How I prepared my business for leaving social media
+ early bird-bonus to Marketing without social media ends soon 🎉
Whenever I tell people that I have been marketing my business without social media for the past 2+ years, they often ask me “But how?!?”. How do you leave social media without your business collapsing? How do you find an audience and potential customers? What do you do when you no longer do the obvious, namely market on social media?
In this post I’ll take you back to the moment I began my social media exit-strategy. I’ll tell you which steps I took to prepare my business to leave social media—I am 100% sure that these steps are what has made my business thrive off social media (without relying on a large audience or following elsewhere).
Making marketing organic to my business
Our marketing first and foremost has to be sustainable for us. For your marketing to truly feel organic to your business, like I teach you in Marketing without social media, it needs to tie in to your strengths, joys and values.
So the first thing I did was explore what gives me joy and what my strengths are. For me, the answers are pretty obvious. Writing gives me joy and I’m good at it. I’m also good at creating materials for workshops, courses and programmes, and good at explaining complicated things in an easy manner.
Next I thought about my parameters: what am I willing to do and not do in my business? This is a key question we’ll explore in Marketing without social media as well. A parameter might be, for instance, that you want your marketing to be as evergreen as possible, as it is for me. Social media posts have a notoriously short lifespan (24 to 48 hours), especially when compared to blog posts and SEO.
Doing things that come easily to you in your marketing means spending less time on it, as is doing more effective marketing.
The two questions I asked myself
In the six months before I left, I asked myself two questions:
What can I make work harder in my business?
What, if anything, do I want to add?
I didn’t want to throw out everything I’d been doing. And I felt like I’d been spending a lot of time and energy marketing, and I wanted to decrease that—doing things that come easily to you in your marketing is a great way of spending less time on it—as is doing less, but more effective marketing.
What can I make work harder in my business?
Spending more energy on my newsletter was the answer to this question, yet I didn’t want to send more newsletters and didn’t feel like I had to add more value to the ones I was sending.
Instead, I focused on making it easier for people to sign up to my newsletter:
While I was still on social media, I made sure that my bio made it as easy as possible for people to sign up for my newsletter.
I added an invitation for people to sign up to my newsletter to my email signature and to my out-of-office reply.
I added a newsletter sign-up form to the footer of my website, and invitations to sign up to my about-page, work with me-page and resources-page.
I added a newsletter sign-up in the form of a banner to every single one of my blog posts. This has been one of the most effective strategies for me.
Making my writing work harder also meant taking a look at my website SEO and brainstorming ways of sharing my blogposts more, which is where question 2 comes in.
What, if anything, do I want to add?
I certainly didn’t want to start marketing more once I left social media. Curious about slow, gentle and effective ways of marketing that I hadn’t tried yet, I settled on Pinterest.
I quickly discovered that Pinterest fit in perfectly with my strengths, parameters and general marketing needs: Pinterest pins have a lifespan of 1+ year; they are designed to have people click through to my website; Pinterest doesn’t reward the time and attention you spend on the platform; I can schedule everything; and I can use Pinterest to amplify the work I’m already doing, namely writing blog posts and newsletters.
I set up my Pinterest-strategy by taking this course by Levee Road Studio (affiliate link), and also got support from Sarah Burk. If you don’t want to do your own Pinterest marketing, consider hiring help—since early 2023 Laura of the Smallest Light supports me with pinning. Even though I always enjoyed Pinterest, I now outsource it because I want to spend more time on clients and courses.
Before I left, I occasionally grappled with the emotional side of leaving social media. I had to challenge the story that I was told so often: without social media I wouldn’t be able to run an online business, which I knew wasn’t true.
In the end, I realised that I am the most important part of my business. If I’m consistently doing something that makes me feel bad and that only costs energy, I need to stop doing it. I need to work with myself in order for my business to function at all. And for me that meant leaving social media.
The doors to Marketing without social media are now open 🎉
Marketing without social media is my new group programme for small business owners, freelancers and creatives who want their marketing to be gentle, intentional and effective. If you’re feeling confused, uncomfortable or exhausted by how you’ve been told to market, this programme is for you.
