i’ve seen social media marketing work wonders for some entrepreneurs, but contrary to what you might think, that isn’t how it works for everyone... including me 🧐 at the start of my design business, i was dead set on marketing myself strictly on social media. this is because i have heaps of social media experience, it’s intuitive and comfortable to me, and i even already have a following on my main account (@miafrda). given all that, i thought it would be pretty easy to build a presence here on my business account and find some ready-to-pay clients. well, i was mistaken! the truth is, it’s HARD to build an instagram account from scratch unless you get lucky, no matter how much people feed you tips about “the algorithm” or content strategies that are supposed to guarantee results. i mean, the only reason i have followers on my main is because my astrology story templates went viral a couple years ago, which was a complete stroke of luck tbh! now that i’m a little over a year into running my design business, i’m starting to realize that social media is NOT where most of my clients come from, which has been quite the plot twist. they’ve actually mostly been referrals from people i’ve worked with before (and the people referring them to me are barely even people who found me on social media... they’re mostly friends and family). moral of the story: if social media isn’t giving you the return you want it to, don’t sleep on more traditional marketing methods like word of mouth, networking, and referrals! talk to people everywhere you go, ask your friends and family if they need your services or know anyone who does, and focus on creating great relationships with your existing clients so they’re more likely to recommend your services to others. i’m definitely now believing everyone who told me it takes time to build a clientele in a business like this, and the same applies to almost any other service-based business 💬