How to safeguard your business from the collapse of social media

On Friday night, Tyler Thrasher, an artist I follow on Instagram, posted some interesting thoughts in his Stories. Basically, he shared that he thought we weren’t far from a pretty significant collapse of social media. His reason is that now that Elon Musk has purchased Twitter and will begin implementing a monthly fee for blue verification checks, it’s likely that Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) will follow. This makes sense, especially on Instagram, which Meta is notorious for stuffing with features from other platforms. Case in point, the recent ability to offer paid subscriptions was a reaction to creators moving their audiences over to Patreon.

Thrasher’s statement ended with a call to protect your business from the fickle world of social media, including cultivating your email list and doing more in-person events. Of course, I enthusiastically agree with this, especially the part about email marketing, and felt compelled to share. It seemed especially pressing given that I know a fellow small business owner whose Facebook account was recently hacked. After the hacker posted fraudulent charges in Facebook ads, her entire account was permanently suspended, including all her linked Instagram accounts. This means she is completely locked out of all her social media accounts that she has been using to connect with her audience, and Meta has said the ban is permanent. This is a huge blow, but fortunately, she still has her email list and can connect to her audience that way.

After sharing Thrasher’s post on IG, I got a panicked response from someone asking, “do in-person events mean I have to go back to doing art fairs?!?” I took the time to answer in my own IG Stories, but I think this is such an important conversation that I want to have it here as well. Because no, in-person events don’t mean you have to do shows, if that’s not your jam. But you do need to think about how you can connect with customers outside of social media.

So let me share some key things I think you should be doing to protect your business from any impending social media collapse, whether that’s on a personal or platform level.

Cultivate your email list!

This was the main reason I shared Thrasher’s post, because if you’ve been around here for any chunk of time, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of email marketing. That’s because, in email marketing, YOU own your list. You can take it from platform to platform, but it’s yours. This is different from social media, where they own the followers.

The number one thing you should be doing right now, especially if you’ve built a large audience on social media, is to encourage them to join your email list. Put a link to your list in your bio and remind people (again and again) that the best way to ensure they don’t miss out on what you’ve got going on is to join your list.

Of course, once people are on your list, you do need to actually email them. But the first step is getting them there. (If you need more help around how to get people on your list and what to send them once they’re on there, I have several in-depth email marketing trainings inside Artists & Profit Makers.)

Sell your products in person!

This is the bit of Thrasher’s advice that sent one of my followers into a tailspin, but there’s no need to panic here. While Thrasher mentions in-person events, I think the most important thing here is that you find ways to sell your products in person. That’s because, yes, even in 2022, only 13% of all US retail sales take place online. Yes, you read that right. Only 13%. And while the pandemic did help this number to grow (not quite a decade ago we were at 6%), online sales are still a fraction of the way that people are making purchases. So if you aren’t selling your products in person, you are missing out on a potentially huge audience.

Luckily for my panicked follower, in person doesn’t have to mean schlepping your work from show to show. Wholesale (ie. selling to stores) is a great way to sell your work in person without having to be, well, there in person. Other options could be pop-ups, trunks shows, events that you run from your studio, etc. The point is, if you’re only trying to sell your products online, and you’re mostly trying to market them through social media, you’re going to really struggle.

Yes, there are people who have made a lot of money building an audience on social and selling only online. But they are the exception, not the norm. And if they haven’t built an email list to go along with those social followers, they are one hack away from losing their entire audience.

What I’m doing in my own business!

This brings me to what’s happening in my business, because you know I like to practice what I preach. Over the last few years, as I’ve transitioned to focus more on the teaching and coaching side of my business, I’ve been concerned that so much of my business now takes place online. As someone who built their jewelry business with wholesale and trade shows, who still encourages wholesale for a lot of her students, and who is keenly aware of the trends I’ve mentioned above, both in social media and shopping, this makes me nervous to say the least.

So what to do? Enter books. Good, old-fashioned physical books.

If you missed my announcement last week, my ebook, Try It & See, is now available in paperback form. Not only is this exciting to me as a book lover, but it opens up the potential for reaching a broader audience in person – from selling the book in stores to slinging books myself at workshops, conferences, and events.

But Try It & See is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve got big plans for more books and am hard at work on book #2. (Spoiler alert: this one’s going to be a guide to selling to stores!) I’m doing this, 1. because it’s my childhood dream to write books, but also because 2. it helps give my teaching and ideas a presence in the real world.

None of this means I’m forsaking the Internet, swearing off social media, or not making myself available digitally. I’m still running my online mentorship program and still offer Try It & See as a digital/audiobook combo (which you can also combine with the physical book.) And I’ll do the same with all future books.

Instead, it simply means I’m making sure my best work is available offline and outside social media. And you should do the same.