This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, thanks for tuning in today. I believe there are a lot of myths about social media. There are a lot of myths and expectations that I think are just, I don't know, what's the word for that? They're expectations that are false or inaccurate or just put a lot of pressure on you when you're starting a small business or a side hustle that you don't necessarily have to adhere to, okay? So today's listener is gonna help us crack open at least one of them because they are not a fan of using social, at least not for business, not for selling something.
And the most common advice you tend to hear is get on social and post all the time. If you've got something for sale, you should be using these programs to schedule all these different posts and you should be commenting on every post and adding a bunch of hashtags to all your posts. And maybe those things are good for some people. Like if you enjoy it, if you see a return from it, if it is profitable, that's great. But if, you know, those characteristics aren't met, if you're not enjoying it, if you're not seeing a return from it, might there be a better way?
You know, or alternatively, should our listener just suck it up and start posting? Or should he devote his limited time and energy elsewhere? You can probably guess what my answer is, but let's get into some details. What if you don't wanna use social media? That is today's question.
I'll provide my answer after this short message from our sponsor. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is Chad from Tucson and my side hustle is video production for high school athletic programs. My question is, is it possible to build a thriving business without harnessing social media? Currently, the videos I make are uploaded to one site where they take care of all the marketing and branding and I get paid a commission on every video that's downloaded. I've recently started my own website so that I'm not, you know, dependent on another platform.
And I definitely wanna grow, but I hate social media, at least when it comes to business promotion. So how can I market without using Instagram or another big tech platform? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this. [Music]
All right, I really appreciate the question. Thank you for listening.
Thanks for being out there. And so I appreciate the question. I'm gonna give you a real answer. You know, your choice to use or not use social media, as well as how to use it, which platforms to use, how often to post, everything in that category. It really depends on who your customers are and how you're going to engage with them.
Okay, so it's partly about your preferences and it's also about who your customers are. You know, if your business is resume writing, let's say, then it might be hard for you to not be on LinkedIn. Like we have profiled a number of businesses that are doing that, are individuals that have made extra money, sometimes substantial amounts of money doing that. And they often, you know, get lead generation through LinkedIn. If you are in the fashion space, for example, you know, you should probably be on Instagram, okay?
That doesn't mean that every business should try to do all of these things, right? I just gave you a couple of examples there, but there could be dozens of them, you know, especially when you are the business. Like if this is your side hustle, you've got limited time and attention. And even for a lot of larger brands, you know, it doesn't always make sense to have a collection of random social accounts. So that's why I think prioritization and focus is so important and also doing what you're motivated to do.
So if you really don't like social, then that's a factor. So what does that tell us about our listeners question? At first glance, you know, I don't think that the way they engage with clients really has much at all to do with social media. Like they are serving high school athletic programs. So the buyers are whoever is in charge of that.
You know, they're probably not scrolling through TikTok every day in search of their next vendor, those buyers. So I would imagine the way to get to know those people is through more traditional relationship building, you know? So in this situation, don't stress the selfies. Don't stress the selfies and the hashtags. You gotta do what works for you.
Don't be overwhelmed. Choose a couple of things, focus on that. And that's how you're gonna see real returns without burning yourself out, which is key, right? I want you to be able to do this for a long period of time. I want this to be good for you, something you look forward to, not something that is a burden on you in any way.
That's what I think about that. Listeners, if you've got a question or a contribution, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them. I'm excited to bring you all kinds of stuff we've got planned for this year and probably some surprises as well. All right, new episode every day.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
