How to keep a consistent message when social media trends change

Should You Chase the Algorithm or Stick to Your Principles?

There's a debate that comes up constantly in the online coaching world, and it usually gets framed as a binary choice: do you optimise for the algorithm, or do you just follow your instincts and post what feels right?

The honest answer is that it's neither - or more accurately, it's both, at different times. But before we get into the nuance, it's worth talking about the trap that catches most coaches first.

The Copycat Content Trap

A popular format can spread quickly through a coaching feed. Before using it, check whether it helps communicate your own message.

This isn't entirely irrational. Platforms do reward certain types of content at certain times, and there's nothing wrong with being aware of what's working. The problem comes when trend-chasing becomes the entire strategy.

When all of your content is built around mimicking what's currently performing, a few things happen:

• Your content can become less distinct when the format replaces a clear point of view.
• You stop drawing on your actual expertise and perspective
• Creating content starts to feel exhausting, because you're performing a character rather than expressing genuine ideas
• And even if it works, you attract an audience that followed you for something that isn't really you

That last point is underrated. Let's say you lean hard into a trending format and gain 5,000 new followers. Those followers came for that format - not for your knowledge, your perspective, or your coaching. The moment you stop doing it, engagement drops. And you're left either trapped in a content style you dislike, or starting from scratch.

Match the Platform to Your Personality

One of the most practical pieces of advice on this topic is also one of the simplest: pick the platform that fits who you actually are.

This sounds obvious, but most coaches don't do it. They pick platforms based on where the audience is largest, or where they see competitors succeeding, rather than asking where their natural strengths are most likely to land.

Some people think in sharp, punchy one-liners. They find Twitter or Threads genuinely fun because they can play with language, provoke a reaction, or package a complex idea into a single sentence. That format excites them.

Other people come alive on camera. They don't need a script, they don't get anxious about being filmed - they just talk, and it connects. YouTube or short-form video is a natural fit.

Others are deep thinkers who want to explore ideas at length. They have the patience and the genuine interest to write thousands of words on a single topic. Long-form blog content or newsletters suit them.

None of these is better than the others. What matters is the fit.

A great example of this is a creator who built a significant following writing blog posts that went completely against standard advice. Series running 10, 20, sometimes 30 parts. Tens of thousands of words. No images, no graphics, on niche and complex subjects. Conventional blogging wisdom says this is exactly what you shouldn't do.

He did it anyway - and it worked. Not because he got lucky, but because he had a genuine obsession with the topics he was writing about, and he was writing with a real purpose: to correct what he saw as a gap or deficiency in the information available online. That motivation came through in the work, and readers could feel it.

His wife, meanwhile, tried to replicate his approach on Twitter. It didn't work for her. She eventually found YouTube, where her natural energy and ability to talk fluently on camera without a script meant she could create content almost effortlessly. She built something substantial doing something completely different.

Same goal. Completely different path. Because they each found their fit.

The Pendulum Approach

So how do you actually balance the two - staying aware of what's working algorithmically while staying true to your own voice and perspective?

The most useful mental model is a pendulum.

There are periods where it makes sense to be in optimisation mode. You're testing formats, paying attention to what gets traction, adjusting how you package ideas, experimenting with structure and timing. This is useful and worth doing.

And then there are other periods - and these are often the most valuable - where you have an obsession. A topic you can't stop thinking about. A problem you want to work through. An idea that feels genuinely important and underexplored.

When that happens, chase it. Follow it all the way down. Write the long series. Record the deep-dive videos. Ignore the advice that says keep it short and punchy. Those windows of genuine obsessive interest don't last forever, and the content that comes from them tends to be the content that actually resonates - because it's real.

The algorithm can be a tool. It's worth understanding. But it shouldn't be your north star.

What Actually Builds an Audience

Use your experience and audience research to explain a consistent perspective. Then check whether it helps suitable people understand the service.

Not just "I post fitness tips" but "I see a specific problem in the way this is being talked about, and I want to fix it."

That kind of clarity doesn't come from watching what's trending. It comes from spending time with your subject matter, developing genuine opinions, and being willing to share them even when they go against the grain.

Pick your platform. Play to your strengths. Follow the obsessions when they show up. And let the algorithm be something you're aware of - not something you're enslaved to.

Related guide: How organic content supports an online coaching sales process.