Tired of keeping up with the social media algorithms?
Here are 5 ways that you can market and grow your online business without using social media.
If you are like me and are exhausted from having to show up on social media 24/7 in order to grow your business, this article might be your cup of tea.
The aim of this article is not to villainize social media. I still believe that it is a lucrative tool for growing your online business.
However, I am also becoming more and more aware of the fact that social media might not be sustainable for some business owners in the long run.
For those who don’t know, I am someone who heavily relied on social media (esp. Instagram and Facebook Groups) to run my online coaching business for the past 2 years and it’s been working really well for me so far.
In fact, I started off as an Instagram marketing coach, someone who coaches people on how to market their businesses on Instagram.
However, as my business grows and as I grow as a person the more I realize that I have no intention of keeping up with the algorithm anymore.
This is not because it doesn’t work, but because it doesn’t work for me and the lifestyle I want to live.
Just so you know, I have no intention of disappearing off of social media altogether, but rather my aim is to create a business that is not primarily reliant on social media.
So, here are some ways that I have used to grow my business and market myself successfully without heavily relying social media for the past few months and I hope this helps you to transition your own business off of social media, if that is what you desire.
1) Repeat customers
This was one of the first strategies that I focused on when I started the transition at the end of last year. I did a 360 in terms of revamping my backend systems and decided to really enhance my client experience and journey to make sure that it’s impeccable.
A better client experience = more client retention.
If you really think about it, it takes less energy, time and effort to get a client who has already worked with you and has seen results to resign with you than trying to nurture new clients who have not seen the full value of what you can offer them yet.
You don’t need a full on product suite for this. I do this with just 2 products. If a client is part of my month long intensive, I offer them the opportunity to join my long term coaching at the end (aka an upsell).
If they have gone through my 1:1 coaching and would still like to work with me, and I see the need for it then I offer them more customized services that helps me to support them even further into their entrepreneurial journey.
At the end of the day, current and previous customers are your ‘hottest leads’ (in marketing lingo) and by not offering them the opportunity to work with you again, you are leaving a bunch of money on the table and working (a lot) harder than you have to.
2) Referrals
This is something quite new that I have started implementing into my own business and I am honestly still experimenting with. You can simply ask your best clients to refer you to friends or family members whom they know would benefit from your service(s) in your end of program survey. You can also incentivize them through introducing a referral fee.
The great thing about referrals is that they will already trust you and your work a lot more than a random potential client who wants to hop on a discovery call with you. They have seen how your work has changed your friends/ family members’ lives and this also reduces the effort you have to put in order to get clients.
3) Email list
I was that person who knew I should probably have an email list but was never really consistent with it. If you’re thinking that ‘email is dead’ think twice!
After repeat customers and referrals, my email list has been how I was able to book myself out for the last two months with almost no help from social media. One of the biggest things is to make sure that you’re not using your email list just to promote. Just like on any social media platform it is still necessary to nurture your list and build trust by providing massive value.
If you are wondering, how can I grow my email list? The best way is to create a value packed freebie, and promote it on your website, in a free/paid summit or even promote the freebie on your social platforms if you’re still in the transition phase.
The best part? You actually own your email list unlike social media platforms in which the algorithm can ban you or delete your account — sometimes by mistake, even if you didn’t do anything that violates community guidelines.
4) Blog Posts
While I am no expert in blogging, what I can say is that the way to success seems to be very similar to that of growing a business on social media.
Niche down at the start and start providing value to a specific ideal client(s) rather than trying to talk to everyone and their mom. You can still post your opinions about things that are not related to your niche but make sure most of your posts are geared towards your ideal audience at the start.
Yes, you will need to touch up a little bit on how to optimize your blog posts and there will be a bit of a learning curve like anything else, but if you’re someone who loves writing while sipping margaritas on the beach, (I actually don’t do this, but I’m sure you get the idea, yeah?) then it’ll definitely be worth it in the long run.
The best part? Your blog posts are evergreen content. Unlike your Instagram/Facebook stories that disappear in 24 hours after all that effort you put in, your blog post can generate you leads even 2+ years after you’ve written it — given that the content is not time sensitive of course.
5) Podcasts
You have two options here. You can either choose to create your own podcast or carve out time to be a guest on other podcasts. I personally have chosen to choose the latter path because I am just much better at articulating myself and sharing my expertise when others ask me questions.
One way to get podcast interviews is to actively reach out and pitch your story to podcasts (preferably in audio or video format) that are related to your niche. You can also use sites like Matchmaker.fm (free — they market it as tinder for podcasters) or Podcastguests.com ($10/month) to find podcasts to be a guest on.
The best part? It’s highly targeted. Talk about being effective. You are getting instant exposure to a bunch of ideal clients who will most probably end up following you over onto your blog/ email list if they learned something from your interview.
These are the avenues that I am currently utilizing/ will start utilizing in my journey towards creating a business that doesn’t primarily depend on social media.
While this is not a comprehensive guide on how to transition your business off of social media, I do hope that this has given you some ideas as to how you can start the transition yourself, if that is something you are aiming towards.
I would love to know, which one of these methods seems to be the most aligned for you?
