In the year since I went full-time in my online business, Wellness By Wendy LLC, (April 2023 was my one year birthday!) I’ve been giving Instagram a serious go. Everyone lives their lives online nowadays, so I believed I needed a strong presence if I wanted to attract clients online.
So, since last April I have been dedicated. I got the ring light. I perfected the lip sync. I created my content pillars. I provided education, laughs, validation, meal and snack inspo, nutrition tips, graphics, etc. I took courses and listened to everything everyone said to do. I looked at my insights to make sure I was posting at times when people were likely to see it. I took polls on my stories and asked my followers for feedback. Engaging with other larger accounts to prove to IG I was active and involved!
And, to date, the number of clients I’ve received from social media has been:
0.
Yep, zero! I’m not sure what is more densely populated than Instagram (perhaps the state of New Jersey?), so I knew standing out was going to be hard but I didn’t know it was going to be downright impossible even when you are doing all the “right” things.
I was constantly comparing myself to other accounts and being annoyed at how well they were all doing. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything “worse” but I was certainly getting worse results. I’d see content that wasn’t that good just blowing up. I was seeing people in the same position as me (online dietitian) getting brand deals, selling out group programs, going on vacations, hosting podcasts in their meticulously designed home offices.
Why isn’t that me? Is something wrong with me? What am I not doing? Am I not trying hard enough?
I’d sometimes get annoyed at myself for asking myself those questions. Nothing is wrong with me! I’m doing everything I can. I’m trying really hard.
So, after this was getting to me for a while I decided to take a break. To step back and re-evaluate my social media strategy and figure out exactly what I wanted from it, if anything, and why I was posting each day.
To do that, I need to take a break.
In the meantime, I’m going to focus on things that have actually brought me business. Coaching at Orangetheory and working 1:1 with members there as clients who need guidance in another part of their life, networking with other wellness and health professionals in the area to build a referral network, and making sure my listings are accurate on sites like Healthprofs.com and all the insurance companies I am contracted with.
I’m sharing this because I encourage you to make sure you are doing enough to learn what works for you. Because it might not be what’s “working” for everyone else. It might be unconventional, or against the grain. But you have to tap into it and try different things to be able to figure that out and be brave enough to lean into it.