What Losing My Social Media Accounts Taught Me About Business Stability

I'll be honest, I did panic for a brief moment. Not because I was worried about the businesses themselves, but because there is a lot of life stored in those accounts, photos, memories, contacts and messages etc. Once the initial shock wore off, what became clear was that my businesses were not at risk, because the next thing I did was to email all of my clients.

I speak to so many massage therapists and complementary therapists about business marketing and when I ask how they promote their therapy business, the most common answer is social media. My next question is always, do you collect email addresses?

Then I ask if they actually email their clients, no. Thankfully, due to the development of digital booking systems collecting email addresses has become far more common and much easier to do, so if you have a booking system, there is no reason not to do it.

If you collect your clients' email addresses, that's your data; if you have permission to email those clients, that is your direct link to their inbox. The only person who can take that information away from you is the client themselves. You do not own your social media accounts; they can be taken from you at the drop of a spatula. No warning, no appeal, gone and you may never get them back. They might even still be visible, making it look like you've neglected your business.



So why didn't I go into a full-scale panic about losing my accounts? How did I know my businesses would be ok? Because I have spent years building structure around them. I have email lists, I have client contact details, and I have referral relationships. I have other ways of communicating with the people who matter to my businesses.

Whilst social media is useful and is a good way to showcase your massage therapy business, it should not be the foundation of your business or your marketing. And it's those foundations that I see missing in many therapy businesses, particularly in the early years.

Why do most massage therapists go into business? Because we like helping people, we're good at what we do and deliver great treatments. As therapists, we care about our clients, we work hard and hope bookings roll in. But what often develops is a therapy practice that feels reactive rather than stable.

One week you might be fully booked, the next week is quiet. Payments are chased instead of protected. Policies, if they exist, are applied inconsistently. Marketing only happens when there is time.

Which means you're constantly chasing your tail, feeling behind, you're doing all the things, but not getting the results. It usually means the business foundations for your therapy practice haven't been built properly yet. And those foundations are what create stability and prevent panic.

Social media is a great business tool, yes, include it in your therapy business marketing plan but don't put all your eggs in that one basket. Email is a quick and easy way to reach clients, and before you think 'I don't want to harass people', if they don't want to hear from you, they can hit the unsubscribe button. You can also share the same content in your emails as you do on social media because the chances of them having seen both are very slim.



One of my favourite ways of creating lots of content in a simple way is to write a blog post for the website, break that down into a shorter version for your email newsletter, then break it down even further into multiple social media posts. That way your therapy business marketing is consistent, pre-planned, and you can direct readers to your website for the full blog, which in turn helps your website. Directing people to your website also moves them closer to booking if you offer online booking for massage or complementary therapy. It also means if you were to lose access to those social media accounts, your website is up to date with current content, your email list is used to hearing from you, so if you disappeared off socials, would it matter?

Email puts you directly in front of your audience and unlike social media you're not competing against algorithm changes and paid ads. Organic reach on socials is hard to achieve, especially if you're not up for dancing on camera and making crazy viral videos and reels. And let's face it, most of us aren't! It's not about trying to go viral, it's about being consistent and showcasing what you do, how you help people, the treatments you offer, the problems you solve and what makes you different. Using my blog method and breaking it down gives you that consistency and visibility for the right reasons in a clear simple way. There are so many options out there for email marketing, many of which are free and easy to set up, it may even be an option within your therapy booking system.

However, it's always worth doing a price comparison and trying a few out to find the easiest option for you. If you really are a technophobe and don't have the first clue on email marketing, or you simply don't want to do it there are people out there who will set up and even create the emails for you. So even if tech isn't your thing, there are now plenty of simple ways to start emailing your massage and therapy clients consistently.

Losing access to my social accounts reinforced something I've believed for a long time: Massage therapy businesses and complementary therapy practices become far less stressful when they're built around structure instead of reaction.

Over the last year I have been refining a framework based on the exact systems I have used to grow Relax & Remedy while reducing my working hours.

It focuses on four key areas:

1. Strong foundations Clear policies, pricing, systems and boundaries.

2. Predictable income Rebooking, retention and recurring revenue for your therapy practice.

3. Positioned expertise Clear messaging and simplified therapy services.

4. Sustainable structure Therapy business marketing rhythm, dedicated business management time and operational systems.

Instead of trying to fix everything at once, we install these pieces step by step so the therapy business stops feeling chaotic and starts becoming predictable.

If losing your social media accounts tomorrow would completely stop your massage or therapy business in its tracks, it may be time to start strengthening the foundations behind the scenes, not just the visibility on the front end. 



Three things every massage therapist should do this week:

1. Export and safely store your client database
2. Start collecting email permissions properly
3. Send one email newsletter this month, even if it's something simple