This is such excellent, thorough work. I love how open your respondents are with you, and the illustrations and design make this fun to keep reading until the end. THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK.
Great summary. As a strategist leading international marketing, I’ve personally moved everything onto our own server - our website is the centre of gravity. Social media only drive traffic there, and we’re building the whole ecosystem in‑house. I’m not counting on social platforms anymore; I can feel in my bones that something is going to shift, and you’ll want to actually own your content and your traffic.
delightful read rachel!! not a marketer myself but work with a lot of marketers and maybe I’m part of the problem of not understanding socials LOL but as a gen Z, I’ve always seen instagram as the holy grail platform. it’s addictingly short-form reels, has carousels for a semblance of intellectualism, runs like butter in a pan, rewards both minimal and maximal content, and most importantly… people still do see it as a social platform because all your friends are on it. tiktok is generally agreed to be like a nicotine hit. youtube is equivalent to netflix and disney+ and stan. reddit and other forums can be social but for the most part is for people from the outside looking in. instagram, however, you can hear from a childhood friend, a brand that you wear, lionel messi, and then politics in one go. it’s a catch all and does it too well but most importantly the fact that your childhood friend is there is the reason you just keep drawing back to it, because the most challenging scenario for someone quitting smoking is if everyone in your social circle still pumps those bad boys like air.
the other thing that I’m thinking about is whether good content actually makes good conversion… B2C-wise. in some cases it does but like one of your respondents say, is virality actually profitable?? or a vanity metric that only looks good on a CMO’s resume?
i think it completely depends on what you're going viral for! does the piece of content help connect the dots for consumers or is it empty attention? i'm more interested in consistent momentum on social versus a one-off hit.
I just want to add here that it's okay to not feel good about working in social media right now! It means your moral compass hasn't been deadened despite Silicon Valley's aggressive attempts to do so. Yes, you're complicit if you work in it--but that also means you have agency. The work is figuring out what you're going to do about it!
Loved reading the insights… Im someone who is moving in from a head of marketing role to head of social role this year … and I have been getting many eye-rolls and being asked why am I choosing a “demotion” in my career…. But i strongly feel NOW MORE THAN EVER, the biggest way to market your brand is building a strong social presence and super excited to pave this new way..
Not shocked. Many business owners want to run the business. Their core product(s) or service(s) is their reason for the business. Social media is seen as the distraction. It is sometimes seen as the water cooler moment.
“If leadership doesn’t understand social but still insists on imprinting on it, you’re doomed.”
This!
Thank you for this. I recently quit my job as a social media manager because of this very reason. Years of trying to convince buy in from folks. Too exhausting.
Such a good read, Rachel! What stands out to me is the gap between the priority platforms and the rising ones. Reddit and Substack are still small numbers, but climbing fast YoY, and that's the real tell about where attention is heading. I've worked in brand partnerships at Reddit for years, and from where I sit, the AEO shift is a big conversation as brands sort through their visibility strategy.
This is such excellent, thorough work. I love how open your respondents are with you, and the illustrations and design make this fun to keep reading until the end. THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK.
emily!!!! thank you!!!!!
Great summary. As a strategist leading international marketing, I’ve personally moved everything onto our own server - our website is the centre of gravity. Social media only drive traffic there, and we’re building the whole ecosystem in‑house. I’m not counting on social platforms anymore; I can feel in my bones that something is going to shift, and you’ll want to actually own your content and your traffic.
delightful read rachel!! not a marketer myself but work with a lot of marketers and maybe I’m part of the problem of not understanding socials LOL but as a gen Z, I’ve always seen instagram as the holy grail platform. it’s addictingly short-form reels, has carousels for a semblance of intellectualism, runs like butter in a pan, rewards both minimal and maximal content, and most importantly… people still do see it as a social platform because all your friends are on it. tiktok is generally agreed to be like a nicotine hit. youtube is equivalent to netflix and disney+ and stan. reddit and other forums can be social but for the most part is for people from the outside looking in. instagram, however, you can hear from a childhood friend, a brand that you wear, lionel messi, and then politics in one go. it’s a catch all and does it too well but most importantly the fact that your childhood friend is there is the reason you just keep drawing back to it, because the most challenging scenario for someone quitting smoking is if everyone in your social circle still pumps those bad boys like air.
the other thing that I’m thinking about is whether good content actually makes good conversion… B2C-wise. in some cases it does but like one of your respondents say, is virality actually profitable?? or a vanity metric that only looks good on a CMO’s resume?
i think it completely depends on what you're going viral for! does the piece of content help connect the dots for consumers or is it empty attention? i'm more interested in consistent momentum on social versus a one-off hit.
I just want to add here that it's okay to not feel good about working in social media right now! It means your moral compass hasn't been deadened despite Silicon Valley's aggressive attempts to do so. Yes, you're complicit if you work in it--but that also means you have agency. The work is figuring out what you're going to do about it!
I love this take!
Thanks! I don't believe in having to always be positive about everything! That's status quo behavior!
yup!
Loved reading the insights… Im someone who is moving in from a head of marketing role to head of social role this year … and I have been getting many eye-rolls and being asked why am I choosing a “demotion” in my career…. But i strongly feel NOW MORE THAN EVER, the biggest way to market your brand is building a strong social presence and super excited to pave this new way..
Not shocked. Many business owners want to run the business. Their core product(s) or service(s) is their reason for the business. Social media is seen as the distraction. It is sometimes seen as the water cooler moment.
“If leadership doesn’t understand social but still insists on imprinting on it, you’re doomed.”
This!
Thank you for this. I recently quit my job as a social media manager because of this very reason. Years of trying to convince buy in from folks. Too exhausting.
added this question to the survey this year because i had a feeling it was a big reason people leave social roles
Absolutely 100%! Thank you for including this Rachel!
Such a good read, Rachel! What stands out to me is the gap between the priority platforms and the rising ones. Reddit and Substack are still small numbers, but climbing fast YoY, and that's the real tell about where attention is heading. I've worked in brand partnerships at Reddit for years, and from where I sit, the AEO shift is a big conversation as brands sort through their visibility strategy.
yes! 100 percent. need to do a deep dive on reddit soon.
Yes! If you ever want to chat, lmk!
An odd kind of validation for those who thought "social media" stopped being social a long time ago....
I love the insight but I do have to flag that the font in the infographics isn't particularly accessible...
Curious if Snapchat’s Spotlight was ever mentioned among the survey answers.