Social Media for the Soul
The title of this post could be: Social Media for Mere Mortals, Small Press Writers, and Quiet Creatives. It’s not an advice post, or a “you should really….X” kind of post. I’m just going to throw some stuff out that I know about, that works for me, that I wish I did more of, and just generally share how I feel and think about social media. Take it all with a giant grain of fleur de sel, and keep in mind that I am not at all famous, nor do I really wish to be.
Which brings me to my first thought. It’s more important to make good art than to garner a lot of attention on social media. But that said, you owe it to your work to get it out there in the world. The trick is to do it in a way that doesn’t crush your soul, sell out the work itself, and allows you to continue to make good art, the kind of art that you want to make. There are a lot of more thorough and intense formulas out there that might work. And if they work for you, terrific! It’s your social media, and you get to use it how you want.
I tend to focus on Instagram because it’s primarily a visual medium and I’m just not drawn to TikTok. Some super serious IGers recommend posting say 5 times a week with 2 reels, 2 stills, and a story or some such. (I know, right? I’m very organic/random myself posting when my work schedule allows, generally). But I have enjoyed trying reels. On my partner’s art account, which I manage for him, we’ll post one reel and one still per week, and sometimes one other random thing. But that all depends on how busy we are. It’s good to have goals, though, and I always feel I should be bumping up his presence there a bit more. Working on it!
And so yes, if you’re interested in reels, I would recommend following Ethan Barber because he is very generous in his sharing of tips — how to configure your phone for optimal videos for IG etc. He’s a delight. And also, a beautiful example of how to be generous on social media.
The other thing to know and possibly do, which I have absolutely not done, but will perhaps increase my efforts — is to “spend three years” marketing the book that you wrote over the same or longer span. Makes sense right? I learned this at Writing Quietly and promptly forgot it. :) And the thing is, you can take these things in, modify them, use them for what works for you. I’m not going to mention my book every day for 3 years, but also, a book (or painting) is not a loaf of bread. It doesn’t go bad. Your followership changes, grows, and forgets. The book I wrote published two years ago, might now again resonate with someone.
With anything that I’ve done on the internet, especially blogging, which I’ve done for the longest period of time, I try to not “promote” myself per se. I try to ask myself, what do you have to give? What do you know or what have you seen that might be of interest? Sure yes I’ll succumb to the “please buy my X” formula from time to time. But primarily, I’d rather lure you in with my allure and whatever it is I might have that’s of interest, haha. Then we can go from there. If I can be a wee bit inspiring and then you want to look into my wares, so to speak, that’s cool. That said, sometimes we have to make things easy for people! Tell them the price, where to buy. Offer a link. We’re all busy, man! Make it as easy as possible! Don’t be shy about that part.
I remember there was a time doing Rob’s social media when people didn’t seem to know they could actually buy the paintings he was posting. They started to sell a lot more when we offered the price, where they were being shipped to, how to contact the gallery. Because, these things aren’t a secret, right? I repeat, you want to make things easy! It’s not crass to be selling your stuff. We have to make a living. That’s honest, that’s real.
Things to consider: Who is your audience? Of course, it’s not just one thing. But say you’re a writer. You will likely have an audience of other writers which is wonderful! Community is so important. But you really want an audience ALSO of readers. You want an audience of people who are interested in your interests. What’s your niche? How can you connect with those folks? If you’re super famous people tend to find you. But me, I’m small potatoes. Who are my people? Likewise for artists. How do you find the people that like art and want to buy art? And also it’s wonderful to connect with those who just enjoy and appreciate looking at your art. Not everything is about sales that’s for sure.
I do feel like I’m saying a lot of extremely obvious things here, especially as we’ve all been on social media for a thousand years. But if you can take away even one small thing, perhaps my going on here will be worthwhile, haha.
I never think of social media as “not real.” Sure we have to make sure we do things off the screens, but if we are judicious with our time on the socials, lovely things can happen. The trouble with this next part is that the algorithm is a jerk. The more people you follow, the trickier this becomes: I try to go where the love is. I try not to ignore the people I know in real life. (It would be like passing each other on a street and not saying hi, right?) I try to comment (but sometimes I’m at work etc or busy and I only have time to click like…) Sometimes I don’t see your posts. Then you ignore mine. And then I’m even less likely to see yours. Etc and so on. Ugh right? I try to trick the algorithm and go to people’s profile. Anyway, time. There’s only so much.