Over the course of 4 months I’ll support you to map out the marketing blueprint that fits you, your life and your business. I’ll help you discover ways of marketing that suit your strengths and values, move away from social media and cheer you on as you start to experiment with a whole new way of marketing.
At the end of this programme, you’ll
have created a marketing blueprint that is unique and sustainable for your life and your business;
finally feel good about marketing in a way that suits your business, your strengths and your values;
no longer feel like marketing is a whole other job you have to do in addition to running your business—marketing will feel like an organic part of your business instead;
be marketing without social media (or with less social media, if that’s what you want), leaning into your strengths and joys as you share about your work, attract customers and create community around your business.
And, you’ll get lifetime access to the programme, which means that if you don’t complete it within four months or want to go back to the resources, you can at any time. You’ll also get access to any new materials I develop for the programme if I run it again.
Marketing without social media is a hybrid programme: all workshops and office hours are pre-recorded to watch whenever suits you. You get direct access to me by submitting your questions to the office hours and through our really gentle community on Podia, where I’ll check in twice a week to encourage you to set weekly goals and keep you accountable. This is also where you can ask any other questions that come up during the programme.
Take a sneak preview at the first workshop
Why take this programme with me
For the past two years I’ve been running my online business completely off social media. My business has thrived: I’ve built a community around my business, grown my newsletter list exponentially, launched and sold various products and attracted lovely clients. And more importantly: I am thriving too.
As a small business mentor I’ve worked with dozens of small business owners, creatives and freelancers who want to run their business differently, away from the norm, in a way that truly fits them—which includes the way they market.
I am a natural teacher with nearly 20 years experience of teaching in higher education, and am especially good at creating clearly structured, easy to understand materials and workshops that allow you to dive deep.
I know what it takes to market your business in a gentle, organic way that is also highly effective and I’ve poured this experience and knowledge into this programme.
If you crave a gentler, slower and still highly effective way of marketing, you’re in good hands with me.
In Marketing without social media, you’ll get
4 monthly pre-recorded workshops with detailed workbooks that guide you from charting your current marketing, your values and strengths, to discovering and implementing marketing without social media;
monthly (pre-recorded) office hours in which I dive into your questions;
a gentle community on Podia, specifically for this programme in which I will check in with you twice a week for accountability and support;
special monthly bonuses—they’re still a secret, but will be tailored to the needs of you and the other small business owners, creatives and freelancers joining.
I’ll teach you my gamechanging format that finally made my marketing effective, organic and even fun—without spending more time and energy on it.
The doors to Marketing without social media close on February 25th and spaces are limited.
🎉 The first five people to sign up for the programme before February 7th get a special 30-minute 1:1 bonus with me in which we can start brainstorming your goals for the programme, marketing options to experiment with or anything else you want my help with.
Where, what, when and how much
when | the programme starts on March 1st 2024, the doors close on February 25th 2024
who | 5 to 15 small business owners, freelancers and creatives who crave to market their business in a gentler, more effective and more intentional way—without social media
price | €800, paid in full or in four instalments of €200 (that’s about $800 or £685 in total).
Marketing without social media is the perfect blend of structure and flexibility, allowing you to get my support and accountability as you work through the materials on your own pace—even after the four months have passed. While the programme requires a time investment from you, it is also designed to be done next to your business and your life.
Take a guided tour of the programme
💌 You know best whether Marketing without social media is right for you. If you have any questions, check out the FAQ, reply to this email, send me a message or hop on a quick free call with me to discuss the programme (no strings attached). I’m right here to answer any questions you might have.
As ever, thank you for inviting me into your inbox. I’d love to know, how do you feel about marketing your business? And what is the role that social media plays in it?
Until next time x
If reading this newsletter makes you feel inspired, empowered and seen as you do business away from the norm, I’d be so grateful if you would support the work I do by becoming a paid subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to become part of our slow and gentle community and get even more support, bonuses and strategies.
I love the two questions. I dipped my toe back in social media lasted year only to step away again and I must say, I feel so much better without it. More space to breathe, to explore what matters, what lights me up. And it just feels like such a time sink that it makes sense not to return. So thank you for the questions. They are very helpful. All the best with the program. ❤️
Thanks for this reminder to check where my traffic is coming from! (60% from the blog I have barely touched in years) Just found your substack and am loving it so far :)