Social Media Destroys Entrepreneurs. Grow Your Business Without It.

[MaxT]

I hope it's works out. Definitely post your results here.

Sure, I will do that ! . I've a progress thread if you want follow my adventures : MARKETING - EXECUTION - Developer/author looking to scale

 

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[Ayobami23]

Like I said in the first post, I'm not saying it doesn't work for anyone. I'm not denying that you CAN get traction on social media. And it may be even smart AS LONG AS you do send them to your own platform. But most fail to do that and sooner or later pay for it.

The world has changed and it keeps changing. The new trends I see are:

• More digital ownership (largely fueled by blockchain solutions but also cultural reasons). People want to own their platforms.
• Less trust in centralized solutions, and particularly social media. These platforms hurt themselves a lot by censoring people so much in the last two years.
• The reemergence of newsletters as a viable business model. I might be biased here but I'm signed up to some newsletters I really enjoy and look forward to but I don't have the same relationship with any creator on social media.
• The rapid growth of podcasts. Each podcast is a separate media company and usually marketing it on social media doesn't work that well. It's a more closed environment where you do better if you interact within it (as I mentioned in my response to @Kak's post).

I agree with this post ..the alternative I think it works well is advertising on a blog or website that has one or two things in common with your web . take for example if you have a business forum,you can advertise your forum on a business blog and yield something in return

 

[VivaciousVipin]

For most entrepreneurs few things are worse than social media. You think it’s helpful while it’s a parasite that slowly kills you and your business.

Social media platforms have spent millions and millions to persuade us that they’re indispensable for business.

If you don’t exist on social media, you don’t exist at all.

What a joke.

We all know that social media can be bad for individuals. But it's poisonous for business, too, and you may be better off as an entrepreneur without it.

Not everyone will agree with this post and that’s okay. This thread is about showing a perspective counter to mainstream advice. It’s not the ultimate truth, though. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to avoid social media in business at all costs.

Note: by social media I refer to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. I don’t consider YouTube social media (because it’s more of a search engine) or Reddit (because it’s just a giant forum with various subforums, similar to the Fastlane forum).

Warning: I swear in this post and I share my opinion in a blunt way. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Here are ten reasons why social media destroys entrepreneurs and their businesses:

1. You’re Putting More Effort Building Somebody Else’s Business Than Yours

Post ten times a day on Facebook (don’t forget about Facebook stories). Twenty times a day on Instagram (but thirty stories and forty reels). Upload ten videos on TikTok and don’t forget to tweet thirty times a day (and retweet another twenty tweets). It almost seems as if marketing today equals social media marketing.

Do it all AGAIN over and over again because the next day nobody sees your posts from the day before anyway. And if you ever figure out a way to crack the algorithm, it will soon change and you’ll be left behind again.

When you add it all up, you spend more time donating your time to social media platforms than spending it on your business. How ridiculous is that?

Few entrepreneurs ever calculate how much time, money, and effort they invest on social media. They don’t even know if they get a positive return from their investment.

That’s insanity. Not only you’re dedicating most of your business life to tasks that may not even be worth it. You’re also putting more effort building other people’s companies rather than yours.

Let me reiterate it because I find it F*cking incredible: did you start your OWN business to spend more time building somebody else’s?

How much do you enjoy being an unpaid Meta, TikTok or Twitter employee?

Is this what entrepreneurship comes down to these days? Filling the pockets of big, censor-happy corporations who don’t give two shits about you just so you can brag about your follower count?

2. You’re Only Getting Scraps

Even if you do everything right, at most maybe a few percent of your followers will see your posts. Out of them, only a few percent will take any action. Out of them, a few percent will do what you want them to do—buy your stuff.

In other words, you’re only getting scraps thrown at you by the social media platforms. And the more the platform grows, the less you get. It’s a natural growth cycle of every social media company. You can always count on the fact that they will grow at your expense.

You’re like that poor dog begging for food underneath the table. Only as time goes by, there are even more hungry dogs and less food on the table. Most goes into the mouths of the obese owners.

Moreover, social media platforms have a short lifespan so all your efforts are eventually for nothing. Ask anyone who has built a big following on Facebook how useful it is today. Meanwhile, a high-quality article on your own site can provide value for years.

3. You’re on a Never-Ending Content Treadmill

Social media gurus get on my nerves because their solution to any marketing problem is to post more. More, more, more, until you can’t do it anymore but you can’t stop because you’re afraid that if you stop, your business will end.

You become trapped on a content treadmill, posting endless amounts of content, begging to get some attention like an old wrinkly prostitute in flashy clothes.

The more you post, the faster the treadmill is. Since you can’t stop, you never have time and energy to reconsider what you’re doing and whether it’s the best strategy for your business.

Strategic thinking drowns in the sea of content you’re forced to produce every day just to stay afloat. And the worst thing is that whatever you produce, it’s often unsearchable and irrelevant the next day.

4. You Fail to Build What’s Most Important

The ONLY valuable asset in every business is a customer list. Yet, if you focus on social media, you fool yourself that your follower count is what defines your business.

You either spend time building your own platform or you build time spending other people’s platforms.

This forum is a great example of a platform standing on its own. I didn’t join it because I saw MJ on social media. I joined it because I read MJ’s book. I stayed because it’s an independent platform owned by a person who cares. For all I care, MJ may never post anything on social media. I want to read his content HERE, on his OWN platform.

Would your clients say the same about your business? Would they still work with you if you had no presence on social media?

Would you rather have 100,000 followers on social media or 1,000 loyal customers? (If you chose the former, sorry but there’s no hope for you LOL.)

5. You Judge the Value of the Business by the Number of Followers

My girlfriend has a podcast. She had a call with a potential guest today. The woman told her that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be featured in my girlfriend’s podcast because “nothing happens on her Instagram profile.”

My girlfriend only posts images with new episodes on her Instagram profile. But if you checked the podcast’s archives, you’d see over 75 episodes posted religiously every week, featuring dozens of recognized in her niche guests.

That poor guest is so brainwashed. She thinks that an Instagram profile counts more than your real-world track record. To make matters worse, she was SHOCKED how my girlfriend got podcast listeners through something else than Instagram.

My girlfriend is not an Instagrammer. She owns a podcast. That’s her business, not posting daily vlogs or other bullshit from her everyday life. She doesn’t even want Instagram followers who spend a tenth of a second liking her random images. She wants real listeners who invest hours listening to her episodes.

There are so many businesses that have few, if any, social media followers, yet kill it WAY, WAY more than brands that obsess about social media.

Do you help people through selling your products or do you chase status through posting meaningless social media posts?

6. You Waste Time and Mental Energy on Drama and Addiction

Social media thrives because it appeals to our most basic instincts.

Everything is designed in such a way to get you hooked and keep you there for as long as possible. Notifications, real-time updates, live stories. Then there’s inevitable drama and bullshit politics that’s impossible to opt out of.

Instagram will always pester you with profiles of plastic surgery enhanced half naked models of both genders.

Twitter will always pester you with annoying politics no matter who you follow.

