I started this site in 2011, one of the most volatile times I can remember being a marketer or running an online business. Consider the following…
1. The platform is unstable.
We haven’t seen anything like this yet. Simply consider everything that has happened in the past few years, much of it happening now:
- Elon Musk encourages users, advertisers to leave Twitter/X
- Meta launches Threads
- Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta to imitate Musk
- TikTok is about to be effectively banned in the US
This is crazy. Just in the past year alone, consider all the migrations that have occurred and will occur. Users are leaving Twitter/X for Threads and BlueSky. The purpose of users leaving Meta is [?]. Users migrate from TikTok to [?].
For myself, it wasn’t difficult to leave Twitter. But now we are in a situation where there are few good options. Everything either feels broken, could be broken, or is in the early stages before damage occurs.
There’s going to be a lot of jumping around in the next few months, and it will be interesting to see where people fall and if any new mainstream (and safe) solutions emerge.
2. The distribution is unstable.
This started a decade ago when Facebook’s news feed algorithm affected outgoing traffic. Facebook was once a gold mine for organic traffic, but now it’s not nearly as much of a driver as it once was.
Long-form self-hosted blogs were replaced by short-form social media text posts. Facebook preferred links until it stopped doing so. Before TikTok and Shorts, long-form videos dominated YouTube. Then Meta copied TikTok and launched Reels everywhere.
Content distribution has always been a pain point for every platform. Algorithm changes. Creators can’t reach their followers, or they can’t reach new audiences. The ebb and flow and migration of each platform creates uncertainty.
3. Instabilities related to artificial intelligence.
The bottom line is that this goes too far. Now human creators are competing with AI creators. Or they’re fighting against AI-generated comment spam. Google and other search engines are becoming AI answer engines, which impacts organic search recommendations. The website launches overnight, with content generated entirely by artificial intelligence.
Very confusing. I’ve certainly been there. While I won’t claim to have a clear, unambiguous solution, I can share how I solved the problem.
This is what I’m doing…
Platform diversification
For years we’ve been hearing “you can’t be everywhere.” While this is true (and I agree with the advice), focusing on one or two platforms is clearly a dangerous game.
As mentioned, I have played this dangerous game myself. When it comes to building a social media presence, I spend most of my time on Facebook. I basically ignored every other platform. It wasn’t until 2022, when I started paying the price for this decision, that I changed this approach.
The advice “you can’t be everywhere” is partially true and makes good sense. Not every business has the resources to invest time in building the best possible presence on every platform (or most of the important ones).
But that kind of misses the point. You can still be “everywhere” while focusing on one or two.
Nearly every platform now supports short-form videos, making distribution strategies simple. Every video I make is posted to the following platforms:
I approach LinkedIn videos differently because I add more written commentary. But other than that, I repurpose the same video everywhere.
Is this ideal? Won’t. The ideal situation is to have dedicated resources to create unique content and take the time to build a presence on each platform.
But I can’t do that. I won’t do that. Sharing the same content everywhere is better than focusing entirely on one platform and placing all the risk on that platform.
I went from nothing to 35,000 followers on TikTok in about two years. But I’m not worried about losing it at all. If TikTok is banned, these people are going to have to go somewhere. My most loyal followers will find me elsewhere.
It would be great if you can create unique content on multiple platforms. But most importantly, platform diversity protects you during uncertain times, like today.
Find one or two platforms where you want to spend the most time connecting and building relationships. Otherwise, do what you can but establish a presence in as many places as possible. Find a way to do it as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Media and content diversity
My business was born out of my blog. The content I write attracts readers and subscribers. It created the opportunity to sell my own products.
I would try podcasts and long form videos, but obviously for the first 10 years my business was blogging first. The truth is, I’m relying too much on one form of content, and that’s a big risk.
As my business spirals through 2022, this becomes impossible to ignore. Facebook no longer generates organic clicks like it once did. Organic search recommendations from Google slowly dropped from 10,000 to less than 1,000 per day.
It was a hard lesson, but I am committed to making short films in late 2022. After posting at least one video a day for most of 2023 and 2024, I plan to post three videos a week in 2025.
I have now established myself through short films so that I can better diversify the types of content I create. In addition to three short articles introducing my videos, I will continue to write a blog post each week. Now I’m going to resume my podcast, but with a realistic level of commitment.
Not everyone reads blogs. Not everyone consumes short videos. Not everyone listens to podcasts. But if I create a little bit of all three, I have a better chance of reaching a more diverse audience.
Distribution control
Another popular piece of advice is “Don’t build your house on rented land.” While I do think this advice is overly simplistic (we rent a lot of the materials our houses are built with), the basic point of ownership is valid.
One of the main reasons (if not the only one) that I still own a business is because of what I own or mostly own. This website and my email list have been the engines that drive my business. Now it’s getting more help from other distribution channels than before.
While my email list has always played a key role, now in 2025, I’m much more intentional and strategic. In 2024, I sent more traffic to my website via email than in any year since 2017. This is done while sending much less traffic. Total email volume – but more for those who are most active.
I will be adapting this approach in 2025 to give my subscribers more control over email frequency while creating more opportunities to leverage email for cross-promotion.
Here are the main ways you can subscribe to my content:
With this approach, you get what you subscribed to and little else. The second half of the email is sometimes dedicated to cross-promotion of subscription and paid products, such as my private memberships and one-to-one memberships.
While this may at least temporarily hurt email-driven traffic to my website, I believe it will result in higher engagement and lower churn for my email list.
Artificial Intelligence Awareness and Curiosity
Artificial intelligence puts us in a strange position. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the speed of change.
You can also get lost in trying to master everything—or trying to use AI for everything. While AI can replace humans in repetitive tasks and be a great complementary tool, you can go too far.
This may be partly my own creative resistance to AI content, but I’m sure there will be adjustments. AI-generated images, videos and even written content are novel now. In some cases it is valuable. There are other situations where, even if not problematic or illegal (through theft), it is a huge annoyance.
I love creating content and I don’t want AI to take over the task of my own processes. But I do use it for brainstorming and some editing tasks. I just wouldn’t consider myself AI-first in any way.
My favorite use of AI right now is my chatbot, which is powered by my 600+ pages of content. It became so good and popular that I eventually had to change it from free to members-only. Some people are unhappy with the decision, but the cost is simply too high. People are using it in ways I never imagined.
We can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope that AI will disappear. No. We don’t all need to be experts in artificial intelligence, either. Stay alert and curious.
How does this relate to the current discussion? Artificial intelligence may be able to help us create and distribute. We just need to balance the value of human- and AI-generated content.
effort
I hope you haven’t forgotten this. No matter how good your organic efforts are, you should have some kind of paid strategy.
For me, the focus has always been on meta-advertising (obviously). Although I’m disturbed by Meta’s recent decisions, not much has changed here.
I’d like to tell you that my current focus on using ads to build lists is somewhat new, but that’s not the case. While I also use ads to generate sales, qualified traffic, and video engagement, list building has always been my best long-term investment.
Whether it’s Meta, Google, podcast advertising, or other advertising, find paid distribution channels to accelerate your efforts.
now you
How has your approach changed in response to these uncertain times?
Let me know in the comments below!
