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Trying to build your social media presence — but feeling exhausted by the pressure to turn your life into content?

Trust me, I get it. Sometimes the constant urge to document and share your life can feel incredibly draining. Before you know it, you’re viewing your entire world through the lens of your feed, always asking, “How can I turn this into a post?”

Not only does this mindset pull you out of the present moment, it can also leave you feeling depleted, disconnected, and dangerously close to burnout.

So where’s the sweet spot? How do you show up consistently on social media without sacrificing your sanity? How can you share enough of yourself, while still having a deeply meaningful and sacred personal life?

In this episode, I’m sharing 7 powerful strategies to help you find a healthier, more sustainable rhythm with social media — one that grows your business AND protects your energy.

If you’ve ever felt torn between showing up and shutting down, then press play now… this one’s for you.

In this episode we chat about:

• The boundary-setting strategies that protect your energy (plus the exact boundaries I’ve set for myself around social media) (2:10)
• Do you really have to share everything to be authentic on social media? (5:13)
• Why digital hygiene is non-negotiable if you want to protect your peace (and your productivity) (7:31)
• How taking a ‘digital vacation’ can reset your brain and your energy (9:01)
• My best-ever content hack that helps you stay present and capture great moments (10:00)
• The reason top creators repurpose content — and how you can, too (without sounding repetitive) (11:56)
• How batching your content can instantly reduce decision fatigue and mental clutter (12:51)

Episode resources:

• SheLaunch (join here)
• Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Open Wide by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Comparisonitis by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Time Magic by Melissa Ambrosini and Nick Broadhurst (book)

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The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy.

[00:00:00] The Melissa Ambrosini Show. Welcome to the Melissa Ambrosini Show. I’m your host, Melissa bestselling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl, open, wide, comparisonitis and Time Magic, and I’m here to remind you that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word. Each week I’ll be getting up close and personal with thought leaders from around the globe, as well as your weekly dose of motivation so that you can create epic change in.

Your own life and become the best version of yourself possible. Are you ready? Beautiful. Beautiful.

Hey, beautiful. Welcome back to the show. Today I’m gonna talk about how to grow your social media following without burning yourself out. So many of you want to grow your accounts, so I’m gonna share with you my tips and tricks. So grab a pen and paper or the notes section in your phone, [00:01:00] and let’s dive in because let’s face it, these days it seems like everyone and their grandmother have a social media presence, and some grandmothers are absolutely killing it.

On TikTok, it’s hilarious, but sometimes the pressure to capture and share moments from your life can be more draining than trying to explain what hashtags are to your grandpa. Then before you know it, you are viewing your whole life through the lens of your Instagram feed. Always wondering, how can I turn this into content?

Or like me, I am writing captions in my head when I’m in the shower, when I’m walking. Does anyone else do that? Now, not only does this mindset tear you out of the present moment, it also leads to exhaustion, burnout, and even impacts your mental health, and we don’t want that. So. Where is the sweet spot?

How do you find that nice sweet spot between building an active presence online while also protecting your peace and wellbeing? So I’m [00:02:00] gonna share with you seven strategies that can completely change your approach to social media. Grab your pen and paper, or like I said, open the notes section in your phone and let’s dive in.

So the first one is set firm boundaries around what And when you share. So while it is so tempting to give your followers an all access path to your life, that is a short fire route to burnout city to ensure that your social media sharing is sustainable for the long term, it is essential to set healthy boundaries.

For example, maybe you decide not to share pictures of your children like I do, or you share them, but you don’t reveal their faces, and lots of people do that. Or maybe your relationship is off limits. Again, there’s lots of influences that do that. Or maybe you never share content on your weekends.

Whatever the boundary is, it doesn’t actually matter as long as it is something that is really important to you. Like for me, in this season of my life, I don’t share [00:03:00] my children’s faces on social media. I barely share them on social media at all. And if I do, it might be like their hand or their little feet or something like that.

But for me, that just feels right. And who knows? It might change, I don’t know. But right now, this is how I feel, and so I’m honoring that you have to tune into what your boundaries are. So these boundaries aren’t just about privacy. They also protect your mental space. So decide on your healthy boundaries and stick to them and remember as well, it is okay to change your mind tomorrow if you want to, but just sit with yourself for a moment.

