Why everyone’s feed looks the same (and how to fix it)

You might have noticed over the past few years that brands are all starting to look a little, well, samey. Beauty packaging is stuck in the same Gen-Z bubblegum colour schemes and drinks brands are all cycling through the same CBD-strawberry-matcha mashups. But social media is where the copying is easiest to catch in the act. Open your own feed and you’ll find the same butter-yellow fonts, verbal hooks and Canva template carousels.

Why we’re all copying each other

That’s because we’ve shifted from original thinking to reverse-engineering. Having to keep up with rapid changes in channel algorithms has resulted in us all watching to see what works before running the same format through our own channels. We’re all chasing the same algorithmic wave before it breaks.

Trends are fresh one week, pastiche the next. The thing is, chasing changing platform playbooks isn’t a shortcut to relevance.

What makes a brand feel relevant

The UTA Culture Index report surveyed more than 10,000 brands to find out what makes a brand feel culturally relevant. Durability came out on top, cited by 85% of the general population as the single biggest driver of relevance. Community Engagement was second and Authenticity third. What didn’t make the top of the list: being everywhere, being the loudest, or being the fastest to hop on a trend.

The takeaway? Brands are burning momentum trying to win a competition consumers couldn’t care less about.

Meanwhile the room for any of it to land is shrinking. Ofcom’s 2026 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes report found that only 49% of UK social media users now actively share or comment (down from 61% the previous year). People are becoming spectators on platforms built for participation. Producing more content in the same visual language as everyone else isn’t cutting through that. It’s adding to a feed fewer people are actually engaging with.

Brands doing it differently

Some brands worked this out early. The fashion house JACQUEMUS built a recognisable social media identity on pioneering surreal, oversized product stunts as well as sharing the founder’s own unfiltered camera-roll shots of everyday beauty. While FFERN treats its seasonal perfume launches like short stories. Their analogue style content means when you view their posts, you feel like you’re sat under an ancient oak tree in dappled sunlight wrapped in scents of bergamot and lemon verbena, (seriously). Both brands are unmistakably original. Unmistakably human. Unmistakably authentic.

How to chart your own course

So, for brands who want to break the cycle, what does that look like in practice?

1. Trust your team to move at the speed of the moment

Anyone who works in social will tell you the Achilles’ heel to their success is the approval chain. Because a reactive idea that needs three rounds of sign-off is no longer reactive by the time it’s live. Give your social team the trust and room to execute on fresh thinking, and back them once it’s out.

2. Treat social as a conversation, not a megaphone

Most brand accounts (and most accounts, full stop) are broadcasting into a feed of other accounts also broadcasting. Instead of screaming into the void, respond to your audience. Ask questions you truly mean. Manage your social accounts as they were originally intended to be: socially!

3. Step away from the feed to find ideas

Scrolling the same algorithmic loop for inspiration returns the same references everyone else is scrolling past too. A walk in nature, a visit to a gallery, or an afternoon at the cinema does more for original thinking than another hour of source material that’s already been recycled twice.

4. Go back to who you’re actually talking to

It’s easy to lose the thread of your customer’s needs under the pressure of filling out a content calendar. Talk to them. Find out what they really want from your products and services. Learn what they’re passionate about. Use this information to form the basis of your thinking. When you understand their pain points, you’ll be able to communicate to them in a way that’s authentic.

5. Find the people your audience already trusts, and work with them properly

Build long-lasting and genuine relationships with influencers and creators. Users are increasingly following individuals with real expertise in a space over brand accounts (for example, financial advice). A credible voice inside a community your brand wants to reach will do more than trying to pigeonhole content formats that don’t naturally align with your brand tone of voice.  

Trend cycles will keep churning, but in the fight to be heard online, it’s the brands that understand a marathon beats a sprint who win in the end.

To talk to BIG about how we can help to solve your social media challenges, get in touch at [email protected]