For those of you who have kids or who have been around a child for more than 5 minutes, you know that kids bring forth a plethora of lessons.

They teach us about ourselves. We learn what we're good at and where we struggle. We learn new strengths and weaknesses. We learn to multi-task, live on little sleep, and deal with challenges we've never experienced before.

We also learn that we have to adapt. For the record, I do NOT deal with sticky. Sticky fingers, sticky counters, sticky anything. I actually get anxiety over seeing sticky, getting sticky. So, yeah. Welcome to me learning to adapt 😉

But beyond all the life lessons of being around a child, also come the lessons we can interpret from the lives of a child. And so, I bring you the 6 lessons my wonderful, spunky, stubborn, independent, cuddly, lovable 6-month old has taught me about social media.

1. It's All About Routine

You want to keep a kid happy? Stick to a routine. Well, heck, you wanna keep an adult happy? Stick to a routine!

For a baby, it's all about consistency. Knowing when they're going to eat, sleep, play, cuddle, go out for a walk. And it makes the parents happy too when the baby knows it's nap time and actually goes to sleep. The baby is happy. And mom (or dad) can plan their day accordingly, get things done, and everyone functions much more efficiently.

Social media is so much the same way! Your customers and audience want a routine. They want to know you are consistently there. This means posting times, response times, content quality, and more.

If you've read this blog more than once, you know how I preach consistency. It's honestly what I believe to be a fulcrum of success on social media. When your audience knows they can trust you to be present on a consistent basis, they know they can trust you in business.

2. But to Get Someone's Attention, Disrupt that Routine

Baby girl is finally sleeping through the night! Hallelujah, right? Until that one night she wakes up screaming. I fly out bed, wide awake, ready to tend to the imminent threat - oh, you mean she's just hungry?

You see, when she woke up every night, I would groggily drag myself into her room, on schedule at 2:00 am. Every night. It was routine. But now, when it happens, it throws me off the routine and my response is 100% opposite.

So, for as much as having a routine is great on social media, if you really want to get your audience's attention, throw them a curve ball every now and then. Mix in a contest. Offer a free giveaway. Host a live video session on Facebook. Do something you've never done before and you'll likely get completely different reactions from your audience.

3. Try Something New

Speaking of disrupting routines, we as adults are very set in our ways. If it's new, we don't like it. If it's different, we complain about it. But you know what babies do - they try it.

New foods, new toys, new items to touch, new experiences to enjoy. Now, they may not like them after trying them, but at least they try them.

So, before you knock down Snapchat, or Periscope, or Live Video on Facebook, or (ack!) Instagram 😉 try them. Find out what they're all about. Who's using these platforms? What makes them unique? Why are so many other people loving them?

You don't have to like them, and you don't have to use them for your business. But until you try them, how can you really know? And, you may just surprise yourself by enjoying something new.

4. Stay Focused

Have you ever watched the intense focus of a child? When something has their attention, it is 100%. That being said, they can get easily distracted.... but as long as they are focused on something, they give that something their complete attention.

On social media, the ability to lose focus, get distracted, spend hours scrolling through your feed, and forget what you logged on for in the first place is something that has happened to every one of us. This is why you need to stay focused! This also goes back to creating a routine.

Set aside specific time periods every day if you need to in order to post to social media, respond to comments, engage with other accounts, or respond to messages. Stay on topic and give your audience the clear focus they deserve.

5. Nothing Beats a Smile

You know what makes pretty much anyone's day? When a baby smiles at them. I see it all the time. In the elevator in my apartment building, when we're out shopping, when we're out for a walk through town, everywhere we go. When my little girl smiles, people melt. They love it.

We want to smile. We want to be happy. We want to feel that warmth of a smile.

So, give that to your audience! Give them the opportunity to smile. I am always talking about the value of quality content and the need to educate and support your audience. But every now and then, you just have to give them a reason to smile. Share something funny, uplifting, inspirational, heart-warming. It can be a photo, a video, an article, or otherwise. But make them smile.

6. Don't Give Up

Finally, the biggest lesson having a child has taught me is that we all start as beginners. She didn't know how to sit up - but now she can. She didn't know how to crawl, and, well, she still doesn't. It's more of a face plant, inch worm, wiggle thing going on right now. But she tries every damn day to move herself forward - literally. She doesn't give up because it didn't work today, or yesterday, or the day before.

And when it comes to social media (and pretty much everything in life), you will struggle. Your Facebook reach will suck. You won't be gaining new followers as fast as you like. You won't get as much website traffic as you wanted. You won't get as many opt-ins as expected. Your ad will fall flat. It's ok!

Don't give up. Keep trying. When it comes to social media, like pretty much any type of marketing or advertising, one shot isn't going to hit the mark, first time, every time. Repeat. Try something different. Research. Adapt. But don't give up. You'll get there!

As a bonus tip, don't forget, everyone loves babies. Baby humans. Baby dogs, baby cats, baby turtles, baby goats, baby pigs... you get the idea! So, if you're completely out of ideas, share a picture of baby and watch your social media engagement sky rocket! 😉