Transcription
If you've been showing up on social media, posting consistently, trying different formats, following advice, but you're still not growing the way you thought you would, and now you're starting to wonder, "Am I just bad at this?" This video is for you.
Because once you understand why growth feels harder than it should, things start to click and social media stops feeling like this weekly guessing game. Here's what we've noticed after over a decade of working with business owners. Most people are working too hard on the wrong things, usually because the advice they're following was never designed for businesses in the first place. And if that doesn't get corrected, social media slowly turns into something you resent. More effort, more second-guessing, less confidence.
So instead, let's walk through the six truths about social media growth that rarely get explained clearly so you can understand what matters most for your growth. The first truth is the algorithm doesn't dictate your growth. Your audience does. This is one of those things that sounds frustrating at first, but is actually good news. Because it means you're not at the mercy of some mysterious system that just randomly favors certain people.
Here's how platforms actually work. The algorithm's job is not to punish or reward you. Its job is to figure out who your content is for and whether those people find it relevant enough to engage with. You train the algorithm in two main ways. The first is through signals that you give it about who you are and who you serve. That's your profile, your keywords, and your positioning. Second, and this part matters even more, through what your audience does when they see your content. Do they stop scrolling? Do they watch? Do they save it? Do they hide it?
When people scroll past or hide your post, the platform isn't saying your content is bad. It's saying it wasn't relevant to them or it wasn't clear enough fast enough. So instead of letting the algorithm drive you a little bit insane, the most productive thing you can do is look at your profile and your content through a relevance lens. When someone lands on your profile, is it immediately obvious who you're for? Not clever, not vague, clear. Your name field should include keywords people would actually use to search. Your bio should say who you help, who it's for, and what problem you solve plainly. We updated our most popular free guide, the ultimate Instagram checklist to walk you through how to optimize your profile step by step. And you can grab it via the link below.
And then the next is when someone scrolls onto your content, the first one or two seconds should answer one question in their mind. Is this for me? And that's where hooks matter, but not in like a gimmicky way. Calling someone out directly can be incredibly effective. So, a hook for us could be something like this is for business owners who want to grow without becoming full-time creators. That kind of clarity works in carousel text, on-screen video text, and even in your spoken audio.
From there, you want to make sure your posts are actually optimized for discovery. And that means using language your audience already uses. So, keywords they'd type into search themselves and weaving those naturally into captions, on-screen text, and into your topics. So, if you're ever stuck on relevance, one of the simplest things you can do is study people going after the same audience that you are. Search keywords your audience would search. Look at what's performing well, not to copy, but just to understand what's resonating. And if you really think something is wrong with your account and shadowbanning is something you're genuinely concerned about, we'll link a video below that walks through how to tell if that's actually happening because most of the time [music] it isn't.
Now, the second truth builds directly on this one. Posting more won't fix a broken strategy. Now, volume can be helpful, but only when it's paired with intention. More posts give you more data, more insight into your reach, engagement, watch time, and retention. But if you're posting more of the wrong thing because someone told you to post every day, all that happens is that your frustration stacks faster. We believe in working hard but only on the right thing. So, for example, if you've been posting consistently for three, four, six months, and your engagement or reach hasn't moved at all, that's not a sign to push harder. That's a sign to pause and reassess.
Now, here's an exercise. Before sharing another post, if you don't have a strategy in place, it's time to sit down and actually map out a social media strategy. Not a complicated one, but a clear one. You want to understand what are your business goals? How does social media support those goals? Who is your audience? Where are they actually spending time? And I'll give you a real example. We were reviewing a strategy inside our membership for someone focused on helping older women build healthier nutrition habits. She was showing up everywhere, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, which led her to feeling completely stretched, which is completely normal. When we looked at her goal, which was selling a program directly to consumers, LinkedIn didn't really make sense as a primary platform to spend time on. However, if she were targeting corporate women or professionals inside organizations, that would have been a different story. But that clarity allowed her to stop spreading herself thin and focus where it actually mattered. That is why your strategy matters. It protects your time. It also helps you define your content pillars, the topics you talk about and why so that every post earns its place instead of feeling like busy work. We'll link both our free social media strategy template and our content pillars blueprint below if you want help with setting up a real intentional strategy.
Now, even with relevance and strategy in place, most people still miss one or more of the four fundamentals that drive growth, which we'll talk about next. The next truth is that most people are missing one or more of the four C's of social media growth. The four C's are what we've identified have led all of our clients to consistent growth when they lock in.
