How to Ditch Social Media with Jan Ditchfield

TL;DR

Do I really need social media to grow my business, or are there better ways to generate leads and sales?

Social media is not required for business growth—consistent lead generation comes from choosing the right channels based on data, not trends. When you evaluate where your leads and revenue actually come from, you can reallocate your time to higher-performing strategies like email marketing, long-form content, and direct sales systems. This approach creates more control, better conversion rates, and more sustainable growth.

Lead Generation Without Social Media: A Smarter Approach to Sustainable Growth

Social media is often seen as essential for business growth—but for many business owners, it is not the most effective or efficient channel. If your content is not converting into leads or sales, the issue is not visibility—it is strategy. Building a business that relies heavily on platforms you do not control can lead to inconsistent results and unnecessary burnout.

A more effective approach is to focus on lead generation systems that are measurable, repeatable, and aligned with your strengths.

Start with Data, Not Assumptions

Before deciding where to invest your time, evaluate what is already working.

Many business owners continue using social media out of habit, not because it drives results.

A simple audit can reveal:

• Where your last 10–20 clients came from.

• Which channels produce the highest-quality leads.

• How much time you are spending on each platform versus the return.

For example, if most of your clients come from referrals, email, or long-form content, but the majority of your time is spent on social media, there is a clear misalignment. Shifting your focus based on data—not trends—allows you to optimize your efforts.

Rethink the Role of Social Media

Social media is not inherently ineffective—but it is often misused.

Instead of treating it as your primary growth channel, consider repositioning it as a support tool for:

• Nurturing existing relationships.

• Staying visible with your audience.

• Reinforcing your authority.

This shift reduces pressure to constantly create content for growth and allows you to use social platforms more intentionally. For instance, short-form updates or stories can maintain connection without requiring extensive time or strategic complexity.

Prioritize Owned Platforms

One of the biggest limitations of social media is lack of control. Algorithms change, reach fluctuates, and your audience is not truly “yours.” Owned platforms—such as your email list—provide stability and direct access to your audience.

Benefits of focusing on email marketing include:

• Higher conversion rates compared to social media.

• Direct communication without algorithm interference.

• Greater ability to nurture leads over time.

A strong email strategy allows you to build relationships and guide prospects through a clear path to purchase.

Leverage Long-Form Content for Authority

Short-form content can capture attention, but long-form content builds trust.

Formats such as blogs, podcasts, and in-depth videos allow you to:

• Demonstrate expertise.

• Provide meaningful value.

• Address complex topics that influence buying decisions.

For example, a detailed blog post can answer key questions, overcome objections, and position your offer—all in a way that short social posts cannot. Over time, this type of content compounds, creating a library of assets that continue to generate leads.

Focus on Lead Generation Fundamentals

Regardless of the platform, effective lead generation comes down to a few core principles:

• Clarity of offer. Your audience needs to understand exactly what you do and who it is for.

• Clear next steps. Every piece of content should guide your audience toward a specific action.

• Consistent visibility. You need to show up regularly in the channels that matter most.

• Conversion strategy. Leads must be nurtured and guided toward a sale.

Without these elements, even high visibility will not translate into revenue.

Strengthen Your Sales Process

Lead generation is only part of the equation. Converting those leads into paying clients requires a clear and effective sales process.

This includes:

• Understanding typical conversion rates so you can set realistic expectations.

• Improving how you communicate value and handle objections.

• Following up consistently with potential clients.

Many business owners focus heavily on marketing but underinvest in sales skills, which limits overall growth.

Build for Sustainability, Not Trends

Trends change quickly, but sustainable businesses are built on systems.

When you focus on:

• Channels that consistently generate leads.

• Content that builds authority over time.

• Systems you control (like email and direct outreach).

You create a business that is less dependent on external platforms and more resilient to change.

Choosing What Actually Works

The most important shift is giving yourself permission to stop doing what is not working.

If social media is not producing results, it is not a failure—it is feedback.

Use that feedback to:

• Reallocate your time to higher-impact activities.

• Simplify your marketing strategy.

• Focus on channels that align with your strengths and goals.

Lead generation without social media is not about doing less—it is about doing what works better. When your strategy is built on data, clarity, and intentional action, your business becomes more efficient, more profitable, and far more sustainable.

