8 ways to stop social media taking over your life
By Scratch Staff | 04 October 2018 | Expert Advice, Feature
It can be a powerful marketing tool – yet sometimes a source of pressure to constantly be answerable to clients; so has social media become bittersweet?
Scratch speaks to beauty business owners about how they balance social media marketing with their personal life and how to beat the digital burnout…
1. Turn on automatic replies.
“Set up the Facebook Messenger Response Assistant for your business page,” advises Theresa Cientanni, marketing director at Lecenté. “This enables an automatic response. It can be a personalised message to suit your working hours yet still ensures clients and potential clients get an immediate response.”
2. Turn off your notifications.
“I have the NAF! Instagram account on my phone so I can interact with our followers during the day but I have turned off the notifications,” comments Tammy Koslowski. “I make sure to switch over to my personal Instagram at night and at the weekend.”
3. Turn on the charm.
“Whether you are using a business or personal profile, you must keep content professional, appropriate and avoid swearing, being aggressive and personal rants,” Katie Barnes reminds. “Just one negative post could affect your reputation and business.”
4. Turn off at a set time.
“I spend a lot of time on social media, either returning messages from clients or other nail techs,” says Anona Wright of Nails By Anona. “I don’t tend to reply to messages after a certain time in the evening. Although nails are my life, I feel this way I get to have time away from work. It’s important for some people realise that when you’ve finished work that’s it for the day. I will get back to them in the morning.”
5. Turn on scheduling.
“I would recommend setting aside a few hours a week to plan your social media content for the week or month ahead,” says Sarah-Anne Barham, NovaLash lash technician. “Set aside a few hours on a Sunday when you’ve got some down time. Utilise the scheduling apps available across most social media platforms so that you all you need to do is simply keep an eye on any messages and comments that require a response.”
6. Turn on time management.
“We pencil out 15 to 30 minutes first thing in the morning and the same before we leave for the day,” advises Laura Plane, marketing executive at Ken Lamacraft Marketing. “We use this time to follow back, check our mentions and interact with followers. We find that if we stick to this, nothing gets missed and everyone gets responded to within a reasonable timeframe, too.”
7. Simply, turn off.
As easy as it sounds, if you’re truly want to switch off from the world, turn your phone off. “I quite often turn my iPhone onto airplane mode,” Michelle Brookes states. “It shuts me off from the nail world for a while. Instead, I’m spending time with my family.”
Share your top tips for balancing business marketing with your personal life by using #showscratch on social platforms.