Step into the digital realm, where vibrant screens and endless scrolling beckon us with promises of connection and entertainment. Social media platforms have become a ubiquitous part of our lives, shaping how we communicate, share, and interact with the world.

Have you ever paused to consider the lurking dangers concealed beneath the captivating screens? It’s time to delve into the untold side of social media, one that often goes unnoticed amidst the rising numbers. According to the latest article by Forbes, the global count of social media users has surged to an astonishing 4.9 billion people. And brace yourself because this number is projected to skyrocket to approximately 5.85 billion users by 2027.

Here, we will explore the untold health risks associated with social media, shedding light on the alarming consequences that seem to have slipped through the cracks.

How Excessive Screen Time Takes a Toll on Physical Well-Being

Excessive screen time not only affects your physical health but also has specific impacts on various aspects of your well-being. Let’s explore some of these effects in detail, shedding light on the hidden perils of prolonged screen use.

Reduced Cholesterol

Prolonged screen time often leads to a sedentary lifestyle, which can contribute to reduced levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. When your bodies remain inactive for extended periods, such as during excessive screen use, the levels of HDL cholesterol can decline, increasing the risk of heart disease.

According to a recent study published in the National Library of Medicine, extended screen usage of more than three hours is associated with a significant decrease in HDL cholesterol. The study suggests that several factors contribute to this correlation, including the influence of extensive food advertisements, impaired regulation of food intake while engaged with screens, and a sedentary lifestyle resulting in reduced movement and physical activity.

Decreased Cortisol

The constant exposure to screens and the digital world can disrupt your stress hormone levels, particularly cortisol. Excessive screen time can lead to reduced cortisol levels in the body, which may seem beneficial at first glance. However, chronically low cortisol levels can impair your body’s stress response system, potentially leading to a weakened immune system, fatigue, and difficulty managing stress effectively.

Based on research findings, cortisol, a stress hormone produced by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is considered a biomarker for stress in pediatric studies. Both low and high cortisol levels have been associated with poor performance. 

Normally, cortisol levels are lowest during nighttime and gradually increase as waking hours approach, experiencing a sharp spike upon waking up. However, the study reveals that school-aged children who spend up to three hours per day using media exhibit a diminished cortisol surge one hour after waking up, which can have negative consequences.

Disrupted Insulin Balance and Diabetes

Sedentary behavior, one that includes excessive screen time, often associated with excessive screen use, can lead to weight gain and obesity. This weight gain, combined with the lack of physical activity, can disrupt insulin balance and impair the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels. Over time, this can contribute to the development of insulin resistance and increase the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.

Recent studies have discovered that insulin, a hormone crucial for regulating metabolism and fat storage, is secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Insulin resistance, a condition where cells are unable to utilize insulin effectively, plays a significant role in the development of diabetes and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Higher screen time, such as watching television, playing video games, or using the computer for an additional hour each day, can lead to a 5% decrease in insulin sensitivity. What’s more, other studies have linked as little as two hours of daily screen time to abnormal insulin levels.

However, when you understand these specific impacts of excessive screen time on your physical health, you can make informed decisions about your screen usage and adopt healthier habits to mitigate these risks.

How Social Media Undermines Mental Health

The prevalence of social media in your lives has brought forth a range of detrimental effects on your mental well-being, often overlooked and underestimated. You need to recognize these hidden perils that social media poses to your mental health and shed light on the specific consequences that tend to go unnoticed.

Depression and Suicidal Behavior

The constant exposure to carefully curated, idealized versions of others’ lives can lead to feelings of inadequacy, social comparison, and a decline in self-esteem. The negative impact of cyberbullying and online harassment further exacerbates these mental health concerns, pushing individuals towards depressive states and potentially harmful behaviors.