Both Facebook and TikTok will always steal your attention through idiotic short clips designed to captivate your brain whether you want it or not.

Even if you’re strong-willed, there’s NO WAY you won’t waste your life each time you visit any of the social media platforms for “business” purposes.

Is this how you want to spend your valuable time?

7. You’re Contributing to Producing Mountains of Garbage

Most content on social media is F*cking garbage. I need to swear here because there’s no other way to describe it.

Twitter relies on bullshit, supposedly clever, one-liners that say nothing. Yet, our brains like these empty platitudes. So, like idiots, we retweet them. Long form, well though-out content is rare these days because it’s too hard for most people to read something longer than 280 characters.

Instagram relies on even more bullshit soft porn pictures or other depictions of a “perfect” life along with even more idiotic empty quotes. Yet, we fall for this, too. It’s in our genes. There’s no way a healthy male is able to look away from a perfect pair of photoshopped boobs.

TikTok relies on cringeworthy, self-absorbed, completely retarded videos of teenagers thinking they do something meaningful. Yet, in their stupidity, they’re so captivating you find yourself watching one video after another. Later, you feel disgusted with yourself only to do it again the next time you “work” on TikTok.

Can you find valuable content on social media? Yes, you can. Not everything is garbage.

It doesn’t change the fact that most of social media content is utter junk. These platforms don’t reward in-depth content. They reward simplistic, controversial or straight up idiotic posts and videos.

Since people are so addicted to social media today, their attention spans are so short you have to transmit your message in a few seconds. What valuable things can you say in a few seconds? By default, you’re forced to contribute to this mountain of garbage every single day.

8. You’re Building an Unsellable Asset

It’s rare for most small businesses to succeed on social media. So, instead, most founders post under their own names. Their business becomes them. Yes, a personal brand may be valuable but a personal brand, as the name implies, is unsellable.

If this doesn’t bother you, then this point doesn’t apply to you. Yet, I’d urge every entrepreneur to think about a potential exit strategy. If you’re building your business through promoting yourself, then most likely you won’t be able to sell it in the future.

9. You Fail to See Other Opportunities

People new to business, particularly those who don’t remember the world before social media, assume that EVERY business needs to be on social media. They focus only on those business ideas that have a social media presence, ignoring the wealth of other possible opportunities.

Boring, but essential B2B businesses? Nah, where will I get my followers?

Offline businesses without an online presence other than a simple website? No way, how will I brag about my biz?

Low-key business models that rely on joint ventures and deal-making rather than social media content? No thanks, I’m too busy building my “credibility” on social media.

10. You Do What Everyone Else Is Doing

Being an entrepreneur means full responsibility for your decisions but also complete freedom over how you want to run your business.

Unfortunately, most people let the prevailing narrative dictate how they’ll approach their ventures.

If the “only” way to succeed is through fifty social media posts a day, let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through showing your boobs to horny teenagers (who will not buy your products anyway), let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through being a complete idiot dancing like a drunk moose, let’s do it.

Don’t be a sheep. Use your brain. Create YOUR business on YOUR OWN terms rather than letting social media corporations bully you into using their toxic platforms.

There, I said it.

Thoughts, love, hate—all welcome.

Thanks for a new perspective.

That point where you say that you build followers rather than the only important asset, which is list, that point....hit me hard.

Social Media is designed to hook us and it's no wonder it decreases your productivity and makes you depressive. I need to cautiously use these toxic platforms!

 

[Vinnland]

Boring, but essential B2B businesses? Nah, where will I get my followers?

Huge point here in number 9.

My largest clients are in boring businesses. Zero social following. Lots of money tho haha.

 

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[Tobzinho]

For most entrepreneurs few things are worse than social media. You think it’s helpful while it’s a parasite that slowly kills you and your business.

Social media platforms have spent millions and millions to persuade us that they’re indispensable for business.

If you don’t exist on social media, you don’t exist at all.

What a joke.

We all know that social media can be bad for individuals. But it's poisonous for business, too, and you may be better off as an entrepreneur without it.

Not everyone will agree with this post and that’s okay. This thread is about showing a perspective counter to mainstream advice. It’s not the ultimate truth, though. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to avoid social media in business at all costs.

Note: by social media I refer to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. I don’t consider YouTube social media (because it’s more of a search engine) or Reddit (because it’s just a giant forum with various subforums, similar to the Fastlane forum).

Warning: I swear in this post and I share my opinion in a blunt way. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Here are ten reasons why social media destroys entrepreneurs and their businesses:

1. You’re Putting More Effort Building Somebody Else’s Business Than Yours

Post ten times a day on Facebook (don’t forget about Facebook stories). Twenty times a day on Instagram (but thirty stories and forty reels). Upload ten videos on TikTok and don’t forget to tweet thirty times a day (and retweet another twenty tweets). It almost seems as if marketing today equals social media marketing.

Do it all AGAIN over and over again because the next day nobody sees your posts from the day before anyway. And if you ever figure out a way to crack the algorithm, it will soon change and you’ll be left behind again.

When you add it all up, you spend more time donating your time to social media platforms than spending it on your business. How ridiculous is that?

Few entrepreneurs ever calculate how much time, money, and effort they invest on social media. They don’t even know if they get a positive return from their investment.

That’s insanity. Not only you’re dedicating most of your business life to tasks that may not even be worth it. You’re also putting more effort building other people’s companies rather than yours.

Let me reiterate it because I find it F*cking incredible: did you start your OWN business to spend more time building somebody else’s?

How much do you enjoy being an unpaid Meta, TikTok or Twitter employee?

Is this what entrepreneurship comes down to these days? Filling the pockets of big, censor-happy corporations who don’t give two shits about you just so you can brag about your follower count?

2. You’re Only Getting Scraps

Even if you do everything right, at most maybe a few percent of your followers will see your posts. Out of them, only a few percent will take any action. Out of them, a few percent will do what you want them to do—buy your stuff.

In other words, you’re only getting scraps thrown at you by the social media platforms. And the more the platform grows, the less you get. It’s a natural growth cycle of every social media company. You can always count on the fact that they will grow at your expense.

You’re like that poor dog begging for food underneath the table. Only as time goes by, there are even more hungry dogs and less food on the table. Most goes into the mouths of the obese owners.

Moreover, social media platforms have a short lifespan so all your efforts are eventually for nothing. Ask anyone who has built a big following on Facebook how useful it is today. Meanwhile, a high-quality article on your own site can provide value for years.

3. You’re on a Never-Ending Content Treadmill

Social media gurus get on my nerves because their solution to any marketing problem is to post more. More, more, more, until you can’t do it anymore but you can’t stop because you’re afraid that if you stop, your business will end.

You become trapped on a content treadmill, posting endless amounts of content, begging to get some attention like an old wrinkly prostitute in flashy clothes.

The more you post, the faster the treadmill is. Since you can’t stop, you never have time and energy to reconsider what you’re doing and whether it’s the best strategy for your business.

Strategic thinking drowns in the sea of content you’re forced to produce every day just to stay afloat. And the worst thing is that whatever you produce, it’s often unsearchable and irrelevant the next day.

