12 Aug Visibility for Gen X

There has to be a different way – visibility for Gen X

First, let’s get one thing straight. Generation X are not rubbish at technology, publicity shy, or running out of energy. What we are is fed up with playing by constantly changing rules, feeling the drain of the relentlessness of social media, and the sheer boredom of keeping up with multiple platforms.

And I think there’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from trying to stay visible in a way that doesn’t really suit you.

You post something on LinkedIn. You wonder whether anyone saw it. You think you probably ought to post again tomorrow. Then someone tells you that LinkedIn posts are old hat now and you should really be doing video. Or building an email list. Or getting on Instagram. Or making Reels. Or starting a podcast.

And before you know it, the thing you actually wanted to be known for has become strangely secondary to the business of being visible.

To be frank, sometimes it feels like broadcasting into a vacuum. And that’s the real loss, because our uniqueness is who we are.

Our experience. Our wisdom. Our perspective. The things we’ve learned over years of working, building businesses, managing people, raising families, changing direction, making mistakes and starting again. We have accumulated a lot of knowledge. And yet somehow we’re spending an awful lot of time trying to work out what the algorithm wants from us.

We don’t need more content

This is where I think the whole visibility conversation has gone slightly wrong.  We’ve started to equate visibility with content production. We ask:

• How often are you posting?
• Are you showing up consistently?
• Are you creating video?
• Have you got a content strategy?
• Are you repurposing your content?
• Are you engaging with other people’s posts?

And yes, all of those things can have their place. I’m not suggesting we throw social media out of the window and return to fax machines. But I do think we need to ask a more fundamental question.

What do you actually want to be known for?

Because if you don’t know the answer to that, you can spend an extraordinary amount of time producing content without actually becoming any more visible.

You just become busier. And that’s not the same thing.

We’re old enough to have something to say

One of the things I love about Generation X is that we have lived through an enormous amount of change. We remember a world before the internet, before smartphones, before social media became woven into almost every aspect of business.

We adapted to email. Then websites. Then Google. Then Facebook. Then Twitter. Then Instagram. Then LinkedIn became a thing. Then video. Then short-form video. And now AI. There’s no way on earth that we are somehow technologically incapable.  We’re actually pretty bloody adaptable.

What I think many of us are questioning now is whether we want to spend quite so much of our lives adapting to the next platform, the next format and the next set of rules.

We don’t need to become influencers

I have nothing against influencers. If that’s what you want to do, go for it. But I don’t think every woman with a business, a profession or an area of expertise needs to become one.

You don’t need to dance on Instagram. You don’t need to film yourself talking to your phone every day. You don’t need to have an opinion about absolutely everything. You don’t need to always turn your breakfast, your dog, your morning walk and your thoughts about leadership into content.

And you don’t need to create a personal brand that feels completely divorced from the person you actually are. You might simply need to be known by the right people for something you are very good at. That’s a much more useful definition of visibility.

So what does visibility actually look like?

It might be social media. But it might also be PR, i.e. getting third party endorsement from the press.  It might be writing articles, speaking at events, hosting or appearing in podcasts, networking in person, writing a book or an academic paper.  It could just be be contributing to a conversation that’s already happening. Or having a really strong point of view and becoming associated with it.

And sometimes it might be doing less. Much less.

Because if you’re spending ten hours a week trying to keep up with social media and getting very little from it, perhaps the answer isn’t to become more efficient at social media. Perhaps the answer is to stop doing quite so much of it.

Your energy matters

This is something I think gets overlooked in visibility advice. We’re constantly told to be consistent. Show up. Keep going. Don’t disappear. Keep posting. Stay visible. We can feel guilty for letting things slide. But your energy is a resource.

And if you’re running a business, doing a demanding job, managing a team, looking after children or ageing parents, trying to have some kind of life,  you might not have endless amounts of it.

That doesn’t mean you’ve run out of ambition. It doesn’t mean you’re lazy.  And it certainly doesn’t mean you’re “not committed” to your business.

We don’t have to abandon ourselves to be seen

I think this is where the Generation X conversation gets interesting. Because perhaps we’re at an age where we’re less willing to perform. I’m not suggesting that Gen X should ignore social media. I’m suggesting that we should stop assuming it’s the only answer.

Interested in what else might be for you, book in a no-obligation chat to see if working with me could help uncover that.