Social media is hard… especially for introverts.

It requires you to put yourself out there.

It sucks down your energy.

There’s an expectation that you’ll talk about yourself, when you just want to talk about your business.

It feels waaaaaay outside your comfort zone and makes you feel inauthentic… especially if there’s an expectation to dance or lip sync.

If all of that feels painful and yucky, what are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to market your business if you hate social media?

The first question here is:

Do you HAVE to do social media in order to market your business?

The brief answer is: No, you don’t have to. But it would help if you could find a way.

Stick with me for a second because here’s the thing… 

Social media actually provides a very useful service to your business, and choosing to not take advantage of that service will negatively impact your business.

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for helping your prospective customers in the digital world find you. One of the joys (and I promise you, there is joy to be found there) is that you can connect with anyone in the world through social media. 

And that’s just it… if you decide to not be on social media, it’s going to be harder for your prospects to find you. If they can't find you, it’s going to be very difficult to grow your business.

If they can’t find you there, where else can you connect? 

We’re assuming you can work with people no matter where they are located. If you are a local business - then yes, head on over to the next networking event. Not that those are much fun either… but at least you’re not on social media.

But what if you were willing to TRY to be on social media? It would help if you could find answers to the things that you struggle with, right?

So the second question here is:

How can you be on social media without being “on” social media?

In other words, how can we manage the things you don’t like about social media, making the whole experience at least a little more tolerable. 

Here are some ideas that can help make social media bearable:

Don’t be on all the channels.
Pick one, ignore the rest, and call it good. Which channel? It’s likely that your prospective clients are on all of them, so pick the one that you find least painful or difficult.

Set aside the shoulds. 

• I should talk about myself
• I should post every day
• I should put my face out there

If these or any other “shoulds” are stopping you from taking action, set them aside and do what feels right to you. Truthfully, none of those “shoulds” are valid! None of them are required to help you find success. On the flip side, when you show up in a way that does feel comfortable, you're more likely to stick with it and your message is more likely to resonate with your audience.

Automate it.
Minimize your interaction with social media by scheduling your content through a platform like Later.com.

Engage within your own boundaries.
You do need to reply to people who engage with your content, but no one says that you have to do so right away or all day. Pick one small window of time each day to sign on, check in, reply as necessary, sign off… and walk away!

Focus on your business.
I’ve had a few people say to me that they don’t want to talk about themselves but they’ve been told that they have to. I mostly disagree. Yes, it’s helpful to include some little tidbits about you here and there but if you talk about yourself too much, that can be a problem. The person you should really be talking about is your customer! Focus on them and focus on your business. 

In the end, you do have a choice. You CAN choose to not be on social media. If that’s what you decide, then the question you need to answer is this: How else will your prospective customers - the people who don’t know you yet - find you online? Answer that, and you’re in business!