That’s what we’re all about this season! And we are starting with one of our biggest pain points, social media. Let’s talk about where we started, where we are, and where we’re headed so that you can join us on this ride!
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Where We Started
At Uncommon, any time we interact with you, we do so with the intention of encouraging, uplifting, and inspiring you. Our philosophy as a company has always been:
“We believe that authenticity and integrity ought to be at the heart of everything we do. I'm talking complete transparency, which we believe is the foundation for building trust and meaningful relationships with our clients. Honesty is our best and only policy.”
So! To be honest, social media is a double-edged sword for us, and we have a hunch that it is for you, too. We want to reach as many people as we can so that we can encourage them. And we also want to actually serve the people who are already supporting us day after day.
As a small business, we hear the experts tell us how to optimize our hashtags, drive traffic, and analyze the heck out of our analytics, all while being authentic and cognizant of aesthetics and intentionally engaging our audience. And then, without a doubt, the advice changes, the algorithm changes, and quite honestly, our philosophy on if/how we want to use social media platforms like Instagram changes altogether, too.
Whew! Low and behold, it’s time to edit ...
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Where We Are
A little confused, guys.
See, we just finished another blessed Lenten season. The tradition for Uncommon is to give up social media for Lent. It gives us time to step away, recharge, and re-evaluate. We turn in and we turn to the Lord - as John 15:2 puts it: “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.”
And this year, Easter really snuck up on us, y’all. We didn’t come back to social media with a super clear perspective on what we want to do going forward … to be honest, we basically forgot that we had to come back at all! There are just so many rich things outside of scrolling and planning and hashtagging that we haven’t missed it. And at the same time, we want to engage with you in as many ways as we can. We are here to serve you and to share things that are meaningful.
This season, as we reflect on our social media presence, one of the things that really strikes us is the expectation, perceived or real, for more. More content, more engagement, more likes. More, more, more. All. The. Time.
And we have realized that we want to edit. So we ask ourselves big questions like, “What does less struggle, less expectation, less wasted energy feel like when we couple it with more intention?” The easy answer is, “GOOD!” But the complicated and more honest answer is that we don’t quite know yet what that will look like. But we have a start ...
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Where We’re Headed
When it comes to Instagram, we are going to be trying some things and then editing as we go. And we can’t think of a better way to go about this than to bring you along with us as we experiment in real-time. Here is what we’re thinking:
- We want to consistently drive home the important pillars of our business: encouragement, community, connection, and authenticity. We will share the work we are doing, and we will uplift you along the way.
- Use what we already have and highlight our past projects! Take stock of what we already love, unbury the work we’ve done, and bring completed projects back into the light. We want to share it with you because we think you’ll love it, too.
- We are thinking about rolling out a series of project photos (new and old) across multiple posts. We’ll keep the captions simple, punchy, and worth your short read. We can give ourselves some relief from creating more and get back to the work we really love.
- We will let our Instagram account show the whole portfolio shebang, and we will keep our hero shots on our website for clarity and easier navigation.
- Whatever the heck else we come up with along the way!
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You’ve heard us say this again and again, but we really believe in the power of taking away things that don't add value in order to make room for the things that do. If you need a refresher, check out our “Make Room” post. And tell us how YOU are editing this season!
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