It may surprise you to find out that I don’t have a social media strategy for my online facing business. In fact, with each new platform that makes its way in front of me…I find myself more and more bored with the thought of learning a new social media platform. There’s Twitter, Spoutible, Facebook, Clubhouse, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, Periscope and TikTok. Don’t forget Linkedin and I’m sure there’s some other platform that I’m unaware of that lurking behind the scenes. In the past 5 years I’ve taken significant social media breaks and after HootSuite, a social media scheduler, raised its prices to a ridiculous amount I think I began to check out from actively using social media as a way to grow my brand.
I’ve come to find out that I’m not the only person asking the question “Do you need social media to grow your brand and business?” I ask this question as I notice people refusing to accept the following truths: social media platforms will change overtime. These platforms have the goal of keeping users from leaving the platform. Having all of your eggs in one basket is a bad idea. So, what are you supposed to do? Not sure, keep listening because that’s what this podcast is all about.
And, as luck would have it, the day I recorded this episode, Twitter spaces weren’t working for the majority of the morning. Confirming to me that this was the right time to have this conversation.
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Listen to the Episode
Do You Need Social Media for Your Business
As I began preparing this podcast episode, I asked myself the following question “What is the true role of social media for any business in 2024?” After spending some time reflecting on this I came up with the following.
- A way to share visuals of your brand experience-You can share photos on all of the platforms.
- An opportunity to speak directly with the people that you’re serving, connecting and sharing with. Typically through DM messaging, livestreams or answering comments
- Social media for savvy entrepreneurs acts as a funnel into your business eco-system
And, there’s also the idea of “social proof” related to your brand. For quite awhile now there has been a lot of emphasis on social media numbers. However, it has been discussed often in recent years that engagement vs. numbers is the most important metric. I would argue that all of the actions that you take off of social media platforms create the best engagement.
What Would Happen to Your Business
If social media went away? Or, the platform that your brand is positioned on? Don’t think that can’t happen. I have some slightly unorthodox examples I would like to share.
- Montana has banned TikTok
- Government devices have also blocked the platform
- Pornhub-Blocking access to its platform in some states
- This one is weird to me because I think age blockers just make sense
- Proposed laws across the United States and beyond focused on limiting access to different social media platforms
If you’re 100% all in on a social media platform what will happen to your business and brand if it goes away? I’ve asked myself this question often and reflecting on the answer has influenced the following:
- Product design
- Platform presence
- Deepening Human Connections
I also just got tired of navigating the different platforms and their audiences. Because each platform functions differently you have to interact with the audience in different ways. This is a huge energetic lift that I’m reluctant to do moving forward.
What I’ve noticed is that I’m not the only person who is asking themselves the following question “Do I really need social media in order to have a healthy business?” With some folks landing on the-I want to quit social media for good. There are others who are in the middle like me. Then there’s the other side of the pendulum with folks who would think you’re insane to be off of social media.
It’s as if people forget that social media is a relatively new development and that businesses for hundreds of years, yes hundreds, existed without it.
What Is the In-Between?
In my view, there is a happy medium. I don’t think that it’s necessary to be on your favorite social media platform all day long. Or, that you should be on every single platform. Instead, here are a few approaches to minimizing your social media dependence.
9 Steps to Take
Here are 9 steps you can take to broaden the reach of your business and solidify the foundation of the work that you’re doing. I also have 1 bonus tip to share as well that many of us have lost sight of.
- Build your list-This list could be an email list or newsletter. Basically, you’re focusing on a way to connect with your community that doesn’t rely on social media. In the past two years there were significant service outages on the following platforms-Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It’s not crazy to think that more outages will happen in the future. There also platform changes that may impact your ability to access and use your social media profile.
- Connect “In-Person”-Meetups, Eventbrite activities, affinity spaces (where you have a shared love of something) Conference attendance and anything that gets you in-front of people is a great way to grow brand awareness.
- Connect via “Video”-We’re often meeting people online from across the world. When it makes sense and is appropriate, meet them via Zoom. Keep it easy, light and fun.
- Grow your brand platform-If you have a website, a podcast or a video channel-focus on growing them. I do also want to let people know that you can build a video based channel OFF of YouTube. You will lose out on the organic search that YouTUbe has but you will be able to create content direct to your audience. There are digital platforms that can help you do this.
- Focus on the one-Double-down on the platforms that you enjoy and are working for you.
- Optimize other platforms-We cannot be the best at all platforms. That’s why so many big creators seem to quit podcasting or have really long hiatus’ between seasons. Connect with people who are experts on platforms that you would like to be seen on and share content that compliments what they are sharing with their community.
- Grow your results-Followers aren’t results. I’m referring to the following…
- Earnings-Show yourself and us the money.
- Email list growth-You can actually negotiate better sponsorship collaborations with a healthy email list.
- Newsletter growth-Newsletters are similar to email lists in many ways. Having a large number of subscribers also provides you with the opportunity to monetize your brand, work with sponsors and negotiate better collaborations.
- Conversions-How good are you at getting people “to do the thing?” If you’re doing affiliate marketing that would mean getting people to take action on the affiliate. Ticket sales for an event or in-person attendance to an event.
- Page Views-Page views will directly connect to a website owner’s ability to qualify for an ad network.
- Podcast Downloads-How many podcast downloads per episode or per month are you getting.
- Video views-Are you growing a a YouTube based project (podcast/channel) how many downloads are you getting per video? That translates to ad revenue/sales/affiliate income and email growth depending on how you optimize each of your videos.
- Do a brand audit-Where are you getting your subscribers and paying leads? That’s where you need to triple your efforts.
Bonus Tip
Become known as “the go to person” for what you’re doing in your region. If you live in a small town next to a larger city-you need to do some things in that larger city or bring people to you. That includes creating online events that allows you to meet and connect with people in your community.
These results should also have another important and compounding effect. Referrals and shoutouts that attract other types of attention that will grow your business and brand. This type of attention could include :
- Media coverage
- Linked content
- Requests to work on collaborative projects
There are CEOs, heads of foundations, super connectors who live in your town or near it. There are secret millionaires living next door to you. There is a proud grandma or grandpa who can share your project with her adorable baby granddaughter who is the CEO of a company. You never know who people know or are connected to. I bring this up to say, stop having such a narrow idea of how connections and business can happen for your brand and business.
Final Question
What is social media doing for your business? Is it generating leads? Are your customers and community coming from it? Do you have systems in place to move people from social media to your brand eco-system? Is it a time suck or does it land somewhere in the in-between. Start looking at it more critically so that you can adjust your time and focus.
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