Episode 595: 5 Steps to Repair Your Relationship With Google (or Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram) (Mindset & Self-Care)

EBT595 – 5 Steps to Repair Your Relationship With Google (or Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram)

Intro  00:01

Hey food bloggers. Thank you so much for joining me in this mindset and self-care focused episode here on Eat Blog Talk. One of the reasons I started a blog talk was to hold a space to talk about the importance of mindset and self-care. Being an entrepreneur can be a lot. If we are not taking care of ourselves, then getting actionable information about SEO Pinterest or whatever else is all moot. I will meet you back here every Wednesday to discuss various mindset and self-care topics. So you have the energy and space to tackle the rest.

Sponsor (Chelsea Plummer) 00:36

Hi. My name is Chelsea Plummer. I blog at maesmenu.com and I also run a boutique content creation agency, Maes Media. At Maes Media, we are a small team of experienced cooks and bakers who love to write, and we’d love to help you create new blog posts, whether you’re looking for help with writing new blogs or optimizing existing let’s partner together to grow your blog. We have an in-house SEO specialist, and pride ourselves in writing high quality content that your readers will enjoy reading as much as the search engines will enjoy ranking it. Everything is written 100% by humans and an in-house editor copy edits and finalizes all posts, making it a full service offering for you. Take blog post creation off your plate and let us handle it for you. Email me at [email protected] to schedule a free content maximizing strategy call today. That’s Chelsea, C, H, E, L, S, E, A at Maes Media, M, A, E, S media.co Thanks so much, and I look forward to talking with you soon.

Megan Porta  01:44

Hello, food bloggers. How are you today? Welcome to another self care and mindset episode of Eat Blog Talk. Thanks for being here today. We’re going to talk about five steps to repair your relationship with Google, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook fill in the blank with the platform. One of the most common threads between food bloggers is our stilted relationships that we have with platforms like these. I hear people say all the time, and myself included here, for sure, I hate Google or Pinterest is my worst enemy, or Facebook hates me as if these platforms were actual terrible people who were trying to destroy our lives. So I’m hopeful that this episode will act as a good reminder for you and me that these platforms are a means of delivering traffic and therefore revenue to our blogs and businesses. Yes, they can be frustrating. Yes, it can seem like they’re actual evil humans who are trying to destroy us. Yes, they can give and then take away. Yes, they can temporarily sink traffic and revenue. But without these platforms, our businesses would not exist as we know them. Today. I remember attending a conference a couple years ago and I walked into a session about Facebook. This is the relationship that I personally need to work on, because I’ve never been a huge fan of Facebook, and my business has not historically received a ton of traction from Facebook. So I walked into this session and said to the speaker, very bluntly and kind of rudely, I hate Facebook. She looked at me like I had just slapped her in the face. I felt terrible as soon as I said it, and she told me in so many words to basically sit down and be quiet. She was very nice about it, but I could tell she was put off. For some reason, I had this blind spot when it came to Facebook that I didn’t have with other platforms. My relationship with Pinterest has always been good. In recent years, Google and I have been on pretty good terms, and Instagram and I are we’re okay. But Facebook not the case. It is so worthwhile to put some time and effort toward working on mending these platform relationships, because resentment can build up between us and platforms just like they can between us and other humans. Resentment leads to mental clutter, which leads to a lack of clarity, which can slow down the progress of all the good things you’re trying to accomplish in your business. 

Megan Porta  04:32

Just like deep rooted resentment can ruin a human relationship, it can also ruin a business, or at least a portion of a business, and we don’t want that. So whatever relationship, aka platform you need to work on mending. I really hope this episode helps. Let’s get things repaired so you can open up space in your business for good things to enter. And by the way, if you haven’t already listen to episode number 493 here on the podcast. It is titled, five steps to releasing business grudges. Listen to it after this one, even if you have listened to it previously, maybe listen to it again, because they are very closely tied, and I think together, you’ll have a solid plan for healing any platform relationship and any grudge that you have. Okay, let’s talk through five steps to improve your relationship with Google or Pinterest or Instagram or Facebook or fill in the blank. 

