Most social media advice is delivered as if it was discovered on a mountain. Very serious. Very sacred. Usually followed by a carousel.
This isn’t that.
This is the unglamorous rulebook we actually use at Cave when a post has to survive the feed, earn attention, and justify why it exists in the first place.
No hacks. No manifestation. No “just be authentic.”
Just the thinking we fall back on when results matter and vibes aren’t enough.
1. If they don’t stop, they don’t watch
The most important moment in any piece of content happens before anyone actually consumes it.
It’s the split second where someone decides whether to keep scrolling or stop.
That’s why the hook matters more than almost anything else. If we don’t get their thumb off the phone, nothing that follows has a chance. Your insight, your production quality, your clever edit, all of it is invisible if the scroll never stops.
This isn’t about clickbait. It’s about earning attention in a crowded feed where attention is the currency.
2. Create curiosity, not confusion
Strong content opens a loop.
An open loop creates a question in the viewer’s mind. The curiosity gap is the space between that question and the answer. The content’s job is to keep them watching until the gap is closed.
Too many brands either give everything away immediately or never resolve the loop at all. Both fail. If you answer the question too early, there’s no reason to stay. If you never answer it, you break trust.
3. Earn the next second
Attention is rented, one second at a time.
Every beat of your content should justify why the viewer should keep going. New information. Rising tension. A sharper promise. If nothing changes, attention leaks.
Momentum matters more than perfection.
4. Trends are the fast food of content
Trends fill the moment but do nothing long term.
They feel productive because they’re easy. The format is proven. The audio is familiar. The idea is already validated.
But they rarely move a brand forward.
They don’t build positioning. They don’t clarify what you stand for. They don’t create memory.
Original ideas are harder. They take more thought. They require a point of view. They’re also the only thing that compounds.
5. Storytelling never goes out of style
Every few months there’s a new gimmick promising to “hack” the algorithm.
And every few months, storytelling still works.
Stories create context. They create tension. They give the audience a reason to care beyond the surface-level scroll. You can tell a story in thirty seconds. You can tell it with text, video, or static images.
The format changes. The structure doesn’t.
Good storytelling isn’t outdated. It’s foundational.
6. Consistency is the best strategy
Viral moments are accidents. Consistent output is a system.
Most brands quit right before anything starts working because they mistake short-term silence for long-term failure. The feed rewards repetition, familiarity, and rhythm.
You don’t need more ideas. You need fewer ideas executed longer.
7. If no one sees it, it doesn’t matter how good it is
Too many teams treat posting as the finish line instead of the halfway point.
Timing, formatting, platform-native execution, and reuse aren’t afterthoughts. They’re part of the machine.
Content doesn’t win by existing. It wins by being seen.
8. This isn’t art. It’s advertising.
This is the part that makes people uncomfortable.
Business social media is not art. Ads are not art. They’re mechanisms designed to produce a result. Usually, that result is attention that leads to trust, which leads to sales.
That doesn’t mean the work can’t be creative or well-crafted. It means the goal matters more than the aesthetic.
If a post looks beautiful but doesn’t move the business forward, it failed.
Marketing isn’t about self-expression. It’s about clarity, persuasion, and outcome.
None of this is revolutionary. That’s kind of the point. The basics work.
Cheers,
Jordan
P.S. If you want to connect on social media, where I share tips throughout the week, follow me on Linkedin.