It’s 11:03 PM. You’re sitting on your couch in sweatpants that you’re pretty sure you wore yesterday too. Your laptop is literally burning a hole in your thighs. And you’re putting the finishing touches on what you’re CERTAIN is going to be the carousel post that finally breaks through the noise.
Five simple steps to heal your gut. Cute little icons. A clean Canva layout. All the right brand colors.
You hit publish.
You wait.
And… crickets.
Two likes. One is your best friend who pity-engages with everything you post. The other is a bot named Kyle who probably wants to sell you crypto.
You stare at your phone for a solid 15 minutes, wondering what fresh hell you’re living in.
You just spent 45 minutes creating something that ChatGPT could have answered in under five seconds.
And that’s when it hits you like a ton of bricks.
This isn’t working anymore.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Social Media Content in 2026
If you’ve been online for a year or two, you’ve probably noticed something unsettling. Your reach has declined. Your engagement is… let’s call it what it is… pathetic. And the content that used to get you clients, DMs, and actual conversations? It’s now getting you approximately zero of those things.
You’re not imagining it.
And you’re not doing anything wrong.
The game has changed. And if you’re still playing by the old rules, you’re basically showing up to a basketball game with hockey gear.
Here’s what’s happening. There has been a massive shift in the way people consume content over just the past year or two. And while this shift has been brewing for a while, it’s now so glaringly obvious that we can’t ignore it anymore.
Information-based content is basically dead. At least at the top of your funnel.
Let me explain what I mean before you throw your laptop across the room.
Why No One Wants Your Educational Content Anymore
Think about the last time you opened Instagram. Why did you do it?
Was it to learn the three steps to balance your blood sugar? Was it to get educated on gut health protocols? Was it to absorb information about thyroid function?
Hell no.
You opened it because you were bored. Because you wanted to feel something. Because you wanted to laugh, cry, or be mildly offended by someone’s hot take. Because you wanted to see if anyone else is as emotionally unstable as you are on a Tuesday afternoon.
You didn’t open it to learn.
And neither does your audience.
People used to consume content this way. Back in the ancient times of 2019. But they don’t anymore.
And there are two major reasons why educational content has gone the way of the dinosaur.
The COVID Content Explosion
First, COVID happened. And suddenly everyone and their mother was creating content. The saturation of “how to” posts exploded like a poorly contained science experiment.
Everyone was following the same advice that every social media guru has been preaching since the dawn of Instagram time. Show up. Provide value. Educate. Post consistently.
So that’s what everyone did.
And now the feed is just an endless scroll of nearly identical carousel posts about gut health, blood sugar, hormones, and anxiety. It’s like walking through a mall where every store sells the exact same beige sweater.
Your “five steps to better sleep” post is competing with 847 other coaches posting the exact same thing, just with different fonts.
The Rise of Our Robot Overlords
But here’s the bigger issue. The thing that’s really driving the nail into the coffin of educational content.
AI.
If I want to learn something… if I need information on literally anything… I’m not going to Instagram. I’m not scrolling TikTok hoping to stumble upon the answer.
I’m going straight to ChatGPT.
And I’m getting my answer in less than 10 seconds. Not after scrolling through 47 carousel posts and three sponsored ads for supplements I don’t need.
You should see all the conversation threads I have with ChatGPT. You’d probably think I was a complete idiot because I ask it about EVERYTHING. But that’s the point.
If I want to learn something, I can get it from AI faster, deeper, and more detailed than I ever could from your Instagram carousel.
I can get a full protocol. I can get step-by-step instructions. I can get resources, recommendations, and variations.
Why would I wait for you to drip-feed me information across 10 different posts when I can get it all right now from a chatbot?
I wouldn’t.
And neither will your audience.
Where Educational Content Actually Belongs
Now, before you spiral into an existential crisis about your entire content strategy, let me clarify something important.
Educational content isn’t completely dead. It’s just dead at the top of your funnel.
Top of funnel content is the stuff that people find you through. It’s your social media posts, your ads, your freebies. It’s the superficial, short-form content that acts as the gateway into your world.
And that’s NOT where education belongs anymore.
Education belongs deeper in your funnel.
Think about it. You probably didn’t find this blog post (or my podcast) as your first introduction to me. You probably saw me on Instagram, or a Facebook ad, or through some other random way. And THEN once you were in my world, on my email list, you started consuming my longer content.
When you sit down to listen to a podcast, you know you’re in it for the long haul. You’re putting me on while you’re driving to pick up your kid. Or you’re going for an hour walk and you’re dedicating half of that walk to my 30-minute episode.
You’re making a time commitment.
And in that format, I can actually serve you. I can teach you. I can dive deep. I can give you the full picture instead of trying to cram my entire philosophy into a 10-second reel where I don’t even have your full attention.
So save the real teaching for long-form content. For podcasts. For longer videos. For emails. For your paid offers.
But not for social media.
We have to adapt the way we’re producing content to match the way people are actually consuming it.
What Actually Works on Social Media Now
Alright, so if educational content is out, what’s in?
What’s going to actually work as we head into 2026?
Here’s the truth that might make you uncomfortable.
