Restore the Balance: My 90s Marketing Manifesto

I recently ate a Choco Taco.

Now I know what you're thinking “Jade, they stopped making Choco Tacos in 2022, did you unbury one in your freezer? If so that's disgusting."

No. No. No.

It was nothing like that. 

Because in Portland they have been reborn. 

And I had no idea that getting your hands on one was going to be so difficult probably because we just walked into Salt & Straw and grabbed one or three.

But this isn't meant to be completely about the Choco Taco- instead it's about a meme I saw over the holidays that said “We have angered the gods. Bring back the Choco Taco. Play music videos on MTV again. Make movies under 120 minutes. Do history on the history channel. Only make cake out of cake. Stop making me sign into an app just to dim my lights. We must atone.”

And it's true we must atone.

We have angered the marketing gods- the signs are unmistakable: our last campaign had a 0.8% engagement rate. The client call was supposed to be 30 minutes but turned into a two-hour existential crisis about brand positioning.

Effective immediately, I am implementing the following corrective measures to restore balance to our marketing efforts:

URGENT INITIATIVES:

Bring Back the Choco Taco (Your Former Campaign Win) – Someone go dig through the case studies folder. Remember when we used to  launch that simple, straightforward campaign that actually resonated? That had ONE clear message? That didn't require three rounds of stakeholder approval? That's what we need now. Nostalgia sells, but so does clarity.

Create Content That Actually Gets Watched – Stop optimizing for algorithms you don't understand. Make ads people want to watch, not skip. Bring back the storytelling. Good music. Actual emotion. The gods (and your audience) remember when commercials were memorable- or at least what a commercial was.

Deliverables Under 120 Seconds – Your social media content should be snackable. Your video ads shouldn't require a commitment equivalent to watching a feature film. If your message can't land in two minutes, it's not sharp enough.

 Cut the fluff. No one has an attention span for fluff.

Keep It Factual – Stop making up fake statistics to support your strategy. No "studies show" without an actual source. No "our data indicates" when you're just guessing. The History Channel learned this the hard way. Be the factual voice in a chaotic media landscape. It's more powerful than you think.

Authentic Products, Authentic Messaging – Only promote what you believe in. No disingenuous brand partnerships just to hit quarterly goals. No "we're so woke" campaigns that ring hollow. Give customers the real thing, not the substitute. Cake should taste like cake.

Stop Requiring an App – Every. Single. Thing. Does not need to live in a proprietary app or behind a login wall. Sometimes a good email, a website, or straightforward social media is enough. Don't create barriers between your brand and your audience just because you can. The user experience matters more than data collection. I'll say that part again. The user experience matters more than data collection.

Me and other marketing gods are tired. We're tired of campaigns that prioritize metrics over meaning. We're tired of strategies built on the latest trend instead of timeless principles. We're tired of complexity masquerading as innovation.

Business owners angered them by forgetting that the best marketing is simple, memorable, and human.

We must atone by returning to what actually works.

Which may also require a 90's reset. 

This blog was sent via straightforward copy. No click-through optimization. No A/B tested subject lines designed to trigger FOMO. No tracking pixels beyond basic analytics. Just clear communication.

The great social media exodus (and where everyone's going instead)

I left the internet for 5 days in September to set new intentions and recalibrate and I came back to a Tik Tok sale,  new version of the Tide pods challenge, more screaming at each other and just in general digital ick. 

And it's got me wondering on how now as businesses can we market on social when more and more people are leaving social for days, weeks and months at a time?

My first thought was email, email is the new primary way. But I think it's more than just moving all of your marketing efforts over to email because even now people are so inudated with email that they aren't opening them because they might not remember how they got on a certain list or they think that they will go back to it and then they just forget. 

For the record I still believe in the power of email. But I believe email conquers the world with a power partner and I'm trying to figure out who that new bestie/ power partner is.

And my gut is telling me that it's blogging and long form content.

