After more than 20 years in digital marketing, 15 years running Facebook Ads, helping more than 25,000 business owners, and generating over $100 million in revenue for myself and my clients, I have developed a few opinions. 

If you know me, I suppose you could say those opinions are fairly strong.  

And while social media changes constantly, there are a handful of things I am absolutely not changing my mind about. 

So here they are. 

The social media marketing hills I would happily die on. 

1. You do NOT need to post every day

Posting every single day is not a marketing strategy. 

For most business owners, it is a very efficient way to spend hours creating content while wondering why none of it is turning into sales. 

I would much rather see you create one genuinely useful piece of content that speaks directly to the right customer, then use paid advertising to get that content in front of more of those people. 

Because your goal is not to win an award for attendance. 

Your goal is to grow the business and make some damn sales. 

If posting seven times a week generates fewer leads than posting once and putting $20 behind the right piece of content, I know which one I am choosing. 

Every time. 

2. Boosting posts has never been a good strategy

I know that little blue Boost button is sitting there looking easy and inviting. 

Back away from it. 

If you are serious about using Facebook and Instagram to generate leads and sales, learn how to use Ads Manager properly. 

If you want proper targeting, campaign objectives, retargeting, conversion tracking and the ability to scale what works, Ads Manager gives you far more control. 

This is one of the first things I teach business owners because bad setup costs money. 

And unnecessary wasted ad spend hurts my soul. 

3. Your customer research matters more than your clever content idea

You do not need another inspirational content calendar. 

You need to understand the person buying from you. 

What are they frustrated about? 

What have they already tried? 

What are they scared of getting wrong? 

What result do they actually want? 

Why have they not solved the problem yet? 

What would make them stop scrolling and think, “That is exactly what I am dealing with”? 

This is where good marketing starts. 

Not inside Canva, Claude, or ChatGPT. 

Do your research, and everything becomes easier after that. Because suddenly you are talking about what your customer actually cares about instead of what you assume they care about. 

4. AI should make your marketing faster, not more generic

I love AI. 

I use it every day. 

I teach business owners how to use it. 

But I will also die on this hill: 

AI is the accelerator. 

It is not the strategy. 

If you ask ChatGPT to “write me a Facebook post about my business”, you are probably going to get something that sounds suspiciously like everybody else's Facebook post. 

That is not the AI's fault, it’s yours. 

See my “How to write an AI prompt” blog post if you want to know how to actually make AI work for you without sounding like a robot.  

Then use it to research faster, generate angles, test hooks, analyse data and speed up the jobs that used to take hours. 

Good AI marketing still needs a human brain behind it. 

Preferably one that understands sales. 

5. More traffic will not fix a broken funnel

This one has saved businesses a lot of money. 

When ads are not converting, the immediate reaction is often: 

“We need more traffic.” 

No. 

You need to stop sending traffic to a site that isn’t converting, and fix what is happening after the click. 

Your ad might be doing its job beautifully. 

Then someone reaches your website and: 

The page loads slowly. 

The message changes. 

There is too much information. 

The offer is unclear. 

There is no follow-up. 

More traffic simply sends more people into the same broken process. 

Look at the whole customer journey. 

6. Sales beat social media fame

I saved my favourite for last. 

I would rather help a business owner quietly generate another $50,000 a month than help them become internet famous. 

Every single time. 

Because followers do not pay wages. 

Likes don’t not cover rent. 

Going viral does not automatically give you freedom. 

Revenue does. 

Profit does. 

A predictable stream of qualified customers does. 

I have watched businesses transform because they stopped treating Facebook like a popularity contest and started treating it like a sales channel. 

One client generated 117 qualified leads in 24 hours. 

Another went from relying on word of mouth to quoting $50,000 contracts. 

Another starting getting sales from one campaign after years of poor results. 

None of them needed to become influencers. 

They needed a system. 

And if you want to do the same, come check out the recording of my masterclass. 

https://app.socialmediaplusone.com/master-meta-7196

Kerry x 

Discounts work.

Yes, I said it.

If you slash 20 percent off, run a flash sale, or throw a big red “SALE” graphic into your ads, you’ll probably get attention.

But here’s the problem.

More attention does not automatically mean better customers.

And if your marketing strategy relies too heavily on discounts, you can end up in a race to the bottom, attracting the exact people you do not want to build your business around.

