Remember when building an audience online seemed relatively straightforward?

It was never as simple as "build it and they will come," but the value exchange was clear. You earned attention by being worth following. If your business created useful, relevant content and built an audience, you could be reasonably confident they would see what you shared.

That basic contract has since been torn up. Social platforms have changed the rules of engagement.

What changed exactly? Ask any creator with thousands of followers who can't reach even 5% of them and they’ll tell you. It’s The Algorithm.

But Patreon wanted to know more. So, they asked over 1,000 creators and 2,000 fans about their experience of social media. The resulting report–The State of Create –paints a bleak picture. But it also points the way forward.

It’s time to stop renting attention and start building equity.

Why Should B2B Brands Care?

Why should B2B care about what’s happening in the creator economy? Because B2B brands rely on the same ecosystem and the same mechanisms to reach their audience as the artists, podcasters, video makers, and others trying to earn a living online.

This is not just a “creator economy” issue — it’s relevant for any business using social media platforms to engage clients.

Key insights from the State of Create show:

Declining Organic Reach – Social media feeds are no longer follower-centric, reducing your control over who sees your content. Instead, they're now discovery-focused, prioritising novelty, engagement, and platform retention.
Engagement ≠ Value – Short-form, high-engagement content dominates feeds, but users express a preference for long-form, value-rich content—the kind that builds trust and drives decisions.
Over-Reliance on Platforms Is Risky – Creators report unstable income due to algorithm changes. The B2B parallel? Leads and engagement pipelines are increasingly volatile.
Direct Relationships Are Key – Creators are shifting towards direct-to-fan models to regain stability. They are investing in owned channels, subscriber communities, and more personal experiences.
Quality > Quantity – Creators are rejecting vanity metrics in favour of deep relationships and quality content. It’s time to ditch the “content treadmill” and focus on high-impact work instead.

Why Your Social Media Strategy Is Failing

The Death of the Follower

Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok now prioritise algorithmic recommendations over content from accounts users have chosen to follow. TikTok pioneered this approach, and its success has prompted others to follow suit.

The result? A clear breakdown in reliable reach mechanisms. Users are shown content designed to keep them engaged, not necessarily from accounts they follow. Creators report that it’s harder to reach their audiences than five years ago. They feel trapped and gatekept by platforms where they don’t own the fan relationship or the data needed to maintain it.

Think about your own experience on LinkedIn, or Facebook, or even Threads. How many of your connections' posts do you actually see? And those 5,000 LinkedIn followers you've worked so hard to build? Most will never see your latest industry report unless it triggers the right engagement signals in the first hour after posting or you pay to boost it.

Platforms are optimising for attention, not relevance or relationships. The algorithm has commodified content, turning it into interchangeable units of fleeting interest rather than the foundation on which you can build lasting relationships with engaged audiences.

The Algorithm Dictates Creation

The report reveals that creators feel increasingly manipulated by platform algorithms, and forced to create content that doesn’t serve their best interests or those of their audience. 78% of creators say algorithms dictate their creative decisions. 56% say they prevent them from exploring their passions and interests.

A majority of creators also feel pressured to post constantly or face algorithmic punishment, leading to quantity over quality. 78% of creators say burnout impacts their motivation. As the report puts it, creators feel “hamsterwheeled” by having to keep feeding the platforms’ insatiable appetites.

If this sounds familiar it's because the demands of reactive marketing spares no one—from solo creators to enterprise marketing departments.

Today's B2B content calendar can resemble a factory production schedule rather than a strategic publishing plan. And we've all been in those meetings where someone says something like, "The algorithm prioritises Reels. Maybe we should post more of them this month" without asking if that content actually serves your audience's needs or business goals.

The algorithmic tail now wags the content dog, pushing substantive B2B thought leadership aside in favour of what drives engagement metrics.

If you’ve wondered why your content team looks so exhausted lately, this is probably a big part of the reason why. They feel like they’re sacrificing quality to feed the platforms’ demands for quantity and still getting little in return.

Overemphasis on Short-Form Content

The report also highlights a platform-driven bias towards short-form content. Algorithms favour content that generates quick engagement and watch time, which leads to a flood of short, superficial posts. Creators feel pressure to produce constant streams of content that align with trending formats, often at the expense of depth and originality.

But here’s the counterintuitive finding: While fans see nearly twice as much short-form content, they perceive long-form content as more valuable. When asked which they’d be more likely to pay for, 49% said long-form versus just 29% for short-form.

