A few friends have asked me about my experiences as a business owner with social media, so I’m going to tell you.  Again, these are my opinions.  If Tumblr is your thing, awesome.  And I realize that I’m going to be posting some not nice things about social media outlets WHILE POSTING THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS.  I’ll cover that.  And I get the irony.  Thank you.  😀

Facebook:  

A few months ago, I closed my Little Fox Tarot  account on Facebook.  I had like – 3000? – friends?  Maybe?  Anyway, I noticed that the number of reading requests I’d gotten from all of that work and interaction equaled a small percentage of the time I spent on it.  So I deleted it.  I have a Facebook business page that didn’t have a lot of traffic until I closed my LFT account.  Turns out, you have to spend time with something before it does anything.  Ain’t that some shit?  I got more requests for a hot dates from dashing strangers from overseas than I did for readings.  Since I’m taken, it really wasn’t worth my time.  

The thing I noticed most about closing my account?  My business increased.  A lot.  I have a theory about this.  Keep reading.

Twitter:

Twitter is my favorite.  I’ve only been trolled once, and they were questioning my knowledge of the cards.  Bitch, please.  The handy dandy block button took care of that.  I like the warmth of the community.  I like that I found Little Red Tarot and Theresa Reed and Catherine Chapman and Suzi Dronzek on there.  I like the quick interaction.  Again, it depends on how much time you’ve spent with it.  I would guess I’ve had a few dozen reading requests from Twitter, but I gotta tell you, the best part is the community.  The more time I spend with Twitter, the more readings I give.  

Tumblr:

Oh, Tumblr.  When I first joined, I realized immediately why it was called tumblr.  I went down, down, down the rabbit hole.  Just like Alice, I saw some strange and beautiful shit.  Just like Alice, on occasion it felt like a hallucination.  After noticing that I was IGNORING MY LIFE to surf Tumblr, I deleted my account.  I deleted my blog because I think that Tumblr is like a drunken uncle. It makes sense at first and then devolves into crazy murmurings and uncomfortable porn references. After I did this, my business increased.  See?  Theory.  I’ll get to that.

But I’m back on a limited basis.  I have found a wee baby tarot community on Tumblr.  I love teaching cards and the tarot community in St. Louis is a bit spread out.  So, I’ve cut back the people I’m following to tarot people only (and Shooter Jennings, Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman because duh) and I’m going to spend 10 minutes on Tumblr a day.  That’s it.  That’s all I need.  I welcome any tarot connections I make there, and will remember that it’s supposed to be for my BUSINESS, not for my LIFE.

Instagram:

I have no fuckin clue what I’m doing on Instagram.  It’s for photography, and although my sweetheart is a photographer, I am not.  I do have these cool Tarot Memes that I’m putting out, but other than that, I got nothin’.  I think I’m going to post all of the tarot memes when they’re finished and then just let them hang out to be found if they’re needed.  

The Point:

Social media is a tool and should be treated like one.  There is no one way to handle it to run your business, because if you do something that isn’t right for you, it’s not going to be genuine and it’s not going to work.  I think that my experiences with Tumblr and Instagram and Facebook have helped me (through trial and lots of error) figure out how much of me I want out there.

The Theory:

Here we go.  I think that when you spread yourself out across the internet, it diminishes your energy.  I think that there is a part of me in every word I type (it’s called a SPELL for a reason) and every interaction I have.  3000 people who don’t know me, don’t love me and don’t need me reading my words?  Looking at my pictures?  That’s a lot of energy to put out there for nothing.  I think the reason that my business increased when I closed those accounts was because I was more fully present and more focused.  I had my little bits of energy back, and I could put them to better use. 

I feel that by controlling the amount of myself I invest in social media, I am controlling my focus, attention and energy, as well.  So – for me – 10 minutes per day on Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook = 40 minutes per day investing in my business.  Most of my readings come from word of mouth or this blog, so I’m going to put the rest of my free time into making sure I give amazing readings and writing my ass off.  Those things pay off.

To Michelle who just started her business – try everything and keep the things that serve you, sweetheart.  Remember that you are the wizard of everything.  Pick the right tool and get to work. 

xoxo LFT