Effective, relevant and customer-centric social media marketing can significantly enhance your brand’s potential for success. Yet many business owners still make the mistake of thinking they need to go viral to benefit from publishing content on social networks.
The truth about social media marketing is that its primary function is no longer just helping people keep in touch with friends. Nor is its sole purpose to provide users with a few minutes (more like hours) of entertainment.
Instead, these platforms are gaining an increasingly important role in the typical buyer’s journey, with 72.3% of online audiences actively using social media to learn more about the products they’re considering investing in. And while producing viral content can attract audience attention to your offer, it’s not a guarantee that consumers will actually want to invest in your solutions.
With this in mind, it’s essential to comprehend that, although beneficial, virality is not the predictor of social media success. Additionally, it’s just as important to understand that relevance matters much more.
To help you make the most of your online presence, we’ll take a deeper dive into the top reasons why relevance matters more than virality on social media. We’ll also provide examples of what this type of pertinence looks like in real life, so that you can draw inspiration from brands doing well. Let’s get into it.
Hyper-Relevant Content Ensures Visibility
Typically, people spend over 18 hours per week on social platforms. Furthermore, 89% of people follow at least one brand on social networks.
At first glance, these statistics seem to communicate that building business success via social media should, practically, be effortless. However, while this data reveals the potential of using social networks to build brand and product, there’s something else to consider.
According to expert estimations, the average person encounters between 6,000 and 10,000 ads every single day. So, it’s not just that consumers are bombarded with ads. Their attention spans are also shrinking, indicating that social media views no longer hold the power they once did.
Furthermore, it’s worth noting that most consumers aren’t even willing to interact with branded content at all costs. In fact, 81% actively ignore irrelevant marketing messages, demanding that businesses present them with personalization instead.
With this in mind, it’s easy to conclude that the secret to social media success lies in customer-centric relevance.
Producing high-quality, customer-oriented content is one of the best methods to attract attention to your posts. On top of that, it’s an amazing method to create an alignment between your target audience’s wants and needs and your brand’s offer.
Ultimately, the primary reason people go online (and log into social media) is to find information or entertainment and potentially resolve their pain points in the process. So, if you can position your brand as an entity that can help them reach this goal, they’re bound to award you with their attention.
Example: Spotminders
For instance, if you check out Spotminders, you’ll notice that this business uses its Instagram presence to clearly address the pain points its ideal customers struggle with and describe how its solutions remove those frustrations. This approach may not achieve the same reach as a viral marketing campaign. Nonetheless, it’s guaranteed to grab the attention of high-quality leads, making them much more likely to engage with the brand, become followers, and slowly move into the company’s sales funnel (advancing towards a conversion).
Source: instagram.com
Customer-Centric Content Generates Demand
One of the commonly overlooked reasons why relevance matters more than virality on social media is that consumers want brands to show they care about them.
According to research, 73% of people expect brands to demonstrate an understanding of their unique needs. Even more importantly, 76% of consumers become frustrated when businesses fail to deliver personalized interactions.
However, perhaps one of the biggest benefits of customer-centricity on social media is that it effectively generates demand thanks to a sense of connection between buyers and businesses.
Data shows that shoppers actively choose brands they feel connected to. 57% will increase their spending with such businesses, while 76% will choose a business they like over one of its competitors. Furthermore, connection also drives loyalty — even in the face of negative experiences.
All in all, that’s why your social media marketing strategy needs to prioritize relevance over virality.
Yes, you can and should invest in content that has the potential to reach a lot of new leads. But rest assured that you’ll receive a much higher ROI from posts that are fully customer-centric — especially those that provide your audience with genuine value, ideally for free.
Example: Mind Lab Pro
The guide to productivity-supporting nootropics from Mind Lab Pro on Instagram is the perfect example of what this can look like and how appreciative followers can actually be.
Source: instagram.com
Additionally, it’s worth noting that social media isn’t just a place where you can generate brand and product awareness and attract new leads into your sales funnel. It’s also a key setting for establishing your brand’s identity, which plays a major role in determining your prospects’ willingness to interact with your business in the first place.
