Advice for a new marketer: study people, not platforms

I'm on my way home and I've been thinking:

What advice would I give a new marketer?

After 6+ years in influencer marketing and content strategy, helping create campaigns that reached 18 million people, and being part of a Webby Award-winning newsletter team, here's mine:

1. Study people, not platforms. Read psychology. Read research. Read local statistics. Understand culture. Algorithms change. Human behavior doesn't.

2. Your audience does not care about your brand. They care about themselves. Their problems. Their goals. Their entertainment. Your job is to answer one question: Why should they care?

3. Pay attention to how people talk about brands and influencers. Watch what gets praised. Watch what gets mocked. Watch what gets people cancelled. Watch what makes consumers suddenly go: "Yeah… I'm never buying from them again." You don't have to join the drama. But you should understand why it's happening. That's free consumer research.

4. Nobody owes you attention. You're competing with friends, family, memes, Netflix, YouTube, and someone's cat who accidentally walked across a keyboard. Earn it.

5. AI is a tool, not a strategist. It's great at giving answers. Understanding people is still your job.

The biggest lesson I've learned?

Most marketers spend too much time studying marketing.

Not enough time studying people.