People who buy because you are cheap.

People who disappear the moment the discount ends.

That is not a sustainable growth strategy.

I decided early on in my business that I did not want to work with people just looking for the shoddiest deal from the bargain bin. And I suggest you decide the same.

Discounts Create Urgency, but Urgency Is Not the Same as Desire

A discount gives people a reason to act now.

That can be useful.

But it does not necessarily give them a stronger reason to choose you.

There is a big difference.

If someone sees:

“20 percent off this week”

their first thought is usually about the saving.

If they see:

“Here’s how we solve the problem that has been costing your business thousands every month”

their first thought is about the outcome.

One attracts someone looking for a bargain.

The other attracts someone looking for a solution.

That distinction matters enormously when you are trying to build a profitable business.

Cheap Leads Can Become Very Expensive Customers

If you were paying $30 per lead and suddenly you are getting leads for $8, it feels like the campaign is winning.

But cost per lead is only one number.

What I care about far more is what happens afterwards.

Do they buy?

How much do they spend?

Do they buy again?

Do they need endless follow-up?

Do they become a profitable customer?

A cheap lead who never buys is not cheap.

A slightly more expensive lead who turns into a $20,000 client can be incredibly valuable.

Not Everyone Is Ready to Buy Today

Another mistake is assuming every person who sees your ad should immediately purchase.

They will not.

Some people have been looking for something for years and are ready now.

Some are interested but still researching.

Some know they have a problem but do not yet understand the solution.

That is why good marketing has more than one step.

You attract attention.

You build trust.

You educate.

You capture leads.

You follow up.

Then you sell.

The strongest Facebook strategies do exactly that, moving people from cold audiences through nurturing and into conversion rather than expecting one aggressive sale to do everything.

Discounts Are a Tool, Not a Strategy

I am not saying never discount.

There are plenty of good reasons to use one.

But the discount should support the marketing.

It should not be the marketing.

Because if the only compelling thing about your offer is that it costs less, you have a much bigger problem.

And if you want to chat more about marketing strategies, reach out!

Kerry x

Gen Z did not kill marketing. 

But they may have finally killed a lot of the rubbish we have been calling marketing for the past 20 years. 

And to be honest, I’m not sad about it. 

The boring polished corporate ads. 

The fake “act now or the world will end” urgency. 

The perfectly posed stock photos. 

The painfully obvious celebrity scripts. 

Gen Z grew up surrounded by sponsored YouTube videos and everyone on earth trying to sell them something. 

They can smell a pitch from three suburbs away. 

So, when businesses complain that “marketing doesn’t work like it used to”, they are partly right. 

Old marketing is struggling. 

But good marketing is doing just fine. 

Gen Z Did Not Change Human Nature 

This is the part a lot of marketers miss. 

People still buy for largely the same reasons they always have. 

They want to solve problems, save time, heal headaches, and make money. 

They want certainty, convenience, and a business they can trust. 

That has not suddenly disappeared because somebody was born after 1997. 

Human nature is still human nature. 

What has changed is how quickly people decide whether they trust you. 

Gen Z has had a lifetime of advertising coming at them from every direction. 

They have become incredibly good at filtering. 

And that filter is brutal. 

If something feels fake, overly polished or obviously engineered to sell them something, they scroll. 

The Old Attention Tricks Are Getting Weaker 

There was a time when simply getting someone's attention was half the battle. 

Today, attention is everywhere, but the trust is scarce. 

That changes the job of your marketing. 

You do not just need someone to stop scrolling. 

You need them to think: 

“This person understands me.” 

“This actually makes sense.” 

“I believe them.” 

“I’ve been looking for something like this!” 

“That might solve my problem.” 

That is a very different standard. 

And it is why businesses chasing the latest hack are struggling. 

A clever hook might get the click. 

A viral video might get views. 

A trending audio might get reach. 

None of those things automatically get sales. 

Which is why I have never been interested in likes for the sake of likes. 

Authentic Does Not Mean Sloppy 

There is another mistake happening here. 

Businesses hear that younger audiences want authenticity, so they assume everything needs to look amateur. 

That is not what authenticity means. 

You can have brilliant branding. 

You can have professionally produced content. 

You can run highly sophisticated advertising campaigns. 

You can automate half your marketing. 

