The CURE for Algorithmic Burnout: Narrative Anchoring

Do you ever scroll through endless content feeds only to ask yourself, “What am I even looking for?”

Or, as a marketer or creator, do you feel like a robot churning out content just to please algorithms?

This isn’t just a rant about social media (well, not entirely). Instead, it offers a solution: Narrative Anchoring — a strategy to break free from the chaos of algorithmic spiraling and create meaningful, lasting connections with your audience. Along the way, we’ll explore whether technology like this is steering us in the right direction — or will we hit algorithmic burnout?

What Is Algorithmic Spiraling?

It’s the endless cycle of creating content to game algorithms rather than connect with humans. It prioritizes likes, shares, and fleeting wins over meaningful relationships. And it doesn’t matter the platform.

Social media, when used appropriately, is a fantastic tool for connecting people to each other and to brands. For the first time in history, brands can embody full personalities, with almost no resistance between their message and their audience. Dialogue, not monologue, is possible.

Just take a look at Wendy’s on any social media platform–a snarky, fun, and engaged brand. With their centralized storytelling every social media post is a reinforcement of their brand.

But over the years, social media evolved, introducing influencers, content creators, boxers, politicians, and user-generated content — more meaningless personal brands than ever before.

The question is: at what cost?

The Alcohol of the Internet

Social media (pops the cork)… Depending on the platform, the “fermentation” level varies drastically. Like whiskey, social media is an acquired taste, and like all alcohol, the difference between fun and danger can blur quickly.

The peer pressure of social media might not happen in a bar, but the emotional turmoil is real. Fear of missing out drives us to mimic trends: one week it’s emojis, the next it’s square images, then no emojis, then video content, then emojis again, and oh now its vertical videos while holding the lavalier microphone in your hand (It’s meant to be hidden, btw.). The pattern spirals endlessly. And since everyone — gurus and peers alike — is doing it, it must be the right thing to do, right???

But blindly following trends dilutes your brand. It also dilutes the tactics itself, stripping it of the qualities that made it work in the first place because everyone is doing it and to the average consumer your content either becomes irrelevant or irritating. Or worse, it becomes invisible.

So why do we all keep doing it?

To feed the algorithm, of course.

The Algorithm Spiral

For marketers and creators, few phrases strike more fear than “algorithm update.” You spend endless hours optimizing hashtags, titles, keywords, and content types only to have the platform change its rules overnight. If you’re smart, you adapt and follow along. If you’re smarter, you don’t let algorithms dictate your strategy in the first place.

Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have one goal: Keep. You. scrolling. They do this by feeding you notifications, personalized content, and instant gratification. Before you know it, an hour has vanished into the void. How?

Doom scrolling. A familiar feeling for anyone with a smartphone. Perhaps that’s how you got here?

For businesses, the equivalent is Algorithmic Spiraling: chasing short-term gains such as likes and shares instead of building long-term connections. Content created for algorithms rather than humans is like getting drunk — temporary and mostly unsatisfying. And eventually, you’ll look back and wonder, “why?”

Just like “drunk calling” your ex at 2:30am, it never gives you the results you want.

Surface-Level Connections are Dangerous

Trendy marketing tactics might work in the short term, but they rarely build relationships that deepen over time. Viral challenges, obnoxious hacks, and gimmicks like AI-enabled toaster ovens aren’t tools for creating lasting loyalty.

It’s like furnishing a college apartment with hand-me-downs and garage-sale finds. Sure, it works for now, but nothing matches, everything feels temporary, and something is bound to break. Contrast that with a luxury New York City hotel, where every detail — from the flooring, to the artwork, to the concierge — it tells a cohesive story of luxury and care.

If your marketing strategy feels like that college apartment, it’s time to rethink it.

Escape the Algorithm Spiral

By unifying your brand around a shared purpose, or as I call it, Narrative Anchoring.

You might say, “We already have a mission statement and core values,” and some other useless document you’ll never open.

But if I asked you, your employee, and your customer what your brand stands for, would I hear the same story — or three different ones? Would they even be complete stories?

Narrative Anchoring is about crafting a consistent, cohesive brand story that resonates across every touchpoint and all your content. It’s about replacing piecemeal tactics with a clear purpose that connects emotionally with your audience.

Narrative Anchoring in Action

Some brands chase likes, views, and vanity metrics, only to end up as digital noise. Others plant their flag in a bigger story, anchoring themselves to something real. Let’s talk about two brands that nailed it: Nike and Starbucks.

Nike: Just Do It

Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign wasn’t about shoes. It wasn’t even about sports. It was about you. Yes, you. The person who occasionally convinces themselves to wake up early and just get moving. Nike’s genius wasn’t in selling sneakers — it was in selling the idea that everyone, no matter who you are, can be an athlete.

This wasn’t just some one-off slogan. It became Nike’s ethos. Every ad, every campaign, every tear-inducing video of a kid overcoming impossible odds — “Just Do It” ties it all together. It’s consistent. It’s timeless. And it’s completely immune to whatever the algorithm decides is cool this week.

Nike doesn’t care if TikTok wants five-second dance clips or if Twitter is obsessed with memes. They’re busy inspiring people to run marathons, climb mountains, or at least walk up that one hill without feeling like death. That’s the power of anchoring your brand to a narrative instead of a hashtag.

Starbucks: The Third Place

Starbucks didn’t take over the world by just serving overpriced coffee-flavored drinks no one asked for. They did it by selling a vibe.

Founder Howard Schultz had a big idea: what if Starbucks could be more than a coffee shop? What if it could be a “Third Place” between home and work? Inspired by European cafés, Schultz wanted Starbucks to be a space where people could linger, connect, and work on their screenplay while eavesdropping on someone’s breakup.

And it worked. Starbucks became synonymous with a cool atmosphere to go and hang out, and then there’s the pumpkin spice FOMO. The soft lighting, the indie music, and the baristas who spell your name wrong on purpose — it all reinforces the story. It’s not just coffee; it’s connection.

But even Starbucks got lost in their branding. In the early 2000s, they got so obsessed with efficiency that they forgot their whole “third place” shtick. Stores started feeling more like assembly lines than hangouts, and people noticed. So Schultz came back in 2008 and said, “Hold my macchiato, we’re fixing this.”*

Starbucks doubled down on their narrative, and suddenly, the third place was back. Because it turns out, people don’t just want overpriced coffee — they want a place to go when there is nowhere to go.

*I’m pretty certain this is not an exact quote from Schultz since I made it up, but it would be funny if it was.

Nike and Starbucks don’t just sell stuff. They sell ideas. They anchor their brands to stories so compelling that people don’t just buy their products — they buy into their worlds.

Meanwhile, brands chasing viral stunts and algorithm-friendly trends burn out faster than Kevin Hart running around an office screaming, “I’m making a TikTok!”

That one still makes me laugh.

If your brand is stuck in the spiral, you’re not building relationships — you’re just contributing to the noise. But when you anchor your brand to a bigger purpose, one you can fully embrace, your story becomes your superpower.

With Narrative Anchoring, you stop creating content to appease algorithms. Instead, you tell stories that connect with humans — the ones who actually buy your products, trust your brand, and spread your message. It’s how you build loyalty that platforms can’t disrupt.

What story is your brand telling, and does it guide your strategy — or react to it?

Let’s break the fourth wall for a second. If you’re reading this on Medium, you’re probably aware that Medium has its own algorithm. Writers here are encouraged to “game” it with tags, timing, and engagement strategies. So let me ask you:

What do you dislike most about doom scrolling and the algorithm spiral?

And can we, as creators, change the direction humanity is heading with narrative anchoring?