21: What’s Next for Online Creators When Consumer Trust Is at an All-Time Low?

I’m pulling back the curtain on what’s really going on in the online space right now—and why trust is the new currency in this noisy, oversaturated market. If Instagram feels quieter, sales feel slower, and you're wondering why you’re still showing up, this is the honest pep talk you didn’t know you needed.

We’re unpacking the real reasons behind declining engagement, what’s shifted in buyer behavior, and how to evolve your content strategy to match the new digital landscape. If you’re ready to stop chasing algorithms and start building something that actually lasts, this episode is for you.

Check out the full show notes for this episode.

Inside the episode, I’m sharing:
✨ What’s really happening on Instagram and why you’re not alone
✨ Why trust matters more than ever—and how to build it with content
✨ What I’d do differently if I were starting my business in 2025
✨ How I shifted from “more content” to deeper, more intentional creation
✨ The platforms I’m doubling down on (and why short-form alone isn’t enough)
✨ Why it’s time to show your face, start conversations, and build real community

Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:
🎁 Grab the 7-Day Instagram Starter Guide
🎙️ Listen to the Content Trifecta Episode
💫 Join The Content Coven to keep this conversation going

Connect with me:
🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights
🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips
🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership

Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

Transcript

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This is the kind of economy and the kind of environment where the strongest will survive. The ones willing to adapt, the ones able to get on video and show their faces. I know that's gonna make a lot of you cringe, but in my heart of hearts, I absolutely believe that because there is. So much noise right now and so much competition. You showing your face and speaking to your audience is what is going to set you apart from everybody else. Welcome to the Creative Bodega, a podcast about content marketing, Instagram growth and personal branding for female service-based solo entrepreneurs who wanna grow their business without letting it take over their lives. I'm your host, EM Connors, and each week I'll share actionable tips, expert advice, and unfiltered truths to help you create engaging content, connect authentically with your audience and turn followers into loyal customers, all without the burnout. If you're ready to simplify your content creation, navigate the ever changing trends and build a business that works for you while staying sane in this. Crazy season of life, then you're in the right place. Hello, friend. Today's episode is one that I've been sitting on for a while, honestly, because I'm in a little bit of denial. Uh, this isn't a tip and trick kind of episode. It's more like a pullback, the curtain, real talk moment. About what's really going on in the online space right now, because if you've felt it lately, Instagram, way down sales, like pulling teeth, you're wondering why you're even bothering showing up. In fact, I've had so many female entrepreneurs DM me that exact thing, so. The first and foremost thing that I want you to know is that you're not alone, and there's a lot of power in that. This all started going downhill for me last summer, June, really May. June of last summer, I started noticing a massive decline in engagement in my social media, and I was quiet about it and I wasn't talking about it, but I was feeling it so deep and freaking out. And now after, I guess, geez, that's almost a year ago. I've started talking about it a lot more, and I've seen other big creators talking about it, and I've seen smaller creators talking about it, and it's made me feel a lot less alone, and that makes me feel less crazy and less like I'm a failure, which is important. So. I've had, you know, so many conversations, uh, what's going on with Instagram? Why isn't my content landing like it used to? You know, why do I keep even doing this? So in this episode, I wanna walk you through what's happening, why trust is the new currency online, and how to pivot your strategy so you're not chasing the algorithm and instead building something that really lasts. I also wanna share exactly what I would do. Right now if I were starting fresh in 2025. So let's just name it, we are literally officially in the era of consumer mistrust. And honestly, it, it kind of makes sense, right? So between 2020 and 2022, the online education and digital product space. Exploded. That's when I took my course on how to make an online course was in 2021. It was COVID time. People were home, people were losing jobs. People wanted to learn things. They couldn't leave their house. Hello online courses. According to research and markets, the global e-learning market was worth$200 billion in 2019 and projected to hit 375 billion in 2026. We all remember it. Everyone was launching a course, a membership, a bundle, and don't get me wrong, some of those offers were incredible. I mean, one of them changed my life. Literally taking a course on how to make an online course changed the entire trajectory of my and my family's life. But way too many people paid thousands of dollars. For over promised and under deliver programs. They downloaded freebie after freebie and ended up more confused, not more empowered. They were promised transformation in, you know, three easy steps or in a very short amount, a time only to find themselves right back to where they started. And what's the result of that? People are so skeptical. In fact, Edelman's Trust barometer shows that the trust in business, influencers and creators is lower