How Do I Make Time For Blogging, Whilst Being Present On Instagram?
On creating a regular writing habit and sharing evergreen marketing content
Dear Josephine,
What would be your top tip for creating time and space for blogging and course writing, whilst still maintaining a great Instagram and Facebook presence?
I do enjoy social media, however I do feel the pressure of being visible and it takes time away from creating! I have so much I want to get out there, but feel incredibly time short - which then leaves me feeling frustrated.
Yours,
Feeling The Pressure Of Being Visible
Ahhh, the juggling act that is social media vs. all other marketing and business activities…
This whole phase is a right of passage for anyone wanting to move from spending eye-watering amounts of time on social media, to a more sustainable and long-term approach to marketing, and building your business.
But it’s a journey worth taking my friend, because on the other side you get to enjoy growing your business in a way that’s more fulfilling and going to stand the test of time.
Hello introvert-friendly, calmer, less shouty marketing!
But, before you get there, the chances are, you’re going to need to keep a presence on there for now, because that’s where your audience are, and it's also where the moolah is coming from.
AMMI RIGHT?!
But when you’ve strengthened your evergreen marketing, and your evergreen business model, you’ll be able to take a step back, or ditch it all together!
Before I dive fully into this topic - let’s talk a bit about that pressure we all feel to ‘be visible’ first…
Get visible, talk to camera, be present!
It’s all we ever hear about!
Advice around posting everyday (or even better multiple times a day) and making sure you don’t step off the treadmill 24 hour-expiring content.
It’s exhausting, and the pressure is REAL!
You know why that is though, right?
The advice to be present AKA available 24/7 trickles down from the social media companies themselves, that tell us we need to be present all. the. bloody. time.
Because - they got a business to run!
If we disappear off social media they don't make as much money.
So, of course they want us to be there all the damn time!
But. Here’s a mindset shift for you to try on.
Being visible can mean sending an email, posting on Pinterest, sharing a blog post, podcast episode, or video.
It doesn’t actually have to mean talking to camera in your stories every day.
I would really like you to investigate this idea of visibility, and challenge yourself to be visible in other areas of your marketing. See what happens if you aren't visible for a few days on social media.
Does everything really come tumbling down?
Let's get back to the question of making time for writing.
Isn’t it funny how it can be so difficult to make time for the things we know will be good for us and bring us joy?
This is the case for me with going for a walk each morning. I know I need to do it, I know I feel so much better afterwards, but sometimes it’s a real effort to get myself out the door.
It’s the same with your writing, isn’t it?
Something I found works for me, with any kind of habit building (whether that’s going for a walk each morning or getting consistent with blogging), is to make that task the first thing I do each day.
If you want to write a blog post, or a module of your course each week - make writing the first thing you do each morning - in bed with a cupa. Or the first thing you do when you get to your desk.
Making time for your writing is going to be a case of creating a new routine, a new healthy habit.
And if that space for writing is going to come from the time you’re currently spending on social media - your habits are going to have to change with social media too.
Since returning to social media this week I can tell you that it really is a timesuck.
There's the planning…
The creating…
…And then there's the sharing.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on how long this all takes over the last week and if I’m really honest with myself, each post takes about 45 minutes to plan, create and share.
That's a lot of time for a piece of content that’s got a shelf life of a few days at most.
[Side note, I'm still figuring out how social media fits into my overall marketing mix. I’m taking an experimental approach and seeing what I learn along the way].
Start by looking at the time you're spending on social media, how can you experiment with pulling that back?
You say you're on Instagram and Facebook. Which of those platforms is working better for you, to nurture your audience and drive sales? Focus more of your energy into the channel that’s delivering the best results, and pull back on the other one.
If you're posting 4 times a week, could you experiment with pulling back to two times a week, to free up time and space for your writing?
Could you sack off doing talking stories every day? My goodness they take forever by the time you’ve done the captions…
Here’s my final piece of advice on making time for your blogging habit - make it deliciously comfortable and enjoyable so you can’t bloody wait to do it!
It sounds like you love writing? You can’t think of anything lovelier than sitting down with a steaming hot cuppa, candles lit, to disappear into your writing for an hour or so - right?
Create that vision!
Make your writing time the cosiest, most delicious creative retreat for yourself.
Create a ritual where you pour a pot of tea that will keep you going, light your favourite candle, grab a blanket and curl up in a cosy spot and get writing!
Soak up all of that delicious feeling of doing the thing you love and treating it like a flipping spa day, so you can’t wait to get back to doing it again.
Ultimately, building any kind of habit is going to take a period of being super intentional about it.
For a few days you are going to need to set reminders on your phone, block out time in your diary, stick a post-it note reminder on the kettle, and make yourself sit down to write every. damn. day. Even when you feel the resistance.
After a while it will feel natural to you to spend less time on social media and more time creating content that's going to future-proof your business. Hooray!
Wanna tuck this in your pocket? Pin it for later:
