By  Kimberly Studdard

With blogging and social media on the rise, many people feel as if social media is king. While being seen and heard isn’t a bad thing, there are more important (and better) ways that you could be building your business. I’ve found in my life and business that social media isn’t everything and that business owners can build and grow their businesses in a much better way.

Here’s a few reasons why Social Media Isn’t Everything and What You Need To Do To Grow Your Business
Form Relationships
How many people on your social media do you actually interact with? Sure, you may have ten thousand followers, but are they really paying attention to you? Instead of focusing on growing your numbers to grow your business, try growing your relationships. Take a networking colleague out for coffee. Send specialized emails to a few people on your email list each week.

By forming relationships, you are creating bonds and opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, someone from your network is more likely to pay you for your business coaching if they know who you are as a person. Why go to someone they don’t know if they can go to you instead? They know how you operate, what your business is like, and (if you have testimonials) how many people you’ve helped. Now you’ve gained a new client without even pitching your services.

Produce Quality Content
The old quote “If you build, they will come” from the movie Field of Dreams is one to keep in mind. You can share your content on social media all day, but if it’s not relevant or high quality, no one will want to read it.

Producing quality content on your website, blog, or even channels like YouTube, can build the know, like, and trust factor, and build your audience without the constant social media sharing. It’s okay to post your content on social media, just remember that quality over quantity is key.

Attend Conferences
Attending conferences is a fantastic way to grow your business. Not only are you meeting with people face to face, but you have the opportunity to spend time building relationships. If you go to a conference with ten thousand people, and only connect with five hundred, that is still five hundred more people that you can market your business too.

Attending conferences also allows you to connect with those in your industry, especially those looking to work with others. If you go to a freelancers conference, you’ll most likely find a few people or businesses who are looking to work with freelancers just like you. This can build your business quickly by getting you in front of hundreds of faces, just by attending one event.

Freebies
Who doesn’t love a freebie? Any product or service based business can benefit from giving out a freebie every now and then. Whether it’s a sample of your product, a free course, or even just a free coaching call with you, offering freebies is a great way to grow your business.

By offering freebies, you are giving people the chance to take you up on your offer, build a relationship, and eventually fall in love with whatever you are offering. People love value, and offering something to them with no strings attached is a great way to build that and gain repeating clients and customers. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, it just needs to be valuable.

Social media is a great way to grow your business, especially if you are doing so on a low budget. However, it isn’t the only way to grow your business, and in reality, these ways can be much more practical and easy to implement. You may even be doing a few right now!