Recent studies have highlighted the concerning rise of social media-induced depression, especially among the younger generation. Unawareness of effective social media usage can lead to feelings of jealousy, self-doubt, and low self-esteem. Sleep disturbance, resulting from excessive screen use at night, is identified as a mediating factor connecting social media to depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts in adolescents. Smartphone dependence, messaging frequency, and pre-bedtime anxiety about message replies are linked to mood swings, suicidal thoughts, and self-injury.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

Excessive engagement with social media platforms has been associated with attention difficulties and symptoms resembling ADHD. The constant scrolling, multitasking, and exposure to an overwhelming amount of information can impair concentration, focus, and impulse control. This can have long-term implications on cognitive function and academic performance, especially among young individuals who are more susceptible to these challenges.

Studies have shown that children in contemporary society may display varying symptoms of ADHD, including inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This kind of behavior, often associated with ADHD, is linked to the amount of time spent on screens. Excessive use of digital devices is commonly observed among younger children and teenagers, both among those who have been diagnosed with ADHD and those who are believed to be dealing with attention-related challenges or impulsivity.

Neuropsychological Effects

Excessive social media usage can lead to altered brain structure and function. The constant need for instant gratification, excessive dopamine release from notifications and likes, and the addictive nature of social media can impact the reward circuitry in the brain. This can result in decreased attention span, reduced empathy, impaired decision-making, and increased susceptibility to addictive behaviors.

Research indicates that internet addiction in any form leads to structural changes in the brain, particularly in the frontal lobe. These changes affect the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevant information and cope with demanding tasks. Multitasking across various media devices has been studied, revealing that continuous attention to screens can replace real-world engagement. 

College students who demonstrate high scores in multitasking have been observed to display diminished grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area linked to cognitive control and the regulation of socioemotional functions. Recent allegations and studies, including those referenced by TorHoerman Law, have raised concerns about the impact of Instagram on all social media platforms. Studies indicate that how individuals engage with Instagram can significantly affect their mental well-being, particularly among young girls and women. 

While the duration of Instagram usage alone may not directly lead to negative outcomes, it has been observed that individuals who seek social validation on the platform are more prone to experiencing mental health issues. Individuals who have experienced adverse effects on their mental health are taking action by pursuing legal recourse through an Instagram lawsuit. These individuals are seeking legal remedies for the negative consequences they have encountered as a result of using the platform.

The lawsuit highlights the growing recognition of the impact that social media, particularly Instagram, can have on individuals’ well-being. By filing a lawsuit, these individuals are aiming to hold Instagram accountable for its alleged role in exacerbating mental health issues, especially among vulnerable populations such as young girls and women.

Social Media and Poor Sleep Quality

Social media’s impact on your sleep quality is a significant yet often overlooked peril to your overall well-being. The constant need for validation, fear of missing out, and endless scrolling can keep you engaged with your devices well into the night, stealing precious hours of restorative sleep.

A recent study published in Wiley Online Library shed light on the connection between social media usage and poor sleep quality. The findings revealed that a significant majority of students, approximately 82.1%, accessed social media within two hours before going to sleep, indicating a notable nocturnal engagement with these platforms.

Plus, the study found that a substantial proportion of students, around 62.1%, utilized social media while in bed, blurring the boundaries between screen time and rest. Disturbingly, nearly 29.7% of students reported engaging with social media while attempting to fall asleep, further highlighting the detrimental impact of these activities on the quality of sleep.

Interestingly, the study also found that a significant percentage of students, approximately 18.3%, experienced delays in falling asleep as a direct result of their nighttime social media use. These findings suggest that the stimulating and addictive nature of social media can disrupt the natural sleep onset process, leading to extended periods of wakefulness before finally succumbing to slumber.

The Rise of Social Media Addiction

Today, an increasing number of individuals are succumbing to the allure of constant online connection and struggling to break free from the grip of social media platforms. Shockingly, social media addiction shares similarities with other forms of behavioral addiction, such as gambling or substance abuse. The compulsive need to check notifications, obsessively scroll through feeds, and the fear of missing out (FOMO) contribute to a cycle of craving and seeking validation.

The design of social media platforms is intentionally crafted to foster addiction, employing various techniques to keep users engaged for longer periods. Features like endless scrolling, personalized notifications, and dopamine-driven reward systems tap into your psychological vulnerabilities, making it challenging to resist the allure and pull away from the screens.

