Saying the right thing, in the right place, at the right time – in 2025

Social media was once considered a fun experiment for marketers, or a singular “must-have” tool. These days, brands are navigating a matrix of social media decisions and an ever-changing number of platforms as they try to find their unique, just-right Goldilocks strategy: Which platforms are right for your brand? Has that changed in the last year or five? What content does your audience value? How does that match up with the content you share, and how does that sync with your business goals?

Here’s where to start: A social media audit.

• Many companies have a set strategy in place to guide their social media content and engagement. But if it’s been more than a year since you evaluated and benchmarked your performance on these channels, it’s time to take a look under the hood. Are you actually reaching the audiences you’re looking to reach? Are your overall business goals aligned with your social team’s strategy? An audit will help you find out.

The why: A social media audit should go beyond the analytics of each platform to help you determine where your audience is, what they are looking for, and if your content is meeting them there. It will also give you a way to evaluate your performance next to competitors and companies you admire.

• An audit is, by nature, extensive – but valuable. For one of our clients in the tourism industry, our audit included an analysis of how each piece of content performed on every platform along with an overview of their distinct audiences on each platform. We then compared it with competitors and aspirational companies (like Disney) to get an understanding of how this client was currently performing and how to retool their strategy to meet their business goal of capturing new and younger audiences with family-friendly offerings.
• With the benefit of this thoughtful analysis and deep data set, we were able to work directly with the client’s CMO and social team to develop a go-forward strategy that identified key content pillars for developing posts aligned with business goals, refreshed the brand’s tone and voice, developed a strategy for gaining and engaging with their new target audiences, and provided best practices for using each of their platforms in 2025.

There is no one-size-fits all social media strategy – and that’s why the best ones are guided by updated, relevant data and a keen eye for how social fits in your marketing matrix and company priorities. Each platform is a specific marketing tool that should be used intentionally to engage with the full journey of your customers, from discovery to loyalty. But – just like Goldilocks – that doesn’t mean each platform is right for your company or your goals.

• Do you sell specific products that could take off in the TikTok shop? Are you looking toreach highly visual 18-29-year-olds on Instagram? Or are you seeking to connect withbusiness and family decision makers, who are primarily on LinkedIn and Facebook?
• With the data from an audit in hand, you’ll be able to look beyond specific metrics – such as likes, shares, and comments – to see how your audiences (and which ones) are engaging with your platforms and content as a whole. What resonates the most? Why? Is the audience on each platform the right people you want to engage with for your business? Hopping on a viral trend can get you views but won’t necessarily get you in front of the people most likely to seek your service or product.

Content worthy of stopping the scroll: Research shows that consumers value authenticity and relatability – two elements that will help you stand out in the age of AI. Think about how Wendy’s has developed a clear, sarcastic voice on their pages, or how Nike uses its social media to tell an inspiring story. That’s how authenticity comes through.

• The other side of authenticity and relatability is simply being present and interactive. Your goal is to create the content that garners a conversation – and then be part of a conversation.

We all know that word-of-mouth is the most valuable marketing — but it’s also the slowest. When done right, social media can be akin to word-of-mouth marketing, at a much larger scale and faster pace.

This piece was co-authored with Julie Basello, Director of Content Strategy at Brian Communications.