How to Stop Relying on Social Media for Visibility

If you have been searching for a way to stop relying on social media as the Primary Visibility tool for your business, or you have been struggling to promote yourself, because you don't want to use social media so much, then you are going to love this episode I am feeling a little spicy today. And we are going to shake up the status quo, and unpack why social media does not have to be your primary strategy for getting more visible. So get ready to say goodbye to feeling pressure to post more often scrap the feeling of guilt when it comes to losing your posting momentum and lean into a different way of thinking when it comes to using social media for visibility.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

As the world gets more and more digital, we are relying more heavily on technology and digital tools to get the word out about our businesses. Yes, I get it. It's normal. Social media has taken the forefront as the go to strategy for business visibility. It's a powerful tool with incredible influence and of course addictive qualities. That has led many people to believe that it's the only path to success in the online world. And the rise of social media platforms has reshaped the landscape of marketing, making them the default choice for businesses looking to boost their visibility, our culture has shifted to one where social media presence almost equates to legitimacy. And so many businesses feel compelled to invest heavily in these platforms. And we've really created a culture where the numbers of likes and followers determines a business's worth, in the eyes of many consumers. Like if you look at the entire influencer industry, those people who use their accounts in that way, they have media kits that literally say like number of followers, number of people who do this, and that, and this is how much it costs you if you want to promote your product, through my account, I'll do an Instagram story for $500, or whatever it is, right.

So it is like starting to become its own industry, right. And there is really a societal pressure to being constantly visible and engaged on social media, which is overwhelming for so many business owners. So if you are relating to any and all of that, I want to talk about this whole idea of using social media differently, and really how we can take it out of the driver's seat. Because I have to say, I feel like it is an over prescribed tool. It's the default. It's like the first thing that anybody wants to do or thinks that they should do when it comes to visibility and promoting themselves. And in this episode, we're going to unpack that and think about it differently and give you some alternative solutions as to what you can do for visibility for your business.

So how often have you felt pressured to to maintain an active social media feed, or you just feel guilty if you take time off or like lose your posting momentum? I really know that this is Top of Mind with so many business owners. Anytime I have gone out and talked about social media and said that you don't have to be everywhere people give me a big sigh of relief. And I have had more than 900 people download and use my simplified content system to get support with content on various platforms because this whole this whole tool, this whole industry is just very overwhelming. So why do we default to using social media? Well, it is free. There's a low barrier to entry. We can create accounts on all of these different platforms. reasonably easy to set up. It doesn't take a lot of doesn't take a lot of time or training, you create a few graphics. And all of a sudden, you know, you give your email address to meta, and that's it, you have, you have your accounts. And there's this like perceived ease for reaching a mass audience, the idea that the whole world is on social media, and then you have the opportunity to reach the whole world, at the whim of a post is quite impressive and very endearing. And it will draw you into wanting to use tools like this. And the truth is, people are searching social media for this surface services that you offer. So people will go to social media, and look for a fitness trainer, or a coach, or money manager or somebody who helps with whatever services you do, or a baker or whatever it is that you have. They're looking on social media for that, because that's where they already are. So it already is capturing an audience.

However, there are a lot of pitfalls to what we will call social media dependency. First and foremost, it is very fast moving the platforms are being fed content by millions of people every day. And this is where that dreaded like algorithm comes in. And you don't know how to get your stuff seen by the right people. Because it's just this, this instant feed that's happening at all times, where so many people are sending stuff to it that it is a really, really big ocean of noisy, noisy, noisy, noisy. And so it's really hard to break through that noise and be seen by the right audience. And effective communication really comes down to you getting your message to the right people at the right time. And there's a lot of friction that happens on social media that can really interfere with that working well for you. Plus, you have the constant changes to the platform's features, like, Instagram will change all the time, there's, I have multiple accounts. And some of them have different features than others, because they rule them out in like, beta tests, whether or not remember how long it took us to be able to use music, or to be able to like, add a link in your stories, all of these things are constantly changing. So we have to stay on top of how the technology works, what the strategies are that are working, and the more meanwhile, more and more people are starting to use it. And now all of a sudden, you know, you weren't in the first early adopters to creating reels. Now everybody is creating reels. And all you see on Instagram is video content pretty much now. Right? So that's just how fast is always moving. And so it can be just this big question mark of how to use it effectively, on top of the stress of trying to post and have your message actually be seen.

