14 things to *not* post on social media in 2026 if you want to grow.. (my content icks lol)

The future of social media is so right because 2026 is the golden era of social media and it's gonna be your best year post-owned social media. I can just feel it. But here's the thing, if you don't get real, but yourself about what to leave behind in 2025, what to stop doing? 2026 is not gonna be your golden year on social media. This episode was basically a list of my content creation and social media x. And I opinion at the busy building office, these things I'm listing today, if you post them on social media in 2026, you'll be fired from busy building office. These pieces of content that we're gonna talk about are no longer in your job description at work. And you're gonna get a write-up on your performance review at the end of 2026. I am so excited for this episode. I have 14 things today that I think we all need to break up with in 2025. This is the second episode. I'm a series that we're doing over here called 2026, the golden era of social media. The future of social media is bright. Last week we talked about what is going to work and what to do and why social media is just such an amazing industry right now, but today we're gonna get a little negative. Also, the theme of being in my apartment and the sun shining everywhere is continuing because also what's bright is my apartment. And so today, we were sitting on the kitchen floor with all the curtains closed. So if you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, I'm so sorry for the filming setup today, but you know, this series is kind of a good exercise trying to film in different spots in my apartment. So today we're in the kitchen and we're gonna cook. We're gonna eat. But if you're new by the way, welcome to busy blooming, welcome to work. Busy blooming is your digital office of social media and content creation. Every single Monday, we clock into the office and we talk about everything that needs to come across your desk and the world of social media and content. If you're new, make sure to subscribe. Subscribing is like grabbing your desk, introduce yourself to your coworkers below. We would love to welcome you into the office with open arms. Anyways, enough to slam our slits. Let's get into it. Okay, before we get into the rest of the episode, I have to tell you about one of the best ways to build your bread on social media and really streamline your content creation process. So which is steward blocks? You have heard me talk about story blocks so many times. I love them so much. I use them every single week on my long form content on this podcast. Am I short from content and you need to use them going into 2026? Because they're gonna elevate your brand in so many ways and just make your content creation process so much more fun, so much more streamlined. So let's let's break down why you need to start using story blocks. Story blocks is a stock media subscription service offering unlimited downloads of diverse and high quality media for one predictable subscription cost. Story blocks has everything you need in one place from 4K and HD video, photos, templates, sound effects, music. And the best part about it is that it's all under one subscription cost. You don't have to pay per item that you use, which is amazing. Going into 2026 thinking about the brand you want to build the kind of content you want to create, it's so important to pick out a few signature elements. Whether it's sit down long form videos with certain B-roll or you want to have certain sound effects like mouse clicking or typing every time text comes up or you want to have certain brand colors so when you make a really good point it has a blue animated background or something. Maybe in your short form content for your sit down content, you're vlogs, you want to have a lot of B-roll and you don't really have time to take it. Story blocks is all the B-roll that you need. You can also pick certain songs you want to use in your vlogs. It's so fun to go through story blocks and see all the different things that they have that you can use in your content to streamline the process of editing but also build a fun signature brand without having to worry about licensing. This is something I love so much about them. Everything on story blocks is the highest level of legal coverage in the industry so you can focus on creating and not double checking your legal rights because everything on story blocks is 100% world to free, pre-license and ready to use. Their stock library is also constantly refreshing updated so there's always new content in there to use. So going into 2026 and building out your new brand on social media, go check out story blocks. They are so fun to use. To get started with unlimited stock media downloads at one set price, go visit storyblocks.com/testbarkeley or click the link in the description. They are absolutely amazing. Go check them out and thank you so much to story blocks for sponsoring this episode and setting us up for great 2026 as content creators. With all that being said, let's clock in and let's go to work together today. The first thing and we're going to leave behind in 2025 is anything that you wrote with ChatGbT or Gemini or any AI. Do not go into 2026. Write your content with ChatGbT and AI. I know. I am ChatGbT's close personal friend. I talk about ChatGbT, AI, Gemini, all the AI's all the time over here. Over the last couple of months, I have really changed my approach to using AI because even a few months ago in the summer, when we did the ChatGbT video, I believe in that video I said, you know, ChatGbT is great to write your captions or whatever it is. Don't do that. The rise of AI is something we have just never experienced and it is taking off so fast I cannot wrap my head around it and I have seen such an increase of content that is ChatGbT coded. Content that you just know, somebody wrote with ChatGbT, whether it is like the text on screen on their Instagram reel or their caption or even like the voice over on certain vlogs, you can clock ChatGbT in about two seconds because ChatGbT has her own personal brand. It's Chugee. And going to 2026, we're gonna just put ChatGbT on ice when it comes to writing your content, writing your scripts like all of that. We've