Extensive research has consistently demonstrated that frequent social media usage can give rise to addiction, subsequently exerting adverse effects on various aspects of adolescents’ lives. Multiple studies have highlighted the detrimental impact of social media addiction on academic performance, social interactions, and interpersonal relationships among young individuals.

Empirical evidence suggests that addictive tendencies towards social media can lead to a decline in school performance, as excessive time spent on these platforms detracts from academic focus and engagement. Moreover, addictive behaviors associated with social media usage can hinder adolescents’ ability to develop healthy social skills and maintain meaningful face-to-face interactions.

As adolescents become increasingly consumed by the allure of social media, it becomes essential to recognize the potential determinants it poses to their school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. 

Summing Up

The pervasive influence of social media on your health is a topic that deserves greater attention. From the impact on mental health to physical well-being, social media poses significant risks that often go unnoticed. The detrimental effects of poor physical and mental health, poor sleep quality, and addiction are just a few of the consequences you must confront. It is imperative to strike a balance between the advantages of social media and your overall well-being. It is time to take control of your online experiences and prioritize your health above the addictive allure of social media.

Let us step out from behind the screens, embrace real-life connections, and create a healthier relationship with technology. By doing so, you can mitigate the unnoticed perils of social media on your health and strive for a more balanced and fulfilling existence.

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The post Behind the Screens: Unnoticed Perils of Social Media on Health appeared first on FitNish.com.

Audiences are hungry for more interactive content through different devices than ever before, and social media is now an essential component of any marketing campaign. The pace at which social media has evolved is unrivalled.

Social media is fully integrated into our everyday lives in today’s world. Various players in many industries have adopted a range of digital branding service strategies for social media. With so much information available online, it’s critical to place your fitness business correctly on social media.

The pandemic of the coronavirus has resulted in a major rise in social media use, with customers turning to social media to keep in touch during this difficult period. If you’re serious about growing your fitness company, this is certainly something to look into. If you need help you can always find an agency such as Orange Label Advertising if you want to bring your fitness branding to the next level. We’ll go over how to choose some of the right strategies to boost your brand’s growth. 

How Has The Pandemic Impacted Social Media Marketing?

The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on many industries and continues to influence consumer behavior. In recent months, many consumers have relied on social media for updates from companies and brands. Engagement on social media skyrocketed in the final stages of the pandemic, compared to normal consumption rates. 

Users seemed to be more receptive to social advertisements. This is particularly true in countries where security is tighter. The cost of social ads has decreased as the usage of social media sites has grown. Many companies took advantage of the opportunity, which resulted in more cost-effective marketing strategies and less competition. 

During a crisis, consumers expect brands to exchange important messages and contact. Now is not the time to be still or quiet. While it’s natural to feel anxious, it’s critical to preserve consumer confidence and transparency. People are yearning for social contact and a sense of belonging. 

Following the crisis, companies’ social media content from all sectors would be more relevant than ever. Your digital strategy is extremely beneficial. Businesses that come across as genuine, truthful, and compassionate will continue to win the hearts and minds of customers.

Best Tips On Social Media Marketing Services For Your Fitness Industry

Social Broadcasting

Most social media users, according to surveys, tend to watch live video content over regular posts. With a large demand for live video, social broadcasting is exploding. This is an environment where fitness marketing has a lot of potential. You will reach a global audience with your marketing campaign and communicate with your members through a common passion and interest. 

Fitness brands are going live to drive content to their members on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, where they have the choice to do so. Consumers will watch the action unfold live from anywhere on the planet. You will go live and hold conversations about exercises, health and wellness tips, industry and COVID-19 updates, and recipes, among other topics. 

Use More Videos

With video content, successful brands continue to dominate. Video is a very powerful marketing tool. More and more businesses are incorporating video into their marketing plans. On social media, video content is extremely common, and you can take advantage of this. 

To share your story, try to keep your videos short and engaging. You can use videos to show off your clients, support a new fitness class, or encourage members to exercise. You can either record ahead of time or film live in the moment with sound. Share content that will pique your ideal client’s curiosity and resonate with your target market. 

