My Place In It

I just got done watching a news report on the changes that are being made to our food due to the new regulations on food dies. The most striking part of it was the address given by JD Vance and associates. Not because of anything they said, but because they weren't real. They were AI creations of these people and the person reporting the story either didn't notice or didn't care. The address was clearly AI text generation fed into a video generator all prompted to look and act like these people. We now live in a world we're our political leaders pass off digital representations of themselves as if they were the real thing. That is striking to me!

So what, Keenan? What does that have to do with small business? SOOOO much! We are in a time when reality is being questioned. A time that we are unsure of weather or not what we are seeing is real or just a cheep digital knock off. That makes authenticity something of great value. Putting your true self out there is going to be something that we see less and less, because AI is just so efficient and allows people to do things they would never be able to do without it, for better or for worse.

I believe that as we move forward into the AI revolution, spaces like this one will become appreciated. Social media is supposed to be social, not just media, but AI and big tech have taken over the spaces and they are turning these spaces into media hubs, rather than places for people to socialize. This is an important thing for a small business owner that uses social media to market their business to understand. Your followers just don't see your content as much as they used to anymore and that's because the game has changed.

This means that if you are not creating media (specifically video media) that the platform can use to keep people engaged at a high level, or if you don't spend some money on ads, your content won't be seen, even by your own followers. Every day I see the numbers on the backend analytics that tell the story. Organic exposure on social platforms is dying and as more AI content floods the digital world, it will become worse.

Well that all sounds rather hopeless, doesn't it? Don't worry, I'm not one to present a problem without offering a solution. If a small business owner wants to get recognized in this arena and doesn't want to spend money to do it, he will need to create "reals." For those that don't know, reels are just short videos usually only a couple of minutes long, max. They are also usually shot in portrait orientation since they are videos designed to be be played on your phone. Reels are king right now and the fastest way to get exposure on the vast majority of social platforms.

But realistically, if you want to be noticed and quickly, you need to create reals and run them as paid ads as well as posting them on your business page. This will help increase your exposure and your sales with it, if you drive the increased traffic to the correct places. I recommend using the time we have left in the "Goldy Locks zone" of social media to increase the amount of followers you have that are on social platforms that you own, not ones that you rent. Group chat functions can be built into most websites. I think the desire for genuine human contact is going to drive people to find it off the "social" platforms after AI becomes too pervasive. Having the ability to provide that service to your customers from your own website in the years to come, might turn out to be a great way to build an online community for your small business.

But, who am I? I'm just a guy on his couch pondering about the future and his place in it.