Raise your hand if you’re a business owner who’s exhausted with creating content. Keep your hand up if it didn’t start that way. In the most recent years, social media marketing has taken a turn down a direction most businesses want to opt out of. Whether you’re a struggling introvert, or just burned out with day-to-day business tasks, content has become a commitment that's not only unrealistic, but ineffective.

Before, post frequency was the focus (and working in some aspect) now, it has proven to cause more harm than good. 

Mind numbing repetition, lack of individuality, and app reliability are among many reasons, business owners should take a step back from all-in content creation.

Repetition is still effective but not for long.

There’s so many ads, so many repetitive sounds, and so much business advice that it’s just become draining to engage socially online. Social media used to be more fun and inspiring but now it’s just an endless scroll of advertisements that we’ve become desensitized from. Ads are becoming more personalized but more frequent, which poses a problem for some consumers. 

Because social media has made advertising accessible to the average mom-and-pop business, we have way more businesses fighting for the attention of their customers. But this causes consumers to grow fatigued, and trends begin to show a select few have distrust in social media ads.

In a survey done by Surkey Monkey, they found “Nearly 3 out of every 4 users (74%) think there are too many ads ".

Even though there is still data supporting that ads are still effective, if consumer disapproval continues, I predict this will change. Consumers will push to see fewer advertisements through government policy or even subscription options like YouTube+. 

If social media platforms adopt this model, we could see an increase in ad costs. Even worse, more advertisements will be funneled to basic user accounts, leading to more consumer disapproval. A lose-lose for businesses.

Brands are becoming unoriginal and falling behind social trends.

All this repetition has caused so much chaos, that most businesses post the exact same things. You’ll see many strategists recommend trending sounds, break down transitions, and repeat the exact same voiceovers. Though in theory this isn’t a bad thing, when hundreds upon thousands replicate it, it becomes redundant.

In my opinion, this cycle resembles a pyramid scheme (loosely). Basically, when a new trend has started, only the first few creators benefit, then the hundreds of others who join in are just sort of out of luck. This results in business owners becoming behind the trends, which goes against the need to establish authority in their fields.

Social media platforms cause concerns regarding safety and reliability for business owners.

Most small businesses can relate to chasing the algorithm but truthfully they could just be suffering from the effects of maintaining professional account status.  Now that companies, have monetized their platforms they need to encourage businesses to spend more money on advertising. This causes professional business accounts to receive less engagement, and struggle to get their content seen by their own followers. 

Outside of the dreaded algorithm, there are certain instabilities that can cause business owners to be unsettled.

• The influx of hackers and scammers online
• Government intervention, business practices, privacy concerns. 
• Lack of customer service
• Public discord, cancel culture, doxing. 

These all pose considerable threats to small businesses.

Considering all this, what should businesses do? 

Here’s how I think we can change that: 

1. De-saturate social media platforms. Post more purposeful, original content. Create brand content centered around your values versus just following trends.
2. Spend less time on short-form content & build more robust content strategies. Lean into longer videos, blog content, and articles. 

3. Create longer campaigns. Extend promotions a little longer than usual so your followers are more likely to see and engage with the content before moving on to something else. 

4. Prioritize platforms that give you long-term benefits. Your own website is one of them but also consider platforms like YouTube, and Pinterest

5. Build up your own site. Instead of investing most of your energy into platforms like Instagram, or TikTok to share information, you want your audience coming to your website first. Integrate ways you can offer a community like feel to your own site or develop your own apps so they can join and engage with you there. 

6. Build relationships with others in your community. Business collaborations can be a very lucrative way to expand both companies. This can expand your reach into different audiences by sharing content on their websites, developing joint products, or just creating interesting and memorable collabs. 

Comment Below

Do you agree that business should change the way they utilize some social media platforms?