4. You Fail to Build What’s Most Important

The ONLY valuable asset in every business is a customer list. Yet, if you focus on social media, you fool yourself that your follower count is what defines your business.

You either spend time building your own platform or you build time spending other people’s platforms.

This forum is a great example of a platform standing on its own. I didn’t join it because I saw MJ on social media. I joined it because I read MJ’s book. I stayed because it’s an independent platform owned by a person who cares. For all I care, MJ may never post anything on social media. I want to read his content HERE, on his OWN platform.

Would your clients say the same about your business? Would they still work with you if you had no presence on social media?

Would you rather have 100,000 followers on social media or 1,000 loyal customers? (If you chose the former, sorry but there’s no hope for you LOL.)

5. You Judge the Value of the Business by the Number of Followers

My girlfriend has a podcast. She had a call with a potential guest today. The woman told her that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be featured in my girlfriend’s podcast because “nothing happens on her Instagram profile.”

My girlfriend only posts images with new episodes on her Instagram profile. But if you checked the podcast’s archives, you’d see over 75 episodes posted religiously every week, featuring dozens of recognized in her niche guests.

That poor guest is so brainwashed. She thinks that an Instagram profile counts more than your real-world track record. To make matters worse, she was SHOCKED how my girlfriend got podcast listeners through something else than Instagram.

My girlfriend is not an Instagrammer. She owns a podcast. That’s her business, not posting daily vlogs or other bullshit from her everyday life. She doesn’t even want Instagram followers who spend a tenth of a second liking her random images. She wants real listeners who invest hours listening to her episodes.

There are so many businesses that have few, if any, social media followers, yet kill it WAY, WAY more than brands that obsess about social media.

Do you help people through selling your products or do you chase status through posting meaningless social media posts?

6. You Waste Time and Mental Energy on Drama and Addiction

Social media thrives because it appeals to our most basic instincts.

Everything is designed in such a way to get you hooked and keep you there for as long as possible. Notifications, real-time updates, live stories. Then there’s inevitable drama and bullshit politics that’s impossible to opt out of.

Instagram will always pester you with profiles of plastic surgery enhanced half naked models of both genders.

Twitter will always pester you with annoying politics no matter who you follow.

Both Facebook and TikTok will always steal your attention through idiotic short clips designed to captivate your brain whether you want it or not.

Even if you’re strong-willed, there’s NO WAY you won’t waste your life each time you visit any of the social media platforms for “business” purposes.

Is this how you want to spend your valuable time?

7. You’re Contributing to Producing Mountains of Garbage

Most content on social media is F*cking garbage. I need to swear here because there’s no other way to describe it.

Twitter relies on bullshit, supposedly clever, one-liners that say nothing. Yet, our brains like these empty platitudes. So, like idiots, we retweet them. Long form, well though-out content is rare these days because it’s too hard for most people to read something longer than 280 characters.

Instagram relies on even more bullshit soft porn pictures or other depictions of a “perfect” life along with even more idiotic empty quotes. Yet, we fall for this, too. It’s in our genes. There’s no way a healthy male is able to look away from a perfect pair of photoshopped boobs.

TikTok relies on cringeworthy, self-absorbed, completely retarded videos of teenagers thinking they do something meaningful. Yet, in their stupidity, they’re so captivating you find yourself watching one video after another. Later, you feel disgusted with yourself only to do it again the next time you “work” on TikTok.

Can you find valuable content on social media? Yes, you can. Not everything is garbage.

It doesn’t change the fact that most of social media content is utter junk. These platforms don’t reward in-depth content. They reward simplistic, controversial or straight up idiotic posts and videos.

Since people are so addicted to social media today, their attention spans are so short you have to transmit your message in a few seconds. What valuable things can you say in a few seconds? By default, you’re forced to contribute to this mountain of garbage every single day.

8. You’re Building an Unsellable Asset

It’s rare for most small businesses to succeed on social media. So, instead, most founders post under their own names. Their business becomes them. Yes, a personal brand may be valuable but a personal brand, as the name implies, is unsellable.

If this doesn’t bother you, then this point doesn’t apply to you. Yet, I’d urge every entrepreneur to think about a potential exit strategy. If you’re building your business through promoting yourself, then most likely you won’t be able to sell it in the future.

9. You Fail to See Other Opportunities

People new to business, particularly those who don’t remember the world before social media, assume that EVERY business needs to be on social media. They focus only on those business ideas that have a social media presence, ignoring the wealth of other possible opportunities.

Boring, but essential B2B businesses? Nah, where will I get my followers?

Offline businesses without an online presence other than a simple website? No way, how will I brag about my biz?

Low-key business models that rely on joint ventures and deal-making rather than social media content? No thanks, I’m too busy building my “credibility” on social media.

10. You Do What Everyone Else Is Doing

Being an entrepreneur means full responsibility for your decisions but also complete freedom over how you want to run your business.

Unfortunately, most people let the prevailing narrative dictate how they’ll approach their ventures.

If the “only” way to succeed is through fifty social media posts a day, let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through showing your boobs to horny teenagers (who will not buy your products anyway), let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through being a complete idiot dancing like a drunk moose, let’s do it.

Don’t be a sheep. Use your brain. Create YOUR business on YOUR OWN terms rather than letting social media corporations bully you into using their toxic platforms.

There, I said it.

Thoughts, love, hate—all welcome

Great post!

 

[ArmanK]

For most entrepreneurs few things are worse than social media. You think it’s helpful while it’s a parasite that slowly kills you and your business.

Social media platforms have spent millions and millions to persuade us that they’re indispensable for business.

If you don’t exist on social media, you don’t exist at all.

What a joke.

We all know that social media can be bad for individuals. But it's poisonous for business, too, and you may be better off as an entrepreneur without it.

Not everyone will agree with this post and that’s okay. This thread is about showing a perspective counter to mainstream advice. It’s not the ultimate truth, though. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to avoid social media in business at all costs.

Note: by social media I refer to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. I don’t consider YouTube social media (because it’s more of a search engine) or Reddit (because it’s just a giant forum with various subforums, similar to the Fastlane forum).

Warning: I swear in this post and I share my opinion in a blunt way. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Here are ten reasons why social media destroys entrepreneurs and their businesses:

1. You’re Putting More Effort Building Somebody Else’s Business Than Yours

Post ten times a day on Facebook (don’t forget about Facebook stories). Twenty times a day on Instagram (but thirty stories and forty reels). Upload ten videos on TikTok and don’t forget to tweet thirty times a day (and retweet another twenty tweets). It almost seems as if marketing today equals social media marketing.

Do it all AGAIN over and over again because the next day nobody sees your posts from the day before anyway. And if you ever figure out a way to crack the algorithm, it will soon change and you’ll be left behind again.

When you add it all up, you spend more time donating your time to social media platforms than spending it on your business. How ridiculous is that?

Few entrepreneurs ever calculate how much time, money, and effort they invest on social media. They don’t even know if they get a positive return from their investment.