People do not reject professionalism, they reject bullshit. 

There is a difference. 

Before I run an ad campaign, I want to know what people are worried about, what they want, what they have already tried, what frustrates them and what might stop them buying. 

Not because it gives us clever marketing language. 

Because it allows us to have a more relevant conversation. 

Gen Z Has Made Marketing More Human 

This is probably the biggest shift. 

Brands used to speak at people. 

Modern marketing works much better when it feels like you are speaking with them. 

That means less corporate waffle. 

Less carefully sanitised brand language. 

Less pretending every business is “passionate about delivering exceptional customer outcomes”. 

Please, nobody talks like that. 

If you want to see a great example of down-to-earth and engaging, creative marketing, check out Duolingo’s social media presence.  

They talk like a human, have opinions, teach useful things, and bring fun into their campaigns. 

Answer the questions they are already asking. 

Give them enough value that they want to hear from you again. 

This is not just for a Gen Z audience either. 

It works with nearly every generation. 

Because people have always preferred buying from people and businesses they trust. 

What Gen Z Actually Killed 

If Gen Z killed anything, I think they helped kill lazy marketing. 

Marketing that assumes people will believe you because you said something loudly enough. 

Marketing that treats customers like numbers rather than intelligent people who can make their own decisions. 

Good riddance. 

Because the businesses winning now are not necessarily the loudest… they are the ones that understand their customers best. 

If you wanna chat more about how to actually run good ads in this day and age, watch the replay of my masterclass. 

https://app.socialmediaplusone.com/master-meta-7196

Kerry x 

If your marketing agency can’t answer these basic questions with confidence and clarity… Get a new marketing agency. 

1. What business result are you trying to create with this ad? 

This should be the easiest question on the list. 

You would be surprised how often it is not. 

Your agency should be able to clearly explain what each campaign is designed to achieve. 

Is it generating qualified leads? 

Producing online sales? 

Booking consultations? 

Increasing repeat purchases? 

Warming cold audiences before a larger offer? 

“Building awareness” is not a good answer. 

Every campaign needs a job. 

If the agency cannot explain that job in plain English, there is a good chance you are paying for activity rather than progress. 

2. Who are we targetinghere, and why would they care?

Your audience is not simply an age, a location, and a list of interests. 

Your agency should understand: 

• The problem your customer is trying to solve
• What they have already tried
• What frustrates them about the available options
• What might stop them from buying
• What outcome they actually want 

A campaign aimed at everyone will connect with no one. 

Your marketing team should be able to tell you why the message, creative, offer, and audience belong together. 

They should also be able to explain what customer research shaped those decisions. 

If the strategy is based entirely on assumptions, broad demographics, or whatever worked for another client, that is not a strategy. 

That is guessing with your money. 

3. Where does this campaign fit in the customer journey?

Not everyone who sees your ad is warmed up to you yet, 

Your agency should know which stage each campaign is built for. 

Cold audiences may need education, proof, or a useful first step. 

Warm audiences may need case studies, stronger positioning, or answers to common objections. 

Hot audiences may need a direct offer and a clear reason to move now. 

The mistake I see constantly is sending every person straight to a sales page or enquiry form. 

Then, nothing happens. 

The real issue may be that the campaign asked for too much, too soon. 

A good marketing team will build the path from first contact to final sale. 

4. What happens after someone clicks?

The ad is only the beginning. 

What page do people land on? 

Does the page match the promise made in the ad? 

Is the next step obvious? 

Does it load properly on mobile? 

Are they followed up by email, Messenger, SMS, retargeting, or the sales team? 

A campaign can generate strong click-through rates and still produce poor sales because the experience after the click falls apart. 

The offer may be unclear. 

The page may be slow. 

The form may ask for too much information. 

The sales team may take three days to respond. 

The follow-up may not exist. 

Your agency should be looking beyond the ad account. 

Clicks do not create revenue on their own. 

The system around the click does. 

5. What are we testing, and what have we learned?

Testing does not mean changing everything every few days. 

Your agency should be able to tell you: 

•  What is currently being testedand split-tested
• Why that element was chosen
• What result would count as a win
• How long the test will run
• What has been learned from previous tests
• What will happen next 

They might test a hook, an image, an audience, an offer, a landing page, or a call to action. 

