You Don't Have To Post To Social Media Every Day

I’m talking about B2B brands here. Content creators and B2C brands are different.

Keep that in mind as you read.

You’ve heard it before: "you need a social strategy."

Every marketing blog, conference, and consultant pushes it.

“Be consistent,” they say. “Be authentic. Post every day. Build your following.”

But here’s the thing about that: for most people, most of the time, that effort doesn’t lead to new customers. And it rarely drives meaningful revenue.

Social media is noisy, expensive, and best practices change faster than companies can keep up. And while it plays a role, it’s often treated like a silver bullet—a fact that’s especially galling when you consider that email marketing can see a return ranging from $10 to $50 for every $1 spent and that SEO generates leads for about half the cost of social media.

But, I want you know that this post isn’t anti-social media. It’s pro-context. For example, I love using social for mid-funnel or retargeting use cases.

I want to break down what social is truly good at, when it falls short, and what to do instead if you want leads that convert and a marketing engine you can count on.

Let’s start with what we were promised.

When Facebook business pages first launched, marketers saw a golden opportunity. With them, you could reliably count on free exposure, direct access to followers, and a chance to build a brand voice in public.

It’s hard to imagine it now, but in the late 2000s and early 2010s, social media seemed like the perfect place for low-cost, scalable, and personal business leads. The thinking of the time was that if you could build a loyal following, you could market directly to them.

Well, at least, that was the idea.

But nevertheless, a certain playbook became conventional wisdom. Grow your audience, engage them regularly, and some portion would convert.

And, sure, influencers, meme pages, even DTC startups blew up by riding this wave. It worked well—for a fleeting moment.

Some brands even built multi-million dollar businesses off Instagram alone. It made sense to believe social could be a primary growth engine.

But the window narrowed and algorithms changed. Organic reach shrank as more brands flooded in. And the days of “just post great content and grow” quietly ended.

Today, the average Facebook post reaches only about 2% of followers. On Instagram, it's closer to 4%.

Unless you’re paying to play, few people see your posts. And if they do, they're often not ready to buy.

Here’s where the myth falls apart.

Start with organic reach. If 98% of your audience doesn’t see your content unless you boost it, then it’s not reliable on its own as a lead engine. At this point, it’s a toll road.

Which brings me to the subject of ROI. I mentioned that email marketing can see a $10 to $50 return on every dollar. For social, it’s around $2.80.

SEO costs about $31 per lead on average. Social media is closer to $58.

And attribution is a mess, too, which makes it even harder to squeeze money out of social media channels. Sprout Social found that 70% of marketers can’t confidently measure ROI from social. Even when you can track results, the numbers rarely justify the time.

Much of this is owed to Apple’s iOS 14 changes which made social ads harder to target and less effective. Click-through rates generally land in the sub-1.5% zone. The upshot of which means you’re paying more and getting less.

And you have to do all this while still grinding to keep your feed updated and your engagement up. It is tremendously frustrating if social media is not properly positioned as part of a larger plan.

Social media doesn’t just cost money—it eats time. According to a 2022 survey by Vertical Response said that 43% of small business owners were spending 6 or more hours on social media.

That’s nearly a full workday gone, just to maintain a presence. Who has time for that?

And it’s not like that is a 6 hour dedicated deep work block—it’s nights, weekends, and scattered hours between real work.

All for a channel that may never generate a single qualified lead.

Worse, social rarely offers compounding returns. You post, it makes a splash, and then it just disappears into the mist.

A blog post can drive traffic for years. An email list grows in value with each subscriber.

But a reel? It’s gone in hours.

The algorithm buries it, the feed moves on, and you’re back at zero.

Social media was never meant to be your best lead source. Most social media networks are entertainment channels that happen to be supported with ads.

That means that social is a place people go to kill time—not solve problems. That makes it a weak conversion channel but a great discovery tool.

You might find a brand through a tweet or Instagram post, but you’re unlikely to buy on the spot. And this is especially true for high-consideration products or services.

That’s why positioning matters. Treating social as a sales funnel sets you up for disappointment. Instead, think of it as a trust builder. Proof of life for your business. A way to say: we’re real, we’re active, and we’re paying attention.

In that light, the bar changes. You don’t need to post daily. You don’t need to go viral.

You just need a credible presence, occasional updates, and the right strategy to funnel attention into channels that actually close deals. And that means channels like email, SEO, or sales calls.

Framed this way, social starts to pull its weight.

Even with all its flaws, social has a role to play—just not the one most marketers are sold.

First, there’s brand presence. A dormant Instagram or Facebook page makes you look defunct. A few recent posts signal you're alive and operational. It's less about engagement, more about proof of life.

Then there’s top-of-funnel awareness. When you launch a new product, attend a conference, or land press, social amplifies that momentum. It’s quick, visual, and shareable, which is great for short-term bursts of attention.

It also works for community. Niche brands thrive on platforms like Reddit, TikTok, or Instagram, where they can engage directly with passionate groups. If you’re in a hobbyist space or subculture, the right meme or reel can really make people feel seen, even if it doesn’t close the sale.

