Diversifying your marketing strategy: Why social media alone isn't enough

In this episode of The New School of Marketing Podcast, I talk about the pitfalls of relying solely on social media for your marketing strategy. While social media is a powerful tool for building awareness and engagement, its volatility and lack of control can pose significant risks. Join me as I discuss the benefits of a layered, diversified approach to marketing that combines social media with other more predictable strategies. Learn how to enhance your organic content with paid advertising and why focusing on quality over quantity offers better results. If you're ready to move beyond the hamster wheel of content creation and achieve more stable and successful outcomes, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to discover how to create a balanced marketing strategy that leverages the best of all worlds.

I would also like to invite you to register for my upcoming LIVE masterclass where I show you my 4-ad-stack method to sell more of your online courses with meta ads. You can register here.

And the resource mentioned in this episode is the Invisible Ad Funnel, which you can start yourself for just $25. 

Connect with me

Website: www.newschoolofmarketing.com
Facebook: @newschoolofmarketing
Facebook group: @newschoolofmarketing
Instagram: @bianca_mckenzie

Learn from me:

🟣 FREE MASTERCLASS: Sell more of your online course with Meta Ads
https://www.biancamckenzie.com/masterclass

🔵 AIMFUL ADS ACADEMY: Tools, resources & 1:1 support to attract more ideal clients and make more sales with proven, easy to follow Facebook & Instagram ad strategies for any budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/aimful-ads/

🟢 FACEBOOK ADS PREP SCHOOL: Find out what you need to know and do before spending money on ads. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/prep-school/

🟡 INVISIBLE AD FUNNEL PLAYBOOK: A practical step-by-step guide to making a big impact with a tiny budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/playbook

🟠 FUNNEL FUNDAMENTALS: Building effective sales funnels that drive conversions and grow your business. ...

