Optimizing your feed for success

That time I unfollowed everyone I knew.

Welcome to Exposed Brick DC Pulse, a weekly newsletter for real estate professionals in the DMV looking to build their brand on social media. In addition to strategy, paid subscribers get access to topical content ideas ready to share with their audience. Think of it as a living drafts folder for all of the content I don’t have time to post on EBDC. Ready to subscribe? Tap the button below.

---

It’s weird that I remember this night so clearly but I do.

It was the summer of 2016. I was laying on the couch scrolling Instagram, my feed full of friends and family posting updates about their lives. I think we can all relate to that moment during the mindless scrolling where you ask yourself, “What am I doing?” Whether it be guilt around “wasting time” or the threat of FOMO, there are many reasons why we start questioning our relationship with social media.

For me, it was simple. The time I was spending on social wasn’t serving me.

A place that I was going to find connection was just fueling negative feelings of comparison and insecurity. My solution? I unfollowed everyone. Anyone that I had a personal relationship with, I unfollowed. The only accounts I continued to follow were ones that I found inspiring. As you can probably guess, it was a mix of design, real estate, Washington news, and local creatives.

What started as an exercise to improve my own mental health ended up being the first step in shifting my perception of social media from a social network to a business tool. And my friends and family quickly got over the snub.

If you are trying to create a brand on social, you need to think of yourself as a creator first. When you are on social media, you are on the clock. It is a time to learn, pick up on trends, see what your competition is doing. If you are getting distracted by your friend’s summer vacation in Italy (because who isn’t in Italy this summer *eye roll emoji*) or your cousin’s new baby, you are wasting time.

I promise I am not trying to get you to cut off all your friends and family and stop the mindless scroll. I am just asking you to do it outside of business hours and on another account. Side note: if you don’t have social media accounts for your business, do that now.

‘This week I challenge you to (a) set up new accounts for your business if you haven’t already and (b) optimize your feed for success. Cut out all of the noise and start using social as a place to learn and create. I promise it boost your productivity and creativity.

That concludes EBDC Pulse’s free content for the week! This email was sent to 120 real estate professionals. Help us reach more subscribers by forwarding this week’s issue to your colleagues!