Episode Summary

Alan and Bhairav welcome back communications expert Colin Kelly to revisit social media and digital marketing several years on from his last appearance.

What used to be relatively straightforward—“Twitter for debate, Facebook for fun, Instagram for cool visuals, LinkedIn for business”—has become chaotic, politicized, and in many ways more dangerous for founders and brands.

They explore:

• Why the old rules of social media are gone and why nobody can honestly claim to “know” how it all works anymore.
• How social platforms have shifted from organic discovery engines to paid advertising systems and what that means for startups.
• The renewed importance of old‑school sales and marketing (phone calls, events, letters) and using social media as supporting evidence rather than your primary growth engine.
• The tension around brand values, politics, and polarisation, and why being loudly “values‑driven” online can now backfire.
• How to show your human side online without falling into inauthentic “I’m crushing it” performance.
• Where AI, SEO, and search are heading, including a fascinating discovery about Instagram posts appearing in Google’s AI Overviews.

Underneath all the noise, they end on an optimistic note: the fundamentals of business haven’t changed in 2,000 years. You still win by understanding people, being useful, building trust, and being decent to work with. The tools are different; the principles are not.

1. The New Reality of Social Media: Chaotic and Risky

• Social media now mirrors the wider world: chaotic, uncertain, and volatile.
• Colin warns against anyone who claims to have iron‑clad rules or guaranteed playbooks:
  • Algorithms, ownership, and norms are changing too fast.
  • Much of the landscape is driven by geopolitics, culture wars, and regulation.
• Twitter/X is used as the main example of this shift:
  • Previously, some professionals had learned how to navigate Twitter safely and use it for business.
  • Now many feel it’s crossed a “red line” – from unpleasant to genuinely unsafe and ethically hard to justify.
  • Colin deleted his personal Twitter account (since 2008) when AI image‑generation (Grok) could be used under his posts in disturbing ways.
  • He distinguishes between old “hooligan” behavior and a newer “real evil intent” on the platform.

Takeaway for founders: Treat each platform as morally and strategically optional. You don’t have to be everywhere. Decide where your own red lines are.

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2. Business vs Personal: The Lines Have Blurred

• In 2020 there was still a clear mental separation:
  • LinkedIn – professional networking & B2B content.
  • Facebook – social, family, and personal updates.
  • Instagram/TikTok – lifestyle, youth culture, discovery.
• That separation has broken down:
  • LinkedIn is now full of people “crushing it”, trauma posts, political rants, and personal oversharing.
  • It’s harder to find straightforward business information.
  • Many feeds feel more polarised and tunnel‑visioned, particularly on X/Twitter.

Implication: Businesses can’t assume each platform comes with a fixed culture or audience anymore. You must re-check: who is here now, how polarised are they, and is this still the right environment for your brand?

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3. Values, Politics, and the Backlash Against “Virtue Signaling”

• Many businesses have spent years promoting themselves as values‑driven brands on social media.
• That worked when values messaging was mostly about:
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Sustainability
  • Being “people‑first” or “purpose‑led”
• But once complex geopolitical conflicts and humanitarian crises became daily social media content, customers began to expect:
  • Clear positions from brands on wars, conflicts, and political issues.
  • Consistency between marketing rhetoric and real world actions.
• When brands say, “We don’t comment on politics,” but the audience sees a humanitarian issue, the inconsistency causes anger and division.

Colin argues:

• Many companies used values as a shortcut to talent attraction and differentiation.
• Some now bitterly regret creating those expectations.
• There’s huge hypocrisy in public discourse: people loudly declare values yet still consume products from massive, ethically questionable conglomerates.

Advice to founders:

• Live your values rather than loudly marketing them.
• “Stand for something” doesn’t have to mean explicit political statements on every global crisis.
• Let your behavior, customer service, and staff culture show who you are.

