Thoughts About Social Media and Business Promotion — My newest plans
I don't like social media, but I need to market and promote my business. So what's a multi-passionate solopreneur to do?
I wasn’t quite sure where this was going to go when I sat down to write. I have been thinking about these topics for quite some time and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. I see pieces of this conversation happening — “twitter” becoming… whatever it is (not that I ever used it), talk about algorithms, worry and excitement about how AI is going to change things, concern about the physical and mental health implications, spaces like Substack that aim to be a calmer space… There are so many interconnected ideas swirling around. Here is one element of all of that that I am currently working through.
I am the type of person who would dearly love to just be in a creation cave. I would be perfectly content to create things all day. I’m even happy to put them out into the world, like I do with this newsletter (most weeks). But what I struggle with is promoting the things. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about my private practice.
When it comes to marketing and promotion, everyone says you need to “go where the people are.” I don’t care about social media, but that seems to be where a lot of people are.
I’m also not in a place where I can hire someone to just deal with it for me. Either I do it, or it doesn’t get done. So if I’m going to use social media, I need to figure out what my problem is, why I even think I need to be on social media, and what I am going to do about it.
What’s your problem with social media?
There are a whole host of issues with social media. I don’t like how easy it can be to get stuck in a doom-scroll without consciously opening the app. I don’t actually enjoy short-form content. Even when my first thought is that I don’t have enough energy to read a book or ‘stack or listen to a podcast or even watch a longer YouTube video… when I push through that initial ‘ugh’ feeling, I end up feel so much better for enjoying the more nuanced ideas. Compare that to following the inclination to scroll through a feed and getting a much bigger ‘ugh’ feeling afterwards… It should be a no brainer. Yet, my brain constantly forgets.
I also am not a fan of posting on social media. I was going to say that I don’t want to talk to people, but I do actually love having conversations. My days are so much better when I get to chat with someone, whether on a podcast or interview (most recently I was featured in the Working Mom’s Club newsletter!).
So it’s not that I hate people. I just don’t care what the faceless masses on social media think. And that is how social media seems to be — just a faceless mass of people. It is difficult to think of an individual on the other side of a social media post because even when it’s me on the other side; it’s just entertainment to me.
When it comes to interviews and newsletters, there is far more of a personal connection. There is obviously a personal connection when I am talking with another person and doing the interview or having a conversation. But I also feel the same when I am writing a newsletter. My brain is very word-centric, possibly from consuming so many books growing up. It is natural for me to put words to paper or screen as a conversation.
It is not natural to put those thoughts into a picture. Nor is it natural to write something short. It is FAR easier for me to write a 1000 word article or newsletter than a 50 word description. Yet these are the things that you are supposed to do for social media.
What’s the why?
I know that I need to promote my business somehow. It isn’t enough to create an amazing free eBook or put a course up for sale. People are unlikely to randomly stumble across them. I have to actually go out and tell the people who would benefit from it.
When I set my goals for the year, I decided on the phrase “Aligned Growth” as my ‘word’ for the year. While I’ve been able to pay the bills, there isn’t much extra and sooner or later something expensive is going to need to be bought or fixed and there isn’t room in the budget for those types of things. So I do need to grow my income. I have contract work and generally the slow periods do not overlap. If one contract isn’t sending me work, usually something else picks up.
In this entrepreneurial life, the only way to grow, especially in the beginning is to promote. And, like it or not, social media is where many people are. That is a place where you can go to find people and try to build the initial interest.
I have been looking for ways to be on podcasts and promote that way, but there is a limit to how much those audiences overlap with mine. Those who do then have to hop over to my island before I can start talking directly to them.
Social media is a way to promote. It is the way many businesses promote their stuff. And I know I need to do much more marketing & promotion than I have been doing, whether or not I go to social media.
So… What I am I going to do about it?
This month, I have been focused on finishing up my learning goals for my dietetic licence. As a regulated health professional, I need to stay in compliance with this. I did choose learning goals that will allow me to use the information in my business as well — it will be informing a foundation article for my private practice website. But it means that a good chunk of my attention has been caught up with regulatory stuff lately (in addition to dealing with injuries and illnesses at home, as you do).
Once I wrap up there, I am going to switch my focus back to my content plan within my private practice. I think I’ve settled on the idea of focusing on YouTube as my main distribution platform. It has some social media type aspects — an algorithm that will recommend videos to non-subscribers. But it also has a strong search engine, meaning there is the potential for more sustainable discovery and growth than with the ‘social media’ platforms that we typically think of.
I have been stuck on emails as the primary way to nurture my audience for my private practice, because it is my natural habitat. However, it may not be where my customers and clients feel at home. Email is THE answer when it comes to selling to other businesses, but I realized that it probably isn’t the primary place people think of when it comes to health and wellness. Hence, “go where the people are…”
The plan:
As soon as I wrap up my annual regulatory obligations, I am going to set up a YouTube channel and podcast feed (possibly using Substack). I will still start by writing an email. As I’ve mentioned before, writing is my natural element, so that is where I will start. But then I will adapt this into a video podcast and strip the audio for the podcast feed.
The purpose for the email newsletter is to build and nurture the audience, so there is no benefit in forcing people to consume the content in a way that is not natural for them. There may be a lot of noise online and I’m by no means the first person to do this. However, I think this is the most natural and authentic place for me to distribute my content.
So am I still off Instagram and other platforms?
Once I set up the YouTube channel and podcast feed, I’ll at the very least update the 9-grid on my Instagram. My socials are due for an update anyway. However, I might have another trick up my sleeve.
After completing Abha’s AI Children’s Book Writing Workshop, I started playing around with the possibilities of ChatGPT. I may end up going back to social media by asking the robots to turn my longer content into post descriptions.
I’ll be recording the video and will, at the very least, need to clean up the start and end of the recording. So another idea for social media would be to keep my eyes open for 60-second or less clips that I can cut out and share as shorts or reels.
Wrapping up:
None of this is ground-breaking; I’m sure you’ve seen it before. Nor have I attempted this yet, so I’m not sure if I will be successful or if this is too large of a commitment for something I’ll be doing every week. I also don’t know if this plan will create a barrier to write — because I know that I’m planning to turn the words into video. What if I’m not feeling particularly video-ready? What if I don’t think the content is “good enough” for video (especially for the first one)?
I won’t know how it is until I try. However, I feel good about this plan, in a way that I haven’t felt about a social strategy before. Only time will tell!
Until next week,
-Samantha 💜
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