Megan Porta  05:27

Number one, identify which relationship needs mending. It’s totally understandable if you have multiple platforms that drive you bonkers, but I recommend starting with one. Which platform makes you the most crazy, angry, frustrated, bonkers, mad fill in the blank with negative word. Which platform do you immediately spout hateful words about when you’re talking to your peers? Which platform seems to hate you start there? Likely you very clearly have one in mind in this moment, and you know exactly what you’re going to focus on. View this like a friendship that you know you need to mend. If these were actual humans we were talking about and you felt tension between Brad, Ally, Karen and Barry individually, would you try to work on repairing them all at once? Of course not. That would be absolutely exhausting and probably counterproductive too. Pick one, do the work, mend the relationship, and then start on the next one, if needed. Hopefully there’s just one, and you’re in good standing with the others. And remember, I’m doing this work right along with you. As always, my long standing beef with Facebook needs to be cleared once and for all it’s time for me to mend this relationship too. 

Megan Porta  05:27

Number five, lather, rinse, repeat. This is not a one and done thing, especially if resentment runs deep, and it really can. For a lot of us, I hear lots of resentment about platforms being thrown around out there again, including myself, not judging. We have to continue nurturing these relationships. So go through the steps in this episode over and over and over, if you have to, until you feel like things are being healed, something else you could do, if you take this episode really seriously and actually go through the exercises of writing out your lists, print out or write down your gratitude points about your platform of choice, put them somewhere where you can see them daily to remind yourself of the good things that platform provides. There’s always good. None of these platforms are all bad. Our perspectives over time just get skewed a little bit. It’s like knowing there are always two sides to every story. Anytime you I don’t know, talk to a friend and they tell you how one thing went wrong, and then you talk to another friend and they give you a totally different version. Each of them has their own side of the story. And you know that neither of them are bad people in the same way. You can talk to a food blogger and ask them, What do you think of Pinterest, and they’re going to give you one version. You can go to another food blogger and ask them what they think of Pinterest. They could give you a completely different version that is negatively skewed. Really, neither one of them is right. They’re just giving you their opinions based on their unique perspectives. Also, don’t forget to go listen to episode number 493, to round out the content from this episode. 

Megan Porta  05:27

To conclude, let’s recap the five steps to repair your relationship with your platform of choice. Number one, identify which relationship needs mending. Two, make a list how you’ve been wronged. Three, make a list what you’re grateful for. Four, give the relationship some love. And five, lather, rinse, repeat. Don’t forget how worthwhile it is to go through this process if you actually take the time to sit down and do the exercises we talked about in this episode, it will take you maybe 15 minutes of your day. That 15 minutes can open up so much space for you to focus on good things in your business and to get rid of that resentment that you feel about whatever platform you’re upset with this is only going to help your business, not to mention your mental health. So why not? I really hope you do this. Thank you for listening food bloggers. Please feel free to reach out and give me topic ideas or give me feedback about this or any episode. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I will see you next time.

Megan Porta  06:44

Number two, make a list how you’ve been wronged. Pull out a piece of paper or open a blank Google Doc. Now write out all the ways that Google, Pinterest, platform of choice, has wronged you. Write it out as if you are talking to the platform. I’m going to use Facebook as my example, just to give you a truly authentic example here, because, yeah, again, not the hugest fan. Here’s my list, Facebook. What is your problem? I missed the sweet spot around 2016 when all those other food bloggers were creating and posting viral videos, you favored them and not me, so their pages exploded and mine did not. We have a long standing relationship. It’s been 14 years now, and my page likes definitely do not reflect this. You should have given me more traction over the years. Thanks for nothing. What about the ad money I spent boosting my posts years ago? All that ad money wasted and for what? What is with all of the Facebook accounts that have been around for much less time than mine, yet they have, like, a gajillion likes with tons of engagement, you seem to favor every other food blogger but me. Why do you hate me so much? You’ve just never liked me, admit it. End of Megan rant. 

Megan Porta  08:06

So do what I did. You can even go on more if you want. Let it all out. Get it all out on paper. Now you’re going to do something that is going to maybe feel a little bit difficult, but it is a necessary part of the healing and the relationship repairing process, you’re going to go through every word you just wrote, and you are going to forgive the platform of your choosing for what they have done. So an example talking through my list that I just read to you, or I guess it’s more of a letter, you favor them and not me. I forgive you. You should have given me more traction over the years. I forgive you. All that ad money wasted. I forgive you. What is with all the Facebook accounts that have been around much less time, yet they have way more likes and engagement than me? I forgive you. You seem to favor every other food blogger except me. I forgive you. Why do you hate me so much? I forgive you. You’ve never liked me. I forgive you. This might sound super cheesy, but I promise, if you actually do this, it is going to feel so good if you need to read through it a couple of times until you really start feeling that sense of forgiveness, and yes, we are totally humanizing platforms.