Now before you roll your eyes and start drafting a response email back to me about how people don't read.  Let me remind you that they might not however the search algorithms and AI summaries you're getting when you search are scrolling through the internets for words.  And the words that it is fed is through people creating them alas the comeback of blogging.

The other piece of long form is either a vlog (Youtube) or a podcast. 

Because they people they still want the content the just want to go directly to the content they want without the algorithms feeding them all different sorts of content that it thinks the person will like.  

And again both of these platforms have sparks and fireworks of best friend potential with email marketing campaigns. 

What are you seeing? Are you seeing a bunch of departure announcements from social?

And also as we get closer to the end of the year there are usually so many “I’m leaving social posts”

Pro tip if you are going to leave social, there's no need to announce your departure and all the reasons you're leaving. 

We get it- it's bad. Just slip out the back door like a party or networking event you're ready to leave. 

Almost Everyone's Faking It Online. What If You Didn't?

Remember “Away” messages or when we used to say “BRB” when we were online?  We don't say that anymore. 

We live online now. 

I mean when is the last time you went for a walk and left your phone on the kitchen table and it didn't cause anxiety?

The internet as we know it is shifting.  And I feel like 6 months from now you're really going to want to go back to this post about how marketing is also shifting.

Because…

Once upon a time we used to escape to the internet to avoid real like and now we are escaping the internet for real life.

Which means this is what your audience is also doing.

Myself included.

The truth is our reality having an identity crisis.

(It's not just you-it's all of us)

But here's the thing: This moment is pure gold for anyone willing to tell the truth.

While everyone else is faking authenticity with Ai and algorithms, the real opportunity is being aggressively, unapologetically human.

Messy. Honest. Raw.

The companies that survive this identity shift won't be the ones with the best deepfakes or the smoothest bot interactions.

They'll be the ones that looked at this dumpster fire and said: "Not us. We're going the other way."

Which is what I have been implementing for 2 years now. 

The unflitered, uncurated looking feeds. 

The true case studies that talk about the middle.

And you know what NOW that is trendy and what everyone wants to see and read.

So…

What if we stopped playing their game entirely?

What if being real and human was the most radical thing you could do in your marketing?

I'm not talking about making social your journal- keep journaling all your innermost things.

Instead I'm talking about showing up as a human instead of the filter of how social media wants you to show up.

You Can't AI Your Way Into a Personality: The Death of Copy-Paste Marketing

In Six months the only brands standing out on social will be the ones not letting AI write their personalities.

The past two weeks in client holiday consultation calls the same musings have been coming up and they are as follows:

“Instagram just feels gross.”

“I don't even know what to do anymore.”

“What direction is social even going in.”

I don't know if you've noticed as much as I have but for the past year I've watched Instagram turn into the Home Shopping Network.  So much so that QVC the sister to the Home Shopping Network is laying off 900 people. 

There are so many people on all of the platforms who are look and sound like each other. I've been saying this for awhile but it's getting worse. 

It's difficult to know who is who because all of the vibes are the same. 

Photographers and content creators are churning out the same aesthetics and you're paying big bucks for them to make you look the same as everyone else. 

People are desperately trying to copy everyone else's aesthetic because they think it's what is working when it's really only working for one person- the person the aesthetic is original to. Trying to use the same viral hook templates to also go viral but gain nothing except strip the personality from your brand.

And all of this couldn't have been any more apparent than a few months ago when Tay Tay announced her new album. You know the day that the majority of posts on every social channel turned orange, the color that you probably forgot even existed. 

The brands whose social teams elegantly executed this trend in real time and on brand with the easter eggs are the real winners here.  

The brands who jumped on days later or just changed the color of something to orange in photoshop to post an attempt to get into the groove of everything are exactly who I'm talking about here. 

The posts I loved didn't just go orange—they made orange feel native to their brand experience. When everyone forgets the color orange even exists.

And in my opinion there were four that did it the most timely and the truest. The day after the announcement I saw almost every other business try and jump on the now burned out trend, chasing likes and to somehow become or stay relevant in the algorithm that was shifting toward something else.