than it has been in five years. And when it comes to buying decisions, that old stat that you've probably heard, that somebody needs to see your offer seven times before they buy it. Yeah, I, I would put that more at like 50 to 70 at this point. But some marketers estimate that can take 30 to 70 touchpoints today's climate to build the trust needed for conversion. People don't just want your sales page, they want your face, they want your story. They want to feel like you're the real deal before they buy anything. From you. Okay, so I wanna give you a step-by-step solution. What do we do? Is, is all hope lost? Should we all just shut down our businesses? No, we shouldn't. So step number one, I would really start to acknowledge what's not working. Let's kind of stop pretending that this is just an algorithm issue. It, it is deeper than that, the way we used to sell online. Is different post a value carousel, toss in a call to action, do a countdown in stories. Yeah, that might have worked even up to last year, but people have caught on. They can feel when something is performative and they know when content is created just to sell, not to serve. Step two, I want you to create deeper trust-based content. What's working now is content that's honest, valuable, and layered with real humanity. That means long form content like this podcast, thoughtful emails and newsletters, behind the scenes conversations, and yes, showing your actual face not just pretty graphics. I mean now more than. Ever showing your face is paramount. People don't want to just be educated. They want to be connected to you. In fact, they need to be connected to you in order to gain that trust and open up their wallets. Step three, simplify and focus. You do not need 14 platforms. You need to be in two to three places where your people can binge your content and feel like they know you. For me. That's this podcast. It's my email newsletter and selectively using Instagram to start real conversations, especially in my stories, not just to keep up appearances. No longer does my posting six days a week with like mediocre content work. It just doesn't, I really need to post with intentionality. And with authenticity, and I've really kind of gotten away from that lighter content that was just to sort of fill the void or fill the space or post that day, right, to get something up that day. Step four, you're building trust over time, not in a weekend launch. This is the part that nobody wants to hear. Building a loyal, trusting community takes so much time. It takes longer than ever. There are no hacks for this. There are no workarounds. The creators that are thriving right now are playing the long game. They're willing to post less, but with more intention and authenticity. They're willing to be seen and show their face, not just have a curated Canva filled feed, and they're willing to create depth. Not just noise. I wanna tell you about a, a personal story in my own business. Like a, a couple years ago, even up to a year ago, I was posting six times a week on Instagram, showing up in my stories, constantly trying to keep this engine running, but it started to feel really empty. And again, this was when my content started getting seen less engaged with less about a year ago, June, I would say, of 2024. I felt like I was doing all the right things and yet nothing was landing, so I intentionally decided to slow down. I started by taking two weeks off in August. I just had to shut down all the noise I needed to stop consuming, and that's a big one for me. Whenever I start to feel overwhelmed or doubting myself or that severe imposter syndrome. I need to stop consuming content and shut out the noise. Okay. I also, at that time, decided to start this podcast. I needed a, a deeper, longer form way to connect with my audience, and it felt like a really natural next step after stories.'cause if you ask me right now, to this day, stories are my most favorite way to show up. And they are without a doubt. The way that I think I sell the most is through my stories. So launching a podcast just made so much sense to me. And then about, hmm, four months before that I launched the content coven, my membership that is built. Literally on real conversations with real people, not just, you know, content dumps and hoping for the best. I was craving that deeper connection and relationships with my audience, and I felt that they wanted that too. I actually just signed up for a course a month ago on how to show up on YouTube. So I'm gonna be leaning more into long form video content in the coming months, and that's something that feels really good and right to me. And I don't want you to listen to this and think I have to do everything Emma is saying, right? Like, that's not what this is about. This is about listening, thinking, talking to people who do things that you think you might be interested in exploring. Just having an open heart and an open mind. Honestly, if you really are in this for the long haul. Because here's the truth, in this day and age, I am creating less. But I'm connecting a lot more, and I do think a lot of that has to do with my podcast. Truly. I'm not trying to impress the algorithm anymore. I'm just trying to think about my people, my coven members, my, you know, story watchers, my newsletter readers. And I'm just thinking, how can I serve them more, better, deeper? Right. And that feels a lot better to me. Right now, I am a lot less connected to the the numbers, right? The likes I. The shares, the saves. I am not spending a lot of my time there analyzing that I am posting and I'm like getting off of Instagram and I'm not even looking for a day or two at what exactly is happening, and that is really just protecting my energy at this time. So where do we go from here? This is not the end of online businesses. I