Work out what your boundaries are, of what you do and you don’t share. And like I said, I never share photos of my children, so you have to work out what you will and will not share what is right for you and your brand and your business. So take a moment, [00:04:00] sit down. Does sharing about your dog support your business, or is it completely not relevant?

So just get clear on what is your brand identity? What will you share that supports that and your business, and then leave the rest. Leave the rest. So many of my clients, they first come to me and they’re like, well, I’ll have a business account and a personal account. And the first thing I tell them to do, and this is controversial, is I say, don’t have two accounts.

I barely have time to keep up with one. Do not create more work for yourself. So have a business account. If you wanna share photos of your children or your dog with your family, create a group chat where you can put all of those things. But do not create more work for yourself. We have got enough to do already and enough time is spent online.

So I teach my clients to not make more hard work for themselves. So that is the first one. Set firm boundaries around what and when you share and what is in alignment with your [00:05:00] personal brand and your business. And also when you share like. Do you post only during the week when your kids are at school and not on the weekend?

Just work out what is best for you. We’re all different. Just pick what is best for you. Okay? Number two, authenticity does not equal sharing everything this. Was a hard one for me to get my head around so the online world can feel really demanding with so many content creators feeling like they owe their followers constant updates.

But the truth is, you don’t owe anyone anything if there are chapters or areas of your life that you would rather keep private and sacred. Trust that instinct. Your wellbeing, your peace always comes first and you don’t owe it to anyone. And if you are worried that holding back some pieces of your life somehow makes you inauthentic, and this was a belief that I had.

I was thinking, if I’m not sharing my children who are a [00:06:00] huge part of my life, like literally if you looked at my phone right now, my entire camera roll is just photos of my kids photos and videos of my kids. Like there’s barely any other photos of me, of Nick. It’s just my kids. Seriously. It’s just my kids.

So there was a story, my inner Ming girl was telling me that you are being inauthentic if you’re not sharing that. And I had to do a bit of reframing around this. So please do yourself a favor and release that outdated belief right now because it’s not true. Being authentic on social media is not about broadcasting every detail of your life.

It is about sharing content that feels aligned, true, and genuinely you, and is in alignment with your personal brand and your business. Okay? So I hope that gives you a bit of peace and you can erase that belief from your mindset right now, that authenticity is not about sharing every single thing, okay?[00:07:00] 

There are so many things that I do not share, and. That is because they are sacred to me. They are precious. And to be honest, you can’t actually share everything unless you are going live all day, every day and you just keep doing lives and keep doing lives, then you can’t actually share everything. So let’s replace that belief and know that you get to decide what you share and that is enough, and that is still being authentic.

So that is number two. Okay, let’s move to number three. Practice impeccable digital hygiene. So instead of being glued to your screens during every free moment, designate specific times for checking and updating your social media, and the rest of the time is for living. Okay? And if you need help getting back in control of your screen time, I highly recommend reading chapter six of Time Magic.

My bestselling book that I co-wrote with Nick, so you can go to [00:08:00] time magic.me and grab yourself a copy. It’s chapter six if you need help getting back in control of your screen time. Okay, so that is number three. Practice impeccable. Digital hygiene have times where you are completely offline. You do not touch your phone, you do not look at your computer.

This is for your mental health. Okay? Go and live your life. Okay. And for me, like I’m in this season of my life where I have a baby and an almost 4-year-old and I’m working, and I got into this habit of picking up my phone in every spare moment that I could. And mainly because I wanted to get stuff done while I had the moment.

But it’s not a habit that I wanted to get into. So. When I am momming, I am momming. When I’m working, I am working, and that is something that I really honor. This is your reminder to practice impeccable digital [00:09:00] hygiene. Okay? Number four, give yourself regular digital vacations. So everyone needs a holiday, right?

And that includes breaks from social media. So I want you to designate days, weekends. Times, even a whole week where you log off completely, embrace the presence and stillness that comes with disconnecting from the online world. And if the idea of doing this makes you nervous, please trust me when I say your ideal dream clients and the right audience will still be there when you return.

So do not be afraid that you are going to lose all of your followers or anything like that. Your mental health, your inner peace. Is the most important, and taking blocks of time or days or weekends or a whole week offline is so important for your mental health. Okay, number five, post [00:10:00] later. Not in the moment.

