My battle with social media.

My niece Anna and I play a game where we ask, “Would you rather?” type questions. My dilemma with social media, i.e.: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., reminds me of that game and comes down to this: Would you rather be famous? Or do what you love?

I have learned, as a business owner, that social media can become a beast. One that needs to be fed…constantly. The problem with that is I am a very small business with only 3 employees (me, myself, and I). Any time spent on social media is time spent away from bookkeeping, marketing, office work, not to mention actual gardening. Do I want to pursue “likes” in the hope, one day, of getting products to sponsor me? Do I really want to be an influencer? The short answer is no. That might be fine for some, but I have found the deeper I get into social media the more all-consuming it becomes. I had one fellow gardener confess “I am addicted to this.” And she’s good at it with lots of engaged followers but how? She is a small business owner like me and has limited time so how can she keep her business going AND the beast fed? She has hired a company to run her social media platforms. That company will engage with followers, like and comment. This bothers me.

In an age where things are so often not what they seem I yearn for authentic. I want to be real. (For a look at an authentic post click here) Do we present ourselves as real while someone else is behind the curtain pulling the strings? Is that honest? If someone takes time to comment on one of my posts, shouldn’t I be the one replying? And honestly, I would rather have my hands in the dirt then glued to my phone.

I will probably never be an influencer. That’s okay – I’ll be a gardener.