Building A Healthy Relationship With Social Media

I'm the owner of a social media business and have seen the damage it can do both professionally and personally. Today I'm sharing some of my thoughts, experiences, and knowledge with you to encourage you to think about how you view social media, how it impacts you, and empower you to take control of how much real estate it takes up in your own life. Studies show that online relationships can be both beneficial and rewarding, or terribly devastating. The choice thankfully is yours

Transcript

Hi!

Allow me to reintroduce myself.

My name is,

Well you might know me as Bethany Michaels,

But I just got married and my new last name is Bethany Myers.

I'm so excited for this new journey and this new season in my life.

My husband has three beautiful children so we are adjusting to blended family life and I will likely be doing some new meditations and encouragements regarding that topic.

But today I want to focus on social media.

I know this is very different from my usual offerings and my usual meditations which are more focused on the topic of spirituality and Jesus and just growing in our faith.

But today I wanted to just shed light on our relationship with social media,

What I've observed being in the industry and working in the industry for many years and just my thoughts as a human being on this earth while I'm trying to learn and adjust and find new boundaries for myself and my family that I think are healthy.

So I'm just going to go ahead and dive in and let you know my credentials and my credibility so you can hopefully trust what I'm saying.

So I have been in the social media industry for a long time.

I graduated with my bachelor's in English writing at the University of Nevada,

Reno and I have a lot of experience with writing,

Reading and working with search engine optimization companies,

Marketing companies,

Everything online.

And as an empath and a spiritual person,

Sometimes it's really hard for me to agree with the way that social media kind of takes on its own personality and it really is its own entity.

And you can either view it as your enemy or a blessing and it really is up to you how you view it,

How you use it and how you allow it to affect your life and your mind.

So I actually started a social media business.

It's called Content Social Media Queen.

I chose those keywords so that when people looked for social media online,

They would find me and thank you God,

It has worked so well.

I have never done any outbound marketing.

I've had most of my leads come to me just organically online or through word of mouth.

So enough about me.

Let's talk about you.

Let's talk about your relationship with social media.

And I would love your feedback at the end of this talk just because I want to hear what you're thinking,

What you're wrestling with on social media.

We all have different things that we are exposed to within our generation,

Within the behaviors that we exhibit online.

So we're going to receive different ads depending on our age and depending on what we like to shop for,

Depending on what we like in general.

The internet is so smart.

It is virtual intelligence.

It's artificial intelligence.

It knows what you like and it will continue to show you what you like.

So knowing how powerful social media is and how much it has changed our lives,

One of the constant themes that I see in my business is people call me and they really just don't understand social media.

They don't understand what the best practices are and they think that they need to be on every single platform if they own a business.

And that's not always the case.

So if you're a business owner,

I just want to encourage you just because Joe Schmo is doing it or another Kardashian around the corner,

You don't have to keep up with the Kardashians.

You don't have to keep up with someone that's doing things a certain way because you are unique.

You are your own person,

Your own business.

You need to do things your way.

Your business operates a certain way and you need to be on certain platforms that make your business successful and that resonate with your business and that makes sense for your business.

And that might mean that you don't need to be on every single platform.

You might need to just be on LinkedIn and that's it.

You might need to just have a Google business page and that's it.

But let's talk more about our personal relationship right now and the things that I've learned personally as I am an interesting blend of two disparate polar opposite eras.

I grew up a young kid in the nineties.

I remember the cringy sound of dial up and my Tamagotchi was honestly a deterrent for wanting kids.

It was so hard to manage all of that things,

Needs and desires but I still remember the high I felt when I would do something right.

And I think that's what's unique about my generation is that I've lived a life completely void of technology.

I remember just being outside catching lizards,

Jumping on rocks,

Daydreaming in the sunshine as it would hit my skin and being so connected to my present reality that as the earth was beating and teeming with life,

So were my veins.

I was such a part of the earth and in my latter years I get overwhelmed and consumed by technology and so disconnected from the earth around me,

Which sometimes has proven to be depressing.

I mean I'm just going to be honest with you and I find that I'm healthier and more alive and more connected and more able to self reflect when I'm less connected to technology and social media.

So I have learned to dance with social media,

To work with social media and to set boundaries with social media.

