Is Social Media Actually Slowing Your Sales? with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- 15 minutes ago
- 10 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
Is Social Media Actually Slowing Your Sales?
I know—it sounds completely backwards. We’ve been told for years that social media is the key to growing a business. Scroll your feed and you’ll see sold-out launches, dream lifestyles, and those $20,000 months that seem effortless.
But what most of those posts don’t show is the context—the ad budgets, the support teams, and the years of trial and error behind the highlight reel.
For solopreneurs especially, trying to keep up can feel like a full-time job. You’re posting, engaging, showing up daily—and yet your sales aren’t reflecting your effort.
So what’s really going on?
When Social Media Activity Doesn’t Equal Sales
Social media feels productive because it’s visible. You’re creating content, replying to comments, joining trends—it looks like progress. But activity doesn’t always mean growth.
You can spend hours online and still not attract consistent clients. And when that happens, frustration creeps in fast. You start believing you need more followers, better hooks, or a viral moment to finally see results.
But the issue isn’t that social media doesn’t work—it’s that it’s unpredictable. You’re relying on an algorithm that constantly shifts, rewarding trends over strategy. When engagement drops, it’s easy to think you’re the problem. You’re not. You’re just building a business on borrowed land.
When your entire marketing plan depends on social media, you’re giving your growth to a system that doesn’t belong to you.
The Risk of Relying Only on Social Media
When sales slow down, most business owners double down. They post more, engage more, and spend even more time online trying to fix the problem.
But more content isn’t the answer. It often leads to burnout and an even bigger gap between effort and results.
Social media can be powerful, but it’s not a strategy—it’s a tool. If your entire business depends on one platform, you’re putting your time and energy into something you can’t control.
Instead of chasing trends, you need a process that shows you what’s actually working.
How Metrics Simplify Your Marketing
When you track your metrics, everything changes. Suddenly, your decisions are based on facts, not feelings.
Your numbers show you:
Which platforms bring the most leads
What activities actually convert to sales
Where your audience engages most with your content
With that data, you can stop guessing and start being strategic.
If your numbers reveal that most of your clients come from referrals or your email list, you know where to focus. If you see your engagement is high but conversions are low, that tells you to adjust your messaging or offers.
Data removes the guesswork. It’s not cold—it’s clarity.
What Happened When I Stepped Back from Social Media
This past October, I ran a little experiment. I stepped back from social media to see what would happen if I used that time to focus on the areas my data said mattered most.
The result? October became my highest-grossing month ever.
That proved something important: more visibility doesn’t always equal more sales. Sometimes, stepping back helps you see what’s actually driving your business growth.
Social media should support your strategy, not be your entire strategy.
How to Reframe Your Relationship with Social Media
Social media isn’t bad—it just needs boundaries. When used intentionally, it’s a great way to connect with your audience and build trust. But it’s not the foundation of a sustainable business.
Your foundation comes from knowing your numbers, refining your client experience, and improving your offers.
When you use metrics to guide your marketing, you’ll:
Post with purpose instead of pressure
Focus on conversion, not just visibility
Stop comparing your business to someone else’s highlight reel
That’s how you shift from stress to strategy.
Simple, Strategic, Sustainable Growth
Social media can start the conversation, but your metrics guide the strategy that keeps it going.
When you focus on the right numbers, you stop guessing and start growing—with clarity, confidence, and ease.
Because sustainable growth doesn’t come from constant posting. It comes from intentional, data-driven decisions that create consistency over chaos.
So if you’ve been feeling frustrated or stuck on the content treadmill, take this as your sign to pause. Look at your numbers—they’ll show you what’s working and what’s not.
That’s where the clarity and the growth live
If you're ready to finally ditch the data drama and create a simple, repeatable process for growth, this is exactly what we do inside Metrics Mastery.
Get started for free at amytraugh.com and let’s build a business that’s backed by strategy, not stress.
Until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
Episode Links
🎙️DID YOU LOVE THIS EPISODE? Hit that follow button & then check out these episodes packed with even more strategies to help you shatter your sales plateau!
