Everyone needs a social media presence—but not everyone needs the same social media strategy. Here’s the truth: the advice to “show up consistently on social media” is missing a ton of nuance that could be costing you precious time and energy in your business.
If you’ve been stressing about posting daily, showing your face in every story, or trying to keep up with content creation that feels overwhelming, you might be overcomplicating things based on generic advice that doesn’t actually fit your specific business model.
Let’s break down exactly how much social media effort your business actually requires.
Done-For-You Service Providers Working with Larger Businesses
If you’re a service provider (VA, OBM, Facebook ads manager, etc.) targeting larger businesses, seven or eight-figure corporations with substantial marketing budgets, here’s your reality check:
Your social media presence matters, but it’s not your primary client acquisition channel. These clients aren’t finding you through Instagram reels or TikTok videos. They’re coming through direct outreach, referrals, and networking.
When these potential clients receive your email or get your name from a referral, they will check out your social media profiles. But does it matter if your last post was today versus four days ago? Honestly, it doesn’t.
What matters is having quality content that positions you as an authority. You need good photos of yourself, some videos to showcase your personality, and content that demonstrates your expertise. But you don’t need to be “balls to the wall” with daily content.
Focus more of your marketing efforts on direct outreach while maintaining a modified social media strategy that keeps your profiles looking active and professional.
Service Providers Working with Smaller Online Businesses
If your ideal clients are six-figure online coaches and entrepreneurs who live and breathe the internet, your social media strategy needs to shift.
These clients are actively scrolling Instagram, watching Stories, and consuming content on TikTok daily. They discover service providers through social media, follow their content, and build familiarity before ever considering hiring them.
In this case, your social media presence matters significantly more. When these potential clients stumble across your reel or post and think, “Who is this person?” they’ll follow you, check your stories, and soak in your advice before considering your services.
Your online visibility needs to be more consistent and strategic because your ideal clients are actually discovering you through these platforms.
Coaches and Mentors (B2B or B2C)
If you’re delivering one-to-one coaching or mentoring services, your social media game needs to be at a whole different level.
Here’s why: the trust threshold for coaching is much higher than for done-for-you services. With a service provider, clients are paying for tangible deliverables. With a coach, they’re paying for your knowledge, guidance, and promises of transformation.
Building that level of trust requires showing your face often, sharing your personality, humanizing yourself, positioning your authority, and connecting on a personal level. You need to be a storyteller and create genuine connections.
Can someone buy coaching through a cold email without ever seeing your face? Maybe, but it’s not the norm. For most coaches, client acquisition happens through social media about 99% of the time.
The Volume Game for Coaches and Scaling Businesses
If you’re looking to scale your coaching business, fill group programs, or need a high volume of clients to reach your income goals, posting 2-3 times a week likely isn’t enough.
Let me break down the simple math: If each social media post brings you 3-4 new followers on average, and you want 10 new followers daily, you need to post 3-4 times per day. That’s a lot of content, but it’s what building an audience requires.
For B2C coaches especially, the trust-building process can be even longer because you’re not selling an immediate ROI like B2B coaches can. You’re selling life transformation, which requires potential clients to trust not just you but themselves.
The Reality Check on Building a Business That Scales
Everyone wants to get rich on the internet working 10 hours a week. Everyone sees those influencers making millions and thinks, “I want that!”
But here’s the brutal truth: The people making millions online have put in the HOURS. Maybe they’re not spending those hours right now, making it look effortless, but they spent countless nights, mornings, and in-between moments creating content, building relationships, and showing up consistently.
You don’t get to skip that part.
If you want a six-figure business working part-time hours, you’ve got to put in the work upfront. You need to know your numbers, understand what’s required for your specific business model, and commit to showing up accordingly.
So, are you showing up too much? Too little? Maybe this post justified your current approach, or maybe it was your wake-up call.
Either way, building a sustainable, scalable business requires knowing exactly what type of social media presence YOUR specific business model demands—then creating systems to support that.
If you need help building a business that’s simple, sustainable, and scalable with no revenue limits, check out my Grow Business and Marketing Academy. It’s the ultimate resource for creating the business structure that supports your goals while giving you the marketing strategies that actually work for YOUR business model.
Stop following generic social media advice. Start building a strategy that’s aligned with exactly what you want to create.
