Quitting Social Media

In this article I’m going to write about why I quit social media for my business.  Why am I writing this you might ask?

1. Maybe this is something you’ve considered?
2. I want to create a permalink for this article, just to my paranoid self lets people find it and know I am still in business
3. So that anyone who is prolific on social media can see this and say ooh ok, I get it (or probably not if you’re prolific on social media..)
4. I am still marketing, just not on social media

Note – this is NOT an advert to any more social media experts who can guarantee new sales through social media.  I get enough of those already.  If I get an increase in the one or two a day I might just rethink this article and delete it.

Who is this benefiting?

The question I kept coming back to when I was creating content was “who is actually benefiting”.  I spend a few hours a week creating a bit of content.  And an email once a month (for the case of simplicity, email is included in my banishment).  I’m not so good with graphics though, so outsourced that.  So I was spending a few hours a week, and paying a few quid each month.

I’d get a few likes, a few comments.  I’ve been told my content was good and interesting.  But what is the point of creating good content if no-one is buying?  I’d win new clients, but not because of this wonderful social media content I was creating.

The responses I received next were “but you should spend more time engaging”.  Yeah, I get that, but I don’t want to be a guru online.  I don’t want to be an influencer.  I want to work in the real world.

On top of that, there seems to be such a driver for everyone to spend more time on social media.  Which is lead by the social media companies.  All the platforms, LinkiedIn, Facebook, Insta, TikTok, have special algorithms (that are hidden for a reason) to get you to spend more time on their platform.

Where have my clients come from?

I touched briefly on this in the section above.  I have clients.  I have lost some, I have gained more.  Every single client that I have worked with has started working with me for one of two reasons.

1. They already knew me and had an idea how I could help
2. They were told I might be able to help by someone that already knew me or worked with me

It’s not that social media doesn’t work for all people, it just didn’t work for me.  After a 3 year trial period, I think that’s enough of a test.  I’ll talk more about this in the last section.

How much time do I spend on it?

I also mentioned this above too, but the time I spent on it didn’t really make sense.  It’s like my BNI membership.  I get the concept, I understand how it works but I looked at the number of hours spent.  If I applied my hourly rate to it, the numbers didn’t add up.  Same goes for social media.  If you look at the hours spent vs the return, the return isn’t there.

I’ve also got a tool called the Do What You Love Tool and guess what, social media was on the bottom section of my tool.  Things I love doing are messing with cars, my kids and helping others.  Releasing this time to do more of that makes sense.  So long as the business doesn’t go backwards.

Part of my role as a business coach is to look at my own business and make changes.  If this was a clients business, I’d be recommending to stop.  But I was nervous too, the experts say it’s “essential”.  Oh well, here goes nothing..

Should I quit too?

This one only you can answer.  I’m a big believer that social media can work, but believe there is a big variation between industries.  For my type of industry, getting to know people, going to a few networking events (rather than all of them) and getting to really know people makes the difference.  You have got to market your business in some way, but I’m trying to use the analogue way as much as possible.

Does that mean a social media ban will work for you?  If you’re even thinking about it, try it and see..