My Reel Went Kinda Viral (And Why I Didn't Love It)
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Last week I posted a reel about how to tell if your website was built by AI Nothing groundbreaking. Just stuff I notice every day when I'm looking at potential client sites or scrolling through TikTok. Things I thought people would want to know so they can avoid them.
I hit post, closed my phone, and went back to whatever I was doing.
Then things started moving. Quickly.
At first, it was getting traction in a direction that I was super excited about! Women who do what I do, or who are entrepreneurs, or other people who are tired of the AI website's generic look.
That's genuinely my favorite thing that can happen on the internet. Someone sees a post, gets some inspo, maybe even feels a little more confident about their own business. Truly, that's really why I post at all. Not to sell something, but if someone lands on my page, you get a feel for who I am and can trust I actually know what I'm talking about.
BUT then the reel kept getting more and more traction, and it started reaching people who were very much not my audience. That's when things stopped feeling so fun and started feeling like there was a pit in my stomach.
About 95% of the comments were kind and supportive. But that other 5%, mostly men, were very angry at me. (Can you imagine being that worked up over someone just posting a generic reel?!)
I got called a fraud.
A Karen.
Someone said I was "the most stupid thing they'd seen all day." Which, respectfully, is a big statement for a woman who isn't great with grammar.
Here's the thing I realized - Nobody gets that mad about a topic they have zero stake in.
Still, it was a lot. I don't love the spotlight. I built this business around sharing my life as a female entrepreneur who is good at marketing and also loves taking naps. Having that turn into a place where strangers feel entitled to insult me felt like a violation of the whole point. I wasn't trying to go viral. I was trying to be useful and a little bit myself. And when yourself doesn't feel good enough to others, it can get in your head!
So what did I do?
Block and turn to the positive.
I picked up new followers, and a handful of them turned into genuine connections with other women building their own service-based businesses. The others who called me names got blocked and deleted. See ya later, Brad.
But all this just confirmed what I already know about myself... Big views aren't the goal for me right now. I don't want an audience of a hundred thousand strangers. I want to help the right fifty, or five hundred, or five thousand people build something that actually works for their business, and a bonus if they also love needlepointing, reading, and antiquing!
But since we're already talking about it...
Since we're here, let me finish by sharing what I was trying to say in that reel, because it's still actually super useful if you're DIYing a site using AI!
There's really nothing inherently wrong with using AI to build your site. In fact, I use AI every day to help me brainstorm and organize my life and thoughts.
BUT if you are building a site, there are things I want you to stay away from...
Make sure you have crystal clear branding that sets your brand image apart
Fine-tune that messaging so your brand personality pops through!
Don't just copy and paste from Claude, tweak your content!
Get rid of the emojis!
Please, for the love of God, remove those em Dashes —
Don't use the standard AI-generated font. If you're using Playfair Display with a few italicized words here and there, it's generic and overused.
Beef up that footer!
But the bigger issue with AI-created sites is what's happening on the back end. They generally are a pain to update, having to go in and tweak coding. They normally aren't connected to Google and lack SEO technical backend things that need to talk to search engines. The images are generally not set up for the visually impaired, and most don't pass an ADA check.
If you're wanting to grow - then a site built by a person is the way to go.
So no, going viral isn't for me. But growing slowly, on purpose, with the right people, that's the whole business, baby!
Michelle Johnson is the owner and founder of Slow Burn Marketing Co. A boutique Utah-based marketing agency that helps other female-owned and operated businesses create beautiful websites that also work behind the scenes to get you found on the internet. Schedule a complimentary consultation to learn more about Slow Burn Marketing Co.'s services.
Comments