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Transcript for Episode 325. How to Ditch Social Media with Jan Ditchfield

Amy [00:00:02]:

Are you tired of investing time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into social media strategies that aren't converting, that aren't leading to those aligned clients? If so, listen up. This episode is a must listen. Today I am joined by Jan Ditchfield, and we are talking all about ditching social media, ditching those efforts that are not leading to conversions. And she has done this successfully. And I'm excited to pick her brain as to how we can integrate this into our own businesses so that we are really protecting those valuable assets. Jan is an award winning business strategist and podcast host. And with that being said, Jan, I am so excited to have you here today.

Jan Ditchfield [00:00:53]:

I am so happy to be here, Amy. Thank you very much.

Amy [00:00:56]:

Oh, my goodness. Absolutely. So let's dive right in. This concept of ditching social media, what made you decide, you know what, I'm going to do it my way. I'm done spending hours on social media.

Jan Ditchfield [00:01:11]:

I think for me, what it really came from is I am a data driven person. So I spend a lot of my time watching numbers. I am all about back end systems. I teach the boring parts of business, so I follow the boring things. And for me, it was really came down to I was teaching in one of my mastermind and talking about, you know, watching to where your leads are coming from and being really conscious about putting your effort where you're actually seeing return on it. And then I audited my own work, and I was like, this is not where my leads come from. This is not where I get a return. Why am I continuing to do all of this work when I could be putting it in other areas that serve me better? And that's really where it came from.

Jan Ditchfield [00:01:48]:

Plus, feeling like a little bit of friction. Right. I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to. So it's my business. I'm allowed to step away from it. Yeah.

Amy [00:01:56]:

And I think a lot of us don't give ourselves that permission. We know something's off. We feel that friction, but we're so attached to it that we don't want to give it up because it's those little dopamine hits, right? Like, it's that instant gratification. But when you take the time to really zoom out and look at the data, it's obvious, like, wait a minute, what's working in my business, what's not? And I feel like that's a missing piece that you just described there for so many business owners, like, what's actually working for you and your business? And we forget that we have that control now, is this to say you don't have any social presence now, or are you still leveraging it in your business, but strategically or in a different way?

Jan Ditchfield [00:02:38]:

I'm still there, and it's, but it's very strategic how I'm using it, because I didn't want to make a full departure off of it because, one, I have so much content that I've created, and I just don't want to have my account to basically kill my own account. But also, I have a lot of people there who do engage with me. So for me, it was all about dropping the feed. That's what I put my effort and energy in, saying, I'm not going to go there anymore. I'm going to stay in stories and be more strategic how I use it but not feel pressured to show up daily.

Amy [00:03:04]:

Yeah, no, that's such a good point because we do put all that pressure on ourselves to show up because that's what everybody says we should do in order to grow your account. You should do this, you should do that. And there's so many shoulds that it just ends up stressing us out. So you said you're spending your time in your stories. Are you using this to sell? Are you using this to nurture, like, what is that process looking like for you?

Jan Ditchfield [00:03:28]:

I stopped using social media for growth about, I'd say maybe six months ago. I decided I was like, this wasn't really where I was seeing growth. My podcast is where I get most of my growth from. So I had moved and started nurturing my audience and really focusing more on creating content for the people that did follow me. And so that's just carried over into my stories. And I think for me, stories are, I feel more natural in them. I'm able to just jump on and, you know, say something to camera. I'm still very strategic with what I'm saying.

Jan [00:03:57]:

But at the same time, it's not as rigid feeling as what the feed started to feel like of having to be like, am I using the right hashtags? Am I keyword stuffing? Am I doing all of those things instead of really just trying to build real, authentic relationships with the people that I'm here to serve? And that's just much easier to do in stories.

Amy [00:04:16]:

Yeah, 100%. I agree completely. Especially, you know, building those relationships. And that's what it all comes back to, is connection. And when we're recording this episode, it's fairly recent, that meta just made some new announcements about, oh, we're adding these different tiers and structures and you know, if you want us to put your account in front of more people, then, you know, buy this and do that. And it's really stressing a lot of people out. But you said something that, like, really comes back to it. Like social media.

Amy [00:04:46]:

It's about relationships and connection, and we're so focused on growth. I think a lot of times we miss serving those that are already there. Those have been like, okay, you seem pretty cool. I'm going to follow you.