“Don’t say it explicitly. Just be nice, just be that person, just treat people well.” – Colin

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4. Social Media’s New Role: Evidence, Not the Engine

Alan reframes social media for early-stage founders:

• In the early 2010s and even 2020, the advice was:
  • “Get on social, establish a presence, build your brand there.”
• Now the advice is more cautious:
  • Social media is no longer the main engine to establish a new business or brand.
  • It’s more dangerous, easier to make missteps, and less predictable.
• A more realistic approach:
  • Treat social as supporting evidence and a validation layer.
  • After a real‑world intro or warm referral, prospects will go online to check whether you are who you say you are.

Example:

• A company giving staff CVs and asking them to “go check these people out online and see what they’re really like.”

Founder strategy:

• Keep your online presence tidy, human, and consistent with how you work offline.
• Don’t rely on algorithms to discover you; rely on real-world interactions and let social media confirm the positive impression.

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5. The Return of Old-School Channels: Phone Calls, Letters, and Events

Bhairav shares observations:

• He’s seeing more physical mail from even high‑tech companies (e.g., a crypto firm sending a physical letter about a new product).
• More flyers and printed marketing from brands and retailers.
• A strong push back to in‑person events and local community engagement.
• In his own new business, a lot of growth comes from cold calling and speaking to people directly.

Colin’s perspective:

• Digital works best as an introduction channel, followed by real life:
  • Discover someone online → Meet in person/Zoom → Build trust.
• However, trust remains a challenge:
  • Generic outreach (“Could your business handle 10 new leads a month?”) gets ignored.
  • People need evidence and relationship before they buy.

Key point: Old-school sales basics haven’t gone away:

• Know who you’re talking to.
• Have a clear value proposition.
• Bring something genuinely useful to the conversation.

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6. Being Human Online Without Becoming Cringe

Colin encourages founders to let people see and hear the real human behind the brand:

• Use video to show:
  • How you speak
  • Your tone of voice
  • Your energy and manner
• Prospective clients ask themselves:
  • “Would I enjoy being in a room or on a Zoom call with this person?”

But there’s a problem, especially on LinkedIn:

• Many people are trying to be “authentic” and instead come across as performative or inauthentic.
• Examples: Overloaded success posts, extreme morning routines, irrelevant “what I had for breakfast” updates.

Colin’s practical advice:

1. Get away from the algorithm where you can.
   • Use tools like LinkedIn newsletters that go straight to email, not just the feed.
   • Focus on substance and depth over tiny, engagement‑optimized snippets.
2. Don’t play the numbers game unless you’re paying for reach.
   • If you want big reach, make a good video or asset and pay for ads.
   • Don’t attempt cynical, click‑baity organic content in the hope of viral traction.
3. Aim for a small, high‑quality network.
   • A handful of real relationships is more valuable than hundreds of shallow connections.

Bhairav adds:

• Many people are still lazy with LinkedIn outreach (e.g., pitching him services for a company he sold years earlier).
• The basics of relevance and personalization still matter.

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7. Social Platforms as Paid Advertising Machines

Alan and Colin are very explicit:

• Social platforms are now primarily sophisticated, highly targeted advertising platforms.
• Organic reach is limited and unreliable.

“If you’re not paying, you’re not getting.” – Alan

“They’re very sophisticated targeted advertising platforms. So use them.” – Colin

Practical implications for startups:

• If you want scale, you should plan for paid social advertising.
• If you don’t have ad budget, focus on:
  • Niche content, relationships, and referrals.
  • Using social for credibility, not for mass acquisition.

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8. AI, SEO, and the “Average of the Internet”

Bhairav raises a common founder question: What do we do about SEO in the age of AI search?

• He asked his CTO network and got largely the same old advice:
  • Create good, fresh, relevant content.
  • Use appropriate keywords.
  • Keep content readable (e.g., shorter paragraphs).
• Nobody can give a definitive new “AI‑era SEO playbook.”

Colin shares a new discovery:

• Individual Instagram posts can appear in Google’s AI Overview at the top of results.
• That means:
  • Even if your website isn’t optimized, social posts may still surface in AI answers.
  • There’s now a direct relationship between social content and AI‑driven search visibility.