That’s insanity. Not only you’re dedicating most of your business life to tasks that may not even be worth it. You’re also putting more effort building other people’s companies rather than yours.

Let me reiterate it because I find it F*cking incredible: did you start your OWN business to spend more time building somebody else’s?

How much do you enjoy being an unpaid Meta, TikTok or Twitter employee?

Is this what entrepreneurship comes down to these days? Filling the pockets of big, censor-happy corporations who don’t give two shits about you just so you can brag about your follower count?

2. You’re Only Getting Scraps

Even if you do everything right, at most maybe a few percent of your followers will see your posts. Out of them, only a few percent will take any action. Out of them, a few percent will do what you want them to do—buy your stuff.

In other words, you’re only getting scraps thrown at you by the social media platforms. And the more the platform grows, the less you get. It’s a natural growth cycle of every social media company. You can always count on the fact that they will grow at your expense.

You’re like that poor dog begging for food underneath the table. Only as time goes by, there are even more hungry dogs and less food on the table. Most goes into the mouths of the obese owners.

Moreover, social media platforms have a short lifespan so all your efforts are eventually for nothing. Ask anyone who has built a big following on Facebook how useful it is today. Meanwhile, a high-quality article on your own site can provide value for years.

3. You’re on a Never-Ending Content Treadmill

Social media gurus get on my nerves because their solution to any marketing problem is to post more. More, more, more, until you can’t do it anymore but you can’t stop because you’re afraid that if you stop, your business will end.

You become trapped on a content treadmill, posting endless amounts of content, begging to get some attention like an old wrinkly prostitute in flashy clothes.

The more you post, the faster the treadmill is. Since you can’t stop, you never have time and energy to reconsider what you’re doing and whether it’s the best strategy for your business.

Strategic thinking drowns in the sea of content you’re forced to produce every day just to stay afloat. And the worst thing is that whatever you produce, it’s often unsearchable and irrelevant the next day.

4. You Fail to Build What’s Most Important

The ONLY valuable asset in every business is a customer list. Yet, if you focus on social media, you fool yourself that your follower count is what defines your business.

You either spend time building your own platform or you build time spending other people’s platforms.

This forum is a great example of a platform standing on its own. I didn’t join it because I saw MJ on social media. I joined it because I read MJ’s book. I stayed because it’s an independent platform owned by a person who cares. For all I care, MJ may never post anything on social media. I want to read his content HERE, on his OWN platform.

Would your clients say the same about your business? Would they still work with you if you had no presence on social media?

Would you rather have 100,000 followers on social media or 1,000 loyal customers? (If you chose the former, sorry but there’s no hope for you LOL.)

5. You Judge the Value of the Business by the Number of Followers

My girlfriend has a podcast. She had a call with a potential guest today. The woman told her that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be featured in my girlfriend’s podcast because “nothing happens on her Instagram profile.”

My girlfriend only posts images with new episodes on her Instagram profile. But if you checked the podcast’s archives, you’d see over 75 episodes posted religiously every week, featuring dozens of recognized in her niche guests.

That poor guest is so brainwashed. She thinks that an Instagram profile counts more than your real-world track record. To make matters worse, she was SHOCKED how my girlfriend got podcast listeners through something else than Instagram.

My girlfriend is not an Instagrammer. She owns a podcast. That’s her business, not posting daily vlogs or other bullshit from her everyday life. She doesn’t even want Instagram followers who spend a tenth of a second liking her random images. She wants real listeners who invest hours listening to her episodes.

There are so many businesses that have few, if any, social media followers, yet kill it WAY, WAY more than brands that obsess about social media.

Do you help people through selling your products or do you chase status through posting meaningless social media posts?

6. You Waste Time and Mental Energy on Drama and Addiction

Social media thrives because it appeals to our most basic instincts.

Everything is designed in such a way to get you hooked and keep you there for as long as possible. Notifications, real-time updates, live stories. Then there’s inevitable drama and bullshit politics that’s impossible to opt out of.

Instagram will always pester you with profiles of plastic surgery enhanced half naked models of both genders.

Twitter will always pester you with annoying politics no matter who you follow.

Both Facebook and TikTok will always steal your attention through idiotic short clips designed to captivate your brain whether you want it or not.

Even if you’re strong-willed, there’s NO WAY you won’t waste your life each time you visit any of the social media platforms for “business” purposes.

Is this how you want to spend your valuable time?

7. You’re Contributing to Producing Mountains of Garbage

Most content on social media is F*cking garbage. I need to swear here because there’s no other way to describe it.

Twitter relies on bullshit, supposedly clever, one-liners that say nothing. Yet, our brains like these empty platitudes. So, like idiots, we retweet them. Long form, well though-out content is rare these days because it’s too hard for most people to read something longer than 280 characters.

Instagram relies on even more bullshit soft porn pictures or other depictions of a “perfect” life along with even more idiotic empty quotes. Yet, we fall for this, too. It’s in our genes. There’s no way a healthy male is able to look away from a perfect pair of photoshopped boobs.

TikTok relies on cringeworthy, self-absorbed, completely retarded videos of teenagers thinking they do something meaningful. Yet, in their stupidity, they’re so captivating you find yourself watching one video after another. Later, you feel disgusted with yourself only to do it again the next time you “work” on TikTok.

Can you find valuable content on social media? Yes, you can. Not everything is garbage.

It doesn’t change the fact that most of social media content is utter junk. These platforms don’t reward in-depth content. They reward simplistic, controversial or straight up idiotic posts and videos.

Since people are so addicted to social media today, their attention spans are so short you have to transmit your message in a few seconds. What valuable things can you say in a few seconds? By default, you’re forced to contribute to this mountain of garbage every single day.

8. You’re Building an Unsellable Asset

It’s rare for most small businesses to succeed on social media. So, instead, most founders post under their own names. Their business becomes them. Yes, a personal brand may be valuable but a personal brand, as the name implies, is unsellable.

If this doesn’t bother you, then this point doesn’t apply to you. Yet, I’d urge every entrepreneur to think about a potential exit strategy. If you’re building your business through promoting yourself, then most likely you won’t be able to sell it in the future.

9. You Fail to See Other Opportunities

People new to business, particularly those who don’t remember the world before social media, assume that EVERY business needs to be on social media. They focus only on those business ideas that have a social media presence, ignoring the wealth of other possible opportunities.

Boring, but essential B2B businesses? Nah, where will I get my followers?

Offline businesses without an online presence other than a simple website? No way, how will I brag about my biz?

Low-key business models that rely on joint ventures and deal-making rather than social media content? No thanks, I’m too busy building my “credibility” on social media.

10. You Do What Everyone Else Is Doing

Being an entrepreneur means full responsibility for your decisions but also complete freedom over how you want to run your business.

Unfortunately, most people let the prevailing narrative dictate how they’ll approach their ventures.

If the “only” way to succeed is through fifty social media posts a day, let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through showing your boobs to horny teenagers (who will not buy your products anyway), let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through being a complete idiot dancing like a drunk moose, let’s do it.

