Instead of chasing trends, MIT's social team analyzed likes and shares as direct feedback or 'votes' from their community. They then produced more of the content that received positive votes, treating organic growth as a long-term marathon of relationship building, not a sprint for vanity metrics.
Reacting to every perceived algorithm change is counterproductive. By maintaining a consistent content strategy, you train the algorithm to understand your brand, content, and audience. This creates long-term stability, whereas constant pivots confuse the system and prevent it from learning your patterns effectively.
In Jenny Fowler's '6 Ms' framework, brands most often fail by skipping 'Medium'—thoughtful platform selection. The pressure to be everywhere leads them to post the same generic content across all channels. The correct approach is to dominate one platform where your audience lives before expanding elsewhere.
A critical, time-consuming part of a social media manager's job is educating internal stakeholders, especially non-digital native executives. They must constantly explain platform nuances, justify strategies with data, and manage expectations to get buy-in. This internal education is as important as external content creation.
Instead of hiring an 'Instagram specialist,' build a team of format experts: a vertical video specialist, a copywriter, a graphic designer. These specialists can adapt their craft to any platform, making the team more agile and future-proof as new platforms emerge and old ones evolve.
To avoid being treated as an afterthought, social media should be its own department, not a sub-function of marketing. The first hire must be at the Director or VP level to secure strategic influence, build a proper team, and prevent the function from being 'swallowed' by other departments.
Before publishing, stress-test content by trying to find all potential negative interpretations. This 'troll-proofing' involves brainstorming how a post could be misconstrued, mocked, or weaponized. It's a crucial step to ensure content ages well and to avoid brand crises.