But what I am noticing is….

In this new social space where almost everyone is looking the same and putting out the same vibes the effective trend marketing happens when brands have team members who are genuinely part of the communities they're trying to reach. 

You can't fake being a Swiftie at 6 AM when those teasers drop & staying up until midnight to see what they are all about.

I get the allure of jumping onto a viral pop cultural moment but when you don't execute it correctly it looks like you're just copying your way to credibility. 

You CTRL C + CTRL V your way to be one of the “cool” ones in the feed.  

When instead you're getting scrolled right by because the consumers have photo fatigue.

You can't copy your way into credibility and you certainly can't AI your way into a personality. 

The next 6 months are going to be detrimental to setting yourself apart by simply showing up as yourself on social. 

Yeah- I went there.

It's time to stop chasing what's working for someone else and figure out and build on what is going to work for you.  You share your story, your struggles, your wins, your tidbits.

Because in a world of plain white wonder bread it's time to be artisan sourdough. 

It's time to make social media and marketing creative and human again. 

It's time to find your confidence and show up as yourself.

I'm here to help.

I'm Not Ready to Tell You This Either...time for the announcement that changes everything.

I know that you aren't ready for the announcements I'm about to make.

Hell- I'm not even ready for the announcements I'm about to make.

Because it seems like summer JUST started.

And yet, here we are a few weeks from September.

From the BER months when everything starts to get kiddywhampus again, people get back into a routine and all of the gatherings and parties begin again.

I know you're not going to believe this but with the looming of September…

As a business owner, you’re reaching the deadline to start planning Black Friday with your marketing team to reach maximum results. 

No, really

Listen up: if you think you can wing your Black Friday strategy come October, you're already setting yourself up for disappointment. 

The most successful holiday campaigns don't start with turkey prep—they start right now, in the heat of summer.

Here's the reality check nobody wants to hear: August is your Black Friday deadline for maximum results. 

While your competitors are still thinking about back-to-school campaigns, the smartest digital marketers are already deep in holiday strategy sessions.

The Numbers Don't Lie: Early Planning = Explosive Results

Starting early strategic, methodical planning will give us:

• Time to A/B test creative assets

• Opportunity to build segmented email lists

• Space to optimize landing pages for conversion

• Ability to secure premium ad placements before competition heated up

Common Pitfalls That Kill Black Friday ROI

Starting Too Late Waiting until October means you're competing for overpriced ad inventory and rushed creative assets. Early starters get better placements at lower costs.

Ignoring Mobile Experience Over 70% of Black Friday shopping happens on mobile devices. If your mobile experience isn't flawless, you're leaving money on the table.

Focusing Only on Discounts While deals matter, successful campaigns sell experiences, solutions, and transformations—not just discounted products.

Neglecting Post-Purchase Black Friday shoppers become your highest-value customers. Don't treat them like one-time buyers.

And because this holiday season is probably going to be very different than any of the other ones…
 

Today I’m opening up my holiday availability….

Photo shoots

Ship Style & Shoot

Strategy Sessions

Holiday Social Management

Holiday Marketing Power Hour

All of it.

And while neither one of us can predict exactly what the future holds- know that we will at least be in it together. 

What Makes YOU Valuable in the Age of AI

I am currently dealing with some personal stuff and am lucky enough to have business owner friends who will guest blog in circumstances like this and help me stay relevant in the algorithm.

And well AI is a tool that I have been struggling to find my relationship with lately but my friend and fellow digital marketing professional Jennifer Andrews volunteered to stop up and chat about how to recognize your value in the age of AI.

I’ll let Jennifer take it from here.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which, honestly, sounds quite cool and comforting in this heat), you’re probably aware of the rapidly growing capabilities of AI. Depending on your outlook, you’re either eagerly exploring how it can support your work - or quietly wondering if it might one day replace you. 

As someone deeply entrenched in the digital world, AI has certainly crept into my area of expertise. But can it really do what we do as well as we do it?

