Why I Care More About Email Than Algorithms

(A slightly spicy take on marketing)

Most small businesses are spending hours feeding an algorithm that barely shows their work to anyone.

A lot of people are caught in what I call random acts of marketing — posting here, experimenting there, hoping something sticks.

Meanwhile, the people who actually want to hear from them are sitting quietly in their inbox.

That’s one of the reasons I care a lot more about email than I do about social media algorithms.

And yes, I realize that’s a slightly spicy take in a world obsessed with content, reels, and whatever the algorithm is rewarding this week.

But here’s the honest truth. I don’t want my business sitting on rented land.

And that’s exactly what social media is.

When you build your audience on Instagram, TikTok, or any other platform, you are building on a platform you do not control. The rules change. The reach changes. The visibility changes. Sometimes overnight.

You can spend years building an audience, only to wake up one morning and discover that the algorithm has quietly decided your posts are now worth about 3% of the visibility they had last month.

Cool cool cool.

Meanwhile, an email list is different.

When someone gives you their email address, they are saying, “Yes, I want to hear from you.” That relationship does not depend on whether an algorithm thinks your content is engaging enough today or using the correct trending track. It lands directly in their inbox, where actual conversations happen.

That is a completely different kind of asset.

Social Media Is the Ultimate Attention Casino

Let’s also talk about the thing most people don’t admit out loud.

Social media is a black hole for your time and attention.

You open the app to post something for your business. Ten minutes later you are watching a video about sourdough starters, someone’s morning routine, and an argument between strangers about something that happened in Congress (or lack thereof).

Suddenly, twenty minutes are gone.

Then forty.

Then your brain feels like it just pounded two Red Bulls and read the comments section at the same time.

Somatically, that’s not great. Most people feel it in their body. The agitation. The restless scrolling. The weird sense that your brain has been turned into a slot machine.

That is not the mental state where good ideas come from. It is not where thoughtful marketing comes from either.

Marketing actually requires clarity. Strategy. A little space to think.

Social media platforms are not built for that. They are built to keep you scrolling and spending your attention.

And Let’s Be Honest… We Don’t Own Any of It

Here’s the part that makes some people uncomfortable.

You do not own your audience on social media.

You are borrowing access to them.

Platforms track behavior, shape visibility, and decide what content gets amplified. They are businesses, not neutral infrastructure. Their goal is not to help your small business thrive. Their goal is to keep users engaged inside their ecosystem for as long as possible.

That means your content competes with everything else on the platform.

Memes.

Influencers.

Political outrage.

Ads.

Videos of goats wearing pajamas doing yoga. 

Athleisure influencers doing yoga in lighting that somehow always looks perfect.

Good luck with that.

When someone joins your email list, the relationship changes. You are no longer shouting across the same gaudily carpeted casino floor where everyone is pulling levers and hoping the algorithm pays out. You are showing up in a much quieter place.

Their inbox.

Let’s Talk About the 7-Second Visibility Problem

Here’s another uncomfortable truth about social media.

Only a small percentage of your followers actually see what you post.

Most studies put organic reach somewhere between 2–10% depending on the platform. Sometimes, even less for business accounts.

So if you have 1,000 followers, maybe 20 to 100 people will even see your post.

And even then, many will scroll past it in a few seconds before the algorithm serves them the next distraction.

And even when people do see it, the average viewing time is often just a few seconds before the scroll continues.

So think about the math for a moment.

You spent 30 minutes filming and editing a Reel.
You added captions.
You picked the music.
You wrote the caption.
You posted it at the “right time.”

Congratulations.

A small fraction of your followers saw it for a few seconds before the algorithm served them the next distraction.

Was that the best use of your half hour? Or was that the moment you meant to write a blog post, send an email, or call a client instead?

Sometimes the answer is yes. I’ll give you that. But most often, if we’re being honest, the return on that time investment is pretty questionable.

Meanwhile, an email you send goes directly to every single person who asked to hear from you. And a healthy open rate is usually somewhere around 20-25%.

If You’re Going to Play the Casino, At Least Play It Intentionally

Here’s where I think social media actually can make sense.

When you treat it like a campaign tool, not a lifestyle.

If you’re launching something, promoting an event, or intentionally trying to grow your list, then social media can absolutely play a role.

But in those cases, I usually recommend something very different from the endless organic posting treadmill.

You pay to play.

Just like a casino.

You set a budget.
You run targeted ads.
You measure results.

Now the platform is working for you, not quietly eating hours of your time while giving you unpredictable reach in return.

Organic posting can still support that strategy, but the real power comes from intentional campaigns tied to measurable outcomes, like list growth or event registrations.

Not just hoping the algorithm decides to be kind today.

Why This Matters

If you’re a small business owner, your time is your most limited resource.

Every hour you spend creating content is an investment.

The real question isn’t “Should I post more?”

The real question is: Is this the best place for my time to go?

For me, the answer increasingly points back to things I actually own.

My website.
My content.
My email list.

Places where the work I put in today is still working for me next month, next year, and beyond, whatever the algorithm decides tomorrow.

What Happens If Social Media Disappears Tomorrow?

This is the thought experiment I like to ask business owners.

What would happen to your business if social media disappeared tomorrow?

Not a temporary outage. Not a glitch.

Gone.

If your entire marketing strategy relies on one platform, that’s a fragile foundation.

But if you have an email list, a website, and a body of content that lives outside of social media, you still have a direct line to your audience.

You still have relationships.

You still have visibility.

That’s resilience.

Email Is Where Real Relationships Happen

Email might not feel flashy. It’s not full of trending sounds or viral hooks.

But it has something far more valuable.

Attention.

People read emails differently from how they scroll social media. When someone opens an email from you, they are giving you a moment of their focus. That moment is incredibly valuable in a world where attention is constantly fragmented.

It’s also where real conversations happen.

People reply to emails. They share thoughts. They ask questions. They tell you what they’re struggling with in their business.

That feedback loop is gold.

It’s also one of the reasons I’m leaning much more heavily into writing and sending newsletters this year. I want to have real conversations with real business owners, not just feed content into an algorithm and hope it reaches someone.

This Doesn’t Mean Social Media Is Useless

To be clear, I’m not saying social media has zero value.

It can be a discovery tool. It can help people find you. It can support community and conversation.

But for me, it’s not the foundation of a business.

It’s a side street.

The main road is email.

When someone joins my list, I know they actually want to hear from me. And if they don’t, they unsubscribe, and that’s fine. My content simply isn’t for them. And if they stick around, I know I can share ideas, insights, and practical strategies without competing with a thousand other posts in their feed. Some might even spark a conversation, a referral, or a new opportunity to work together.

And if the algorithms decide tomorrow that my content isn’t trendy enough?

That’s fine.

My business doesn’t depend on them.

The Real Question

If you run a small business, here’s the question I’d encourage you to ask yourself.

Are you building your audience on land you own, or land you rent?

Social media is rented space.

Your email list is owned space.

I’d rather build my business on something I actually own.

And in a world where algorithms change constantly and attention is harder than ever to earn, ownership matters.

A lot.

A Simple Place to Start

If building your email list feels like one more overwhelming marketing project, start small.

I put together a Content Visibility Checklist that walks through five simple SEO habits and five AI shortcuts that help your content get found.

It’s a practical way to start building visibility on platforms you actually own without chasing the algorithm.