Learn about marketing without social media
If you’re sick of spending hours creating social media content and getting zero results, I have good news. You do not need to be on social media to have a successful marketing strategy.
In this 3-hour training, discover effective ways of attracting new customers and staying front and center of your existing fans. Best of all, these tried-and-true marketing techniques don’t involve creating content at the whim of an algorithm or doing free labor for billionaires.
💻 New live online date coming soon!
😩 Have you ever said, “I wish I could quit social media but I have to be on there for work”?
😵💫 Are you tired of the social media rat race and working at the whim of an algorithm you can’t control?
😡 Do you disagree with the outsized influence these billionaires have over our privacy, our lives, and our information? Wanna throw some sand in the gears?
🤔 Do you want to discover effective ways of marketing that don’t involve social media platforms?
If you answered yes to any of these questions,
You’re invited to the Algorithm Pity Party 🥳💩
You do not need to be on social media to have a successful business.
Half of your brain probably feels massive relief hearing that statement. The other half wants to argue with me. I get it.
It is easier for you to imagine the end of your business (your community, your project, your art) than it is to imagine not being on these platforms.
You probably believe blogs are dead, websites are obsolete, and that no one wants to get a bunch of emails from you.
But guess who benefits from you believing stuff like that? The billionaires who own social media platforms.
Would you accept an unpaid, part-time job working for a billionaire?
In order to exist, these platforms require huge amounts of free labor in the form of content creation. Because if there’s not a constant supply of new content, there’s less engagement, and fewer eyeballs to show ads to.
We’re convinced that we must be on these platforms or sink into irrelevance. And yet, as of early 2025, the average engagement rate of an organic Instagram post is just 1.2%.
You read that right, they’re only showing your content to 1% of your subscribers. . No wonder you spend so much time creating content and barely get any likes or comments.
If you’ve ever had content go viral (which is the goal of all this free labor, I guess), you know what a nightmare and time suck that can be. Never mind the absolutely appalling comments you now have to moderate, you also get an influx of new audience members who aren’t really interested in what you do, who only followed you because an algorithm that rewards sameness showed them your content with a trending audio in the background. Going viral is not a business strategy. Not one you can control, anyway.
Every time business owners find a way to use social media platforms for free marketing or exponential growth, it’s a guarantee that the platform will change the rules of the game. Social media platforms are not here to benefit us. They are corporations that exist to benefit billionaires. Period!
The current American president has given billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk outsized influence over our government, in addition to their already formidable influence over our daily lives. They own a remarkable amount of data about us (we are the product). Their platforms have been allowed to grow (unregulated) into literal utilities that we depend on to access and communicate with our networks daily.
Misinformation and hate speech are allowed to thrive on these platforms. And there are well-documented negative effects of social media on our mental health, especially in children and teens. Enough is enough.
Let’s stop feeding the machine and find new and authentic ways to connect with our clients, customers, and fans.
The truth is: you do not need social media for an effective marketing plan.
There are many ways of educating your audience or spreading the word about what you do that have NOTHING to do with being on social media platforms.
I’m talking about stuff like:
- having an onboarding plan for new customers
- nurturing existing customer relationships
- email marketing
- conducting customer interviews
- search engine optimization on your own website
- social listening that directs your content strategy
- creating content that plays into your strengths and passions rather than an algorithm
- digital products like courses or eBooks
- refer-a-friend programs
- in-person events
- limited drops with pre-orders
- old school marketing like flyers and networking
- I could go on (and I will, you should register now).
The platforms don’t own or control this stuff. You do.
Working at the whim of the algorithm, which is designed to be a moving target that changes each time we start to figure it out, is exhausting and disempowering.
Unless you can directly link your likes, follows, and comments to the money you make in your business, there are definitely better ways to spend your precious time than doing free labor for corporations.
How would it feel to have a marketing plan that you don’t resent or avoid? What if you even felt excited about marketing? What would change if you liked the internet again?
💖 What They’re Saying
One of Amber’s standout qualities is her talent for honing ideas and transforming them into effective communication strategies. Her keen insights and thoughtful approach allowed me to refine concepts and present them in the most compelling manner possible. Specifically her feedback helped refine a slide deck so we could get our story across to major investors. Amber’s strategic mindset and attention to detail elevated the overall quality of our work, ensuring that every aspect was well thought out.
Working with Amber was an absolute pleasure. Not only is she professional, but her infectious enthusiasm, unique perspectives and positive energy made the entire experience enjoyable and rewarding. She effortlessly creates a collaborative and supportive environment, fostering creativity and innovation.
Your workshop was high value and over delivered. I especially enjoyed the personal antidotes and practical tips that demystified the process and provided tools to sidestep obstacles.
Angie A.
You rock. You have so much knowledge in the field, and I appreciate you sharing this information.
This workshop was extremely informative and helpful!
Chelsea
I’ve been a successful employee for decades, and it’s a big jump now to be my own boss. There is a lot I am trying that is not in my comfort zone, so by the end of the webinar, I found a smile on my face feeling I wasn’t alone in trying new things out even when I’m scared.
Leila
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Amber. Amber has a potent combination of in-depth knowledge of what meaningful content is AND how to impact fully share it with the world and cultivate community. Her internal communication style when working with her is as skillful as her external marketing skills. She is clear, concise, and honestly warm and relatable. She meets you where you are at whether you are working on a project, or she is guiding you the yoga mat. I cannot recommend Amber and her many talents enough.
Amber’s clear vision and creative thinking brings projects roaring into life. Community building is a special skill that, with Amber, comes from her heart and a passion for the ways we can see and be seen in the world with compassion.
