attention | Beyond Your Side Hustle

What Can You Do to “Unplug” or Change What You See on Facebook?

This is based on an answer offered on Episode 12 of Hustleburg.

Question: With everything that’s going on recently, sometimes I need a little break from seeing the constant news cycle, especially about COVID-19, aka the coronavirus. What do you recommend for when you just want to unplug and think of happy or educational or fun things? I love using Facebook to promote my business, I just need a break. I feel bad, and like I’m not putting my business first by taking that break.

Take a Break

If you find that you need a break from social media’s onslaught of news and posts about COVID-19, the 2020 election, or whatever has you feeling this way, push back your laptop, close the platforms or the apps on your phone that you’re using. Take a literal break, by going for a walk around the block, calling to check in on your mom (she says you don’t do that enough anyway), playing or snuggling with your dog, cat, or whatever pet is in your home (they are also saying that you don’t do that enough).

Then, just turn off notifications on your phone and shut your laptop for a while. Only enable the ones that you absolutely must have on for the phone. If you’re an iPhone user, you can enable Bedtime, which is a feature in your settings to take a break in the clock app. Many Android phones have something called Zen mode, where you can’t do anything on the phone except to receive calls for a specified time so that you can disconnect. Use this “unplugged” opportunity to pick up that book or your Kindle to read for fun for an hour.

Focus on Something Else

Personally, I’ve taken to trying to meditate more, using an app on my phone to do so. By doing so, I get to relax while I ignore the world around me for 5, 10, or 20 minutes, by focusing inward, on happiness, or my relationships with other people.

You likely have some “extra” time right now due to a lack of commute, and you can use it for some self-care or to develop yourself. Think of that time as an opportunity, because no one is expecting that you’re going to be “on” all the time, that you’re going to be online all the time, and that it isn’t going to be something that does kind of drive you away.

Now that you’ve taken that break for yourself, I have some great news for you. When it comes to your online experience, you actually find what you seek online. The platform’s algorithms are designed to give you what they calculate that you want to see. If you interact with political posts, they’ll show you more politics. That also means that if you engage with stories about kindness, you’re going to see more kindness. Who couldn’t use seeing more about kindness and the good in the world?

The Good News – You’re in Control

I recently listened to an interview with the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, who designed the newsfeed for Facebook before moving over to Instagram. During that interview, he confirmed that they really try to tailor what you see online with the type of things that you engage with. So, the good news is that you truly hold the keys to design your own online experience.

Ready for the even better news?

Your most recent activity holds greater weight for the algorithms than your older activity. That means that the best time to change your online behavior, in an effort to change what you see, is NOW. Start engaging with the people, groups, and pages that bring you joy by making you the happiest. Disengage with those that are dragging you down by blocking them, unfollowing them, and just scrolling by. If you make your focus to comment on, click on, and like the posts that give you something of value, while disengaging with the people, pages, and groups that don’t, you’re going to see a huge change in what’s in your feed. By taking control over what you see online and who you interact with, you’re actually going to see a complete shift in what’s presented to you in your feed, no matter which social media platform that’s got you down.

Here’s How It Will Change

I remember a period of time when I worked in the non-profit political world, where everything in my feed was political stuff. Today, that’s really not the case, because I unfollowed many pages, I left a lot of groups, and I’m no longer connected with many of the people I was. I no longer interact with many of the same people that I did in that world, and it has completely changed the way social media is presented to me. It’s very rare that I see a political post that isn’t just the news of the day. There’s hardly ever political opinion within them, so I know from experience that you really can switch this on and off, almost like a light switch or a really fast dimmer.

If you are discouraged about what you’re seeing, whether it’s the upcoming 2020 elections, coronavirus, or whatever it is that just has you down, know that you can change what’s in your feed just by fine-tuning who you even allow to put things in your feed, and who you engage with among those that do have that permission.

I’m Stuck About Where to Start Creating Content for My Business

This was a response to a question in Episode 4 of Hustleburg, an episode devoted to answering your questions.

You should start creating content in two ways. The first place to find guidance will be from listening to your customers. Listen for what it is that they need. By listening for their needs first, you begin to understand how your business can meet those needs. This offers you a starting point for much of your content creation. You need to help them solve a problem.

