Do I have to market my business on social media?

When you are a marketing strategist for service-based feminist entrepreneurs this is a question that comes up daily. My answer to “do I have to market my business on social media” is always a resounding NO. I fully believe that you can run a successful business without marketing on social media (Don’t just take my word for it — listen to the Off the Grid Podcast)! 

If you are super clear that you don’t want to market your business with social media, then log off and go for it my friend! There are countless other ways to market your business. 

Now “should I stop using social media” is an entirely different question and one that I always answer with “it depends!” 

What I’ve found is that when someone is questioning whether or not to continue to use social media, there are other things bubbling under the surface. Here are a few of the prompts I would use to explore what’s really going on to help determine the best course of action.

What are the underlying feelings that are coming up? 

I’ve found that if you’re questioning social media you’ve got some feelings about it. I get it – I have them too. Whether it’s a matter of safety that comes with being seen online, a values misalignment with the companies that run social media platforms, business FOMO or just exhaustion from the pressure of keeping up with new platforms and features, these feelings are important and trying to tell us something! 

By trying to uncover what else is swimming around in the soup, you can perhaps see there are other options that aren’t as black and white as being on or off social media.

What’s not working?

If we felt like we were smashing it out of the park, we probably wouldn’t be fantasizing about deleting apps off our phone and never looking back! Maybe you just need to peek under the hood and assess what’s actually working and what’s not. Can you adjust your strategy and approach and see if that shifts the energy and the results you’re looking for? 

What do you think you should do vs. what do you want? 

This is a common intersection that I arrive at with my clients. So often we get blocked because we’re should-ing on ourselves – telling ourselves that we should be doing something when we want to be spending our time and energy doing something else. 

You think you have to be on social media but you don’t want to be. Maybe you think you need to be planning weeks or months of content in advance when what you want to do is hop on when you feel called to share. Or perhaps you’ve read that you should be posting three to five times a day on a platform, but you want to post less so you can focus your energy on other priorities in your business. 

While there are best practices that we can employ in our marketing, there is no secret magic marketing formula that works for all businesses. An effective marketing strategy – on or off social media – starts by defining your own unique goals and objectives, then creating a road map for how to get there.