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The Wellness Creator Podcast is your go-to source for expert insights and actionable tips in the evolving world of health, wellness, and spiritual-based business. Join us as we explore proven online growth strategies, chat about current trends, and interview fellow wellness creators who’ve managed to turn passion into profit by helping people live better, healthier lives.
Jeni (00:00)
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Creator Podcast. In today's episode, we are discussing seven social media trends that we expect to be shaping 2026. Hello, Sandy.
Sandy (00:12)
Hello, hi everyone.
Jeni (00:15)
So social media marketing is changing fast per usual. And if your marketing still looks like 2024, it might already be working against you. Today's episode is inspired by a breakdown from Neil Patel, one of the largest marketing agencies in the world. He has recently shared a deep dive on the social media shifts shaping 2026. And we knew we had to share it with you. So Neil lays out what's really changing right now.
It's not just algorithms, but how people behave, how they search, how they buy, and how tired they are of being marketed to. So in this episode, we're walking through seven major social media trends he's calling out for 2026, and then translating them for online wellness businesses like yours and ours. If you've been feeling like something's off with social media lately, you're not wrong. Let's break down what's changing and what to do about it.
Sandy (01:11)
Okay, let's go. I first want to say Jenny that Neil Patel, I would imagine that our audience isn't familiar with him. He is someone you and I have followed for, I don't know, I think like literally 10 years. I always appreciate his insight. He's kind of one of the first people I go to when we're like, what's happening out there? His videos are SEO. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. He's really good. So I encourage everyone to follow him. Okay, so the first...
Jeni (01:28)
especially with SEO. He's like known as an SEO guy.
Sandy (01:38)
⁓ trend that we're seeing is what is called on platform conversion. So really the social media platforms out there want you to keep the people ⁓ on their platform. They don't want you to like go over to my website and grab the opt-in. They want the entire experience to happen on the platforms ⁓ inside the app. And I think this has been going on for a while, but I think it's worth mentioning. ⁓
I also want to say for this trend, I think it's more important when you are doing ⁓ paid ads. So if you are doing Facebook ads and it's like, come get this opt-in that you do, they fill out the form within Facebook itself, it's cheaper because Facebook can then just give them another ad, right? As opposed to sending them to an external website and grabbing the opt-in.
Jeni (02:31)
Yeah, this has been something we have experimented with on and off over the years. So I do just want to say this plug in here, Sandy, that if you all have ads that you're running and they're working, leave them alone, but maybe add an additional new campaign where you're testing this lead capture within Facebook and Instagram. like, don't stop something if it's working. And I mean, there's an obvious reason why.
a platform like Meta would prioritize this, as you said, Sandy, because they don't want to lose traffic and viewership by sending people to other websites. I mean, this has kind of always been the case, but I think they're just really doubling down on this now.
Sandy (03:13)
Yeah, and like we and Marvelous, all of our Marvelous clients have a Marvelous bio, like a Lincoln bio site. So we're not saying like we would continue to use that, but ⁓ just know that there is some penalization if you are sending people off website. But I think this is one of the smaller points of the seven that we have today because yeah, I think some of these more...
I don't think it's so relevant to most of our listeners, but we wanted to mention it.
Jeni (03:45)
Yeah, okay. So the next point that we wanna talk about is the fact that user controlled feeds are taking over. I love this development. So what this means is that you can now actively tune what you see as can your audience. So that means suppressing entire content categories once they get tired of them. So what Neil Patel recommends in this case is creating content for people that people choose to engage with.
Sandy (03:54)
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Jeni (04:15)
focus on consistency and not trying to go viral with a specific post and avoid being so narrow that you get filtered out. What you should do as a wellness creator is make sure that the content you're creating would be missed by your audience if you weren't to post it. Like set up expectations of providing value on a regular basis and shift again from trying to go viral to being reliably valuable.
broaden your themes slightly. So it's kind of a little bit of a nudge to niche up a tiny, tiny bit. So teach, tell stories, show behind the scenes in your business, show personal insights. And if people are engaging with you regularly, they are unlikely to mute you, your channel or your category. And this is happening really with...
This has been going on with YouTube for years, this ability to sort of like mute content that shows up in your feed and help to sort of self-direct the algorithm, but now it's starting to happen on other platforms too.
Sandy (05:17)
Yeah, it's
moved to Instagram as of 2025, I believe. I I think that like for the user, this is fantastic, right? Like I want to see less fitness things or I want to see more of whatever. I really think the message here is to be valuable, which we've been preaching for the last number of years. Like your content has to be really good and really valuable to that, that user, to that, to the person watching.
⁓ I think that's all this is, but I think it's important that all of you realize that your audience has so much more control than they ever did before because they can actually mute you or take your type of content out of their algorithm, out of their feed.
