Think about the last time you opened Instagram just to check one thing. Maybe you wanted to answer a message or see what a friend posted. Then, somehow, 20 minutes passed.
In that time, you probably saw a little bit of everything: a Reel using the sound you’ve heard all week, someone’s vacation pictures, an ad, a meme, and a brand promoting something you may or may not remember five minutes later.
That is what brands are competing with every time they hit “post.”
According to the University of Maine, there are 4.8 billion social media users worldwide, and people spend an average of 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media each day. With billions of people scrolling across multiple platforms, brands have a huge audience to reach, but also an endless amount of content to compete with.
The challenge is giving people a reason to stop.
Posting More Doesn’t Always Mean Saying More
Consistency matters, but posting every day means very little if the content only exists to fill the feed. Before creating a post, think about what someone gets from it. Did they learn something? Did it make them laugh? Did it start a conversation? Did it show them something they normally would not see?
Jensen Troy, Account Manager at Mindful Kreative, said purpose is one of the most important parts of creating good social content.
“For me, good social content should have a purpose — whether that’s educating, entertaining, starting a conversation, showing the human side of a brand or moving someone to take an action,” Troy said. “I’d much rather post less frequently with content that people actually want to engage with than post every day just to fill the feed.”
Instead of only asking, What should we post today? ask a better question: Why should someone care?
Find the Story Behind the Announcement
Brands have plenty of information to share. An event is coming up. Registration is open. A fundraiser has started. A new product launched.
But the announcement itself is rarely the most interesting part. The story is usually sitting right behind it.
Instead of only posting an event flyer, show the people preparing for it. Instead of only asking for donations, show what those donations make possible. Instead of talking about company culture, introduce the people creating it.
Good storytelling does not replace the information. It gives the information meaning.
Put the People Back into Social Media
The word social is right there in the name, but it can sometimes disappear from the strategy.
TikTok’s 2025 What’s Next Trend Report found that 40% of TikTok users consider brands that showcase personality more relevant.
Showing the people behind a brand can be as simple as an employee answering a question, a customer sharing an experience or a behind-the-scenes moment. It does not mean every post needs to be unpolished. It means audiences should still be able to feel the people behind the brand.
The same goes for trends. According to the 2025 Sprout Social Index, one-third of consumers find it embarrassing when brands jump on viral trends. Not every trending sound needs your logo on it. If it does not fit the brand or its audience, it is okay to sit that one out.
Give Them Something Worth Stopping For
Algorithms change. Trends disappear. Platforms evolve. But the person holding the phone is still a person.
They want to laugh, learn, discover something, feel included, or hear a good story. Cutting through the noise does not always mean being louder. Sometimes it means having something worth saying.
So before hitting publish, ask yourself one more question:
If this showed up on my feed, would I stop?