Focus On User Generated Content

This is one of the most effective tactics for enhancing your branding services. You can use user-generated content to highlight personal accomplishments. When it comes to promoting the services or goods, consumers accept what other customers have to say rather than what the company says for itself. User-generated content promotes your services and products by being published on your behalf by your consumers or trusted audience. 

When other consumers see such candid reviews, it immediately piques their interest in purchasing your brand’s goods. This form of content is more relatable and has a significant effect on purchasing decisions. It can be thought of as social evidence that validates the company’s legitimacy.

Direct & Advance Social Media Advertisements

For a good purpose, many brands continue to invest heavily in social media advertising. Ads on social media are getting more sophisticated, with more personalization options than ever before. Brands find it easier to reach consumers on social media in order to support direct business. 

Social media video advertisements can be very successful in terms of advertisement because viewers are more likely to engage with a video. Advertising on social media essentially entails giving marketers the ability to target their ads to their target audience using data from users. Using videos in your advertisement will make your company stand out. 

Finding innovative ways to use social media advertising is critical to effectively positioning the brand online. To collect information and advertise those services, you can use a variety of advertisements such as social marketplace ads, Story ads, Facebook ads, live streaming ads, and even chatbots.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has been a huge part of social media marketing strategy in recent years. Many brands are using influencer audiences to extend their scope, and influencer marketing is continuing to evolve. Allowing an influential individual to run your social media pages for a day will assist you in spreading the word about your message. 

Influencers may aid in the promotion of your services or goods in such a way that audiences become paying customers. Influencer marketing has become more scrutinized in recent years. The most critical aspect here is engagement. Brands are delving deeper into influencers in search of high levels of interaction and maximum performance. 

Final Thoughts

The fitness industry has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The use of social media has exploded as more people go online. Consumers have a voracious appetite for advertising and turn to brands for news and advice during difficult times. 

Social networking is an important tool for engaging with consumers, increasing your company, and effectively positioning your brand as a business owner. These pointers can assist your business in growing, obtaining more leads, expanding sales, and generating significantly more revenue.

Author Bio

Shane Brown is a passionate blogger and chief blogging officer at BloggerOutreach,  Viacon,  seogrowthengine, RedhatMedia,  iDream Agency, Sbnewsroom, smartbusinessdaily, Okeymagazine, Gossipment  7 Best Things . He is the man behind Search Engine Magazine, a well-known SEO Magazine. Shane specializes in inbound marketing and creative.

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The post How To Optimize Your Fitness Social Media Marketing appeared first on FitNish.com.

Yet, you don’t have to be a part of a huge corporation to earn from an Instagram account. It is all about creating a personal brand and having a loyal audience of followers. According to statistics, the influencers’ market is going to reach 2.3 billion dollars by 2020.

It is not surprising that more people consider running their blogs to earn money. And it is especially tempting, as many influencers just post about their life and daily routine. If you want to know how to build an army of followers and make a living out of your daily activities on Instagram, this guide is for you.

Types of Blogs on Instagram

The platform is filled with all types of blogs, whether they are food, fashion, travel, healthcare, or books-related. Overall, successful content is funny and/or helpful. There are fitness gurus, makeup professionals, custom essay writers, photographers, and activists there.

The rise of social media marketing is understandable. Followers tend to believe influencers more than brands with traditional channels of advertisement. The reason is simple – people feel more personally connected with influencers and trust their opinions.

It means that the only way to make your account profitable is to have a loyal following that trusts your advice and opinion on a particular matter. So if you recommend the product, they are likely to try it out. Any successful blog is visually-driven and features a specific aesthetic. It should be pleasing to the eye and helpful or interesting in terms of captions and engagement.

Finding Your Niche

It is totally possible to create a lifestyle blog that will be attractive to people. However, the main factor is to have a niche that you are passionate about. For example, it can be fashion, makeup, childcare, etc. It can be anything that you have some kind of expertise at. It should be something that makes you different and shows the value of your advice.

Look, for example, at Amanda Stanton. She is a lifestyle influencer, who is also interested in fashion and style. She posts pictures of looks on her and her kids. Stanton has 1.2 million followers, which is stunning. Amanda is a great example of incorporating fashion, style, and travel into one profile.

