A few years ago, I wrote a popular blog post titled “What to do when you start to hate social media?” It got an incredible response.
So many people are exhausted by social media. They don”t know what to say, find themselves constantly tied to their desk or phone, and wish things could be different.
Does this sound familiar? Do you dream of stepping back from social media in a big way? Well I’m here to tell you that yes, it CAN be done!
I’d been falling out of love with Social Media for a year or two before I decided to stop using it as my main marketing tool. I was physically and mentally tired of showing up day after day with new content.
With my HR background, I wanted to start using some other key skills I hadn’t used in a while. And leadership (a.k.a. being Queen of your business) became my new niche.
I’m not going to lie—at first, stepping back from Social Media was terrifying.
Where would I get clients from? What if I withdrew and it was all a big mistake? Would I now have to work even harder to run my business?
But balancing these questions and fears was the prospect of FREEDOM. Oh so much freedom!
The seed for stepping back was planted when I interviewed the lovely Alexandra Franzen. She said she’d calculated how much time she spent on Twitter and realized that she could lose 3.2 – 3.4 years of her life if she carried on at the pace she was going. She has calculated that across all platforms, the average user could spend 6 years of their life. SIX YEARS!
That’s incredible! What could you do with SIX years of your life instead of scrolling?
This has really stuck with me.
And then I came across a fabulous card in a gift shop: “Fabulous birds don’t tweet!” Well, if that wasn’t a sign from the universe to give up Twitter, I don’t know what was! So that was the first account to go.
Last summer, I did a “Marketing Without Social Media” course with Alexandra Franzen, and it was incredibly inspiring. I learned that 95% of my past clients hadn’t come from social media at all…
I’d been keeping my Facebook group open because that’s where I thought my clients were coming from. But they had pretty much all come from four places—referrals, my blog, my podcast and my newsletter.
On that course, I decided that I wanted to take back control of my life and limit my time on social media drastically. I closed my Facebook Group and now focus on the four key areas I mentioned as my marketing strategy.
I’m sure my clients thought I was completely crazy closing the group, but it hasn’t had any impact on my income.
In fact, I’ve had space to take on lots of new and inspiring projects as a result, including two book collaborations and an exciting project for a business academy in Los Angeles, California in the USA (I am based in the United Kingdom).
And I wouldn’t have had the time or capacity for any of these if I hadn’t reduced my social media presence.
Now, I’m not saying this is for everyone, because the truth is that without Social Media I wouldn’t have built a successful business at all. I still believe that having a Social Media presence in the early days allowed me to build my visibility. It helped me build brand awareness and a loyal following.
But remember that businesses did survive before social media—it is absolutely possible to create a successful business without it.
So let’s dig into some ways that you can get more clients without social media.
A massive realization that came out of doing Alex Franzen’s program was that my business had always grown by building relationships.
I usually say something like this: to current/former clients:Hi _____, how are you? When we last spoke you were _____. How’s that all going now for you? I’m reaching out to you because I’ve created something that you might be interested in (share a few snippets). If you’d like to know more, let’s chat. Here’s a link to my online diary. Whatever you decide, have a fabulous day. And to friends: Hi _____, how are you? When we last spoke you were _____. How’s that all going now for you? I’m reaching out to you because I’ve created something in my business and I’d love to get the word out there. (Share a few snippets.) If you can think of anybody in your network that might be interested, I’d love it if you’d share it with them. Here’s a link for them to book my online diary. Whether you decide to share or not, have a fabulous day. |
Here’s what I say to my potential affiliate partners:Hi _____, I’m popping in to your inbox to talk to you about my affiliate scheme. If you enjoyed our work together and would like to be a referral partner and send people my way, then I wonder if you’d like to be part of my affiliate scheme. To keep it simple I’m offering X% on my 1:1 and QOBMM work, and X% on self-study programs as a one-off introductory payment for each person that you refer (NB. This does not apply to future purchases after the initial introduction). So if you send someone my way for a Straighten Your Crown Session at $X, for example, then it’s $X to you, or it’s $X for the full package of $X. If that’s of interest, just let me know you’re making the introduction and I’ll pay you when I get paid in full by the client you send my way. Ideas for how you could do this include the following:
Whatever you decide, I hope you have an utterly fabulous day. x |
Blogging lets you communicate what you do and how you can help. If you don’t consider yourself a writer and prefer video, you could do vlogging instead (videos on a blog).
You can blog on your own blog—or blog for other people. It’s a fabulous way to showcase your expertise. I’ve attracted many clients based on my blogging alone.
Not sure where to start?
Simply write a list of all of the topics that you could talk about, and then divide each of those into a list of sub-topics. These should be areas where your typical clients have issues, things they need help with – or would like to achieve.
For example, if you’re a Stress Reduction Coach:
And if we now take sleep as an example of an overarching topic, you could have a list of sub-topics such as:
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You’ll quickly realize you know more than you think, and each of these sub-topics can be a starting point for your writing.
Podcasting is another fabulous way to attract clients.
If running your own podcast isn’t for you, that doesn’t mean it can’t be part of your marketing strategy: a bit like blogging, you can get yourself interviewed on other people’s podcast shows.
I think it was Dale Carnegie who said he could restart any business provided he had his list of email contacts. (If you know the original source of this factoid, please let me know. I’ve been trying to find it for years!)
Why is a newsletter list so important? Well, with a newsletter, your list of contacts is not owned by any of the social media platforms.
To get a newsletter up and running, start with a simple email marketing app.
A popular one right now is Mailchimp. There are lots of help videos online to help you navigate and learn how to use it.
You’ll also need to think about the type of content you could share in a newsletter.
As a general rule, you want to make the people on your list feel special—share new things with them before others and sprinkle in freebies (templates, audios, planning sheets, checklists, resource centre, etc.).
And remember to promote your services and offerings!
I hope this mini-guide has helped you step back and take a fresh look at whether social media is the right strategy for you.
You don’t have to go “all or nothing”—you could just choose to focus on one fewer platform, set a timer and spend less time on Social Media, or move away from Social Media as your main marketing strategy.
And you definitely won’t find me on Social Media as much. I’ll be out and about walking in my local woods, or making cards (with a cappuccino in my hand of course).
Just think—what could you do with those six years instead of scrolling?
Learn more about Marketing without Social Media with Ruby here:Would you like to attract clients in an easy way, WITHOUT social media? You can! Get an extract from her new book plus 3 Free Masterclasses – and learn simple tips to either reduce your social media time or stop altogether. |
Contributing Author: Ruby McGuire is a Business & Mindset Queen. She’s an Accredited Master Coach with the IAPC&M and a Mentor, Trainer, Speaker and Writer. She loves helping her clients step up and become leaders (aka Queens) of their businesses by developing leadership skills, ditching self-doubt and creating a success mindset. She on a mission to live a simpler life without marketing on social media so that she can spend more time in her beautiful Scottish surroundings. You can find her at her pretty online home or satisfying her obsession of pinning on Pinterest!
Finally, check out her mini guide to Marketing Without Social Media (an extract from her book, Ruby’s Coaching Gems). You’ll pretty much always find her surrounded by lots of books or making cards with a cappuccino in her hand (She says, “Preferably Whittards Vanilla Coffee please”!)
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