This disconnect matters for B2B firms, where trust and expertise are the currency. Long-form content — reports, whitepapers, detailed case studies — is not optional, it’s the foundation of client engagement and conversion.

Short-form has a role in attracting attention, but it can only ever serve as an entry point. If the social platforms are deprioritising external links to keep users in their walled gardens, it forces B2B brands to consider how much effort they should invest in platforms that actively work against their interests.

Volatile Platform Revenues

Social platforms are constantly tweaking features, algorithms, and policies. One month your posts may be flying; the next, a mysterious algorithm change tanks your reach. These unpredictable shifts make it harder to plan and sustain a business. In fact, creators say their monthly incomes from major platforms have become unpredictable as a result. They cannot rely on them to generate a reliable income from their businesses.

Consider what has happened in recent years: Facebook slashed organic reach for Pages, Instagram changed its feed order and later pushed Reels, and the less said about Twitter/X the better. Each change left marketers scrambling to adapt.

For individual creators, this directly impacts their ad revenues or sponsored content opportunities. For B2B marketers, the stakes might be different but the business outcome is similar. Your lead generation, brand visibility, or engagement can yo-yo unpredictably with each platform change. The bottom line is that a strategy overly dependent on one or two social platforms is inherently fragile.

Reclaiming Control from The Algorithm

Despite the challenges, the State of Create is still positive. “There has never been a better time in history to be a creative person. More people than ever before have the tools to create, share, and earn an income from their art,” it says.

So what answers can creators’ responses to the obstacles they face offer B2B? The strategic response must include:

Owning client relationships through direct engagement.
Focusing on depth and trust in content.
Measuring what matters—impact over impressions.
Nurturing key clients like creators nurture superfans.
Diversifying strategies and reducing platform dependence.

Prioritise Direct Communication Channels

Creators are moving to direct-to-fans channels away from the major platforms: newsletters, private communities, and subscription platforms where they own the audience connection.

This direct relationship model provides stability in an otherwise volatile ecosystem. As one creator noted in the report: "I've seen creators with huge audiences come and go. The ones who have longevity in the space are the ones who deeply connect with their fans."

While B2B businesses aren't looking for "fans" per se, the principle remains the same: direct connections create resilience.

B2B brands that rely too heavily on rented attention from increasingly unpredictable platforms are exposed to forces they cannot control. As we’ve seen in recent months and years, platform volatility isn’t limited to algorithmic changes. New policy directions and ownership have had people looking for the exits. Years of audience-building on someone else’s platform can be rendered obsolete almost overnight.

Think of social platforms as the top of your funnel and part of your discovery engine. They're where strangers become aware of your brand. But once someone shows interest, you need to quickly move them to channels you control.

To look at it another way, this isn't just about diversifying your content strategy to avoid the whims of big tech. It's about providing better, more consistent value.

What would it look like if your most valuable content lived on your own platform? If instead of ploughing your resources into feeding someone else’s ecosystem, you built value around your own? Whether it's an email newsletter program, a community platform, or a resource hub that consistently delivers value, you need to own the relationship and control reach.

Action step: Invest in owned channels where you control the relationship—email newsletters, community platforms, or purpose-built apps. These direct channels allow you to reach your audience reliably without platform intermediaries.

Quality Over Quantity

Short-form content (TikTok, Reels, Shorts) is highly effective for initial discovery, offering quick insights or hooks that grab attention. However, audiences attribute greater value—and have higher willingness to commit to deeper relationships—via long-form content.

This creates a clear strategy for B2B: leverage short-form as a gateway to long-form engagement, rather than as an isolated tactic.

Concentrate your resources on longer-form content that audiences value. Thought-leadership, comprehensive video series, podcasts, and in-depth articles remain critical for driving deeper engagement, fostering trust, and improving audience conversion rates.

Then repurpose that content to create short, punchy teasers, trailers, and bitesize insights to post on social media and draw your audience in. External links can be a problem, so craft teasers that pose intriguing questions, offer partial solutions, or hint at exclusive insights available only on your owned channels. Make your value proposition so irresistible, your audience can’t help but want to seek you out to find out more.

Action step: Use short-form content for discovery and awareness, but invest in substantive long-form content for value delivery and relationship building.

Measure What Matters

Vanity metrics no longer accurately gauge audience engagement potential or business impact. If you still focus on impressions, follower counts, and engagement rates as primary success metrics, it’s time to move on. These are proxies, not outcomes.