absolutely do not believe that. I think this is the beginning of. Better business, and it doesn't mean more content or fancier funnels. Hi, I don't even have a single funnel right now. If you, you know, wanted to go look at my flow desk, it's like deliver the freebie. You start getting my newsletter, that is my funnel. And listen, it's worked for me for four years, so it is what it is. That's not to say I couldn't use a funnel, but it's just not something that I'm interested in this moment, but it basically means more intention. More transparency and more trust. So if you're willing to evolve, you'll not only survive this shift, I really think you're gonna thrive in it. This is the kind of economy and the kind of environment I. Where the strongest will survive. The ones willing to adapt, the ones able to get on video and show their faces. I know that's gonna make a lot of you cringe, but in my heart of hearts, I absolutely believe that because there is so much noise right now and so much competition. You showing your face and speaking to your audience is what is going to set you apart from everybody else. I've always believed that, but now I believe it just. More than ever. So here's what I would do. If you're starting over today, this is what I would do. I would choose one long form content platform. I no longer believe that just having short form content is enough. So is that starting a podcast? Is that starting a YouTube channel? Is that starting a weekly newsletter? Is that starting a blog? That's up to you. Give people a place to binge your thoughts and really start to trust your voice. Number two, I would build one offer that builds trust over time, so. Instead of selling more and continuing to create new offers, I want you to focus on selling one thing really, really well. So whether that's focusing on a membership, focusing on mentorship or coaching, or focusing on a service that creates that long-term transformation is gonna be huge in the next couple years. Uh, I want you to use Instagram intentionally. Listen, I will never leave Instagram altogether. It's, it's. Where I started, I still, I still love it. I still love being there. I still love the connections I'm able to make, but I use it a lot more intentionally. I would not ever ghost your audience, but I don't want you to burn out either. Okay. So really think about what that looks like. Is that posting three to four times a week? Really intentionally. That's only something you can answer. I want you to show your face. I want you to show it in reels, talking head reels. I want you to show it in your stories every day if you can. And when I say every day, I always mean Monday through Friday. I don't work on the weekends, but start those conversations and really start posting and showing up with purpose, and then prioritize community building over content like that. That is gonna be where people shine. Who is building the strongest communities? How do you do that? You show your face. You share your opinions. You talk to your people. You invite them into having conversations with you. You're real, you're vulnerable. You learn their stories and you let them learn yours. Number five, I'd give yourself permission to evolve. Just because something worked for a while doesn't mean that you owe it your energy forever, and that's something that I've really had to come to realize in the past year. It's okay to outgrow something that's no longer aligned with you or your mission, and for me. You guys, I've been posting six days a week for four years. Uh, I'm not even kidding. It's only in the last month that I have allowed myself to post every other day. I'm posting Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday right now, and it was hard for me. I'm not gonna lie. There was just some comfort with showing up daily, but. I am kind of exhausted and I've kind of seen that that isn't what's working for me anymore. Kind of showing up every other day and putting a little more oomph, a little more effort into those pieces of content is going further. And what does that mean? It's really those like education heavy reels. It's the talking head reels. It is the education or story-driven carousels. That's what's doing well for me. So in closing, the online space is shifting, but you're not behind. Okay? You're right on time to do things differently. And if this episode resonated with you, let's keep this conversation going. I would love for you to DM me, email me, or better yet, come join me inside the content coven where we're talking about this kind of stuff all. The time. This is my community, where those authentic conversations are happening for female creators who are done with burning out and posting and not getting the results they want and ready to build something that's really sustainable and beautiful and feels. Really good. So we're making content feel good again in there, and I'd love for you to be a part of it. If you want all of the show notes from today's episode, don't forget that you can always go to the creative bodega.com/blog and they will be there waiting for you. Until next time, I would love you to keep creating, but do it on your terms. Thanks so much for hanging out with me on the Creative Bodega Podcast. If you love this episode, please be sure to share it with a fellow solopreneur who could use a little content creation inspiration. And hey, don't forget to check out the show notes for any resources I mentioned on the episode. To help you create content that feels easy and actually gets you results. If you want even more Canva and content tips, head over to my website, the creative bodega.com, or find me on Instagram under the same name. Until next time, keep creating, keep showing up, and most importantly, try and have a little fun with your content. I'll see you on the next episode.