When you examine the underlying issues of your customers, you’ll understand how to better craft your content to help them

As you listen, keep in mind that what they will likely not explicitly give you directions about what they need you to solve. Too often, we, both the customer and the business, focus on the obvious, external problem. That external problem is only a symptom of the underlying internal issue that drives their desire for change.

For example, when you have a plumbing issue, it’s not so much that you need to have your toilet unclogged or sewer line snaked, while that is certainly the obvious and important issue to address. What you are really feeling is the internal problem of how you would feel about being unable to use your toilet, having to rid your waste in some other way. In 2020 America, we live in a society where anything other than indoor plumbing is pretty weird. You would probably feel very odd if you evacuated your wastes in an outhouse, had a Porta-Potty on the side of your house, or used your yard. All of these show that you are unable to operate by the norms of this society. THAT is the internal problem you’re actually solving with a plumber.

Add Value to Their Lives

While you listen, you also need to add value with anything you share online and your other marketing materials. You should share about the things you’ve observed how you can help them to help solve their issues in your areas of expertise. It’s not just a non-stop advertisement about what you do. You should be adding value to their life.

Connections Win

Sometimes, you’ll have areas of interest overlap with your customers, and it won’t be in your field. That’s not just okay. It’s preferred. You should always be presenting yourself as an expert in what it is that you do, but sometimes it’s those related areas or personal interests in another aspect of your life that you share that will forge a connection.

To give you an example, I’m more likely to do business with someone who is a Braves fan or is a fellow alum of the University of Georgia than someone who isn’t. When all other things are equal, that is something that will help me make the decision, because I have that connection or shared experience with someone. That’s only something I learn through interacting around that interest. That’s not to say that I exclude someone due to those factors, but I’ve found time and again that I am definitely more apt to do.

When they are able to connect with you over shared experience or interests, that’s going to be a win for your business. Use this knowledge to expand beyond a single focus for your content.

Five Topics for Your Content

The main thrust of your business
A related aspect to #1
Another related aspect to #1
Something that makes you a real person that interests you.
A second topic of interest that shows you’re real.

When you deploy these varied topics in your content, it shows your community that not only are you an expert in your field, you’re a real person. If you go back to my earlier plumbing example, people aren’t always looking for a plumber. They will, however, remember that person they connected with over a shared fandom or who grew up near them is one when the time comes. They aren’t looking to hire a plumber. They are looking to hire someone they connect with who understands their internal struggle when the toilet won’t flush.

Top Podcasts for the Budding Entrepreneur

It may seem like self-development in business and entrepreneurship means a lot of reading, but there is a world of podcasts that we consume. Here are our recommendations of the top podcasts for the budding entrepreneur:

Akimbo: A Podcast by Seth Godin

On Tuesday mornings, we’re probably looking most forward to Akimbo: A Podcast by Seth Godin it gives you a marketer’s view of how we can act to change the culture. We’re not just talking about the culture at large, but the culture specifically around what we do, the culture around the people that we serve, and the community that we are. Every week, when Akimbo comes out, it is it definitely goes to the top of the queue. There is just something amazing about how Seth Godin can look at something and talk about it in an engaging way.

EntreLeadership Podcast

The EntreLeadership podcast offers you some of the top minds in business. Formerly hosted by Ken Coleman, and now hosted by Alex Judd, it’s primarily an interview podcast based around the leadership philosophy that Dave Ramsey used to build his entire business network. That philosophy governs all of the things that Ramsey Solutions does, and they do a fantastic job providing some amazing resources for small business leaders. In addition to the podcast, they’ve built a community that serves small businesses, often giving away excellent resources completely for free to podcast listeners. This podcast publishes weekly on Mondays, which makes for a great start to the week.

HBR IdeaCast

The Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast publishes on Tuesdays and offers listeners an opportunity to hear about emerging trends in business. The really cool part about the IdeaCast is that you get to experience the best interviews from each of their magazine’s issues in full when listening, rather than what they’ve pared down for the article they sought to publish in that month’s issue. The full-fledged interview, between one of the two hosts, both senior editors for Harvard Business Review, and the business or thought leader, provides you with a lot of data and findings surrounding what’s happening in business today. It’s terrific to hear from the study researchers and professors about the things that they’ve learned and share.