So I want you to just imagine something for a second. You are at the most picturesque, sunset, or a surprise birthday party. And now instead of immediately diving into capturing and posting, I want you to take a step back, breathe in the moment, feel its beauty, and then if you decide to capture content, consider posting it later.

I never post in real time, ever. So for example, I wanted to get some footage of me down at the beach today. I don’t take my phone out when I’m at the beach. Only to take photos and videos of my children, and then I put it back and it’s always on airplane mode. So I took it down. I got Nick to take a little video of me, and then it went straight back in my bag.

I am not sitting on my phone scrolling while Bambi is building a sandcastle. I’m not doing that. So I. Breathe in the moment. Enjoy the moment of the beautiful sunset or of the beach or the surprise party. Then you can capture some content at the end and post it later. Okay? Post it later. [00:11:00] That way you can enjoy the real time experience without the digital distraction.

And I do this all the time. It allows me to really enjoy the moment and not have my head in my phone. And another little hot tip for you. Something else that you could do is if you are at an event and you’re all dressed up, you could spend a few minutes getting as much content as you can either at the start or in the middle or at the end of the party, and then get back to the party or the event.

Just grab your partner or grab a friend and say, let’s just do five minutes of video or photo content, and then let’s get back to it. Put our phone away. Because I get it. You are all dressed up, you’ve got your hair and makeup done. You wanna get some content. I get it. Totally do it. And then get back to living.

Get your head out of your phone. Okay, so that’s number five. Post later, not in the moment. Number six, capture once, post twice. So a smart content [00:12:00] creator knows the art of repurposing. I talk about this a lot inside She launch. If you have got a good photo or video from an event or a party or whatever it is.

Think of multiple ways to use it. You can even use the exact same photo or video, but share it with different captions or audio or context. This reduces the constant pressure of creating new content or the time. Okay, so capture once post twice, three times, four times. I have repurposed videos that have gone viral many times, and I’m sure you probably haven’t even noticed.

And I know a lot of amazing content creators who do this as well. So capture once, post twice, three times, four times, however many times you like. Number seven, batch your socials. So instead of randomly thinking about content all day, every day, designate specific times when you can get [00:13:00] hyper-focused and get a whole bunch done at once.

So this is where you wanna use ai. So inside she launch, we have a custom AI assistant called Shelly. So she can help you come up with all of your content. She’s amazing. So I want you to designate a certain day or certain times when you do that. For the captions, for the planning of the reels, the scheduling of your posts, all of that.

And Shelly or AI can help you do that. And by batching tasks, you reduce your mental load. Plus, it ensures that social media doesn’t always loom large in your mind and take over your life. Okay, so that is number seven. Batch your socials. So let’s recap my friend. Number one, set healthy boundaries around what And when you share.

Number two, authenticity is not about sharing everything. Number three, practice impeccable digital hygiene. Number four, give yourself regular digital vacations. Number five, post later, not in the moment. [00:14:00] Number six, capture once, post twice, three times, four times, however many times you like. And number seven, batch your socials.

So while sharing online can be so rewarding, it is so important to remember that you only get one beautiful, precious life and it deserves to be fully lived. So my beautiful friend, if you are feeling internal pressure to capture a moment for its content value, but you’d honestly rather just soak up the moment, this beautiful present moment, then please consider this your permission slip, my friend, to always, always choose your life because let’s face it, it’s the life you live, not the one you show that truly counts.

Mm, let that land. It’s the life you live, not the one that you show. That truly counts. Hmm. I hope you got a lot out of this. If you did, please subscribe to the show. Leave me a [00:15:00] review and send me a screenshot of your review to Hello at Melissa Ambrosini and I will send you my wildly wealthy guided meditation as a thank you for taking the time to leave a review.

Now, before I go, I just wanted to say thank you again so much for being here, for wanting to be the best, the healthiest, the happiest version of yourself, and for showing up today for you, you rock. Now, if there’s someone in your life that you can think of that would really benefit from this episode, please share it with them right now.

You can take a screenshot, share it on your social media, email it to them, text it to them, do whatever you’ve got to do to get this in their ears. Until next time, don’t forget that love is sexy. Healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

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P.P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.