Imagine a news feed filled with inspirational messages, information about your hobbies, or resources on what matters to you. With a little more paying attention this is how social media can transform for us.
Now is an excellent time to pay more attention. Often in our journey on social media, the endgame always seems to be gathering attention. People drop out of the game because there is so much attention seeking. However, social media offers this great benefit that many are not utilizing. Think about all the people and information accessible via these social platforms. Try diverting your focus to using social media to pay more attention, observe, and learn. 
For small business owners, now is the time to get online and listen. Find out about your customers and what motivates them, the information they seek, and the struggles they encounter. You can learn ways to engage with customers by paying attention, then provide the information and knowledge they crave. Want to get started in the process? Read more here.
How Do We Pay More Attention?
The search box on many social media platforms is like Google. You can use these search boxes to discover groups and pages you want to follow. There are plenty of groups and pages out there about almost anything. I have joined many groups and followed many profiles and pages on subjects I enjoy. Start with Facebook, the largest social media platform. My newsfeed on Facebook includes information about my hobbies and things I want to learn. Instagram is educational content and inspirational posts. Want to customize what you see on your Facebook newsfeed? - Facebook newsfeed preferences. I taught my daughter how to do this on Snapchat, her favorite social platform. The search box in Snapchat is in an area called Discover. To find Discover on Snapchat, swipe from right to left on the camera screen. You can use the search box to see stories and pages, then subscribe to what interests you. She has benefited from several resources for her learning and hobbies. 
My Hard Truth About Paying Attention?
One day, my daughter asked me to take her out to buy a trash can. However, we have plenty of trash cans in our house, so there was no need to buy a new one. She told me it was for a new idea she had. She’s quite crafty, you see. I fell for it, and we visited three stores to find the perfect trash can. While we were still in the store, she started taking pictures of her newly named trash can Tim, placing Tim on a chair or between stuffed animals. I had no idea why she was doing this, but I helped her find fun spots to take pictures of Tim. 
Later, she told me it was her new idea for social media. Apparently, some of her friends were receiving hundreds of likes for various activities they were participating in, so she wanted a similar experience. Her ideas were to bring a trash can into her life and go on adventures with it, like learning to ride a bike, and take pictures of these escapades. In sum, my daughter wanted the same attention she thought all her friends were receiving online. I knew I had to quickly change this way of thinking.
In short, social media is a great tool if you are paying attention rather then trying to get attention. In a world where we are home and need positive images, changing our mindset is a great start. Focus for the sake of focusing, without desiring anything else.
Want to learn about social media marketing and how to make it work for you? Follow @thesocialprof on Facebook. Enjoy! Kellie Emrich @thesocialprof
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