I try not to take social media personally but of course we are going to take it personally. I sort of want to take it personally? Because if I don’t then it really does feel less real. I want to engage with people, and I do within whatever time constraints I might have. We are all really just trying our best.
I never really worry about how many followers I have. It’s more important to have an engaged conversation going. One of the ways to do this is to engage on others’ posts and to respond to comments on your own. If you’re like me, this is sometimes hard to do on the phone and so I write comments on my computer when I can. (I’m old school, what can I say and I can type a lot faster on a keyboard and I also think better on a keyboard if that makes sense?) When I focus on trying to be part of a larger conversation, I’m also happier on social media. It never, okay rarely, feels like work for me.
Some random things that are useful to me:
Say hi, and show yourself once in a while. (Like the photo above, pop out of your can of soup lol and wave!). I know this is hard. But I also know I’m drawn to accounts where I get to know the face behind it. You don’t have to look like a movie star. Real people are infinitely interesting!
(The photos illustrating this post might show different approaches, really — you can show the behind the scenes, or you can show a detail of your life, or you can just put yourself out there and wave :) or a combination of all of the above).
Support others who are doing their thing! Sure you can’t read every book or buy every painting that comes out. No one expects that. But even writing a comment can be helpful. We can support other creatives in so many ways.
Ask for help! Sometimes I’ll write a few of my besties and say, hey, I wrote a thing, will you take a look? And they’ll do same. Maybe the thing you most love will sink with hardly a trace, but at least your friends will have seen it this way.
What is your story? What are your themes? What is your mantra? Really, if you can pin these things down, everything else flows from them. Can’t figure out what your story is? Ask a writer or a friend. (I sometimes think I should charge a fee to help people out with this :) ) It’s an important step.
A book I bought when it came out in 2021 and have dipped into periodically has really been good for me right now. It’s Good Burdens: How to Live Joyfully in the Digital Age by Christina Crook of JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) fame. As she says on her website, “You are going to live with technology for the rest of your life but you get to decide how.” And the truth is, if you’re an artist or writer or creative, can you really even afford not to be online?
Share your joys. Crook says that we should ask ourselves everyday, “What was the most life-giving experience of my day? What was the most life-taking experience of my day?” She advises that we can use other language if that works better for us: you can use “joyful vs despairing, energizing vs de-energizing.” What are the things that move you closer to joy? Go towards those. And then, she talks about sharing your joys. And wow I LOVE this:
“The scary thing about admitting what you love, what brings you joy and delight, is that it puts you out there. When you admit your joys out loud, you’re showing your hand. Brené Brown says, “To let ourselves sink into the joyful moments of our lives even though we know that they are fleeting, even though the world tells us not to be too happy lest we invite disaster — that’s an intense form of vulnerability.”
So that really spoke to me. It’s VULNERABLE this internet thing. And I’ve been putting my joys out there for a LONG freaking time. It’s sort of a wild thing to do yes? And yet I’ve always received back tenfold. I also totally get that feeling of how when you share something good and nice you must be inviting disaster. When I went to Rome, my first impulse was to keep it all to myself because if I shared it something terrible might happen. (Reader, nothing terrible happened, and in fact, sharing increased my joy).
Crook also speaks about how happy people use the internet. The short answer is “with intention.” “First off, they use it to serve larger goals. They have a destination. They also have a deep sense of their values. They’re protected from getting pulled off course by social contagion or FOMO, wanting what other people have.” Happiness, says Crooks, is related to “three primary purposes: Caring, Creativity, and Community, deepening warm relationships in the process. You might say people who are happiest with technology use it to love, to carry good burdens.”
I highly recommend the book Good Burdens if you use the internet in any way, but especially if you’re a creative type trying to balance getting your work out there with actually doing the creative work. Crook coaches us to ask “what do I care about? Why am I here?” She coaches us to be attentive, and to care, to be led by joy. She says, “When you care, you want to do something useful. When you care, you’re willing to commit.”
The creative life — you’re in this for the long haul. Always remember that. Making your things, writing, creating paintings and art, this is what matters. Take some time off from social media for stretches — make your priority your work. But when you’re there you might as well be genuine, you might as well make of it art as well? If you intentionally set a course for your social media, then you’re more likely to be energized rather than depleted from it.
Such a random post full of random things :) But if you please, help me out, and let me know if any of this is useful to you? What are your tips and tricks for using the internet and social media joyfully?
