No, this isn’t a Billie Eilish joke.
I want you to think about something for a second: imagine you wake up one morning and your Instagram reach has tanked 60%. No explanation or warning. It’s literally just shat the bed.
Or X changes ownership and suddenly your strategy doesn't work anymore.
Orrrr TikTok's algorithm decides your content isn't priority and you're shouting into the void with your mic on mute.
This is what brand strategy consultant Eugene Healey calls the "short form rental trap."
If your brand doesn't have a channel with a direct link to your audience - one you actually own - you're building your entire house on rented land. And the eviction notice can come at any time.
Social media feels like your audience. You've built 50k followers, people engage with your content, you see the numbers grow. It feels like you own that relationship.
Except, you don't. You're renting access to them, and the platform is your landlord.
They control reach and the distribution. They decide who sees your content and when.
You're the peasant, they're the high and mighty landlord. And we all know landlords' reputations.
To make matters worse, this doesn't come with any sort of contract. Terms can change literally overnight. The algorithm shifts, features get deprecated, entire platforms can become hostile to your business model without notice.
You have zero recourse.
Now, this model can work if you design your brand solely as a media company.
If you're constantly feeding the algorithm, creating for the platform's priorities, accepting that you're in service to the landlord's whims - fine. That's a viable strategy.
But for most brands? That's exhausting, unsustainable, and strategically dangerous. You're one algorithm change away from irrelevance.
This is why you need to invest in channels where you have actual say over the relationship with your audience.
And email is the gold standard.
Email is fundamentally different from social media. It's one of the only places where the work compounds because the relationship is intentional. Your audience has given you explicit permission to engage with them. When they open your email, they're doing it on their terms, when they're ready - not when some algorithm decides to serve them your content in 0.5 seconds before it’s gone.
You own the list. You own the relationship. The platform (whether it's Omnisend, Beehiiv, Klaviyo, whatever) is just infrastructure. They're not the landlord controlling your access. You can literally export your list and move it tomorrow if you need to.
And no, this isn't about blasting the same email to everyone on your list.
Modern email is way more sophisticated than that.
Advanced segmentation these days means you can categorise your audience based on how they actually behave. Full-price customers versus sale-only shoppers, people who browse frequently versus occasional visitors, what they look at on your site, how often they engage, what they've purchased before.
This means you can adjust what you send, how you send it, and when you send it based on actual data about your specific audience. Not what the algorithm thinks they want to see. What they've demonstrated they're interested in.
It's personalisation that actually serves the relationship instead of just trying to game reach.
Now, don’t get it twisted. I’m def not saying abandon all social media and focus solely on email and carrier pigeon.
Social's great for discovery, for getting in front of new people, for cultural relevance. Use it. But don't build your entire brand strategy on it.
Don't make rented land the foundation of your house. Diversify. Own your channels: email, SMS, community platforms, whatever gives you direct access to your audience without a middleman who can change the rules whenever they feel like it.
Listen, platforms will always prioritise their interests over yours (duh). Algorithms will always serve the platform first, you second. And the relationship you think you have with your social media audience is conditional.
Build on land you own.
Your future self will thank you when the next algorithm apocalypse hits and you're not scrambling because your entire business was built on someone else's terms.
-Sophie Randell, Writer
Not going viral yet?
We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.