Episode 153 transcript:

0:04 You know that super frustrating feeling when you put what feels like your whole entire soul into a post for social media.

0:12 Maybe you write and you write the caption, you edit it, you reread it to yourself and edit it again and read it to yourself and edit it again until it feels perfect.

0:23 And then you find the perfect photo to capture what the message is trying to get across and post to social media.

0:33 And you get crickets or create a real that you feel like this is gonna be so incredibly helpful in making this video.

0:41 I have this important message to share. It's gonna help so many people. Or you make a podcast episode really ending kind of content that you create.

0:53 It's an expression of you and it just feels so important. Like it will help the collective and it will help your community.

1:00 And you put so much into it. And then it's like you can hear, it's so quiet, you can hear the pin drop.

1:08 You know that sound of like just silence. And you might even keep checking social media to see, has anybody commented?

1:16 Has anybody said anything? Did anybody notice? Did anybody read it? Maybe you have some likes, maybe a comment or two.

1:25 I feel you. I've been there. And what I wanna tell you is low engagement or people not talking back to you on your post, doesn't really mean anything about the work that you're putting out into the world and whether or not you are helping them.

1:50 And let me tell you why. If you feel like your post is flopping and no one's saying anything, what I need you to remember is that there are people who watch your videos, they watch your Instagram stories, They might read your content, they might read your posts or your blog or even your book, or listen to your podcast and they don't say anything.

2:16 They scroll right past. And they might even think, Oh, that's helpful, that's cool. Or, I like that photo. Or That's an interesting tip.

2:24 Or That's inspiring. And they might not like it. They might not comment on it, they might not share it, they might not review it.

2:35 And it doesn't mean anything about you or how much your message has helped them. And in fact, okay, I'm gonna call you out because you're probably doing this right now.

2:50 And I had to call myself out too. And that's how it helped me realize that like this doesn't actually mean anything because how many times have you scrolled social media Or listened to podcasts and thought that is so helpful and not said anything?

3:05 I find it pretty rare that people actually jump to let me know how something I'm doing is helping them or commenting on a post unless it moves them so deeply.

3:16 And some of them do have that potency. But oftentimes what I find is even the potent messages and the posts that are really helpful, people just don't always speak back about 'em.

3:28 Oftentimes, people are in a hurry. They're moving through life in a rush. They might have children hanging on their ankles screaming for snacks, or they're doing diaper changes, or they're breastfeeding or they bookmark it in their head and think, I'm gonna come back to that later when I have a chance to actually read it.

3:44 Or they just read the thing and move on and they, they think the thought, they receive the transmission or they watch the video and receive the transmission, but maybe they just don't say anything about it.

3:56 And I, I believe with every fiber of my being that they don't mean, this doesn't mean that what you're doing isn't helpful or that you have because you have low engagement, that your work isn't reaching people.

4:09 No one's listening, nobody's reading. We do this. Ask yourself like, how many times have you read my post? How many times have you gone to my Instagram and watched my reels or watch my stories or listening to this podcast and not clicked like, or comment or share or reviewed the podcast unless I'm doing like a contest or I'm encouraging people to review.

4:43 And this isn't to judge or shame or anything, cuz listen, I've been there. This is just to help you see the big picture here and to get outta your head a little bit because it's in our head that we have to have engagement or it feels like our work isn't working, the thing isn't working, we're not meeting our people online, they're not landing on it, they're not finding it.

5:03 And oftentimes the issue here is time. Perhaps there hasn't been enough time yet. Perhaps you need a little bit more time and practice writing posts, making videos, podcasting to reach the masses.

5:23 It doesn't mean that mean that seeds aren't being planted. Every time you share something of yours, you're planting seeds everywhere.

5:33 Now, if people are following today or next year, isn't that just a matter of timing? If we're looking at it in the short term of like, Well, nobody clicked follow when I posted this reel today, A reel can take off like three months down the road, out of nowhere it happens.

5:52 I don't think there's any logic to that, but it happens. And so what I Hope you remember is that analytics and metrics, when we're looking at engagement on our social media, it can be helpful, but it doesn't tell the whole story and it doesn't actually mean anything unless you are trying to do a brand collaboration with a brand and sponsored ads and sponsored posts where they actually wanna see what your engagement is to gauge how much they wanna pay you for a sponsored post.

6:27 But if that's not what you're doing, then your engagement, it doesn't really mean anything. Yeah, it feels good when people comment.

6:36 It feels good when people like it feels good when people review and give feedback and tell you how much your work is helping.

6:42 It feels amazing. And there are people who do this. And if you're listening and you've done that for me, I appreciate you with so much of my body and soul and my whole being because it does.

6:55 It feels good. And as a projector, it helps me feel recognized for how I'm helping and my contribution to the world.

7:04 So I live for that kind of feedback. And I also realize that it just doesn't happen all the time. I'm open and available to more of it.

7:11 And here's what I would encourage you to do. Be open and available to receiving feedback and to being visible and to being recognized.

7:20 Even if you're not a projector, perhaps practice your content. Practice the potency, practice making your posts have a little more punch.

7:32 This is about practice too. When you're first starting out, like my content five years ago when I first opened a business, Instagram was, my captions were, they were garbage.

7:43 It's totally different than my captions now. I had to practice. And even now my engagement is relatively low. Doesn't mean people aren't receiving what they need.

7:53 There's people on my email list who get my emails and read my emails. There's people who listen to the podcast.

7:57 There's people who happen to be on Instagram and see some stuff I do on Instagram or on Facebook and a little bit on TikTok.

8:07 I think I have like a handful of followers. <laugh>, I'm not really into TikTok yet. So I hope this has been really helpful to help you reframe and shift the way you think about low engagement and keep practicing, keep going.

8:26 Try to remove the time constraints and open up to the bigger picture.