Please give me a moment to vent.

It's frustrating to see people misuse social media as if it were a virtual town square that doubles as a public dumping ground. Some folks go there to argue with strangers, while others dump uninspired sponsored content and disappear. I can't decide which is worse: spending all day bickering with strangers on social media or promoting products and services you don't even use to an audience that barely knows you. I’d like for us all to please make social media social again!

Rant over.

Make Engagement Valuable

As creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, content creators, and social media mavens, we understand the importance of social media in sharpening our creative skills and growing our businesses. It offers a unique opportunity to showcase our crafts, share our stories, and connect with fellow creatives and potential clients.

However, I’m not sure when it happened somewhere along the way, but the "social" aspect of social media has been lost. I’m revealing my age here, but remember when it was a big deal to be featured in someone’s top eight on their Myspace profile? Or how stressful it was to decide whom to put in your top eight and for how long?

I’m not making this a generational war because I believe every generation has its pros and cons. My point is that social media was a highly social activity just over a decade ago. Have we lost our ability to be social online after a reasonably short period? (Trust me, ten years can go by extremely fast!)

How did social media become antisocial in the first place? I’ve got a couple of intuitions.

• we didn’t assess any of the risks of social media before using the tool

• when we realized how lucrative social media can be, we chased the money trail

• we forgot about the fun side of social media

• many of us – me included – just got lost in the sauce

I think there’s a way to find the balance between using social media as an income source and making sure it remains a fun place for us to interact with people from all parts of society worldwide.

Make Social Capital and Social Impact

Yes, it’s true; engagement is critical to growing your social media account and, in turn, your business. Despite popular belief, follower count doesn’t matter as much as engagement rate. Social media accounts with higher engagement rates have higher median reach than those without (or with low engagement rates). As social media insiders, we know this.

We also know that engagement can be achieved in many forms - likes, comments, stories, and direct messages. However, genuine engagement requires more than a double tap or a quick emoji comment. It involves actively conversing with your audience and connecting with others with similar values, passions, and visions. It involves remembering there’s someone on the other side of that virtual communication or connection.

Engaging with our followers and fellow creatives can increase our reach and create a community that attracts potential customers and clients. Social media is not solely about promoting our products or services. It's about using our platform to develop genuine connections with others and positively impact their lives.

Make Room for Diversity

It's more important than ever to hear from diverse voices and perspectives.

The worst thing you want to do for your business and personal development is create a silo. You don’t want to operate within your one specific niche, interacting with only the audience or creators who share an affinity with you (race, gender, nationality, religion, etc.), never venturing out to see what conversations people outside of your community are having. This will stifle creativity, limit business strategies, and stunt personal growth.

No, I’m not advocating for engaging in fruitless disagreements with people who don’t share your values. As I mentioned above, I’m tired of online bickering. I am advocating for honest dialogue with a diverse group of people. And when I say diverse, I mean different ideologies, interests, passions, creative techniques, and affinity groups. Try to engage with people outside of your niche and outside of your comfort zones. You might be surprised by where this journey takes you.

One slight tangent, it's essential to remember that achieving genuine engagement calls for a certain level of focus and attention. Please, do not spread yourself too thin by trying to be present on every popular platform with a high MAU (monthly active user) count. Instead, pick your favorite social platform that resonates with you the most – where you know your target audience hangs out online - and be your best. Put forth your utmost effort in cultivating a meaningful presence on that platform. Of course, you can have a second or third supplemental social media platform for cross-posting, but focus on your primary social account to make the most significant impact.

Make Impact Offline and Online

We must first prioritize our offline relationships and interactions to revive social media's social aspect. While it might seem counterintuitive, taking a break from our devices can positively impact our social media presence, businesses, creativity, and overall well-being.

Disconnecting from technology and trying to connect with the people in our lives, including close friends, family, chosen family, acquaintances, and colleagues, allows us to attend social gatherings and meet-ups that we may have been neglecting. It allows us to be present and engage in person. Improving our real-life social skills can ultimately enhance our online interactions.

If you can be witty, flirty, cool, thoughtful, and an all-around fantastic human to be around in real life, guess what? You can quickly transfer those social skills online. So, let's take the time to focus on our own social lives and reap the benefits of a more connected and fulfilling online and offline existence. Let’s take the time to make our real lives more social, so we can make social media social again.