Are you using social media in your business? 

In today’s quick tip episode of the Art of Online Business, I’m explaining why you do not need social media to grow your business. 

Many people feel like they have to use it because it helps them generate leads, connect with their audience, and grow their email list. Some have very clear goals with social media, and others are doing it simply because they believe that they need to. 

I am here to tell you that you do not need social media to grow your business. In fact, I am a perfect example of why you don’t need it. I have never leveraged social media in my own business. I know multiple 7- and 8-figure business owners that don’t bother with it either. 

That’s not to say there aren’t really great reasons to use social media if it’s right for your business. It can be great for things like building relationships, creating a feedback loop, and selling. However, your business can still flourish if you choose not to use social media. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The reasons businesses use social media 
• How social media helps your business
• Why you don’t need social media to grow your business
• The clear results and KPIs you need if you do decide to use it

Links & Resources:

• The Art of Online Business website
• DM me on Instagram
• Visit my YouTube channel
• The Art of Online Business clips on YouTube
• Full episodes of The Art of Online Business Podcast on YouTube
• The Art of Online Business Podcast website
• Check out my Accelerator coaching program

*Disclosure: I only recommend products I use and love and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.

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Transcript: 

Hey. Hey, what’s up, my friend? Welcome to episode number 619 here on the show. I’m your host, Rick Mulrooney. And this is another quick tip. Episode here on the. Show. 619 episodes. As I say that out loud, is just like that’s a lot of episodes. Been doing this. For a long time. And I also feel and I know this, I say this a lot, but I. Feel like I’m just getting. Started. Here on the podcast. I have a really cool idea of. Some different episodes I’m going to start doing here on the show that I think you’re really going to like. So I’m just going to. Leave it at that. Today. I want to kind of ruffle some feathers. And that. Is the topic. Around social media, my friend. You do not need social media to grow your business. And here’s where this is coming from. So recently I. Asked my. Members of our. Accelerator coaching program the question, Why. Do you do. Social media. For. Your business? And one of my jobs. When I’m coaching is. To ask. Questions. Like this. Ask questions that get to. The core of whatever it is that. Someone’s asking me. And so I asked I asked. The members. Of Accelerator this. Question after somebody. Asked me what kind of KPIs, key. Performance indicators. Would. I recommend. That this. Person have for their new social media person that they were hiring? And so. Naturally, I. Respond with a question again because I want to. Get to the core of what’s. Being asked here. And so. I asked this person, I said, Well, what is what results are you. Wanting from this social media person? More specifically, what social what what results do. You want from this. Role of. Social media in your business? What do you want them to be responsible for? In other words, what. Was the reason that they were hiring them? After all, we. Sometimes look at hiring people. 

By the way, without a clear result that you’re. Hiring. For. And hiring somebody to manage your social. Media is no different. You have to be able. To know. What results. That you’re wanting from a. Specific role. And so. I asked. This person this exact question when it came to. Hey. What kind of KPIs do I recommend. For. This new social media rule that they were hiring? Because let’s face it, more followers, you know, follower. Count the number of. Likes. For example. Those aren’t reasons. Those aren’t. Kpis. Sure, you can. Have them in there. But those are. Just vanity metrics and they mean nothing. I would much rather have a. Thousand. Followers. On. Tiktok. Or Instagram or what. Have you who are. Very, very. Engaged. Than 10,000 followers on Instagram or Tik Tok and. You know, it’s crickets. So those are just vanity numbers. What do they really truly mean? So when I asked. Our accelerator members this question, here are some of the responses I got when when I asked them, number one, to grow my audience and connect with people in the DMS. For. Personalized conversations. So look at that right there. That’s very broad to. Grow my. Audience. To grow my social media audience siguro my. Podcast. Audience, to grow my. Youtube subscribers. To grow my email list. So that’s kind of broad, right? So we want to get very specific on what that means. Connect with people in DMS for personalized conversations. Okay, cool. So we could put a KPI on that as long as there’s a clear result that. We’re looking. For. From having conversations in the DMS with people. Another person. Said they said four. Things. As to why. They do social media. Best lead generator ever. To listen to my audience. I know their needs and. Struggles to serve. Them with free content and support them. And to. Sell. Great responses right there. I’ll come back to this. 

Another person said, because I feel like I have to. And I wouldn’t be on it at. All otherwise. I wonder how many of. You would would. Answer that way, this question that way? Well, I feel like I have to. Everybody’s saying I have to. So that’s why I do it. Another person. Said, because I always have a question mark, question mark, but also it. Helps me nurture my audience and get leads onto my email. List. Another person said Lee. Generation brand awareness helped my audience. So just as. A quick note. There, how are how would you if those were your three results. That you’re looking for from social media, how would you be measuring that? Well, lead gen. Pretty, pretty basic to be able to track that. So that’s great. You can have. Specific URLs with with. Utmb tracking codes in there. With brand awareness help my audience. That’s a little bit. More nebulous. But you. Could still come up with some. Kpis there. Another person said, I use social media to build trust. Legion. And getting followers on our email list. So very similar to the previous response. So as you can see here, there’s a mix of very clear results. Being achieved through social media. And then there’s. Others that are. Doing. It simply because everyone says that you need to. And then there are others who are doing it without clear. Definitions of. Success of why. They’re doing social media. And I’m here to tell you right now, my friend, that you do not. Need social media to grow. Your business. You don’t need my permission. But I’m. Here to tell you. That you do not need social media. And just to caveat here, I’m talking organic. A lot of people group like. Facebook and Instagram. Ads or, you know, tok ads or what have. You into social media. I’m not looking at social media in that way. I’m talking organic. Right. Like you’re building an Instagram following. Or. Posting on Facebook or posting on Tik Tok.