💥 ARE YOU READY TO TURN YOUR METRICS INTO MONEY? Get started for FREE at amytraugh.com
🙋♀️ WANT FEATURED ON THE METRICS MAVEN PODCAST? Here’s your opportunity! Learn more here
Transcript for Episode 442. Is Social Media Actually Slowing Your Sales?
@0:02 - Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
Is social media actually slowing down your sales? I know this sounds completely backwards. We've all been sold this idea that social media is the key to growing a business.
Scroll your feed and you'll see sold out launches, dream lifestyles, and those $20,000 months that are like the gold standard.
They just make things look effortless. But here's what most of that content is leaving out. It's leaving out the context because what you don't see are the ad budgets, the teams, the years of trial and error behind those results.
And for solopreneurs especially, that pressure to keep up can quietly become a full-time job. That you end up feeling like an influencer more than a business owner, but it's not actually leading to more sales.
But what if all of the time that you're spending creating content, looking at all the trends, and fighting with the algorithm, what if it's actually selling?
So we were just talking about Fathom You're engaging, you're doing stories, you're doing reels, but your results just aren't matching the effort.
And it's this soul-sucking, draining task that makes so many solopreneurs just feel like they're constantly in this reactive mode trying to keep up.
And somewhere along the way, social media became the thing instead of a thing. Maybe it's because it's free, but it is so easy to fall into this trap.
Why? Because social media is often the... The most visible, active part of your business. You can see the work you're putting in.
You're posting, you're sharing, you're engaging, and it feels really productive. But what most solopreneurs don't realize is that all of this activity doesn't actually always translate into results.
Because you could be spending hours creating reels, responding to comments, writing captions, and still not get any clients or consistent income from social media.
Just more pressure results. Because now you're posting in hopes that something will finally take off because we subconsciously believe that going viral has to be the key to more followers.
And more followers will lead to more sales, right? Gosh, no wonder we're so tired. Pressure like that is completely exhausting.
But the problem isn't that social doesn't work. It's that it's really unpredictable. And you're relying on an algorithm that is constantly changing.
And rewards trends more than strategy. You don't own your audience or your content. You're building a house on borrowed land and hoping that your landlord doesn't change the rules.
Then when engagement suddenly drops, it starts to feel personal, like you're the problem. But you're not the problem. You're just operating inside a system that's designed to keep you chasing visibility instead of building stability.
That's why I say treating social media like your entire marketing strategy is risky. It's really like putting all of your eggs in a basket that doesn't even belong to you.
And instead of evaluating what's actually working, most solopreneurs end up doubling down on social. They're posting more. They're doing all the trends.
They're comparing themselves to everyone else. Measuring their success based on everyone else's vanity metrics, those likes, follow, shares, all those things that don't mean much.
It's an illusion of progress, right? But 10,000 followers that aren't converting into clients aren't going to pay your bills.
And all that time and energy that you're trying to keep up with all of the updates on social, what it's doing, it's time you're wasting, that you're not actually spending, improving your client experience, deepening your marketing strategy, improving your offer.
So what if instead of trying to be louder online and pouring all of this energy into social, you started getting more strategic about your marketing?
And this is where a metrics-based approach comes in. Because now you're focusing on numbers that actually drive your business forward.
When you focus on your metrics, marketing becomes... Strategic instead of stressful. Why? Because now you can see exactly what's working, double down on it, and stop guessing your way through your business.
A metrics-based approach gives you something that social media never can. It gives you clarity and control. Your metrics show you what's actually working inside your business.
They show you what's bringing in clients, where your leads are coming from, and what activities are actually worth your time without assuming, without relying on an algorithm, by relying on objective facts.
So let's say you look at your numbers, and then you realize, okay, most of your conversions are coming from referrals, or your email list.
This is gold. This is information that tells you exactly now where to focus your time and effort. Spending your energy nurturing.
Those areas, rather than trying to force growth on a platform that's inconsistent at best. Or maybe you discover that your content's not the issue at all.
It's just that your call to action isn't clear. Or maybe your audience doesn't understand what you do. Your metrics will show you that.
Data gives you direction. It is not cold or complicated. It's simply information that helps you make intentional choices. And when you see it that way, the pressure lifts.
