Did you lose your social media mojo around the time you realised that your neighbourhood hairdresser, a place that is daggy and real-deal retro without the ironic vibe, has far more Facebook fans than your business?

Or that, despite your regular collecting, collating, creating and posting of updates, your competitor’s occasional, seemingly-pointless or downright annoying photo was attracting more eyes and replies?

Or maybe it was that stupid little scrap you got into on Facebook, arguing with some dude who makes up for his lack of knowledge with gallons of enthusiastic zeal?

Have you lost your social media mojo?

Over the last six years of teaching social media marketing courses around Australia, I’ve seen an increasing number business owners have an unhealthy relationship to social media. It’s not for the faint-hearted. And when you’re adding marketing to the mix, sometimes you’ve got to wear a suit of armour to survive. Not only is social media forever changing, but it’s so very public. For the freelancer or small business owner, this can sometimes be excruciatingly.

So when you’ve lost that loving feeling, try these techniques. You’ll soon find your heart all a-flutter with social media love.

Don’t pick a scab on social media

social media mojo
You know how your mother told you not to keep picking your scab? So why are you looking at stuff that you know will leave you feeling angry, exasperated, jealous, sad, or apathetic?

Get off the internet! Take a walk, a bath, or find a trampoline to jump on. Don’t visit blogs or Facebook pages that you know will anger, annoy or depress you. Ban yourself. Don’t pick the scab.

Produce, don’t consume

You’re on social media to market your business. So get on, update, schedule, like, comment, respond and then get off.

When you’re in a funk, social media is not your friend. Treat it like a colleague, not a lover, and produce, don’t consume.

Flip your approach to social media marketing

Rather than focusing your social media marketing efforts to generate new leads, treat it as a way to easily network with like-minded colleagues, without leaving the house.

Or perhaps you see social media marketing as useful for making friends and building alliances online – so try using it to grow your email list instead.

Perhaps you’re already approaching social media as a way to grow your email list, if so, try using it as a market research project to discover the deeper reasons why people are – or aren’t – buying.

If you view social media as a conduit for driving people to visit your website, instead approach it as a fantastic forum for road testing new ideas, new packages, new service offerings.

Approach social media as an experiment, taking a completely different angle. Similar to an experiment, you want to give yourself a time frame, write a mini-plan, and ask another freelancer or business owner to brainstorm ideas for your new approach. Don’t forget to explore, have fun and engage your curiosity with these experiments.

Be bold!

Oftentimes people become depressed or anxious when using social media because they perceive themselves at odds with everyone else. Typically this means you censor yourself, don’t say what you feel because you don’t want to be disagreeable, and consequently, feel bad. Or alternately, you put anger or exasperation in the driver’s seat, and express yourself poorly, further compounding the problem.

One surefire way of overcoming this is to flex your courage muscle by embracing your opinion. Write the unpopular blog post, say what you believe and why, own your opinion, and criticise the status quo while offering alternatives.

You’ll probably be surprised by the response – if people don’t agree with you, they don’t typically engage, they’ll simply be silent or unfriend you. If they agree, they’ll likely thank you for being brave and bold and voicing the unpopular opinion. Either way, you’ve provoked a response. You’ve gone from being invisible to being someone who’s courageous, articulate and distinct. You’re on your way to becoming an industry leader.

Run a promotion through social media

So you’re ashamed about your number of fans on social media. It’s time to take action by spending time and funds on promotions, social media competitions or social advertising to build your numbers.

There’s only one case where it’s a good idea to promote or advertise just for the purpose of building numbers: to get to a minimum number of fans. 500 followers per channel is a good minimum to aim for, but 1000 fans is when things become much easier as they take on their own momentum.

You want a minimum number of fans per channel because you’re trying to earn legitimacy and credibility through social media – any less, and you look like Nigel NoFriends.

There’s a secondary, equally important reason for reaching at least your minimum: social media marketing is time-consuming and relentless. So you want to quickly build a minimum number on each channel you’re on to justify the time and effort you put in. You don’t want to get online just to talk to yourself, do you?

Don’t seek emotional support and validation through social media

Check yourself: are you using social media for emotional support or validation? Your real friends will take your call at all hours. Your real friends won’t take every single thing you say or don’t say to heart. They know the entirety of you and love you for who you are and what you’re capable of.

If you’re ready to woo your social media marketing mojo back, change your perspective. Log off, bake a cake and invite a real friend over to share it.

If you want to win back your social media mojo, then come along to my Social Media Savvy course. I promise I won’t attempt to tie your self-esteem to your follower numbers.