Another perfect example is Kayla Itsines with amazing 11.9 million followers. She is a personal trainer and often posts videos on exercises, advice on a healthy lifestyle, etc. She also posts the pictures of her newborn baby, and other sneak peeks from a daily routine. Kayla created her following based on her expertise in fitness and physical training.

Of course, these two influencers are exceptional examples, and such an audience is pretty hard to build. Overall, it is not necessary to reach millions of followers to start earning. Even 5-10k of subscribers are attractive to brands that might be interested in sponsorship. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5SOKT6ptjO/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kQ2VFJN1m/

Sara Tasker has 216k followers with her visually-stunning lifestyle blog. She has found a certain aesthetic that works for her and adds interesting captions to them.

In general, there are four ways of earning money on this social media platform:

• Running sponsored posts
• Selling your products
• Being an affiliate marketer and recommend products of other brands
• Sell your photographs or videos

Depending on the type of content you create and the followers you have, it is still advisable to mix two or three of these income channels. For brands to sponsor you, it is important to see the engagement of the audience and their willingness to follow your recommendations.

How to Build an Audience

Posting daily routines make people more connected with influencers. Yet, before that, it is important to interest them in your content. If you are just starting, several tips will help you to grow the audience on Instagram:

• Find a topic you are passionate about and have something to contribute to it. It can be a food blog, travel inspiration, or even something as simple and complicated at the same time as being a parent. The important factor is to provide beneficial and meaningful content.
• Switch to a business account. It is crucial to understand the audience, when the majority of subscribers are active, what kind of content they are looking for. A business account provides necessary statistics and allows running paid advertising campaigns.
• Make aesthetically pleasing visuals. After all, it is visual social media, so the key is in posting beautiful images or video content.
• Engage with the audience. People need to know that you care about and want to communicate with them. There are many ways to do so. One is engaging in the comment section. Write thought-provoking captions under images, ask followers’ opinions, and answer their questions. The engagement builds trust and helps to create a loyal audience. Another way is posting stories with call-to-action features, like questions or polls. The third option is to look at subscribers’ content, like it, share via your stories or leave comments on their accounts.
• Post constantly. For example, brands post on average 1.5 times per day. The best strategy is to create at least one post a day, yet it is not always easy. You can use auto posting software to plan publications or use stories when there are no pictures to make a post. It is crucial to have a constant flow of content for followers.
• Incorporate videos if there is an opportunity. People tend to engage more with video content on Instagram, so if you can, post a video, a daily vlog, or a recipe.

Wrapping Up

Making your daily life the content worth following isn’t always easy. You need to have a passion for something and offer valuable insight as well as eye-pleasing images and videos. 

The key factor is in building a loyal audience that trusts your advice and expertise in choosing products or making decisions. It is essential to engage with people, offer them various types of content, like images, videos, captions, stories, and remember to always be truthful and not be fake, promoting products just for the money. Always only promote something if you yourself would use it and it in no way harms anyone.

Photo Credits:

• NeONBRAND
• Eaters Collective
• Jakob Owens
• Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

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The post Personal Branding: How To Earn On Your Daily Routine Using Instagram appeared first on FitNish.com.

A really funny, but somewhat true video by Emily Hartridge about many of the people on Instagram. Don’t be those people.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkcGhMxlLK4/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkdd5Wtlbu9/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bke6C81FH-t/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj_0XolFRny/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkKKjiiFXi1/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkIjD8jl1y5/?taken-by=emilyhartridge

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The post My Top 10 Worst People On Instagram By Emily! appeared first on FitNish.com.

I don’t think I’m quite ‘advanced’ or made a success of it at all yet, or that I am any sort of expert, as there is always so much more to learn. But I do believe I can give some honest and beneficial advice, thus this post.

First things first, you need to be familiar with these 3 main points before you even do anything or start anything.

1. It takes time.

Too often people think that they can just start a website or an instagram page or youtube account or whatever it may be, post a few times and the views and the followers will just flock in and soon they will be making residual money sitting on a beach and working from wherever they like. If only that was the case.

