Our paid social team recently attended AdWeek’s Social Media Week to hear directly from the top social platforms, industry experts and influencers on their take of the current social landscape and what’s to come for the back half of 2024 and beyond. Keep reading to discover our key takeaways.
Themes we heard throughout the week
Pushing for Diversification – throughout the event emerged a common theme, panelists encouraged creators and brands to invest time and effort into multiple social platforms to ensure diversification and readiness if TikTok is banned. The key to success on social media right now is consistency, testing on multiple platforms and iterating constantly.
Brand Safe Creator Alignment – We hear from panelists that a lot of brands have a fear of being misrepresented and harming their reputation when it comes to working with creators which stops them from breaking into something new. However, representation matters in marketing, and advertisers need to really understand the people they’re speaking to – utilizing creators lends to that naturally.
For the most impactful advertising, make the experience with your brand specific and intentional to the consumer, so they feel like they are heard.
Leveraging Consumer Sentiment – Brands are actively seeking out ways to give the consumer exactly what they are looking for – and when they do, it pays off big. Consumers are expecting brands to participate in conversations and share valuable and relatable content.
Panelists stressed the importance of utilizing 3rd party social listening tools or diving into comments on Twitter or Reddit (where consumers are actively going to seek recommendations and speak their truthful thoughts about brands and products) to gain insight on brand sentiments, positive or negative to better speak to their customers.
Social-first Marketing Strategies – We heard from panels that brands that are leading with social are outperforming media-led brands; taking market share and dominating categories because they’re able to tap into a more flexible approach to social media, both recognizing trends and putting creators at the forefront. The use of creators in marketing, and celebrities creating products of their own, is overall changing purchasing behavior.
What social media marketers are keeping an eye on in 2024
Gen Z – LinkedIn + Pinterest noted that they are keeping a keen eye on Gen Z behaviors and are going to shift offerings on the platforms accordingly.
New Platforms – We heard from emerging platforms like Spill, who can achieve what Be Real/Lapse tried to with more connection to existing connections and friends.
Growth of the Social Ecosystem – Marketers are seeing a rise of niching down an audience on social platforms with brands and influencers aiming to create deeper relationships with their consumers using tools such as Substack and Discord newsletters.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Social strategists and platforms noted that they aren’t slowing down the investment of AI in their business and within their offerings. AI will continue to evolve at a rapid rate, and we need to keep AI at the center of the conversation, especially on social.
AdWeek’s Social Media Week served as a platform, helping us better understand the evolving dynamics of marketing in 2024 and beyond. If you want to gain any additional insights into the takeaways from AdWeek’s Social Media Week, please reach out to our experts today!
Contributors: Krista Pino, Kristie Murphy
