How to grow your business without social media
Social media can be really exhausting.
These days, social media experts usually recommend posting once a day, engaging your audience, doing hashtag research, and more. That’s practically a full-time job!
But what if you have no desire to join the social media game? What if you want a different way to grow your business WITHOUT social media?
Let’s get into it.
Is growth possible without social media?
Listen, social media is powerful. There’s no denying that. There are huge businesses that have seen incredible growth from their social media marketing, like Starbucks, Airbnb, and Gymshark.
But, there are also businesses that have found that social media wasn’t the best use of their marketing efforts, and left them all together.
And there are plenty of marketing strategies that often perform even better than social media, like SEO or email marketing, which have an average of 2,200% and 3,600%, respectively.
What does this tell us?
Well, that social media marketing sometimes does work and it also sometimes doesn’t. Success using social media depends on a variety of factors, like your strategy and who your target audience is. It’s not some magical marketing strategy nor is it a requirement for a successful business.
So, if you don't want to use social media for marketing and growing your business, you have plenty of options.
16 ideas for growing your business without social media
Build your website
If you don't want to use social media to grow your business, having a website is a must. A beautifully designed, professional website shows that you’re serious about your business and committed to providing quality.
Plus, an SEO-optimized website (more on this later) helps you attract search traffic. When your site ranks higher in search results, it’s easier for people to find you when they’re looking for products or services like yours.
It’s also the perfect place for people to learn about your business, your offers, and any other details they need to decide if they want to work with you. You should have multiple web pages detailing your mission, offers, and more. This makes it easier for potential customers to choose you over competitors because you give them all the information they need to know to make a decision.
Blog your heart out
Blogging is one of the best ways to grow your business without relying on social media. In fact, people who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to have a positive ROI on their marketing efforts. People with blogs also get almost 70% more leads than those who don’t.
One major advantage of blogging is its longevity. While an Instagram post’s relevance fades after about 48 hours, a well-written blog post can attract leads for years. This means your efforts continue to pay off long after you hit "publish."
Blogging also helps establish your expertise in your field. By providing valuable content that addresses your audience's pain points and answers their questions, you build trust and credibility. This makes potential customers more likely to choose your business when they’re ready to buy.
However, not every blog post will be a hit. To see significant results, you'll need to build a substantial library of posts. Each piece contributes to your overall traffic, creating a steady flow of visitors to your site. Consistency is key, so keep blogging regularly and diversifying your content to cover various topics within your niche.
So, blog your heart out! The more quality content you produce, the more you’ll see your business grow, with or without social media.
SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing web content to improve its visibility and ranking in search engines like Google. SEO includes strategies like, keyword research, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and more. And it is one of the very best ways to market your business without social media.
As stated earlier, SEO has an average ROI of 2200%. And close to 60% of B2B marketers say that SEO is their greatest marketing strategy.
And while SEO and blogging go hand-in-hand, the other pages on your website also need to be written with SEO in mind. Like your homepage! For example, if you’re a holistic health coach, you’ll want to write your homepage to be optimized for terms that people use when they’re looking for a holistic health coach. If you are ranking high on Google for those keywords, you just created an amazing source of qualified leads for your business.
Guest post often
Guest posting is one of the best ways to increase awareness of your brand without social media. You’re basically leveraging someone else’s audience to build your own.
Also, guest posting builds backlinks (links that post to your site), which are crucial in building your website’s authority and ranking better on Google.
And while everyone would love to guest post on big websites like Forbes and Business Insider, those are really tough to get on. I'm not saying you shouldn't try, but it would be a good idea to also pitch guest posting to other smaller sites. Look for websites in your niche that accept blog posts and get to pitching!
Go on podcasts
These days, just about everyone knows someone who has a podcast.
So, reach out to someone you know and try to get on one! Think about it, even if it’s a small podcast, being a guest can instantly get your message out there to a bunch of people with just one to two hours of work.
And it can be fun too! I mean, who doesn’t love a good conversation?
However, THERE ARE a few caveats to this.
Number one — only go on podcasts that have an audience in a relevant niche to yours. While true crime podcasts are great, pitching your coaching services to a group of people who just learned about betrayal and lies is maybe not the best idea.