Jan [00:04:58]:

Yeah. And that goes back to retention based business strategies versus top of funnel business strategies. And I think that that's really where my business is built on retention. And I teach retention and it, which is all about how do I care for the people who are already there and then get more repeat business from that instead of having to always go and chase cold lead all the time. And, you know, we do need the growth, but also we don't need growth only. There's other ways to do it as well. So I think for me, the biggest aha. Moment was realizing that, you know, when we moved to online from.

Jan [00:05:31]:

And I came from the real world, that's where I was, real world business. And then moved online, that social media became the only thing we ever heard about as far as marketing. And it got drilled into our heads that if we were not doing social, we wouldn't have a business. And the reality is, there is a single tool in your entire marketing arsenal. So if it doesn't work for you, there are other places we can go and other things to do. So I think that's. That's really, for me, what the motivator is, is to play other places.

Amy [00:05:56]:

Yeah. And I think that people forget, too, that it is an investment of time. So, yes, it's a free quote, unquote, platform, but at the end of the day, we don't own that content. It can all be lost at the drop of a hat. I mean, if Instagram or any of these platforms deems that, you know what, I don't like your content or there's something that you said that, like, tripped the algorithm. Like, there's so much that's outside of our control that really building and nurturing those relationships and just humanizing our brand. Like, doesn't that just feel good, just connecting with others and using social as a tool versus a weapon? Because it is a slippery slope. We go down the slope of, okay, everybody else is doing this.

Amy [00:06:38]:

So I have to conform. I want to be accepted. So I have to start doing nothing but reels, when in reality, the reels are just stressing you out. They don't feel good and they're not leading the clients.

Jan [00:06:50]:

Yeah, 100%. And it's, again, the idea of comparison, and I think that's what social media does to us, is we look at somebody else's account and we judge it based on external metrics. So we see following count and we automatically think, oh, they must be making so much money in their business. Or we see the number of eyeballs that somebody's getting on a certain reel and like, oh, they're having success and we're not. And it starts this mind game because we don't actually know what's happening on the back end of someone else's business. And myself, I have a very small following of a small audience. I have a multiple six figure business, and it's not about, again, the size of the audience is about the quality of the audience. And that's the piece we keep forgetting in the conversation, which is, do we know how to bring quality leads and then how to nurture those leads into conversions versus just always chasing the next dopamine hit like you mentioned before.

Amy [00:07:42]:

Yeah.

Jan [00:07:42]:

Really?

Amy [00:07:43]:

Those quality leads, that's what it's all about. I mean, even for myself, I have a very, very small following in the grand scheme of things, but I have the right people in my world, and that's what it's all about. I don't care about that number. I care about the conversions. I want to see. Okay, exactly what is converting? Where is it converting? How is it converting and leaning into that? And for me, something you mentioned, too, is your podcast is a very big piece of your, your business, and so is mine, because this allows us to really build that know, like, and trust, provide value, really, like, all encompassing all of these things. And then that's my long form content. That's what I use to create all of the other content from.

Amy [00:08:25]:

So now business gets to be fun. It gets to be easy. And I'm not just going, oh, my gosh, I have to post something today. What am I going to post? You know, to get three likes. No, I would rather have a really small, engaged audience than tens of thousands of followers that are never buying anything.

Jan [00:08:45]:

Yeah, exactly. And the thing that I always say about my podcast is, like, this is my opportunity for people to really get to know me, but also for me to show how much I know on my subject matter and I can't teach in 8 seconds on business the way that I can off my show. Like, there's nothing I can say or do in 8 seconds to help somebody's business get better. There's just, and I wouldn't even lay claim to that because it's not what I do, it's, you know, business, you know, as well, it's much more complex than what a real allows us to do and talk about and engage with. And I just don't want to be the person that's, you know, trying to, you know, dull down the importance of actually learning how to do business well. And it's just not, I can't do it on social. Other things I can do on social, like, I like doing funny things on social, but when it comes to actually showing and helping, that's definitely through long form content for me.

Amy [00:09:37]:

Yeah. I would love to hear your take. What's your take on trends and trying to go viral?