Scarlett
Thank you so much for your time, expertise and in particular, your energy. You are an absolute delight to listen to and learn from. So heart-felt thanks to you.
Kathleen
Amber shows up authentically, which helps create a space in which every participant can also show up as themselves–messiness and all. She challenges traditional business and marketing advice to acknowledge what might work more organically for each individual.
Lindsay
Find your power, learn in community.
I’m a solo business owner, a community builder, an educator, and an artist. I deal with these frustrations, too. My goal is to empower all of us to remember marketing methods that existed long before these platforms did, and which many successful businesses around the world are using daily to spread the word about their work.
At the Algorithm Pity Party, I’m going to talk about ways you can take back your power around marketing. I also want to hear from you:
What are marketing techniques you currently use in your business that have nothing to do with platforms? What’s working? What do you enjoy doing? What are good reasons to spend less time on the platforms? And if we are going to spend time there, how can we be strategic and get the best return on our investment?
At the Algorithm Pity Party, you’ll be in community with other folks who share the same frustrations and challenges. We’re going to compare notes on successes and failures. Let’s teach each other what’s working and what’s not. No gatekeeping around here.
It’s time to organize.
It can be difficult to imagine solo workers unionizing because we don’t all share a common employer. But we all do free labor for these giant corporations when we create content on their platforms.
It’s unlikely that we will cause the platforms to change their business model to benefit content creators. But what we can do is be more unified in our approach. We can start using their platforms differently.
We can seize the means of production by nurturing our the spaces within our control (websites, email lists, customer relationships, events, and more). We can reclaim some of our precious time and invest it into our own businesses.
You probably don’t have a full-time content marketing team with writers and photographers and data analysts (which is why a lot of mainstream marketing advice doesn’t apply to your situation). But you can be empowered to pull the levers in your business that effect measurable and directly attributable change.
Doesn’t that sound better than making yet another short-form video with boring trending audio, hoping it will go viral?
This pity party is way overdue.
I’ll see you there.
About Amber Karnes
Hey, I’m Amber (she/her). I’m a community builder, educator, and artist.
I am a curious, multi-passionate person and a connector. Over the past 25 years I have built communities and thrown events around yoga, art, craft, graphic design, food justice, the hardcore punk music scene, bikelife, entrepreneurship, and more. I went to school for graphic design and for 10 years, I worked in design and marketing roles in corporate, nonprofits, and as a freelancer.
The past 14 years I’ve been building community (and a business) in the yoga industry. I am the founder of Body Positive Yoga, which is both a teaching method and a community built around body liberation and accessibility. Before March 2020, I was traveling full-time, leading workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings.
Then the pandemic happened and changed everything about my work (and the whole yoga industry). I stopped traveling and have been spending the last 4 years supporting other solo business owners through business coaching and marketing strategy.
I’m still in the process of figuring out how I want to work in the world. I am rolling out some new work which includes stuff like a peer mentorship retreat for solo business owners who are pivoting their work, a surfing retreat for complete beginners, a community for solo business owners who want to get better at sharing their work, and more.
I am old in internet years, and I was very online before social media ever existed.
At age 16, I taught myself html and coded my own blog from scratch, years before the word “blog” was invented. And I was installing php-based discussion forums on my own servers long before Facebook was even a glimmer in ol’ Zuckerberg’s eye.
I don’t say all this to brag about my nerd cred, but to simply make the point: I remember a time before social media.
And I have run lots of successful projects, communities, and businesses that didn’t include social media as a primary marketing strategy.
I can’t wait to talk about all of this with you.
Why I left social media…
I have deep concerns about many facets of social media, and deleted the apps off my phone last summer. I still have my accounts, but the apps are gone. Social media had changed my brain in ways that I didn’t like.
I feel better off social media. Since leaving the apps, I feel like I’ve reclaimed pieces of my brain that had been chopped up and scattered. Even with notifications turned off, there was this reflexive habit—open phone, tap Instagram, scroll—like a tiger pacing its cage.
My mind feels clearer without that constant pull. My focus is better when I’m ready to sit down and work.
I feel fewer impulses to buy stuff that I don’t need.
I feel better mentally. I’m not comparing my messy, regular-degular life to the curated greatest hits tour of social media. And I’m not comparing my actual 42-year old skin texture to the world of filters and ring lights.
It’s one of those things where you don’t know how bad you felt, until you start to feel better.
Plus, the values of the tech billionaires that own these platforms don’t align with mine, and I want to spend as little time as possible making them richer.
Curious about how you can use social media less while also being in community with others? Join me.
Purchase The Recording
3-hour workshop & slides
$60 USD
What To Expect
You are purchasing a recording of a livestreamed, online event that took place on Zoom. After you make payment, you’ll get an email with info about how to access the replay.
If you purchase and don’t get an email, please add hello [at] amberkarnes.com to your contacts/safe senders and check your spam folder, as my automated emails often land in the wrong place.
Rather attend this event live?
Leave your email here and I’ll let you know next time I teach this workshop.
Get excited about the internet again.
Let’s party.
FAQs
Will the workshop be recorded?
Yes, if you can’t attend live, don’t worry. The workshop will be recorded and the video will be sent out within 24 hours. However, I encourage you to attend live if you are able to, so you can ask questions and talk about marketing with other folks like you!
I'm not a business owner, can I still attend?
Yes! This workshop is a marketing training, and everyone needs marketing skills. Marketing is about telling your fans, customers, or friends how they can get more connected to you and your work. Whether you want to spread the word about an event, grow an existing community, or tell more people about your cool new project, this workshop will be full of ideas you can use.