talked about this so much recently. Like I did a whole episode on AI proofing your social media, your content, but I really do think being an influencer can be one of the most AI-proof jobs if you lean into your personality, your hot takes, your opinions, your you know all that. And I feel like you might think we can't tell that you're using ChatGbT, but we can. And you will unfortunately be fired from the business living office if you use ChatGbT to write your content, we can tell your YouTube titles, we can tell. But YouTube titles, scripts, captions, all of it, ChatGbT, it's not her lean. She's so good for other things. Instead of using ChatGbT to write your content, you could input all of your podcast scripts into ChatGbT and say, okay, here's my new podcast script. Have I repeated any of this in the last 50 episodes? Things like that, you know? Okay, the next thing we're going to leave behind in 2025 is we are no longer doing audio-only podcasts. I think 2026 is the best year for podcasting and Netflix is buying podcasts. Celebars are going on podcasts, we talked about this last week. Like podcasting, I think, is one of the best types of content and brands you can invest your time in too for so many different reasons, but specifically video podcasting is going to just explode even more than already has in 2026. I did some research again for this episode and there are one billion monthly views on YouTube of people watching podcasts. Even with the business living podcast, I'm sure so many of you have never even listened to this on Spotify. You may not even think of this as a podcast. You might think of this as more YouTube channel, which is so interesting. And so going to 2026, I really do think if you want to have a podcast, which you should, it has to be video. It just does. I honestly, if we were out for coffee, we're like unfiltered at happy hour, whatever it is, I would say don't even bother posting an audio-only podcast. I would only focus on YouTube as the primary way to market my podcast. So we're going to leave behind audio-only podcasts in 2025. Speaking of, when it comes to podcasting, something else we're going to leave behind in 2025 is using the word episode or podcast in your podcast content on YouTube. Do not put episode six, busy living podcast, none of that in the title or the thumbnail. Nobody knows what that is. I would say probably the number one lesson I wish I could go back and learn a few years ago is to market a podcast like a YouTube channel. I used to post like episode, busy living podcast, the podcasts aren't the cover. But when it comes to podcasting, a couple things to leave behind audio-only, any podcast branding nods at all that it's a podcast in the packaging on YouTube. And then also having long intros of life updates and things that aren't just getting right into that episode. The next piece of content we're leaving behind in 2025 is content that you're posting just to get views that has nothing to do with your brand. Posting content for the sake of like going viral or hopping on a trend, but it isn't for your community. It doesn't help you get closer to where you want to be what you want to be known for. It's just to get views and go viral. Going viral is so overrated unless you're going viral for something that is something you post all the time. That's the best thing. But this obsession we've had with going viral, I feel like it's so detrimental to a content creation because you start chasing just the wrong things, especially if you want to be your business and make money for me. So of course, I love doing trends, we talk about trends here all the time, but in my opinion, I would post like one to two trends a week max and every time you post a trend, it is something savable, shareable that relates to your brand and converts followers. Like people would see out, go to your account and follow because it's the same content. We're not posting random content, 2026. We're above that. Speaking of random content, something else we're going to leave behind in 2025 is random Instagram stories that don't do anything. I think Instagram is the hardest platform to get and the influencer mind. I think because TikTok came out, you know, in 2019, 2020, it started getting popular. YouTube has been around forever as like an influencing platform. No one ever really used YouTube to socialize with their friends, but then Instagram is a tricky platform. It's the one I think people feel the cringiest on because it's the one that all your family or friends everybody follows you on personally. But also, it's the platform that I think people have the hardest time. viewing it as a business. People have the tendency, it myself included, to post random things on Instagram and they can't make the final separation of like, no, this is a storefront for your audience, this is a business, this is a brand, and that goes for Instagram stories as well. Don't post a random Instagram story of your breakfast. Jail time. That was such a waste of your time doing that. Instead, post your breakfast with a to-do list of what you're doing that day behind the scenes or saying a realization you just had about your breakup if you talk about. If you talk about nutrition and fitness, showing your breakfast with a recipe of what you just made that people can screenshot, like things like that, like take a picture of your breakfast gorgeous, but make sure to add something to it, a poll, a Q&A, something that people would either screenshot or take away, or something that connects you deeper with your audience. I think that's another really good way to kind of have a temporal check of should I post or should I not? Content that either, you know, gets you closer where you want to go, all of that is the ideal, but also content that helps you connect deeper with your audience. People get to know you better is also great as well, but a picture of your essayable with no text fired. The next piece of content that we're gonna leave behind in 2025 is something that I don't think people at the busy blooming office do. This has to be my biggest "ick" when it comes to social media and content. And I say that not lightly. I say that with some weight behind it, because I really hate the trend that goes around about giving like X about influencer X