The Great Social Media Shift Exploring New Horizons for Business Growth |EP212

Wave goodbye to dependency on social media giants and hello to empowerment in your digital strategy! Join me, Donna Eade, as I openly dissect my decision to break up with Instagram and the profound influence these platforms exert on our businesses and personal lives. This episode peels back the glossy veneer to reveal the stark reality: Facebook and Instagram aren't just silent bystanders in our online experience; they're savvy enterprises with motives that often involve manipulating our psychology to their advantage. I delve into the critical need to diversify our online presence, sharing my personal wake-up call that came after witnessing the limits of growth on Instagram despite intensive efforts. It's time to reclaim control and focus on building assets like email lists that truly belong to us.

Transitioning to the business realm, I recount my real-world adventure pivoting towards LinkedIn for more potent B2B connections. I narrate the tale of an Instagram ad campaign that, while successful in generating leads, paled in comparison to the potential of LinkedIn's professional network. Hear how a single week on LinkedIn overshadowed a year's effort on Instagram, a testament to the untapped value waiting in the right online spaces.  I invite you to join the narrative and become part of a community that prioritizes meaningful engagement and authentic growth. So, let's step into a space where we tackle the digital world head-on, armed with insights and a readiness to put action behind our mindset.

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Transcript

Donna: 0:51

You're listening to the Mindset and Action podcast the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, donna Eade. Let's jump into the show ["Mindset and Action"]. Social media isn't a tool that's just waiting to be used. It has its own goals and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you unknown. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I am so glad to have you here today to join in this discussion about social media.

Donna: 1:30

Now, if you listened to my mini Mindset Monday, you'll know that at the time of recording this, I'm having a pretty low, crappy week. So I just wanted to start with that and let you know that if I'm not sounding as perky as usual, it's because I'm not somebody who's gonna sit here and blow smoke up your bum, as it were. It's been a bit of a rough week, but I am here, I am showing up and I am recording this for you because I think it's an important conversation. So let's jump into it Now. As you may know, when I record these episodes on Thursday, I like to have a quote that is related to the episode in some way at the beginning. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I realized not long ago. It's because one of my favorite TV shows of all time, criminal Minds, that I used to watch well, I probably watched up till episode season 10, maybe 11, like watch them all with my daughter. We love it. That's what they do at the beginning of the episodes. They sort of have the music and then it starts with a quote and they jump in and I just love the sound of it. So I've obviously stolen that and I didn't even realize for ages that that's what I've done. However, I do really like seeking out these sort of quotes that go with the episodes, because it often will spark other thoughts in me, and this one did just that. So today I wanna talk about me possibly breaking up with Instagram and what that looks like and why I'm looking at doing that, but looking for the quote and finding this one about how social media has its own goals, its own ways of pursuing them, and it uses your psychology against you.

Donna: 3:08

I thought that was such a powerful message to remember because, as business owners, we do. We go to social media to use it as a tool to grow our businesses, to grow our audiences, to find clients, et cetera, but we often forget that social media is a business. I had a friend of mine get very upset that she wasn't getting notifications for the groups that she's in, the people that she wants to hear from. She wasn't getting the notifications in time to actually take action on something and she was getting very frustrated and she sort of made a comment that you know it's not fair that you've got to pay to get yourself noticed these days. And I said at the end of the day, facebook, instagram, they're all businesses that are trying to make money. So you know they're going to do what is best beneficial to them. They're not there for the benefit of us users. Basically they're not there for the benefit of the businesses, they're not there for the benefit of the users. They started off that way as a benefit for its users. It started off where it was helping businesses out, but now it's got to the point where it is generating income. It has ads on the platform and it is there as a money making machine for these people that own the platforms. So something to just bear in mind that when we are talking about social media, we're talking about a business that is there to make money. And the other important thing and I do say it a lot, but it's really, really important to reiterate it as often as possible is that it is a business that we do not own. And if Mark Zuckerberg decided to just shut down Facebook one day or to make it a totally, you can only pay to be on that kind of situation. If he was to well, he could do anything, but basically he could delete all of your followers right now with a push of a button pretty much, and you would lose everybody that you've ever made contact with on social media, and that is the power that he has there. You are letting him have that power if you don't also build in systems in your business to bring people into something that you own your website, your email list. So that is something that's really important to remember that you don't own that social media platform. Your followers, your friends, your connections are not safe on social media. You need to try and get them into some other system, preferably your email list. So that's the first thing.

Donna: 5:54

Now, why am I looking at breaking up with Instagram? Well, last year I decided that I was going to focus very heavily on Instagram as my main platform for my social media, and I chose LinkedIn as my sort of second in command. But in all honesty, I didn't really do much with LinkedIn last year. I didn't use it to its full capabilities. I didn't really put a lot of effort in over there. I just kind of shared some posts. Now it's been a year.

