Are you relying too heavily on the likes of Facebook and Instagram to generate sales? Then disappointed by the results?

Social media has become such an ingrained habit, a go-to first step, and the main focus of marketing, and it is literally suffocating your marketing efforts. Like a noxious weed, it is killing everything else around it and taking over.

It is one part of your marketing mix and you should not be putting 80% of your time and effort into a channel that fails to deliver for many small businesses.

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. It is good for awareness and visibility. But what I am saying is 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).

I am dismayed when I see so many small businesses advertising for social media experts (another term I hate) so they can put the majority of their focus on it.

Social media is killing your real communication. Communication is what you need more of, in order to generate leads and sales. Communication leads to conversations and that is realistically where you will generate new clients. Just think about the existing clients you have now and where they came from.

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 is exploring alternative ways to engage its 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 YouTube 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 do 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. Clarify your message and your offering to attract the right people. Time spent doing this will be rewarded by Google and you will see an increase in your conversion rate.
• Use your data to talk to your clients – your Google analytics, and data from your emails and socials will tell you what content is resonating and what isn’t. Use it to make informed decisions – guessing will not help you.
• Write articles and share them on your blog – show your expertise. Talk the talk. You can tell me all day long that you are an expert in XYZ but I need to see it and the simplest way to prove it is in your content.
• Employee advocates – if you have staff, empower them to become your advocates. The power of having your staff sing your praises is powerful when done right.
• Have a consistent brand across all your content – Style, colours, fonts, and tone of voice all matter as it helps your ideal clients easily identify you.
• Leverage your testimonials and reviews – your social proof is so powerful. Listen to Ep 6 of my podcast Sales Without Socials where I interview Karl Schwantes from 5-star reviews about the power of reputation.
• Focus on Conversation – more in real-life conversations build relationships. Focus on spending time using tactics that allow you to do this – networking events, conferences, coffee meetings, and Zoom calls with LinkedIn connections…whatever works best for you.

These are just a few ideas. My goal is to show you more practical and effective ways to market your business that don’t rely on Facebook & Insta. That over-reliance will suffocate your marketing efforts and leave you feeling deflated and exhausted. Start to think smarter with the time you have available to market your brand. It is possible!!