The first is consistency. And consistency isn't about posting constantly. It's about giving your efforts enough time to work. A lot of people post a few times, don't see immediate results, and then just decide it's not working. That's like going to the gym twice, and concluding exercise doesn't work. You need reps, mate. Repetition builds skill, confidence, and understanding. And we've shared a copy and paste weekly content routine before that uses just three posts per week, and it works across all industries. It'll be in the description box. It will indeed. And the goal, folks, is not volume. It's momentum that you can actually sustain.
Now, the second is content quality. And this is where people overthink. High-quality content doesn't mean cinematic production. You're not making a movie here. Quality at its core means value. And that value can take three forms. It can be education, so helping someone understand something or do something better. It could be inspiration, helping them feel seen or hopeful, or entertainment, making them feel something and want to keep watching all of your stuff. Now, if your content does one of those well, you're on the right track. That said, quality also includes presentation. So, clear audio, decent lighting, framing that feels intentional, editing that keeps people watching. Not perfect, just thoughtful. And by the way, we're going to be doing an editing made easy training series on the channel, which we're mapping out right now. So, if there's a software or tool that you want to use or are struggling with using, let us know in the comments what you'd like to see us do a training on so we can understand what to prioritize. We already have Instagram edits in the plan and Canva of course and happy to do Final Cut or anything else that the audience is using. So, let us know.
Now, the third C is clarity. So, do you know who you're talking to, what they care about, what they're struggling with, what they're searching for when they open these apps. When content is clear, it lands. When it's vague, it gets ignored. 100%. Very much so. And the fourth, arguably the most important is community. Without community, numbers mean nothing. We've seen accounts grow massive audiences that just never convert because there's no actual relationship there. There's no trust. There's no feedback loop. The people behind your follower account matter more than the account itself. And your job is to make them feel seen and feel engaged.
Now, truth number four is one that people really, really need to hear. Growth is slow for most people, and that's normal. It's easy to assume everyone else is blowing up because you tend to see the same accounts over and over again. But when you look at the larger picture, millions of YouTube channels, right, billions, actually three billion Instagram users, virality is actually the exception, not the rule. And that's actually better for building something sustainable. So, it's good news. Often going viral isn't even helpful to the true goal of a business. If you were a Toronto-based realtor going viral globally, you might gain a ton of followers, right? But very few of those followers will ever buy a home from you. That kind of growth looks exciting, but it doesn't necessarily support the business.
Slow, steady growth gives platforms time to understand who you are for. It gives you time as well to refine your messaging. It lets you make mistakes in front of a smaller, safer group, almost like you have a built-in focus group. And over time, you find what works. You can lock it in and build systems around it. Which leads into the fifth truth.
The next truth is your competitors aren't better, they're clearer. Your competitors aren't growing faster than you because they're better. They're usually just clearer in their messaging. So, we review a lot of profiles in our membership and one of the most common issues we see is confusion. It's just not obvious who the content is for or even what the account is about. And that lack of clarity bleeds into everything. When you create content, ask yourself, who am I speaking to right now? What do they need to hear? And how does this connect to what I offer? When messaging speaks to the inner thoughts of the right person, it lands and it lands deeply. And that can show up through education, relatable moments, inspiration, or even light entertainment. And we'll link a video below with ChatGPT prompts that help with this kind of messaging if you want support there, and you should look into that. It's fantastic.
And now that you've made it this far, the next is likely the most important truth that you need to hear. Social media isn't supposed to be easy, but it can be simple. Anything worth building takes effort. Now, that doesn't mean it should feel chaotic, frustrating, or defeating. When it does, that's usually a sign something in the system is off. But social media is the reason we've been able to build this business, support our team, and create the freedom that we have today. And we've also seen it work for our clients and community repeatedly. It's not easy though, but it can be simple, and it is definitely worth it. That simplicity comes from committing to systems, educating yourself, and following through on sustainable advice, not just chasing every single trend.
We've put together a playlist we genuinely believe is the best place to start if you're ready to understand what actually works. We will link it in the description and it'll pop up here at the end of the video. And if you want direct feedback on your content and profile, we do live reviews every month inside our membership and we don't end the stream until everyone's been reviewed. We're talking four-hour streams we've had. That is because we believe in the power of social media. If you commit to it, it is worth the effort. And if there's one thing we want you to leave with, it's this. You are not bad at social media. You've just been taught to chase instead of attract. So, start with the free social media strategy template that we link below. And if you want ongoing support, the membership is there when you're ready to join. And it has there's a little like join button below that you'll see. If this was helpful, give us a thumbs up and subscribe for more content built to help you grow simply, strategically, and sustainably. And before you go, remember we have that playlist for you here. We'll see you in the next one. Peace.