Jan [00:09:43]:

Well, I don't, I've never been viral, so I don't know, maybe if I was viral once, I'd have a different opinion on it, but I don't. I've never again. I think it's just tactic chasing. And one of the things that gets caught with tactics is that downward slide that happens where people get stuck in the messy middle because there's a natural dip that happens in business for all of us at some point, no matter how long we've been doing it or how much success we have. And when that dip happens, what most people lean into are tactics and trends to try to get things out again instead of understanding that that's a time, really of an inflection point when I need to learn how to do business differently. So the more you do the tactics and the trends and the chasing and everything, the further you put yourself into the hole. So I'm not a fan of them. I think it's just quick wins.

Jan [00:10:29]:

I think they're promoted all the time to women very differently than to men as well, because women are marketed to differently. We're encouraged to do more of the fluffy things, like, you know, follow your dreams and don't worry about the money, it'll just all happen. And I'm the other end of being like, no, no, no, let's write a really solid business plan and be very strategic about how we're going to get the money. And then you still can be passionate about what you do, but you can pay your mortgage at the same time. So to me, trends and tactics aren't the thing that are going to get you there.

Amy [00:10:56]:

You are speaking my language. Oh, my goodness. I'm the same way. I've never gone quote unquote viral before. And I don't want to honestly, like, I do not ever want to go viral because I know several accounts that have and it kills their engagement. Like, your engagement rate is based off of your following. So therefore, if you have a ton of followers and nobody's engaging, like, that's really killing your account. So I'd rather really focus on building those relationships, on building a sustainable business.

Amy [00:11:26]:

Exactly like you said, it is amazing to me how many business owners out there are just winging it, doing all of the strategy, chasing. But you need to build a solid foundation first. You need to be treating your business like a business. That's what leads to the ability to scale so that you're not in the thick of your business every single day. And we forget that because it's not glamorous, it's not sexy, it's not the fun stuff. You know, really, who wants to sit down and get real about your numbers? Because it's scary. It can be very scary for a lot of business owners because we're starting to tie that to our worth. And it's like, no, you don't need to tie your number in your bank account to your worth.

Amy [00:12:08]:

It's all about strategic and getting curious. Okay, well, this number is not where I want it to be. What can I do different? Or, oh, wow, this number is really good. What am I doing? Where am I generating this so I can double down there versus, like you said, chasing all of these shiny objects and trends.

Jan [00:12:26]:

Yeah, I agree with you very much. Again, for me, it's always like I teach again, business development. Like old school core business development. So I can't really do a reel about, here's a business plan no one's going to want to watch. I was standing there holding up a business plan and pointing at it. So the things again that we believe we need in business, especially in the online space, is very, very different than what we actually need in business. If you think about like, going back into the real world again, whether we had did business there through corporate or whether we, you know, had, like myself, that was my career, was I was a business strategist in the real world, I would never have done those things there. And somehow, again, when I would come into the online space, what's marketed to me here is so very different than what's out there.

Jan [00:13:15]:

Like, I would never have landed deals by standing in the street and pointing at air bubbles like nobody would have worked with me. But here somehow, that's normal. So it's just always odd to me how we have a very different belief around business in the two different worlds.

Amy [00:13:29]:

Yeah, that's an amazing perspective, because you're right. You know, I instantly think of the guy with the sign that he would like, stand on the corner, like spinning the sign, hoping that that was attracting someone. I don't know about you, but I've never actually gotten into a business with a person standing outside of it with a sign that they're spinning. Like, it just doesn't convert, it's not working. And I think that's why you don't really see too many of those people standing on street corners doing those tactics anymore. But it's really about building those sustainable businesses. And I would love to know what you said. You know, we really need to focus on those building blocks, on those, those strategies.

Amy [00:14:10]:

If you could summarize, what do you feel are like the two most important strategies in business that most business owners aren't taking advantage of, and instead they're spending their time on social media. What two areas could we be spending our time and energy on instead, instead of social?

Jan [00:14:28]:

So for me, every time I see a problem in business, it either comes from top of funnel, which is lead generation, or the bottom of the funnel, which is knowing how to sell. And so I'm a big believer in really getting dialed in on the concept of learning what lead generation is and how to do it effectively and how to do it in a way that bringing quality leads in so that you can grow a business even with a small audience. I think that that's something that's very overlooked. And by that I mean list building. I'm going to say it. The other subject no one likes talking about, but the quality of your list is far more important than the quality of your following on social media. And we don't think about how we can use social to drive people off of it. We think that we just want to have them there.

