Social Media Alternatives for Writers: 10 Pathways to Reach Your Readers
This post was adapted from Writing Off Social: The Podcast, Episode 85. You can listen in here!
Welcome back to Season 7! We’ve had a busy few months (course cohorts, coaching clubs, and a brand-new masterclass) and honestly? We missed you. We missed this. Three years has gone in a blink. Time flies when you’re having fun, and we have been having A LOT of fun.
Fresh off our fourth course cohort, we realized something: in all this time, we’ve never actually written about all ten alternative pathways to social media that we teach in Writing Off Social: The Course. Today, that changes.
Before You Can Leave Social Media, You Have to Understand How You’re Using It
Imagine, for a moment, ditching your smartphone for a flip phone. You don’t just lose calls, you lose your camera, your GPS, your alarm clock, your music. You’d need a whole collection of other devices to replace everything your phone was doing.
Social media works the same way. Most of us are using it to accomplish several different goals at once. Before you can leave it, you need to know what those goals are.
We group them into four categories:
- Growth: growing your audience or follower count
- Nurturing: building the like/know/trust factor with your existing readers
- Community: fostering connection, either reader-to-reader or writer-to-writer
- Sales: promoting and selling your books, courses, or other offerings
Finding replacements for all four may sound like a hassle, but let’s be honest, social media is a hassle too. The average person spends about two and a half hours a day on it. For content creators, it’s usually much more. We see this as an opportunity to build a NEW strategy that plays to your strengths and yields a better return on your investment.
The 10 Alternative Pathways
1. Collaboration
Collaboration is less a marketing tactic and more a posture, a way of approaching your work. The most powerful action you can take—the one that will move the needle most—depends on getting in front of other people’s audiences, and that requires collaboration.
This might look like co-hosting a podcast, swapping newsletters with a fellow author, or presenting at a conference together. It supports all four writing goals and is a great fit if you genuinely enjoy building relationships and are willing to put yourself out there.
2. Community Connections
This pathway is about showing up where your readers already are—in real life. Churches, schools, libraries, gyms, coffee shops, MOPS groups. The options are as unique as your reader.
Community connections are especially powerful for nurturing and in-person community building. They work best if you don’t fear a little rejection, love speaking to readers face-to-face, and have established roots in your local area.
3. SEO
If you have a website, you’re already engaging with SEO whether you realize it or not—the only question is to what degree. Search Engine Optimization helps search engines find your site and recommend it to the right readers.
In The Course, we identify three engagement levels: the Delegator (hire it out entirely), the Dabbler (a few plugins and some keyword thinking), and the Master (tech-savvy and ready to go deep with tools and analytics). SEO primarily supports growth, but it lays the foundation for everything else.
4. Blogging
We remember when blogging meant sharing everyday anecdotes and beautiful stories. Today, blogs are carefully crafted, searchable pieces of content, and when paired with solid SEO and an email list, they’re a powerful nurturing and sales tool.
Blogging is a long game. It takes time to gain traction. But if you’re self-motivated, enjoy writing on a schedule, and understand the basics of your website backend, it can be deeply rewarding.
5. Freelance Writing
Freelance writing means creating content for outside organizations, and strategically choosing publications that already serve your ideal reader. Your byline or bio points new readers back to your website, podcast, or core offering.
This pathway is a great fit if you welcome editorial feedback, thrive on deadlines, and can handle some rejection at the start. Perseverance and pluck are key!
6. Substack
Substack is currently the closest thing we have to a 1-to-1 replacement for social media—but without the unwanted ads, addictive technology, and algorithms hiding your content.
Substack supports all four writing goals, with a particular shine on community. It’s one of the best ways to foster the online connection you lose when you leave social media. It also lets you monetize through paid subscriptions, which is actually what keeps it ad-free and algorithm-free.
Plan on at least a year to gain traction, and know that this pathway rewards those who love the craft of writing words above all else.
7. Article Submission
Unlike ongoing freelance writing, article submission is more like being a guest speaker: you pitch one strategic piece to a publication, serve their audience well, and point readers toward your book or core offering.
It’s especially effective for promoting a new release and works well for writers who have something specific to sell and enjoy writing for external audiences.
The Heavy Hitters
The final three pathways take the most time, but they also offer the highest return on investment.
8. Podcast Hosting
Podcasting builds like/know/trust in a way few other mediums can. Your listeners hear your voice, and that changes everything. When it’s working well, it dramatically increases your like/know/trust factor (though it can do the opposite too, so—no pressure!).
It’s also one of the best peer-to-peer community builders for you as the host. Between our two podcasts, it’s hands-down the best way we’ve personally gotten to know people in our respective genres. Heads up: expect to invest a minimum of six hours a week, plus equipment costs. But if you love podcasts and don’t mind your own voice, this pathway can be extraordinary.
9. Public Speaking
Standing in front of your ideal reader in real time is one of the most powerful things you can do. Speaking from a stage grants immediate authority, and the sales potential is very real. In our experience, the sales made at a book table often outweigh the speaking fee itself.
This one is for you if you don’t mind being center stage, love connecting with people in person, and have a written message that translates well to spoken word.
10. Podcast Guesting (or Podcast Tours)
A podcast tour is a form of collaboration where you appear as a guest on several podcasts over a set period—no travel, no pants required. But even guesting on one podcast can be powerful if it reaches the right audience.
Full disclosure: we have been known to pause a podcast midway through and buy a book on Amazon when we hear someone talk about it. Like, a LOT of times. We may have a problem. The point is, it works.
The ROI is high when done well, and we offer a $25 masterclass covering everything from equipment to pitching to showing up like a pro. Link in the show notes.
So Which Pathways Should You Choose?
Not all ten. Please, not all ten.
One of the lies of the industry we’re trying to counter is that you have to do all the things all the time. You simply can’t. Instead, we want to encourage you to pick two or three pathways that are the best fit for you, and feel the freedom to let everything else go.
When choosing, ask yourself:
- Does this pathway support my actual writing goals?
- Does it play to my strengths?
- Does it feel life-giving? Will I actually want to do it?
That last one matters more than you might think. You’re far more likely to stick with a pathway that genuinely lights you up.
Not sure which pathways are your best fit? Take our Quiz: What Should You Do Instead of Social Media? It highlights your top three based on your strengths, goals, and ideal reader.
This post was reformatted from our original transcript by Claude and edited for accuracy by Mary K.