But they should be testing. 

They should not be changing 5 elements at once, or constantly putting out new things without measuring what is working.  

Your agency should be building a bank of useful information about what your market responds to. 

Marketing is not perfectly predictable. 

No honest agency can guarantee that every campaign will work immediately. 

Markets change. 

Creative gets tired. 

Offers need refining. 

Tests fail. 

That is normal. 

What is not normal is paying a team that cannot clearly explain what it is doing, what the data means, and how the work connects to revenue. 

You should not need to become a Facebook Ads expert to manage your agency. 

But you do need enough knowledge to understand whether you are investing in a real growth system or simply outsourcing the confusion. 

And if you’re tired of wasting money on ads and agencies that don’t work, come along to my next AI Powered Facebook Marketing Masterclass. 

Kerry x 

AI is not the problem. 

The vague, lazy prompt you gave it probably is. 

That might sound blunt, but it is also good news. 

Because when AI gives you generic, beige, painfully obvious content, you do not need a new tool. You need to give the tool better direction. 

AI can help you research customers, write ads, create emails, map funnels, analyse campaigns, develop lead magnets, and generate content faster. 

But it cannot read your mind. 

The quality of the result depends heavily on the quality of the instructions. 

So before you blame ChatGPT for sounding like a robot, check whether your prompt gave it enough useful information to work with. 

Here are six things you need to know if you want AI prompts that produce genuinely useful results. 

1. Start With a Clear Outcome

Most people start with a task. 

“Write me a Facebook ad.” 

“Create some social media posts.” 

“Give me some email ideas.” 

That tells AI what to make, but not what the content needs to achieve. 

There is a big difference between: 

“Write a Facebook ad for my bookkeeping business.” 

And: 

“Write a Facebook ad designed to generate qualified leads from established business owners who are frustrated by poor cash flow and want better financial visibility.” 

The second prompt gives AI a commercial outcome. 

That matters. 

Your prompt should explain what success looks like. 

Are you trying to: 

• Generate qualified leads
• Sell a product
• Book consultations
• Build trust with a cold audience
• Retarget people who already know you
• Educate prospects before making an offer
• Increase the value of existing customers 

AI works better when it understands the job the content needs to do. 

Do not just ask for words, ask for a result. 

2. Tell AI Exactly Who It Is Speaking To

Your audience is not “business owners.” 

That is too broad. 

A plumber running a $300,000 local business has different concerns from a finance company turning over $10 million. 

They may both own businesses, but they do not think the same way, use the same language, or make buying decisions for the same reasons. 

Your prompt should include details such as: 

• The type of person you want to reach
• Their business stage
• Their current problem
• What they have already tried
• What they are frustrated by
• What they want instead
• What may stop them from taking action 

Good marketing, AI or not, starts with understanding the customer before you write the ad, email, page, or post. 

AI can help speed up this research, but you still need to give it a useful starting point. 

When you understand what your audience wants, what they fear, and what is holding them back, your messaging becomes more specific and far more effective. 

3. Give It a Role, But Make the Role Specific

“Act as a marketing expert” is not enough. 

There are plenty of marketing experts who would give completely different advice. 

Be more precise. 

For example: 

“Act as if you are a direct-response copywriter who specialises in Facebook ads for established service businesses.” 

Or: 

“Act as a customer research strategist. Analyse the following reviews and identify recurring frustrations, desired outcomes, objections, and phrases customers use.” 

Or: 

“Act as a funnel strategist. Review this offer and identify where prospects may lose trust or drop out before buying.” 

You can even ask AI to act as a specific public figure if you like their writing style:

“Act as if you are David Ogilvy. Write a Facebook ad for my offer using clear, persuasive direct-response principles, a strong headline, specific benefits, credible proof, and no hype.” 

You can also tell AI what not to prioritise. 

For example: 

“Do not focus on engagement, likes, or follower growth. Focus on qualified leads, sales, and profit.” 

That one instruction can completely change the output. 

4. Show It What Good Looks Like

AI performs much better when you give it examples. 

This is especially important when you want content to sound like you. 

You can provide: 

• Previous emails
• Blog posts
• Ad copy
• Sales pages
• Video transcripts
• Social posts
• Phrases you regularly use
• Phrases you never want used 

Then tell AI what to pay attention to. 

