We are constantly bombarded with information that tells us that as a business we need to use social media, we need to twitter, make sure we’re active on Facebook or LinkedIn or both, and have we got a video on You Tube or a podcast to help market ourselves in the 21^st Century.

Oh and let’s not forget Blogging, some people say a couple of blogs a week, some experts say 10 blogs a week and yet you might struggle just to write one.

As small businesses find their social media voice and realise in some arena’s they are loud enough to compete against bigger businesses, the extra pressure is introduced because they don’t have enough hours in the day to do it all. Possibly in your business, you are the marketing, accounts, sales and production department and you have to spread yourself to do everything.

It is no wonder that stress builds up, are you using the grenade effect on your social media, this means doing a bit on everything and hoping that you might be doing something right to get some positive contacts from your hours of effort.  Or are you so frightened by the huge social media entity that you have not even attempted to use social media yet.

I know I have experienced this with my social media, over the last 24 months I have experienced both joy and despair with my social media, as a business owner I want to make sure I am effective spreading my business message.  I have read books and listened to audio books on the subject, I have attended workshops online and offline to understand how to be effective and I have been most fortunate to have found an amazing marketing company who I trust and have the patience to educate me on effective social media marketing.

So how can you reduce your stress in this social media correctiveness (yes it’s a made up word) minefield, well the first thing is start with just one thing, use the one that you feel most comfortable with. When I started with social media I began with Facebook because I am very visual and I liked the way it displayed videos and images on the screen.  As you begin to get more comfortable you can then start building your social media arsenal, you will be amazed how quickly you’ll start to pick things up, use the one that plays to your strengths.

To reduce your stress create a social media strategy and attach some goals to it, I would suggest you sign up for some workshops they are a great place to learn the basics.  Without this your ignorance will cost you money because you can waist hours of your precious time on social media without getting anywhere.

Social media is here to stay and the way people do business and talk about business has changed radically and I think in a good way.  Authenticity is at the forefront and I think that is a breath of fresh air, those so called soft skills that are seen as fluffy are more important in the business world and so they should be.  Honesty and the personality of you and your business can be expressed so much more easily.  Customers and prospects can learn more about you and your business through social media than they ever could via your old static sales and marketing literature.

One of the other ways to reduce your stress is to have fun and let your hair down, let’s face it you wanted to start your own business for a reason; there was a passion and desire that compelled you.  That’s what you need to share; it will be so much easier to find things to say and share when you can tap into this.  Embrace the technology, but at a pace that suits you, because then you will become more effective.  Relax! you will eventually get comfortable with it, too much pressure opens the door to silly mistakes and rash decisions which costs time and money.

Developing a good Stress IQ is vital in reducing the stress, give yourself some good constructive feedback then take the actions required to help you get a better control and start to create a stucture, small consiten

So how do you stress about using social media?