Social Media.

What’s the first thing you think about when you hear those two little words?

Perhaps something descriptive like “fun” or “addictive.” Or maybe it’s something generic like “videos” or “photos.” Possibly it’s related to business like “ads” or “promotions.”

The truth is that social media is all of these and much, much more. And it’s the much, much more that I’ve changed my mind about after a 90-day “Video-A-Day Challenge” that I put myself to starting sometime in April and ending the last week of July.

The video a day challenge for three months in a row brought up all kinds of things:

• I learned more about myself
• I learned what I want to share with the world and how I want to share it
• And, I had to dig deep some days to find the motivation to share it.

But I also gained SO much insight into the business of who I am as a person and how that gets portrayed on social media channels as it relates to my brand.

Before challenging myself for 90 days, I saw social media as a way to stay connected with people and trends that make 0 sense to me some days. But through my video-a-day challenge, I learned a few key takeaways that may be of interest to you, the reader, and are worth sharing.

Each takeaway play a role in how I changed my mind around social media.

Takeaway #1: Building a library of content takes more time now than you think, but it’s worth it and will likely save you time down the road.

I’m big on re-purposing media content. If a video or other piece of content (photo, quote, guide, graphic, book, etc) can only be used one time one place, then it’s not worth the time and money it takes to make it. My opinion.

When you build out a library of short form content, you now have things to share with people, refer back to, and utilize across platforms that you wouldn’t have before.

Though it takes time in the here and now, building out a content library for days in a row now is better than needing to put in the time and effort later, when it could have already been done.

Get a jump start on your library and just start creating a ton of content! It will help later for sharing and re-purposing and really save you time.

Takeaway #2: You can’t really go “wrong” with what you share, make, or do. I used to think so, but now I don’t. Not for social media anyways.

First, I want to qualify what I mean by “wrong”. There are obviously wrong things to share and do on social media, just like anywhere in society. Cyber bullying, recording and posting harmful videos, and things of this nature are wrong. But I’m writing to my audience who I believe is mature and generally healthy, wise, and good. Therefore, to the audience on the other side of this article, I really know that you ‘the who’ can’t go wrong in what you produce.

If you are nervous of messing up, getting your words wrong, posting something your audience won’t like, veering too much left or right as you create and share parts of your business, brand, personality, and insight to the world, then know that social media is an OK place to do this. It is fast paced and what was shocking one minute is old news the next.

Sometimes the seemingly “dumb stuff” goes viral, other times the seemingly “talented stuff” goes viral.

In the past, I thought I could go wrong with what I make and share on social media. Now, I realize I can’t really post “wrong” content so long as the message is simple and clear and stems from “me” at my core. Staying on brand is key, but that is why I talk SO much of values. The values that lead your brand remain consistent while the content dances around them.

When it comes to personal branding, we want to remain authentic and well, on brand. With those guidelines, there are no real rules and therefore social media content is the place to create and share and get feedback with what lands and doesn’t.

Takeaway #3: You’re either a consumer or creator and you get to decide which.

We have more power to influence the world around us than we realize, but that’s only when we’re using our voice and showing up. *Beyond social media* I should add. (And the beyond social media addition may be more important than online anyways.)

In my 90-day video-a-day challenge I was a creator, not consumer. I would skim for cool sounds or audio that I would want to use in my video a day (remember I’m a big fan of repurposing what already exists), but I wasn’t trying to watch social just to watch it. I was intentional with “Yes, this audio could work for me too.” Or “No, this is not who I am, or what I represent, I don’t even want to like this video in the search for audio.”

You get what I’m getting at?

After my 90-days of video I realized how much we either shape the narrative of what’s circulating on social; we just “like” “share” and “consume” without putting our own voice out there and actually show up to create, influence, and shape the world; or we avoid social media altogether, which is a 3rd camp you might currently be living in.

I admit that I don’t have a ton of followers right now, but the numbers, no matter how many 0s you add, shouldn’t determine my decision to show up and influence the narrative of social media. I’m consuming or creating. I’m being influenced or I’m influencing.

I realize now that if I’m not creating then I really am a consumer when it comes to social media. This is not bad, as long as I’m aware of this distinction, and can live with the daily decision to not show up to create on the online space of social.

Conclusion

I’ll wrap up by saying that I definitely changed my mind about social media during my 90-days of a-video-a-day. AND I learned a lot! It was a fun challenge, creative challenge, and sometime frustrating challenge. But then—why would it be a challenge if it were easy? The key is to know what you’re about NOW in life and pursue that wholeheartedly.

I had a few people ask me: “Where’s the value?” “What are you getting out of this?” “Why keep going if your numbers aren’t changing”? Well, here is a little more background:

• I made a decision back in April and wanted to follow through to the end. I wanted to stick to it.
• The value I took away was way more than just seeing numbers change online with what I create and portray of myself and brand.
• I now have a library of all kinds of “Stuff” that can be re-purposed for other platforms and other forms of media content as needed.
• I got WAY more comfortable in front of the camera, showing my face and hearing my voice. That was big for me.
• And lastly, I got to create for days taking me out of the consumer role. I re-positioned myself as a creator. (I have since then been consuming more than what I want, and after a couple weeks break of creating, I’m ready to get back to it and show up again, starting with this blog!)

Comment me your thoughts! I’ll be sure to reply as soon as I can.

Blue Skies,
Juliandra Jackson

The Lady with a Brand Plan