Let's get personal
The power of opening up.
I’m sure many of you are just like me with social media.
You like it. You don’t love it. It can be pleasant, but it’s not your preference.
If you sit for a meal and make memories based more on the feelings in your stomach rather than how it fits on your Instagram story, you’re like me. If you attend a concert and value being present in the moment more than crafting your next post, you’re definitely like me.
My timeline is nothing more than a tool, certainly not my life. Until now, I’ve posted on social media mostly for professional reasons. If not for my job, I wouldn’t post at all. I’ve intentionally kept my personal life private and my whereabouts when not working to myself.
But now it’s time I get personal.
It feels strange just saying it. Like anybody cares what I made for breakfast or how many miles I got in at the gym. But now I know it’s not about that. I had been looking at social media all wrong. A silly time-suck is how I used to see it. Popular platforms seemed to be solely for people who were attention-seekers.
I’m the polar opposite. I’m an introvert. I like being inconspicuous. As the world pings from one social platform to the next, I’m happy retreating. I enjoy the silence and peace that solitude brings. I remember my meals perfectly fine without snapping a pic and sharing.
But it’s finally dawned on me that I have greatly underutilized social media. And so I’m in the process of changing that.
Bear with me. It’s a slow process.
I became the last breathing and functioning millennial to join Instagram back on May 22. I held off for as long as possible. It took another 3 1/2 months to grow the courage to share my first post. That’s how uncomfortable and unsure I was.
Instagram is one, big sensory overload. On any given post, people are shouting at you about who knows what, while music plays, captions scroll, hashtags flash and unicorn emojis dance. I can’t believe it’s how 2 billion people consume content.
Two billion.
I’d be a fool to not meet them where they are.
When I deleted Facebook about seven or eight years ago, I said I would return when I had something to offer. A product to promote. A service to provide.
Money Talks is that product.
To spread the word about our journey, I’ve embraced social media like never before. Now it’s personal.
It’s also not so bad. I’m learning to showcase my personality more on social media without trying to be something I’m not. I haven’t figured out a strategy yet and don’t know when I’ll feel good about a direction. In the meantime, I just started posting content I thought was cool and my work I wanted people to see.
My 10th post, a repurposed clip of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo having a money talk on CBS Mornings, went viral. It’s generated 162,000 views, more than 9,000 likes and nearly 100 comments. It’s been shared more than 8,000 times.
I’m kicking myself for not including a link to Money Talks in that reel.
Marketing is only one benefit. I’ve connected with like-minded people on Instagram, found old college friends and followed accounts that consistently make me smarter. By almost fearfully avoiding the platform’s mindless entertainment, I was robbing myself of its free education.
Creating Instagram content also is cooler than I anticipated. It feels like the same multimedia storytelling I’ve done throughout my career, only mixing video, pictures, audio, captions, graphics and emojis to capture the audience’s eyeballs. I surprised myself during last month’s Plutus Impact Summit when I advised another skittish soul to jump in and start.
I have spent considerable hours learning the ins and outs on Instagram, however, and I already can see how easily one can become hooked scrolling. One of the reasons I stayed away from the app is because of its perils, particularly on teenage girls, which the company knows can be toxic.
Parker is nearing the age of joining social media, and since I can’t stop her my job is to educate her — on the good, the bad and everything in between.
She’s determined to be a YouTuber, and I actually support her. First, she must learn better discipline and dedication. Remember, her work ethic didn’t hold up for a three-hour shift at P&D’s Lemonade Stand. Then she has to master her emotions. I’m already stressing to Parker that her worth is not determined by the number of “likes” she receives.
But as Money Talks grows, so will our social media presence. Diversifying our approach is inevitable given Parker’s interests and the various ways people consume content.
It’s an evolving world I didn’t want any part of before. Only now am I starting to see the benefits.
If you’re on Instagram, follow me @DarnellMayberry for more of a peek into our journey.