and content creator X. Like we get it, everybody hates influencers, everyone hates content creators. They're the worst. In my opinion, there's nothing better that being an influencer in a content creator. Like it is just the most beautiful, gorgeous thing to be in the best industry that is about to be a trillion dollar industry in a few years. I will just never be someone who piles on like hates on creators and influencers. I always have the backs of crazier influencers. That being said, I have one "ick" and this is it. Firstly, content where you have text on screen that was like, I want to hit a thousand followers by the end of the year. So like please just follow me. Like you're just asking people to follow you so you can hit a milestone. I don't know why that content like XBL or content where it's on your Instagram story telling people to go engage with a brand deal you just posted or telling people to go engage their videos one time just between us. Just keep this in the office. I saw a creator kind of like bullying her followers for not engaging with their content. She was posting on her Instagram story saying like if you were a supporting follower you would be liking and commenting on my content. I've been seeing the likes and comments go down and so kind of like just gilting people into engaging with their content. So that whole realm of like getting people to follow you like in the sense of please go follow me and need to hit a thousand followers or content that's like going engaged with my content. I don't know why I just feel like it's sending the wrong vibe because that is not getting a posting in the way you would post if you had a million followers like you would never post that. I really do feel like it's hurting your brand and the way you show up on social and the way you will view you because people start to almost like feel bad for you and that's why they engage. Maybe I'm being too harsh but I feel like it's just sending the wrong energy and vibe for your content. So we're gonna leave that behind in 2025. Something else we're gonna leave behind in 2025 is posting aesthetic content that is simply for the aesthetics. We talked with this last week but I think content that is like a morning skincare routine that is simply you in silence or with a song doing your skincare or a timestamp to morning routine that's just like ebrech of his hap-coffee workout. It's just like Pinterest aesthetic content that is simply for the aesthetic like vlogs even photo dumps like if you're a brand and you're just posting a photo for the feed no one will save it share it, repost it, comment on it like it's just for the vibe. That's kind of two different points but the whole content brand of just being like an aesthetic influencer I think is really outdated because of the rise of AI like meta AI meta-launched app vibes where it's just like my husband storm actually downloaded the other day and I was scrolling through it with him and I'm like this is so crazy it looks so real and it's all this like perfect aesthetic content and I think that's just gonna get more and more popular as much as we think it's so weird right now I think maybe sitting here at the end of 26 we're like all in the AI content I have no idea I mean I doubted that fast but again like we said it last week I think people are gonna start going to social for like human connection real content all of that and so with this aesthetic curated perfect morning routine making a coffee skincare time stamp no theme no nothing else to it it's just like for the aesthetic there's literally no theme or topic no one would like save it for any reason there's no clear tart audience like who is this for relieving that in 2025 something else really quick this one will be quick that relieving in 2025 is posting on social media they are going to take a break like whether it's a week a couple of days or when you come back to social media you say I haven't posted in a few days like don't post that the ROI on your content writing that on your Instagram story or saying that in the video is quite literally zero no one says no one cares and they say that with so much love if you took a big off social just take a break and if you're back just be back okay the next thing we're gonna leave behind in 2025 is content that starts with the hook about why you want to make the content like for example let's say you're doing a get ready with me I think it weakens your video a lot when you start the video by saying okay get ready with me for filming a podcast I really wanted to do this get ready for me today because I have really been thinking about scrolled whiplash scrolled so fast we're done I see this so much with creators especially what I used to do one-on-one coaching like back in the day years ago those are one of the most popular things I would say is I would say just like get right into the video rather than saying like today I'm gonna do a video talking about confidence because lately I'm kind of struggling with confidence I want to talk about it today like just don't talk about wire and talk about it just talk about it that is something I am like should be guilty of and I feel like I still do all the time but we're gonna leave it behind in 2025 I don't want to get fired from my own workplace the next thing we're gonna leave behind in 2025 is tips hacks guide advice content I don't think in 2026 posting a five ways to blank or 10 ways to grow on social media two tips to get your dream body whatever it is I feel like tips and advice content is about to get replaced so fast by AI and going to 2026 I would put that content on the back burner and instead what I would do is share you're gonna say the only tritity of me talking about AI proving your strategy but opinion and high-tags personality and journey that stuff I would lean into more rather than saying here are five ways you're going to grow on social media instead I would talk about one of the biggest mistakes I made trying to hit 100,000 followers in tech talk I just feel like tips advice stuff like that you want to really insert you and like your personality in it as much as you can because I think AI is coming for all of our followers and they're gonna take them all the way from us if you give tips and advice coming from somebody who gives