Jeni (06:01)
Yeah. Yeah. And I'll just give like an example of this. So there's a couple of YouTube, YouTubers that I follow that post either on Sunday evenings or on Monday mornings. And like every single Monday, like kind of midday when I'm on my treadmill, like I already know what two videos I'm going to watch when I go on my treadmill on Monday mornings or Monday lunchtime. And if they didn't post, I go looking for it. If I don't see it in my feed and like you want to be that
creator that somebody is going to go look for because you're like already slotted into their schedule. Like you're so consistent and reliable that like they look forward to the content that you're putting out on social to such a degree that they sort of like schedule their lives around it. I mean, that's who you want to be. So yeah, so I would just like be the person who's missed if you don't post regularly. That's like the biggest thing to know.
Sandy (06:31)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's ideal.
right.
Okay, and the third trend is long form video is back. So we're really seeing this fatigue around short form video. Viewers are exhausted by the quick, you know, sort of meaningless videos that we're being fed. They want depth, they want storytelling, and they want substance behind their video. So recently,
I believe it was again sometime in 2025, TikTok just changed it so that you can now upload 10 minute uploads. And I realize that's still kind of short compared to YouTube, still what Neil's recommending is experimenting with three to 10 minute videos versus the 30 second videos that we've been doing. A great way to think about this and that's something you could plan for 2026 is like,
Think about starting a recurring video series, like serialize something, right? Of substance, of value, of depth so that it is really incurring and you get that engagement. You want people to watch as long as possible. ⁓ Yeah, so that was the third point. Optimize for watch, time not just views. So again, it's gotta be good, it's gotta be relevant, it's gotta be interesting. So, you know, personal journeys, behind the scenes, tell stories, why this matters. ⁓
you can still do some short form video, but make it point to the long form video, not replace it. So really in 2026, it's retention. So getting those eyeballs to stay on the video for as long as possible.
Jeni (08:33)
Yeah, and YouTube just announced to its creators that it's sort of letting go of the role of likes and subscribes in the algorithm and it's prioritizing really just watch time, like as you're saying, Sandy. And I think that makes so much sense for these platforms because that's obviously how they get revenue, right? Is by showing ads at certain intervals. And so like they don't care if you have a hundred subscribers or a million subscribers, they just care that people...
are watching your videos for as many seconds as possible. So like just keep that in the back of your mind. I think it's so helpful to understand how these platforms work, which is why we're doing this episode and why they work the way they do. So that can help to shape what you make and why you make it.
Sandy (09:05)
Right, right, that makes sense.
And also, doesn't it feel better to like think about video being deep and interesting and a good story as opposed to just creating fluff just because you're supposed to post seven days? Like, I think this is good news for both sides.
Jeni (09:35)
I am so ready for all of the dancing, like the viral sound bites and dances to go away forever.
Sandy (09:38)
to go away.
Yes, me
too. Me too. Okay, next one, Jenny. Number four.
Jeni (09:47)
Okay,
yep. So social platforms are now search engines. This is fantastic news for all of us. The shift is really that people are skipping Google and searching directly on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and I will add also within ChatGVT. ⁓ Neil recommends treat every single post you make on social media like it has an SEO component. Optimize your captions, your titles, the words you speak out loud.
and create content around what people are actively searching for. This is such a fricking relief because now everything is the same, right? Like a podcast, a blog, a YouTube video, a social post, everything is the same. You just wanna be making content around the things people want content about. It's so much better this way. So as a wellness creator, we are encouraging you to use clear searchable language. So for example, yoga for paramenopause.
Sandy (10:19)
Influence.
Jeni (10:42)
and not vague captions. So again, like Sandy, you and I have been hammering this for years and years, but like self-care, wellness, just these like words in your content, like nobody's looking for those words, right? What are they looking for? Like how to fix my, you know, sacrum after childbirth or whatever. Like.
Think about the things people are actually looking to solve very specifically, and that should be what you're creating content around, how you're naming things, how you're speaking, et cetera, et cetera. ⁓ Say your keywords out loud in videos, research platform-specific search terms. So TikTok search insights are a great place to do this. I mean, you can also search YouTube. teach a strategy, or we used to in our coaching program teach a strategy of exactly how to go find those long-tail keywords within the YouTube search bar.
So I just wanna say like that, like create your content in a strategic way. As you've mapped out your content for the week or the year, think about it and then you like, you maybe have an idea of the content you wanna create, but then go and run it through an SEO process so that you're actually being specific enough.
Sandy (11:54)
And again, this feels really good because it's not wasted. as you plan it out and you think about the title of that video or think about the caption, because it's not just wasted. These are what the bots are finding. This is what YouTube search is finding. This is what people, if they're looking in Instagram or TikTok, that's what they're scouring to find and your video will be fed to them. So I think this is really good news. And just to really hammer the point home that
And these things can now search through captions. it's even the words that you speak, which is why Jenny just said, like make sure you use keywords in the video because that's how they find you. So the discoverability has become better on these social media platforms, which wasn't true five years ago, four years ago.
Jeni (12:42)
No,
no, it used to be like, how do you get someone's attention mid scroll as fast as possible, right? And as dynamically as possible. And certainly like the scroll is one place, but as like an online business, like don't optimize for the scroll, optimize for the search. that's, and that should be the lesson here. Like optimizing for the scroll is trying to go viral, trying to capture a bunch of attention from random people who are.
