For those who have been an MTV devotee between the years of 2006 and 2010, you’ll bear in mind Heidi Montag as Lauren Conrad’s friend-turned-foe from the beloved actuality sequence, The Hills. What you’ll have blocked out, nevertheless, is Heidi’s music profession.
Within the 2010 single, “Extra Is Extra,” she sang: “Extra is extra on the dance ground / It’s f*cking chaos in right here.”
14 years later, the flip of phrase is a becoming description for what number of entrepreneurs really feel about social media saturation.
As we speak, over 5 billion folks use social media worldwide, with the common particular person utilizing greater than six networks per 30 days.
Audiences are all over the place and seemingly nowhere, as platform algorithms floor content material based mostly on pursuits moderately than tangible connections. The speedy fireplace tempo of pattern and meme tradition, paired with a stream of AI-generated content material flooding feeds, has created a ceiling on the amount of content material customers are mentally and emotionally in a position to course of.
We sat down with two social media specialists to discover the forces behind this phenomenon, and what entrepreneurs can do to fight it.
Why we’re at peak social media saturation
As a lot concerning the social media panorama modifications, the one fixed is content material—and a number of it. On common, manufacturers printed 10 posts per day throughout networks in 2023, based on Sprout’s 2024 Content material Benchmarks Report. For sure industries, that quantity doubles and even quadruples.
“We’re transferring towards peak inundation,” says Nathan Allebach, Artistic Director at Allebach Communications and former “Steak-umm Twitter man.” “It’s laborious to say how a lot of it’s the saturation versus the shortage of content material novelty. Lots of the problems entrepreneurs face today may need extra to do with the truth that social media has been round for therefore lengthy and has gone via completely different iterations. Each type of disruptive advertising and marketing has been so deeply explored throughout classes, throughout industries, that it’s getting powerful to search out new methods to interrupt via.”
Let’s look deeper at what’s contributing to the problem:
Content material manufacturing pressures
It’s unattainable for shoppers to actively have interaction with all the social content material they see. Actually: One analysis group discovered people’ display screen consideration spans dropped from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2023.
The irony is, as traits transfer sooner and audiences flock to short-form content material codecs, the stress to churn out the next quantity of posts intensifies. The sheer variety of accounts competing for customers’ fleeting consideration exacerbates this dynamic.
“Whereas actually extra handy to think about {that a} model is just competing with its opponents, the truth is, a model’s content material is being pitted up in opposition to the most recent viral submit, an influencer’s giveaway, different manufacturers, and household and associates,” mentioned Carolyn Cohen, Content material & Social Lead at H&R Block.
Allebach provides, “It’s everyone versus everyone. So for those who’re a model on the opposite aspect of the display screen and also you’re making an attempt to tug me out of my private feed, that takes a number of effort to get proper.”
AI’s impression on viewers expectations
Bots have been crashing the feedback part on social for years. However the current proliferation of instruments like ChatGPT, DALL-E and others have opened up the floodgates to much more AI-generated posts throughout networks.
Greater than 80% of shoppers really feel AI-generated content material will make their social feeds extra saturated than they already are, and a comparable quantity say it’ll add to misinformation on social, based on a Q2 2024 Sprout Pulse Survey. For instance, a sequence of computer-enhanced movies selling the brand new season of HBO’s “Home of the Dragon” sequence despatched audiences spiraling in June 2024—main many to imagine Westeros flags have been actually flying on the Brooklyn Bridge.
On one hand, customers have gotten extra accustomed to AI filters and AI-generated content material, which can solely desensitize audiences extra over time. From a model security standpoint, entrepreneurs will more and more need to juggle their very own content material manufacturing on high of monitoring feeds for misinformation about their companies.
Platform uncertainty
As we speak’s social media ecosystem is fragmented throughout networks with distinctive algorithms and audiences. How shoppers use every to satisfy their wants for connection and consumption is all the time evolving.
“Again within the day, your model positively had a Fb and Instagram [account], most likely a Twitter, and now it seems like these pillars are loads much less positive than they was once. Now communities are segmented throughout completely different, smaller platforms,” says Allebach.
The previous few years alone have seen the emergence (and fast decline) of platforms like BeReal, together with regular progress of options like Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon. For a lot of entrepreneurs, it’s now not a query of the way to be all over the place unexpectedly—however how to decide on the appropriate locations to point out up on your target market. With every platform prioritizing barely completely different content material codecs, it additionally raises questions round whether or not short-form video continues to be one of the best funding, or if groups ought to reallocate their focus to extra textual content and static picture posts.
How you can overcome social media saturation
The problem of social media saturation isn’t going wherever. AI applied sciences will proceed their ascent and the platform panorama will proceed to diversify, no matter whether or not entrepreneurs are prepared. What social groups can do, nevertheless, is undertake new rituals to enhance their odds of slicing via the noise.