Don’t be a sheep. Use your brain. Create YOUR business on YOUR OWN terms rather than letting social media corporations bully you into using their toxic platforms.

There, I said it.

Thoughts, love, hate—all welcome.

Love your blunt way of communicating. Blunt is just another word for direct. And I like when people are straight to the point.

Probably why I enjoy Naval Ravikant and Nassim Taleb so much.

I am a millenial and have certainly gotten caught up in the follower chasing rat race.

But I deleted my FB, IG, and Twitter accounts for 2 years and it felt amazing. I was able to read 80+ books both years and I think this was a major reason.

It annoys me everytime I go out and see groups together sitting in complete silence while they all scroll their lives away on their feeds.

For anyone up for a little challenge, try this - delete your social media apps from your phone and WAKE UP!

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

FB and IG are the easiest and cheapest customer acquisition I've seen in years!

 

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[MTF]

FB and IG are the easiest and cheapest customer acquisition I've seen in years!

I've been questioning my beliefs about this. I tested Twitter and it was terrible. Now I'm testing Instagram and so far it's been going well.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I've been questioning my beliefs about this. I tested Twitter and it was terrible. Now I'm testing Instagram and so far it's been going well.

Shoot me a message on FB I'll send you my strategies

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Shoot me a message on FB I'll send you my strategies

Is this anything you can share with the forum? Or minimally on the private INSIDERS's forum?

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Is this anything you can share with the forum? Or minimally on the private INSIDERS's forum?

Sure! I'll write up a little shpiel in there today. Didn't even think about it. Never claimed to be a smart man.

 

[MTF]

Sure! I'll write up a little shpiel in there today. Didn't even think about it. Never claimed to be a smart man.

Cool, I'll check this out then and reach out only if I have more questions.

I was able to go from 41 followers to Instagram last Sunday to 481 right now. I paid for some shout-outs on a related account and it's been working great.

 

[James Klymus]

Use social media as leverage. I understand the argument you're making, But I think you're letting a jaded perspective get in your way. I say that respectfully.

Social media is leverage. It's a way to cultivate and communicate your brand and message to an audience. The smart business people don't rely on social media completely. They build their audience and get them over onto an asset that they can control, Like an email list or their own website.

Yes, your following can vanish in an instant, at the whim of facebook (Meta), But attention is one of the hardest things to earn in the world, and social media is a way (Not the only way) to cultivate that attention and leverage it.

My advice is forget all of the brain candy content (girls, dancing, boobs, cars, flashy shit) and focus on how you can use it as leverage. No one says you have to scroll social media all day long, use it for business and get out.

As a thought experiment, good post. I believe it's healthy to understand counterarguments to your own beliefs and opinions.

 

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[MTF]

Use social media as leverage. I understand the argument you're making, But I think you're letting a jaded perspective get in your way. I say that respectfully.

Social media is leverage. It's a way to cultivate and communicate your brand and message to an audience. The smart business people don't rely on social media completely. They build their audience and get them over onto an asset that they can control, Like an email list or their own website.

Yes, your following can vanish in an instant, at the whim of facebook (Meta), But attention is one of the hardest things to earn in the world, and social media is a way (Not the only way) to cultivate that attention and leverage it.

My advice is forget all of the brain candy content (girls, dancing, boobs, cars, flashy shit) and focus on how you can use it as leverage. No one says you have to scroll social media all day long, use it for business and get out.

As a thought experiment, good post. I believe it's healthy to understand counterarguments to your own beliefs and opinions.

As posted above, I've been questioning my beliefs. Instagram has been going well for me so far and I find it easy to only post my stuff and not waste time there otherwise.

 

[Andy Black]

As posted above, I've been questioning my beliefs. Instagram has been going well for me so far and I find it easy to only post my stuff and not waste time there otherwise.

I love that you’ve been questioning your beliefs.

 

[Danny_Cox]

Use social media as leverage. I understand the argument you're making, But I think you're letting a jaded perspective get in your way. I say that respectfully.

Social media is leverage. It's a way to cultivate and communicate your brand and message to an audience. The smart business people don't rely on social media completely. They build their audience and get them over onto an asset that they can control, Like an email list or their own website.

Yes, your following can vanish in an instant, at the whim of facebook (Meta), But attention is one of the hardest things to earn in the world, and social media is a way (Not the only way) to cultivate that attention and leverage it.

My advice is forget all of the brain candy content (girls, dancing, boobs, cars, flashy shit) and focus on how you can use it as leverage. No one says you have to scroll social media all day long, use it for business and get out.

As a thought experiment, good post. I believe it's healthy to understand counterarguments to your own beliefs and opinions.

Yes, I've been enjoying the word 'leverage' as a bit of a motto for how to engage with social media. Which makes it all-important, then, to know who I'm trying to leverage, and for what purpose.

When I was just beginning to look into business, I heard Gary V's rants about posting 800 times a day on social media and so decided I should probably be doing it. Obviously, there was no wind in those sails.

Having learned a bit more, I'm offline to find product/market fit, which I'll then take to social media if social media can give me the kind of leverage I want, on the kind of audience that I want, for the purpose of selling my shit.

 

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[Bearcorp]

Built my whole company on the back of social media, mentioned it in most threads relating to social media on here, its not for every business or every person but for the right one it's a gold mine, within the niches I'm a part of it happens over and over again.

No way could I have built my company without it.

 

[Mathuin]

Good quote in re to social media sites from one of my new favourite mindset books, Bold and Determined Vol 1 (thanks @Johnny boy and @Angler for putting me on to this)

---

Leave the social networking sites for the lonely people, for the lost people. It’s for the narcissists. It’s for the people who have nothing else. They can have it. Unless you can earn from it you don’t need it.

The old friends worth connecting with aren’t playing around on social networking sites all day. The ones who actively use social networking use it for whining, complaining, cry- baby’ing, and ego boosting. They live online, but online living is no living at all.

Internet stars actively promote social networking for one very important reason – they earn from it. It gives them tangible results. It’s a cash cow because of all the people spending every day and night obsessed with their fantasy world. What the average Joe doesn’t know is that social networking is a big, big money-maker for the internet entrepreneurs. “But it’s a great way to connect with friends and family!” No it isn’t. People connected with friends and family for a really long time before the internet. Social networking is a great way for smart people to make a whole lot of money. That’s what it’s for and that’s how a smart person should use it.

There are three kinds of users of all social networking sites:
A) Earners: Big dogs who make big money from the social networking sites and who have the most followers.
B) Learners: Small dogs who are actively trying to become big dogs, they’re learning from the big dogs how to do it.
C) Cash Cows: People handing out money without even knowing it, the smart people capitalize on the cash cows.

E-mail is a perfectly efficient way to say “hi” to friends and family and leaves plenty of free time to learn and earn. The internet can be a tool of freedom or a vicious slave-master. Choice is ours. We know how the smart people use it.
You could be the man behind the screen making the money or you can be the man in front of the screen handing out your money without even knowing it. There’s a$$ to kick on the internet – if you aren’t the kicker then you’re the one getting kicked. Leave the positive and cut out the baloney. If you can’t learn or earn from it, baby, it’s time to burn it.

