of showing you some, some other ways of looking at it that really has you opening up to the plethora of other marketing avenues out there because social media is just one of many social media is the newest and it's the flashiest and it's, quote, unquote, maybe the easiest though.

[00:09:13] I don't even think that's true.

[00:09:14] Corey Winter: It's the lowest barrier to entry, but I wouldn't say probably

[00:09:18] Emily Thompson: the most accessible. Yeah, I think it is the most accessible. So yes, lowest barrier to entry, most generally accessible. But it's not the only. And I think too many bosses think these days that is the only way to market.

[00:09:32] Corey Winter: Yeah. And you've said before on the podcast that business marketing existed before the internet, before social media was a thing it's like, there are still those opportunities out there. Like it's not just social media.

[00:09:43] Emily Thompson: Yeah. They were millionaires before social media. Y'all

[00:09:49] right. And perfectly good businesses and all the things

[00:09:52] Corey Winter: even more broadly, like when people say social media, they insulin go to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, but like social media nowadays can be a whole, whole big thing. Like, it'd be YouTube. Honestly. Even the Being Boss community is a social network. It's just a private social network.

[00:10:09] Well, it's not really private. You can join. Anyone can join, but yeah. Social media can be anything like discord. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think on YouTube, whenever people I follow on YouTube does a live stream. I hop on the chat and we have a little social media hangout on YouTube. Right.

[00:10:29] Emily Thompson: Right. So social media is a really broad term. You are totally correct. It does include more than Instagram or Pinterest or Twitter or whatever it is that you're using. But again, people, I think that's sort of like one of the faults of social media is that it gets you so like pigeonholed into thinking that this is the only thing.

[00:10:48] Like whether it's the platform, whether it's just generally the media where it's the mindset, the like point of view, whatever it may be, that, then what I hope to do with this episode is open your eyes to so many other opportunities, for sure, for engaging, for marketing, for growing, for whatever. So that's how I'd like to start this off.

[00:11:08] I will also say. I do not want any of my social media manager bosses or otherwise like marketing people to feel hated on by this episode whatsoever. I love you. And I think that the work that you do is really great. So this is not, again like this is not against any social media managers. I am also not a social media pro, as you will see, as we go throughout this episode.

[00:11:31] What I really just want to do is share with you some tactics that I have used some insights that I have used, and some of my own experiences around really shifting my relationship, around social media over the past several years to be where I am now running two successful businesses with the relationship with social media that I do have.

[00:11:54] Okay.

[00:11:54] Corey Winter: So let's actually start there with your relationship with social media. And I want to go at this from two different angles because you have your personal side and then you have your business side. And I think the personal site is the more juicy story. So tell us more about your personal relationship with social media.

[00:12:10] Emily Thompson: Hate it, hate it. I don't use it. I don't use it for personal very much. And there are a couple of little asterisks around that for sure. And I will share those, but very early on, well, actually I will say I was on my space first and the early to mid two thousands, mid two thousands. But even before then, I mean, I had a, like, I had, a blog, a life dirt.

[00:12:42] It wasn't alive. It's like an online diary situation back, like back in the day. So like I was sharing online and. Quote, unquote, meeting people online. Like you didn't tell people that right. That you're meeting people online. So I've been sharing on the internet for a really long time, for a really long time.

[00:13:03] Since, since the early two thousands basically got on my space was on my space for a while. Made friends. Before you could tell people you were making friends on the internet. I was on Facebook before Facebook was open to the public. So I was on Facebook when only students at certain colleges could get on Facebook.

[00:13:25] So I remember getting on Facebook back then. I remember being mad about it too. I remember being like, Ooh, Facebook, like I'm on my space. I'm not going to create a Facebook. And then I did create a face. And so this would have been mid two thousands, so, oh, 5 0 6. Maybe I'm on Facebook was on Facebook for awhile.

[00:13:43] And I remember very intentionally stating ones that if my mother ever got on Facebook, I was getting off. Because also, do you remember back in the MySpace days that if you've met someone online who was like in their twenties, on my space or on Facebook or whatever you were like, those losers, why don't they have a job?

[00:14:04] Did you ever feel that way? No, I do. I do. I remember like seeing older people on those platforms and thinking like, well, why don't you have a life? Why are you on these levels? Anyway, I was just judgy Emily. I'm pretty sure

[00:14:20] Corey Winter: I joined Facebook in 2008. So right after they opened up outside of colleges.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:28] Emily Thompson: Right long. It was a long ass time ago. Y'all I know. I mean, by doing some shady shit, for sure. So, so on socials for really long time, I remember very intentionally say that my mother ever got on social or on Facebook I'd get off. And the day that she sent me a friend invite, I was like, are you kidding me?

[00:14:54] The time has come. I did not get off then though I do think I left my, I think my mother is still in limbo ever. I haven't rive and accepted a friend request in a decade. Y'all basically, so, and I had to scroll back in my, in my Facebook feed and saw that I stopped using Facebook. I stopped posting on Facebook and twenty-six.