The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast

John Maxwell has written many books on the subject of leadership, and it’s amazing that none of them made the top books article, but we wanted to keep things solely focused on small business. The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast gives you lessons, insights, and candid conversations about how to be a leader. When your business grows beyond “solopreneur” status, you’re going to need to be able to lead your team. The podcast takes a deeper dive into the lessons he’s written about and Mark Cole, Jason Brooks, and John himself discuss how you can bring those ideas to work in your own life. Regular episodes publish on Wednesday, and the occasional “candid conversations” usually appear in their feed on Fridays.

The GaryVee Audio Experience

This daily podcast is the absolute holy grail of marketing knowledge. You’ll hear me frequently talk about looking for attention, and this is where that idea came from. The GaryVee Audio Experience is a daily dose of drinking from the fire hose of marketing. At first, I didn’t like Gary Vaynerchuk. His larger than life personality and style turned me off, but I listened beyond that first impression. As part of panels, on other podcasts and as part of other programs, the fact that he really understands what we’re all looking for in business, and that is the attention for our brand. We’re looking for the attention necessary to sell what we sell and to do what we do. The audio experience is a variety of different ways for you to consume that, whether it’s a keynote and Q&A that he has given, an interview that he’s done for radio or television and had the audio stripped, or his sage advice in conversations with celebrities and up-and-comers, it is an awesome documenting of the process. In it, you get to see an aspect of what he does in a way that is is very useful and very educational for every businessperson.

Would you rather read? Check out this article detailing our favorite books for budding entrepreneurs.

As we’ve shared on Hustleburg, we love Castbox as a podcast listening app, and the image above is a screenshot of my favorite podcasts in that app.

Are You Too Focused on “Positive” Feedback Online?

All for the ‘Gram!

(The video below is NSFW/K due to language)

If you watched the video above or listened to Arizona Zervas’ “Roxanne,” you heard at the very beginning that he does things only for Instagram, because of who loves “the ‘Gram.”

Arizona is not alone. There are countless social media users who post strictly for the positive affirmation they receive in response to the things they post. There are some fitness gurus that post selfies to show off their best physical assets, knowing that the “after” means more likes on an image than the process that led there. Others will post cute photos of their children and pets to receive the good feelings that come with the likes.

When they post other types of content on their accounts, the internet “love” just doesn’t arrive in the same way. Their followers take notice of the less popular posts and don’t interact, yet jump on the bandwagon when a post appears to be doing well.

“Likes” Are Seductive

As a content creator, the pull of positive “feedback” is strong. It FEELS good to have your community giving you a like. Here’s why you don’t want the like for the rush it gives you:

The real feelings of your audience lie in what they have to say in the comments. It’s easy to tap, while it takes more effort to form a real thought and share it with you.
Social media is about being social, and a like isn’t as social as the conversation your post should generate. You should want to start those conversations about you and your brand, as you’ll truly engage the raving fans in your community.
You are more likely to fall into the trap of posting for the “likes,” rather than sharing your real, authentic self and brand. You become a slave to those likes, posting puppies or showing skin, rather than sharing what you actually want to say.

This is an opportunity for you to stand out from what everyone else does. It’s your chance to zig when they zag. You can use that differing approach to find your tribe, aka the people who really understand and relate to you.

Find Your Tribe & Engage

When you find and engage your tribe, your raving fans, or whatever you want to call the community who actually supports you, their attention is more valuable than those outside it. We seek that attention, remember?

The community you build is filled with the people who support you. Their love for what you do and the value you add to their lives will attract more people like them to you. Seth Godin calls this the smallest viable audience, and they will be an extension of you… An evangelist of your brand. Doesn’t that sound more valuable than a bunch of likes on a post?

There’s No Such Thing As Too Much Content

Believe it or not, there is no such thing as too much content in an age where server space gets cheaper by the nanosecond. You simply CANNOT post too much.