Example: Custom Sock Lab
So, if you consider the fact that most consumers want brands’ values to align with their own in 2026, it comes as little surprise that posts that describe principles or promote meaningful campaigns tend to resonate with prospects (and, consequently, generate interest). Just check out how well this approach worked for Custom Sock Lab below.it comes as little surprise that posts that describe principles or promote meaningful campaigns tend to resonate with prospects (and, consequently, generate interest). Just check out how well this approach worked for Custom Sock Lab below.
Source: instagram.com
Algorithms Strongly Favor Genuine Engagement
One of the biggest misconceptions about social media marketing success is that it’s measured by the number of followers your page has.
Yes, audience size is a crucial metric (and one you should definitely try to boost through your marketing strategy). But it’s far from being the only KPI that matters — especially in the grand scheme of things.
Instead, if you’re aiming to build a strong online presence that translates into measurable outcomes (and that means lead-generation and sales), it’s much more important to focus on enhancing engagement rates than achieving virality.
The reason for this is simple. Algorithms strongly favor engaging content in 2026, promoting (or burying) posts based on their effectiveness at retaining user attention. Key ranking signals that affect engagement rates include watch time, saves and shares, comments and responses, as well as consistency and DM sharing.
So, if you’re wondering how to extract maximum value out of your social media activity, do your best to focus on producing content that can generate genuine engagement — even if that’s only on a micro scale.
Example: Spudbros
Spudbros does it beautifully on TikTok, where the majority of its content shows interactions with customers at one of its stands. What stands out about this brand’s approach, however, is that each short-form video creates an opportunity for online followers to engage — primarily by inviting them to give their personal feedback on customers’ chosen flavor combinations. The outcome of such an approach is an almost competition-like willingness from Spudbros’ followers to leave likes and comments on the content. In turn, that results in TikTok naturally boosting the content’s visibility, making it that much more likely to go viral.
Source: tiktok.com
Naturally, there are other methods to boost engagement, without actually trying to go viral.
For instance, commenting on trending topics — as Graza did in its response to the video of McDonald’s CEO eating a newly-released burger in an “unnatural” way — can also generate a ton of engagement, while providing your brand with the ability to reach new followers thanks to timely relevance and cultural context.
Source: instagram.com
On-Brand Content Generates High-Quality Insights
Here’s another way relevance beats virality when aiming to maximize social media marketing outcomes. Genuine, on-brand content generates higher-quality insights than posts, which aim to attract large audiences.
Ultimately, creating content for virality can result in a win for your brand. But if you think of social media as a place where your primary goal needs to be connecting with your ideal customers, it becomes evident that producing content that everyone likes may not necessarily aid you in attracting prospects who have a high likelihood of converting into customers.
Instead, if you prioritize remaining true to your brand’s identity and values, as well as its core area of expertise, you can use built-in analytics tools on your social media platforms to determine exactly what type of content resonates with your potential customers.
Yes, this approach does involve some trial and error. But in the long run, its benefits will far outweigh the short-lived boost in engagements or conversions you’d get from a viral post, as it can help you develop content strategies that will work well into the future — not just that one time the stars happened to align.
With this in mind, it can be said that relevance drives long-term growth rather than short-lived success.
Example: Little Sleepies
If you look at businesses such as Little Sleepies, you’ll see that they produce content based on a formula that works for them. And sure, these authentic posts may not generate viral-level visibility. But they do something much more important — they encourage the brand’s target audience to want to produce user-generated content. UGC is a valuable format of social proof and, more importantly, it’s a way to build brand awareness through peer-to-peer marketing.
Source: tiktok.com
Of course, not chasing virality doesn’t mean that your social media content can’t attract new leads. On the contrary, prioritizing relevance, then investing in paid marketing through a trustworthy ad account provider can actually ensure exceptional outcomes — ones that are far more long-lived than simply trying to go viral.
Final Thoughts
Although prioritizing relevance over virality may not make much sense in your social media marketing strategy, the truth is that the approach does offer significant benefits.
Remaining focused on your audience’s wants and needs, demonstrating an in-depth understanding of their pain points, showing that you care about them, and building trust and connections in the meantime are all exceptionally effective methods to grow your business via social media.
So, don’t feel like you have to go viral to achieve growth, attract new followers, and boost your brand’s bottom line. Sure, virality won’t harm your attempts (except for when you go viral for all the wrong reasons). But it’s far from being a prerequisite for a successful online presence that drives conversions and customer loyalty — especially if you’re trying to focus on long-term business outcomes.
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