tips and advice kind of along those lines I feel like something to leave behind in 2025 is this like hustle fear-mongering intense energy on social media it's spooky it's scary and I think people like we talked about last week are going to get more picky about how much time we're spending on their phone they're gonna have a higher bar for absorbing the content they want to see and I think that people are again craving human connection all of that like relation and so I think content that's like you are a failure and a loser and that's why you're not gonna lose any weight or content that's like your content sucks which is basically this whole video but any content that has this like really mean intense hook to it I don't think hits as far as I used to actually I could use to do quite well even this time last year one of my best performing videos was like your mindset is keeping you broke with zero followers like that actually did quite well but I wouldn't post that today I wouldn't use that hook anymore because I think that like intense mean fear-mongering hook title whatever it is it's just not gonna work the same I used to okay and the last piece of content that we're gonna leave behind in 2025 is something that people are going to totally disagree with me and that is totally fine but let me just say in 2026 in the visible-wing office we are not posting day in the life and week in the life content with no theme your video for the week I'm a broken record it is not day in the life week in the life your TikTok for the day is not a day in the life that content is getting to be a decade old third jays has to be a theme with the content I would love to do more vlogs in 2026 on this channel showing like a week of busy blooming and you know a day in my life like things like I love vlog content I do love it but it has to have a theme to it there has to be a theme that is not it's a week in your life is the theme or the TikTok you're doing is not the theme of the videos of day in your life those are styles talk to this last week and so in 2025 the title of your YouTube video is not week in my life in New York City the thumbnail is not week in my life that is a style of video it's a vlog style video there's another theme whether it's you talking about confidence tips throughout the vlog or it's a day in your life on TikTok you're in kind of five with the voice over about how you landed this job at 23 years old a way that I would do this like a tangible way to do this is instead of saying a week of my life in New York City I would say a week getting my life live together after a break up or a week crashing on a 9 to 5 job and finance at 25. five years old. You know what I mean? Like there's a theme to the week or to the day, especially for short from clients and I think such a good vlog strategy because vlogs have a place. Lifestyle vlogs have a place. I do think in 2016 we will have to bring a list of back in to the business office because I really want to do a whole lifestyle vlogger episode with her. But even for your short form TikTok, in the life, the voiceover should be something, savable, themed, shareable, different than what you're showing on screen with the timestamps. Let the screen footage and the timestamps take care of the day in your life. Make the voice over something different to add more, like a dynamic approach to your vlog. So that's what we're leaving behind. Week of my life. Day in my life. I already said this last week, but I had to throw it in here. Okay, that is it for my long list of things to leave behind in 2025. If you have any other ideas, or examples, or you just see all the time that you think people and your co-workers, like people in your office could benefit from, please comment down below using positive emojis and lots of nice words. Okay, I think that wraps us up for today's meeting. I think it's time now for After Hours, which is all of our favorite part of the show. So let's get into it. Okay, we'll look at it after hours. This is the part of the show where I answer voice notes from somebody in busy blooming HQ. We hear directly boots on the ground in the office of the questions you have about the future of social media in 2026. I posted an HQ. I asked you for 2026 specific questions. And so we're going to get into it. I'm so excited. Also, by the way, if you're watching this in real time, happy December 1st, December and busy blooming HQ is a very special month because we have a totally different routine. This month, a different schedule of tons of content that will roll out that will help you enter your golden air of social media next year. We have templates. I'm going to actually do a whole coaching video workshop. When I used to do one of them, I used to have this document that I'd go through and ask you questions. I'm going to be posting that HQ with the video for me. Like we can do with actual coaching basically recorded that you can watch and like have the document with you. We're having a guest come in. We have an office holiday party, a content 2026 live planning session. We have so many fun things. We're definitely going to check out busy blooming HQ in December. We also have the 250 content ideas to like pull from as well. Anyways, let's just get into the voice now of the week. I'm so excited. Hi, Tess. My name is Mara. I am a family travel content creator and I've been posting for about five months now. I post long form content on YouTube and short form content on Instagram as you suggested many times. And I feel like YouTube is going well for me. With travel content, I feel like YouTube just makes sense to me. I have a playlist that's for a specific destination that my family went to. And week by week, I've been making different videos about that destination like where to stay, what to eat, what to do, what to pop. And they're all going into this playlist that people can binge. And from my analytics, I can see that I've been steadily gaining subscribers. I've been gaining subscribers from videos. They've been watching specific videos and going into that playlist and watching the whole thing. So I feel like that's been going really well. But over on Instagram, I haven't really been making much traction. I haven't really even been getting many views since about last month. I've had a