Social Media Unhooked: 6 Step System for Buried Burlesquers
Let's hit the reset button and take back control - I got you.
I’m noticing what feels like ‘peak freak’ around social media in the burlesque scene at the moment. In fact, the mounting angst in my DMs this week prompted me to run an Instagram story poll asking how you currently feel about it.
34% of responders chose ‘Overwhelmed, anxious or insecure’. 25% went for ‘Inspired, happy, connected’ and another 25% picked ‘Jaded, bored, hustled, turned off’. The remaining 16% opted for ‘Pressured, stressed or resentful’.
A number of you followed up with more detailed responses, some feeling that they should be ‘doing more’ online without the time or energy to do so, and others describing social media as a vicious circle or endless hamster wheel with no traction. Several people said the relentless rollout of tutorials, hooky reels, hot takes and identi-offers from performers on social media felt overwhelming and desperate.
Others found the constant carousel of feathers, rhinestones, thirst traps and projections of affluence homogenous and jading. But mostly, you’re telling me that nothing you try seems to work anymore when it comes to promoting yourself and your ventures, and you can’t help but wonder how the performers who seem to be constantly online, and seemingly booked and busy, find the time, energy - and ‘secret social sauce’ to pull it off.
So, given that 75% of pollees identified with ‘resistant’ adjectives, and the expanded submissions echoed those in my inbox, I thought a little intervention might be helpful to those looking to pull up the reins for a second and change course.
Above: Jazida by SH Photografia
But first, let’s look at how we got here for a minute…
Back in the days of Yahoo! Groups and message boards, 21st Century Burlesque itself was founded as an online publication to unite the emerging pockets and smaller scenes around the world who only gathered together in person perhaps once a year at one of the few festivals at the time. I created my Facebook profile in 2006, before Instagram launched in 2010. Suddenly we could all see and share and connect in real time! Imagine that…
Fast forward 20 years and we find ourselves in a ‘post-COVID’ crush. Thousands of cooks, a dwindling number of kitchens, and checked out diners ordering in. Social Media was a lifeline for many during lockdown, helping us stay sane, seen and connected with our fans and peers. We leaned in with virtual stages and living room livestreams, and the breadth of creative, original content was more like ‘the old days’: less curated, more experimental, why-the-hell-nottery while the playing field felt levelled. We were all in it together. Weren’t we?
Problem is - as many of you have concurred - the entertainment world might be open for business again now, but there’s just not enough business being done, and that sense of confinement, scarcity and uncertainty hasn’t abated. Consumer habits have changed as much as budgets, and we’re not immune to the collective fatigue, doomscrolling, distraction seeking, a need to know what’s happening, what’s safe - what’s keeping the lights on. Reasons to keep going. Connection. Validation. Roll up to the Dopamine Fruit Machine says Meta, et al - you won’t find your way out of this arcade, and you probably won’t try that hard.
You were eager to tell me who you enjoy following - the burlesquers on social media who inspire, entertain, educate and enlighten you (incidentally, this person came up more than anyone else). But you were also quick to confide about the inescapable angst of comparing, coveting, fretting over follower counts, feeling saturated by and yet separate from your peers and their apparent momentum. Triggered by every viral post, jaded by the flurry of attempts to replicate it. Wanting to be seen but not feeling worth looking at. One minute you’re excited to see peers who look just like you looking successful, finding a way through. Then you’re sitting up in bed at 5am trying to crack some unspoken code - what are those seemingly booked, busy, effortlessly cool and funny accounts doing, making, being, that you aren’t - or can’t reproduce?
Booty Jones teaching online for Arabesque Burlesque.
The Antidote…
Social media can be a powerful tool, no doubt about that. I jumped straight in when it first existed and have spent two decades using it to build my clients’ businesses, find life-changing friendships and opportunities, laugh my way through grief and illness, sell my own services and creations, and keep 21st Century Burlesque everpresent in the glitter trenches. But you can’t utilise it with reluctance, resentment, paranoia and desperation in the tank - however valid and understandable those visceral reactions are in this climate.
So if you’re looking for an oasis in the algodesert - a nudge to do things differently and, more importantly - feel different about yourself and your work, here’s a kickstarter that could get you out of the scroll hole and poster’s block. I use this Six P System with all my clients when they lose their way and need a reset - and it could be just the tonic for you right now, too.
Find a comfy spot, put your phone in another area code (or a drawer) for an hour, and get a notebook and pen out.
To read the rest of this guide, and access in-depth tutorials about Winning Burlesque Competitions and Getting Selected for Festivals, as well as future Editor’s Desk special content, sign up here for as long as suits you. Give me a shout if I can support you further. Holli xo