It's getting harder to market using social media. So hard that some people are calling it quits. The days of free traffic from social platforms are long gone. But you likely already knew that. There's another challenge coming... Google didn't issue a code red for nothing when ChatGPT rolled out on November 30, 2022. Search traffic is in decline. And it will only get worse as AI replaces search queries. Are the good ole days of marketing over? It might feel that way. Not so long ago, Facebook drove ridiculous amounts of traffic. Do you remember? Social share buttons were embedded on every piece of content. I remember emailing Seth Godin and suggesting he add a share button to his awesome daily blog. I kinda miss blogs. But now, we're in a very different time. Today, it's about being hypnotized by an endless stream of random short clips. Some call it the doom scroll. How should we respond? What do creators, marketers, and entrepreneurs do in light of this new state of disruption? I'm here to tell you there is good news. First, consider the days before social media and the Internet. What was marketing like then for small businesses? There were no websites to drive traffic to, yet marketing still existed. People advertised on the radio, in magazines, and in mailbox flyers. Smart marketers might have a local radio show. People held local meetings and invited people for morning coffee, where they talked about ideas. People networked at events, had signs on local billboards, and even collaborated with other local businesses to place flyers at their front desks. So what does that mean for us today? I run a conference called Social Media Marketing World. It's my job to figure this stuff out. I know a lot of people are wondering what to do. So here's my current thinking. Different times call for different strategies. Perhaps we can learn from the past… I still believe that long form content has a place on social media. I've begun experimenting with longer videos and longer written word posts. You won't find a single link in any of my work. Instead, I'm trying to deliver value. I'm tracking how different platforms react to what I'm making. It's not easy because I'm fully aware you can't really subscribe to this content, it needs to find you. But here are the early findings. A lot of people—folks who I've not heard from in a long time—are reaching out to me. I'm reading comments from some of you who followed Social Media Examiner many years ago and are now finally seeing my posts. And this my friends, is why social media still works. Maybe it's not about being seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Maybe instead it's about dropping value to the few. I'm still figuring it out. But I sense I'm on to something here. I know I am not alone on the journey. I'd love to hear what's working for you? Also, let me know what I should write about next.