couple posts that have hit over a thousand views. But I can see that while I'm getting post views and I'm getting profile views, it's not really translating into interacting with the posts like legs, comments, shapes, saves, shares, and then profile views aren't translating into follows. So I feel like I'm a person who understands YouTube and how to create content for that. But I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind around how to create content short form. And I'm sure there are other co-workers who feel the same way who are excelling on YouTube but just not really having success on short form. So I was wondering if you could give advice for that. Okay, I love this question. Thank you, Mora. That was such a good question. And first of all, a huge win were celebrating that you work finding success on YouTube. I think it's actually quite the opposite. Usually, as people have a hard time growing on YouTube, but they're thriving on Instagram and or TikTok. So a win in your column, celebrate that because that is so great. I find that it's actually hard to be successful at both at the same time. Like when you're starting with content, it's really hard to be like thriving on YouTube Instagram and TikTok. And I think because the content is so different and just what works is so different. So what I would recommend doing is a bit of a content creation process system that could work for you is every time you go to film a YouTube video, I would bring your iPhone or your phone whenever you film your short form content with. And I would film a few, maybe like two to three short form videos while you're already sitting filming your YouTube video about the same topic. So let's say for example, you did a video about like a YouTube video about 10 things to do on the latest Disney cruise. And that's your YouTube video. Then I would set up my iPhone with a tripod. I would pick one thing from the Disney cruise that you love. I would go through a quick list of 10 and then maybe I do a green screen version like showing a little guide daily itinerary example of Disney cruise like what you could do. That's one like content creation process that could work. And then in addition to that, I would also create carousels maybe like one to two carousels about the same video as well. So we've talked about this before, but I think a really good structure for YouTube creators, podcasters that want to also post on short form is using their YouTube video topic as the schedule of topics, the theme for the week of their short form content. And then creating the content while you're already sitting down to film your YouTube. In terms of the content not doing as well, what I would recommend doing is don't give up yet on short form. I know I've seen recently some of the chats and things people have been saying, well, Instagram's just like not possible to grow on right now or tiptocks not possible to grow on right now. You all know how I feel about that. And I just wouldn't give up yet. And what I mean by that is I would keep testing and trying new styles. I say this so often, but I do think when you were fine that Instagram or tiptock content is it working, it's because you're one of the styles you're posting or the content you're posting. It's not what you're posting. It's how it's just the way you're creating needs a bit of a tweak and a refresh. Not that you ask for an audit, but I feel like the content is quite graphic heavy. I would really try to nail down a high quality talk any camera style and a carousel style that is more photo based and like graphics. What I would say also is if you find it hard to create content in short form like Instagram tiptock content, talk to camera videos, carousels, maybe your graphic design or just your editing, filming, whatever. It's just like not really conducive to short form. I'd recommend doing a green screen series. I would recommend getting some pictures of Disney or travel. I don't know where else you're traveling. But let's say you're doing a Disney World video. I would do a green screen series for like even just like 30 days to establish your brand and all of that because that doesn't take any like graphic design or editing or polish editing like things like that. So I would also recommend a green screen series. Try that out also and see if that helps at all too. I hope that was helpful. Let me know if that was if anyone else has suggestions for Mora as well. Leave them down below. But if those are a couple of tips I think it helped you a lot. You also added text to your question like to your voice. Something who said, can you translate what an Instagram mindset is for those of us who are more into YouTube? From what I've seen is growing on Instagram, you really do have to think of it. Similarly to YouTube where it's a cohesive collection, bingeable collection, evergreen, all of that. But there's just more ways to do it. You still have the same topics as a YouTube channel, but you have carousels, talking to camera, text on screen. Like there's just other ways to do content and it takes more trial and error. It's more like a portfolio of all these different styles. Whereas YouTube is just like one style usually. So I find it takes of maybe a little bit more of like a graphic design, but also a more trial and error because you have to figure out so many different styles that work for you. But I think on 2026 Instagram strategy note, having you more the forefront like you as your profile photo, your name as your username, rather like a business name or even like a podcast name like they use your name is in there. And then having more photo based content over graphics works quite well. But I hope that was helpful. And thanks for submitting your question and thank you to everybody for clocking in today. This is the second episode and 2026 is the golden era of social media. And I'm just having so much fine. I really hope you liked the last episode. I'm so excited for this series. This ends kind of the first half of the series because starting next week we're going to start actually planning a 2026, which I'm so excited about. So stay tuned for next week's episode. I'll see you on Monday. Thanks for coming to work with me today. And let's have an amazing week in the world of social media in time. Okay. Bye.