How and why I’m moving away from social media marketing
Updated: Feb 13
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So a few episodes ago, you may remember I spoke to the lovely Leonie Dawson - the original queen of Marketing Without Social Media, about how she’s created her $11… now $12 million dollar business on just 10 hours per week. And some time before that, I did an episode of the podcast asking ‘Can you run your business without social media?’
So, as you may have guessed, moving away from social media is something that’s been on my mind for my business for a while!
I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.
I love the community, the connections I’ve made and the fact that logging in is like hanging out with a big group of friends every day.
But there are downsides too!
It can be pretty addictive and I’ve noticed it definitely has the capacity to both increase anxiety and be a way of hiding from anxiety and feelings and not really tackling the things that need tackling in life.
It’s usually the first thing we turn to when we’re feeling bored or stressed, because it gives us that instant hit of dopamine - which momentarily feels good but is then inevitably followed by more guilt, boredom or anxiety.
And I think for many of us those dopamine hits are becoming an unhealthy substitute for things that would be far more fulfilling if we switched our attention away from social media for a while - we’re losing that connection with ourselves and what makes us genuinely happy because we’re going for the easy option. I started to notice for myself that it had been ages since I’d just picked up a book, or done something creative, or just gone out for a quick walk.
It’s an enormous time suck both in terms of family and business, and it’s just not healthy for us to be constantly switched on and engaged with the world all the time. And I also really don’t like setting the example for my kids, of being constantly buried in my phone and ignoring them!
What really troubles me as well is the influence over our thoughts and behaviours that social media and constantly being plugged into the web can have - the algorithms are designed to reinforce our existing world view and to skew our news feeds in favour of content that’s ‘relevant’ and keeps us coming back for more - and as we’re already great at confirming our own biased opinions anyway, there’s a real danger in terms of opinions becoming more and more polarised and our online reality becoming more and more far removed from what’s real and what the rest of the world, outside of our immediate sphere of influence, is up to. And I really don’t like that! And on a business level - or an introvert in business level! - I also really dislike the fact it feels like it’s becoming a shouting match for marketers and there’s this pressure or this need to play to the crowd all the time and constant churn of ‘the latest thing you HAVE to be doing’.
I’ve never been very keen on popularity contests and I don’t like the whole game of oversharing and posting just for more shock value or likes.
I just don’t get Reels… and the thought of scrolling through groups for hours to try and pick up clients makes me want to run away (and is totally unnecessary, by the way).
Now I’m a big believer that in business you should:
Make sure you’re doing things in your marketing and your work that you actually enjoy - because you’re going to be doing this for a heck of a long time!
Play to your strengths and listen to yourself rather than doing what everyone says you should be doing
Trust that your ideal clients will totally GET your way of thinking and are probably thinking along the same lines anyway!
And I’ve spoken to more and more people who are more than a bit sick of it, totally over cliched online marketing and have really reached saturation point in terms of consuming information that way.
Personally I’ve really cut down the number of groups I’m joining and paying attention to - and I still think groups absolutely have their place if your heart is in them and you’re creating a real community and building connections - but for me, as a marketing method, it just wasn’t feeling like something I wanted to be doing any more.
Now I’ve got much, much better at listening to my gut in recent months and recognising that there are PLENTY of ways to market a business - partly thanks to Leonie’s awesome course Marketing Without Social Media and partly thanks to stepping back and thinking for myself.
And having checked in with what I really love doing - I decided that Facebook groups were no longer the right thing for me. Not in terms of regularly churning out content to ‘drive engagement’, anyway.
So I’ve been playing about with a few ideas over the last few months and here’s what I’ve decided! First thing - I absolutely LOVE doing this podcast! It gives me a chance to download my brain regularly and I feel like it helps people consume genuinely valuable content in a way that is really ‘pick up and put down-able’, can easily work around their daily lives or fit in with their exercise, chores etc. - and to me it just feels far more personal and engaging than my Facebook lives ever did!
And I LOVE hearing from my listeners about the insights they’ve picked up, by the way, so if that’s you just reach out and say hi! I also really love my email list. You may have heard my episode with Kelly Cookson a while ago, Why You’re Missing Out if You Aren’t Using Email in Your Business, and I genuinely believe email is such a wonderful way to communicate with people who actually want to hear from you regularly! Writing really is my thing and I love pinging my emails out and knowing they’re helping make a difference to someone - and that they can keep that bit of content for as long as it’s useful to them, it’s not gone in a flash!
So going forward I’m putting lots more focus into my email list - it even has a name now - and I’ll be making sure I’m working on building that list through my website and my fab free opt-ins and resources.
Anyone joining my email community will also be getting invited to a monthly free Business Clinic where I’ll be sharing tips and advice on everything from marketing to mindset and helping you grow your business and sign more incredible dream clients.
No more wondering where I should be posting things - just all my best stuff, getting sent to one place for those people that really, really want it. Simplicity is the way forward! My website is getting a bit of a makeover, I’m going to be using it much more as a hub for my business rather than just a ‘shopfront’, and I have a bit of a plan in place to make sure it gets more of the right kind of traffic via Pinterest and a few other little ideas I have up my sleeve - including my book that I’m busily writing and VERY excited about! Now I have to say, I’m not giving up social media completely.
As I said at the start, I do still love the community and relationships I’ve built up online over the past couple of years and that feels important and fun to me - so I’m definitely keen to keep that side of things going!
But what I will be doing is taking it back to being social rather than being a constant marketing campaign and an ‘essential’ drain on my time. I’ll be putting all my energy into the things that really feel good to me instead. So if you’re on social media and you want to connect, I’m really enjoying being on LinkedIn at the moment so I’ll be hanging out there for the forseeable future - and I’m still on Facebook! I’ll just be reading my book a lot more often rather than busy trying to come up with groundbreaking posts - unless I feel particularly inspired.
And I’ll be smiling a lot more for that! See you next week when I’ll be interviewing Kristin Molenaar, who has built her entire business away from social media and 100% her own way. She has so many amazing insights to share - see you there!
Join The A List - my awesome FREE email community - and receive a free guided meditation for abundance and money mindset cheat sheet!
Or check out my 15 Day Content Challenge if you’re feeling in need of some inspiration.
Here’s Leonie Dawson’s awesome course: Marketing Without Social Media*
If you’d like to get in touch email abi@abigail-rogers.com
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, YouTube - or search ‘Unblock Your Business’ on your favourite podcast platform!
#UnblockYourBusiness *This is an affiliate link for which I’ll receive a small commission