I have been preaching this for a long time. STOP putting all your eggs into the social media basket and expecting it to deliver. Much like the Easter Bunny, it will disappoint you when it doesn’t deliver, exactly what you want.

Remember the days when we didn’t have social media. Businesses survived pretty well without it. I’m not saying that it is not a great technology that we should ignore. I am saying that it is just one piece of the marketing puzzle. ONE piece!!

And it is a piece that you do not own. You rent it (you’ve heard me say that at least 100 times, if you read my posts).

Social has its place in the mix but I dismays when I say so many small businesses advertising for social media experts (another term I hate) and have a majority of their focus on it.

What you actually need is more client communication. And there are better ways to achieve this than with social media.

This is something that Lush has recently made headlines about with its new Global Anti-Social Media Policy.  The cosmetics brand announced it would no longer post to four of the largest social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Instead Lush are exploring alternative ways to engage their customers including investing in its YouTube presence, creating a dedicated email for customer feedback, and an active page on Reddit which was started by fans and has more than 70,000 members. Yes, technically You Tube and Reddit are social media channels but the focus for Lush is on ENGAGEMENT which can be done offline.

So, as a business owner how you focus on client communication off social media?

How to communicate and engage without using social media

Remember the goal is to communicate, stay top of mind and build a relationship with your client.  Let’s start with the marketing assets that you own.

• Communicate better on your website.
• Use your data to talk to your clients
• Write articles and share on your blog
• Employee advocates
• Your brand content
• Testimonials and reviews