Megan Porta  09:27

Number three, make another list what you’re grateful for. You might need a snack or a glass of water, maybe a short walk or shot of tequila before moving to the next step so you can clear your head, especially if your last list got a little heated, do whatever you need to do to cleanse your palette, then pull out another piece of paper, totally separate one, or open another blank Google Doc. Now you are going to write down everything that you’re grateful for regarding this platform. This might. Feel like a stretch, especially if your negative feelings run deep, like mine do with good old Facebook. Here is my list slash letter. Hey, Facebook, you’ve done a lot of really good things for a lot of honest, hardworking people’s businesses. That is pretty cool. I remember that stretch back when I was a fairly new blogger, when I really wanted it to work between us. I invested a lot of effort into forming a solid relationship with you, and for a while, things were really growing. Readers were engaged. They were loving my page and my content on there. It was a good stretch. I just peeked at my analytics, and guess what? This surprised me. In the past year, thanks to you alone, my blog has received 10s of 1000s of page views. That is a lot more than the number zero. There have been a few memorable and long lasting friendships that I have made through my Facebook business page. Really awesome people I would not have been connected with otherwise. Also, thanks to you, 1000s of people have been able to see and experience my recipes, which is something I’m so passionate about, I see all the time how much traction you give to a lot of the people I care about I have food blogger friends who reap tons of traffic. Thanks to you. Thank you for having their backs. Once I got the momentum going with this list, it became kind of hard to stop. I could definitely have kept going. 

Megan Porta  11:29

Once your list slash letter is done, you are going to go back and express gratitude for each thing you wrote down. Going back through mine, I would say you’ve done a lot of really good things for a lot of honest, hardworking people’s businesses. Thank you. For a while things were really growing for my account, readers were engaged in loving my page. It was a really good stretch. Thank you. My blog has received 10s of 1000s of page views from you from Facebook in the last year. Thank you. There have been a few memorable and long, lasting relationships that I’ve made through my Facebook business page. Thank you. 1000s of people have been able to see and experience my recipes. Thank you. I have food blogger friends who reap tons of traffic and revenue. Thanks to you. Thank you. By the way, keep your list, because if negative feelings resurface in the future, you can go through this process again and see how truly grateful you are for so many things about the platform that you need to repair your relationship with. 

Megan Porta  12:31

Number four, give the relationship some love. If I’m being honest, Facebook hasn’t loved me because I haven’t loved it much at all. Somehow I become really disillusioned about this. In my mind, I talk myself into believing that I’ve put in so much effort, that I’m the victim, that it’s been a one way relationship me working so hard in Facebook, kicking their good old feet up and ignoring my needs and my desires. But that’s a lie. That is not how it’s actually been. I do want to point out that this isn’t always the case between a human and a platform. I’ve talked to a lot of food bloggers recently who have literally bent over backwards to please Google, only to be completely slapped to the ground. So sometimes the feelings that you have for that platform that has wronged you are valid. Sometimes it’s actually the case that you’ve given a lot and you haven’t gotten anything in return. In my case with Facebook, I haven’t given it as much as I would like to think that I have either way, whether you feel like you’ve given more than your share or not give the platform some love. It might feel really hard, but do it anyway. Trust me, what does this look like? Maybe you spend a little bit of extra time today learning about and doing your best to understand the platform. For me and my relationship with Facebook, I could listen to Carrie Barnard’s podcast episode that published recently about Facebook and what is working for her account. She is crushing it. Then maybe I educate myself about what’s actually happening on my Facebook page. I honestly have no idea. I have hired out my Facebook for years just to give you a little background. And I don’t log into Facebook hardly ever. I don’t know who’s showing up there or engaging, or if anyone is engaging, or what’s even being posted there for the purpose of this episode, love looks like education and attention. If you wanted to give a friend extra love in an attempt to reconnect with them, you would lean into them in order to learn what they’re needing or wanting from you and your friendship, you would ask questions in order to learn more about what they need. If you truly want to repair your relationship with platform X, you will put in the time on a consistent basis to educate yourself about it and to give it more attention. If you want you can set 15 minute slots aside in your calendar, show Facebook or Pinterest or Instagram or Google that you are willing to put in the time to learn more about it and repair your relationship. 

Outro  18:04

Thank you so much for listening to this mindset and self care episode here on Eat Blog Talk, if you are a food blogger providing a service for other food bloggers, and you want to spread the word about the value that you offer, I would love to offer you a free way to do just this. Send me a 60 second audio clip to be featured in a mindset and self care episode here on Eat Blog Talk in 2024. Go to eatblogtalk.com/audioclip to learn more.