Social media doesn’t need to be the only way that you bring in inquiries, and it shouldn’t be! Here’s why I took a social media break and how I still brought in some of my biggest months yet. 

Why I Took a Social Media Break

I unintentionally took a short social media break because of a couple reasons:

I wasn’t feeling well during my first trimester. Full transparency, the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy I was a pile. I wasn’t HORRIBLE, but I didn’t feel well and I just didn’t want to do anything. And you know what? That is totally fine. I gave myself permission to step back because I knew I had systems running for me or at least a team that could help back me up and help in areas I couldn’t at the time

I was feeling unmotivated and uninspired. Whenever I feel this way I usually never force myself to push through and “fake it til I make it.” I never want to create content and show up for you guys on social media as fake or just putting on a face. 

I want to make sure when I’m creating for you and showing up because I WANT to be there for you to educate and share my life with you. There’s just seasons where I feel unmotivated and uninspired (first trimester of pregnancy was one of them) and I gave myself so much Grace, I didn’t put pressure on myself of give myself a hard time for not wanting to show up

Here’s What Happened on my Social Media Break

Want to know what happened when I took my social media break? Not much! And I mean not much in terms of less business leads and inquiries wise, and not much difference in income either.

In fact, during this time:

• My husband was able to quit his job
• I had my largest booking and income generating month so far this year
• The leads kept rolling in consistently
• Heck I even had a $20k week during this time
• AND toward the end, I was able to nurture and bring in my first 5-figure booking

And this proved to me the power in putting effort into other marketing avenues other than social media. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE social media.. I think it’s a beautiful connective tool and has been a huge blessing in my life and business. YES, I think it’s important and powerful.

But, I think I can confidently say this for myself and probably you too that it can get mentally exhausting and it’s REALLY freaking hard to make sure you’re showing up and putting out quality content every single day.

There’s times where I am really good about that and really motivated and inspired to show up, and there’s times (like my first trimester) that I just couldn’t force myself to do that, and guess what… My business didn’t suffer because of it.

How My Business Still Grew on a Social Media Break

And you want to know why?

Because of the workflows, automated systems, client experience, and marketing I’ve put into the back end of my business. I know if I am unable to show up every single day, that my business will still run without me.

Is my system perfect? Absolutely not. In fact, this break really opened my eyes to some holes that I want to fill in my processes which is a beautiful thing because I always love improving on my systems.

Because truthfully, I would LOVE to run a business that can run without me daily. That is my goal! And that is what I want for you too! To be able to work less and make more and make a larger impact WITHOUT feeling like you’re running yourself to the ground.

How to Take a Social Media Break and Still Bring in Inquiries

Okay so you’re probably wondering: What the heck did you do to set this up for yourself to make sure you are continuing to get those leads? There are lots of answers to this loaded question, but I’ll talk about a couple – especially because it’s not like I planned and prepped for this break, it naturally just happened.

1. Having evergreen content

These are blog posts, Pinterest, good nurturing Reels, TikToks, pieces of content that continue working for you even when you’re not.

I will admit, things were still running for me when I wasn’t showing up on social media every day BUT I will say that I always do notice a flux or increase when I do start to show up on social media more (naturally).

BUT that clearly doesn’t mean that they weren’t coming in without me being on everyday. Not enough people are focusing on creating evergreen content because we’re all so concerned with keeping up with the trends or focusing on getting views.

But the truth is, my evergreen Reels for example are the ones that have the lowest views with the highest conversion rates. Because when you’re focusing on serving and educating vs just trending things ALL the time, those are applicable at any time.

2. Venue referrals for wedding inquiries

This has continued to be my biggest lead generator for weddings next to client/vendor referrals.

This is such a beautiful thing because I don’t have to be posting on social media every single day if I don’t have the capacity to do so, but I’m still getting inquiries and leads in from venues, planners, and vendors I’ve worked with.

ALONG with other past client referrals. THIS is the power in having a solid client experience because when you do, THAT is your marketing – and it’s free! Good client experience acts as your free marketing and let me tell you from experience – IT WORKS and it’s POWERFUL!

3. Having a sales funnel

What is the process of someone first learning about you or coming across you online, to them getting in your inbox? Because once they’re in your inbox, you have full control over the experience from there and that’s a whole other ball game!

So think about the journey from EVERY single piece of content you have out there and what that funnel looks like to leading them into your inbox.

And you never know when and where someone is going to come across you on social media.. So that’s the importance of having solid funnels with every piece of content you have because whichever piece of content people land on is the very first impression and start of their client experience with you – so make sure it’s making an impact.

And then once they’re in your inbox, you can use my “Inquiry to Income” method to make sure you’re converting your inquiries into clients and also booking your highest packages!

Which actually leads me to my signature Inquiry to Income method which I am currently turning into a course and planning to launch mid/late fall this year so it is ready just in time for proposal season around the corner!

If you want to get in on the early bird special for this mini course (trust me you do, there’s gonna be killer early bird bonuses) then get on the waitlist here because it’s going to be pure gold!

How to Plan for a Social Media Break

I know my social media break was not planned, BUT if you do want to plan for a social media break and prep for one you could:

Batch EVERGREEN content + reels

It’s actually so easy to create reels that don’t require your face (although everyone does love to see your face because we want that human connection). Or even just film a bunch of intro clips of your face to have on hand to create reels from to have at the beginning of the video and then showcase a bunch of photos or bts video.

You could put a quote or testimonial over a bts video clip of yourself. Or even a slideshow of your photos with a fun song or voiceover.

There’s ways you can batch a bunch of content + reels ahead of time that are ready to post if you wanted to continue to show up in a more lazy way during this time, and that way it’s not trendy audios or anything, it’s just more evergreen content.

You could have someone help you show up

Now you might not have the capacity to do this or want to do this, but you could have an assistant, spouse, or friend posting your content for you. Or even give your second shooter your phone on a wedding day to be in charge of BTS video because Lord knows I can’t keep up with BTS on a wedding day. I get too distracted!

So that might not be as appealing or ideal, but it’s just an idea!

Other ways to prepare

Or you could prep your audience and clients that you’re taking a small break from IG but you’re still available and hangin out in your inbox so people know you’re still accessible and not completely gone.

Orrrr you can totally just be gone too! There’s no rules or requirements that you HAVE to be on social media all the time and THAT IS JUST FINE. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself around that and give yourself grace to focus on what you need to work on.

Sometimes when you’re taking a social media break is when your business is able to grow SO much on the back end and then that’s when you can switch back to focus on the marketing. You can confidently funnel people into a solid system vs trying to attract and funnel new people in all the time to a non-existent or broken back end funnel.

Final thoughts

Basically the moral of today’s post is that although social media is a beautiful and powerful marketing tool in your business (and I believe it can help your business grow so much) I on the other hand also believe that there are other ways to make that happen as well.

And also believe that you should set up solid workflows and systems to make sure that is happening for you. If you are wanting to know how you can effectively do that, make sure to watch my FREE training for photographers to become the go-to photographer in your market.

You can find more Gold Biz Podcast episodes here!