Marketing Your Business Without Social Media
“A servant girl is not pious, if she is not industrious; work-shy piety is sham piety” (Saint Zita of Lucca).
Hard work is too often senseless instead of an offering to God. Choosing the more difficult path is sometimes better in the long run. In light of such reasoning and given how easy social media is, should we reconsider using it as part of our marketing strategy?
7 Deadly Reasons to Overlook the Most Powerful Tool
St. Zita’s quote (above) implies that if a certain avenue is keeping you from working hard, you may want to change course. She says when you are not working hard, your work is a false holiness.
Jesus was born into poverty, not adored on an earthly throne. He chose the least convincing position from which to spread the most important message. At times, His disciples and others probably questioned whether it would have been easier to wield authority if he were in a greater position (Mark 10:42-45). However, it may be that the lowly and more difficult road helped Him more effectively show us His love and commitment.
Social media can be a valuable tool for evangelization, but it’s worth reconsidering if it does not fit in with your drive (to work hard) or disposition (opening you up to sin). Here are things to consider:
Envy: Personal Perception
Do you have a sensitivity to social media that has led you to stop using it personally? The same reason you refrain from using it in your personal life may bleed into your business activities. Even if someone else manages your page, you will eventually have to check for compliance. If you are not mentally equipped to do so—for fear of reverting to unhealthy habits or envy, for example—then it may be best to rethink using social media altogether. Some major brands, like Bottega Veneta and Lush Cosmetics, have decided to stop using social media because it was no longer in line with their overall interests.
Sloth: Mindless Maneuvering
It’s a good business practice to stay up to date on your market, but there isn’t a specific standard of how much information you should gather. It’s all too easy to find yourself mindlessly scrolling through mere muscle memory. When you become adept at using a platform, you can easily lose track of how many pages you’ve visited. This type of sloth can cause you to take on the role of a consumer, creating a cycle of liking, sharing, or messaging for the sake of reacting rather than gaining traction in your business.
Lust: RECOGNITION Over Performance
Brand awareness is a big part of marketing, and social media is helpful in assessing how receptive your audience is to your brand’s image or message. However, there’s no reward without risk. This instant gratification—really, dopamine releases—can cause us to lust for more recognition than actual results. Social metrics should never cause you to turn a blind eye to conversion metrics.
Pride: Misplaced Return on Investment
Does your return on investment (ROI) match the funds or even time you’ve invested into the social platform(s) you use? With social media, everything is at the tip of your fingers, so it may feel like achieving ROI comes down to one more tweak—which can pigeonhole your endeavors. We should always push forward, but consider whether this self-imposed pressure could be due to your pride in not wanting to step back after investing so much time into the platform. Resources are precious, and funds will become limited. It’s possible that the best thing you can do is reallocate your investments.
Wrath: Communication Constraints
The mission of a disciple is countercultural, and your business may be, too, if it is aligned with God. Due to social media platform’s policies, your ability to use them may become threatened or even severed. Meanwhile, a sudden negative light cast on your business can lead to a rash response or even cause you to adopt a vengeful spirit. Loyal followers, in their rightful indignation, may also help fuel your wrath. In such a case, it may be better to use your own platform, where you can have full control over your brand’s narrative.
Gluttony: Revolving Doors to Overconsumption
Social media has a way of functioning in high gear 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Platform feeds are refreshed by the second and always in motion. There is no real final point of destination, only multiple ways to keep you glutinously feeding your curiosity. Research suggests that this frenzy can be as addictive as a drug when it goes unchecked for too long.
Avarice: Continuously Feeding the Beast
Posting useful content to your home feed is a great feeling, but it can wear off within a few moments due to social media’s fast-paced nature. Soon enough, you’re nudged to start thinking about your next post. It can be a trap that starts by preventing you from taking time off on Sundays. The name of the game is to hold attention and keep amassing—followers, likes, shares, etc. For some, though not all, business leaders, it may lead to avarice in the form of full-time engagement.
In business, it can be liberating to close the door on social media. You may find that your productivity triples (or has effects that you can’t even measure). However, it also requires you to step up your presence on other marketing platforms—drastically.
Exploring Marketing Alternatives
Website Ownership
Your website is the foundation of your marketing plan. Even if you are not ready to start a big website, it is critical to have your own landing page for SEO. Later, you can add a podcast, blog, forum, shop or any other element for secondary content.
Client Loyalty
Subscriptions, memberships, and email campaigns can drive the engagement with the help of newsletters, promotional incentives, and user referral programs. All of these tools serve as benefits to your followers and create ways to support your message offline.
Entrepreneurial Communities
Engaging with education or becoming a resource for others is an important way to expand your reach, especially in the market you are serving. Find a safe place where you can feel bold enough to share your struggles, creating a deeper sense of community and networking.
Affiliate Partnerships
Through entrepreneurial networking comes the opportunity for business collaborations. Your business x another business = a win/win for your niche! You can also reach out to individual influencers in your market who would benefit from exposing their followers to new content.
Church Bulletins
Advertising in your parish bulletin is an old approach, but it can be effective if you time it for Christmas and Easter, when Mass is in high attendance. New visitors often take a bulletin out of respect, and your business will land in the households of your parishioners, some of whom don’t immediately throw out the newsletter. Advertising in the bulletin is also a way to support the parish. The same goes for online ads or radio spots at other Catholic media outlets.
Event Planning
Sign up to become a host, exhibitor, sponsor, or speaker at a high-ticket event, where you can be a walking, talking ambassador for your business. Depending on your professional strengths, events can skyrocket your visibility, especially if they’re an annual function that you plan to participate in every year.
Workshops and Pop-Up Shops
Set up a booth for a local community or parish event. Share part of your business with others, and tell them what they can take from it. Likewise, if you have a small shop, you may also find a large retailer that will allow you to set up a table for an entire day. You may be able to evangelize and express your faith to non-believers, all while gaining more customers. The pop-up shop could be a one-time experience or occur on a regular basis.
Online Directories
Google (GBL), Yahoo (Yelp), and Bing Places are quite the marketing machines through their search engines. Make sure to set up a local business listing, where you can advertise your service for free. You may find that their merchant account or shop listings have the perfect integrations to boost your online store. With enough time (or clicks), you will obtain just the right exposure. People frequently scout across these platforms to assess the ranking and credibility of a service, even in search of different reviews. Not everyone uses social media, but just about everyone uses a search engine.
One way to bundle and triumph in all these efforts is to find a Catholic marketing agency. This will also require hard work, so plan a consultation, learn about their process, and walk them through your goals (keeping your social media reservations in mind).
Remember that success also requires patience. You may decide to keep a social media landing page and only update your stories or to try leaving social media just for a time. I’ve often heard it said that people follow good brands, and good brands don’t follow people. Let this notion sink in!
There is also a saint you can call on as the patron saint of advertising and public relations: Saint Bernadine of Siena. He became popular for spreading his message and the symbol for the Holy Name of Jesus, IHS. He preached far and wide across Italy for over 30 years, mainly by foot. When everything seems hard, ask for his guidance in your marketing so that God, as St. Bernadine said, “may adorn you with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.”
Berthe Emmanuella Antoine is an interior designer who sees no distinction between her work life and devotion to God. She fine tunes others on how to create beautiful habitations in Christ from their domestic surroundings to the innermost parts of their being. Her rule of life has led her to launch INTERIOREM VITAM, a Catholic decor blog and boutique with a sleek and classic aesthetic. She is forever whisked away into the intricacies of hidden devotions and the silence of the interior life. She hopes to build a fruitful community around the brand’s mobile app. Feel free to join and start a conversation with your comments.