And sometimes just like with my Tamagotchi,

I have to leave it to just die knowing that the unread messages and alerts will still be waiting for me when I take a break from living my real life.

So social media is such a vague term and I think that a lot of people haven't acknowledged or believed that it can have devastating effects.

I'm a woman who owns a social media business and ironically now my life doesn't revolve around it.

And you might think I'm a walking oxymoron or that I don't practice what I preach,

But the truth is I want to expose how many people will fall into a trap of fear.

Fear based postings,

Fear based uploads,

Fear based content,

Fear based money spent on marketing efforts through social media.

So many entrepreneurs capitalize on people's fears.

You will see an ad where they're selling you a program,

They're telling you how you can get rich or how social media will change your life,

Increase your sales or take you to the next level in business.

Although on rare occasions one of these strategies might work,

The truth is they're just trying to get you to click their little button,

Which will actually increase their sales and more money in their pocket.

With a goal to get you to click that button,

They have won.

Don't give into this sick game.

I know that might sound a little harsh,

But the truth is guys,

There's good and evil in everything and you can use social media as a tool to help you or you can let it overtake you.

You can let it destroy your relationships.

You can respond to those DMs with all that temptation floating around or you can just immediately block that person.

So my first piece of advice would be if you are in a relationship with your partner,

Talk,

Talk in the very beginning about what your boundaries are,

What your expectations are,

What the etiquette is in your relationship.

How will you handle DMs?

How will you handle people reaching out to you?

Will you block them immediately?

Will you tell your partner?

Have an honest and deep conversation to understand each other's expectations about how you will be using social media as individuals and how you will be using it together.

If you're a single,

You're a single guy,

You're a single woman,

I have fallen into the trap of getting sucked into the high when people like my photos,

When people engage with me constantly,

But then what starts suffering is my real life and so there has to be a balance if you want to have a healthy relationship with social media.

So have an honest conversation with yourself.

Journal,

Think about what is helping you,

Think about when you feel most alive.

Is it when you're at the ocean?

Is it when you're hiking?

Is it when you're with friends having a beer?

Whatever that looks like,

Don't forget about connecting to people personally.

The ways that you can use social media that will help you,

You can use social media to grow your credibility if you're a business.

You can use social media to connect with that long lost friend from 10 years ago that just pops into your head every now and then and go grab coffee with them.

You can use social media in so many ways to benefit your life,

But don't let it overtake you.

I hope that this little talk or encouragement or maybe discouragement helped you in some way,

Sparked your interest or just motivated you to think about some of these topics.

Like I said,

I would love your feedback.

I would love for you to share your reality.

How has social media impacted you in a positive way,

In a negative way?

I want to hear.

I want to know.

I'm only telling my experience in my small little sphere and I promise you,

I'm always looking to grow and learn and I'm so intrigued and excited to hear your thoughts.

So please write me a review.

Please reach out to me directly.

Another way that I would love to use social media in a positive way is to connect with you on Instagram.

My handle is Mrs.

Bethany Myers and that's spelled M-R-S B-E-T-H-A-N-Y M-Y-E-R-S.

Please feel free to message me there.

Anything that is appropriate or thought provoking or any sort of feedback,

I can't wait to hear from you and connect with you in that way and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Thank you so much for listening.

God bless.

Reviews

Thank you for this much needed discussion. I’m not a social media person but I do feel our younger generations are being consumed!
Praying you are enjoying being a mom to your bonus kids. I miss your meditations and hope this finds you well🙏🏻

love hearing the social media queen’s take on social media, we really are a unique generation, and we have to find that balance

Congratulations on your marriage ! Wishing you many blessings on this new journey ! Great advice on social media ! Thank you ! Although I don’t use it allot to promote my business www.topsafetyspeakers.com ( I should be on linked in more ) I do love Instagram to follow the young ladies who I was a youth leader for for many years ! I love seeing what they are up to and sending them encouragement !
Thanks for posting this and sharing your wisdom !! Merry Christmas xox

Bethany congratulations on your new marriage. I love your Christian Morning practice. The first time I heard it I was visiting my daughter in Montana and the sun was slowly coming over the mountains. I truly felt God. Thanks for your perspective on social media. I'm an artist using instagram and fb. I'll contact you on Instagram later but this was great!