 

[Andy Black]

Good quote in re to social media sites from one of my new favourite mindset books, Bold and Determined Vol 1 (thanks @Johnny boy and @Angler for putting me on to this)

---

Leave the social networking sites for the lonely people, for the lost people. It’s for the narcissists. It’s for the people who have nothing else. They can have it. Unless you can earn from it you don’t need it.

The old friends worth connecting with aren’t playing around on social networking sites all day. The ones who actively use social networking use it for whining, complaining, cry- baby’ing, and ego boosting. They live online, but online living is no living at all.

Internet stars actively promote social networking for one very important reason – they earn from it. It gives them tangible results. It’s a cash cow because of all the people spending every day and night obsessed with their fantasy world. What the average Joe doesn’t know is that social networking is a big, big money-maker for the internet entrepreneurs. “But it’s a great way to connect with friends and family!” No it isn’t. People connected with friends and family for a really long time before the internet. Social networking is a great way for smart people to make a whole lot of money. That’s what it’s for and that’s how a smart person should use it.

There are three kinds of users of all social networking sites:
A) Earners: Big dogs who make big money from the social networking sites and who have the most followers.
B) Learners: Small dogs who are actively trying to become big dogs, they’re learning from the big dogs how to do it.
C) Cash Cows: People handing out money without even knowing it, the smart people capitalize on the cash cows.

E-mail is a perfectly efficient way to say “hi” to friends and family and leaves plenty of free time to learn and earn. The internet can be a tool of freedom or a vicious slave-master. Choice is ours. We know how the smart people use it.
You could be the man behind the screen making the money or you can be the man in front of the screen handing out your money without even knowing it. There’s a$$ to kick on the internet – if you aren’t the kicker then you’re the one getting kicked. Leave the positive and cut out the baloney. If you can’t learn or earn from it, baby, it’s time to burn it.

That quote seems a bit black and white. I pop onto Facebook every now and then and enjoy seeing photos from friends and acquaintances I’ve not seen in years.

 

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[Ela]

This is amazing analysis. Thank you for this inputs. Agree with all your points.

I am running an SEO agency from past 7 years, whenever my clients ask about social media ads, i suggest them not to spend too much on it because the results will not be permanent. Social media companies became greedy and place of garbage.

If you have product worth solving a problem in real life, people comes to you organically.

 

[MTF]

On a lighter side but still very accurate about how the algorithm works (you don't want to see certain stuff but since you watch it you're going to get more of it):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUHFXnOn7mI

 

[DarkZero]

Wait... so you make this whole thread attacking social media but then after the fact you go and try to build a following on Instagram and now your beliefs have changed?

I bet if you weren't gaining a following on Instagram you would still be ripping it.

Sounds like you failed to build a following until now so you were hating on it entirely.

I do want to give you a ton of respect. I applaud you for committing to a certain belief, then deciding to change your mind and give it a try. That is something that most people will not do.

Since you're building on IG here are some tips:

1. Post reels and post lots of them
2. Engage on the app immediately before you post and immediately after your post.

Since IG loves reels right now, lean into it heavily. And of course, they want to see you using the app so you the more you engage with your desired audience before and after the app, the algorithm likes to see that and will show your stuff to more people.

Don't overcomplicate it. Just get the content out there. The ones you think will work well might not perform well. And the ones you didn't think would be so great will end up surprising you.

Paying for shoutouts is also great which you've been doing. And so is paying for direct ads to an opt-in on the platform.

Hope this helps.

 

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[MTF]

Wait... so you make this whole thread attacking social media but then after the fact you go and try to build a following on Instagram and now your beliefs have changed?

I bet if you weren't gaining a following on Instagram you would still be ripping it.

Sounds like you failed to build a following until now so you were hating on it entirely.

I actually had success in the past with social media (in terms of following) but it never made a difference in my business. As far as I remember I had about 3 Facebook pages with several thousand to 30k+ followers. I also used LinkedIn heavily (also didn't help).

My most successful business also operates without social media. So my point still stands that you don't NEED it and that often it's a waste of time.

I'm testing social media now to challenge my beliefs but I still mostly agree with what I wrote in the first post (which is why I'm only using social media to build my newsletter).

Also, not sure how you read this first post that you concluded I hated on social media ENTIRELY. I wrote this:

It’s not the ultimate truth, though. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to avoid social media in business at all costs.

It so happens that for my current project it may be a possible good marketing strategy. But I'm not sure yet. If I find something else that works better I'll drop social media right away as I'm still not a fan.

I do want to give you a ton of respect. I applaud you for committing to a certain belief, then deciding to change your mind and give it a try. That is something that most people will not do.

Well I'm not a politician so I try to keep my mind open and challenge my beliefs

Since you're building on IG here are some tips:

1. Post reels and post lots of them
2. Engage on the app immediately before you post and immediately after your post.

So far I got 33 subscribers from Instagram which isn't crazy considering how much time and money I've already spent on it. I got way more from a single newsletter ad (but these aren't scalable). I tested Twitter before and it was terrible so Instagram is still way better.

I find Instagram useful to put my stuff in front of the people I talk about in my articles. This definitely makes it worthwhile.

I'm aware of the reels but I don't see them working for me. Creating videos is way too time-consuming and my content is purely text-based (I know I can do text-based reels but it still takes way more time). If I decide to do video I'd rather do YouTube where it's easily searchable and produces long-term results.

As for engaging on the app, I don't use it as a consumer. I spend maybe 2 minutes a day checking the posts (never stories) from people I follow and that's it. I don't want to waste my time there otherwise.

 

[James007Hill]

On a lighter side but still very accurate about how the algorithm works (you don't want to see certain stuff but since you watch it you're going to get more of it):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUHFXnOn7mI

Checked out Tik Tok about two years ago purely out of curiosity rather than business related, and soon realised it was the crack cocaine of social media and deleted it. Highly addictive in my opinion, even compared to other social media platforms. If I ever use it again it will only be if I have a specific business related plan for it. Would have to be VERY intentional with how it's used. Otherwise I would end up like the guy in this video!

 

[Mathuin]

Checked out Tik Tok about two years ago purely out of curiosity rather than business related, and soon realised it was the crack cocaine of social media and deleted it. Highly addictive in my opinion, even compared to other social media platforms. If I ever use it again it will only be if I have a specific business related plan for it. Would have to be VERY intentional with how it's used. Otherwise I would end up like the guy in this video!

Agreed. I’ve heard some people having success with TikTok ads in the ecom space.

However, I don't think I've ever seen an Ad on the FYP or Following pages. Makes me think TikTok is just one massive Chinese data gathering operation. I've seen ads on what used to be the search or explore bit but 99& of people's time is spent on Following/ FYP.

If you take looking through Snapchat stories/ videos for example, there is an ad after every 2-3 videos.

 

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[heavy_industry]

Solid thread!

Thank you for sharing your insight!

