Episode 459: What To Stop and Start Doing on Social Media in 2026

What is it going to take to finally get your social media reach and engagement back? This episode answers that exact question by revealing why your current strategy might be failing and what specific shifts you must make to thrive in the 2026 landscape. I am coming at you with news that might be hard to hear: if you are still doing social media like it is 2023, you are doing it wrong. You are wasting time and money on tactics that the algorithms no longer understand. In 2026, the landscape has shifted drastically because of AI, and if you are not evolving, you are invisible. I am breaking down exactly what is OUT. People want authenticity. They want to see your face, not just your logo. It is time to build momentum with authentic consistency so your clients can finally feel a real connection with you. In This Episode You'll Discover Why educational tip lists and infographics are no longer capturing attention. The truth about hashtags and why Instagram has limited you to just five. How to use "edutainment" to teach your audience while keeping them engaged. The power of keywords and social SEO over traditional discovery methods. Why unpolished, "FaceTime style" reels are winning in 2026. My "just press post" mindset to overcome perfectionism and build momentum. Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome and why 2023 social media tactics are dead. 03:42 – What is OUT: Boring educational posts and hashtag overload. 06:37 – Stop using over-polished graphics and "bait and switch" content. 12:24 – What is IN: Edutainment and leveraging Social SEO keywords. 18:00 – Why casual carousels and FaceTime style reels perform better. 22:22 – Adopting the "just press post" mindset and signature series. 24:47 – Your 2026 action plan for authentic consistency. Notable Quotes "If you're still doing social media like it's 2023, you're drastically doing it wrong." "Hashtags are out, SEO is in. Hashtags alone do nothing now for reach." "The more unpolished you are, the better. You will be rewarded for it." "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. The new game is momentum." Resources and Links Jump Consulting Calendar: Get a verbal audit of your social media at JumpConsulting.net/20. Email Me: Send your feedback or questions to Bella@JumpConsulting.net. YouTube: Watch video versions of these episodes at my YouTube channel. Jump Mastermind: Learn about our strategy and AI systems inside the mastermind. Transcript Welcome back to another episode of Bella in your business. Happy New Year. It is January 6th, 2026 at the drop of this episode. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and got to do everything that you wanted to or it was a big awakening and you realized some things need to change. And with some of that change might come your social media because I've got news for you today that's going to be a little hard to hear. If you're still doing social media like it's 2023, you're drastically doing it wrong. You are wasting your time and you are wasting money if you are paying someone who is doing your social media the same exact way that you were doing it in 2023. That also goes for all my previous better marketing with Bella clients where we were serving 40 companies a month and we were giving you lots of graphics. Today I'm gonna give you actual statistics straight from the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri. I am going to tell you what you need to stop doing and what you need to start doing. Things are changing. AI has literally changed the landscape of so many things drastically in 2025 and we're now in 2026. It's imperative that you understand the differences. How many of you have been focusing on Instagram or posting on Facebook and doing all the things that you've been told to do and your reach is like crickets? Your engagement's probably down. You're wondering why the algorithm hates your business. You're using all this AI stuff thinking finally I know what to post and now your volume has gone up, but your attraction has not. Well, there's a reason for that and I'm actually really excited to deliver this whole message. I went through that in the summer. I was like, what is happening? I never teach about stuff that I don't know about, that I haven't tried and tested myself and I haven't done it with my clients. Part of the reason why I switched from a one to many model with better marketing with Bella where we were doing 40 companies to only half a dozen companies where I get to customize their content is because it doesn't work the way it used to work anymore. I am not about taking anyone's money without an ROI, without a sincere desire to make their life better. Meta has been making major, major shifts in groups, your personal page, and your business page. If you're still doing what worked in 23 or 24, then you're speaking the language that the platforms don't even understand anymore. You might as well be talking Japanese in Russia. Today I'm going to break down exactly what's out and what's in for 2026. I've been talking about this on my own socials for months and no one's been listening to me. If this stings and you don't know where to go, reach out, let's talk. Not everyone is a fit for Marketing with Bella and this is not a pitch for Marketing with Bella. I could still get on a phone call with you for 20 minutes, give you a verbal audit of your social, and give you some tips or tricks or ideas on how to do it. If you're gonna hire someone to do your social, that comes with a huge responsibility for you. You need to be a good leader. You need to tell them what your keywords are, what your strategy is, what your lingo is, hopefully have a GPT so they can talk just like you. You have to have your pillars. If you hire someone for a lower cost, you have to tell them what to do. If you're gonna hire someone for two, $3,000 a month, then they're gonna be a strategist and they're gonna know and that's it. But a lot of pet companies don't have that kind of budget. This is why I have to give you this knowledge and educate you. Here is the first thing that's out: Boring educational posts with a hashtag overload. Those purely educational posts, the tip lists, the infographics with bullet points, they're out. And while we're at it, those 30 hashtags that you've been adding to every post are also out. Instagram just limited it to five hashtags now. I still see you guys doing that wrong too; it's like national hashtags instead of local hashtags. People aren't scrolling Instagram and Facebook to learn. They're scrolling it to be entertained. According to Brock Johnson, if you're reading a script straight from a camera about the importance of something with no story or emotion, the viewers are gonna tune out. Even if you put that script onto a carousel or onto a graphic, nobody cares. The five reasons to hire a professional pet sitter post with the stock photos and the bullet points makes your audience's eyes glaze over. Instagram has pivoted from hashtag based discovery to keyword and AI based search. Every single one of your posts has to be like a micro blog and a micro blog has to have certain keywords in it in order for the search engines and for AI to pick it up. Instagram is now officially recommending using only three to five relevant hashtags. Hootsuite ran an experiment that posts with keyword rich captions got 30% more reach than posts stuffed with hashtags. Hashtags are out, SEO is in. If your hashtags are coming over from Instagram to Facebook, you really look like a pilgrim in a fancy ball. The number two thing I need you to stop doing is over polished graphics and bait and switch content. Those perfectly branded Canva templates with matching fonts and colors are not performing like they used to. Research found that audiences crave authentic perfection more than polished perfection. People have grown tired of the perfectly curated magazine-like aesthetic. Posts with human faces are 38% more likely to get likes and 32% more to get comments. People want to see people, not just graphics. I want to know what your team looks like. I want to know what you look like. Who am I hiring? Do not hide behind the logo. We are inundated with more information. When you're a pet business and you have pets, entertain the people. You need faces. I'm constantly harping saying I need more videos and more pictures of people in them. Those "read the caption" reels and the five second video of people saying to look below for info need to die. These are Instagram equivalents of click bait. Research shows those reels have a low watch time and poor completion rates, which kills your reach. The number three thing is overthinking, random posting, and chasing every trend. Mindset is way more powerful than any tactics. Always think as a journalist. Everything is content. People want to see those behind the scenes kind of things. Overthinking your content is out. All you perfectionists, you're not cool anymore. Posting random disconnected content without a strategy is out. Chasing every viral trend is out. If I go to your feed and all I see is graphics, you look like a newsletter for pet information. It's boring. Instagram's analysis found that accounts going from one to two posts a week to three to four posts had more than doubled their follower growth rate. If you don't post consistently or if it's all over the place, the algorithm doesn't know who to show your content to. Unless you're constantly posting about dog walking and pet sitting in your city in the caption, the algorithm's not gonna be able to follow you. Let’s switch gears to what’s in. The first thing is edumtainment—education plus entertainment blending so your audience learns without it feeling like a chore. Figure out how you're unique and present it in a funny way, whether it's a funny picture or story, and tell them that's why you're different. Instead of a boring five tips for preparing your pet for vacation,