Transcript

Hey, welcome back to the new School of Marketing podcast. I'm so grateful to you for tuning in. Before I dive into this episode, I really want to pay my respect and acknowledgement to the Palawa people of Lutruwita who are the traditional owners of the land on which my business operates. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. Okay, let's chat about social media. I really want to talk about why relying solely on social media for your marketing strategy is not really a good approach. Social media has its place, but I think the uncertainty and the volatility, it's just really risky. So let's talk about having a layered approach and having diversity in your marketing strategy so that you create more predictable and controlled outcomes. Yes, I know those are big words, but yeah, just focusing only on social media just gives me a reaction in my body that it's not a good one. It just, it's so scary to me to just put all your eggs into one basket. So social media is amazing. I think it is great. But there is just a little bit of a danger factor to using only social media as your soul marketing strategy. And I also think you're missing out on opportunities if you don't have a layered approach. So let's dive in now, before I go in hard on, you know how social media is not great, blah, blah, blah. Look, I do think it's great. It is an amazing tool for businesses to get started, for creating an awareness, for building a reputation, and when you use it strategically, it's really, really powerful. But, and I'm saying this again, it should not be your only marketing strategy. And even when social is at the moment your only way to show up, it shouldn't be without a strategy. Because really, without a strategy, you're just posting content without direction and without purpose in a way. So yeah, social media, social media presence is important, but I don't think it's sufficient just to have a social media presence. And even if that is all you're doing at the moment, you really do need to have a strategy. Now, why do I think social media is not good? And why do I think it is dangerous to rely on social media just by itself? So one of the things that is not great is the lack of control over who sees your content. But you're just putting stuff out there and you're kind of like crossing your fingers, hoping that someone will see. So you spend a lot of time, a lot of effort creating content, and then for it to only reach a small, unpredictable audience, that is just, it's a waste of time, it's a gamble. It's, I just don't think it's, it's right. The other thing is you don't own the platform, which means that you're at the mercy of algorithm changes, potential hacks, maybe your account shutting down. And does that lack control? That's just really, really risky for your business. So one, you don't have control over who sees your content, and two, you're basically handing the reins to someone else who's in control and they can like make changes all they like. You might, yeah, like you might get hacked, your account might get shut down. And then what if you've built up an audience and you finally start getting some traction and then all of a sudden someone just shuts the door and you're locked out? I think that's just dangerous. So why do I think that you should have a layered approach? Like, I'm not saying don't go on social media. I'm not like, that's not what I'm saying. It has its place. But I really do recommend that you combine social media with other strategies that offer you a more predictable outcome. And it kind of also helps mitigate the risks a little bit in case, you know, you do get hacked or get locked down or an algorithm change comes up. So I think using strategies where you have more controls, such as email marketing, SEO, search engine optimization, and paid advertising, it doesn't just amplify and enhance your marketing, but it also gives you more consistent outcomes. And I want to talk about that because I know some people will immediately shut down paid advertising, but there is a predictability that comes with it. So let's talk about paid advertising. If you are already spending time creating content, organic content for social media, why would you not amplify and enhance it with paid advertising? Because even a small budget can significantly increase the reach and the effectiveness of that content that you're already creating. So rather than creating social media content, crossing your fingers that the algorithm is going to show it to the right people, why would you not use paid advertising? To make sure that it actually reaches the right people. And having a targeted approach, it's much more effective than hoping that the right audience will see your organic posts. So I would use like, even just the most modest budget for paid ads to really extend the reach of your content that you're already creating to make sure that it gets seen by the right people. That to me, makes total sense. Like, if social media is something that you're already spending time and effort on, but it might not get seen by the right people, why don't you make it be seen by the right people by using Facebook and Instagram advertising? And you can literally start with as little as $2 a day. So that's one thing. Also, quality over quantity. So more content doesn't necessarily mean that you get better results. Focusing on high quality content, valuable content that really resonates with your audience, that's where your time and effort should be dedicated. So not just more, more, more. And then crossing your fingers that it's going to be seen by people. Why don't you focus on creating high quality content and then amplify that with ads, with paid ads, just because then you can leverage your content and you just get off that content creation hamster wheel and actually focus on getting better outcomes. The other thing, because I'm talking about social media now, and I'm talking about paid ads. So those two go hand in hand. If you're already focusing so much time and effort on creating social media content, put some money behind that to actually get it seen now. That is, if social is all you want to do, at least make it worthwhile, make it seen by people. Aside from that, I really think you need to diversify your marketing strategy and have other assets in place. One, a website, super, super important, your online home, a website. Two, an email marketing platform, which is a database where you collect the names and email addresses of leads. And there's a whole, you know, lead generation strategy and all those things that come with it. But having a database so that if you do get hacked or if you do get locked out, you're not starting from scratch because you have people that you can contact that are going to buy your things. You have an email marketing list, and then there's a whole other range of things that you can do. Search engine optimization, like content marketing, but off social media. So a blog, potentially a podcast, all of those kind of things. Look, it comes down to having enough time. But I do think that you need to focus some part of your marketing on creating content and assets that are not reliant on social media platforms that you do not own. So this is where a website and email marketing comes in. So I just want you to know that relying solely on social media is super risky because of the volatility and a lack of control. You really need to have a layered approach to your marketing that includes social media, but also use other more predictable strategies. And one of those is paid advertising because you have more control over who actually sees the content. So if you're already creating that content, make it worthwhile. Make it so that people actually see it. So focus on quality content and then use paid ads to extend that reach. And outside of that, have foundations and assets that do not rely on you being on social media. Have a website, have an email marketing platform, actively engage with your audience outside of social media. And most likely I would be doing that through email marketing. So that if at some point you want to sell something you're and you know, Facebook locks you out or Instagram locks you out, you're not sitting there going, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I can't reach my audience. So really think about diversifying your marketing strategy. Do not put all your eggs in the one basket. Experiment with different tactics, but have that foundation, have your website, have an, it could be like a simple landing page, just something that is your digital home to start with, and then your email marketing database. And then if you're already creating all that content for socials, make it worthwhile by using some paid advertising. Now, I will be running a masterclass soon where I'm going to be sharing my four ad stat method to sell more of your online courses with meta ads. So if this is something that you want to be doing, you want to be selling more of your online courses, more of your memberships, and you want to learn how to do that with paid ads. Register through the link in my show notes because I'm going to be showing you all about how to do this in a way that builds your business awareness, builds trust, and then getting in more leads for your online courses and your memberships. All right, that is it for today. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope it was helpful. And as always, I can't wait to share more marketing tips with you next week. Now, if you're ready to take your business to the next level with Facebook and Instagram advertising, make sure you visit newschoolofmarketing.com where you can download practical, free resources and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. I can't wait to go on this journey with you. Until next time, take care and market your business every day.