I’ve been watching the social media landscape evolve dramatically over the past few years, and one thing has become crystal clear: most businesses are creating content for a social media world that no longer exists. After watching Adam Erhart’s insightful breakdown of this shift, I’m convinced that if your content strategy hasn’t evolved recently, you’re missing out on the biggest opportunity in social media right now.
The old “gallery era” of social media is dead. Remember when having a beautifully curated Instagram grid mattered? When posting regularly to your existing followers was enough? Those days are gone, replaced by what Adam aptly calls a “street market” – loud, crowded, and moving incredibly fast.
Today’s algorithms don’t care about your follower count – they only care about performance. This is actually great news for smaller businesses and creators who previously couldn’t compete with established brands.
The Algorithm Flip That Changes Everything
The fundamental shift that’s happened is this: we’ve moved from a follower-first world to a feed-first world. Your job is no longer to keep existing fans engaged; it’s to stop strangers mid-scroll. This requires speed, volume, and a willingness to post without waiting for perfection.
I’ve seen this play out countless times with my clients. One specialty coffee roaster Adam mentioned had gorgeous, magazine-worthy social media feeds but zero engagement. When they switched to quick, authentic behind-the-scenes content, their reach exploded within weeks.
What’s happening is that platforms now use what’s called a content graph or interest graph rather than a follower graph. Here’s how it works:
- When you post content, it’s shown to a small test audience first
- If that test audience engages, distribution expands to more people
- If the test audience doesn’t engage, the post dies – regardless of your follower count
- AI evaluates your content against patterns from top-performing posts
This means every new piece of content is a fresh opportunity to grow your business, putting everyone on an equal playing field. The businesses winning today understand this and are adapting quickly.
The SGTM Framework: Speed Beats Perfection
Adam shared a practical framework I think is worth implementing immediately. He calls it SGTM:
- Start with one strong idea (a launch, story, or insight)
- Generate multiple variations (hooks, edits, captions)
- Test quickly (post within a short timeframe)
- Measure results (look at metrics like CTR, completion rates)
- Scale the winners (spread successful content across platforms)
The key insight here is that when you launch just one high-effort campaign, you’re emotionally invested in its success. If it fails, it feels like a total loss. But when you run multiple variations, you expect some to fail – and that feedback feeds the next round of iterations.
I recently applied this approach to an ad campaign. I wrote what I thought was a decent ad, found an image, then used AI to help scale it up. The AI generated dozens of variations, and a couple went on to get thousands of clicks at just 9 cents per click – an incredible result I wouldn’t have achieved without this high-volume testing approach.
Finding Repeatable Formats
One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is chasing originality instead of repeatability. They create feeds full of unrelated experiments that never get refined because they’re only tried once.
The fastest-growing accounts find formats that hit, then run them on repeat. Think of late-night television – the host doesn’t invent a new format every night. They follow a proven structure that viewers expect and the team knows how to deliver.
I’ve seen this work with B2B companies too. Adam mentioned working with a software company that tested five short-form video ideas. Four were average, but one – a rapid-fire “common mistakes” series – doubled engagement. They refined it, branded it, and ran it twice weekly. Within two months, it drove over half their inbound leads from organic content alone.
The Multi-Channel Strategy
Another powerful approach is using multiple focused channels instead of one all-purpose account. When you mix different formats into one feed, you confuse both viewers and the algorithm.
Instead, consider running several smaller, focused accounts – each with a clear format, target audience, and purpose. For example, a health supplement brand might have:
- A main account with polished product stories
- A tips account with daily health insights
- A testimonials account with customer success stories
- A founder account with behind-the-scenes content
This creates precision, signal clarity, scalability, and lower-risk testing grounds. If you’re just starting, begin with one account and test different formats there. When a format consistently performs, spin it into its own channel.
Turning Attention Into Revenue
The final piece of this puzzle is monetization. Reach without revenue is just a vanity metric – you can’t feed your kids with likes.
I recommend thinking of your content strategy in three stages:
- Top of funnel (Discovery): Short-form content that earns attention from strangers
- Mid-funnel (Nurture): Longer content that connects your offering to their needs
- Bottom of funnel (Conversion): Clear, direct offers that encourage action
Most brands skip the mid-funnel part, jumping straight from “you’ve never heard of me” to “buy my stuff.” That’s like asking someone to marry you on the first date – weird and ineffective.
Your monetization layer doesn’t need to be complex to work – it just needs to exist. A newsletter, webinar, free trial, or waitlist can work perfectly as long as every piece of content has a clear next step.
The social media landscape has fundamentally changed, but this change creates massive opportunity. By embracing speed over perfection, finding repeatable formats, and building a clear path to monetization, even small businesses can achieve remarkable growth in today’s algorithm-driven world.
