Social Media Is Over. Interest Media Is the New Content Game.
Content doesn't spread through social graphs anymore—it moves through interest signals, and the teams who design for that will compound faster.
Words by
Isaac Dailey
Social media didn't die—it evolved. What we call "content" now is really an interest-routing system, not a social one. If your metrics, formats, and strategy haven't adapted, you're optimizing for a world that no longer exists.
For years, social media was built on relationships.
Who you followed mattered. Who followed you mattered. Distribution flowed through the social graph.
That era is over.
Today, content moves through interest graphs—models trained to infer what someone cares about based on behavior, not relationships.
That single shift changes everything about how content should be created, measured, and used as a growth system.
From social media to interest media
Modern platforms don't ask: "Who follows this creator?"
They ask: "Who has engaged with similar ideas, problems, or beliefs?"
Your content isn't shown because of reach. It's shown because of relevance.
Which means content is no longer about:
growing an audience
pleasing followers
chasing virality
It's about teaching algorithms exactly who your content is for.
The way you speak, the problems you reference, the language you use, even the visuals you choose—those are targeting signals now.
Content is the targeting.
Why views stopped being a meaningful metric
The biggest mistake I see teams make is optimizing for views.
Views are cheap. Qualified attention is not.
A video with 10 million random views can produce less business value than a video with 10,000 views from the right people.
Interest media rewards precision, not mass appeal.
This is why modern creators and companies experience:
"lower" reach but higher deal flow
fewer followers but more inbound
less virality but more trust
If your content triggers:
DMs from ideal buyers
binge consumption before outreach
"this hit home" messages
peer recognition
It's working—even if the view count looks modest.
The metrics that actually matter now
I don't judge content performance by impressions.
I look for behavioral signals.
Primary signals
Inbound messages from ideal customers
Calls booked referencing specific content
Prospects who've consumed multiple pieces before reaching out
Replies that demonstrate understanding, not applause
Secondary signals
Repeat viewers
Save rate
Watch time relative to length
Depth of comments
Tertiary signals
Follower growth
Likes
Shares
Those aren't useless—but they're lagging indicators, not strategy drivers.
If content doesn't change behavior, it's entertainment—not growth.
Content as a trust-building sequence, not a post
In interest media, single posts don't matter.
Sequences do.
Trust is built through repeated reinforcement:
consistent worldview
repeated problem framing
predictable insight quality
visible proof over time
This is why long-form and live content matter more than ever.
Two hours of long-form content:
builds context
establishes credibility
reinforces authority
increases compliance
Short-form exists to earn attention for long-form—not replace it.
The fastest-growing brands use shorts as entry points, not destinations.
How I think about content as a CMO
I don't treat content as marketing collateral.
I treat it as influence infrastructure.
The job of content is to:
filter for the right audience
establish trust before sales conversations
reduce sales friction
pre-qualify buyers
compound authority over time
Every piece of content should answer one question:
"If this only reached 100 people, would I be glad it reached those 100?"
If yes, it's worth publishing.
Designing content for interest algorithms
Interest media rewards specificity.
So I design content around:
clear buyer avatars
precise problems
unambiguous language
consistent point of view
I avoid:
broad motivational platitudes
trend-chasing
vague "thought leadership"
content that tries to please everyone
The more narrow the message, the wider the right distribution becomes.
Content and conversion are no longer separate
Interest media collapses the gap between:
awareness
trust
conversion
People don't "discover" brands anymore.
They recognize them after repeated exposure.
Which means content and CRO must align:
same language
same promises
same proof
same tone
When someone lands on a site after watching multiple videos, they should feel continuity—not friction.
If content says one thing and the site says another, trust evaporates.
The world content is moving toward
Over the next few years:
Feeds become more personalized
Discovery becomes more automated
Audiences get smaller but more valuable
Content becomes a qualification layer
Brands won't win by being everywhere.
They'll win by being undeniably relevant somewhere.
The takeaway
Content isn't about being seen anymore.
It's about being understood by the right people—repeatedly.
Social media optimized for popularity. Interest media optimizes for relevance.
The teams who adapt will find that content becomes one of the highest-leverage growth assets they own—not because it goes viral, but because it compounds trust.
