The Goal Digger Podcast | Top Business and Marketing Podcast for Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Women in Business

917: “I Quit Social Media And My Business Grew 165%: Here’s How”

September 29, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The biggest lie in business growth is the necessity of being active on social media, as sustainable growth can be achieved through strategies like SEO and email marketing. 
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is evolving into Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) due to AI, but the core principle remains creating helpful, human-centric content that answers specific audience questions. 
  • Marketing efforts should prioritize long-term, evergreen assets (like SEO content and automated email funnels) over short-term, interruptive social media posting, as this builds business security and longevity. 

Segments

Sponsorships and Working Genius Model
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(00:00:01)
  • Key Takeaway: The episode opens with sponsors and an endorsement of the Working Genius model for discovering strengths.
  • Summary: The first part of the episode features advertisements for Skims, LinkedIn, Mercury, and Greenlight. This is followed by a segment where Jenna Kutcher discusses the benefits of the Working Genius assessment for personal and team productivity.
Introducing Social Media Detox Topic
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(00:02:17)
  • Key Takeaway: The core topic is introduced: building a business without relying on the social media algorithm.
  • Summary: Jenna Kutcher addresses burnout from the ‘social media hamster wheel’ and introduces guest Kate Kordzmeier, who claims to have grown her business significantly after quitting social media, inspiring Jenna to focus on SEO.
The Biggest Lie in Business Growth
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(00:05:42)
  • Key Takeaway: The biggest lie sold to entrepreneurs is the necessity of being on social media for business success.
  • Summary: Kate Kordzmeier identifies the necessity of social media as a business lie. She explains that an email list and a solid business model are more crucial, suggesting social media should only be ’the icing, not the cake.'
Kate’s Social Media Detox Journey
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(00:07:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Kate quit social media in 2021 after a 30-day detox proved her business could thrive without it, leading to greater happiness.
  • Summary: Kate details her journey off social media, starting with a detox in 2021. She emphasizes that her business and happiness remained high, leading her to permanently step away and encouraging others to evaluate if social media aligns with their values.
Non-Social Marketing Strategy Overview
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(00:11:12)
  • Key Takeaway: A successful non-social strategy relies on doubling down on search (SEO), email marketing, and partnerships.
  • Summary: Kate outlines her marketing mix, which excludes social media but includes SEO, email, paid ads, and partnerships. Her core focus is ’email first, search first marketing.'
SEO vs. Interruptive Marketing
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(00:22:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Search marketing (SEO) is invitation marketing where users are actively seeking solutions, unlike interruptive social media marketing.
  • Summary: The discussion contrasts the quality of traffic from search (where users are looking for answers) versus social media (which requires stopping the scroll). SEO content has longevity, unlike fleeting social posts.
SEO Foundations and AI Changes (GEO)
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(00:20:08)
  • Key Takeaway: SEO is evolving into GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) but the foundation remains creating helpful content that answers user questions.
  • Summary: Kate addresses fears that AI is killing SEO, explaining that it’s changing. The core principle is creating content that answers questions, which is now relevant for both traditional search engines and AI tools.
Actionable Steps for SEO Beginners
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(00:26:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Beginners should focus on answering client questions, leading with the answer, and leveraging personal experience over technical complexity.
  • Summary: Kate provides three steps: 1) Answer client questions, leading with the answer. 2) Lead with firsthand human experience, which AI cannot replicate. 3) Refresh and republish old, high-performing content for longevity.
Antisocial SEO Course Offer
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(00:51:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Kate’s course, Antisocial SEO, teaches search optimization, including GEO, and includes a custom GPT tool for content creation.
  • Summary: Jenna asks Kate to detail her course, Antisocial SEO. Kate confirms it covers SEO, GEO, and includes a custom GPT trained on her frameworks to speed up blog post creation, offering a 50% discount code for Jenna’s listeners.
Final Thoughts on Sustainable Marketing
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(00:54:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Focusing on long-term, search-based content provides business security and shifts creation energy from chasing attention to serving existing needs.
  • Summary: Jenna and Kate conclude by emphasizing that sustainable marketing levers provide security, allowing entrepreneurs to step away without their business stopping, contrasting this with the dependency created by constant social media posting.