Why social media makes me feel like a schizophrenic

I’m not crazy… at least I think I’m not. But of late I have noticed a certain phenomenon… certain behavioural traits… certain feelings… that just aren’t quite normal. In fact, I’m convinced I am the first person to recognise and diagnose their own split personality. Luckily, I seem to have a handle on both personalities. Furthermore, I’m also inherently aware of the potion that sparks my own transformation… social media. Allow me to introduce you to my alter egos – Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.

DR JEKYLL

Dr Jekyll (also known as happy James) is the dominant of the two personalities. Dr Jekyll is a positive and happy fellow. He spends a significant portion of his time within social media such as blogs, Sphinn & StumbleUpon. He publishes his own blog articles, reads and comments on external blogs, and supports quality content within his favourite social communities via submission and votes. Dr Jekyll isn’t a greedy chap and understands that building a social media profile takes time, expertise and a concerted effort.

Dr Jekyll is spurred along by positive social media experiences, such as:

Traffic spikes

Traffic spikes are the reason most bloggers become involved in social media. And indeed traffic generation is one of the main reasons Dr Jekyll invests his time in social media. Traffic spikes make Dr Jekyll feel all warm and fuzzy for one reason – advocacy. Traffic spikes generally occur due to support from peers in relevant social networks. They typically mean other people have not only found Dr Jekyll’s work, but also found it of sufficient quality to vote on it. Dr Jekyll has been known to make a warm and fuzzy mess in his pants when his work ‘goes hot’ within Sphinn in particular, as this is where his true peers congregate.

Feedback from pro bloggers

Let’s face it… everyone loves to see comments on their own blog. But Dr Jeykll gets particularly excited when a pro blogger joins one of his conversations. He gets a kick whenever an industry expert chimes in to the discussion. In a little over two months, he has been lucky enough to receive comments from Jeff Quipp, Ann Smarty, Slightly Shady SEO, Gab Goldenberg, Tad Szewczyk, Barry Welford & Gyutae Park. And every time it happens, he is inspired to work that little bit harder.

Social media submissions from pro bloggers

A social media submission from a pro blogger is the ultimate compliment. In fact, Dr Jekyll will often lock himself up in a basement for 48 hours following such an occurrence, for fear of over stimulation. Not only is the pro blogger saying that they like Dr Jekyll’s work, they are also saying that they are willing to use their considerable visibility to promote it. Therefore, Dr Jekyll would like to pass on his heart felt thanks to Dave & Kristen for submitting his work to Sphinn.

Building friendships

Social media is all about relationships. Creating and building relationships is without doubt one of the most rewarding aspects of social media for Dr Jekyll. In fact, he has been downright astonished with just how approachable and friendly many of the most prominent faces on his favourite social network are (Sphinn). He is yet to meet a power user that wasn’t courteous and generous with their time and knowledge. Many have made his day simply by returning an email or taking the time to provide a little expert advice.

And now to the evil Mr Hyde…

MR HYDE

Mr Hyde (also known grumpy James) is the minority personality, but nevertheless lingers in the background ready to stamp his negativity over any situation. Mr Hyde is pessimistic and attempts to convince Dr Jekyll that the time he commits to social media is wasted. In fact, Mr Hyde’s favourite past time is trying to persuade Dr Jekyll that he’d be better off shooting hoops or spending more time with his girlfriend.

Mr Hyde rears his ugly head in frustrating social media situations, such as:

A lack of visibility and consistent results

Some success in social media can lead to an inflated sense of self. Indeed, there have been occasions when Dr Jekyll believed he had reached a landmark moment in social media visibility (particularly within Sphinn). Of course, these moments were quickly followed by experiences that brought his ego crashing back to earth. New articles were ignored and social media submissions struggled to generate more than a handful of votes. The realisation occurred that overnight success was not a reality. And Mr Hyde laughed in Dr Jekyll’s face.

Low conversion

Social media visitors rarely convert. Mr Hyde knows that. So while a traffic spike provides an initial thrill, Mr Hyde is quick to remind Dr Jekyll that his subscriber count often fails to mimic the spike behaviour. And without subscribers, Dr Jekyll knows vital return traffic is unlikely.

Dependence

The low conversion rate of social media creates a dependence for newbies like Dr Jekyll. Mr Hyde loves to rub traffic lulls in Dr Jekyll’s face.

“Where’s your traffic?” he says.

”You had 500 visitors 3 days ago and now you’ve got 5… what a loser”.

Dr Jekyll knows he’s right, but without time to establish organic search rankings and inbound links, he’s heavily reliant on social media for traffic.

“Better make your next article a better one, because your last one only generated 10 visits… You suck.” scorns Mr Hyde.

Addiction

Mr Hyde likes to taunt Dr Jekyll by implying he’s addicted to social media.

“You’re just in it for the traffic spike rush. You’re a social media junkie.” says Mr Hyde.

“Look at you… yearning for your next hit”.

Dr Jekyll is convinced it’s not true, but knows other bloggers fall into a trap of becoming more focused on traffic spikes than what’s most important – his content and audience.

LIVING WITH DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE

Juggling multiple personalities certainly isn’t easy… particularly when Mr Hyde is such a nasty little bugger. But Dr Jekyll is convinced he will prevail. He knows that life isn’t easy for social media newbies. He knows it will take time to create a critical level of social media visibility. But he’s also convinced that the dedication and commitment will pay off in the end. He is convinced that he can rid himself of the evil Mr Hyde. He is convinced the forces of good will prevail.

Let’s hope he’s right… because he’s getting a little sick of Mr Hyde’s twitchy right eye.

Tagged as: Social media, social media conversion, social news, Sphinn, StumbleUpon