It takes months, even years to progress to anything near that, and in that time it is going to take a lot, I mean a lot of your time to get it going (you will probably hear this repeated a lot throughout this article). Writing quality articles, editing articles and images, collaborating with other people, all take a lot of time. So make sure you’re aware of this, especially if you plan to focus on useful in depth topics.

2. You have to enjoy doing it, or at least enjoy the content.

You may not enjoy the actual act of editing or writing articles or videos but you should at least enjoy the content you are writing and posting and at least understand why you are providing this said content. Otherwise you will never last in the long term.

Too many people start a channel or something and it lasts only a few months. They start off with such vigor and motivation and then after a few weeks they abandon it due to their views/followers not increasing. Probably because they started it with their sole focus on getting views and making money off it. Too many people just want to be famous nowadays.

If you plan to do it solely for the views and with the main goal of making money that way, good luck to you. That’s a difficult road to follow, especially when doing a more principled, personal blog kind of media style. If you plan to do a more niche website where you focus on something really specific or on a specific product then it could be a lot quicker once you get the ‘formula’ right for that. But that also takes a lot of expertise in aspects such as keyword research, seo and so on, to get the traffic to your site.

For instance I started trying to edit and make more videos wherever I can. Not because I want to cash in on youtube (though that couldn’t hurt) (though nowadays it’s even harder to get going on youtube) but because I enjoy making videos and want to improve my editing/filming skills, so whenever I can I try to make some sort of video for the channel, but I do try to add some decent content that would be beneficial to people as opposed to just putting up stuff for the sake of it.

If I was doing any of this in the hopes of just making money or fame or whatever like that and not actually enjoying the process or the content, I would have given it up ages ago, probably just because of the amount of time and effort that it took.

3. It’s not as easy as it seems.

This basically follows on from the above points, in that it takes a lot of time. It may not be the hardest or most complex thing to do, but it really takes up a lot of your time.

Just try making a vlog for youtube, and I don’t mean just filming one day of stuff and throwing it all together and straight up onto youtube. Film a few different aspects, get good angles, showcase different things from the norm, then edit the video and put it together tastefully with some decent music that all fits together. That is a long and grueling process, trust me. So if you don’t enjoy some part of the process you may find yourself struggling to keep your motivation up to continue going.

I could probably go on and expand the above points another page but I think you get the gist, right? So with that out of the way and hopefully you have now established that you are really passionate about something that you will be pursuing and writing about, or that you see the real value that your topic could provide to people, here’s a few general and basic tips to get you going.

Website brand tips:

The main things that you will need if you want a dedicated website and domain is:

Your domain name

(e.g. fitnish.com, or yourname.co.za) If you want your own domain name, you will need to pay a small fee for the name per year, thankfully it’s not much. If you don’t want to spend anything you can always find some existing services/websites that host your stuff for you, but then you have to include their name in your site address, like yourname.wordpress.com.

A server

(To host your website, to allow people to connect and view it). Again, this will cost you a bit of money per month/year depending what you can find and depending on your traffic and site size etc. But you can always get a free option on say wordpress and thus will use their domain name like yourname.wordpress.com.

The downside to using the free option is that you don’t really have full control over your site and your google rankings, advertising strategies etc. It is good to start with, but I would recommend getting a dedicated domain name  from the start if you plan to do something in the long term, since your google rankings will also be better when having a website around for longer. So if you start with the free site and then after a year move to your own domain and host, that year could have helped a lot in your rankings on google, having started with a dedicated name and server.

Your website

It can be overwhelming and a bit intimidating thinking of creating and designing your own website (especially if you don’t have a lot of tech experience), but nowadays the easiest thing to do is to use a pre built theme. There are many free ones, and themes that you can buy. You can always start off with a free one and when you find your ideal theme you can then buy it later on.

