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Do you ever find yourself scrolling on Instagram, TikTok, or even LinkedIn, and just feel like everything is repetitive? 

Everyone’s saying the same things, using the same hooks, same editing style, same memes, just the same everything! 

I’ve been feeling this way for the past year, and I want to talk about it. 

We all know social media is like an echo chamber; the more time you spend on it, taking in other people’s content, the more you start thinking like everyone else. 

But what does this mean for you as a business owner?

What does it mean for your content and social media efforts when everyone starts to sound and look the same, and consumers start getting really tired of everything? 

At first, this sameness doesn’t seem like a problem. In fact, it almost feels safer. 

You see what’s working for someone else, you borrow the format, tweak the wording, and hit post. The algorithm rewards it, so you do it again. And again. Before you know it, your feed looks polished, on-trend, but completely forgettable. 

You blend in with everyone else, and as soon as someone scrolls past your post, they’ve forgotten you, cause they saw another post, from another brand that did the same thing. 

And before you think it, no, the issue isn’t with trends. Trends are good and fun. But if done too much, it makes your brand seem shallow and basic. 

You’re just another brand, jumping on the bandwagon. 

One hook goes viral, and suddenly everyone (including you) is opening with the same three lines. One editing style performs well, and now every video has the same jump cuts, captions, and background music. One “hot take” lands, and it gets recycled until it’s no longer hot, or even true.

Do you get the point I’m trying to make?

As a business owner, you’re told you need to post consistently, follow best practices, stay relevant, use trending audio, keep it short, and keep it punchy. But when everyone follows the same rules, the result is content that blends together. And when content blends together, people stop paying attention.

Consumers aren’t dumb. They can feel when something is templated. They might not be able to explain why a post didn’t land, but they know when they’ve seen the same idea five times already that day. That’s when scrolling turns into tuning out.

So if everyone sounds the same right now, the real question isn’t “How do I keep up?” It’s “How do I stop disappearing into the noise?”

As a small business owner or solopreneur, your smallness is your superpower. You get to have personality and quirkiness that big brands can’t afford to have. 

You get to be imperfect and maybe even a little unhinged with your brand. This is how you stand out. 

By showcasing that imperfect personality. 

That weird origin story of your business? Share it. 

The hacks that helped you save on business expenses while still delivering quality products/services? Tell your community. 

The most outlandish things you did to get your business off the ground? Start a content series and share it. 

The key to standing out lies within your experience as an entrepreneur, not in better hooks or sharper edits.  It’s all about saying something slightly uncomfortable, or specific, or unpolished enough that it couldn’t have been copied and pasted from someone else’s content calendar.

So before you write another templated “viral hook” or try to record the new trending reel, take a step back and ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Is it because it can genuinely help my business, or is it because everyone else is doing it and a “social media guru” said I should? 

To give you a bit of inspiration, here are some content ideas that are rooted in your experience, not the algorithm.

Some social media ideas to try for your business instead of the “new trend”

1. Share something everyone in your industry loves, but you secretly hate. 
2. Share a chaotic day in your life where everything goes wrong 
3. Pick one member of your team and have them break down their day-to-day role 
4. Share a business idea/product idea/service idea you once had and tried to launch, but it either failed or you never got to do it 
5. Talk about a “best practice” in your industry that never worked for you
6. Talk about a skill you didn’t have when you started, but now use every day
7. Talk about something that used to scare you in business that now feels normal
8. Share the least glamorous part of running your business
9. Share the most confusing piece of advice you received when starting your business
10. Share the behind-the-scenes of something that looks easy on social media but isn’t