NJ, USA
As a blogger, what should you do about social media censorship? Should you fight the machine? Or does surrendering better suit you? How does censorship affect your blogging campaign? Where do you need to look for traffic sources not named Facebook, Twitter or YouTube? Or should you stick to heavy social media sites? How should you use social? What should you think about social media? How should you frame social media?
Let’s answer these questions today.
Own How Social Media Owners Can Do As They Please
Every entrepreneur who owns social media sites can do as they please because it is their website.
Accepting this truth instantly dissolves the fight concerning censorship and any debate about freedom of speech. Bloggers can mock alleged freedom of speech on social media but no blogger can change the rules of any social media site because owners change rules. However, bloggers can close out social media accounts to lessen social clout or bloggers can publish only high energy updates to speak freely on social media.
Let go what you cannot control. Focus on what you can control.
Publish High Energy Content on Social Media
Publishing:
- positive updates
- inspirational updates
- loving updates
is the easiest way to completely avoid bans. Unless Mark Zuckerberg becomes a Dark Lord of the Sith he will not censor users publishing inspirational quotes, uplifting stories and compassionate narrations. I do not see him silencing the Dalai Lama soon. Hope springs eternal for humanity. Facebook and Twitter still deal with the basic narrative of hope. Neither seems to be turning dark enough to fact check whether or not love is the solution.
But assess your version of high energy content. Publish nothing political because “high energy” and “political” never mix.
Any time you lend your power and the power of other humans to one person or a party to control you, that is know as “fear”, my Young Blogging Padawans. Fear sits on the low end of the energy spectrum. Love sits on the high end of the energy spectrum.
Stick to love. Avoid censoring. Avoid being shut down. Keep accounts open to inspire people and to publish helpful blog content for sharing on social media.
Publish Content Related to Your Blogging Niche on Social Media
Think business, not personal.
Posting blogging business-related content keeps you out of the social media dog house.
I publish blogging tips themed content. No social media algorithm has issues with blogging tips themed content, as far as I have seen over the past 9 years of owning Blogging From Paradise.
But once you publish highly personal beliefs related to politics and the news cycle you find trouble. Why? Most human beings attach heavily to personal beliefs concerning politics, political parties and the main stream news media. Being heavily attached to your beliefs emits a heavy energy of fear, closed-mindedness and a certain vibe guaranteed to at least get you in a little trouble as you try to force your personal views on other social media users.
Use social media only to spread good vibes and to share helpful content from your blog.
Scout Emerging Websites to Open New Communication Channels
Scout emerging social media sites as alternatives or add-on’s to big social media. Connect with like-minded people on sites promoting free speech, tolerance and kindness.
Check out sites your buddies are talking about. Feel free to join to stay connected across multiple channels. But never get attached because in this day and age of social media censorship and general social backlash any emerging site can bite the dust fast due to worldly pressures.
Own Your Blog Own Your List and Create on Real Estate Owned by Blogging Buddies
The easiest and quickest way to divest yourself of social media chaos is to:
- own your domain
- buy hosting
- publish content on your blog
- publish guest posts and genuine comments on blogs owned by your buddies
- own your email list
Email and blogging divests you of social media. Whatever happens on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has nothing to do with your blog or email list because each behaves independently on social media channels.
Commit to Your Online Real Estate
Everything depends on your commitment to sticking to the bread and butter activities of creating and connecting through your blog and buddy blogs and by owning your email list.
Seek to divest yourself from social media versus investing yourself more deeply in social tendrils. I get it; we all intend to meet somewhere relatively popular online. But why not make that popular meeting site your blog? Why not build your blog into something special?
Give most attention and energy to blogging and list building to increase your traffic and profits independent of social media.
Admittedly, this feels uncomfortable sometimes because nothing appears to happen blogging-wise for a bit.
For example, as I updated and re-published this post I heard my ego mind chatter telling me to stop wasting my time because not enough people will read it. However, sitting with the chatter revealed how skipping this critical task and scrambling to social media is not the answer either.
I own Blogging From Paradise. How can it keep growing if I give increasing time to social media work and decreasing time to my blogging campaign?
Being blog-focused lets you avoid social media chaos but also goads you to build your blog into a trusted resource.
Be patient. Success can and will find you but digging deep into the mind and ferreting out self-sabotaging tendencies is key for focusing heavily on your blog and sparingly on social media marketing.
Build your blog first and foremost. Spend most time publishing detailed content and bonding with bloggers via their owned online real estate.
Treat social media as a secondary or tertiary channel at best to grow your blog effectively and to frame social media usage in the appropriate light.
Conclusion
Social media is here to stay.
Why not focus on your blog and use social as an added bonus for connecting with potential readers?