So choose a cms (content management system) such as wordpress, download a theme, install the theme in wordpress (wordpress makes it all so much easier) and there you go. You can find many useful step by step tutorials or videos on how to set up wordpress online. You may have to do a bit of reading on the cms that you choose, but you won’t have to touch much code

Once you have your site up and running:

• Make sure to post regularly and consistently to get some good content out there.
• Post meaningful and useful content.
• Collaborate with and promote other people.
• Constantly refine. Get feedback from friends and hear what they liked/disliked about your website. Don’t take it personally but use it for your benefit.
• Include a contact page with a valid email address so people can get in contact with you! (You will be surprised as too how many times people leave this out).
• Sign up for google adsense. You can make a decent amount of money with them, and none of the other advertisers really compares to them. And try not to get kicked off of adsense as getting back in is very difficult.
• Look into affiliate marketing, depending on your websites audience’s location. This can take some work but give it time.
• Don’t think that just because you have a site you can now ask for free stuff to try and review or to promote. You need to establish a decent reputation first. So give it some time, post reviews of products that you have actually bought and currently use. Promote and share brands and products that you like and use yourself and think that other people will benefit from.

Social media tips:

• If you plan to start a facebook page, be prepared to invest some money into promoting your posts. Nowadays facebook posts are hardly seen by your page’s followers unless you promote posts.
• If you plan to use various social media channels (which you probably have to), keep them all going, but choose one to really put your effort and focus on and try to push that ONE, as well as you can, especially if it is just you doing everything yourself.
• Be creative, and try different things with your posts. Some will work some won’t, but you won’t know until you try.
• Promote other people and cool businesses that you have tried and like yourself.
• For youtube, be prepared to post videos for a few months before you see much traction (or unless you get some video to go viral).
• Be yourself and try not to be fake on social media, and don’t buy followers or likes. It is pointless.
• Nowadays quotes are thrown all over the place on social media. People post half nude photos of themselves and then add some ‘meaningful’ quote as the caption for some reason. Please don’t do that. Try to match the caption to the photo. If you want to post a half nude photo and do not know what to say, just say something real like “well I loved this angle” or “I didn’t know what to say but I just wanted to show this photo” :p 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgxpj7jgCFO/?taken-by=murtadau_gabier

• Make sure to take breaks from all social media every now and again as it can become a mini addiction and waste a lot of your time.

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The post So You Want To Start A Website Or A Brand? Website And Social Media Tips appeared first on FitNish.com.

With social media available to everyone nowadays, more and more athletes and fitness ‘models’ are creating pages and are active on social media. While that is pretty great, there are some things that new athletes should probably be aware of when posting things, though small they can end up having quite an effect.

Here are a few things to consider when starting off on social media:

Tagging everyone

Everybody wants to be known, and they way to do that, apparently, is to post something up and tag every person and every company that you know.

While it can work sometimes, the people who get tagged can become highly annoyed, especially if with every post you make you tag them.

This can be seen very well on Instagram where if you click the image you can see these hundreds of tags. Tagging so many people does not really increase the number of likes or exposure of your image.

I remember one comment made by Andrew hudson, where someone tagged him in a picture on Facebook amongst many other tags. His comment was along the lines of “Very nice, but what does this have to do with me?”

So you get the point.

Tagging and never interacting

The tagging gets worse. Some newbies will do the tagging thing all the time but will never even interact with or even follow the page they are tagging. This is really just common courtesy, if you are going to tag them in your image at least be following them and like or comment or contribute something to their page.

Build yourself over time

With everything it takes time. Aim to build yourself and your brand over time, don’t just expect to post one or two pics every now and again and tag everyone in them and become famous and gather a huge following. Most times it takes time and consistency, just like the training that you do.
Build yourself up organically and your time will come where you will be sought after and interviewed etc.

Tag ‘occasionally’

It is still good to tag certain people or pages every now and again or once in a while, just to let them know you are still there improving and doing your thing.

A few tips to help build your social media presence:

• Be regular and consistent. Make sure to upload some content at least once a day so people can see that you are active and there is stuff for them to see.
• Post quality pictures. Every phone nowadays has a great camera so be sure to take some decent photos to use and make sure the lighting is adequate. There is nothing worse than a picture that is so dark and blurry no-one can make out what exactly it’s of.
• Post creative individual pictures. Many athletes are sponsored or want to be sponsored by clothing lines and supplement companies, and in turn post up pictures of the sponsor. While this is fine, no-one only wants to look at pictures of supplement bottles all the time. Be sure to be creative with your pictures and put yourself in the picture at least. Subtlety is always a winner.