On AI more generally:

• Colin has mixed feelings: there are parts he dislikes, but also parts he finds useful.
• He notes a contradiction in public debate:
  • People call AI content “slop,”
  • Yet also say it’s so powerful it will transform work and make reality indistinguishable.
  • It can’t be worthless and world‑changing at the same time.
• He quotes someone who said: “AI gives you the average of the Internet. Who wants the average?”
  • His view: a lot of people actually do, even if they don’t like to admit it.

Bhairav’s closing view:

• The fundamentals of good content and multi-format presence remain:
  • Text, video, audio, visuals – different people prefer different formats.
  • A bigger digital footprint improves your chances of being surfaced by search and AI tools naturally.

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9. The Big Picture: Everything Changes, the Fundamentals Don’t

The episode ends on an optimistic, grounded note:

• The tools and platforms have changed dramatically.
• Feeds are noisier, more polarized, more unpredictable.
• AI and new search paradigms are unsettling.

But:

• The core of business hasn’t changed in 2,000 years:
  • Find what people value.
  • Offer something that genuinely helps.
  • Make it affordable and fair.
  • Build trust and long-term relationships.
  • Be decent to deal with.

“Be nice to each other, get on, trust, find that common ground, help each other.” – Colin

Alan invokes Andrew Carnegie as an example:

• Different era, different tools, same underlying drivers:
  • Vision, passion, drive, creativity.
• He believes such traits would still win today, just expressed through different channels.

Bhairav sums it up simply:

“Even though everything changed, many things stay the same… keep on keeping on.”

Guest Bio – Colin Kelly

Colin Kelly is a communications and digital media consultant who helps businesses use social media and online content more effectively and responsibly.

He has worked with organizations of all sizes to:

• Shape their communication strategies.
• Navigate the shifting landscape of social media, online reputation, and content marketing.
• Develop video and social content that reflects the real people behind the brand.

Colin is known for giving practical, honest advice that avoids hype and focuses on what actually works in the real world.

(Note: Contact details and links are not provided in the audio; listeners should search Colin Kelly + communications / social media to find his current site or profiles.)

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Recommended Resources & Platforms Mentioned

These were discussed conceptually rather than with specific URLs.

• LinkedIn – now best treated as:
  • A networking and relationship tool.
  • A host for newsletters that deliver directly to email.
  • A platform for targeted paid ads, not just organic reach.
• Instagram – still strong for visual content; importantly:
  • Individual posts can appear in Google AI Overviews, influencing discovery.
• Substack – cited as an example of the return of long-form writing and newsletters.
• Vimeo – mentioned as a potential host for short films or deeper brand stories.
• Traditional channels:
  • Cold calling – direct sales conversations.
  • Physical mail / letters / flyers – making a comeback even for tech brands.
  • In-person events and local community activities – rebuilding trust and connection post‑Covid.

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Memorable Quotes

• On uncertainty and “experts”:
  • “Anyone that claims to know for sure or anyone that has these absolute rules, be very careful about trusting them. Because I honestly, I don’t think anybody knows at all.” – Colin
• On X/Twitter:
  • “We can’t figure out a way where it feels safe for us… It’s attracted, I think three years ago, there’s no doubt it had a hooligan element. I think there’s really now an element on it with real evil intent.” – Colin
• On brands and values:
  • “What they did was they went on and on and on about values. And that raised an expectation… When you start getting really complex geopolitical issues… I think many of them now bitterly regret it.” – Colin
• On how to express values:
  • “Don’t say it explicitly. These are our values. Just be nice, just be that person, just treat people well.” – Colin
• On social media’s role now:
  • “Social media is a more dangerous place to be operating than it was in the past… It’s no longer the place to go to establish our business and our brand.” – Alan
• On paid vs organic:
  • “If you’re not paying, you’re not getting.” – Alan
  • “They’re very sophisticated targeted advertising platforms. So you so use them.” – Colin
• On AI:
  • “It can’t simultaneously be slop, as a lot of people call it, and at the same time turning the world of work upside down because it’s so amazing. It can’t be both.” – Colin
• On business fundamentals:
  • “Business hasn’t generally changed in the last 2000 years… people, have got to find the value… they’ve got to feel that there’s a value in it and it’s affordable.” – Bhairav
  • “Be nice to each other, get on, trust, find that common ground, help each other.” – Colin