Instead, meaningful metrics such as returning audience rates, community interactions, content memorability, and actual business outcomes (such as conversions, pipeline influence, or brand lift) are more relevant.

Redefine content performance metrics to reflect genuine engagement, influence, and revenue impact. You will also need to re-educate internal teams and executives to look beyond vanity metrics, and show the value in focusing instead on meaningful engagement signals and customer journeys.

Action step: Shift your measurement focus from vanity metrics to meaningful business outcomes—track content completion rates, return visit frequency, and direct pipeline influence rather than impressions or follower counts.

Nurture Key Relationships

For creators, a small group of core fans drive outsized impact: they identify with the creator’s work, buy work and pay for access, advocate for the creator, and energise the community.

In B2B terms, these are your most engaged prospects and customers. They are your key accounts–clients who generate the most revenue, referrals, and strategic value. They are the people who attend your webinars, download multiple resources, and share your content with colleagues.

Key client marketing mirrors the ‘superfan’ approach. They might represent just 5-10% of your total audience, but they drive disproportionate value. What would your marketing look like if it were designed to identify and nurture these relationships rather than maximising vanity metrics?

This could mean developing key account marketing plans, offering co-created content opportunities, or hosting private briefings and roundtables. Evolve your content marketing from broadcasting messages towards building genuinely engaged communities where participants interact not only with the brand but also with each other.

Recognise varying audience needs and motivations and build a diversified set of community touchpoints (LinkedIn Groups, memberships, events, educational content) for deeper, more personalised connections. Then reward your community with tailored experiences, insider access (e.g. roundtables, early access to insights), and events around shared interests. Create genuine community value and connections.

The aim is to turn an audience into partners and advocates—not just consumers of content or services.

Action step: Identify and prioritise your most engaged audience members—those who pay the bills and consistently engage with your content. These "core fans" are most likely to become advocates and customers.

Rethink Your Platform Strategy

Like creators, B2B brands need to recognise that social platforms are increasingly poor channels for reaching existing audiences. The answer isn’t to abandon social media entirely. The platforms remain valuable for discovery but unreliable for nurturing established relationships.

However, you do need to adjust your expectations and diversify your strategies.

As well as finding your own version of the direct-to-fan dynamic, you need to find a way to use the platforms while refusing to let the algorithm dictate creative and strategic decisions.

Optimise for algorithms without being ruled by them. Integrate free content with premium experiences—such as workshops, exclusive industry insights, or bespoke market intelligence—to diversify engagement and potential for monetisation. Focus on quality, relevance, and client needs, not quantity.

What is the creative work that intrinsically motivates and aligns deeply with your values and expertise? Focus on that first. That might mean encouraging content teams to produce fewer but higher-value pieces, reflecting genuine thought leadership and industry expertise. It might mean empowering internal experts and leaders to create more personal content. It might mean being willing to sacrifice some reach for content that truly serves your audience's needs and reflects your brand's expertise.

Sustainable marketing demands efficient, purposeful creation—not reactionary output chasing engagement. Content designed purely to appease algorithms contributes significantly to creative burnout and diminished authenticity. If that’s the dynamic social media is pushing you towards, you need to work out how to steer a different course.

Action step: Develop a platform strategy that distinguishes between discovery (finding new audiences) and relationship-building (deepening connections with existing audiences).

Beyond the Platforms: The Future of Business Connection

The centralised platform model that dominated the last decade is evolving toward a more diverse ecosystem where direct relationships matter more than ever. When you read Patreon's report, it’s striking how closely the challenges faced by independent creators mirror what is happening in B2B content marketing.

As Patreon concludes in their report: "Creators want a space online to strengthen relationships with their most passionate fans, explore their creativity in its purest form, and grow sustainable businesses that they control and own. They deserve that space."

Replace "creators" with "businesses" and "fans" with "customers," and you have a perfect mission statement for B2B marketing in 2025. That shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. ‘Business to business’ marketing still needs to connect human to human.

The uncomfortable truth is that many digital marketing strategies are built on borrowed land. Brands have accumulated the largest possible audience on platforms they don't control, optimised for engagement, and played by platform rules.

Now the rules of the game have changed. The platforms serve their own interests—advertising revenue and engagement time—not yours.

Need a B2B content strategy that actually works? 1827 Marketing helps professional services firms create content that builds real client relationships, not just fleeting social media engagement. Let's make your expertise visible to the right people, in the right places.

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Why Should B2B Brands Care?