How To Reach The Right People Online

Ever feel like the algorithm ignores your best work? Here’s the twist: the feed isn’t random—it’s consumer-first. We break down what that really means for small businesses and creators, and how to design content that actually reaches the people you want. Instead of chasing volume or praying for virality, we map audience segments and craft posts that match intent—education for learners, proof for skeptics, and empowerment for DIY marketers—so every piece has a job and a measurable outcome.

We get specific about staying on brand while tailoring angles, then walk through real examples: educational explainers that clarify how a consumer-based algorithm curates feeds, proof-driven snapshots that show how focused SEO lifts qualified traffic and conversions, and empowerment content that pulls from our book to help self-starters take action. You’ll hear how we structure a weekly cadence that balances these threads, creating momentum without burning out on ideas or production.

What if your best clients hate social? No problem. We share a practical distribution path that turns social posts into Google-friendly assets—blogs, FAQs, and case studies—so referrals can verify your expertise without logging into any platform. You’ll learn how to repurpose one core idea into multiple formats, from tight videos to long-form captions, and how to use simple feedback loops to see which segment is responding. By the end, you’ll have a clear, repeatable system to reach distinct audiences, respect their time, and help the algorithm do its job—connecting the right message to the right person.

If this sparks a strategy shift for you, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick review. Then tell us: which segment will you build for first—education, proof, or empowerment?

Transcript

Gary V’s Consumer-Based Algorithm Idea

Create For Distinct Audience Segments

Proving Value With Case Content

Reaching Clients Not On Social

Translate Social To SEO And Trust

Build A Multi-Format Content Mix

SPEAKER_00 0:27

What's up, guys? It's Shelby. You have tuned in to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast again. And thank you so much. I love that you listen to these episodes. If this is your first episode to listen to, I am Shelby McFarland, the marketing broker. I own a full service digital marketing agency as well as author of Market Like a Boss, of which I believe there's an ad in the middle of this episode that will pop up sometime. So you can figure out, then you can find out when it will um be available for purchase and how you can purchase that book. But today's episode is gonna be based off a video that I saw from the man himself, the legend himself, Gary V. I saw it last night scrolling on social media because I'm one of those night owls that literally cannot go to sleep for anything right now. Um, and I'm like, okay, so I just scroll through um informational social media. It's not just brain dumping, it's not just things that are stupid. I actually like to learn something when I'm scrolling social media, especially when I'm not being able to sleep, so I can at least kind of absorb some information. Anyways, back to what I was saying. Gary V had an interesting take on the algorithm, and I wanted to share that with you guys. So he gets all credits for this. Um, and if he got it from somewhere else, he did not mention in his video, so um, I'm at least giving him credits. But he was stating about the algorithm that it is consumer-based. He was saying that we need to post up to 15 times a day. Okay, it's a little excessive, in my opinion. That's also a lot of work. Um, so let's kind of not focus on that, but let's focus on the part that it's consumer-based. He said that we as businesses and people are so wrapped up in focusing on okay, we're getting these numbers, we're not seeing the engagement. I don't understand why this isn't reaching these people, or so-and-so said they hadn't seen it. But he said that the algorithm is based on consumers. So we as consumers are seeing the ads, or we're seeing the you know, organic posts on social media that's actually gonna resonate with us more. So the algorithm knows Shelby as the marketing broker. So who shows up on my timeline? Gary V shows up on my, I'm sorry, feed, timeline's such an old word. He shows up on my feed because they know that I'm all about marketing, learning new things, business growth, stuff like that. But if Gary puts out something about phishing, that's not gonna put, that's not gonna be placed on my algorithm. So what he was saying is we need to learn who our audience is, who are our followers, um, what are the people that we're trying to connect to the most? And that's the type of content that we need to start creating. So I think that in our businesses, now that like I've kind of had this idea or you know, his um, I don't know, expertise in it. I'm wondering as the marketing broker, how can I start doing different content for each person I'm trying to reach, right? I don't think we need to go off brand. We always need to stay all on brand. We need to stay within our limits. Um, we need to stay within our services, be true to who we are, just all the things I always preach about that. But how can we start creating different posts for different audiences? I know that some of my audiences um are on my social media just for the educational pieces. So I know that I have the videos out there, I'll post things about this podcast out there, um, I offer them the boss marketing community. So they have all these free resources because I know that's a certain follower that I have. Well, then another piece of content that I create every week is um more of a selling piece of content. Like, how have I increased somebody's website views based off the SEO efforts? Or how has someone sold um more services because of the social media that we've been doing with them? So I think those are two different ones that I've been doing. And then the third one is usually about my book, and again, that goes back to the people that are doing it themselves, and maybe you're doing it yourself, uh, marketing. So let's break down your business after you after this episode. I want you to break down your business and how can you start doing posts specifically for different types of consumers of your service or product. Um, I also have a problem that a lot of my clientele are not on social media. So, or if they're on social media, they're not very active. So if they are someone that says, I hate Facebook, I think the government's watching me, I hate seeing all the ads, blah, blah, blah. Those are like my perfect clientele because I will then take their business, put it online. They don't have to worry about managing it, they don't have to worry about messaging people. I take care of all that for them. So if that's a part of my clientele, how do I reach out to them? Well, they are referred to me by other people, therefore, everything I posted on social media then goes to Google, and then that's how SEO works on that end. So if you do have that problem, then just make sure that everything you're putting on social is still being put into Google and they can always go back, look at that for validation or whatever, or maybe someone can screenshot it and send it to them if that's the case. So I want you to break down your business. How can you reach new clients or consumers based on the pieces of content that you um put out there? And when you're consuming social media, think about the things that you're seeing and be like, well, that's so weird. Like, I definitely just had that thought the other day, and I never said it out loud, but it's here's an ad because I mean that happens to me literally all the time. So think about that, put that in your strategy, make some videos, do some different types of content, stay in your stories, try to reach those different types of followers because as consumers, we all take it in differently, and it's important as marketers that we are placing things in front of them that they actually want to consume. So I will say, last example, I do not like to consume videos. I do I will scroll TikTok, but I'm always on like 3xp. Like I hate when people take forever on videos, it drives me insane. Um, and so I'll do that, but I will read like a six-paragraph post on social media, like on Facebook or Instagram, before I'll watch a six-minute video, like big facts. But some people would rather watch the video versus reading. So that's just an example of why we are starting to have to create different types of contents, thanks to Gary V and his expertise in his video last night. Hopefully, this will help you out a little bit. And if you try it out, I want to know. Like, send me a follow request or um send me an email, look me up on LinkedIn. I would love to know how these things are working for you and your business. And you know what? Y'all always know. I'm gonna catch you next week. Bye.