Did you happen to notice anything strange last week?
If you did, it was probably a result of the immense number of mentions of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on social and traditional media, and not that I took the week off of social media.
Believe it or not, while I took the week off of social media, the world kept spinning, my business survived, my face didn't melt off, and no other catastrophes occurred as a direct result (as far as I know anyway).
Of course I'm joking about the dramatic overestimation of my importance to the world of social media, but I did gain some perspective I'd like to share while taking this bit of time off recently.
It's perspective that is relatively simple to understand, but I'll tell you that having lived it has given me a new appreciation for the validity of the following points:
Before anything, take care of your business.
Sometimes there are more important things to do than sweat every detail of your efforts on social media, particularly as a small business owner. If your business requires your full attention, it would be foolish to let critical business requirements slide in favour of managing your social media presence. If your business is comprised of a small team, be sure to have your priorities in check and take care of what's best for your business first and foremost.
Taking a break can be reenergizing.
It's obvious and cliché, but it's true. Taking a break from anything, even if it's something important and that you're passionate about can be incredibly reenergizing. Because social media marketing is demanding of your time and attention on a daily basis, taking a few days off can really help to refresh your motivation for building relationships with your targeted audience, providing huge value, and generally killing it on social media.
Stepping back can give you fresh perspective.
There are times when the best way to progress something, is to step away from it. Being removed can give you fresh perspective, and let you think about things in new ways without needing to take care of the day-to-day. I'm convinced the same holds true for social media. Not being so involved in the daily requirements of managing your social media properties can better facilitate those magical moments when ideas and fresh thinking comes to you almost subconsciously.
If your efforts are consistent, the odd hiccup isn't going to disrupt anything.
And the reality is that nothing terrible is going to happen as a result of a few days away from social media. You're not going to lose your entire audience, and you're not going to jeopardize the relationships you've built. Your business will be fine, and maybe it will even be better as a result.
What were the negatives of taking a week off?
After returning to my business's social media efforts, and my personal social media networks after a week away, things were pretty well where I left them. Sure, I lost a few followers on Twitter, but I think that number was literally 3 or 4.
I published only one blog post last week instead of the two that I typically do, which wasn't technically a cheat because it was pre-scheduled to post from weeks prior. This resulted in my page views being down about 10 percent for the week, which is within my blog's typical range of fluctuation, so nothing really dramatic.
These were the most dramatic changes that I noticed as a direct result of this experiment, so certainly no irreparable damage done.
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So there you go. If you have pressing needs to take care of that keep you from managing your social media and content marketing efforts as strictly as you'd ideally like, don't sweat it, particularly if you have a track record of consistency and you don't make it a regular habit.
As a result of having done this myself, I might actually suggest taking a break every now and again to recharge and reinvigorate your efforts upon your return. And an alternative to letting things stagnate is of course to have someone capable stand in for you while you take a bit of time away.
When is the last time you deviated from your regular routine on social media?
If you've ever done this, what happened as a result?
Do you have a plan in place to facilitate taking time off of social media?
It would be great to hear from you in the comments, or on Twitter @RGBSocial