And then the other point that I want to make on social media dependency is that you don't own your audience. If your account gets hacked, if the platform crashes, you can lose those followers, you have no way of continuing to have a relationship with them, or to nurture them into becoming clients or whatever. Because this has happened in the past, there have been days where Facebook and Instagram have gone down for hours at a time. Or if people get hacked, your account is no longer able to be used. Like I've known people who have had for months not been able to get back into their social media accounts. So it is not a great place to put all of your eggs. So just a little word of warning, again on social media, which I have shared many, many times here. But there are some truths here. And that is that people are going to look on social media to do a little more digging on what you're all about. See if you're legit, check that you're still operating, right? So when when people find you on various platforms, they'll likely go and look and check your social media to see, you know, is this business still active? What else can I learn about this person, this is where the opportunities come in to share some of your more personal side, your personality, your brand, and help that shine through. Because if you go quiet too long, it can appear that you're no longer in business. So there is something to be said about a little bit of consistency when it comes to your social media presence and that it is in fact important that you have one.

I am not going to sit here and say let's screw social media. We don't need to use it. I don't agree that that's true. It is a very popular and important tool but it doesn't need to be the direct driving force behind the way that you reach people and grow your business. And I think that's where the shift needs to come in. Because if we can think about that a little bit differently, and just flip it to, how can I use social media to supplement what I am doing for visibility, and maintain a presence and test out messaging and create connections? Versus how do I get found on social media? And how do I find clients on social media? And how do I make sales on social media? And if we stop asking those questions, we can use this tool entirely differently. So what I'd like to suggest as far as what to do instead, is integrate social media strategies, and use other forms of visibility as your primary. So for example, I have to say that I've had my business for almost seven years. And so I've had social media accounts for that long. And the majority of my growth comes from people finding me in other places. So now you find me on my podcast, or on other people's podcasts. Or if I do a speaking event, or I go somewhere, and I'm networking in person, or somebody finds my website, and then they connect to me from social media from there. That's the pathway versus I'm in the Explore feed, and everyone's finding me and my business is growing from social media as the source sees a distinction. I hope so. So social media, really, to me is all about relationship building and connections. It's a place where you have an opportunity to have a conversation, which is a fantastic use of the tool, we have direct messaging features and chat features and commenting. That can happen on any social media platform that you're using. And that is where you can leverage those things and reach out and send voice memos and make real connections with people who are engaging with you. Because this is this is the opportunity to really start a relationship and relationships, build trust, and trust is what leads to ultimately sales.

So the other thing you want to do on your social media, is make sure that you're sharing ways to connect with you outside of the platform. So social media is like the place people find, find you after they found you somewhere else. So sorry, here's the journey, somebody finds you through something else that you're doing for visibility, like I mentioned, speaking podcast, somebody sends an email promoting you, does a shout out that kind of thing. They find you, you connect on social media and you say, Hey, you want to continue this relationship, let's go over here to my email list, to my website, to my whatever else way that you have of connecting. And generally those would be two of the top was. So come over here, let's deepen this relationship in a more intimate space inside of your inbox, or jump on a call with me, or whatever it is.

So those are the kinds of ways to look at how to do social media differently. And I want you to remember, you have the power to shape your visibility strategy in a way that aligns with your goals and values. So don't be afraid to think outside of the box and explore new avenues for reaching your audience and put social media in the passenger seeds heap as part of your strategy. But if you're not feeling so much pressure behind it, to use it so often as the primary way for you to grow your business, I think it's going to do wonders for you in terms of your success, and also in the way that you feel about marketing in visibility. And this is exactly what I teach you how to do inside of the visibility revolution, which is my flagship visibility program. It is an eight week sprint to get more visible while building out the assets and the plan that you can rinse and repeat for your business. So it's really cool because it's a hybrid program. It includes a digital course where I'm going to provide you with all of the training that you need to get clear on your messaging, niche down your audience, craft custom content strategy, build an email, lead magnet, organize your visibility opportunities, and systematize all of it where ease, but it also includes a weekly visibility challenge, where you take three to five intentional actions to create trusted touch points, and build your momentum so that you can start seeing results immediately. And these take less than 10 minutes per day. And I would say 90% of them are not social media related. So that hopefully comes at you as a sigh of relief.

I would absolutely love to have you inside of that program. So you can head to ksco.ca/visibilityrevolution for all of the details. And I always love hearing from you when you hear these episodes. So this is kind of the big one that I'm taking a real swing, I guess, for lack of a better term at social media. I use it, but I use it differently. And it is not my primary tool. And I have heard from people time and time again how they don't want social media to be their primary tool. So if that's you come over to Instagram, say hi, let's have a follow up chat about this. Let's talk about how you can use different strategies to boost your visibility and promote your business so that you can reach your goals this year. You and I will see you next Tuesday with an other episode of entrepreneur school. Bye for now.

You did it you just listen to another episode of the Entrepreneur School Podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry, prep dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business. You can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram, head to entrepreneurschool.ca for tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community. And until next time, go out there and do the thing.