Put money into authentic content material
Practically 4 in 10 shoppers say probably the most memorable manufacturers on social prioritize authentic content material over leaping on traits, based on The Sprout Social Index™. Even modifications to the Instagram algorithm to crack down on aggregator accounts sign a platform push towards distinctive IP. Whereas capitalizing on sure traits will all the time be a side of social, traits alone should not a long-term technique for attaining model attain or relevance.
“I’ve discovered that a mixture of authentic and trend-driven content material tends to be the appropriate mixture. The pattern content material brings the viewers in, retains them engaged, tagging associates, and so forth. This then tells the algorithm to maintain displaying them content material, so while you do have a extra product-heavy piece of content material, that will get served too,” says Cohen.
Calibrate your content material round viewers preferences
Step one to capturing your viewers’s consideration is to deeply perceive what they need to eat.
For instance, with nearly each platform supporting a menu of video choices, social groups need to get much more exact with the place they submit, the size of their content material and whether or not it’s grid-worthy. Over the past six months, Reels, Instagram Tales and TikTok posts have been the highest three video codecs shoppers engaged with most, based on our Q2 2024 Pulse Survey. Within the subsequent six months, shoppers anticipate participating with Instagram Tales, Reels and Fb movies most.
“Edutainment” posts—which offer details about your services or products in a enjoyable means—are the kind of model content material audiences discover most entertaining, based on our Q2 2024 Pulse Survey. By comparability, solely 4 in 10 shoppers say that is the case for meme-based posts.
“Trending memes blow up within the zeitgeist after which go away in every week or two, tops. For those who’re a model, there could be an urge to leap within the feedback part or recreate it on your personal accounts, and that’s tremendous. You’ll get numbers doing that. However what’s that doing long run? As a consumer, I would assume it’s humorous for a second, but it surely’s not making me really feel a deep relationship to that model,” says Allebach.
Develop new rituals to spark creativity
The idea of social media saturation goes hand-in-hand with viewers content material fatigue. However it could actually even have a powerful impact on marketer burnout. Stress from exterior opponents and inside stakeholders to maintain up with the velocity of social, generate extra content material and drive outcomes with fewer assets is pushing groups to their limits.
These are the instances when it’s most vital to carve out area for open-ended, inventive pondering and different rituals for sharing inspiration. The group at H&R Block has taken this to coronary heart.
“You will need to get out of our bubble, particularly in an trade like monetary companies. A method we obtain that is via a rotating ‘Exterior Inspiration’ train,” says Cohen.
“Every week, one particular person is assigned a presentation on—fairly actually—something they need. The one rule is that we should have the ability to draw a parallel or direct inspiration to H&R Block. We’ve coated matters together with the rise of skincare, a historical past of denim, the impression of Ralph Lauren, bananas as the unique content material advertising and marketing case research, classes from 24 seasons of Survivor…the listing goes on!”
The train is a refreshing method to step past their day-to-day roles and find out about matters not everybody the group is aware of.
Take into consideration low-lift methods you’ll be able to incorporate related motions into your present conferences or processes. Perhaps it’s a devoted Slack area for sharing async social examples (from exterior your trade). Or maybe it’s inviting common “visitor audio system” from different corporations to share a behind-the-scenes have a look at their inventive course of.
Redefine the way you measure success
As social platforms proceed to check the boundaries of simply how a lot content material audiences can course of, now may additionally be a very good time to advocate for brand new social success metrics. Our Index information exhibits that almost all entrepreneurs already prioritize engagement metrics (shares, feedback, and so forth.) over attain and impressions. In any case, what’s extra useful: somebody seeing your submit and scrolling on, or somebody discovering it so related they tag a good friend within the feedback?
Social groups can use this over-saturated second to make the case for setting extra focused group progress and engagement targets (moderately than reaching a sure variety of eyeballs).
“For manufacturers to interrupt out of the algorithmic demise (of shedding direct entry to followers and competing with different folks and types), it’s a must to get extra area of interest. It’s important to determine: What’s my worth add to the individuals who observe me?,” says Allebach. “It helps to interrupt via the muddle, and it makes it so that you’re not essentially going up in opposition to the macro traits that appear to dictate the discourse on platforms daily.”
Social media saturation is a problem—and a possibility
As we speak’s social platforms (even people who existed again in 2010) are extra nuanced, and the individuals who use them are extra plugged in than ever earlier than.
In consequence, manufacturers need to be much more strategic—and versatile—to make sure their investments in social repay.
Regardless of the obstacles social media saturation presents, it additionally provides social groups a possibility to reset their content material methods altogether. Run a short-term experiment to check the impression of reducing manufacturing quantity and creating extra authentic content material. Prioritize a brand new method to brainstorming, or a brand new group ritual to interrupt everybody out of their each day.
Social media might run on algorithms, however discovering success is something however formulaic.
For extra inspiration to interrupt via an more and more crowded area, take a look at our masterclass webinar with Rachel Karten.
