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Conducting Business Online Without Social Media

by Young Financier
7 replies
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So, last night I went through the rigorous process of closing down nearly every social media account I had for the simple reason that I wanted to disconnect from all of those things for good. I'm speaking of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Tumblr.

However, I do run a blog that gets about 200 UV per day. I've traced where most of my traffic comes from and it happens to come from the search engines. Only reason I held on to those social media accounts, despite not wanting them is because I thought they contributed to a large part of my traffic but they didn't. Besides, I blog for fun, not necessarily to make money.

So my question is: Do any of you conduct business online without any form of social media presence? You know how we're told that we have to have some sort of a social media presence to succeed online, but I want to know who actually defies that axiom.
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post

    So my question is: Do any of you conduct business online without any form of social media presence?
    Yes. I've never been a member of any social media site and have no plans to join any at the moment.

    Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post

    You know how we're told that we have to have some sort of a social media presence to succeed online, but I want to know who actually defies that axiom.
    The same people who define so many other axioms, I suspect: the people who also say that you "have" to use pop-ups, video, opt-in confirmation, prices ending in the figure "7", search-engine traffic, "Web 2.0 sites", article-spinning, squeeze pages, automated backlinking services, bright red headlines with Capital Letters Starting Every Word, and ten other things without which you "can't" earn a living or build a business online. The graduates of the Urban Myth School of Internet Marketing, in other words.

    Everyone does everything only "because it works", you know? And somehow, magically, they know that it works just "because everyone else is doing it"!
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    • Profile picture of the author Young Financier
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Yes. I've never been a member of any social media site and have no plans to join any at the moment.



      The same people who define so many other axioms, I suspect: the people who also say that you "have" to use pop-ups, video, opt-in confirmation, prices ending in the figure "7", search-engine traffic, "Web 2.0 sites", article-spinning, squeeze pages, automated backlinking services, bright red headlines with Capital Letters Starting Every Word, and ten other things without which you "can't" earn a living or build a business online. The graduates of the Urban Myth School of Internet Marketing, in other words.

      Everyone does everything only "because it works", you know? And somehow, magically, they know that it works just "because everyone else is doing it"!
      Good points.
      But in your second paragraph, I said "defies," not define. Meaning, I wanted to know who else doesn't buy into the "you must be on every form of social media to be successful in business" axiom. Even with that misunderstanding, you still made a good point.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post

        But in your second paragraph, I said "defies," not define.
        Oooh, sorry! I managed to read it as "defines". :rolleyes:

        Well, in that case, just "I do" would have sufficed.
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          Originally Posted by Sean T Alexandre View Post

          I want to know who actually defies that axiom.
          Like all axioms, this too shall pass. :rolleyes:

          "Every dogma has its day."
          - Anthony Burgess
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    Commenting further on the irrelevance of social media plug-ins or even presence, I say some niches will not receive them very well.

    For example, male with breasts or whatever they are called, will never, ever, share your articles, no matter how good they are. It's embarrassing, and you can't blame them.

    But this applies to other niches, such as the one in your signature. How many people do you think will share your articles on Facebook, for example? Not many. The reason is that not many people are interested in business, finance, jurisprudence, etc., so why would they share it in the first place, if not a lot of people are interested in them?

    The clue can be found in the word niche, which means that it is targeted at a specific group of people with specific interests, and it is not of general appeal. Facebook, Google+ and other social media platforms are more for "general purposes", so to speak, and also sport "light" content such as photos, entertaining videos, gossips, etc - something to fill up their boring time, and not food-for-thought type of content.

    However, for other types of websites, such as gossip websites, tabloids, etc., it might make sense to install such plug-ins, but that's something you have to test, and it seems from your tests that social media doesn't bring you much traffic, so it's a good decision to recede from social media.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

      For example, male with breasts or whatever they are called, will never, ever, share your articles, no matter how good they are.
      I don't ask men their chest-size before they syndicate my articles, so you may be right, I suppose ...
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