In my courses, programmes and 1:1 mentoring I regularly teach small business how to market without social media. For many of them, the desire to quit social media has been with them for a long time—but they need the courage, strategy and support to actually make it happen. In this post, I share the 5 things I teach small business owners on how to market without social media.
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#1 It can be done
I’ve been marketing my business without social media for over two years and my online business is doing better than ever. When I left in October 2021, I didn’t have a huge following elsewhere (or on Instagram itself, for that matter). I had a small-sized newsletter list (less than 130 subscribers), was still growing the number of views on my website and had only recently started to really use Pinterest. Unlike so many other business owners who leave social media, then, I didn’t have the luxury or safety net of a large audience elsewhere. But my business didn’t suffer at all. In fact, now that I’m marketing in a way that feels truly aligned to me and my business, it’s doing better than ever.
Read 4 ways to grow your business without social media
On the other hand, you don’t have to market your business without social media. I work with plenty of small business owners who use social media in their business and many of them enjoy doing so. It’s all about doing what works for you, for your life and your capacity.
#2 Change the place of social media in your day
A friend of mine noticed a real shift in her feelings about social media when she stopped checking it first thing in the morning. Instead, she moved checking and posting to the end of the day when she’d already gotten other work done. This approach literally deprioritized social media in her life, and made it easier to deprioritize social media in her business as well. If you want to wean yourself off social media, or gradually want to market your business without it, this approach is a great place to start.
#3 Tap into how marketing without social media makes you feel
Many of us with online businesses feel like marketing on social media is simply part of what it takes to run our businesses. Even if we don’t enjoy social media or spend more time on than we want, we still believe that we need to be on social media.
How would marketing without social media make you feel? Tap into that feeling.
But feeling resentment, anxiety, comparison or a lack of comparison about using social media in your business is something to act on. You don’t have to market your business on social media. Instead, ask yourself how you want to feel about marketing your business. How would marketing without social media make you feel? It makes me feel more spacious, less rushed and less resentful towards platforms that are essentially making me work for them. I feel so much more creativity, joy and ease in how I’m marketing my business now.
Tap into your feelings: you don’t need to rationalize them—instead, you can honour and act on them.
#4 Review your marketing strategy (or create one)
One of the biggest things that helped me figure out how to market without social media was getting clear on my marketing strategy. This sounds very fancy—but really is delightfully simple and powerful at the same time. I go into more depth about my marketing strategy in this post, and help you create your own in my group programme Marketing without social media.
The short version is that you start by looking at where you’re currently marketing your business. How do all of these channels fit together? Does it feel like your approach is scattered or random, or do all channels feed organically into each other? Landing on a marketing strategy that is organic, in which all elements are interconnected and in which I stopped creating content merely for one channel (like social media) has made a huge difference in my business.
#5 Lean into your strengths and joys
Marketing without social media is not about replacing one necessary evil with another. Instead, it’s a chance to start marketing your business in a way that truly feels good to you. What are you good at and what do you enjoy? What feels (relatively) easy to you? For instance, I love writing and when I left social media I started to put more of my time and energy into writing newsletters and blog posts. Perhaps you really love video or speaking—in that case, your own YouTube channel or podcast might be a great thing to add to your marketing.
You needn’t necessarily add new things to your marketing: when I began to focus more on my writing I made an existing channel—my newsletter—work harder, without adding a new channel.
Marketing your business can feel joyful, easeful and aligned, I promise. Discover more about how to achieve this by joining my gentle and effective 4-month group programme Marketing without social media.
If my newsletters and free resources resonate with you, I might just be the right mentor for you. I don’t believe in 10-step-plans, or get rich quick schemes. I do believe that it is possible to create and run a business that fits you and your life: your values and rhythms, your strengths and passions. I strongly believe that you don’t need to do all the things, or be on all the channels to make your business work.
I’m here to help you feel more supported in your business. I’m here to give you the confidence to run your business from that place of deep inner knowing inside of you, offering my signature blend of mindset shifts and practical steps.
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