The honest answer is: not yet. But the gap is closing. AI is improving rapidly. It can crank out content, generate a generic plug-and-play strategy, and even mimic a successful brand’s tone of voice. It gets the job done quickly, affordably, and with just enough polish to seem impressive at first glance.

But what AI sill lacks and what continues to give humans a clear edge is our real-world experience and intuition.

AI draws only from existing data. It doesn’t live in a community. It doesn’t walk into a local business and sense that something’s off. It doesn’t have coffee with a client who’s burned out, or pick up on the tension in a meeting that signals a shift in messaging. It can’t feel nuance.

Even its best insights are often just echoes, aggregated from other people’s experiments. Ask AI how to “go viral” or “make passive income,” and you’ll get regurgitated advice from influencers selling success more than living it. It’s generalized. Unvetted. And often divorced from important context.

And that disconnect doesn’t just apply to marketing. It shows up in financial advice, real estate guidance, leadership coaching - you name it. The algorithms may produce content that sounds like authority, but they’re not grounded in the messy, complex, deeply human world we actually live and work in.

So where does our value lie?

It lies in judgment. Intuition. Ethics. Emotional intelligence. Local knowledge. And the ability to ask better questions versus generating faster answers.

That’s the starting point for my 40 Days of Value experiment: exploring the real, irreplaceable worth of human insight in a world increasingly shaped by artificial ones.

Because in business, as in life, value isn’t just about speed. It’s about trust. Relevance. Relationships. And that’s something the AI machine can replicate.

About Jennifer Andrews

Jennifer Andrews is a digital strategist, writer, and founder of PFC Creative—a boutique marketing collective that helps small businesses and big ideas find their voice online. With over two decades of experience in content strategy, branding, and community-centered marketing, Jenn has partnered with clients in industries like Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC), community events, wellness and med spas, nonprofit organizations, and service-based contractors.

She has also supported organizations like the East Colorado SBDC at the University of Northern Colorado, providing branding and event design that helps elevate their visibility and impact.

Jenn is equal parts word nerd and strategy geek, and she’s especially curious about how AI is reshaping creativity, productivity, and what it means to be human in the marketing world. When she’s not building brands or experimenting with the latest AI tools, she’s a proud advocate for Downtown Greeley and an active supporter of the Greeley Creative District, where art, entrepreneurship, and community spirit fuel a deep connection to the heart of Greeley.

Beyond Spa Days: Using Core Values to Set Boundaries and Prevent Burnout

Almost every industry experiences burnout in some way other another. But these days I have been dealing with identifying and taking care of my own burnout.

In my digital marketing world traditonal worksplace stress gets amplified with its unique challenges: the need to be "always on" across multiple platforms, the pressure to constantly create fresh content, and the anxiety of campaigns that can succeed or fail in real-time.

Add in the blur between personal and professional social media presence, and it becomes nearly impossible for me to truly disconnect.

Which is why this week we have a guest post from Katy Owens while I embark on a mini digital detox.

I’m thrilled to have Katy share her insights on burnout prevention and values-based self-care. (She’s the first one I text to ask her if I am actually in burnout or if I need to just drink a glass of water.)

Her perspective as both a healthcare provider and someone who has navigated her own healing journey brings valuable depth to this important topic.

So without further ado here’s Katy’s blog:

Burnout seems to be quite the hot topic lately – and it’s no surprise. You will hear the phrase “Self care” thrown around a lot in the context of Burnout, but what does that actually mean?

While spa days and pedicures can be lovely (if you can indulge responsibly), that’s not the essence of self care. What I want you to consider is that true self-care involves setting reasonable boundaries on your ability to say “yes” to projects, engage energetically with friends and family, and carving out intentional time for your own interests. Setting boundaries is often a challenging topic in and of itself, so I want to take a step back and start with examining our Core Values.

