Leigh-Ann here, Carnsight Account Director. It’s been a crazy busy few weeks in the Carnsight office. But today, as I write this, is a work from home day, and so I’m sitting in the garden with a cup of coffee and the sunshine, and thoroughly enjoying a bit of time writing as…well… me!

If you’ve followed Carnsight for any length of time, you’ll very likely know that we all really love to write. And good thing too! Because PR involves A LOT of it. We spend so much time ghostwriting, drafting social post captions, press releases, thought leadership and comments. It can be really fun to take on the challenge of embodying the tone and style of the brands and wonderful professionals we work with. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a real treat to settle back into my own voice every once in a while.

Feeling drained by social media?

Maybe I’m projecting here, but I get the feeling that over the past few years there’s been a growing disillusionment with social media. And frankly, rightly so. Whether you use social media in your personal life, professional life, or both, you’ve likely got a mixed bag of feelings when it comes to the pros and cons of spending time on the internet.

As someone who works in social media and the news, people in my personal life often think that means I’m always pro-social media. And of course, I think social media offers a huge variety of wonderful opportunities and I spend a lot of time on it. But I also know that there are problems with it too.

I won’t pretend to know how to address all of the pitfalls of social media doom scrolling and questionable algorithms, but what I do want to do is share some of the ways that I (both personally and professionally) aim to keep social media as positive an experience as possible. I hope you might find these tips useful too.

Remember it’s about people

I personally think social media is at its best when we remember that it’s about people. Social media can bring people together, connect humans from two sides of the world. It can create a community. It can aid access. It can spread awareness of brands doing amazing things for people and planet. It can help raise money for causes and it can give a voice to those who might not otherwise be heard.

I think especially when we’re using social media for business purposes, we can get a bit lost in the metrics and forget that ultimately, social media is about people. And the more human you are, the more your content will resonate and the stronger your connections to others will grow.

Set time limits

Again, whether it’s spending too much time scrolling TikTok on your sofa at home, or spending hours comparing your most recent post to your competitor’s latest update, there’s definitely such a thing as too much time spent on social media.

I had a conversation with a client just recently about how frustrating it can be that the post you barely thought about and just popped online can perform so much better than the one you spend hours pouring your best advice and expertise into. Of course, social media requires thought and strategy – that’s what we do at Carnsight. But we also know that it’s all about testing and learning, trying things out and being open to how things play out. And it comes back to that human element I mentioned too.

Setting yourself time limits to ensure the time you spend working on or consuming social media is considered, effective and enjoyable is something I’d highly recommend.

Create and follow what actually interests you

If your social media feed or profile is filled with content that you personally don’t even want to take the time to read and consume, then you’re not using social media to its advantage. Even as a business, you have to think about how much you actually enjoy the content for the simple reason that if you don’t, a) people reading will be able to tell in how it’s written and created, and b) the likelihood is your audience probably won’t enjoy it either.

Before you post, ask yourself, would I stop scrolling for this? And actually spend a bit of time on your business accounts, engaging with and looking for content from people and business you like, are inspired by and have connections to.

Know what platforms are the best spaces for you

Personally, my favourite platforms are Pinterest and YouTube. Professionally, it’s LinkedIn and maybe just a touch of Bluesky. These are the spaces I feel like I see the content that I learn from and enjoy the most.

You don’t have to be everywhere. And there will be some online spaces that just don’t feel relevant or right for you or your business. Pick the ones that do and don’t worry about the rest. It’s also to switch up your primary platforms as they all change and evolve.

I hope that these tips have been useful for anyone feeling a bit lost with social media at the moment. They’re simple but surprisingly effective!