What Your Social Media Manager is Afraid to Tell You ft. Chelsea Scott Flower
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Have you felt frustrated and overwhelmed trying to grow your business on social media? Are you fully convinced the algorithm is out to get you? Chelsea Flower is the founder and CEO of Scott Social, a boutique social media marketing agency that helps brands turn their online presence into something strategic and engaging. She’s seen firsthand how social media has changed over the years, but it hasn’t stopped her from getting huge results for her clients.
In this episode, Victoria and Chelsea sit down to discuss what to prioritize on social media in 2026, strategies to grow, the algorithm, AI, and everything in between. They talk about how Instagram specifically has evolved over the years, and what it really takes to grow today.
If you’ve considered throwing in the towel on social media marketing for your business, take a listen to this episode first. This conversation is a breath of fresh air and full of actionable advice you can take and run with today. Whether you’re procrastinating filming that reel for your feed or doing a deep clean of your house, this episode will reignite your passion for social media and give you the tools you need to grow in 2026.
Chelsea Flower is the founder and CEO of Scott Social, a boutique social media marketing agency that helps brands turn their online presence into something strategic and engaging. She lives at the intersection of creativity and business, and her agency elevates businesses across the country through thoughtful content creation and authentic community engagement.
Building a Social Media Marketing Agency
Chelsea initially worked at two different boutique social media and marketing agencies, where she saw a lot of misalignment. These agencies often would end up purchasing followers, likes, comments, and hiring bots to man the accounts, which of course didn’t work well for the businesses they supported.
Chelsea was inspired by her dad, who owned his own small business as a home builder. While she was working at those agencies, her dad had a serious injury on a job site. He almost lost his life for his business, and that showed Celsea that she wants to give businesses her best—which they weren’t being given from the agencies she was with at the time.
How Scott Social Evolved Over Time
In the beginning, freelancing through Scott Social was Chelsea’s ticket to seeing the world and living a nomadic lifestyle. It was just her for a long time, but once the referrals came pouring in, she realized she couldn’t manage the business on her own. She either had to start saying no to a lot of things, or she had to start building a team.
First Hire Experience
Chelsea had a lot of fears when it came to hiring. She didn’t want to replicate any of the negative experiences she had at the agencies, and she’s never managed a team by herself. She wanted people to have freedom and flexibility, not a toxic work environment.
The first position Chelsea hired for helped with getting social media content up. This freelancer helped with community management, copywriting, and publishing, but they didn’t have a team feel quite yet. Her first full-time employee made a huge impact on the agency, as it was the first time Chelsea saw the culture she wanted to create.
The Age Factor
Chelsea felt it was harder to earn respect because of her young age, and she felt very self-conscious about it. She even had experiences where someone would ask how old she was on a sales call. She didn’t feel trusted or respected.
Reflecting back, she actually doesn’t think it had anything to do with her age. She thinks she didn’t carry herself with confidence on calls, and that was what lessened the trust. She also didn’t have case studies to show they could do what they said they could do.
Even though it can be difficult, there’s a level of optimism you have when you’re a young founder. You’re fearless in a way, even if you struggle with limiting beliefs. Naivety is your competitive edge, because you don’t know how hard things can be and how much could go wrong with owning a business.
Social Media Marketing Lessons
Social media has drastically changed over the years, and there are some trends and lessons Chelsea learned that shaped how she built Scott Social.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics were everything when Chelsea first started working in social media. You could build a massive and engaged following from aesthetics along. Around 2018-2019, that became very saturated. Aesthetics were everywhere, so they became less interesting. When Chelsea started Scott Social, she knew she’d have a leg up by working toward the metrics over aesthetics alone.
Trust
The perfect aesthetics that were initially popular started to create skepticism among consumers. Even today, if someone uses a filter, people trust it less. The content that gets the most views don’t have filters, and it’s proven that people want to see the real because that’s what they trust the most.
Emotion
People get so caught up in the algorithm, that they forget social media is all about emotion. The goal is to bring someone to feel something, make them laugh, or inspire them. The best performing brands drive to emotion.
Does the Instagram Grid Matter?
Sometimes the Instagram grid matters, and sometimes it doesn’t—it depends on the industry. For example, if you’re an interior designer or aesthetic coffee shop, people should see that right off the bat. The grid should match the vibe people see on the website.
One of Chelsea’s favorite strategies is when you post a reel, you can choose an image to be the cover photo and that’s how you can make a beautiful grid. It’s a good workaround to have high-performing, relatable content that still contributes to an on-brand grid.
How to Grow on Social Media in 2026
Growing on social media isn’t impossible in 2026; it just requires a fresh approach. Here are some ways Chelsea teaches how to grow on social media today.
Prioritize the Right Metrics
Sometimes founders are chasing the vanity metrics over the ones that really matter. For example, if you have a lot of followers who aren’t engaging, that’s telling Meta that your content doesn’t resonate. It actually can have a negative impact on your account. At the same time, followers can only grow a business if they’re the right ones.
Going viral is fun, but if you have a brick and mortar location, how many of those new followers will actually become a customer? Your time may be better spent commenting on stories and posts from your customers instead of trying to publish content constantly.
Focus on Quality Over Quantity
Prioritizing quality content builds trust and drives higher engagement, and typically it increases conversions as well. Low effort content simply doesn’t land or resonate with people anymore.
For example, the Humans of New York account only posts a few stories per month. When they post, people stop and read. Oftentimes, they’ll post 15 times at once and then not again for weeks. Their audience stops and reads all of them because each post is part of the story. That’s quality over quantity in its truest form.
Put Branding at the Center of Your Strategy
Branding is the heartbeat of a strong social media strategy, and it takes a brand from generic to recognizable, trusted, and engaging. Chelsea won’t work with brands anymore that don’t have a good branding guide and clear positioning. This is because she knows without branding, they can’t get good results for their clients.
FAQs about Social Media Growth
If someone is blaming the algorithm for why their content isn't performing, what are they probably missing?
The algorithm is not some nefarious set of code in the background of Instagram. It's merely a reflection of your target audience's interests, so you need to stop creating content for the algorithm and prioritize creating content for your customers.
Do you think most businesses have a social media problem, or do you think they have a positioning problem?
Almost always, it’s a positioning problem. That’s why Scott Social doesn’t work with brands that don’t have clear positioning and strong branding.
If someone has been posting consistently for a year and it's still not working, what's the first thing you would tell them to change?
Reconnect with your story and the emotional side of your followers.
If you could erase one piece of social media advice from the internet forever, what would it be?
The worst piece of advice is to automate everything using AI, because it strips away the personality. Don’t lose your personal connection to your marketing.
Key Quotes
“The brands that are winning right now are not necessarily the brands with the most experience. They’re the brands creating the clearest emotional connection and the strongest sense of trust with their audience.”
Chelsea Scott Flower
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