When I think about core values, I turn to an expert: Berné Brown. She has pioneered research on shame and vulnerability and the impact these emotions have on our lives, and she also has contributed so much to topics including values exploration. I often complete her Living into Our Values exercises during presentations with other occupational therapists as well as with clients.

I highly recommend following this link for the full instructions and downloadable PDFs, but we’ll break it down here as well. https://brenebrown.com/resources/living-into-our-values/

First, what is a core value? A core value is a foundation on which you can base life decisions. Think of concepts like honesty, authenticity, or community. When we can identify these core values, we are able to use them to guide our decision making and boundary setting. If I say that authenticity is one of my core values, and someone asks me to run an ad on my social media supporting a product that is not evidence based, or not something I ever would use personally, it’s easy for me to say no to the offer because I understand that it’s not in line with one of my core values. Without clear core values, it would be much easier for me to say yes to an opportunity that might make me money but leave me feeling taken advantage of in the long run.

Consider actions that you have taken in the past, and how these could be examples of living into your core values. Then, take a moment to think of actions or scenarios where you might be led to acting outside of your core values. So, if you identify Family as a core value, what actions to you take to reinforce or live that value in your day-to-day life? Are there instances when you find yourself putting your core value second, maybe by picking up an extra shift at work when you could be at home with your kids or missing a school concert for an important client meeting.

You can see that life often provides us with opportunities to test our core values, and we get to decide how we are best living into them. Maybe the client meeting is essential be able to reach a certain income goal to facilitate a much-needed family vacation.

Only by identifying and exploring our core values can we know how best to make difficult decisions. Once you have a handle on your core values, we can return to the idea of setting boundaries on our time, energy, money and more. Let your core values guide how you respond to asks, and know that you are making the correct decision to support your goals and vision. It will take practice to use your core values as a guide, but it gets easier over time.

Burnout is such a hot topic right now because so many people are feeling overwhelmed and seeing support and a way to lighten the load. Take this blog post as a sign that you are not alone. I encourage you to seek support from friends, family, spiritual groups, or professionals as needed. Preventing and managing burnout is a topic much larger than one blog post, but I encourage you to complete this as a first step towards management.

About Katy

I work as an acute care occupational therapist in Northern Colorado and also own an occupational therapy private practice specializing in pain management. I earned my Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State University, where I was honored to receive the distinction of Outstanding Grad Student of the Class of 2022 from the College of Health and Human Services. 

Before starting my career as an occupational therapist, I served in the United States Coast Guard. An injury and my subsequent rehabilitation sparked my interest in occupational therapy and fueled my passion for advocating a biopsychosocial approach to pain management combined with an occupation-based approach.

 I had the opportunity to present at the Colorado State Association Annual Conference in both 2023 and 2024. I was also selected from a wide pool of applicants to speak at the UCHealth 2024 Symposium, where I shared with fellow therapy practitioners and other medical professionals the value of OT in pain management and the biopsychosocial model of pain.

Connect With Katy:

www.empoweredpathot.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-owens-ot/

Why Does Your Social Media Feel Like You Are Performing for Strangers?

Here's how most of my initial consulting sessions begin:

Client: "Why is my social media not working?"

Me: "You really wanna know?"

Client: "…Yes."

Me: "Okay." pulls hair back

You're not creating content. You're making announcements.

You're not building a community. You're shouting into the void.

You're not joining conversations. You're waiting for likes and NEW followers that never come.

Social doesn't fail because of the algorithm. It fails because businesses are using it like a megaphone, when it's meant to be a group chat.

But Social is NOT a brochure or billboard. It is humans following humans.

Here's where this group chat philosophy gets interesting: we live in an attention economy, but most people are competing for attention the wrong way. They're trying to be the loudest voice in the room instead of the most interesting person at the party.

The group chat philosophy changes everything. In a group chat, you're not performing for strangers. You're contributing to a conversation with people who already know, like, and trust you. You share random thoughts, ask questions, offer help, and yes—sometimes you mention what you're working on. But it's natural, contextual, and welcome because the relationship already exists.

