In the online world, content creation alone is not enough. As a blogger you need to find your audience, promote to the segment you are targeting and brand yourself. If this looks like a tall order, worry not, for social media is to your rescue. But remember not to have expectations from social media that are so great as to be unrealistic or unreasonable.

Forge a strong, non toxic relationship with social media by checking your expectations. Work on the expectations that are reasonable so that you put your energy into what is doable and achievable.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

First up, we need to know what’s reasonable and what’s unrealistic when it comes to social media. Here’s looking at a few things we all expect when we get into this relationship.

UNREALISTIC : EXPECTING EVERY PLATFORM TO GO BY THE SAME RULES

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn are the staples of networking. And yet, posting similar content over these platforms is going to get you meh results. Each of them has a different kind of content format that does well. The target groups that hang out in these places are vastly different too. Realising that your expectation is unrealistic is the first step to mine each platform for the potential it has.

UNREASONABLE : GETTING A PERFECT TRAJECTORY OF RESPONSES AND FOLLOWS

You are gonna put out great content, you are responsive and helpful and your follower count is going to explode over time. Attractive thought, but it doesn’t really work that way. There are no quick shot ways to gain followers at an exponential rate. Your content may be good but initially you may not get much engagement. You may be responsive to the comments on your posts but you can’t seem to convert those to follows. Remember that the going may be slow but engagement will pick up over time.

REASONABLE : BUILDING TRUST BY BEING GENUINE

Being genuine and responsive in the online space is going to get you long term results in terms of being seen as trustworthy which builds strong personal brands. Be the real you, align your actions with your values.

UNREALISTIC : MAGNIFICENT RESULTS WITH LOW INVOLVEMENT

Once you create accounts on social media platforms, you can create awesome content and would get swarmed by people who get converted at the speed of light. Right? Wrong! Creating good quality, consistent content is hard work. Ideas dry up fast and unless you plan ahead and have a content calendar, it may get difficult to be awesome.

UNREASONABLE : SOCIAL MEDIA AS A METRIC FOR VALIDATION

The more likes and follows I get, the more popular I am. Partly true. But understand that social media can be very fickle. Rather than chasing after likes, go in for building your online tribe. This is a group who is genuinely interested in your content because you add value.

REASONABLE: MY PRESENCE CAN HELP BUILD A BRAND

Branding can seem like the other end of the spectrum when you are just starting out on social media. But over time, with more content of yours out there, more social media posts that are a judicious mix of the professional and personal parts of you, it is possible to build a personal brand.

Know where you expect too much from social media without putting in the hard work. Weed out your unreasonable and unrealistic expectations and focus on the areas that can get you results. After all, letting go of expectations is the first step to building a strong relationship.