You spent many years (or decades perhaps) becoming an expert. But I’m going to guess that you didn’t do it so you could dance on camera, chase likes from strangers, or play games with an algorithm that doesn’t stop changing in order to build trust in your space.
So in 2026 there are many challenges for professionals and consultants. You know that video builds trust faster than text, and is a preferred online format. You know potential clients often want to see your face, and hear your logic, before they hire you or subscribe. But every time you look at standard content advice it feels difficult and time consuming, or more often a bad match for your skills, business optics, and personality.
The advice tells you things like be charismatic and engaging, and post three times a day. You observe bright captions and maybe some trending sounds and spaces dominated by influencers or professionals who do this kind of content as a primary part of their business. Meanwhile, your goal is likely more along the lines of “to connect with potential leads”. To show them you know your stuff.
Fear of the (digital) stage
Many professionals who fear putting content online to build trust stay invisible because they fear two specific outcomes. According to models by social psychologists (more below), the data suggests these fears are actually pretty rational.
First is the risk of ending up so-called “Cringe”. You worry you will look desperate for attention. Social psychology validates this through the Stereotype Content Model. Research by social psychologists Fiske, Cuddy, Xu, and Glick shows a negative correlation between “High Warmth” behaviours (which is doing things like dancing or performing really high-energy acts), and the perception of “High Competence”. When an expert performs for an algorithm they signal a need for validation, and that ends up degrading their status.
Then there’s the time sink. You worry you will waste hours on a content treadmill that never ends, even with batch processing, schedulers, or other efficiency enhancements. And this fear is mathematically sound! A tweet has a half-life of roughly 43 minutes, and a LinkedIn post fades within 24 hours. Spending expensive (perhaps otherwise billable) hours creating assets that depreciate to zero in a day or less is a poor allocation of your capital. Even more so if you aren’t enjoying the work.
Even if you have efficient processes for social media, the time sink can remain. Scripting/notes, recording, clipping… it really adds up. And even if you do end up with people moving from your content to check out your website or a funnel you’ve built, the platform might hide that post because their goal is to keep people on their platform (and you’re moving them off of it). This is a big reason why I vastly reduced (but haven’t eliminated) my time spent on social media, because my goals all required people leaving the platform to go subscribe to the podcast or visit my site.
But more fundamentally, I’ve been on social since 2007 and I just don’t enjoy my time spent there all that much, especially over the past decade!
Solving it with a solo video series
At StereoForest we can help you build trust using customized limited series videos. This short series of solo videos focus entirely on your expertise or the story you want to share with your leads or you want them to find. It’s a bit different than standard “content”. This series is an asset library that replicates your point of view and methodology, and it essentially allows you to consult with prospects asynchronously.
We do not ask you to “perform”, but instead direct you in a way that communicates your natural energy (or you can also opt to record on your own and get “notes”). You’ll share your best insights which are then packaged into what’s similar to a solo format episode.
This results in a series of polished and intentional episodes that demonstrate your way of thinking. You record once and the assets can work for your business for years because they focus on evergreen methodology rather than fleeting trends. You can update or add to them whenever you need the assets refreshed.
Building trust without distractions
You only need to reach the correct decision-maker to be successful, which doesn’t involve playing the social media game for gaining thousands of followers or views. These video assets can travel through an organization to access the correct buyer/decision-maker.
A video series on your website allows you to execute this strategy effectively, and much more efficiently than daily content.
- Maintain your business voice. The “solo” format mimics the biological signals of high status by prioritizing calm direct address over performance for an algorithm, which could lose your branding or “look”.
- Protect your time. Batch production allows one morning of recording to generate months of authority assets.
- Command higher fees. Edelman research found that 61% of decision-makers are willing to pay a premium for companies that deliver effective thought leadership.
You have already done the hard work of becoming an expert, and communicating that online can be done in a way that matches your personality and that expertise. And you don’t need to get on that social media content treadmill to achieve that.
Last Updated: January 27th, 2026