Donna: 6:27

I've done many, many things with Instagram. I have done Reels, I have done Carousel posts, I have done lots of stories, I've done static posts. I have done all of the things and I have looked at my stats. I have a what is it? A graph, no, a piece of paper on my wall that keeps the statistics that I like to track up in front of me, sort of like overarching. I collect a lot more statistics than this, but I do have in front of me my email list number, my LinkedIn number, my Instagram number, my Facebook group number and then my clients numbers. So what I can tell you from that is that in a year I have grown by less than 100 people on Instagram and I have posted very, very regularly. I have been in stories multiple times a day. I've done the whole Letting Stories laps and starting again so that it gets that boost, and things like that. I have tried all of the things and I've only grown 100 followers not even 100 followers in a year. Technically. We've got two months, we've got February, which I haven't looked at. I think I've gained five subscribers since last month on Instagram. So I mean, if I was to get 15 people in March, then technically I will have gained 100 subscribers on Instagram in a year and I think that is really really quite rubbish, quite frankly.

Donna: 8:07

And it's not about the followers you know me I talk about. You know it's not about the vanity metrics. It's not about getting more and more followers. It's about finding your clients within that. And that's kind of my focus. But what's more important to me than the followers on Instagram is the engagement that I get, and I do keep those stats as well. I haven't got them up in front of me right now, but I do keep track of my engagement stats every month. What does that look like? How many people have engaged, how many people have watched a reel, how many people have commented, how many people have liked all of that kind of stuff. I do track that information and it's just I don't feel like I'm getting enough traction for the effort that I'm putting in. And when you've put the effort in for a year like that and it's not seeing the results that you would like to see it have, then it starts to feel like what's the point? Should I even bother?

Donna: 9:13

And a colleague of mine, kelly Moser, who has a podcast guest program that she does and she has the aligned success podcast. I believe she spoke about breaking up with Instagram not long ago, like she literally deleted the app, literally stopped posting on Instagram, and it's just one of those things that I think is when you actually turn around and say, no, I'm not gonna do this anymore, the relief and the freedom that you feel all of a sudden not being chained to it, is immense. And that's kind of how she kind of showed it. It was like she suddenly felt more engaged in her real life. She didn't feel stressed about what to post and things like that, and what she does is she pays for ads, so she is being there, but she's actually targeting the people who she wants to be in front of, not trying to organically find them in the masses. And although I don't want to sit here and say, oh yeah, you have to pay to play, I don't believe you have to but there are certain certain cases where I feel like. Actually, it is something that you have to look at and consider.

Donna: 10:32

Now I have run ads on Instagram and I was running an ad from middle of December to the beginning of February. I had a visibility ad running then and I was getting lots and lots of views on that ad, lots of read throughs and lots of engagement in that way of people watching that ad, which was a video ad. And during that I did my launch for the pod camp that I did at the beginning of January and I had another ad where I retargeted those people that had watched that engagement visibility ad and I retargeted them and I ended up with 149 leads from that ad. So to me that return on investment is a no brainer and if I get one client from that, that has forexed my investment there. So it is to me more important to get the people on my email list and to get those quality leads in than it is to be posting every day on Instagram. So I'm changing it up.

Donna: 11:48

This year You're probably going to see a little bit less of me on Instagram. If you do follow me on Instagram and you want to sort of see me over there, then do engage, say hi, comment, do something and let me know that you're there watching and I will show up over there, but I feel like it's not going to be my main focus anymore, so I am moving myself over to LinkedIn. I have found that LinkedIn is a really good place for B2B, so if you are somebody who is selling something to other business owners, it's a good place to be, and I just find the setup there is a little bit more. It is set up for the professional, so if you are in business and you are looking to reach out to business owners, then you're gonna find them over on LinkedIn, and the way that LinkedIn is set up is very much for businesses to communicate and connect. So I just feel like it's helping more in that way, and there are great tools over there. They do have a paid part of their platform that you can use, which I'm gonna look into to see what that's all about and see whether it's worth me giving it a go. You get a 30 day free trial of that anyway, so if I can get some traction in 30 days with the free one, then maybe it will pay for itself in the end.

Donna: 13:24

But there's a lot more over there that is interesting to me. So I have recently set up a newsletter over there and in my first day I had like 70 people subscribe to that newsletter and I think it's like 152 now. So I've gained more people on my newsletter on LinkedIn than I have in my Instagram and I did that in a week versus the whole entirety of the last year on Instagram. So I can now speak to 152 people with my newsletter. They're gonna get a notification of my newsletter and choose to read it or not, but they're gonna get that notification where, as on Instagram, I'm putting a post out to 1400 people who may or may not see it, may or may not engage in it, and I'm not getting any more people kind of following me and connecting over there. So the fact that I had I've got like 150 or so people that are waiting to see this newsletter is important to me because it means that I have a bigger connection and you get to see those people as well. So you get to see those people, you get to go and connect with them if they're not connected with you, and that just opens up your database, as it were, of access to people, which means that you're more likely to get seen by the people that you want to attract, so it just seems to make sense to be over there. So I'm excited to dive into that.