 

[Saad Khan]

For most entrepreneurs few things are worse than social media. You think it’s helpful while it’s a parasite that slowly kills you and your business.

Social media platforms have spent millions and millions to persuade us that they’re indispensable for business.

If you don’t exist on social media, you don’t exist at all.

What a joke.

We all know that social media can be bad for individuals. But it's poisonous for business, too, and you may be better off as an entrepreneur without it.

Not everyone will agree with this post and that’s okay. This thread is about showing a perspective counter to mainstream advice. It’s not the ultimate truth, though. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to avoid social media in business at all costs.

Note: by social media I refer to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. I don’t consider YouTube social media (because it’s more of a search engine) or Reddit (because it’s just a giant forum with various subforums, similar to the Fastlane forum).

Warning: I swear in this post and I share my opinion in a blunt way. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Here are ten reasons why social media destroys entrepreneurs and their businesses:

1. You’re Putting More Effort Building Somebody Else’s Business Than Yours

Post ten times a day on Facebook (don’t forget about Facebook stories). Twenty times a day on Instagram (but thirty stories and forty reels). Upload ten videos on TikTok and don’t forget to tweet thirty times a day (and retweet another twenty tweets). It almost seems as if marketing today equals social media marketing.

Do it all AGAIN over and over again because the next day nobody sees your posts from the day before anyway. And if you ever figure out a way to crack the algorithm, it will soon change and you’ll be left behind again.

When you add it all up, you spend more time donating your time to social media platforms than spending it on your business. How ridiculous is that?

Few entrepreneurs ever calculate how much time, money, and effort they invest on social media. They don’t even know if they get a positive return from their investment.

That’s insanity. Not only you’re dedicating most of your business life to tasks that may not even be worth it. You’re also putting more effort building other people’s companies rather than yours.

Let me reiterate it because I find it F*cking incredible: did you start your OWN business to spend more time building somebody else’s?

How much do you enjoy being an unpaid Meta, TikTok or Twitter employee?

Is this what entrepreneurship comes down to these days? Filling the pockets of big, censor-happy corporations who don’t give two shits about you just so you can brag about your follower count?

2. You’re Only Getting Scraps

Even if you do everything right, at most maybe a few percent of your followers will see your posts. Out of them, only a few percent will take any action. Out of them, a few percent will do what you want them to do—buy your stuff.

In other words, you’re only getting scraps thrown at you by the social media platforms. And the more the platform grows, the less you get. It’s a natural growth cycle of every social media company. You can always count on the fact that they will grow at your expense.

You’re like that poor dog begging for food underneath the table. Only as time goes by, there are even more hungry dogs and less food on the table. Most goes into the mouths of the obese owners.

Moreover, social media platforms have a short lifespan so all your efforts are eventually for nothing. Ask anyone who has built a big following on Facebook how useful it is today. Meanwhile, a high-quality article on your own site can provide value for years.

3. You’re on a Never-Ending Content Treadmill

Social media gurus get on my nerves because their solution to any marketing problem is to post more. More, more, more, until you can’t do it anymore but you can’t stop because you’re afraid that if you stop, your business will end.

You become trapped on a content treadmill, posting endless amounts of content, begging to get some attention like an old wrinkly prostitute in flashy clothes.

The more you post, the faster the treadmill is. Since you can’t stop, you never have time and energy to reconsider what you’re doing and whether it’s the best strategy for your business.

Strategic thinking drowns in the sea of content you’re forced to produce every day just to stay afloat. And the worst thing is that whatever you produce, it’s often unsearchable and irrelevant the next day.

4. You Fail to Build What’s Most Important

The ONLY valuable asset in every business is a customer list. Yet, if you focus on social media, you fool yourself that your follower count is what defines your business.

You either spend time building your own platform or you build time spending other people’s platforms.

This forum is a great example of a platform standing on its own. I didn’t join it because I saw MJ on social media. I joined it because I read MJ’s book. I stayed because it’s an independent platform owned by a person who cares. For all I care, MJ may never post anything on social media. I want to read his content HERE, on his OWN platform.

Would your clients say the same about your business? Would they still work with you if you had no presence on social media?

Would you rather have 100,000 followers on social media or 1,000 loyal customers? (If you chose the former, sorry but there’s no hope for you LOL.)

5. You Judge the Value of the Business by the Number of Followers

My girlfriend has a podcast. She had a call with a potential guest today. The woman told her that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be featured in my girlfriend’s podcast because “nothing happens on her Instagram profile.”

My girlfriend only posts images with new episodes on her Instagram profile. But if you checked the podcast’s archives, you’d see over 75 episodes posted religiously every week, featuring dozens of recognized in her niche guests.

That poor guest is so brainwashed. She thinks that an Instagram profile counts more than your real-world track record. To make matters worse, she was SHOCKED how my girlfriend got podcast listeners through something else than Instagram.

My girlfriend is not an Instagrammer. She owns a podcast. That’s her business, not posting daily vlogs or other bullshit from her everyday life. She doesn’t even want Instagram followers who spend a tenth of a second liking her random images. She wants real listeners who invest hours listening to her episodes.

There are so many businesses that have few, if any, social media followers, yet kill it WAY, WAY more than brands that obsess about social media.

Do you help people through selling your products or do you chase status through posting meaningless social media posts?

6. You Waste Time and Mental Energy on Drama and Addiction

Social media thrives because it appeals to our most basic instincts.

Everything is designed in such a way to get you hooked and keep you there for as long as possible. Notifications, real-time updates, live stories. Then there’s inevitable drama and bullshit politics that’s impossible to opt out of.

Instagram will always pester you with profiles of plastic surgery enhanced half naked models of both genders.

Twitter will always pester you with annoying politics no matter who you follow.

Both Facebook and TikTok will always steal your attention through idiotic short clips designed to captivate your brain whether you want it or not.

Even if you’re strong-willed, there’s NO WAY you won’t waste your life each time you visit any of the social media platforms for “business” purposes.

Is this how you want to spend your valuable time?

7. You’re Contributing to Producing Mountains of Garbage

Most content on social media is F*cking garbage. I need to swear here because there’s no other way to describe it.

Twitter relies on bullshit, supposedly clever, one-liners that say nothing. Yet, our brains like these empty platitudes. So, like idiots, we retweet them. Long form, well though-out content is rare these days because it’s too hard for most people to read something longer than 280 characters.

Instagram relies on even more bullshit soft porn pictures or other depictions of a “perfect” life along with even more idiotic empty quotes. Yet, we fall for this, too. It’s in our genes. There’s no way a healthy male is able to look away from a perfect pair of photoshopped boobs.

TikTok relies on cringeworthy, self-absorbed, completely retarded videos of teenagers thinking they do something meaningful. Yet, in their stupidity, they’re so captivating you find yourself watching one video after another. Later, you feel disgusted with yourself only to do it again the next time you “work” on TikTok.

Can you find valuable content on social media? Yes, you can. Not everything is garbage.

It doesn’t change the fact that most of social media content is utter junk. These platforms don’t reward in-depth content. They reward simplistic, controversial or straight up idiotic posts and videos.

