Why Being Consistent Beats Going Viral for Business Growth

Have you ever sat down to review your social analytics and felt completely underwhelmed by the numbers staring back at you? Do you feel disheartened when you see others showing off their viral numbers with the “I don’t even know what happened, I just woke up one day to thousands of new followers!”, when you’ve been working hard at your content?

Whether you're showing up regularly or panic posting at 9pm because you still don't know what to post, here's what I want you to remember: consistency beats virality every single time, even when the numbers don't look like it yet.

Why we're obsessed with going viral

When I started as a freelance social media manager in 2017, the obsession with going viral wasn’t a thing. I don’t even remember it being given that name. There were posts that took off, sure, but it wasn’t something that people aimed for with their content strategy.

As new platforms have come along, more people have social media and newer companies are being built, the fight for consumer attention has escalated. With so much content being created, in so many different formats, some people have been led to believe the only way to stand out is by having that viral moment.

And let’s be honest, seeing the stats is a massive dopamine hit. It can finally feel like your content is “working” because the vanity metrics tell you so. You’re gaining followers like a celebrity? Must mean your sales are about to increase. You’ve had a thousand likes on a reel? Must mean that many people want what you’re offering. 100 people commented your trigger word? Must mean you’ll get 100 sales when that link’s sent to them automatically.

That’s rarely the case though. For content creators, going viral is incredibly beneficial to their business model. But as a business whose goal is to increase revenue and retain customers, you don’t want (or need) the big viral numbers. You need the right people who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer, to be the ones seeing, engaging and following you online.

The false promise going viral makes business owners

When experts talk about your business needing to go viral to be successful, what they mean is if you get enough eyes on your content, some of those people will be right for you. And whilst there are certain businesses that can be true for, for the majority of business owners, that’s not the case.

Let’s take my friend Jade, for example. She’s been a children’s entertainer for 13+ years and has used social media to grow her business. She has less than 3,000 followers on Instagram yet repeatedly receives enquiries there and has even entertained at various celebrity’s birthday parties because of her Instagram presence.

A few weeks ago, one of her reels accidentally went viral. We’re talking 300,000+ views, hundreds of likes and a lot of new followers. Followers she then had to remove because they weren’t her target audience.

0 enquiries came from her viral moment.

In fact, she ended up removing the reel because she was, in her words, “attracting people that weren’t in my area”, and due to the negative comments she started receiving. Oh yes, trolls love a viral post.

While casting the net wide may seem like a great idea to grow your audience, unless you’re being super specific in your content and that’s what goes viral, you’ll end up attracting new followers who were never your target customer in the first place.

And with all those new followers, your reach to the ones who were ready to buy from you, will be reduced. What actually grows your business is showing up consistently for the right people, not reaching everyone at once.

How to lay a solid foundation for your business

Instead of pouring your effort into creating posts that might go viral, I believe in treating every post like a brick in the trust foundation. If you think of it like building a house, or a wall. The first row of bricks might not do much on their own, but by the second row, and the third, and the fourth, the results are starting to compound. Your wall is getting taller and in terms of social media, your trust with your audience is strengthening.

Every post you share is intentional and has a purpose. Some bricks tell people who you are, what you believe in and what you do. Some bricks build a connection with your audience and help them to feel like they're in the right place. Some bricks establish trust by positioning you as an authority, demonstrating your experience and expertise, and showcasing your results/reviews. And then there are the lesser laid bricks, the bricks that ask for the sale directly.

And ok, whilst you could probably tick off all those things in a single viral post, that still doesn’t guarantee you sales and as soon as the buzz dies down (which it always does), you’re back to square one again. Square one being inconsistent sales.

Why consistency compounds in a way virality can't

The best thing about choosing consistency over going viral, and prioritising posting with intention, is that each of your posts has a compounding effect. If someone lands there in 6 months time, it’s still doing the exact same job. Your whole catalogue of posts is doing its job for you all the time, whether you’re actively posting or not.

This also means if you only have the capacity to create and share one post per week, that’s ok because you have an intentional portfolio of posts that people discovering you can go and binge.

I worked with a property developer for 18 months and in that time, they didn’t go viral. They average 2-5 likes per post, have less than 1,000 followers across 3 platforms, yet because of their intentional social media presence, they sold an £800k house.

Then there’s the Mindset Coach who made 3 sales in 30 minutes on a reel with under 500 views. Every post surrounding this reel had been doing its job. The know, like, trust bricks were being laid every single day leading up to that reel. And prior to working together, the client wasn’t making sales on Instagram at all.

I’m seeing more and more posts from business owners, and having conversations with friends like Jade, who’ve been viral and actually found it damaging to their business. You can read about the time I went viral here and how disappointing that was for my revenue.

Not sure if your content’s working for you? Sounds like you need The Content MOT.

