I must spend 90% of my life with technology; on my laptop and on my mobile. Admittedly, most of that is because that’s what I do as a Virtual Assistant. However, we all know that sometimes we need to get away from it all, welcome to the Digital Detox.
The idea behind the Digital Detox is that you basically walk away from all things digital, in particular, social media. Some may only detox for a day whereas others, months. But, just what affect does this have on your business?
Just imagine, you’ve got a physical shop on the high street. You’ve got loyal customers who shop their everyday, seeing what’s new because they’ve invested in you and your brand and trust you to deliver what they need. Now imagine closing that shop without warning for weeks on end. Customers are likely to get suspicious and wonder if things have gone badly wrong and that maybe you’ve gone out of business.
It’s exactly the same principal when it comes to social platforms. If you add it up, the majority of us will literally spend thousands of hours building our platforms and our followers, creating the buy-in and the trust with them that keeps them coming back for more. If suddenly we were to disappear, we lose that trust. In the world of social media, not only do we lose that trust, but we lose momentum of continuing to build our brand. Social media is a hugely fickle tool with new brands and influencers coming and going all the time, so the minute you stop giving your followers what they want, they will find the next big thing very quickly.
So how do we digitally detox the right way?
1. Don’t tell your followers that’s what you’re doing. It’s pretty much like saying I don’t want to talk to you. I want you to invest in me and buy from me, but I don’t care very much for you.
2. Use scheduling tools. Make sure you have a plan in place for when you are away from it all. Pre-schedule posts to make it look like you’re still around, even if you’re not. You can now even schedule stories and delay videos to make them look like your ‘going live’.
3. Pass the torch. Even if you’ve decided to schedule your posts and content, there’s still the issue of replying and responding to comments and engaging with your followers and other social media users. Ask for someone to mind your social accounts while you take ten. By doing this, not only will you avoid being put on the naughty list of Instagram and Facebook, but to your audience and followers, it’s business as usual.
Getting away from it all is hugely important for any business owner, particularly if you feel that technology is becoming too big of a part of your life and, in some cases, it’s having a negative effect on your life and quite possibly your health. However, correctly managing the time that you will be away from it and implementing solutions to keep the momentum will limit the damage and impact that having time off from it all can have.
Do you need help keeping the momentum going while you’re away? Contact one of the team at The Contemporary PA, www.thecontemporarypa.co.uk