People want YOU.
They want your personality. Your perspective. Your opinion. Your vibe. They want to feel something. They want to connect to something. They want to have that moment where they’re like, “Oh my god, I never thought about it that way.”
Let me break down the types of content that are actually going to move the needle for you.
Point of View Content
This is where you take a stand on something in your industry.
What do you actually believe about your niche? What opinions do you have that might ruffle some feathers? Because I guarantee there are beliefs floating around in your industry that you secretly disagree with.
Maybe you help women with Hashimoto’s. And everyone in the autoimmune world preaches that you MUST be gluten-free. But maybe your perspective is different. Maybe you don’t believe everyone with Hashimoto’s needs to eliminate gluten. Maybe there’s more nuance to it.
That’s point of view content.
Or maybe you’re in the weight loss space where everyone is teaching people how to lose weight without counting calories. But you’re sitting there thinking, “Actually, counting calories isn’t the devil. It’s just about doing it the right way.”
Or maybe everyone is obsessed with fasting right now, and you’re like, “Fasting is overrated and it’s not going to get you the results you think it will.”
You need to take a stand.
That’s the product now. That’s what people want.
Because ChatGPT can’t give them YOUR point of view. It can give them generic information all day long. But it can’t tell them what YOU specifically believe based on YOUR experience working with real humans.
Hot Takes and Timely Content
These are absolute gold for engagement.
Look at what’s trending in your industry right now. What are people talking about? What conversations are happening? And what’s your hot take on it?
If you’re in the weight loss space, you better have an opinion on GLP-1s. That’s one of the hottest topics right now. What do you think about them? Do you recommend them? Do you think they’re being over-prescribed? Do you think they’re a game-changer or a band-aid?
People want to know.
Or fiber. Fiber has been trending hard in the health and wellness space lately. Or probiotics. Or whatever else is getting talked about in your corner of the internet.
This is timely content. And it does really well because it’s top of mind. People who are trying to lose weight are already thinking about GLP-1s. So when you share your take on it, they’re primed to engage.
You can use tools like Google Trends, Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Threads, or even your Instagram Explore page to see what people are talking about.
Do some research. Learn about the trending topics. And decide where you stand.
This isn’t just going to help you with content. It’s going to help you with your clients. Because if something is trending, there’s a good chance your clients are going to ask you about it. And you should have an opinion ready.
Story-Based Content
Stories are where the magic happens.
Stories from your life. Stories from your journey. Real emotions. Real mess.
Talk about the time you gained 20 pounds on a super restrictive diet. Talk about the protocol that completely blew up in your face. Talk about the time you had to backtrack on something you used to teach because new research proved you wrong.
Tell little stories from your journey, but also from your everyday life.
If you’re on my email list, you’ve seen me do this constantly. I take these boring little moments from my life… my toddler puking on me, realizing I’ve been walking around with green snot on my shoulder for three hours, my cat eating something questionable, a funny conversation with my partner… and I connect them to some lesson or epiphany that’s relevant to my audience.
And people EAT IT UP.
There’s actual data and research on why stories are so engaging. Storytelling has been part of human history forever. It’s how we shared information before we had written language. We’re hardwired to respond to stories.
So start keeping a “story dump” somewhere. Whenever something slightly out of the ordinary happens in your life, write it down. Then later, when you’re creating content, you can pull from that list.
And here’s a pro tip… use the dictate function in ChatGPT. Just verbal diarrhea the entire story, then ask it to give you 10 different lessons you could connect that story to. It’ll give you ideas, you choose one, and boom. Content.
Relatable, Values-Based Content
Not everything you share needs to be niche-specific. But it always needs to be relevant.
This is what I call connection content. It connects with the shared values between you and your audience.
I’m a business coach, right? But I don’t only talk about business. Sometimes I talk about my health journey. Sometimes I talk about being a new mom. Sometimes I talk about my adventures in the backcountry.
Why? Because my audience shares those values with me. Health and wellness. Personal growth. Family. Adventure.
So think about what values you share with your ideal client. And create content around those themes.
If you help busy professionals without kids, maybe you talk about achievement, work-life balance, or climbing the corporate ladder. If you help moms, you talk about mom life.
This is your influencer-style content. It gives people a sense of who you are as a person beyond just your niche expertise.
You can also create relatable content… the kind that makes people laugh and think, “Oh my god, that’s so me.”
For me, that might be a reel about trying to get all my work done during nap time. Typing frantically. Doing a million things at once. Because I’ve got two hours to basically handle my entire life.
If you don’t have a kid, you don’t care. But for my audience of mom entrepreneurs? They get it. They relate. And that connection matters.
The Uncomfortable Part (That You Need to Hear Anyway)
Here’s what you might have noticed as you’ve been reading this.
All of these content types require YOU to have a point of view. To take a stand. To share your opinion. To be vulnerable. To potentially piss people off.
And that’s terrifying.
Because not everyone is going to agree with you.
I shared a simple thread the other day that said, “Hot take: Your audience does not give an F about nervous system regulation.”
And people lost their minds.
I got 70+ comments and most of them were pretty pissed at me. They completely missed the point of the post (which was that it doesn’t belong in your marketing and messaging, even though it might be important in your actual work with clients).
