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I just got back from Social Media Marketing World 2026 in San Diego, where I spent the week volunteering behind the scenes -- running speakers to the stage, sitting in the speaker room, and watching how one of the biggest social media conferences in the world actually comes together. I only made it to a handful of sessions, but what I did catch was really good. And when I put it all together, five clear themes kept surfacing that I think every woman building an online business right now needs to hear.
The biggest one came from two different speakers -- Mari Smith and Shannon McKinstrie- who landed on the exact same word completely independently: connection.
Mari shared that by 2027, an estimated 90% of content online will be AI-generated. Content is becoming a commodity. What AI cannot replicate is a real human relationship. I left that session more convinced than ever that building a community -- whether that's a Skool group, a podcast audience, or even just consistent DM conversations -- is no longer optional. It's the whole game.
I also have a humble brag. I went to the ads sessions -- including one from Tara Zirker and one from an agency owner who walked through his entire system -- and I didn't learn anything I didn't already know.
And I want to tell you why that's actually really good news. The top people in the industry are teaching the same as me: don't touch your ads during the learning phase, let engagement guide your cost decisions, test your creative, and stop changing things too fast or sitting on them too long.
The basics work. They always have.
On the platform side -- if you've been wondering whether Meta is worth your time and money -- the numbers from the conference were pretty clear.
In 2025 Meta reported over $196 billion in ad revenue, far exceeding projected linear TV ad spend. They also launched GEM, their new model for ads, which is already delivering measurable conversion increases.
Meta is not going anywhere. The people who stay consistent and learn the system are going to be in a strong position.
And the last thing I took away -- which surprised me but shouldn't have -- is that the pendulum is swinging back to the real world. Analog.
In-person. Human. When everything online becomes AI-generated and saturated, what becomes rare and valuable is genuine human connection. The most valuable moments from my entire week at SMMW weren't from sessions -- they were from conversations in the hallways and the speaker room.
Show up in real life when you can. Be a human in an increasingly fake feed. That IS the competitive advantage right now.
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