[00:15:18] And I don't think I ever like had the app on my phone and used it consistently. Like I've never been a big Facebook user. Especially once it opened up to the public, I was like back when it was like just my school friends. Right. But once it opened up to the public, I, I was uninterested. And so I've always been pretty disconnected from Facebook and really stopped posting back in 2016.

[00:15:44] Since then, people still post on my it's funny, you're talking about Facebook messenger. I check in on it every like six and nine months and people are still messaging me too. And I don't even care. I'm not responding to a single one of them. I do still have my Facebook account because it has to have it to have my Instagram account, which is just like how they got me.

[00:16:04] Right. If it weren't for Instagram and really business Instagram, I totally would have deleted my Facebook page. Years ago, years and years ago. So screw Facebook for, especially for personal use. In my personal opinion, everyone can have their own views. That's perfectly fine. It is not a place that I want to be ever, ever, ever.

[00:16:26] I haven't regularly used my personal Instagram accounts in spring 2019. I did try to make a little bit of a comeback because I was just going to take a month break in spring of 2019 and ended up being. Almost an entire year. I tried to come back in 2020. I came back with a couple of posts and just like I was done, like I had taken a year off.

[00:16:46] I did not miss it. Really. What I did, miss was like a bit of capturing and sharing. I've always felt like Instagram was a bit of an art project for me, which I really enjoy curating. And taking photos and, making my feed look pretty. But only from like a very personal sort of aesthetic purpose and, coming back in 2020, you, and since then, like I just, I don't care.

[00:17:10] I don't care. So I'm not on my personal Instagram. I will click over to my personal Instagram from my business accounts once every two or three months. And I always have tons of messages and I don't even read a reply to a single one of them. Like I'm not engaging on that account. Literally. It also.

[00:17:28] That's like my Instagram, Facebook, and then I am a little bit on Twitter.

[00:17:33] Corey Winter: Yeah.

[00:17:33] You just, you made a comeback recently and snarky and I love it. I

[00:17:41] Emily Thompson: bet y'all, I'm not gonna lie. And that's kind of why I like Twitter. It's like, I feel like if I put things like that on Instagram, the trolls are coming after me for being a bitch and like, y'all, I'm not trying.

[00:17:55] But I can do that a little bit more on Twitter, which I enjoy, but I will tell you that I have four times as much content in my drafts than I actually publish, because I show up all the time with some snarky, funny thing. Or let me tell you about this funny thing that just happened to me and I type it up.

[00:18:10] And I think, what, the last thing I care about is having a conversation with the whole internet. I just don't want to. And I, like I say that to myself every single time I type up this really hysterical tweet and I'm like, you know what? I don't I'm, I'm not trying to have a conversation with you.

[00:18:27] And so I don't, so I have a draft folder full of funny things. And I just, when I'm like at my weakest, or if it's my funniest, my funniest are still in dressed for sure. That I actually will post something. So I'm on Twitter, but I also hate it there.

[00:18:45] Corey Winter: Well, why do you hate it?

[00:18:48] Emily Thompson: Because I don't want to have a conference.

[00:18:51] Maybe hate is a strong word. Hate is a bit of a strong word, but I do not feel a desire to open up any kind of conversation with internet public.

[00:19:04] Corey Winter: So it's, it's you hate having to post, but you still like use the app to like see what other people are posting.

[00:19:10] Emily Thompson: Not very much, not very, I do a little bit. And so here's like, here's like a culmination of where my relationship currently is.

[00:19:18] So I'm not posting very much content hardly ever at all, especially personally, I will. Scroll occasionally, but it is for me, a red flag that like my mental health, isn't where it needs to be. So if I ever catch myself going to Twitter or Instagram or TechTalk because I recently got Almanac on Tik TOK, very lightly.

[00:19:44] If I ever catch myself like going, okay, I just want to scroll. I know that I'm not feeling well. And that I'm just like numbing my mind

[00:19:53] Corey Winter: with what do you deal with all the free time or not scrolling mindlessly on social media.

[00:19:59] Emily Thompson: I wonder how the hell y'all have free time to scroll because I don't have free time to scroll at all.

[00:20:07] Yeah. So like, so anyway, so I will, sometimes I am not like Tik Tok has got me a little bit. And I will find myself scrolling and I will, if I do it for two or three days where I'm like scrolling for, 30. 80 minutes. I'm like, okay, I'm not okay. And I have to, I will like cold Turkey and I will literally go weeks without scrolling a single platform.

[00:20:32] Like I'll open it. And like, we all know that like muscle memory we get of like going to Instagram and clicking on it. As soon as I open, I'm like, Ooh, why did I do that? And I'll close it immediately. And that is the relationship that I have built with social media. Of just like, I can't, I won't, I won't do it.

[00:20:51] Corey Winter: I feel out of the loop. If I'm not checking Twitter, Half hour. I only use, like, I don't follow just random people. I can only follow like, like media outlets and stuff. I can see what's going on. Like, I don't follow just random people that are just posting random things, because that is a waste of time to me.

[00:21:12] Yeah. But I see a little note here that you're on Tik TOK,

[00:21:20] Emily Thompson: so, okay. I do want to go to this, like staying in and out of the loop because I actually want to refer back to an episode. We did, later last year with, today, Reese Decker about staying informed. We will make sure that that is the title was staying informed. If you want to scroll back, we'll make sure that is in the show notes of this idea, because I don't want to give the impression that I'm not staying informed.

