Social Media Flexing: How It Damages Your Marketing

Wondering what Social Media Flexing is? Social media flexing is the overt “showing off” or maybe “subtle showing” off that happens all the time on social media.

I bet 80% to 90% of your social media feed is all but social flexing.

What was once “keeping up with the joneses” now turned into a large scale “Joneses” cluster you just can’t keep up with anymore.

If it were just about “seeing, noticing” and agreeing between us that “it’s there”, it’s fine.

We’d take it.

If it were to harm your business, slow your marketing to a crawl, or blast your digital marketing strategy to bits? We all have a cause to worry.

Another cause of worry? The helpless feeling you get that “you aren’t there yet”, or that “you aren’t good enough “, or that “the train left the station”.

Most of all of this is a lie. I personally know a couple of people who do this all the time on social (and ask me about the real state of their businesses, their financial position, or whether or not what they say on social is true).

It’s not.

You have seen it. You are a victim to it. You can’t help but shake your head. You often wonder: How the heck can it be real?

The guy with the lambo, the subtle post saying that someone just made $120,000 in a week, the eBook that promises you the moon in your pocket? It’s all there. We have seen it all.

We thought it was fine. It’s fine, until it’s not.

Social Flexing Won’t Make you Friends

According to Natasha Lyons of Insider.com, all this “flex culture” pushes and tempts you to believe that happiness is “elsewhere” — In Goa, Maldives, Hawaii, or in the Lambo the guy just drove. Or it’s the watches, the Yacht, and the power lunch in a 7-star hotel.

This was once rampant on Instagram. It now spread its way (overtly or subtly) into other social feeds such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

Know this: If you flex, you’ll get several likes and comments (of congratulations). Deep in everyone’s heart though, there’s just envy, jealousy, hatred, and the dominant feeling of “Why do I have to see this?”.

You’ll lose people on your social networks. Sooner than you can buy another Lambo and another French Mansion to flex.

Why are we writing about cultures and subcultures here? On a marketing blog? I am getting there..

The Sources are Dumb (& A Bunch of Lies)

I have a friend who looooves to brag (endless). Really. Just sit with him for a cup of coffee or over beer and he’ll show you multiple snapshots of “How much he makes per month/year”.

At first, I didn’t know better. I thought “I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, capable enough, or…”

Later, I realized that he tells you how much he makes but conveniently avoids telling you how much he spends to make what he makes? By the end of the year, what he makes is only a fraction of what he claims.

This is offline — where we might even be able to force our way through someone’s bank account or financial audits and “ratify”.

Online? There’s just no way to check a darned thing. I could tell you I am richer than Jeff Bezos, and I have a course that tells you how I do it. You might just buy (if you are like most people).

Just because someone publishes an income report, doesn’t mean it’s true.

A tweet that goes like, “Woo Hoo ! We raised 12 Million in Funding, tells you nothing about how profitable the business is. They just raised money. They got an investor to “invest” — tells you nothing.

Most people are full of shit. They are on social media (and social flexing endlessly because they have something to sell, and they want you to believe that your life will change).

Your life changes only if YOU do something about it; not by buying an eBook or taking a course.

Professional Social Flexing Is Distracting You

I recently wrote How to Focus on What You Need to Focus On and I wrote just how and why you should follow the right people, the right companies, the brands that suit your values, how business success is measured, and more.

Professional flexing (maybe I termed this) is when certain professionals — like SEO professionals, social media managers, entrepreneurs, paid ads guys — and they put up this picture or show a video showing you the millions they just made in sales.

That’s certainly “scroll stopping”. But it’s distracting.

You now start wondering why you aren’t doing what that 16 yr old kid just did. You doubt the process you are on. The already growing frustration that digital marketing results take time to see the light of the day now got a chance to raise its voice.

You chase that fad. You follow what that guy did with his Shopify store.

Of course, it won’t work.

You now have a break in your process.

See? That’s an example.

Your Mindset Gets Whacked

Simplicity.

Balance.

Focus.

That’s what you need to keep your business thriving. Any of this social media flexing (even offline), is going to throw you off balance. Your mind sets off wandering into different rabbit holes.

You want to dream more than you can handle. The vivid images of 6 and 8 figure pay days, the beaches, and fast cars is too appealing to ignore.

That keeps you from creating content, pushing yourself to do what matters, and ultimately dropping off the bandwagon.

That’s why I wrote why your mindset needs a reset.

With all of these sales and marketing trends taking shape now (and for the future), you’ll be left out because “boring” is unappealing.

That’s not good for your business now, is it?