I have to give honest feedback about my fears as a social media professional. Whether I am just taking the pressure off, admitting I am human, or simply fearful that "all-eyes-are-on-me," I gotta admit, it's a scary world out there! Here are my top 5 fears:
- Telling you what I had for breakfast. The other morning, when I checked into Foursquare, I was about to commit social media sin by telling you what I ate at the diner that morning. Gasp! Could I have broken the biggest law in social media?
- Being sized by the competition! Granted, I don't have too many competitors who do exactly what I do, I still worry they are watching me and looking for a way to bust my chops and/or take what I do and replicate it. Paranoid much? Yup... sometimes!
- Saying the wrong thing. Funny how a tweet or blog comes so easy to me when it's for a client, but for my business? Heck no...I agonize. I know that as social media professional, I am being watched so it's tougher for me to create content. I usually defer to my golden rule of everything I post..."is this of value to my readers?"
- Posting a message for a client that could receive negative feedback. Ok, so we agree that every once in a while, to generate interactivity, we have to push the envelope? What if I did that for a client and it ended negatively? Consider my job as a social media manager to be the "PR/Marketing department" for my client and having that blow up in my face?
- Missing something. There are a zillion changes to social media every day - new Facebook changes, Google ranking systems, "rules" of engagement, and ever-changing software. Despite reading dozens of publications a day, having a gal who researches even more publications, and amazing colleagues who keep me abreast of issues in the business, I still worry I am going to miss something. I constantly fear I will skip over an important detail, despite the fact that I know I am doing the best "humanly" possible.
And maybe number 5 is what is comes down to. I am human and being social is "human." So what I am so worried about? Maybe you can relate? Do you find yourself "double-checking" yourself each time to try to engage your audience?