What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and social media no longer existed?
A lot of us might say good riddance (me included lol) but what if you are using social media to build a business or make an income? BIG YIKES.
Here’s the truth ⤵️
Your social media is borrowed space. You are essentially building your castle on land you don’t own.
We have been led to believe that we “own” our Facebook fans, Instagram followers, LinkedIn connections, YouTube subscribers, etc.
After all, we were the ones that busted our booties to grow our communities… but we do NOT own our social media audiences. The platform does.
That means that they can be taken away in an instant, whether the app shuts down or you get hacked or locked out of your account for no good reason.
Another problem with building a business solely on social media (besides the fact that you don’t own your social media) is that social media is not technically an evergreen marketing strategy.
When I say the word “evergreen,” I mean a piece of content or a system you create once that is available forever and that works to continually attract the right people into your sphere with the goal of ultimately converting those people into paying clients. ♻️
In other words, it works for you and without you!
Social media is NOT an evergreen strategy!
Your social media content oftentimes dies a quick death ☠️ If you’ve ever spent hours on a reel only to have five people see it, that’s what I mean 🙃
Another frustrating piece of the puzzle is, thanks to the constant algorithm changes, none of us can post a piece of content on social media and know with complete confidence that it will get seen by every single one of our followers.
That just doesn’t exist!
The algorithms keep organic reach relatively low in an effort to push you to either ⤵️
1️⃣ pay as much as possible for ads in order to reach your audience 💰
or
2️⃣ stay on the platform 24/7 to churn out content piece after content piece, essentially working for them for free.
In fact, your content is seen by less than 10% of your audience.
According RivalIQ’s benchmark report, the average engagement rate on Instagram is 0.68%...less if you’re me 🤣🤣🤣
That’s a lot of content creation for only a handful of people to see it.
And let's not forget about the Instagram blackout of 2021!
I am not hating on Instagram (or any social media platform for that matter), but at the end of the day, social media is FREE, which means that when you create an account with the platform, you agree to play by their rules.
You really don't have any control over your business when you leave it in the hands of a free platform. For no reason at all, your account can be suspended, hacked, or even terminated completely.
And good luck getting in touch with someone at Instagram. Have you noticed there is no help chat available? 😩
Social media should NOT be your business plan (even if you are in the business of social media!). It should simply be a tool in your tool belt.
So what can we do to protect our businesses OFF of social media?
Start building an email list!
Did you know that there are 4 BILLION daily email users?! 🤯 This number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025 😱
I think it’s safe to say that EMAIL IS NOT DEAD!
While it can feel like you’re playing Russian roulette with your content on social media, with email, nothing is left to chance.
You can be confident that 100% of the emails you send out will land in every single subscriber’s inbox (you also own 100% of your email list, meaning no one can take it away)!
🙌🏼 PTL 🙌🏼
Not to mention, your message is 5x more likely to be read when it’s shared as an email rather than a social media post!
Here are 4 steps to building your email list:
1️⃣ Create a juicy piece of freemium content related to your offer/niche (i.e. a free guide, PDF, course, training, template, etc.) that serves your ideal person.
2️⃣ Create a landing page to collect emails in exchange for the freemium content. This builds your email list (which you own) full of people who are the exact right fit for you! 📈
3️⃣ Nurture and sell using a evergreen email sequence. An evergreen email sequence is a series of emails you create in advance that send out automatically at whatever interval or frequency you predetermine.
4️⃣ Create and post a few different pins on Pinterest all driving traffic to that one piece of freemium content.
When someone gives you permission to email them, they are taking an action that basically says, “Please help me!!!” They truly want to hear from you because they believe you can help them to solve a problem, so use your email to do exactly that!
Utilizing email will not only increase trust with your ideal client, it has the ability to increase your income.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “The money is in the list?”
The money IS in the list—the EMAIL list!
Email marketing has the power to build trust, deepen relationships, and make you some serious moolah.
Did you know that for every $1 you spend on email, you can expect an average return of $44?! That's a 4,400% ROI... HOLY WOW!
Social media, on the other hand, while much more difficult to measure, has a significantly smaller ROI, averaging 28%.
Thats $44 per email versus $0.28 per social media post 🤯
Email offers the highest return on investment... PERIOD.
What does this mean for you?
When you communicate with your list regularly and strategically (meaning you're not always trying to pitch your offer!), your email list can become your #1 source of income.
Be proactive, protect your income, and algorithm-proof your business… start building your email list TODAY!
Need help with email? It's what I do! I am a content writer and marketing strategist specializing in email and blogs, and I can help you with all of the above and more.
Have a specific question? Email me at hello@erindecuir.com.
Not ready to hire me just yet? Grab my free Simply Foundational course to get a feel for what it’s like to work with me (if you do decide to invest in my services later down the line!) OR listen to this podcast where I share all things email marketing!