[00:21:44] What I do want to make very clear is I'm not staying informed on social media. Right. Like I am I reading the news? I, and I'm also doing it when I need to, I cannot read the news every day. I go through these bouts and again, it becomes a sign of my mental health of like, I can go stay informed if I go and I check I'm checking the news every day.

[00:22:07] I know that like, I'm not okay. And so I will need to pull back or, just be a little more sparingly or read a little more sparingly, be more intentional. Right. So I'm staying informed for sure, but I'm not doing it on social media because I will get into the car. I will go read the comments of that news post or whatever.

[00:22:26] And I will just spiral into humanity has lost its effing mind. And that is not a place I ever need

[00:22:31] Corey Winter: to be. Okay. That's, that's a good point. So I'm not following like CNN or anything like that. I follow and like video game news, so genuinely happy stuff.

[00:22:43] Emily Thompson: Indeed. Indeed. We'll see. And I will follow some news and then I'll, sort of go into these rabbit holes of how people are replying or, or just anything popping up in my feed.

[00:22:55] I feel like especially, two years pandemic, my nervous system is also a little raw. Yeah. Of like I find myself getting a little too triggered too easily by just some, thing. The algorithm is throwing into me. And I will say that I think that I don't like how platforms are working on discoverability.

[00:23:16] In a way that it's showing you lots of things that you don't follow. Like it's not as curated. And like, I understand like this idea of showing you different perspectives and helping you find different accounts and all of those things. But in general, I don't like it. And most of the people I've talked to don't like it either.

[00:23:33] Corey Winter: I I've liked it. I hate it on like Instagram and Facebook. I like it mostly on Twitter because I do, it does typically show me accounts that I would like to follow just to know existed. So it is nice for discovering new accounts to follow. But yeah, for the most part, it doesn't matter.

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[00:24:40] And you always talk about Tik TOK really quickly. I did. So sort of a future part of this is like, do I ever feel like I'm missing out. Bye, not being on social and Tik Tok is one of those things where I see it happening. I see the conversations I refuse to get on it for years. And I recently did for Almanac because crystal talk is a real big thing y'all and so I was like, oh wait, let me go figure this out.

[00:25:05] And also, like, I have a strategic business mind. I wanted to get into TikTok and see what in the world is happening. Like, well, how are humans thinking these days? And y'all, I'm not impressed.

[00:25:17] Corey Winter: I cannot wrap my head around Tik TOK.

[00:25:21] Emily Thompson: It's it's interesting. It's an interesting beast. And so I got on there to like play with Almanac and I still think I might end up playing a little bit.

[00:25:28] And again, just from like a business strategy, curiosity standpoint, to see sort of just to see, just to see, it was really funny this past weekend I was with my parents who I don't see super often and my dad brought up TikTok and I was sitting at the dinner table with my dad and my mom and my grandmother.

[00:25:48] And, It was like, you want to see Tik TOK and dad was like, you have it. Like, it's like, like it's like a secret or I don't, it was so funny. And I was like, yes. And so I pull it up and I go to some of my funnies, and I go to show them to him. And my mom and grandmother did not get Tiktok. They were like, what are, why is this, what is this four second video we just saw with the hippo or whatever it may be.

[00:26:10] My dad got it immediately. He thought it was hysterical. He understood what was happening. And like, if you know my parents, that that's not really the way that maybe you would imagine that that situation swinging. But it was very funny to sort of see my dad pick up on Tik TOK as quickly as he did it also just told me plenty about Tik Tok for sure.

[00:26:31] So anyway, a little bit on Tik Tok, but in terms of business, my relationship looks like I do not manage to being both social media. I gave that up many years ago. And we're constantly having conversations as to whether or not we even care, which was something we'll talk about in a minute. I do create content for almanacs, social media, Instagram, a little bit of Tik TOK though.

[00:26:53] I haven't posted one there in awhile. It's something that I look forward to handing off in the future, but for the moment it's still in, on my to-do list. But I am not engaging. We have hired someone on to do the replying to comments and things because that's really where I lie and something we'll get into in a minute is I'm not trying to engage on social media.

[00:27:11] That's not where I'm going to put my engagement energy at all. I will create content as needed. But that's not where I hang

[00:27:18] Corey Winter: out. I have never used Tik Tok. I've seen tech doc, my friends. They keep trying to show me Tik Tok. I'm just like, this is not my type of place. How, how does a business use Tik Tok?

[00:27:31] Emily Thompson: I don't know.

[00:27:32] I'm just thinking that that's actually something that I, I've spent a lot of time finding business accounts that are doing it well, and maybe I'm not millennial enough. Maybe I'm definitely not like gen whatever comes after. I just, I'm not my dream customer in any way, shape or form for either business, basically.

[00:27:52] I mean, I am to some extent, but also very not in terms of like how social media marketing works. So I can't really wrap my brain around it. It's mostly just being a little too reactive, like hitting a trend whenever it pops up or whatever it may be. And like, that's just not how I want to create content, which is sort of a whole other part of this conversation.