You don't have to get stuck in overanalyzing every single thing within your business. Allowing you to step off the content hamster wheel.
Because now you know exactly what's moving your business forward. And when you use your numbers to guide your marketing strategy, social media becomes a lot lighter.
Because now you're not posting from a place of panic or trying to prove your worth through engagement and follower counts.
Transcription by CastingWords You're actually showing up with purpose because now you know how social media fits into the bigger picture.
And you can finally start treating it as what it is. Social media. It's social. It is a supporting tool for connection and brand awareness.
Not your main sales engine. It's like flipping the switch from I hope this works to I know this works.
Now before you start thinking I am anti-social media, let's just be clear. I am not saying you should go and delete your accounts or stop posting altogether.
Social media absolutely has a place in your business. It is where you can connect with your audience, build that trust, and really humanize your brand.
But again, it should support your marketing strategy, not be your entire marketing strategy. Kind of like the supporting act versus the star of the show.
And I will completely admit to you, I have fallen into this trap. When I started my first business, I thought social media was the answer to everything.
If I just posted more, showed up every day, created better content, then the clients would come. And for a while, it felt like it was working.
I was busy. I was visible. My metrics were rising. And I was doing all the things the experts told me to do.
But you know what wasn't growing at the same rate? My sales. I was spending so much time trying to keep up that I wasn't paying attention to the actual data, the numbers that tell you what's really working.
I was chasing visibility instead of strategy. And here's the part that might surprise you. This October, just last month, I decided to take a step back from social media intentionally because you know me, I'm all about doing experiments and looking at the data.
I wanted to see what would happen in my business if I poured the energy and time that I put on social media into metrics that actually...
And guess what? October ended up being my highest grossing month to date. This experience was such a powerful reminder that more visibility does not always equal more sales.
Sometimes giving ourselves the permission to pause and stepping back creates more space for the things that actually grow your business.
Now, does this mean I'll never post again? Of course not. I still use social media and I'm using it intentionally and even more so intentionally after this month pause.
It's still a tool for nurturing and connection. But for me in my business, it is not my primary source of leads or validation.
Social media can start the conversation, but your systems, your offers, your client experience, your email list, that's what actually leads to conversions and long-term growth.
Because when your marketing is guided by data, not dopamine, you can finally start. Step out of the comparison trap and focus on sustainable, consistent business growth.
And when you use data to drive your decisions, social media feels so much lighter because now you're showing up with purpose because you know exactly how this piece fits into the bigger puzzle.
You get to show up because you want to, not because you have to. And that's when social media becomes sustainable.
So let's bring this back full circle. Social media in and of itself is not inherently bad, but we need to shift our relationship with social media.
When it is your main marketing strategy, it keeps you chasing visibility instead of building stability. You end up measuring your worth by engagement, your success by follower accounts, and your progress by comparison.
But when you shift your focus to the numbers that actually matter, those metrics that show you what's working, you start running your business from a place of calm.
You stop posting out of pressure. You stop chasing every trend. You stop measuring your success by vanity metrics that don't mean a darn thing.
And instead, your decisions start coming from clarity. You know exactly where your clients are coming from. You know which offers convert best.
You know which content actually drives sales instead of just getting attention. This is the power of data. It brings you back to the driver's seat because you do not need to shout louder to get noticed.
You just need to focus on the right things. The things that consistently grow your business, even when the algorithm doesn't quote unquote cooperate.
And maybe, just maybe, you'll find what I did. When you stop relying so heavily on social media and Start trusting your strategy.
You create the space for more growth, more alignment, and more ease. Because simple is sustainable, and sustainable growth doesn't come from chasing likes.
It comes from making intentional, data-driven decisions that serve you and your clients. So if you've been feeling frustrated, burnt out, or stuck on the content treadmill, take this as your permission to pause.
Step back and look at your numbers. Let them guide you, because this is where the clarity is hiding. If this episode resonated with you, this is exactly what I love helping clients with inside my signature program, Metrics Mastery and One-on-One.
Get started for free at amytraugh.com. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
Comments