Social media is a job we never signed up for

Social media is a job we never signed up for, demands our full attention, and nags us to come in our day off.

We’re spinning our wheels on an unending feed of noise, where reaching and growing our fanbase will never get any easier.

Think about it – you’re competing with brands and outlets that employ teams with writers, designers, video editors, and people who handle JUST THE COMMENTS.

These teams are also updating and managing several social media platforms—places where you don’t even exist if you don’t have an account.

I’m saying this is a crappy job.

Maybe tossing promotional paper airplanes into the cyclone of digital content isn’t the best use of our time.

The social media platforms will continue to make it harder for you.

That’s their job.

Every day they place the proverbial cheese just a little bit further and further away, letting you think that if you post a little more often, using varying media types, then maybe you’ll get 10 more followers or seven likes.

Like I said, some brands, bands, and people make it their job to be on all the social media platforms.

So when you choose (let’s say) Instagram, you’re supposedly limiting yourself from millions of other potential new fans.

If you’re “only” on Instagram and wondering how you’ll ever “grow your audience” without it, well, how will you grow without being on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube?

It’s like Ricky Gervais arguing the existence of God with Stephen Colbert.

There are 3,000 Gods, and Colbert believes in one.

There are multiple social media networks, and you believe in Instagram.

Ricky Gervais believes in just one less.

I believe in a website and an email list.

If you believe that social media is required, but you only “believe” in one platform, you’ve very close to “not being on social media” already, as you’re leaving out millions of potential new fans that could experience your work for the first time.

Not everyone is on Instagram. Lots of people left Facebook. Twitter has been a dumpster fire for quite some time.

But every smartphone comes with an email app installed.

Every smartphone comes with a web browser.

I leave you with this: your work should be so good that fans share it willingly on their social media networks.

Because that’s the nature of “getting the word out” – you make great work, and show it to your friends.

If it’s good enough, they tell their friends about it, and now you don’t even need to be on TikTok because someone else makes a clip talking about your work, which now brings you in front of a new audience.

But that requires making great work.

That’s your job.

Your job is making great work that people will talk about.