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Social media has become part of life nowadays, to some people it is as much as part of their everyday life as REAL life and it can be hard to sometimes differentiate the two. Social media has many great aspects, such as keeping in touch with friends and family, a source of motivation and encouragement, a place to learn and share interesting thoughts. But it also has various downsides that many people can find themselves getting sucked into without even knowing.

First a few things about some of the social media platforms that you may not know about:

Facebook:

• If you have a Facebook page and you keep wondering why nobody sees or likes your posts, it is because Facebook does not show a lot of the posts to many people. They want you to pay and promote your posts in order to show more people. With so many millions of pages on Facebook it is hard to show every post to all of your followers.
• You can see this where a Facebook page has maybe +- 50 000 likes (people following the page) and each of the posts has maybe a few hundred likes. The user engagement is very low on the posts.
• Where the user engagement on the posts is exceptionally low but the page has a very high number of followers (for example a page with 50 000 likes and maybe a few hundred or less likes per post), it is highly probably that the page bought most of their likes or followers.
• A Facebook page can be a great marketing tool, but it can prove to be very frustrating and difficult to get it out there if you are a small brand and you are hoping not to fork out much money on it. In order to get people to see your posts you are going to have to promote some posts.

Instagram:

• There are apps and programs that people use and pay for, to randomly like and comment on posts throughout Instagram to try and get their accounts noticed and to get more followers. That is why you sometimes see some random short comments like “Great pic ;)” from some random Instagram account that you have never seen before. Even some ‘famous’ people use these services and you may just see one of these celebrities liking one of your posts. So next time this happens don’t get overly excited that someone famous liked or commented on your picture, it may just be an automated like which they payed for.
• There are Instagram pages with well over say 2 million followers but each post has only say 1000 likes. Its quite likely that the page has bought the followers as with that kind of following the posts should receive a lot more engagement (roughly about +-15 000 likes for instance).

If you are into fitness you will undoubtedly know who Tavi Castro and Sandra Prikker are. If not, they were quite a famous fitness couple who ran an online training and gym clothing business in the Netherlands. They recently ended their relationship, the relationship though was shown all over social media throughout their time together.

Sandra made a video about the ‘truth about the break up’ that can be seen below, followed by an Instagram post by Tavi.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l1KUDB9Wr4&feature=youtu.be”]

I saw the post , I didn’t see this coming and I’m saddened by the immaturity . Love & hate are not opposites, but the same obsession. I will not make a perfectly refined video with slides, perfect lighting, lies , and horrible twists on truths to hurt someone I loved just because it’s not going well for me. Good people don’t waste energy on pain and hurting others under any circumstance. Indeed karma is real, I have been used , neglected, also been cheated on, I put no one on the street, took no dog as hostage, and take responsibility for my actions and move on. Now I’m doing what I love with the people I love. Enjoying the simpler things in life . #forward

A photo posted by Tavi (@tavicastro) on Mar 28, 2016 at 3:38am PDT

The thing with social media is that everyone only posts the good stuff, or makes sure that the posts are done up and edited to show them in a good light, even though they may be going through hell.

This is just one case out of a few that shows how ‘fake’ it can be. The relationship was over months ago, but for the sake of social media and for the ‘fans’ they still made sure to post pictures etc. to seem as though everything was going great and to keep the image up.

At the end of the day we can only speculate what happened since there is always two sides to the story, but their relationship is really none of my business or yours. The thing to take away from it is that while we may follow many of these people on social media, it is important not to feel down on our own lives thinking theirs is so magnificent just because we see pictures and snapshots of them smiling. We never know how ‘real’ it really is. It is also very easy for someone to create a different ‘persona’ online to what they may really be like in real life. So before you go off and worship and support some of the people you only see on social media, by buying all their merchandise and training programmes, take caution and try to see the real person behind the online persona.

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