Since people are so addicted to social media today, their attention spans are so short you have to transmit your message in a few seconds. What valuable things can you say in a few seconds? By default, you’re forced to contribute to this mountain of garbage every single day.

8. You’re Building an Unsellable Asset

It’s rare for most small businesses to succeed on social media. So, instead, most founders post under their own names. Their business becomes them. Yes, a personal brand may be valuable but a personal brand, as the name implies, is unsellable.

If this doesn’t bother you, then this point doesn’t apply to you. Yet, I’d urge every entrepreneur to think about a potential exit strategy. If you’re building your business through promoting yourself, then most likely you won’t be able to sell it in the future.

9. You Fail to See Other Opportunities

People new to business, particularly those who don’t remember the world before social media, assume that EVERY business needs to be on social media. They focus only on those business ideas that have a social media presence, ignoring the wealth of other possible opportunities.

Boring, but essential B2B businesses? Nah, where will I get my followers?

Offline businesses without an online presence other than a simple website? No way, how will I brag about my biz?

Low-key business models that rely on joint ventures and deal-making rather than social media content? No thanks, I’m too busy building my “credibility” on social media.

10. You Do What Everyone Else Is Doing

Being an entrepreneur means full responsibility for your decisions but also complete freedom over how you want to run your business.

Unfortunately, most people let the prevailing narrative dictate how they’ll approach their ventures.

If the “only” way to succeed is through fifty social media posts a day, let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through showing your boobs to horny teenagers (who will not buy your products anyway), let’s do it.

If the “only” way to succeed is through being a complete idiot dancing like a drunk moose, let’s do it.

Don’t be a sheep. Use your brain. Create YOUR business on YOUR OWN terms rather than letting social media corporations bully you into using their toxic platforms.

There, I said it.

Thoughts, love, hate—all welcome.

GOLD.

I'll add LinkedIn to the list. LinkedIn has evolved into an attention sucking "formal facebook".

But if social media is a necessary evil in your business, hire a VA to do it for you. Simple.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Someone asked me in a PM about the best marketing strategy alternatives to social media. Here are some of my thoughts (I'm NOT a marketing expert and this is just me brainstorming):

• Influencer marketing. This probably sounds a bit counterintuitive but hear me out... Instead of investing your own time and effort into creating social media content (and most likely getting little in return because you're an entrepreneur, not a social media celebrity), what if you delegated this job and hired some influencers in your niche? This way, they do what they do best and you do what you do best. Influencer marketing is like borrowing trust and reputation so it can quickly help you position as a serious player in your industry. There are at least a few successful businesses I've learned about through YouTubers promoting or endorsing them, for example CuriosityStream, Nebula, and StoryBlocks.
• SEO. I wouldn't rely on SEO alone as Google is as unpredictable as social media platforms. Still, for many businesses it's one of the main sources of traffic and may provide excellent results for years, without any extra work once your articles rank well.
• Paid advertising on big platforms like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Bing, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. You can spend time creating free content for these platforms or spend money to advertise on them and use your time for something that produces better returns. It can be very scalable (but also risky if the platform bans you for violating some obscure guidelines).
• Marketing on non-social-media content platforms: newsletters, podcasts, blogs. Many of them offer sponsorships as well as custom deals where they can, for example, become your brand's ambassadors. Since you'll be usually talking directly with the person behind them, it's also a great way to build relationships (which is impossible when using paid advertising on big platforms).
• Sharing your expertise. Find relevant podcasts where you can be a guest. Write guest posts for popular blogs. Do AMAs. Answer questions on Quora. Find journalists who write articles about your niche and connect with them (Help A Reporter might be good for that).
• Community marketing. Find relevant communities (forums, chat groups, subreddits). Participate in them. Provide value and build your reputation. Reach out directly to people who are interested in learning more about what you do.
• Cold outreach marketing. Cold calls and emails can still work. Don't just send spammy emails, though. Personalize each email and put more effort into reaching out to potential prospects.
• Conference/event marketing. If you're selling something a bit more expensive, you can sell it as you're attending conferences/events with people who are your target audience. I believe one of the key reasons why Tim Ferriss' 4HWW book took off so much was because he kept asking top players at conferences to read and review his book.
• Word of mouth/referral marketing. These won't start right away but once you have enough clients, it's possible you won't have to do much other than focus on encouraging them to spread the word about your business. This also includes rewards for referring new clients.
• JVs (joint ventures) and affiliate marketing. Jay Abraham has some excellent resources on how to structure JVs and access other people's assets to grow your business. Affiliate marketing can also work as long as you convince successful marketers to promote your products.
• Marketplaces/existing platforms marketing. I built my self-publishing business exclusively through leveraging Amazon's platform and organic reach. Other examples include developing Shopify plugins or themes for specific platforms, for example WordPress or Ghost. The idea is to sell your product where people are actively searching for it.
• Acquisition marketing. Find an existing platform (blog, newsletter, podcast, community, website) that has already attracted your target audience. Buy it and use it to promote your business (but do it smartly, without killing the website). Rinse and repeat.
• Discount/deal websites marketing. This includes participating in time-limited big bundles or getting your product listed on a platform like AppSumo.
• Branded product marketing. If you have a cool product, brand it in such a way that the friends of your customer will instantly know where to get one for themselves. This also includes stuff like "powered by" for online tools (for example, email marketing or landing page providers). In other words, make each customer a walking free advertisement.
• Marketing through advocacy. Start a foundation or an association that advocates a cause relevant to the people who are in your target audience. For example, if you're selling barefoot running sandals, you can start an association of barefoot runners.
• Marketing through a cause. Any business model that incorporates a non-profit element in it (for example, "buy one and we'll donate one" or "10% of profits go to X") can benefit a lot from increased exposure and goodwill.

I probably forgot some ideas but I think it's a good start.

This is very enlightening @MTF .

My mom has been stressed out over using social media for her chiropractic business for years and can't stand the thought of making content anymore.

I thought about how I could help her, and told her the following:

What do you think every other chiropractor is thinking too?

They're thinking "I need to figure this social media thing out!"

They become blind to any other alternative.

I asked her what her current main source of getting new clients is..

She said referrals.

Ok. So everyone is focusing on getting new clients through social media.. And she has an e-mail list of almost 2,000 people that she's done chiropractic on in the past years.

Not just their e-mails, but also their addresses.

I said - while everyone is focused on social media, why don't you go old-school and send those 2,000 people personalized letters through the POST OFFICE, with an offer that is incentivizing the person to send their friends to her..?

She was spending all of her time on what wasn't working (social media), and neglecting the assets she could leverage in a non-social media way.

 

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[Rob Rokx]

This post is just what I needed. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts on this topic!
I have no social media and I've never had it. I always feel like the odd one out, and that I need to develop social media skills. I suck at those things, and although I know that everything can be learned, every time I try and commit myself to something like this, I fail. I instantly become depressed by only opening Facebook, Instagram, etc.
It is just no option, so again thanks a lot!
I will find my way around it, and be creative like an entrepreneur should be.