Number two — you have to be a GOOD GUEST and prep for your appearance beforehand. Not only is this respectful to the host, no one is going to be motivated to check out more about what you do if you give a subpar performance. So, listen to a few episodes of the podcast before your appearance to see what kinds of conversations they typically have, and also prepare the key points you want to make throughout the episode.
Number three — pitch relevant podcasts for more exposure. While you may know someone with a podcast (and maybe even one whose podcast audience is relevant to yours), you probably don’t have a super long list of podcasts you can appear on without any pitching. So, make a list of relevant podcasts that you’d love to be a guest on, and send the hosts a respectful pitch through LinkedIn or email to see if you can get on one. Remember, frame your pitch to what you can do for them, not what they can do for you!
Online communities
This suggestion might be cheating a little since you’re using social media, but it’s worth a mention. Join online communities (like Facebook groups)!
Chances are there is a Facebook group full of your target audience. Whether it’s people wanting to get healthy, grow their business, or something else. So, by engaging these group members and providing real, helpful advice, you have a good chance of getting some great leads from these groups.
However, online communities like Facebook groups tend to have pretty strict rules about what you can and can’t do (and usually don’t allow pitching), so you need to be careful when on these groups. Focus on providing value and establishing yourself as a leader in these groups, so people come to you.
Attend networking events
“Your network is your net worth!” So start signing up for a networking events that are relevant to your niche and make conversation with fellow attendees. Ask them questions about themselves and learn what difficulties they’re experiencing that you can help with. Even if they don't take you up on what you can do for them, maybe they know someone else who would.
Networking events provide opportunity to make connections that can lead to new business opportunities. You can meet potential clients, collaborators, or even mentors who can offer guidance and support. This can help you expand your professional circle and increase your visibility within your industry, which might provide different opportunities down the line.
Access your current network
There's a reason nepo babies are everywhere these days. They have an incredible network! And while your godfather might not be the CEO of some Fortune 500 company, I'd be willing to bet that you know someone (or someone who knows someone) who could really use what you have to offer.
Start with family, friends, and acquaintances who already trust you. Let them know about your business and what you offer. You’d be surprised at how willing people are to help someone they know. They can refer you to others, spread the word, or even become customers themselves.
Then consider your professional connections. Former colleagues, classmates, and industry contacts can be invaluable. They understand your work ethic and skills, making them more likely to recommend you to their networks.
Create a referral program
Referrals can literally make a business. In fact, every single day, more than 2 million brand-related conversations are happening in the U.S., and people tend to value recommendations from friends, colleagues, and family more than anything else. So if you want to build your business without social media, create a great referral strategy.
You can do this by first going above and beyond for your clients. For people to want to refer people to your business, they need to be happy with what you provided them (unless they’re a terrible friend!). So, make sure that they’re whole experience with you is positive! From communication, to delivering your product/service, to the checkout process.
Then implement a referral program. While some clients will be happy to do it for free, some might need an extra push. So, after you’ve hit it out of the park, incentivize your current and past clients with discounts, rewards, or commissions to motivate them to refer people to your business.
Partner with a business like yours
One of the best ways to grow your business without social media is to start partnering with businesses that serve the same target audience as you, but are not your competitions. For example, when people are looking for a website refresh, they often need two things — web design and copywriting. So, if you're a web designer looking for more opportunities to grow your business without social media, reach out to copywriters who would be willing to refer your services to clients who come to them for design.
And you can even create packages together that combine both your skills, making it easier and more appealing for clients to get everything they need in one go. Plus, you both get to benefit from each other's expertise and client base, making your services more valuable and comprehensive.
This type of partnership is mutually beneficial for both involved. The copywriter can offer a more comprehensive solution to their clients by recommending a trusted web designer, while you gain access to a new stream of potential clients.
Run webinars or workshops
Webinars are fantastic for increasing brand awareness. By hosting webinars on topics relevant to your industry, you position yourself as an expert, helping you build trust and credibility with your target audience.
They’re also excellent for lead generation. When people sign up for your webinar, they’re expressing interest in what you have to say—and by extension, what you have to offer. This creates a targeted list of leads that are already engaged and interested in your niche. Plus, during the workshop, you can interact directly with attendees, answering questions and addressing concerns, which helps in nurturing these leads.
Speaking opportunities
While podcasts are all the rage these days, traditional public speaking engagements can also be a good way to market your business without using social media. Look for events whose guests are part of your target audience. For example, if you offer web design services for local businesses wanting to grow their online presence, reach out to local business events (maybe your Chamber of Commerce) and see if they are interested in having you speak at one of their events.