Sandy (12:45)
Right. Right. Yeah.
Great.
Jeni (13:10)
probably very unlikely to ever buy anything from you. Yeah, you don't have to do that anymore. What a relief.
Sandy (13:15)
Yeah. We
used to say like social media was just ephemeral, you know, but now it's not. I mean, it kind of is, but like because it can pull up an old post where someone's like yoga for menopause, it can pull up an old post from you or an old reel and serve it to that potential client. So I think this is really good news. Okay. Number five is that expert personal brands are replacing influencer. Again, I think this is very, very
Jeni (13:19)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy (13:44)
very good news for our clients. So what's happening is that these big following, or sorry, these accounts with giant million followers are losing importance and authority is taking over. So if you are known as an expert, a thought leader in your niche, that is good news. That's what you want to be.
⁓ Neil recommends becoming known for something specific, which is something we've preached for years. Brands want to partner with subject matter experts. They don't want Kim Kardashian with 20 million followers. They want someone maybe less followers, but is so trusted because of their deep expertise or deep knowledge. So pick a lane, know, pick your niche.
Pick your area of expertise and stick with it and teach more than you promote and position yourself as a go-to for a very specific ⁓ problem. And this, feel like we've been teaching this in our visible course for years is that we want to, and so just posting garbage, know, quality, lots and lots, you know, every day on social just to get to stop the scroll. Instead, double down and becoming that thought leader, that expert.
and that will be rewarded on social.
Jeni (15:09)
Yeah, I mean, this is really just echoing everything that we've always taught in our visible program. It's just becoming more and more important, the principles of like sort of being known for something and doing work that's important to you. Okay, our next story is about virtual influencers are dying. This is such a freaking relief. So,
Sandy (15:14)
Great.
Mm-hmm. This one's kind
of obvious, but yeah.
Jeni (15:36)
We're all getting a little tired
of those AI avatars. And I think as they get more and more realistic, our human senses of danger are going up. I'm reading that into it. that's my perception is that we know when something isn't real and isn't human and it's trying to be human, it raises our shackles. So because of this, we see this trend now where audiences are rejecting these AI-driven avatar brands.
So stop using them. I mean, I don't think most of our audience is partaking in this at all, but it also means like, it's time to just like double down on being real, like focus on not looking and being perfect on camera, focus on emotional connection, be a real, actual, flawed human being, because otherwise people might mistake you as like a fake AI avatar, and that's the last thing you want in like this.
Sandy (16:11)
No.
Jeni (16:35)
2026 algorithm world. So show your face, your voice, your humanity, share your lived experience, not just polished tips that like ChachiBT could write in five minutes. Let imperfection be part of your brand and ⁓ really try to separate yourself from those like fake avatar people.
Sandy (16:55)
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's just human connection. Like everyone is craving that. So it comes down to that. Okay. Number seven is ⁓ social fatigue is forcing a quality reset. So what's happening is like this endless scrolling is exhausting, as we said before, and people are opting out. So again, as a creator, you want to make sure that your content is meaningful to your ideal audience.
You want to prioritize depth over frequency so you don't feel like you have to seven times a week. Maybe do one or two really good posts a week. And again, as we've said over and over so far, really leaning into narrative and storytelling. So a quick check for you before you post is you can ask yourself, does this post teach or inspire or will it matter to somebody?
Again, you can post less but post better things and think of it as nourishment for your audience and just not noise. We want to skip the noise. Everyone's exhausted. ⁓ And just like one meaningful post by someone who is an expert in their area is now outperforming 10 shallow posts. Again, it's what we want to hear. This is the direction we want to go.
Jeni (18:17)
You know, Sandy, when I was looking through the notes for this podcast and I looked at this point, point seven here, I just kept thinking like, we've all been on social media for what, like a dozen years or more, 15 years, I don't even know, something like that. And things like, things have evolved over time so that we used to, when we first started, we could post like an inspirational quote, you remember those days.
And it would get like a bunch of likes and comments and like people engage with it because it was so novel and we were sort of in the infancy, like the kindergarten of our time using social media. And now we're like 12, 15 years into this being a part of our daily lives. And like my takeaway from this is like you have to like mature as a creator to sort of meet the audience where they are. Like everyone is more evolved than that. Like we're not like coloring, you know,
coloring books anymore. Like we are now doing calculus. And like, I just think that that is the takeaway for me with this point is that like you have to evolve as a creator to meet like the audience where they're at and they're much more sophisticated. You know, and yeah.
Sandy (19:29)
Yeah, absolutely. It's a great way to think about
it. Yeah. Okay. Those are the seven points. I hope you found that helpful and think about how you can work that into 2026. This is our last podcast episode in 2025. So I just want to say thank you to everyone who's listening. Thank you to you, Jenny, for making this a wonderful year. And I hope everyone has an amazing holiday and an incredible start to 2026.
Jeni (19:58)
All right, we will see y'all next year. Thanks everyone.
Sandy (20:00)
Thanks,
bye.