For example: 

“Study these examples and identify the tone, sentence length, level of directness, rhythm, structure, and repeated language patterns. Then write the new piece using those patterns.” 

Do not simply say, “Write in my voice.” 

Give it evidence of your voice. 

You should also explain what you do not want. 

That might include: 

•No hype
• No corporate language
• No empty motivational lines
• No fake urgency
• No long introductions
• No generic phrases
• No unnecessary adjectives
• No robotic summary at the end 

5. Add Constraints

Constraints make AI more useful. 

Without them, it tends to overwrite, repeat itself, use tired phrases, and explain things nobody asked it to explain. 

Useful constraints could include: 

•  Keep paragraphs to two or three lines
• Use plain English
• Avoid jargon
• Do not use clichés
• Include three practical examples
• Write at a Year 8 reading level
• Keep the email under 250 words
• Include one clear call to action
• Do not open with a greeting
• Do not use emojis
• Do not make claims without proof
• Do not mention the product until the second half 

You can also give structural constraints. 

For example: 

“Open with a blunt observation. Explain the problem. Give three practical fixes. Address the main objection. Finish with one natural next step.” 

This gives the content direction without forcing it into a stiff formula. 

The goal is not to make the prompt complicated. 

The goal is to remove ambiguity. 

6. Treat the First Output as a Draft

This is where people either get good at AI or give up on it. 

They enter one prompt, read the answer, and decide AI is brilliant or useless, and neither conclusion is particularly helpful. 

The first response is often a starting point. 

You can improve it by giving clear feedback. 

Instead of saying: 

“Make it better.” 

Say: 

“The opening is too generic. Lead with the financial cost of getting this wrong.” 

“The tone is too formal. Make it sound like an experienced business owner explaining this over coffee.” 

“The copy is focused too heavily on features. Rewrite it around the customer’s frustrations and desired outcome.” 

“The call to action is too vague. Make the next step specific and low-friction.” 

“This sounds like every other coach online. Remove the hype and make the argument more commercially intelligent.” 

AI improves when your feedback is specific. 

You can also ask it to critique its own work. 

Try: 

“Review this copy as a sceptical buyer. Identify anything vague, repetitive, unbelievable, or too salesy. Then rewrite it.” 

Or: 

“Score this prompt out of ten for clarity, context, audience detail, commercial objective, constraints, and tone. Tell me what is missing before completing the task.” 

That one step can save a lot of editing later. 

A Simple AI Prompt Structure You Can Use 

You do not need a 47-page prompt manual. 

Use this structure: 

Role: Who should AI act as? 

Task: What exactly do you want it to create or analyse? 

Audience: Who is the output for? 

Objective: What business result should it support? 

Context: What does AI need to know about your offer, customer, or situation? 

Proof: What evidence, examples, or results can it use? 

Tone: How should it sound? 

Constraints: What must it include or avoid? 

Output: What format do you want? 

The real skill is clear thinking. 

AI forces you to clarify: 

• Who you are speaking to
• What they care about
• What you want them to do
• Why they should trust you
• What makes your offer worth considering 

Those are not AI questions. 

They are marketing questions. 

Used properly, AI can help you move faster, research deeper, test more ideas, and create better marketing without staring at a blank screen for three hours. 

But it should accelerate your strategy, not replace it. 

And if you’re sick of wasting money on marketing that doesn’t work, come along to my AI-driven Facebook Ads Masterclass. 

https://app.socialmediaplusone.com/master-meta-7196

Kerry x 

Instagram recently rolled out a feature many business owners have been asking for. 

You can now reorder your grid. 

No more deleting posts. 

No more archiving content. 

No more wishing you'd posted things in a different order. 

So naturally, the marketing world lost its mind. 

But here's the question nobody seems to be asking: 

Does it actually matter? 

What Is the Reorder Feature? 

Instagram now allows you to rearrange the posts on your profile grid. 

Think of it like moving furniture around in your house. 

Nothing inside the rooms changes. 

You've just changed how it looks when someone walks through the front door. 

For some businesses, that's useful. 

For others, it's a complete distraction. 

When Reordering Makes Sense 

There are a few situations where I'd absolutely consider using it. 

• You have a lead magnet, event, or offer you want front and centre
• Your best-performing content is buried deep in your profile
• Your profile doesn't clearly explain what you do
• You want to create a better first impression for new visitors

In those situations, spending ten minutes reorganising your profile can be worthwhile. 