[00:28:14] So I don't know. I've been trying to find accounts that are doing it. Well, I found a couple, but like. It's a weird place, says the old millennial in the room.

[00:28:26] Corey Winter: It is a weird place. And that's, I think that's kind of why I've I've I found my way to mostly only hanging out on Twitter is because other social media is just, it's become so weird.

[00:28:37] I'm like, Twitter's weirdness own way if you're feeling weird counts, but like it's just social media. It's just morphed into this weird place where people, I don't know, they, it changes us.

[00:28:49] Emily Thompson: It ties changes. And like, it just like the trends on Tik Tok or even like Instagram reels, like the, just the things I see people just doing all the time, like I said, and I still have not.

[00:29:00] And I probably will never long ago though. I said that like, you will never see me. Doing a dance, social media to teach you something with like pointing at the like, and God bless anyone who does that. I love that for you, but you're never going to see, that's not how I'm here to educate anybody.

[00:29:22] Corey Winter: I just, I just pictured like Kathleen doing your social media for Tik TOK.

[00:29:28] Emily Thompson: She probably be great at it. And again, like no disrespect to anyone who does do that. I'm not doing that y'all.

[00:29:36] Corey Winter: All right. Let's let's so using. So you're self aware that you're not going to be doing that on, on, on Tik Tok. So let's move into self-awareness on social media. What are your thoughts here?

[00:29:48] Emily Thompson: So I really want to bring this idea of being super intentional. And so self-awareness and social media, the idea of being intentional is, is really about understanding yourself and the relationship that you want with social media. And let's say you are a solo preneur, and you have to use a quote, unquote, have to use social media for your business, and you don't have someone there to manage it.

[00:30:14] Like I do. I'm handing those things off. The team wants to see on Instagram. I love that for you guys, whatever it may be. And so you're using it as your social media or is there a marketing avenue then, like knowing what your boundaries are, is really important. That's like, that's where the intentionality comes in.

[00:30:33] So that's, that's really what I want to dive into because intentionality requires self-awareness, which is understanding what you want to be doing, where you want to be doing it, why you're doing it, all of those things for myself. Like I said, I'm very, self-aware that my going to social media is a sign of like my mental health not being great.

[00:30:56] And mostly because I know that I want to be spending my time elsewhere. Okay.

[00:31:02] Corey Winter: So, I mean, even if you're just, do you ever mindlessly watch TV and find yourself scrolling? Oh, okay. Well,

[00:31:09] Emily Thompson: I do like, I don't, I don't really watch TV if I'm mindless. So actually here is what I want. And so this is like being very self-aware as to who I want to be.

[00:31:19] I, before watching TV, before, like reading social media, I want to be well-written. Yeah. Like if I'm going to be mindlessly doing something, I want to be reading a magazine. I want to be reading a book. I want to be like looking at some like, landscape photo book or, which is, isn't that funny.

[00:31:37] That's kind of scrolling as I'm like climbing, like turning pages. But I'd rather be well-read than well-versed and tick doctrines personally.

[00:31:46] Corey Winter: So you're saying you can't like dual willed, a book and Twitter while scrolling and reading at the same time, you can't do that. They say you can only focus on the book.

[00:31:57] That's weird.

[00:31:58] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Right. I can only focus on one thing at a time. Yeah, no, I, I, I, and that's, that's a divide that I create in my mind often. Like if I catch myself doing it, I'm like, no, just scroll over to your Kindle app. And let's scroll there. Yeah. Let's scroll there and read something. Okay. Kendall, Kendall.

[00:32:20] So I am reading books as much as I can, and not even like business, I'm not trying to educate myself like I'm reading, I'm going through an epic adventure. Right. I'm entertaining myself. I would rather be well-read than well-versed in social media trends personally, personally. I would rather be going on a hike or sitting in my backyard, looking at the flowers on my phone or whatever it may be like.

[00:32:48] I'd rather what porch sitting porch setting for sure. I would rather be having a light conversation with my friends, like a legit one. I spend plenty of time on the Marco polo app talking to my. So instead of scrolling, instead of like, reading all the comments on that news thread, whatever it may be, those are the things that I'm doing.

[00:33:10] So for me, it's getting very, very self-aware of the kinds of things that I need to be doing to cultivate the person they actually want to be. And like, and again, if you want to have, like, if who you want to be is having a mass network of social media followers, or, be curating the most epic grid on the face of the planet, or like sharing your funny ass stories and your Tik Tok videos love that for you a hundred percent know that though, and like do things to support that.

[00:33:44] But I also just know that the general, that's not what I want to be.

[00:33:47] Corey Winter: And I mean, there was a time when you were all about that. Perfect. Of images and show him, but you kind of agree with that, but not to say other people aren't in that phase still.

[00:33:58] Emily Thompson: Indeed, indeed. And like I learned plenty of things and I met plenty of people and like that served that time of my life.

[00:34:04] But at this moment, that's not how I want to be. So I think just being super self-aware of like who you want to be, and then making sure that you are spending your time supporting that desire for who it is that you want to be. For me, reading books, being outside, having conversations with my friends that aren't public, because I think that's the thing.

[00:34:24] Corey Winter: So what kind of social things are you showing up for?

[00:34:29] Emily Thompson: All kinds of things. So just because of not social media doesn't mean that I'm like being a hermit, right? I'm in the . Whenever we launched the community almost two and a half years ago, which is wild. I remember very making a very conscious decision of like, okay, F social media, like I'm going to show up in this space, in this social platform for the people who are like me, but are going to challenge me who are, where we [00:35:00] can sort of discuss the things that are relevant to me and where I don't have to be worried about being trolled basically.

[00:35:10] And like, and I feel like there's going to be plenty of perspectives of like, oh, you've like, create a safe place. You're not going to be like, go have a conversation with the boss and see if you're not being challenged, legit, who I don't need to be challenged by is like your weird uncle, Randy

[00:35:24] Corey Winter: started trolling you on, on the community.

[00:35:26] Emily Thompson: Oh my God. Right? So I'm in the community. I'm in there with bosses. It's not happening on Instagram, but it is happening in the Being Boss. So I'm showing up in that space and especially the virtual events that we're having. I'm also, especially these days, super prioritizing meetups. So super prioritizing in like this is being Boston dose, but also just like IRL conversations or, zoom conversations as needed with people.

[00:35:55] So yes, I could spend an hour scrolling social media, or I can spend an hour having coffee with someone, talking about things that they saw on social media or things that are super relevant to what I'm doing, or actually gonna help me move forward. So I'm prioritizing those like face to face, either zoom or IRL connections, group or one-on-one, I'm like I'm hanging out with people.

[00:36:22] And again, for me, I'd rather have a really tight knit group of like, IRL friends then, 20,000 people who kind of know me, but only just like my shoes.

[00:36:33] Corey Winter: So you're still a social networking, just not the definition that most people think of today.

[00:36:39] Emily Thompson: Not publicly. And I think that's, that's an interesting, I mean, not like, internet public, that's an interesting device.

[00:36:46] I feel like we've put so much energy into this idea of like everyone seeing that I ate this great thing for dinner, everyone seeing that I created this thing or everyone seeing, that my flower bloom didn't, y'all, I'm there go to my Instagram and see if that's not the thing that I care about most.

[00:37:02] I am, I'm doing it in a way that's not super public. It's super public. And I get just as much joy from it. If not more, honestly, that is my experience. And then otherwise just having conversations with friends, whatever that looks like, like really prioritizing. Real private conversations. As opposed to just tweeting a funny thing to however many thousands of people end up seeing it, I'm going to instead like the Marco polo, my friends, and be like, let me tell you about this fucked up thing, as opposed to telling Twitter.

[00:37:42] Corey Winter: What about, what about what's your business?

[00:37:45] Emily Thompson: So that is definitely personal side in the business. I'm focusing on the channels that I own. I don't own Instagram. I don't own Facebook. I don't own what's happening on tiktok. I don't own any of those things. I own my newsletter list. I own my website and otherwise like SEO in the hell out of that.

[00:38:03] I own the Being Boss community. I mean more or less, in terms of like I'm showing up for my people for my online business, for my customers, my audience, all the things, but I'm doing it in places that I, the podcast. Right. This is a place that I more generally own. I'm showing up, I'm just showing up in the places that I own.

[00:38:29] And I'm focusing on creating content that lives for more than 24 hours. Right? So blog posts, podcasts courses, kind of, I haven't done one of those in a while, but like creating that kind of stuff, as opposed to instead deciding to use my time, creating tons of Instagram content that's relevant for what?

[00:38:50] 24 hours, 48 hours, unless it goes viral. And then like the three days, four days, Tik Toks, I think their algorithm does keep things alive a little bit longer, which is cool. But like, but still you also get though Instagram and changing a little bit. You get like no SEO. Juice from creating all of that content for social media platforms, that is changing just a little bit.

[00:39:20] And that even creeps me out more than makes me excited. I recently Googled something. I can't remember what it was. And the first or second post with just an Instagram post or some, some bullshit. Someone said about the topic on Instagram and I was like, this is going to be problematic, going to be legitimately problematic.

[00:39:39] So I'm still creating content. I'm still sharing. I'm still showing up. But I'm doing it in places that I both own and where my effort is going to pay off longer than creating a whole bunch of tweets or instant.

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[00:40:35] Corey Winter: You're self aware of how you're using social media. Like, how you want to use it, how you don't want to use it and where you want to show up. But what does it mean to actually intentionally use social media for your business?

[00:40:50] Emily Thompson: Basically all the things we just talked about. Right. And then creating a plan based on that. So it's knowing how you want to be you using your time and relationship to social media. Like, is it really the best use of your resources, your time, money and energy? Yes or no, prioritizing appropriately. To making sure that you're showing up like how it is that you really want to be showing up.

[00:41:19] So, and where, right. So what platform are you going to be on? Are you going to be using it personally or professionally? Do you find the platform inspiring? Are draining things? A big one. Like a lot of people are like, oh, everyone says I should be on Instagram, but I hate Instagram. Yeah. Then like find one that actually makes you happy and go there because if you're going to spending tons of time, creating content for it, engaging, et cetera.