Today, there are no longer only three TV networks, a handful of local radio stations, or hundreds of gatekeepers like talent agents and managers preventing you from being “overexposed.” Instead, there is a constant barrage of apps on our phones, on-demand video and audio streaming for every possible genre and niche, and a new advertising medium every minute vying for your attention.

It’s Not Too Much

When you’re really putting out content, an amount you think is way too much, your most passionate supporter (probably Mom) can’t keep up with everything happening in your business’s social media life. Your marketing efforts should be aimed to seek attention from those most likely to patron your business, by posting as much and as frequently as possible.

Here come the caveats!

You can’t post just anything to “create” content. Junk is still junk, and your audience, current and future, will leave if they aren’t finding value. With their departure goes their attention.
You can’t go too far “outside your lane.” Your community expects you to stick to areas you’re the expert in. That’s why you are sharing, and that’s why they are paying attention. When you spend too much time outside your expertise, there goes their attention.
You can’t be anyone else. You aren’t as funny as Ellen DeGeneres or Aziz Ansari, so don’t try to be a stand-up comedian. You don’t act as well as Meryl Streep or Bradley Cooper, so don’t act as if you are. Be you.

Your content needs to stay relevant to your brand, important to the community you serve, and authentically “you.” If it isn’t, the attention you crave for your brand will disappear.

Don’t Chase an Algorithm, Add Value

Don’t worry about the mythology of the algorithm controlling who sees what you post. You won’t figure out the algorithm of each platform you use, and if you do, it’ll change. You may have a good idea of which pieces of content will resonate with your community, but you will frequently be surprised by what does and doesn’t “go viral.”

Social media is the ultimate meritocracy. The platforms need traffic to keep advertisers happy and spending money on those ads. If your content is good, they will keep showing it to keep the attention on their app or their site. If your posts aren’t being seen, it’s because your content stinks.

Yeah, I said it. Your. Content. Stinks.

It stinks to the community-at-large, because they aren’t engaging with it. No matter what happens with the magic of the algorithm, good content continues to win. Good content keeps being shared. Good content keeps attention on that app or site.

Think about it. What happens when you go through your feed? If you aren’t getting content worth your time, you keep scrolling. If you continue not to get value, you’ll eventually go away. Thus, for their own survival, the platforms have to show the good stuff.

Now that you know that there is no such thing as “too much,” when are YOU going to start putting out all the content that will add value to your community?

Why Aren’t You Using the Internet to Market Your Business?

Television? Radio? Billboards? Those are so yesterday. You can’t even measure their effect directly, so how would you even know if they are working? Why would you continue to pump money into the unknown abyss of their ineffectiveness?

Do you watch TV commercials? Or are you watching the content available to you via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, etc? Even if you are watching television live as it airs, aren’t you picking up your phone, iPad, or laptop to monopolize your attention until the show comes back?

Do you listen to the radio in the car? I can’t remember the last time I drove without having a podcast, streaming music, or an audio-book playing. I couldn’t even tell you a single local radio station for the last two major metro areas I’ve lived.

Billboards require capturing attention to be effective. The next time you’re driving, take a look at the cars you pass on the road and those that pass you. The passengers nearly all hold the familiar pose. Head down, eyes locked on the screen in front of them. The kids are watching Frozen in the backseat for the 116th time, and the driver HOPEFULLY has his or her eyes on the road and isn’t engaged reading something on their phones or responding to their latest text. Who’s going to see your billboard?

Get Their Attention

Digital marketing, on the other hand… It’s 2019, and everyone, including your parents or grandparents, uses the internet in some capacity. The key here is understanding how to harness the power of it.

You have the ability to truly examine the return on investment for each ad you run, down to a granular level to examine your geographic, demographic, and psychographic impact. While your organic content for many platforms is somewhat “spray and pray” in regard to how it’s displayed, your paid advertising is very specific, down to a microscopic level.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the platforms outside of advertising, however. Your efforts there should be engaging and listening in nature. You have a FREE focus group that will freely tell you about your business. They will tell you what they love, so you can keep delivering in those areas, and they will tell you what they hate, so you can shore up a deficiency and invite them back to show them you care enough to fix it.