Thinking Beyond the Feed Leads to Smarter, Stronger Content | The Open Loop #2
When I first started working as a copywriter, I hated writing content.
That’s because, to most of my clients at the time, this was just a fancy word for “posting on Instagram”.
There was no strategy and no intention involved.
I struggled to come up with ideas on what to talk about, which formats to use, and how to stay consistent and relevant with only short and superficial content.
That’s what happens when you reduce content marketing to being active on social media.
My favorite definition of content marketing is “a strategic tool tied to a larger customer journey, focused on attracting, engaging, and converting an audience over time.”
It’s not just attention-grabbing posts, but they can certainly be a part of it.
When I realized that content marketing can take many forms and exist on multiple platforms, I saw its power for any business and began to truly enjoy it.
Content marketing can live in blogs, podcasts, videos, email newsletters, case studies, white papers, SEO-driven websites, webinars, and, yes, social media posts.
Social media is more about distribution and engagement than depth of content. Good social posts tease, amplify, echo, and extend deeper content – they don’t replace it.
Here’s what I’ve been thinking:
- If you only focus on social media, you build visibility, but not necessarily authority or trust.
- By being only on social media, you miss nurturing leads who want more in-depth content, especially in niches like health, wellness, and B2B.
- Social media is a channel that is not entirely yours, but when you invest in a strong owned strategy (such as a blog, newsletter, or SEO), your content becomes platform-proof.
To sum up what I’m saying: not every business needs to be on social media, but no business should be limited to it.
To this day, I still see many businesses making that mistake, especially small businesses and personal brands. And I understand why.
Creating content consistently on a single platform is already challenging enough, let alone building a strong presence across multiple platforms.
But what if we start with the idea that you don’t even have to be on social media?
It all comes down to knowing your audience, meeting them where they are, and choosing the content strategy that feels most sustainable for you.
In future issues, I can explore ways to find the right content mix for your business, because it’s not about doing everything. It’s about doing what matters.
Open Tabs
The section where I share something I’ve been reading, watching, or thinking about — a spark that opened a new loop for me and might do the same for you.
If your content strategy starts and ends with social media, you might be building someone else’s audience, not your own.
This article unpacks why real content marketing happens off social platforms, not just on them: Brands Still Struggle to Put Social Media Strategy in Its Proper Place.
Definitely worth reading if you’re serious about achieving sustainable growth.
Thanks for being here!
If today’s ideas opened a loop in your mind, I hope you’ll stick around as we keep pulling the thread.
See you in the next one,
Bruna