[00:41:46] Let's keep it from making you miserable for sure. And are your customers there that's if you're using it for your business, like be intentional with knowing that your people are actually going to be there, engaging with your content and the way that you want or need them to. Because again, with social media, there's so much like you should be here, you should be doing this, you should be using it in this way, whatever it may be, that a lot of people are not stopping and thinking about how that actually serves their business.

[00:42:17] Often hear from the kinds of businesses that really don't need a social media presence. Like even, let's say I've definitely talked to some service providers who are booked out who have no room in their calendar who are making plenty of dollar bills and like have really great security and like, have a bit of a wait list and whatever.

[00:42:34] And someone has told them they should be on social media. I'm like, Y Y you're fine. You're doing what you were like, you have that holy grill business that doesn't need that. To survive or even thrive. So why would you get on social? Like, is there something else you can do, but someone told them they should and they see everyone around them doing it.

[00:42:54] So they think they should too, not necessarily true. So that's a really big one for me. Is just what platform, why are you going to be there? What does it look like for you to be there? Are you going to be sharing or engaging? You're going to be educating or just like being inspiring and funny.

[00:43:12] Are you going to be marketing or are you going to be selling in the place? Do not recommend necessarily or less, especially not building your business model on selling on a social media platform. You should be making money in your own channels. For sure. There's nothing more like I, this is going to maybe be a hard one for someone to hear, but you, I do not believe that you have built a healthy business.

[00:43:38] If a change in the algorithm, wrecks your business in any way, shape or form. And I say that as someone who's been wrecked before. Right. And I mean, I'm thinking particularly when apple podcast changed their algorithms and we were like, right. Wasn't that the worst ever. Yeah. That's when I realized, like, I'd been rusting on some morals, I shouldn't have been resting on.[00:44:00]

[00:44:01] Right. It wasn't as healthy as I thought it was. I didn't go like, oh, I did go bitching about it. I'm not gonna lie. But I also took responsibility. A hundred percent took responsibility. I see too many people going up the algorithms. And as I like play faint over here, the algorithm they've recommended.

[00:44:18] They've ruined my business. Now, honey, you ruined your business. When you, you depended on a channel that you do not own to have a business. So if that hurts somebody to hear it, check yourself. Sorry, not sorry. I also think like there is a wind factor. Of like, when are you going to be using social media?

[00:44:42] For me, I schedule, and then I step back, right? I'm not in the moment doing anything on social media. I can't do it. Other people thrive on that. I know lots of people who like will get up and, one of their first to do's of the day is like, get in there and engage. And they get so much energy from that.

[00:45:00] Like they are intentionally showing up in this space and doing it. I love that. But as being really intentional with, when I think the, when piece can also really inform what platform, so one of the things that I found between, Instagram and maybe. Is that, especially in Tik Tok because it's so trends driven, you have to be pretty proactive and that's a lot, you have to be very reactive of like, you can't create tons of Tik Tok content necessarily.

[00:45:27] You can, have some intersperse things, but let's say a sound bite thing.

[00:45:34] Corey Winter: Yeah. See, that makes no sense to me out and know what you're talking about, but

[00:45:38] continue.

[00:45:39] Emily Thompson: You have to like jump in there and be really reactive. And I hate being reactive to those kinds of things. So like that's why Tik Tok is not like my biggest strategy by any means.

[00:45:50] Also, do you want to be creating more or engaging more or like a nice blend of the two? So like those sorts of things can inform the other pieces. But it's just being really, really intentional and putting yourself in the place that you most want to be, because there is this sort of lying, you have to draw between your answer, to all of these, and then your business's answer to all of these and find sort of the overlap between the two, and the solutions to sort of put you where you want to be.

[00:46:20] Cause I don't necessarily like, I'm not, I'm not doing a lot of this stuff, but the business may or may not need slash want it. And so I build what I need to build for it to happen without it sort of overstepping my boundaries as much as possible. And sort of keeping that in mind. I think another piece of really intentionally using it too, comes down to tracking your metrics and having a really clear picture of your ROI.

[00:46:49] There are too many bosses that I talked to who were like, either so excited about what's happening on social media for their business, or like completely drained and feel defeated by it. And I'm like, well, what's it doing for your business? And they have no idea. Like, is it getting you website traffic?

[00:47:06] Is it getting you, your testimonials? Is it getting you, sells whatever it may be and they have no idea not tracking anything. So it's unfounded, whether or not they should be excited or they shouldn't be excited, like they should actually be thinking about using their efforts elsewhere.

[00:47:26] Corey Winter: Yeah.

[00:47:26] In episode 2 95, our tracking business metrics for success, we actually talked about how you may have a huge following on social media, but how many of those followers are actually translating into customers? It's like, yeah, maybe you're putting in a ton of time on social media and it's working for you there, but it's actually working for you in your business.

[00:47:45] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Two totally different things. And so having a very clear picture of your ROI for using social media is part of doing business. Like you would do that. If you did billboards, you would do that. If you did a physical mailing, you would do that if you throw an event. So why aren't people doing that as like religiously for social media, they sort of let those metrics, even though it takes a ton of time and energy, they're letting those metrics just sort of float away and otherwise potentially waste a ton of their time on something, that may or may not be working or may or may or may not be working for the reasons or things that they want it to be.

[00:48:24] So a little example of this, is Almanac for us. We, I do the social media for Almanac. Pretty light engagement, which I'm fine with some engagement, but in Shopify, which is the platform that we use for our website and our POS, it will tell me how much of ourselves come from social media. And let me tell you, it's like none, like none, like whenever I compare it to search, which is SEO, or even to platforms that like literally Facebook, which I do not use, but like where people are sharing or I think some of our, our, what am I saying?

[00:49:06] Our products do feed into our Facebook page, which is not managed at all. Facebook makes more revenue than Instagram. And the amount of time that I spend on Instagram is literally several hundred times more than what I use on Facebook, because Facebook is zero. And Instagram is making us almost no.

[00:49:27] However clear eye on aro or clear I, yeah, on ROI is that maybe Shopify isn't telling us that we're getting a lot, but in store we get a lot of people who come in looking for things that we posted on social media or who found us on social media. So we're getting a bunch of that anecdotal feedback from that space.

[00:49:46] That gives me a clear eye that tells me that I should continue at least doing some Instagram, because even though it's not resulting in a lot of website orders, it is resulting in a lot of store traffic. So whereas a clear, like a not clear, I would just look at Shopify and go, okay, Instagram is a waste of time.

[00:50:07] A clear eye shows me that it actually does bring in physical like foot traffic in which case? Yeah. Screw up post, not getting a ton of likes if four people come in and buy it. I'm in.

[00:50:22] Corey Winter: Yeah. And so does Almanac use Pinterest.

[00:50:27] Emily Thompson: No. So that's actually a tactic or a, that's a project we hope to be implementing in the future because I am all about testing and changing.

[00:50:36] I am not saying like all of this social media stuff, from a place of like, I haven't tried plenty of things. I have, and I will continue. I it's like innocent until proven guilty is social media innocent, really? Not at all, but like, I will continue trying until I realized that there's good reasons to not like.

[00:51:01] Okay. Like I'm not just going to call it. I'm not going to call anything useless until I've proven that it's useless. So I'll continue to trying things. So we are not currently doing a lot of Pinterest stuff though. That is a strategy that we look at, or we're looking at playing with in the near future.

[00:51:19] For sure.

[00:51:20] Corey Winter: I just hear that it's still probably the best social media platform for actually converting views and to website traffic. So cool. Yeah. Very cool.

[00:51:32] Weird industry.

[00:51:33] Emily Thompson: Yeah. I, that actually sort of brings up a point of like that self-awareness piece. And one of the community conversations we were having recently, we were talking about individual platform, this idea of finding the platform that really sort of feeds you, or doesn't like draining and piss you off every time you log on, which is, most of them for me, but one of the ones for me that I probably do use, and I don't see this one as like a sign of bad mental health, or anything.

[00:52:00] It is Pinterest for me of like, I will literally just use Pinterest. I'll open up to like, just look at some fun stuff and sort of get some happy vibes and, oh, look at that cake or whatever it may be. I do it a lot to research as well. Like it is probably the one that I most guiltlessly use. And again, not that I'm like guilt-ridden with the other ones.

[00:52:21] I don't really want to give that impression. It feels like it has no effect on my mental health either way. It doesn't piss me off. When I show up, I don't feel the need to engage or create content. I can literally just be there and do what I need and want to do without sort of feeling, feeling any way.

[00:52:37] It feels like a very neutral platform to me. However, in this conversation we were having about it. Several bosses felt the exact opposite. Like Pinterest actually makes them incredibly anxious and angry because they see all the projects that they want to do that they will never do.

[00:52:53] Corey Winter: I was going to say, my hot take is that Pinterest is kind of like you were saying neutral because there aren't really any opinions on there.

[00:53:00] It's just, yeah. It's just arts and crafts and stuff.

[00:53:04] Emily Thompson: Right. And I love that, but apparently it still makes some people incredibly anxious because it's like, it's like some hardcore FOMO of like everything they see even different from Instagram.

[00:53:16] Corey Winter: I have a, like, I follow, like I randomly use Pinterest here and there.

[00:53:21] When I'm just trying to like I'm so I have a house and I'm trying to like, remodel some things, and man, I want like an epic backyard in every time. Like those backyard pictures come up on Pinterest. I'm just like, oh, I want that. But then I do the math and it's gonna be like a six figure project.

[00:53:38] I'm just like, oh, okay. I never have that.

[00:53:42] Emily Thompson: One day Corey, you can put that on your five-year plan. Five-year plan. You put that on your five-year board to make a board for that.

[00:53:50] Corey Winter: So speaking of, speaking of missing out, I'm going to, I'm going to bring up this, this last topic as, as we're nearing the end of this episode, do you feel like you're missing out by not using all this social media?

[00:54:03] Emily Thompson: Yeah.

[00:54:04] Corey Winter: Oh, really?

[00:54:05] Emily Thompson: And I'm okay with that.

[00:54:06] Corey Winter: Wait, so you're so you're okay with missing out. Interesting.

[00:54:12] Emily Thompson: I mean, I said we're on Tik Tok or I got on Tik Tok because I know that the crystal world on Tik Tok is just like, it's just money waiting right there to be made for sure. But I also had different priorities a bit.

[00:54:27] And my priority priorities may change in the future, but like, right. Like I'm very confident and comfortable with my choices around social media, across the board, personal, professional between businesses, between platforms, whatever it may be. I own my choices to either show up or not show up in whatever capacity I do.

[00:54:44] So even though like, yes, I know I'm missing out. I could I be an Instagram millionaire? Probably. Maybe if I like wanted to figure it out. Do I want to own Tik Tok? Sure. That'd be cool, but I also don't care. Like, I, I know I'm missing out. Maybe there's not a fear of maybe there's a,

[00:55:06] Corey Winter: that's gonna be mine.

[00:55:07] That's going to be like my sub question. Like, is there a fear of missing out?

[00:55:10] Emily Thompson: Yeah, no, that's an interesting distinction. I'm not afraid of missing out. I'm fine with missing out. It's still FOMO fine with,

[00:55:22] yeah, I'm fine with missing out for sure. Because I'm becoming more of the person that I want to be. Right. I'm like being well-read and sitting on my back porch and like all these things front and back porch. I'm also building businesses that I think have far more foundations than an Instagram algorithm.

[00:55:40] Right. I'm spending my time cultivating relationships with the people that I most want to cultivate relationships with and no offense to my Instagram friends by any means. But like, it's my team, it's my family. It's my friends. It's my neighbors. It's the people who were significantly more directly related to me.

[00:55:58] And I don't have a ton of time. Right. I have a limited amount of resources. So, and I will say that because I've released that attachment to like making social media work. For me, it's easier for me to test and change things within social media. It's also easier for me to better prioritize all the other places where my energy needs to be, or my money needs to be where my team's energy needs to be.

[00:56:27] Because I can certainly, and perfectly fine build amazing businesses without social media. Yeah, for sure. And like everyone can, if you have a good product or service and like a good model to help make it, do, But it doesn't mean that I'm not like showing up and testing and changing things where, tracking metrics, both like hard metrics and anecdotal metrics.

[00:56:53] And otherwise just consistently doing a gut check of like, do I want to be true? Like I got on Tik Tok because I wanted to like, see what was happening on Tik TOK. And so I like went against what I usually do to try something new and I think it was fun. But the thing that I really around this.

[00:57:15] FOMO piece is I think it's easier to let that go because I simply have grounded myself in the hardcore fact that social media is just one of many avenues to market. We do lots of different things. We're emailing consistently. We are, doing events and showing up and word of mouth and all of those things.

[00:57:38] And otherwise just prioritizing in a way that feels incredibly good to me, my resources, my time, money, and energy to be where I need to be for my team to be where they need to be for my money to be where it needs to be. For all everybody's energy to need be where it needs to be. Sometimes it is social media, but in the most part is not at least for me and my businesses.

[00:58:04] Corey Winter: All right. Well, at the end of this episode, as the guest I'm being biased, where can our listeners follow you on social media?

[00:58:13] I'm kidding.

[00:58:13] Emily Thompson: Right. At Being Boss club on Instagram, you can find me in my occasional Starkey tweets at Emily M underscore Thompson on Twitter,

[00:58:26] and maybe one day I'll actually like care enough about, I don't know, engaging the whole world to get back to tweeting all my funny tweets, but I don't know. I don't know. I, you know what, come join the community and you'll like show up to our things and you can actually engage with me and hear my dumb ass stories or my snarky comments or whatever it may be, because I do feel very much so that.

[00:58:52] That I don't need to be internet, public. And granted, I came here on a podcast, right. Internet, public podcast, but you can't engage with me on this podcast, right? I'm not putting this out there for you to leave me 5,000 comments about whatever you think about me.

[00:59:06] Corey Winter: So if you do want to have a conversation about this podcast episode, we do actually share this podcast in the community.

[00:59:12] And so if you want to like comment about this episode, go find that post in the community and share your thoughts.

[00:59:16] Emily Thompson: Yeah. Please do. Come on. Also know that the community is my house and I'll kick you out of your not mines. Not that I don't take like helpful, nice constructive feedback, but trolls are not allowed.

[00:59:28] And that's, that's kind of where I am. I feel good about my intentional use of social media. Am I missing out? Absolutely. Do I care? Not really. Not really. I'm friends with who I want to be friends with my businesses is doing fine. And I show up and play when I want to.

[00:59:48] All right boss, because you're here. I know you want to be a better creative at business owner, which means I've got something for you. Each week the team at Being Boss is scouring the news, the best entrepreneurial publications and updates and releases of the apps and tools that run our businesses and is curating it all into a weekly email that delivers the must know tips and tactics in the realms of mindset, money and productivity.

[01:00:11] This email is called Brewed. We brew it up for you each week to give you the insight you need to make decisions and move forward in your crude of business. Check it out now and sign up for yourself at beingboss.club/brewed. That's beingboss.club/B R E W E D. Now until next time, do the, work be boss.[01:01:00]