The group chat is where the people you are ignoring who have already chosen to follow you, want to hear from you. But instead you are out there ”creating content” seeking more NEW people to not connect with.

Do you see the cycle?

I recently saw The Materialists and not only was I validated in my thoughts of how shallow we've all become, but also when Dakota chats with a bunch of single women at a wedding (she's a matchmaker) she nails this group chat philosophy part of marketing herself.

Basically her pitch is: you can do this on your own but if you're lucky enough to be able to afford me, why not? Because she's a luxury good.

She’s at a wedding, aka the group chat with the right people.

(Most of you here are luxury goods. Your services or products are not needed for basic human survival.)

When you understand you're a luxury good, you stop making announcements trying to convince everyone and start attracting someone. You stop broadcasting features and start embodying values. You stop chasing metrics and start building relationships.

Group chats are dialed in with the right people. They aren't for anyone. They are for specific people for specific reasons.

Think about it: the most valuable group chats in your life aren't the ones with 500 people where no one really talks. They're the ones with 5-10 people who genuinely care about each other's lives, businesses, and random 2am thoughts.

It's time to stop broadcasting announcements and instead start conversations. Your people will always find you. In fact, one of your people is praying to find you and what you offer right now.

Keep showing up.

The SWAG That Actually Works: Why Useful Beats Cheap Every Time

I remember back to school time when Clinque would have their free gift with purchase time. And the purchase needed to be over $100 and the gift was a new cosmetic bag filled with samples of products they wanted to get you hooked on.

Those days were also the days when I didn’t know that I was being marketed to- but GD that was such genius marketing and the type of marketing that has been around for hundreds of years.

Which got me thinking about all of the trade shows and in person events that I’ve been to with vendors and how many SWAG bags I’ve received at conferences and how many can koozies, stress balls and tote bags I’ve thrown away.

Then it got me thinking about where actually is the “away”.  Because the away is an actual place… and it’s the landfill.

(If you haven’t already watched "Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” on Netflix I encourage you to on some rainy summer evening.)

Just thinking about how many Canva created logos are on some kind of discarded merch soaking up the sun next to rotting food makes me die a little inside. 

This is all coming at me right now because I’m gearing up to go to the annual 4th of July parade, and in Colorado they take their 4th of July parades very seriously. There are so many businesses in the parades that are handing out not just candy but also SWAG.  Last year I left with a branded real estate tote bag filled with candy, koozies, flags and glow sticks. And I was sweating so bad. The thing I really could have used was some kind of branded fan.

Fast forward to this year and I must’ve manifested that because I went to an outdoor concert on a 98 degree night and the sponsor of the concert had branded fans! And guess what- they were gone before the concert even began.  All you saw were red fans waving in attempts to keep cute outfits unsweaty.  Along with the fans they also had coolers full of branded water bottles! All marketing materials I was definitely a fan of. 

As we enter Q3  I see you all thinking about what branded SWAG to order before the end of the year marketing budget runs out for your in-person events.

And before you order more tote bags, koozies, stickers, pens and stress balls let's consider things the people won't throw in the landfill immediately upon returning home. 

Use the bank is an example of a biz who understood the assignment. 

A fan at a 98 degree Colorado afternoon concert in late June? 

Chef's kiss 

This is my friend is how you do branded swag that doesn't immediately become landfill. 

Take notes, marketing teams – your audience will remember you when your giveaway saves them from sweating through their cute outfit on a 98 degree day.

Also one of the greatest pieces of SWAG I’ve ever gotten from spinning one of those prize wheels is compression socks from a medical company. They too have racked up many an air mile. 

Does SWAG that is useful cost more per piecee?

Most Definitely.

Let's be real – quality costs money, and useful promotional items are no exception. That branded fan that actually kept concert-goers cool? It probably cost 3-4 times more than those flimsy keychains gathering dust in junk drawers everywhere.

But here's where most marketing teams get it backwards: they're optimizing for the wrong metric. They see "cost per unit" and immediately reach for the cheapest option, thinking they're being budget-conscious. What they're actually doing is throwing money away on items that provide zero lasting brand impression.

A $0.50 stress ball that gets tossed within a week provides exactly $0.50 worth of brand exposure – if that. Meanwhile, a $3.00 portable phone charger that someone uses multiple times per week for months? That's generating ongoing brand touchpoints that compound over time.

Think about it: would you rather have 1,000 people immediately forget your brand, or 300 people think of you every time they solve a real problem? The math isn't even close.

Useful SWAG creates what marketers call "positive brand associations." Every time someone uses your practical giveaway, they're having a micro-moment of gratitude toward your brand. That water bottle with your logo isn't just hydrating them – it's building brand affinity one sip at a time.

The key is shifting from quantity thinking to quality thinking. Better to have fewer pieces that actually work than a warehouse full of items destined for the trash.

What I wouldn’t give right now for a Clinque free cosmetic bag to hold all the things I need in pool/beach bag.

Your logo deserves better than the bottom of a competitors tote bag and eventually someones trash can.

It’s time to do better.

Nobody Actually Cares About Your Follower Count (And Here's What They Want Instead)

Here’s something that you might not be ready to hear, no one really cares about your “follower” count besides your ego, agents, PR firms and anyone who could or is making money off of you.

I know, I know. We've been conditioned to worship at the altar of vanity metrics. We refresh our analytics dashboards like slot machines, hoping for that dopamine hit of growth. But while we've been obsessing over numbers that look impressive in pitch decks, our actual communities have quietly shifted their priorities.

The people who matter—your real audience—your community are craving something entirely different in 2025.

They're tired of being treated like statistics in your growth strategy.

They want connection, not collections of hearts and likes.

The members of your community have different priorities these days here is what they consider is in…

Friendship is in...

Offline experience is in...

Printed storytelling is in...

Tangible community-building is in...

Your community doesn't want to be marketed to anymore. They want to be befriended. This means showing up consistently, remembering conversations, celebrating their wins, and genuinely caring about their struggles. It's the difference between broadcasting and being present.

Smart brands are already making this shift. Instead of scheduling 47 posts about their latest product launch, they're engaging in real conversations. They're sliding into DMs not to sell, but to check in. They're treating their community managers less like content machines and more like relationship builders.

The pandemic taught us that digital connection has limits. Now, people are hungry for real-world experiences that go beyond the screen. Your most engaged community members aren't necessarily the ones double-tapping every post—they're the ones silently watching who show up to your popup events, workshops, or are telling others about you when a question related to what you do comes up.

Now I’m not saying don’t abandon digital entirely. It means using your online presence as a bridge to meaningful offline moments. Think intimate gatherings over massive conferences. Local coffee chats over virtual webinars. The kind of experiences that create stories people actually want to share organically.

Real community isn't measured in follower counts or engagement rates. It's measured in how many people show up when someone needs help. How many connections are made between community members that have nothing to do with your brand. How many inside jokes develop. How many people consider each other actual friends.

This requires moving beyond broadcast-style social media toward platforms and spaces that facilitate genuine connection. Private groups, forums, regular video calls, collaborative projects, shared experiences—the kinds of things that build actual relationships rather than parasocial ones.

The call is getting louder to moving toward a more human internet, one conversation at a time. The brands that understand this shift early will build the kind of communities that survive algorithm changes, platform shutdowns, and economic uncertainty.

Your follower count might look good in a presentation, but your community's health determines your actual future. The question isn't how many people follow you—it's how many people would notice if you disappeared tomorrow, and more importantly, how many would actually care.

The metrics that matter most can't be captured in an analytics dashboard. They live in the quality of relationships you build, the value you create in people's actual lives, and the community that forms around shared values rather than shared content consumption.

It's time to stop optimizing for vanity and start building for longevity. Your ego might miss the follower count bragging rights, but your business will thank you for the sustainable community you build instead.