Jan [00:15:11]:

And we both know that people who are followers are not actually leads. They're not in our process because we don't have contact information from them. We don't have a way to have that conversation in Mark what we're doing. We can't put them into a CRM. They're just people staring at us, essentially what it is. So I think really dialing in on understanding lead generation and list building is where you should be and thinking every time you do something, how can I have a conversation that's going to drive people to my list? Because that's where I can nurture those relationships and then sell. And then the other part of it is learning, actually, how to sell, and that is something that I see women struggle with all the time. My own women do that I work with as well, is really dialing in on learning that skill.

Jan [00:15:56]:

Right. It's an art skill to be good at sales and not be ashamed to ask for money or not feel as though they're not worthy of asking for money. And so that's the other area. I always say, if you can master those two parts, the rest of it you'll figure out, but it's going to be the top and the bottom all the time that are the things that keep us going. So, you know, bring them in, keep them with you, your business will grow. That's really what the focus should be on.

Amy [00:16:19]:

Yeah, I love what you said, too, about, you know, selling is a skill. It's just like anything else. And we expect ourselves to be so good at this new thing. But the reality is, you know, a lot of it is mindset, a lot of it's strategy. Which one do you feel like holds more women back? Is it the mindset piece? Is it the strategy? Or is it pretty much 50 50? Both.

Jan [00:16:41]:

I think it's a little bit of a combination of both, to be honest. And I've always said, like, I'm the person who's never really. I don't talk about mindset that much is because I have a bit, like, I'm pretty dog headed about, you know, we're going to succeed. We're just going to get her done. But I think a lot of the time, the mindset comes from the lack of strategy, so that people are out there again, winging it and selling, or selling like, the way they're being taught by the gurus, and everything feels very misaligned. And so then they. It starts to get into our head, and we're like, well, we're not converting people because we're bad at this. Instead of being like, it's actually, you're not bad at selling.

Jan [00:17:17]:

You just never been taught how to sell effectively. And so when we don't get what we want, you said before, we start to measure our worth based on things that are actually not important, like following counts and how much money we've made on the last launch, I'm the person who always sells. So says that the success of your business is never determined by one single launch. It's by a complete year, and the strategy and the plan. So we have to stop thinking about everything in the moment and start thinking about it more like, we're here. It's a marathon, what we're doing, right. So we one water station at a time, and that's where our success will come from.

Amy [00:17:51]:

Yes. I'm really taking the time back to what you said at the beginning, looking at those numbers, really just getting curious because when you realize what industry conversion rates actually are, you realize, you know what, you're doing better than you think you are. A lot of times people are like, oh, only three people signed up for my thing. And it's like, okay, well, let's go through it. How many people registered? How many people showed up live? How many people, you know, you start to break that down and you realize, okay, if you had x number, like, that's a really good launch. That's perfectly on par with industry standards. I just had the conversation with a friend the other day. She's like, but only two people buy.

Amy [00:18:31]:

I'm like, okay, that's amazing. You are right on standard. Now what you're going to do is you're going to serve the heck out of those exactly as you said. So now you can retain them. So now that they want to be in your world, now you're top of mind. So then they start referring you out. This is how businesses are built over years, not launches. I love that quote.

Amy [00:18:53]:

Jan, amazing. This was such fabulous information that you shared. Thank you so much for taking the time to unpack all of this. Where can we get into your world? Tell us about your podcast. I would love to hear all the things.

Jan [00:19:08]:

Well, you can follow me on Instagram, where I am in stories and co. And my podcast is called no B's business school. And I drop an episode a week, sometimes more, depending on. Depending on if I'm feeling a little feisty about a topic. And I have no B's conversations there about marketing and online business and really helping women be able to grow and scale their business. And then I also have a guide that you can get into as well that's all about lead generation. So it's lead generation made simple. You can get it at Janditchfield co guide and it helps you set up a very effective lead generation process with all of the help through chat, GPT, just to take the stress out of it so you can focus on growing your list and then your revenue comes from there.

Amy [00:19:50]:

Amazing. Go check that out. Jan, again, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to share with us today.

Jan [00:19:57]:

Thank you very much. This was lovely of you.

Amy [00:20:00]:

And until next time, cheers to making the money you want so you can create the impact you desire.