People were triggered. They were angry. They thought I was dismissing an entire field of work.
And yeah, it stung a little. Even when you know you’re right, it’s still uncomfortable when people come at you.
But here’s the truth that you need to tattoo on your brain.
You’re going to get it wrong sometimes. And people aren’t going to agree with you even when you’re right.
And that’s okay.
How I’ve Been Wrong (And It’s Fine)
When I first started as a health coach, I believed in the super restrictive diet. Gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free. Basically fun-free.
And I’m an incredibly disciplined person. So when someone gives me instructions, I execute them perfectly. Sometimes to a fault.
I followed that diet to the letter. For YEARS.
And you know what happened?
I gained 30 pounds.
I was exhausted. I felt like garbage. And I’m only 5’2″, so 30 pounds is a LOT on my frame.
I had spent my whole life as an athlete, as an incredibly fit person. And suddenly I was overweight and miserable.
I thought my metabolism was broken. I thought there was something deeply wrong with me. And I kept recommending this same diet to my clients because I truly believed it was the answer.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.
What I learned over time is that by cutting out all carbs and replacing them with fat, I was unknowingly adding a ton of calories to my diet. The diet itself was making me gain weight.
These days, I believe in an inclusive diet. I eat whatever I want within a calorie limit. I don’t fear gluten or dairy or carbs anymore. I prioritize whole foods, but I’m not afraid of anything.
And I’ve never felt better.
But that means I’ve had to walk back so much of what I used to preach. I’ve changed my opinion on countless things over my 15 years in the health industry. I’ve shouted things from the rooftop that I later had to publicly retract.
It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to evolve. It’s okay to change your mind when new information comes to light.
And it’s also okay to be RIGHT and still have people crucify you for it.
We’re not responsible for other people’s triggers. We have no control over how people react to our content.
I’ve sent the same email and gotten five responses saying, “Wow, this was so helpful, thank you so much,” and five other responses saying, “This is manipulative and gross.”
Same email. Completely different reactions.
What to Do Starting Today
If you’ve been exclusively posting educational content and you’re reading this like, “Oh shit, I’ve been doing this all wrong,” don’t panic.
You didn’t know. Now you do. So let’s move forward.
Here are three steps to start shifting your content strategy.
Step One: Get Honest About Your Philosophy
You have a philosophy even if you don’t think you do.
How do you actually work with people? What do you believe gets results?
You already have a framework. You just haven’t recognized it as a framework yet.
I know that if I came to you as a client with gut issues, you’re not going to list every therapeutic diet on the planet and tell me to choose my own adventure. You’re not going to say, “Well, there’s Whole30, Paleo, FODMAPs, carnivore, vegan, plant-based, pescatarian, vegetarian… pick one!”
No one would ever work with you if you did that.
You have an opinion on how people should eat. You have beliefs about what works. You have a methodology, even if you’ve never written it down.
So sit down and figure out what your philosophy actually is. What do you believe to be true? And how does it deviate from the industry norm?
Step Two: Write Down 10 Industry Norms You Disagree With
This is where your best content is going to come from.
What do people in your industry believe that you think is wrong, incomplete, or oversimplified?
Maybe it’s “calories in, calories out.” Maybe it’s “more cardio equals more weight loss.” Maybe it’s “you have to give up alcohol to be healthy.”
If you work with acne, maybe everyone says it’s all about the skincare routine. But you think it’s actually about internal factors.
Whatever it is, write it down. Make a list.
These are your future hot takes. Your future point-of-view posts. Your future content that’s actually going to connect with people.
Step Three: Stay Plugged Into the Conversation
You need to know what people are talking about in your space.
I love Threads for this. I can figure out what people think about online marketing and the health space just from scrolling my Threads feed.
But you can also use Instagram’s Explore page, Twitter, Google Trends, or subreddits related to your niche.
And pay attention to the conversations you’re having with clients and potential clients. In your DMs. On sales calls. In discovery conversations.
What are they asking about? What are they worried about? What misconceptions do they have?
Then go create content that addresses those things from YOUR perspective.
The Bottom Line
2026 is not the year to play it safe with your content.
It’s never been the year to play it safe. But now more than ever, safe content is invisible content.
Stop trying to be a shitty version of ChatGPT. You cannot compete with AI on information delivery.
But you CAN compete (and win) on personality, perspective, and point of view.
Yes, it’s going to feel scary. Absolutely it’s going to feel scary.
But you’ve done scary things before. You’ve moved across the country. You’ve had a baby (maybe two). You’ve gone through a divorce. You’ve grieved the loss of loved ones. You’ve done incredibly hard things in your life.
This is just one more hard thing. And honestly? It’s probably going to be a lot easier than most of the hard shit you’ve already survived.
So stop hiding behind educational content that no one wants.
Start showing up as YOU. With your opinions, your hot takes, your stories, your perspective.
That’s what’s going to make you stand out. That’s what’s going to build your audience. That’s what’s going to get you clients.
Not another carousel about the five steps to better gut health.
Your people don’t want a textbook. They want a human.
So give them one.