Or what have. You or on Twitter. I’ve always done. Always done a. Terrible job. With social media. And that’s a story for a different time. I actually. Want. To. But I’ve always. Done a terrible. Job. I’ve never leveraged. Social media. As a big part. Of growing my business. So I’m one example. Of where I don’t you don’t need social media to grow your business. And I can rattle off a list right now. I won’t, but but I can. Of seven. And eight figure business owners. Who. Do no social media at. All. They they just don’t believe in it. They’re like, I don’t want to be there. So they don’t do social media and they have massive businesses. Where they’re making massive impact and adding a. Huge value to the world. Now, with that said. Can social media. Help you grow your business? Of course it can. When you have a clear strategy, though, of why you are. Doing social media. In your. Business. Right. So, for example, like building a. Relationship with your audience. Social media can be a great way to. Show people who you are. Behind the scenes of your life, show them what your. Values are. Etc., and then vice versa. It can help you get to know your audience. Through. Comments maybe that they make and you start in conversations and DMS and so forth. It could be great. For lead generation. It could be great for. Serving your audience with helpful content. It can be. Great. For creating a. Feedback loop. With your followers. For getting insight into what they’re struggling with. What are they talking about right now? Asking for their feedback on things. It can be great for selling. To. And these are all great. Reasons to use social media. But you’ve got to be very clear. On the results that you’re looking. To create. And have specific. Metrics. That you’re. Shooting. For based. On these. 

Specific results. That you’re going for. Because when. You have specific results. That you’re going for and you have metrics that you’re trying to to meet. I.e. your KPIs. And you’re not creating the results that you want, well then you get to review and optimize and test something new. But my friend, I’m. Here to tell you that you do not need to. Be doing social. Media to grow your business. When I got. The answer back from the person. Who said. You know, when I asked, why do you do social. Media, they said, Because I feel like I have to. I wouldn’t. Be on it. At all. Otherwise, I dug into this a little bit because I was. Really, really interested. And they said, I. Just can’t stand it. I don’t spend time myself on social media and it. Just a. An energy suck when if I were to have to go on there and when I. Do post on there simply because I feel like I need to. It just drains their energy. And so I said, Well, what if you stopped doing it? What if you didn’t do it anymore? Again, another one. Of my. Jobs when I’m coaching, I’m questioning everything because I’m here to help you create the most leverage in your business. And they said, if I didn’t have to do social media, you could tell. Like it was like, Oh, what is this utopia that you speak of? And they said, I would have. So much more. Energy. And like emotional and physical energy, meaning like I’m not getting dragged down by what I’m in here doing, not hating this. So they said it would free up so much. Time. Physical time to do. Other things and space in their. Head to. Think about other things. Think about. Other ways that. They can be serving their customers or growing their business or taking care of themselves or their family or hanging out. With their partner, whatever it might be. Right. And you could tell when I when I was like, well, what if you didn’t do this? 

It was just a just a big collective, like, oh, you know, so I hope for you personally, if, you know, for some of you, I hope this takes the pressure off. If you. Happen to feel. Like you have to do. Social media and you just. Hate the process. And it drains the energy out. Of you. I want to. Challenge you and question you. Do you have. To be doing it in your. Business? And the answer is no. You can have a very successful business. Very successful business without doing social. And, you know, can you hire somebody to do it for sure? But again, if you do that, you have to have very clear results that that person is responsible for growing. Your Instagram following from 10000 to 15000 is. Not like, again, it’s. A vanity metric. Is that a clear result? Sure, it’s very. Measurable, but is that. Truly moving your. Business forward? No. I’m here to tell you it’s not. Right. But again. If it makes sense for your. Business, if you have clear results, if you. Have clear metrics. Tied to those results. And you are paying attention to it. And this is a form of. Marketing that you’re wanting to test out. By all means. We’re going to. Be talking a lot more. You know, I say this and then we’re going to be talking a lot more. About tech talk. On the podcast here coming up, because this is a. Major. Major opportunity. For. So many. People who. Are doing social. Media, who are tired of. Facebook and Instagram and wanting to be. At sort of like I’m looking at Tik Tok as Facebook. Ten years ago or even Instagram when it. First came. Obviously different platforms. Obviously, but. So much opportunity. There. But anyway, you do not have to be. On any these platforms in order to have a successful. Business. That is my takeaway. For you here today. Thank you, my friend, for listening to the podcast here. 

As always, I appreciate you. Make sure that you hit that subscribe. Button or. Follow. On whatever podcasting platform that you listen on. I appreciate that. So that you don’t miss any. Episodes here on the. Podcast until next time, my friend. Be well and I’ll talk to you soon.