Finally, there’s virality—rare, but possible. TikTok campaigns, in particular, can spike interest by so much that it can crash websites!

One Dentsu study found TikTok delivered 11.8x short-term ROI, outperforming TV and online video. But these are moonshots, not baselines. (But it should be noted: this was based on modelled attribution across campaigns, so even this should be taken with a grain of salt.)

I think the Moneyball approach to marketing works a lot better—go for on-base percentage, not home runs.

Or put another way: plan for consistency and celebrate virality if it happens to grace you with its presence.

Used smartly, social earns its keep. Just don’t ask it to do the work of email or SEO.

If you want consistent, compounding results, look elsewhere.

Start with SEO. High-intent search terms—like “best 3PL for Shopify” or “emergency AC repair”—convert far better than a social post ever will. Leads from SEO are less expensive and improve over time as your content ranks. It's slow at first, but the compounding effect means you get more qualified traffic for less effort in the long run.

Then there’s email. Despite being the oldest digital channel, email still delivers healthy ROI. And that’s because no one turns over their email unless they truly care what you have to say. Even getting an email address means your positioning needs to be on point. Plus, email scales well, builds on itself, and supports multiple funnel stages—from lead nurturing to re-engagement.

Social can still play a role here. It’s fine as an amplifier for you to post your blog, announce your webinar, share case studies, and so on. But don’t confuse that with a funnel. It’s not.

You’ll get more from owning your traffic sources. SEO and email are channels you control. Partnerships, referral programs, and lead magnets can all outperform a month of Instagram posts. And they build on top of each other instead of disappearing into a feed.

If you’re in B2B, you should know that an estimated 80% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn ads. And it makes sense because LinkedIn a place people go to work, not to be entertained, meaning decision-makers spend time there, read posts, and click links. For high-ticket sales and relationship-based selling, LinkedIn is a goldmine.

For visual DTC products, Instagram and TikTok can hit hard. Brands that sell beauty, gadgets, clothing, or food sometimes live or die by social trends. The TikTok-Dentsu research study I cited a moment ago showed short-term ROI of 11.8x for advertisers. That’s stronger than YouTube or even TV in some bursts.

Local businesses also benefit when they show up in the community. Active Facebook pages, local group shoutouts, and UGC can make a notable difference, even if that only means winning a few new customers a week.

And for niche communities? Social can work like a charm. Whether it’s Reddit threads, Discord servers, or indie Twitter/X circles, engagement is high when the culture fits. Just remember: you’re not scaling a funnel—you’re showing up in the right places.

Used with purpose, social media can deliver. Just don’t expect it to carry the whole weight.

Sometimes, the stars align.

Nathan Apodaca, better known as @420doggface208, recorded a short TikTok of himself skateboarding to work while drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice and listening to Fleetwood Mac. It was a vibe and it took off in only the way TikTok videos can.

The video went viral in days—tens of millions of views, national news coverage, and a wave of copycats. Ocean Spray’s sales spiked and they leaned in hard, gifting the creator a truck and featuring him in promotions. All of it happened without a media buy.

This was a masterful play for Ocean Spray. It worked because the brand found an existing video and jumped on it. They fanned flames that were already there.

But here’s the catch: virality is rare, and almost impossible to engineer. Ocean Spray set aside a bit of time to stand out in a lightning storm with a bottle in hand. And they just so happened to catch it this time. We don’t talk about the times they didn’t.

That’s the lesson. Social can work. But betting on it to work every time is wishful thinking.

Social deserves a budget, but not a blank check.

If you're a B2B company making under $1M/year, social should be no more than 10–15% of your marketing spend and time. Enough for a credible presence and the occasional push, but not so much that it crowds out higher-performing channels.

For DTC brands, treat social like paid media. Budget for it like you would for Google Ads or influencer partnerships. Track every dollar and ruthlessly test creative. Then kill what's underperforming.

Either way, stop treating social as a must-post-daily treadmill. A few well-placed pieces per month that amplify launches, answer questions, or build trust will do more than a dozen half-hearted posts.

You don’t need to disappear. But you also don’t need to dance on TikTok unless your customers care. Keep social in proportion to what it returns—and reallocate the rest to email, SEO, and assets you control.

Social isn’t a scam. But it’s also not the secret weapon marketers pretend it is.

It works. Sometimes. In some industries. For some people.

But for most small businesses, it’s a poor lead source, an unreliable revenue driver, and a yawning time pit that distracts from better options.

You still need a presence and you still need content. But you don’t need to build your entire marketing strategy around social unless the data says it’s working.

Instead, build your list. Invest in content that ranks. Form partnerships. Run ads where you can measure outcomes. Do the boring things that work every week.

Social is a lot like a big cocktail party. It’s a great place to meet a lot of people fast. But the real work happens elsewhere—on your website, in your inbox, or on the phone with someone ready to buy.