How to combat Shiny Object Syndrome
Every month, my newsletter, Sustainable Social, comes out with a topic related to using social media when you are on a small team, a team of one (or none), or are a soloist. This is a reprint of my October 2023 newsletter focusing on getting started. I’ve edited the text lightly to align us better in time & space.
So you're going along, minding your own business, and you see it.
It could be in a newsletter. It could be something in your Instagram feed. Or it could be something a well-meaning friend, colleague, client or donor shares with you.
What is it?
It's what makes you stop and go, "Oh my gosh, all of our social media and marketing materials are TERRIBLE compared to this. Let's change our messaging, tactics, graphics, ALL OF IT, and start RIGHT NOW!"
This, my friends, is a symptom of what I call "Shiny Object Syndrome."
Symptoms of Shiny Object Syndrome can include:
Paying more attention to other people's marketing than your own.
Seeing a social tactic and wanting to implement it immediately without asking whether it fits your strategy or is helpful to your target audience (much less your values).
Constantly second-guessing your marketing & social media choices.
Chucking all your current work and starting over. Multiple times.
By the way, if you are thinking, "I thought it was just me!"
My friend, it is not. I get at least one weekly email from friends/clients/former clients/acquaintances: "I saw this thing, and now I'm rethinking everything."
Even *I* fall into the Shiny Object Syndrome trap at least once a month.
I also know that my nonprofit friends don't just get it from the inside - they also get it from donors and volunteers.
Shiny Object Syndrome can be stressful - you are constantly on a roller coaster of "We're doing our social media, or email, or call our marketing all wrong!" and "We should change our social media, email, or call our marketing IMMEDIATELY!"
When that happens - especially with small teams and soloists managing their social all on their own - it can create a communications program that never really finds its footing because you're moving from message to message, tactic to tactic, without cultivating consistency.
(It can also mess with your ability to Get It All Done, and lurching from idea to idea just isn't sustainable.)
To combat this, I've devised a little system to guide myself and my clients through whatever action we are thinking of taking.
3 STEPS TO TACKLING SHINY OBJECTS
Step One: Define the specific idea that's grabbed you (the more specific, the better).
Step Two: Answer These Questions:
What's the point of us doing this? (i.e., the goal)
What part of our audience will it speak to?
How much time will it take to set up and learn?
How much time will it take to maintain?
When can you fit in the setup?
Can you manage the maintenance?
What resources do you need?
What does a positive result look like?
Step Three: Look at your answers for step two, and then decide which category you would put your shiny object in:
Move forward ASAP
Move forward in the next 2-4 months
Move forward after 5-12 months
Hold - Reevaluate in X months
Toss - nor for me, at least not for now
And then - if you decide to move forward or reevaluate, make sure to put it in your calendar so you don't forget. But if you decide to toss it? Write a note to yourself somewhere that says, "We have looked at _______ in November 2023 and decided it is not for us."
Do you want a follow-along worksheet so you can use it whenever Shiny Object Syndrome strikes?
If you need someone to help you overcome Shiny Object Syndrome and move forward on your social media program more consistently, please check out my services here.
Want more of this? Subscribe to Sustainable Social, my newsletter for small teams, teams of one and soloists!
