Businesses claiming 'social media doesn't work' are blaming the tool, not the user. A tool's value is determined by the operator's skill. For an expert like LeBron James, a basketball is a billion-dollar asset; for an amateur, it's a liability. The same is true for marketing platforms.

A growing movement pushes back against the "always-on" demands of social media. This "slow marketing" prioritizes building sustainable systems that work for you, not against you. Pinterest is a key tool for this, rewarding consistent, strategic effort over constant performance and allowing for a life outside of work.

Stop thinking of content as a one-way broadcast. A sophisticated approach involves creating posts designed to provoke responses. Then, systematically mine the comments for raw, unfiltered consumer insights, effectively turning your social channels into a free, real-time market research platform.

During a maternity leave, the speaker stopped posting on social media and discovered her sales and list growth remained consistent. The instant feedback of likes and comments was a "dopamine hit," but Pinterest was the quiet engine actually driving 80% of the results, revealing a major misalignment of time and effort.

The biggest misconception sold to entrepreneurs is that social media is mandatory for success. In reality, a solid business model, an email list, and effective ways for the right people to find you (like SEO) are the only true necessities. Social media can be "icing," but it shouldn't be the core "cake."

Instead of adding more goals, use a three-part filter to audit them. A goal must support your nervous system (peace), meaningfully advance the business (profit), or align with your desired impact (purpose). This ruthless audit eliminates energy-draining tasks that were never truly yours.

Shift the mindset from a brand vs. performance dichotomy. All marketing should be measured for performance. For brand initiatives, use metrics like branded search volume per dollar spent to quantify impact and tie "fluffy" activities to tangible growth outcomes.

Instead of treating social media as a long-term home, use it as a strategic tool to get your audience onto platforms you own, like an email list. The primary goal is to capture attention and immediately guide followers into your ecosystem, building a more resilient business off-platform.

Glucose Goddess founder Jessie Inchauspé treats her Instagram posts like a tech product, using audience comments and DMs as direct user research. This iterative process of listening to and adapting based on feedback, even when negative, is key to refining a message for mass appeal.