What consistency actually means (it's not what you think)

I’ve made my previous allergy to consistency no secret so I’m not about to tell you you need to be posting daily, showing up on video if you hate it or blocking out an hour a day to respond to comments. You get to decide what consistency means to you.

For me, that looks like showing up on my feed 4 times per week, batch recording stories so I can post daily without needing to create daily, and spending 10-15 minutes 3 times per week (minimum) engaging with people. Because remember, social media is meant to be social.

The aim is to show up regularly enough so that your audience knows you’re there. Once a week is enough if you have limited capacity to create, especially when you’re creating intentional content that’ll have a compounding effect over the course of a year.

By showing up regularly, you’re staying top of mind and you’re also showing your audience that they can rely on you. This builds trust in its own way. Showing up daily for two weeks and then disappearing for a month because you’re burnt out, gives a more chaotic vibe. And honestly, I’ve done that many, many times in my decade as a business owner, so no judgement from me.

When I build a bespoke content strategy for my clients, I create a consistency schedule for them that’s based around their business goals and the capacity they have to show up for their business each week. This is the ‘bare minimum’ schedule that they can follow to build a consistent social media presence, and get into the habit of posting regularly.

Every post is planned, every post has a purpose and every part of the strategy is built with your capacity in mind. Which makes it much easier for you to implement, and therefore start to see results with.

How to build a strategy around consistency rather than virality

The easiest way to be consistent is to have a consistent content strategy. This is the best place to start if you need a simple yet effective strategy to build the habit of showing up regularly.

First, make sure you’ve Reviewed your business goals and capacity to create, and Optimised your profiles, as per The Robin Method™. From there you can build your 90 day content strategy.

To give you an example, here’s what my content strategy for April looks like:

4 x posts per week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
- Monday = brand awareness (know)
- Tuesday = The Robin Method™ (trust)
- Wednesday = relationship building (like)
- Thursday = authority building (trust)

And then the intention is to show up daily in stories, prioritising connection focused content, and engage for 10-15 minutes (at least) 3 times per week.

This is a simple strategy for me to follow. I have limited work days in April/May so my strategy needs to support how much time I have to dedicate to content creation. I also blog regularly for my business a) because I enjoy creating these blog posts and b) because it works to position my website on Google. That’s an important part of my overall marketing strategy.

If you can only post once per week, rotate through the know, like, trust posts so every post you share is intentional.

Know posts: tell people who you are, what your values are, how you can help them

Like posts: talk about things you enjoy, habits you have, personal stories

Trust posts: share client case studies, talk about your experience, share your methodologies or way of doing things

Here are a few examples of my own posts so you can see what I mean: Know, Like, Trust.

It really doesn't need to be more complicated than that. A simple structure you can follow consistently will always outperform a complicated strategy you abandon after two weeks.

For a more in depth guide on how to create your 90 day content strategy, read this next.

The business that keeps on going

The businesses that last long term aren’t the ones built on one or two viral moments. They’re built on a solid foundation of bricks laid with intention and purpose. Every post has a compounding effect that builds the know, like, trust with the people who need what you have to offer.

Even when it feels like it’s not working, when you’re strategic with what you’re sharing, your posts are doing their job. And just because someone doesn’t buy after the first post of yours they read, doesn’t mean they’ll never buy from you.

If your analytics feel underwhelming, remind yourself of the solid, stable business you’re choosing to grow for yourself. An individual post might not do “well”, but when it’s working alongside the other bricks you’re laying, it’s strengthening your presence.

And if you really feel like your content isn’t doing its job at all, if you don’t know what bricks to be laying based on your goals, and if showing up feels overwhelming instead of exciting, The Robin Intensive is for you.

With a bespoke 90 day content strategy that tells you the exact posts to share every single week (including hooks and CTAs), that’s built on your capacity to create content, you’ll soon have a solid content foundation that’s designed to increase your sales.

Learn more about The Robin Intensive here

Questions answered in this blog post:

Does being consistent on social media actually work for business?

Yes, but only when consistency is paired with intention. Consistent posting without a strategy behind it is just noise. Consistent posting with clear purpose i.e. every post introducing you, building connection or establishing trust, compounds over time into a foundation that can increase sales long after any individual post has been forgotten.

How often should I post on social media for my business?

As often as you can sustain in a difficult week, not just a good one. One intentional post per week will always outperform a burst of daily posting followed by weeks of silence. Consistency is about reliability, showing up regularly enough that your audience knows you're there.

Why does going viral not always lead to sales?

Virality puts you in front of a mass audience, most of whom won't be your ideal client. It builds awareness without building trust, and trust is what leads to sales. A loyal audience of 500 people who know, like and trust you will convert at a far higher rate than 50,000 followers who found you through a trending post and have no relationship with you.