You know that old saying, “The shoemaker’s children have no shoes”? For the longest time, I was living the 2025 version: The social media marketer’s agency had no socials. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a spork, I know. We’ve been in the trenches, absolutely killing it for our clients. Crafting killer content, making their analytics sing, and turning their feeds into works of art. Our clients were thriving, and we were riding the high of their success.
Our own pages, though? Let’s just say they were giving tumbleweeds-in-a-ghost-town chic. A post here, a forgotten Story there. We were the definition of “do as I say, not as I do.”
The Cold, Hard, Numerical Gut-Punch
I kept telling myself it was fine. A good problem to have, right? “We’re just too busy with client work!” I’d say, like some badge of honor. But then came the moment of reckoning. The kind of plot twist you don’t see coming, even though it was staring you right in the face.
Picture this: It’s late. The only light is the blue-ish glow from my monitor. I’m pulling analytics reports, feeling all proud and accomplished looking at our client wins. I decide to pull up a report for a newer client we’ve had for just over a month. We’d implemented a consistent video strategy, posting every day for 30 days.
Then, out of morbid curiosity, I pulled up our agency’s lifetime analytics right next to it.
And there it was. The cold, hard, numerical gut-punch. This client, in just 30 days of consistent posting, was outperforming the entire lifetime of our own account. I’m talking reach, engagement, impressions—all of it. It was like watching a freshman sprinter blow past a seasoned marathon runner who forgot to train.
In that moment, I wasn’t just a business owner. I was my own worst-case-study.
Time To Put On My Own Oxygen Mask
We preach day-in and day-out that consistency is the secret sauce. We tell our clients that showing up is half the battle. We explain that you can’t build a community with radio silence. And here we were, silently screaming hypocrisy with our neglected grid.
It’s the classic airplane rule, isn’t it? You have to put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others. We were so focused on securing everyone else’s masks that we were slowly passing out from a lack of market-share-hypoxia. We weren’t just missing out on a few likes; we were becoming irrelevant in our own field and letting potential clients walk right by because we weren’t practicing what we preached.
Taking Our Own Advice (Finally)
So, I did the only logical thing a swamped, slightly-humbled agency owner could do. I took our own advice.
I finally resigned myself to the fact that we couldn’t do it all. We are officially hiring a social media manager for our own damn social media. It feels both ridiculous and like the smartest decision I’ve made all year. We’re finally putting on our own oxygen mask. We’re getting a new pair of shoes from the cobbler. We are, at long last, about to practice what we preach.
So if you’ve been letting your own marketing slide while you build everyone else’s empire, this is your sign. Don’t be me. Don’t wait for the analytics to slap you in the face. Put on your oxygen mask first. The view from up here is about to get a whole lot better.
Talk soon,
Jess
P.S. If you know a fab social media manager, please send them here and let’s set up a meeting.