Donna: 14:52

I am looking at being a little bit more present on Facebook because I've seen that go quite well, especially in groups. So I'm looking to do more speaking in groups on Facebook and public speaking in general, networking groups and things. That has yielded me better results than Instagram. And this isn't just like I'm just not trying to poo poo on Instagram here. The reason I'm talking about it is because I think it is really important for us to look at where we're spending our time and evaluate whether it is a good use of our time or not. Our time is the one thing that we cannot multiply. We have a finite amount. We are only one person. You could get in a social media manager to do your social media for you.

Donna: 15:40

I have all sorts of feelings about that, because to me, I want my social media to be authentic. I want it to be my words, I want it to sound like me. I want it to be my thoughts and my ideas that are coming out, because, at the end of the day, they're paying to work with me if they come and work with me. So I don't want them to sort of get one feeling from my social and then a different feeling from me. I know social media managers work on creating that voice, but it just I don't know. There's just a little bit of a disconnect there for me personally.

Donna: 16:12

But the other thing is is that is costing you money, and if it's still not gaining results, then is it worth it? And for me, I'm finding that Instagram isn't worth the time and effort I'm putting into it. The fact is I enjoy it. I enjoy jumping on stories and saying hello, I enjoy creating reels, but they are very time consuming and it's something that I don't make enough time for because I see it as something that I enjoy doing and therefore not proper work, as it were. So you know, I've tried it for the last year. I've put a lot of work into it. It's not yielded the results, and so, as a business owner, I have to make that decision. Is this something that I want to continue with?

Donna: 17:00

And the answer is I don't want to do things that aren't getting me the results that I need. So I am probably backing off Instagram, and that's definitely happened this week. Because of my low week I've got two podcast graphics next to each other, which means that I didn't post for two days or a day. I don't think I posted my mini mindset Monday on Monday, or did I? Maybe I haven't posted for two days already on Instagram this week, but it's just something to kind of bear in mind where you're spending your time and what you're doing with it. So I would love it if you would take away from this episode that social media is not your land, it's not your business. So therefore, your clients and your potential clients, your audience, isn't safe on the platforms.

Donna: 17:52

You want to try and move them onto your email list as soon as you possibly can. Great way to do this is through groups. So if you do have a Facebook group is putting on the questions that you can ask when they come into the group what is your email list and give them a freebie for giving you their email and you can say this is because I don't own social media and I would hate to lose contact with you if Facebook was to go down. So please give me your email address. You'll get on my newsletter. You'll get my weekly email, whatever it is. Explain to them why you're doing it and just do that.

Donna: 18:31

I've got a friend who isn't somebody who sends weekly emails, but she did that exact thing in her group because she lost access to it at some point. You know, if your account gets hacked, guys, are you gonna be able to regain access to that? Are you going to get your groups back? Are you gonna get your audience back? Who knows? So it is a very dangerous place to be. So she actually asked people to hand over their email addresses just in case. She's like I'm not gonna send you emails every week that's not what I do but just in case anything happens with Facebook, if I get hacked again, if this happens, I can reach out to you and let you know what's going on.

Donna: 19:12

So even just for that sake, you know, either way, start building your email list and get people off social media and then really focus on what is proving to gain results for you, because at the end of the day, social media is about being social. It is about connecting with people. But if you're trying to be in all the places all at once, it is very hard to dedicate any time to actually connecting with people, and that's what I kind of find is like I'm all over the place and I just spend way too long on social media trying to look at notifications and check things out, et cetera, when I could be doing something that is much more valuable. So make sure that the social media platforms that you're working on are actually working for you in the way that you want, and then, if there are ones that aren't, you can get rid of them. Just shift them along and focus on the ones that are and give it a good go. I like to say, give it at least three months. I gave Instagram a year of hard work and it didn't prove profitable for me, for my time, for my energy. So I am moving on, and you can too. So that is it for this week.

Donna: 20:27

Guys, I really want you to stop and think about how you're using social media For me, my podcast, this access to you, this listening, you listening to me right now. This is a connection that I love to have with you, and if you are not on my email list yet, you can go to donateedcom forward slash pod squad and then I will email you every week with the link to the podcast episodes. So please do go over and register there, because it would be great to be able to have conversations back and forth with you in email. I do respond to all the emails I get, so please do come over and connect with me in my email. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. It means the world to me and I will see you guys in the next one. We have a fabulous guest coming next week. Her name is Jo and, yeah, we have some good conversations, so join me next week for that. Bye for now, especially for some of silly peopleNe.