Esther
Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast, I'm Esther.
Melanie
And my name's Melanie.
Esther
And today we're talking about social media and mental health, a topic that is high on the news agenda these days, unfortunately.
Melanie
Yeah, it hasn't really come out of the news for a number of years for many reasons. This is much to do with how people respond and react to comments as to how you can inflame others with your comments, so the mental health aspect is becoming more and more important, and it's not just affecting the young either, although obviously there's still quite a high amount of bullying and cyberbullying out there, but with today, we're talking about adults and how it's going to be affecting their mental health.
Esther
Yeah. And how it can affect your business as well, there are a lot of words that are thrown out these days, like throwing around like trolls, keyboard warriors, I mean, what do they mean and how can they affect you?
Melanie
And also, how can we stop them and how can we be more effective in managing, you know, these kinds of attacks? So lets first of all focus on what a keyboard warrior and a troll are. So my first thoughts of a troll would be somebody who's responded to a comment that you've put out perhaps on Twitter and they've used a double entendre or they've taken it the wrong way and feel you're being maybe a bit self-promoting, and they think it's an area of self-loathing for them, so they start trolling that particular point. Do you have an example, Esther?
Esther
Yeah, I think like when somebody says, oh, my last event was really successful and I'm really looking forward to the next one, then some people can come on and just go, well, I was at your last event and it was rubbish and I hated it, and they might not have been there at all, they might live on the other side of the world, but they're just on they have nothing, in my opinion, they have nothing better to do with their time than just go online and attack other people and drag other people down. And another example of a troll would be one of your competitors and how they, like, practically stalk you online to see what exactly you're doing and what it is that they can copy to do it. Let's be honest, probably worse than you, because they don't have your unique selling point, which is you so say you release a new course, you release a new product, and your competitor goes, oh, I need to do that, too, and they rush to get their new product or their new course released before yours or their event or whatever it is that they're trying to copy and they release it and it bombs because they've just tried to do exactly what you were doing, but they didn't have your know how, they didn't have your knowledge, they then go on and attack you and say, oh, yours is rubbish, which is awful, yours isn't going to work because there's didn't work.
Melanie
It also creates some serious damage because the feedback from their event will make people think, you know, this kind, of course, of this kind of product isn't going to work. So even, you know, by not even doing the same type of event exactly as they, still bombed, that kind of traction can affect your event as well. I mean, at the end of the day when you put your business on social media, doesn't matter what size, it's your business, it's your baby and your vision of your business is important. But what's more important is, other people's vision of your business, you know, your business inside out, and you need to put your business out online so that they can understand what you do and how you do it. And if somebody takes it out of context and then starts putting unpleasant comments, either in Facebook reviews, Google reviews, or just generally sharing maybe a bad image that that's gone up in air or something like that, it can really, really hurt you as a as a person for your business. It's your baby at the end of the day.
Esther
Yeah. People forget that there are people behind the businesses that even when we talk about people trolling and keyboard warriors, they're attacking human beings, and it's not fair. It doesn't matter how big a celebrity you are or how big a business owner you are, how small. I mean, it could be your next door neighbor that's being trolled, it affects you, it affects how you look at everything you start to question, you know, are you doing the right thing or did you know every time you go to write something, are these words going to be misconstrued or they're going to be taken out of context? And people forget, that when you write something, it's different than when you're speaking it, so when you're speaking, you can understand their tone, you can understand their idea behind it, you can understand there's lots of different things that you get out of listening to information, but if you read the information, it's written in a different tone, so you might be reading something, and it was written as a joke, but you don't take it as a joke.
Melanie
You don't know what's going through people's minds, when they have a look at that particular comment or post, they can take it completely the wrong way through lack of sleep or ill health or just general bad manners. But, you know, it's not just the little guys, I mean, it's happening all the time to the big guys, reality stars, the prime ministers, presidents, you know, they all get a bad rap at times and it's how you deal with it that makes the difference, and one thing I've learned over the years, not only just looking after my social media, but after looking after my clients social media is you've got to try, not if you can, to take it personally and detach yourself, when it comes to comments like that from a business, it's just business, and people do forget that there is somebody at the end of the phone that could take it potentially personally or worse still, in the you know, in the private DMS, so there's nobody else who can even say, ah, here, come on, being unfair now is going privately to somebody and you just don't know what's going on in their lives themselves, so please be mindful that when you're putting up stuff on social media, it's not just you that's going to be affected, it's the people around you and the people that are around them when they're cutting up their responses.
Esther
Yeah, and if you are being targeted by trolls and keyboard warriors and bullies, that's what they are, online bullies do reach out, reach out to somebody, let them know, especially if it's going into your your private messages, nobody else would know unless you said to somebody and take a step back, just step by step away, as we have a friend, a mutual friend, Melanie and I, who just says, don't feed the trolls. Don't give them any more ammunition, do not respond to them, do not take it to another level with them., they are not worth it, and if you are the person who's complaining, we have a right to complain, but there's a time and a place and a way to do it. Be kind, be nice, be civil to each other.
Melanie
And if you can't be, you can be anything. Be kind, that's the word these days, isn't it, and try not to channel yourself into your social media completely, we all need to do a bit of a digital detox, even we do, we both social media marketers and trust me, we do detox, we do take time away because we have to, its exhausting.
Esther
Yeah. And there's so much negativity in the world, if we could just change it about have a bit more positivity instead of complaining about how much it's raining or how little sleep you got, be grateful for the little things you know you might not have got a good night's sleep because of the baby crying, but you have a baby, I mean, that might be raining a lot, but the flowers are going to look amazing, so, I mean, just look, I always try to look for the positivity and everything. And if people if you know, friends of mine that are listening to this know that I'm not the most optimistic person in the world, but even I can see through a lot of pessimism and negativity online, and I just think that it's important to turn it around and make a difference in the world.
Melanie
Now, we're talking to you right now, and I want you to know that if there was ever a time that you needed to be heard, to be listened to and have any support or just bounce ideas off, you're welcome to contact us. We've all been through what you're going through if you are struggling online, and please just reach out even if you don't want to reach out to your close friends and family, there are people out there that can support you and signpost you and we're amongst them, so do let us know if there's anything we can do to help.
Esther
Indeed. That's it for today, guys. I hope that you will reach out to somebody, whether it's us or somebody else, and just keep it positive, be kind, be nice to one another. Have a great week. And we'll be back next week for another Monday morning marketing podcast bye.
Melanie
Bye.