Treat social as an afterthought and it will treat you the same
Opinion
Stop treating social as an add-on to your TV or digital OOH campaign. Not only should social be part of a brand’s strategy, it should be the strategy.
I didn’t think that in 2025 brands and their agencies would still be treating social as an afterthought.
Yes, they’ve been acknowledging for years that social isn’t just another marketing channel. At least that’s what the social posts say.
But the questions that still linger in many a boardroom is “Should social be part of our strategy?” or “What are we doing for social channels?”
Brands and agencies need to stop treating social as an add-on to their TV or digital OOH (other media channels are available) campaign. Social is not just the garnish on the plate; it’s the whole meal — an entire operating system of culture where billions of people live, connect and create.
Not only should social be part of a brand’s strategy, it should be the strategy.
With more people scrolling through social in a single day than the combined populations of the US, China and India, a social-first approach is the only way to ensure relevance, resonance and results.
Adapting medium
But even now, many brands and agencies are only halfway in. They’re distracted by debates over Meta’s moderation changes or TikTok’s uncertain future in the US.
Important as they are, these headlines are just noise. Social will continue to exist whatever happens and social strategies will pivot and adapt accordingly.
Being “social first” isn’t about prioritising one platform or chasing viral trends. It’s not about drinking the cool kids’ Kool-Aid either. A social-first mindset means starting every campaign by asking: how do people live and engage in social spaces? What are they talking about? How do they behave here?
Social first isn’t complicated; it’s just about being fiercely audience-led so that you get closer to commercially valuable audiences.
And it’s not a guessing game either. There are tons of innovative tools available today that deliver quantifiable results — like Sprout Social for advanced audience analytics, Brandwatch for real-time sentiment tracking and Meta’s Ads Manager for precise return on investment measurement.
These tools help validate creative decisions with hard data, ensuring campaigns are both culturally relevant and commercially effective.
By making social the starting point for campaigns, the brand’s expertise melds with fresh creative and strategic opportunities.
Every touchpoint
Social is a dynamic, two-way dialogue, not a megaphone. By listening as much as they speak, brands gain unparalleled behavioural insights — a real-time view into what their audience values, fears and celebrates.
This depth of understanding creates relevance that can’t be faked. When campaigns are designed to meet consumers where they already are, engagement isn’t just higher, it’s meaningful.
The magic happens when social weaves seamlessly across every touchpoint. Too often, brands tack social on to existing plans without any real thought. But if a brand wants to achieve measurable results, it needs to approach it with intention.
It’s not rocket science to state that integrating social seamlessly across all touchpoints creates agile, data-driven strategies that respond in real time to cultural shifts and consumer sentiment.
Brands must stop siloing social and start embedding it into their advertising, their product launches, their customer support — every single touchpoint — so that they’re listening, adapting and engaging with purpose at every stage of the customer journey.
Campaigns aren’t “done” the moment they go live. That’s an outdated and self-sabotaging mindset. In a social-first world, a campaign’s launch is just the beginning.
Brands must evolve alongside their audiences — this means embracing fluidity by using real-time performance data to tweak and optimise on the go. By staying in the conversation — listening, testing, iterating — you stay in the spotlight. The brands thriving in 2025 will be those that understand campaigns as evolving entities.
Going all in
It’s easy to see why some brands hesitate. Social first isn’t without its challenges: the sheer pace of platforms, the volatility of algorithms, the relentless demand for fresh, creative ideas — it’s all pretty daunting.
But the alternative — falling behind — is far worse.
It’s 2025. If a brand neglects social, they’ll become a relic of the past; they might as well stick their logo in the phone book or run an infomercial at 2am while they’re at it.
The time to go all in is now — although arguably it should have been a few years ago.
Brands should stop asking if social should be part of their strategy. Instead, they should start building a strategy that’s unapologetically social first.
Jacinta Faul is CEO of SocialChain