If you’d ask me what got me through my day-to-day for all these years of working for myself, it would honestly be my social media support system. They make the rollercoaster that is this life so much more manageable. My highs are celebrated with people who get it and my lows have a cushion I can lean on if I need it. It’s glorious.
I feel strongly that you won’t work solo for long if you don’t have some kind of social media support system in place. The toll this life can take on your mental health will just go too deep, and you won’t be able to overcome it.
From client to fan demands, it’s just too hard to go on alone. So don’t. Get that support system together.
Wondering how to do this? Take a look at my support system.
The This-isn’t-brain-surgery person
I love the role this person fulfills within my social media support system. This is my lone non-social media person in my group. They still work in marketing so they understand what I do, but they have a more global view of what is going on. And that global view helps me when I’m stuck in the middle of a very narrow problem.
Their favorite thing to say to me is, “This isn’t brain surgery. No one is going to die here.” That’s a good reminder when I’m annoyed that my advice was completely disregarded or when I’m upset with something a fan did. A person who can get you out of your head in these situations can help you get back to normal much more quickly than you could do on your own.
In my case, this person is an old client that I just clicked with and we’ve been good friends since we started working together. They bring me in for work when they can because we work so well together, which is great. But the role they play on my support team over the years has made this person even more vital to me.
The Oh-my-God-I’m-excited person
The excitable social media marketing person is absolute gold. They get excited about new features and can get me out of my head when I get annoyed with those same changes.
This particular person also specializes in a different aspect of social media than I do, so this excitement also keeps me up-to-date on something I might not be following as closely. That makes me well-rounded and able to give better advice to clients.
I met this person on Old Twitter back when it was fun and you could meet loads of people you came to adore. Unfortunately those days are long gone. I would join social media marketer groups and find this person pronto. They will be easy to spot. They’ll be jumping up and down about some random new feature.
The Empathetic person
The very good thing about social media marketers is that we tend to be the most empathetic people in the world. We’ll listen for hours to people and we got into this field because of that.
When nothing is going right, you need this person to let you just rant with absolutely no judgment. Bonus points if they indulge you in plans to take over the world and make it better. Then when you come back the next day and say, “That was nuts,” they’ll also say, “That was totally nuts.” And things will be right again.
This person came into my life thanks to a conference we were both at. We instantly understood each other and the problems that came with doing our jobs. It’s probably best to know this person offline so they don’t think you’re actually nuts when you go into one of these rants. You just need to get off a bit of steam, amirite?
The Reality person
This person sometimes comes off as your harshest critic when in reality they are your biggest fan. That is not to say that every harsh critic is your biggest fan. Some people are just toxic. For me, it’s kind of hard to know which is which sometimes. I think the line I drew for me was figuring out how I felt around this person. If I always felt like they were lowering me to feel better about themselves, then they needed to go. If I felt terrible about myself every time I was around them, they needed to go. But if I felt empowered with a direction to go in? Yeah, that person better stick around for life.
Recently, I decided to look for more work due to more flexibility with my daughter. I put it out to all of my network, and this person was the first one to come through and say, “Let’s Zoom ASAP.” The Zoom session was going through the sources of work and then taking a look at what I needed to put up on my website (I still have one more thing to do from this list, and I promise this person I will do it!). I came away from this meeting with a plan forward that was pretty airtight and a feeling that I could do this. This person is fantastic for me.
How did I meet this person? Through a professional organization. They are in a similar field as me and sometimes does social media. Look for the person that seems a little too blunt. That’s the first sign that this is your person.
Everyone’s social media support system looks a little different. This is what mine looks like and it’s been super effective to keep me and my business going. I don’t know where I’d be without each one of them. And I hope I fit into their life in the way they need it.
What does your social media support system look like?