When It's a Waste of Time 

This is where I see business owners get stuck. 

They spend hours choosing colours. 

Hours adjusting layouts. 

Hours moving posts around. 

Meanwhile... 

They're not creating content. 

They're not building audiences. 

They're not generating leads. 

They're not making sales. 

Your grid is not your marketing strategy. 

It is simply the shopfront. 

The shop still needs customers walking through the door. 

The Question I'd Ask First 

Before you spend time reorganising your profile, ask yourself: 

Am I trying to improve my business? 

Or am I avoiding the things that actually grow my business? 

Because posting consistently, running ads, building your email list, and creating offers that solve real problems will always have a bigger impact than moving squares around on a screen. 

So, is it a smart marketing move? 

Yes... if you're using it to improve clarity and showcase your best content. 

Waste of time? 

Also yes... if you're spending more time rearranging your profile than creating content people actually want to consume. 

Use the feature. 

Just don't mistake it for a strategy. 

Because nobody has ever doubled their revenue by having a prettier Instagram grid. 

But plenty of businesses have grown by focusing on the fundamentals. 

And if you need help with those fundamentals, come check out my masterclass. 

Kerry x 

You spent time creating the video. 

You planned what to say. 

You hit record. 

You edited it. 

You posted it. 

And then... most people watched it without hearing a SINGLE word. 

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? 

But that's exactly what's happening. 

Or worse… they’re scrolling right past because they can’t tell what you’re saying!!
 

Many people scroll social media while they're: 

• Sitting in meetings
• While riding public transport
• Watching TV with their partner
• Lying in bed while someone else is asleep 
• Or even ON THE TOILET!

The sound is off. 

It’s weird human psychology, but the stats don’t lie. People watch on silent. 

If your message only works when people can hear you, you're losing viewers before you've even started. 

Captions Keep People Watching 

Think about your own behaviour. 

When a video starts playing silently, what makes you stop scrolling? 

Usually it's one of two things: 

• A strong visual
• Text on the screen

Captions help people understand what's happening instantly. 

No guessing. 

No turning the sound on. 

No extra effort required. 

And when people understand your message faster, they're more likely to keep watching. 

Captions make your content easier for everyone to consume. 

That's not just good marketing. 

That's good communication. 

The good news? It's easy. 

A few years ago adding captions was a pain. 

Today, most video editing tools do it in seconds using AI. 

CapCut. 

Canva. 

Meta. 

You can do it from your phone, even while sitting on the toilet yourself!! 

There is really no excuse anymore. 

Before You Post Your Next Video... 

Watch it with the sound turned off. 

Can you still understand the message? 

Can you still follow along? 

Would you stop scrolling and watch? 

If the answer is no, add captions. 

It's one of the easiest marketing improvements you'll make this year. 

And unlike most marketing advice, it takes less than five minutes to implement. 

 Kerry x 

Want to know how Rory Bland gets hundreds of thousands of views through his “Signature Series” videos? It works on any niche, any industry…

Rory explains how the algorithm works, how to create a viral series and the anatomy of a good video so strap in, it’s a wild ride.

When implemented correctly it has the potential to blow up your business.  It’s so easy to do, even if you don’t think you have anything to share……watch this training, it could change how you post videos.

Want to know how to turn your audience, the people who are watching your videos or reels on Instagram and Facebook, into qualified leads without having to tell them to click the link in your bio?

There is a super easy way to use one of my favorite apps, ManyChat

First step:  Create content that speaks to the problems and solutions that your audience/ potential client has, this way you can be seen as the go-to authority in your niche.  

Second Step: Turn that content into a video that can be used on multiple channels, but for this exercise mainly Facebook and or Instagram video around that content that has a call to action to ask people to leave a comment to get a free resource you speak about in the video, so instead of telling them to go to a link in the bio or off Meta you....

Third Step:  Hook up an app like ManyChat which is an AI chatbot that triggers either Messenger or Instagram Direct Message with details on how they can get that free resource.  You can set up an automated flow that captures first-party data, like first name, email address and phone number.

Then you can use Messenger, Email or SMS to send other free resources, add value and be their when your potential client is ready to buy from you.

Here is an example: