The Algorithm Changed

Shawn and Marshall come in hot this week — Italian Fest, a Maserati adventure, and the eternal pain of keeping a nice car actually clean — before getting into the stuff that'll actually move your shop forward. Then it gets real. The platforms have quietly changed the rules, and most shop owners have no idea. Every "comment YES below," every "wait for it," every fake countdown — the algorithms now know exactly what engagement bait looks like, and they're demoting it. In this episode the guys break down what engagement bait actually is, how Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are weighing and scoring your content right now, and why the tricks that worked six months ago are quietly tanking your reach today. Here's the part nobody's telling you: the shops still chasing cheap engagement hacks are training the algorithm to bury them — while the ones building real trust are getting handed reach for free. Shawn and Marshall get into the full clickbait debate (is it ever worth it?), where AI actually helps your content vs. where it makes you sound like everyone else, the real cost of chasing cheap customers, and why boring, consistent, genuine content is quietly the highest-ROI move in marketing right now. If you're posting and getting crickets, this episode tells you why — and what to do instead. Grab a drink. You know the drill.