Hey Content Peeps!

We’re giving you a very special bonus this week!

I'm thrilled to introduce Johanna Renoth, a maverick in the digital marketing realm who's mastered the art of thriving without having to rely on social media’s fickle algorithms and whims.

As the visionary founder of Bye, Social Media!, Johanna has dedicated her expertise to assisting small businesses, creators, and solopreneurs in navigating the choppy waters of marketing beyond the clutches of algorithms.

Her journey began with a personal frustration with social media promotion, an experience many of us share. Through relentless experimentation, Johanna cracked the code on off-social marketing strategies that work.

With all the algorithmic updates, many of us have been talking about what to do, and I feel Johanna has some great insights, so I asked if she’d contribute here!

Scroll on to discover a world of marketing that's waiting beyond the 'like' button.

Excitedly,

Amy

What the business community doesn’t talk about: The risks and challenges of algorithmic marketing

Where do you promote your work?

Most entrepreneurs make content for social media or SEO to connect with their audiences. And while that can be a great way to build your business, it comes with considerable risks and challenges.

What is algorithmic marketing?

Social media and SEO are algorithmic marketing channels. That means that an algorithm decides how the content you make is distributed to whom and when. The algorithm enters into the relationship between you and your audience and affects how well you can connect with the people who want to hear from you.

When you have this third party that regulates how well you can access your audience and vice versa, that’s a problem for a business owner. You lose control over how effectively you can communicate and market.

Unfortunately, there’s a lack of awareness of the challenges and downsides of algorithmic marketing channels in the business community. We only hear about this when people complain about the effect of algorithm changes on their business in entrepreneurship groups or, worse, when they lose access to their Facebook and their business is in shambles.

The challenges of algorithmic marketing

However, to build a sustainable, thriving business, you need to know about the challenges of algorithmic marketing, as well. Only then can you make an informed choice on how you market your work best.

There are three big challenges in relying on algorithmic channels in your marketing:

1. Algorithms intervene in the relationship between you and your audience

2. Learning and managing the algorithm is a task in itself - and can be a distraction

3. You have no control over content distribution; only the algorithm does

What unites all these challenges is that they take control over the relationship between you and your audience. While somebody might choose to follow you on social media, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll see all of your posts - even if they wanted to.

When you can’t talk directly to the people who might want to buy from you but have to go through another entity with ever-changing rules, that’s a risk for your business, and time- and energy suck for an entrepreneur.

Algorithm-Proof Your Business

Algorithmic marketing has become the standard over the years. I don’t think it needs to be. There’s no need to accept this norm without questioning it.

You may not want to renounce social media entirely, which is fair. However, you need to consider offsetting the risks and challenges of algorithmic channels. The best thing you can do is to invest time and energy into building up a non-algorithmic channel that’s more robust.

Three Non-Algorithmic Marketing Channels

Newsletters

Good old email marketing is the only marketing channel at a larger scale you can truly own at this point. Meaning: people give you their email addresses, and you show up directly in their inbox, AND you can move your email list between software providers. That’s a huge difference from social media, where an audience is locked into any type of platform that you build your presence on.

A newsletter - even if it’s just a monthly one - is a great addition to your marketing channels.

Collaborations

Digital and online marketing can make you very focused on yourself and your own brand. In the worst case, it can feel like you’re constantly fending for yourself in the vast digital landscape. It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are tens of thousands of people out there with audiences like yours. There’s no reason to go it alone. Often, collaborations are the no-brainer option that many solopreneurs or small publishers overlook because they’re too fixated on gaming the algorithm.

As an example: You can connect audiences like Amy and I are doing right now with cross-posts. Or you can work out an offer together with somebody else.

Bonus Tip:

Use newsletter directories to reach outside of your network

These three databases are a good starting point to find other newsletter writers (and entrepreneurs) to collaborate with:

• Lettergrowth

• The Sample

• Letterlist

Networking

And lastly, while this isn’t the most popular option for putting your work out there, networking is still a great way to meet people and build your client base in the right industry. People like working with people. Tapping into that can help you serve your clients and build a robust network of supporters and friends of your business - no algorithms required!

You can network digitally as well; there are tons of niche-related Slack Groups, or business-related Facebook groups to join where you can promote yourself and your business.

Yes, this can be time-intensive, but sometimes getting back to the basics of biz dev is all that you need to start seeing something grow.

Key Takeaways

Algorithmic marketing has many challenges, the greatest one being that the algorithm intervenes in the relationship you have with your audience.

To build a thriving and sustainable business, it makes sense to invest in building up a non-algorithmic marketing channel. That way, you’re independent of algorithm changes and the whims of social media in general.

In digital and online marketing, we can get very focused on numbers, reach, and engagement.

First and foremost, you need to remember one thing: business and marketing are about people. The numbers matter. So does where your focus lies.

For me, it’s people first, and algorithms second.

If you want to know more…

I write a newsletter for solopreneurs on how to build a thriving, sustainable business independent from social media and algorithms. You can read and sign up for Bye, Social Media! here!

_{Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love}

If you want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are a couple of newsletters to subscribe to.