Then, you can get the contact information from the people who were interested in your talk, and follow up with them later.
Direct mail
Direct mail can be a great way to grow your business. According to HubSpot, 72% of Gen Z look forward to discovering mail, and 38% visit a website after receiving relevant direct mail. This shows that even younger generations still love getting physical mail.
One big plus of direct mail is that there's less competition. Unlike the flood of digital ads we see every day, people get less than 400 pieces of direct mail marketing each year. This means your message has a better chance of standing out and getting noticed. Of course, one of the downsides of physical mail is that it can be expensive, but if it’s in your budget, it’s not a bad option to explore.
While many people refer to Pinterest as a social media platform, it’s actually a search engine. One that gets close to 500 million visitors a month at that.
First off, Pinterest is great for driving traffic to your website. When you create eye-catching pins that link back to your site, you can attract a steady stream of visitors who are already interested in what you have to offer. These folks are often ready to take action, which means they’re more likely to become customers.
One of the best things about Pinterest is how long your content sticks around. Unlike social media platforms where the lifespan of your posts is very short (lasting just few minutes to a few days), pins can keep bringing in traffic for months or even years. This means the time you spend creating high-quality, evergreen content can keep paying off long-term.
Paid ads
While many of the tips on this list take a while to see results, paid ads are a way to build an audience relatively quickly.
That is, if you have the extra cash to invest in them. Because paid ads are pretty expensive (and getting even more so!), and it takes some trial and error to create ad campaigns that keep your cost per acquisition low enough to justify them. But, once you get them right, they can do wonders for your businesses.
Another benefit of paid ads is that they give you a way to target your audience specifically. Paid ads give you the option to push your ads out to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, literally pushing your content to the people who need it most.
Paid ads also give you the option to scale them up or down quickly based on what you’re willing to spend. So again, if you have it in your budget, you can use them as a way to scale your business.
List your offers on different platforms
Listing your services or products on platforms with built-in audiences, like Upwork for services or Amazon and Etsy for products, can be a great way to leverage other platform's audiences to help you grow your own.
First off, these sites already have tons of people looking for what you offer. When you put your services on Upwork, you’re tapping into a pool of potential clients who need people with your skills. The same goes for Amazon and Etsy—millions of shoppers visit these sites daily, so your products get seen by a huge audience right away, all without having to drive your own traffic.
While this strategy is not the best for long term growth, since your relying on another platform's audience for your business, there are some people who directly search for products or services on these platforms (and not on Google) when they are looking for a product or service. So you might as well meet them where they're searching. And it doesn't take a lot of time set up.
Cold pitching
Cold pitching can be a great way to grow your business by reaching out directly to potential clients or customers who need what you offer.
A benefit of cold pitching is it gives you control over who you reach out to. You can do some research to find the right potential clients and then send them personalized pitches that speak directly to their needs and problems. This approach works better than generic marketing messages because it feels more relevant to them.
Whether you’re using email, LinkedIn, or other platforms, you can showcase your expertise and what makes your business special right from the get-go. It’s a great way to open doors to opportunities that might not come from waiting for people to find you.
Plus, you get immediate feedback. When you pitch directly, you can quickly see what works and what doesn’t, letting you tweak your approach for better results over time.
Build your email list
If you have no interest in using social media to grow your business, your efforts need to go into growing your email list.
Why?
Well, because email marketing has an ROI that blows social media out of the water. Email has the highest average ROI of all marketing efforts at around $36 for every $1 spent.
However, you have to keep in mind that growing an email list is not easy.
You first need to get people on your website and then give them a reason to sign up for your email list (this is usually done with a freebie/lead magnet). So, growing your email list tends to be a task that requires something else on this list (like SEO, paid ads, Pinterest, etc) to get people to see your lead magnets and then sign up.
After this, you need to give them a reason to STAY ON your list, which is usually by providing tremendous value.
Need more help on how to grow your business without social media?
Check out my blog, where I write all about blogging, website copywriting, email, and more. Here are some of my favorite posts to get you started.
How to grow your blog traffic in 2024
What makes a good lead magnet for your business?
How to write an email welcome sequence
How to write an SEO blog in 2024
And if you have no extra time (or desire) to blog, write your website copy, and engage your email list, reach out to me!