306: Content marketing, social media in 2026... what the?!

Can we even keep up?

Social media, marketing via content has changed. 2025 did some crazy things and 2026 is going to be amplified. What do you do?

Let's break it down together.

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah.

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KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ The five key things we will see in marketing in 2026  

✨ How to balance it out

✨ Tactics and strategies you can choose but don't have to

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 306, and I'm taking you through what social media, content marketing, all the things will look like in 2026 in my personal opinion. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen.

I'm here to teach you how to share your unique story, create content, and market your business with strategy to the channels that work for you. Each week, I'll deliver a story to you, connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business, and content creation. I'll also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who are here to share their own journey, along with actual steps to help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful and marketing and content strategy.

Let's do it. Hello, gang. All right. This is the last solo episode for 2020. Five and I wanna talk about what 2026 is gonna look like in the world of social media content marketing, because it feels like 2025 was [00:01:00] the springboard for what 2026 is going to look like. So yeah, I wrote this on the plane, uh, during the week and I wanted to take you through like, what's gonna happen, what does it look like?

Because yeah, things are evolving, things are changing. There is a lot of ai, there is a lot. Of consumer behavior change, and I wanted to go through it. So I'm gonna share five things I think we'll see in 2026. So if you've got a pen and paper, note it down because yeah, things are changing. But anyway, let's get into it.

The first one is more in person. So I think it is safe to say that the online world is pretty busy. Like there's a lot going on, and now people are wanting those in-person experiences. So yes, after that pandemic period, we saw lots of people wanting in-person, and then it kind of like plateaued a little bit, but.

Now I think it's changing so much because people don't want it to show up on Zoom. They [00:02:00] as much, I think they still do, but just not as much. They want that like real in-person element. I went to an in-person event of one of my clients recently. I. It made me realize like, this is what we want. This is so fun.

You lose yourself in it. You're present. You really buy into what that person is doing because you just feel that energy and Yes, you know the, you know, you can get sound healing and reiki and energy work on Zoom now. So like we do feel energy online. I think it's, it is, it's no word of a lie, but I think.

We really are craving that. So if you do love networking, get out there next year. Um, and why not plan your own event? Like think about how you could get your audience together. I've got many clients thinking about how they do this, what that looks like, and even businesses that have never thought of events before.

And now moving into it, I've got a financial advice. I just did a 2026 planning with them in Sydney, and that was one of the things we talked about was how can we bring the community together [00:03:00] if you are. A business that runs in a local area, community is going to be huge. So yes, online community, but what are you doing offline in community?

Now you might be saying to me like, oh, Mariah, what? That's not social media. That's not content marketing, but we use our social media. We create the content from these events to springboard, you know, off and a launch onto social media and share what we're doing. You know, people will see that energy in people's faces.

It's, that's the best way you can get user generated content. You can get testimonials, like all those things like in person. So whilst yes, it's not a content marketing or a social media strategy directly, it is indirectly. The second one is docuseries. So I've called this a few times, but I think it'll be the year of learning more behind the brand or even behind the people that are part of the brand, the clients.

The workers, the team, all of that. So we [00:04:00] did this with a client in 2025. It was extremely successful and it got us thinking about how we do this. So what does that look like? It's like a few part series, taking people through the experience. It's a little bit more polished, it's a little bit more high five content.

It's not so much that built in public or what I had for breakfast or, you know, it, it, it really is how we bring to life, what the brand stands for. That's how we'll build that connection, and that is something that AI can't really replace. Chat, GPT can't film that docuseries. Yes, maybe they can help you with the scripting of it, but it, it really is that sort of behind the scenes, behind the brand type concept and I think it's gonna be massive.

And I've already spoken to a lot of other marketers about what Mitch and I were doing in this space and they want in. They're like, this is gonna be awesome. Do you have to hire a whole video team? Not necessarily, but I think learning how to put it together or like watching documentaries and watching them on Netflix and what you like about it.

It really is that storytelling element [00:05:00] I think is going to be huge. In the third thing, the third thing that I think we will see more of is social search. So in the same breath of people want storytelling and connection and all those things we know, I do think there's gonna be a lot of more people using social media just to get their questions answered.

No joke. Mitch uses Instagram like a Google search and it blows my mind 'cause I still use Google, but I'm also searching really hyper personalized things in Google. It's not. Key words like financial planner Melbourne. It is how do I get a better tax return in 2026? It is like really hyper-personalized things to me.

I'm a small business owner who recently employed myself as a director. I'm now, it is now a company. What should I do about my talent? Like things like that, like things that are really specific. Obviously, you can't really necessarily create. That sort of specific content, but think about it in [00:06:00] that lens.

And now with like key words, it's more about you don't have to directly say that key thing because the bots, the algorithms, they know what you're looking for. That's what they're trained and here to do so, or your audience is looking for, should I say. So whilst, yes, entertaining content's gonna be great, docuseries, all that, like even still top of funnel and behind the scenes and all that, I think we need to directly answer the questions our audience has because we are not content creators.

We're business owners and people are searching for things, and we wanna show up when they're searching. So on social media, how can we be creating content that clearly answers a question for someone? So start thinking about those questions and even in your blogs, your videos, your podcasts, all that. How can you be answering specific questions?

I did trial it this year and yes, I saw it work with like titles that answered specific questions. I. The third thing is, or the fourth thing should I say, [00:07:00] is AI search. So old mate chat, GPT is now buying on behalf of people, and I had a client that did a whole road show in New Zealand sharing about this.

But basically you need to make sure that your content and your website is tailored for people and humans, but also for bots. So yes, we like fluff and we like really nice copywriting and all of that. We do need to be direct. We do need to go, this is what it is, this is what we do, and this is how you can buy it.

So if you're looking through all your content and it is a bit of jargon, it's like, you know, you, you are sort of like made up words, which do make you you, and I don't think you should lose all of them, but think about how AI would come into this. Will they even know what you're talking about? So you need to create content for your potential customer, and you also need to do it for the ai.

AI will just not recommend you if it's too hard to understand what it is you're talking about. [00:08:00] So get really clear on your messaging as well. And that takes time. Doesn't have to happen overnight, but it takes time. And the last one is we want proof. We wanna see that you have done it for others. Yes. But you is great.

We love seeing how you did X, Y, Z. Yes. If you're starting out, you have to use yourself as a case study. Where are your other case studies? Where's the proof? How do we know that you know what you're doing? Whether it's a service or a product? How do we know that your product works and not just 'cause it helped you?

And yes, that story's great, but how did it help others? So how can you get more case studies? How can you share more things that are happening that you have directly done for other people? And if you're a new in business, and I'm sure you have some sort of skillset, whether it's you've worked in corporate, how can you get people to share not just what it is, to like to work with you?

'cause yes, we do buy [00:09:00] people, but what it is that you have helped them with, so if you're going to ask for a testimonial. Someone to do a piece of content on your product or service. It's not just, yes, this is great, we love this. It's why or what has it helped you with? So for example, someone could do a testimonial for me where it's like Mariah's great to work with.

We really love the Highly recommend, which is nice, and I would love that testimonial. I wouldn't say no to that, but what have I specifically helped you with? So Mariah started in our business. When we were first starting out, we hadn't had a clear strategy. We didn't know what we're doing. She came in, she implemented a strategy, and from there we were able to grow brand awareness, create hype about our business, and ultimately we were then able to sell or whatever it is they could do because of that.

Right? Or she grew our audience from here to here, whatever that looks like. We don't wanna get obsessed with [00:10:00] numerics. 'cause I think sometimes numeric information. Isn't like the end goal. It's not always what we're looking to achieve. 'cause everyone has different goals, but we wanna know what you've done to help other people and how can you share that with us?

Share the transformation. We want proof now. I think people now are tuning out from how you did it yourself a little bit. I think they still wanna know how you do it, but that is. That's creating a copy and paste, because people don't wanna copy and paste. They want something tailored to them. So, yes, that did work, but now we wanna know how you've helped others.

So start sharing content that is directly like that, and even stories like, oh, I had a customer the other day and we did this, this, and this, and this, this, and this. Doesn't have to be directly from them, but it's you sharing a story on what you've done. And I'm guilty of this because I've spent a long time not talking about things that I've helped clients with.

It can be a confidence thing. It can be, oh, I don't want them to think [00:11:00] that, you know, I'm, um, taking all the credit or something like that. It happens all the time, but just share the things that you've done. Share what you're working on, share your experience. We wanna know what you've done. Like I've worked on some cool shit over the last six years that I've been in content queen and I haven't even shared the surface of the stuff we've done.

Like Mitch designed a whole billboard that is in Brisbane or in just out of Brisbane. Like we've created a, a logo that's like on this massive sign at the front of this. Space, like all this cool stuff that we don't always share because we're so busy in it. And then we also think like, oh, you know, of course we ask permission.

We ask people if they're happy for us to share those things. Every time I do a case study, I'll always send it to a client for them to approve it before it goes anyway. Whenever I share a feedback form or, well, if they do a Google review, obviously it's going on Google. I always try and do something that is public, right?

So [00:12:00] tell us what you're doing, share it with us. We wanna know. So they're the five things in person. And how we can amplify that through social media docuseries are gonna be fun. So social search, how can we directly answer people's questions on social media? AI search. How are we making sure our websites and our content is easy to understand, digestible for ai?

And then the fifth one is show us your proof. We wanna know that you know what you're doing. And on top of that is really, as I said before, in the in person community. If you have a local community, tap into it. Use it. Share it. When you are creating content tag people bring people along the journey.

Obviously you don't just tag them for the sake of it, but get them involved. Like if you are doing a, if you have a blog or you have a YouTube, how can you bring more people into the space? 'cause they will help you amplify as well. Be a content queen or king, and remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business.

[00:13:00] Thank you so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by adding it to your Insta Stories and tagging me at Content Queen Mariah, or just tell 'em about it. If you don't do rate and review on whatever platform you're listening to someone.

It helps me get amazing guests, especially as we're going into 2026, more pitching, more amazing people, more line up, more content for you. And let me know if there's any topics you want me to talk about in 2026. I haven't started planning yet, so I would love to hear from you and I will see you in 2026. I do have one episode left, which is a guest ep, um, sort of coming out the week of Christmas.

You to binge all listen to over the Christmas break. But have a happy holidays, a really beautiful relaxing time with friends and family wherever you are. And let's do it in 2026. Let's make it a big year, and I will talk to you soon. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment