If social media is leaving you feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and maybe even a bit anxious – I know how you feel.

Many coaches feel like social media is a must have when it comes to marketing their businesses and getting clients, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

I’ve recently taken an extended break from Instagram and doubled down on my searchable platform marketing strategy and now’s the time to share the results…

Listen to this episode on The Wholehearted Business Show Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify

Why did I ditch Instagram?

Back in March, around 4 months ago I just stopped posting on Instagram. It wasn’t a wholly intentional decision, I just stopped.

I hadn’t posted regular content on the grid or any Reels for around a year and was using an Evergreen Instagram Grid and Funnel. But up until then I had been sharing on Stories and had actually really enjoyed that part of Instagram. On Stories I had shared behind the scenes snippets as well as promoting my Wholehearted Business Show episodes.

But once I stopped, I didn’t really know how to dive back in. I didn’t massively miss Instagram either, I have a personal account and do my occasional scrolling on that account where the algorithm is more closely aligned with the content I enjoy seeing so I was still using it, just not for business.

When I had been using it, I didn’t feel that I could see any benefit back to my business, my views on stories had dwindled and after a few weeks it felt better not having to worry about it.

Once they changed the grid from squares to rectangles I just deleted my Evergreen Grid and while I intended to recreate it, I just never got round to it.

So currently I haven’t posted on Instagram, and have posted very very little on any traditional social media platforms such as Facebook for several months.

What am I doing instead?

Instead of posting on Instagram or any social media, I’ve doubled down on my ‘Searchable Show’ The Wholehearted Business Show.

This is my workflow of creating weekly, longform content for searchable platforms including YouTube, a Podcast and my Blog with some repurposing for Pinterest.

I have been creating the show since 2022, but when I stopped using Instagram I had more time and head space to further optimise what I was already doing with the show.

It had already brought me great results, so it made sense to me to try and maximise the impact of what I was creating. This looked like being more strategic with content themes, using tools to help me optimise my titles for YouTube and inviting guests on to the show to support its reach – especially as a podcast.

It has also tied in with some paid list building ads I’ve been running. While the show, and the strategy behind it is sound, it can’t overcome the fact that we are operating in a much less helpful online environment and ads have helped me ‘top up’ the results I’ve been creating via the show.

I include the show within my funnel for new leads that come in via ads because it builds trust, supports connection, allows me to build my personal brand, is very valuable and helps people stick around in my world for a longer period of time than if they just came in via an ad with no content available.

What have the results been?

Although I hadn’t posted on Instagram for a while or done much with it even before my break, I was a little worried about how it might impact my business.

However the results have been really amazing. Since I stopped posting on Instagram altogether:

• Around 60% of my 1:1 clients say they found me via my YouTube channel or podcast
• My income has increased significantly – I have committed sales for the year that have already hit my total income number I had in 2024
• I’m a lot less overwhelmed and stressed
• I feel like an expert because I have this body of work behind me
• I suffer from less comparison and shiny object syndrome

What am I going to do next?

I keep toying with the idea of going back to Instagram. I did enjoy sharing behind the scenes on Stories, and I miss connecting with other people in the coaching community. I don’t believe it has any further role in client attraction for my business, but I’d never say never!

Would this approach work in your business?

If you’re a coach of any kind, I genuinely believe that the Searchable Show Method would benefit you, especially if social media just isn’t working for you. You don’t have to create content weekly as I do, there’s various different ways you can approach this that will still get you results.

To summarise the key benefits of this approach:

• No Reels or Short Form videos! – You can create Shorts for YouTube if you wish but I haven’t so far
• Content where the results accumulate over time, don’t depreciate over time
• Long form content where you can share nuance, point of view and actually connect with your audience
• Ability to have a presence on multiple platforms by repurposing your original video content
• Saves time over creating endless content for social media
• Creates content that helps to demonstrate your ability and understanding as a coach – the ‘know, like and trust’ thing
• Podcasting in particular can have a stronger connection with potential clients due to the more intimate way it’s consumed – on walks, doing the dishes etc

If you’d like to explore creating your own Searchable Show, check out my program, The Searchable Show Method here.

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