Here’s the thing:  hundreds of thousands of others are also posting their fourth of july social post ideas, too. It’s easy for your post to get lost in the chaos of brand posts and shares from friends and family. Here are some do’s and don’ts for your July Fourth social posts to help you stand out in the crowd and celebrate this uniquely USA holiday.

Fourth of July Social Post Ideas

• Do put thought into your post. Make it a reflection of you and your brand.
• Do keep your post subtle. I call it the “essense of holiday”, with just enough red, white, and blue to let your customers know it is, indeed, a July 4th post, but not so much that it fades into the background of all the other flag pictures on Facebook. Here are a few for inspiration from top brands.
• Do share products you use during Fourth of July celebrations. For instance, if you’re a direct seller for a cooking company, share a demo for a festive food using your product. It isn’t a sales post, but what I call a “positioning post”.
• Do engage with your customers! Post a poll or quiz about their own activities, ask them to choose their choice two of your favorite foods, post trivia about the holiday, or create your own meme.
• Don’t post your own videos from a fireworks display. Seriously, nobody wants to see those. They don’t photograph or video well, and if they wanted to see fireworks, they already saw them.
• Don’t share generic “Happy July 4th!”clip art, stock pictures of flags and fireworks, or branded posts from your company.
• Don’t post a spur of the moment image just to say you posted on July 4th. Last minute posts usually feel rushed, and in addition, it takes you out of your own celebrations. Plan ahead and be present.
• Don’t make your Fourth of July social post about sales. Although many brands have amazing holiday specials — including yours —  your customers are probably not pulling out their wallets on July 4th. Post sales before the holiday or save them till the weekend after.

With these do’s and don’ts, you’ll have the tools to celebrate the holiday with your customers while enjoying time with your loved ones.

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But after a few days, I learned to love the peace and quiet and gradually ignore the inner monologue that begged me to refresh just one. more. time.

As soon as I stepped foot back into port, I instinctively reached for my phone to check Facebook, and found nothing of interest. Literally 90 seconds later, I grabbed my phone again and started the scroll. Something clicked at that moment, and I decided to delete Facebook from my phone all together.

The constant crush of flashing red badges, rings and beeps can, at their best, be an annoying distraction for reaching your daily goals, and at their worst, a contributing factor to anxiety. Although my business is almost entirely online, and I coach others whose businesses are almost entirely online, I’ve found that switching off the constant stream of notifications not only focus on what I need to do, but also to keep my mind balanced and calm.

Focus on What’s Important

When we’re constantly connected to social media, everything becomes the most important thing. Each new like or comment or mention becomes your top priority. Here’s what’s up: none of it is that important. What are you missing out on when you’re checking notifications? It could be time with your family, time you could spend being creative, or time you could be spending on other income producing activities.

Take a few days and commit to being more intentional with your social media activity. It will take some extra awareness on your part, but will help you see what notifications you need to cut.

Turn Off Notifications

This one is a classic case of out of sight, out of mind. Once I disabled notifications, things started changing for my business. I disabled Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook Messanger, and Twitter, and moved other things into a folder on the second or third page of my phone. I kept only the essentials for managing my business on my smartphone on the homescreen so I wouldn’t have to search for something and accidently see a notification. I was simply breaking a bad habit, and after a few days, I noticed I was able to focus more on the tasks at hand while getting more done during my work time.

I’ve realized another culprit is email. We live in a world where email feels urgent, and for most issues, that’s not the case. If you can’t break the social media habits just yet, start wtih your email: turn off those alerts and close your email app while you’re focusing.

Stop Multitasking

Multitasking is one of the biggest roadblocks to true productivity. Bottom line: it simply isn’t feasible. Our brains are not wired at all for multitasking. A speaker I heard recently explained  our brains while multitasking like a lightbulb. We think we can work with both lights on, but in reality, our brain is turning each individual light on and off and on and off hundreds of times. This type of thinking not only depletes your energy, but it also makes you less efficient — and helps you retain less information.

Start small. Start a timer for 15 minutes and work on one income producing activity at a time. Don’t check your phone, email, or messages until you’re done. When you’re ready for longer stretches of “tasking”, try listening to some soft instrumental music (Spotify Focus playlists are my favorite!) Slowly but surely, you’ll start retraining your brain to ignore the distractions ( especially those flashing, dinging distractions) and be more productive than ever.

None of this is easy, especially when you feel like ignoring what’s happening on social medica can negatively effect your business. However, ignoring the fluff and committing to what can help your business thrive will change the game. It’s not easy, but it’s so, so worth it.

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