If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably seen dozens of posts about the latest algorithm update.
- “Instagram is prioritising this.”
- “TikTok wants you to do that.”
- “LinkedIn has changed again.”
It’s easy to feel like you’re constantly chasing a moving target. We understand why business owners get caught up in it. Social media platforms change all the time, and it’s our job at SMR Social to keep on top of those changes. But after more than 12 years managing social media for businesses, we’ve noticed something interesting. The businesses that consistently perform well aren’t obsessed with algorithms. They’re obsessed with people.
The Algorithm Isn’t Your Customer
Algorithms matter. There’s no point pretending they don’t. They influence who sees your content, how it’s distributed and what the platforms choose to promote. Ignoring them completely wouldn’t be sensible. But there’s a big difference between understanding how a platform works and allowing every algorithm update to dictate your entire content strategy. At the end of the day, the algorithm isn’t buying your products or booking your services.
People are.
And if your content connects with real people, the algorithm usually takes care of itself.
Human Psychology Changes Much More Slowly
One of the reasons social media feels overwhelming is because the platforms are constantly evolving. New features appear. Old features disappear. One month everyone’s talking about hashtags. The next they’re talking about keywords. Then it’s AI search. Then it’s carousel posts. Then it’s something else entirely. It’s exhausting trying to keep up. The good news is that while technology changes quickly, people don’t.
- People still like to laugh.
- People still enjoy learning something new.
- People still appreciate honesty.
- People still remember stories far more than statistics.
Those fundamentals haven’t changed, and they probably never will.
Ask Better Questions
When businesses struggle with social media, we often notice they’re asking the wrong questions. They’re asking:
- “What’s the best time to post?”
- “How many hashtags should we use?”
- “Should this Reel be 30 seconds or 45 seconds?”
Those questions aren’t completely irrelevant, but they’re not where we’d start. Instead, we’d ask:
- What problems do your customers have?
- What questions do they ask all the time?
- What would make them stop scrolling?
- What would they genuinely find useful or entertaining?
Those questions lead to much better content.
The Best Content Starts With the Audience
Whenever we’re creating content for a client, we don’t start by thinking about the algorithm. We start by thinking about the customer.
- What do they need to know?
- What would they enjoy seeing?
- What would make them trust this business a little more?
Only after we’ve answered those questions do we think about the best format, the best platform or how to optimise it. That’s because great content is built around people, not platforms.
Trends Come and Go. Trust Lasts
Think back over the last few years. How many social media trends have come and gone?
- Dance trends.
- Pointing videos.
- Green screens.
- Photo dumps.
- AI-generated avatars.
Some lasted months. Some lasted weeks. Businesses that built their entire strategy around those trends often found themselves constantly starting again. The businesses that focused on building trust, however, kept growing regardless of what the latest trend happened to be. Trust doesn’t go out of fashion.
Don’t Mistake Optimisation for Strategy
This is a distinction we think is really important. Optimisation is tweaking something that’s already working. Strategy is deciding what you’re trying to achieve in the first place. Posting at a slightly better time is optimisation. Understanding your audience is strategy. Adding keywords to your caption is optimisation. Knowing what your customers actually care about is strategy.
Both have their place, but one will always have a much bigger impact than the other.
What We’ve Learned at SMR Social
Of course we pay attention to platform updates. We have to. It’s part of our job. When Instagram introduces a new feature or Meta changes the way it recommends content, we test it. We learn from it and we adapt where it makes sense. But we’ve never believed that success comes from chasing every new trick the moment it appears. It comes from understanding people.
The businesses that continue to grow are usually the ones creating content that educates, entertains, reassures or inspires their audience. They understand their customers so well that the content almost creates itself. The algorithm simply helps deliver that content to the right people.
Focus on the Things That Don’t Change
Social media will continue to evolve.
- There’ll be more AI.
- More updates.
- More rumours about how to “beat the algorithm.”
Don’t let any of that distract you from what really matters. Your customers still want to work with businesses they trust.
- They still want useful information.
- They still want authenticity.
- They still want to feel understood.
If you focus on those things first and use platform updates to fine-tune your approach rather than define it, you’ll always be building your social media on much stronger foundations.
Because algorithms come and go.
People don’t.