Testing social media algo :)

Every year, by the time August comes, I review all my activities and I start thinking about the Christmas market. Not so last year. Well, we all know that it was a very atypical year. Nothing planned worked and frankly, I got dispirited by it all. I thought to myself that no one is going to be interested in my products – frankly, they are not essential for life. And the shops that were making any profits were only those that had face masks, cleaning products, disinfectants and so on.

I was overwhelmed at work as ironically, we had to and were expected to work hard no matter what. The motivation for my own side business hit all time low and stagnated. Now, when things are moving again, I hear from people around me: “Ecommerce is saturated, everyone is doing it, so many newcomers create an enormous competition”…and so on. I am not debating here what has happened to the e-commerce, rather I am looking at it with fresh eyes. Sometimes it helps to start with a blank sheet paper again and toss out things that do not work anymore.

In this post I am looking at the social media and my relationship with them. I know that there were more people on social media than usual, but still some patterns have emerged.

Instagram – Once integrated with Facebook, I thought that there is no point posting there but fortunately recently there are some good changes. Mainly, I can again reconnect with my followers, I don’t seemed to be penalised from not showing up every single day and there is a steady growth, if you are steady. Instagram Reels have a big potential. For me personally more interesting than TikTok (the target audience of TikTok is not my audience).

Pinterest – I have seen numerous videos that were stating that it is the best platform. For me it was like that at the very beginning. I got a quick boost and the impressions were getting higher and higher until the algorithm changed and I faced a downward spiral. Nothing helped and now I have the same amount of impressions as when I have started. I would still say that it is a very good media if you have products related to certain industries and audiences – weddings, new couples setting up their homes, furniture of any kind, motherhood and parenthood topics, viral and trendy products etc. You do have to post regularly and preferably several pins a day or at least a one pin a day. For me this became very gruelling to keep up with. I am not dropping it though as it did drive a moderate traffic to my Etsy shop.

Blogging – I thought that no one is blogging in 2021 {hahahaha), just did not seem trendy and seemed bit lost among all other media. I was pleasantly surprised. There is a potential if you are willing to give it a time, and I mean a long time (like a year or two), of course there are exceptions but I am writing about my own experience and this is how it seems to me.

You Tube – Yes, it has potential. But again, you have to give it time as the growth is painfully slow. You need to be willing to create content without any rewards – for many months, sometimes I think that the Algo is testing us whether we can make it and how much we can endure.

I must say, that after 6 months, I started to dislike the social media. They seemed like these massive monsters that are always hungry and never satisfied. The AI always wants more and more…and it became unsustainable. I am a one person business after all and I would need to have clones to juggle them all. So, it was time to scale down and create a routine.

And here it is:

Friday – create one week of Pinterest posts 2 hours after work

Saturday – create Instagram posts plus check likes/comments – 2 hours

Sunday – create one blog post and one or more YouTube videos – 5-7 hours

Rinse and repeat. If I have some extra time on work days so yes, I will make an extra pin, post or whatever.

I know it seams very simple and maybe not enough – but it did the trick for me. I feel sane, I feel that I can manage the Algo and Also does not hate me for doing that. And lastly, I do get some rest on work days.

I will keep you posted if this routine worked for me long-term. In the meantime dear friends, don’t get swallowed by those beasts, remember – they will always be hungry! Rather, think of your own energy levels, how much you can give them and at the same time still lead fairly happy life 🙂

More on Social Media scheduling can be found here.