LinkedIn is where corporate reputation is shaped in 2026. The key to building an effective strategy lies in how you influence what people say about you, not just what you push from increasingly sparsely distributed brand pages.  Top performing organisations (those in the 90th percentile) are talked about 6.1x more than the average brand. Yet, the question of how to generate advocacy on LinkedIn remains a challenging one - our latest research uncovers why. People discuss corporate brands as a vehicle to discuss themselves and build their brand. Key to any approach is creating opportunities for third-parties to talk positively about themselves, thereby creating a halo effect for your brand. Thanks to its lack of anonymity, LinkedIn is one of the most trusted social platforms. We’ve analysed thousands of posts across industries, and identified the seven groups of third-parties that consistently talk about brands: MPs, SpAds, Campaigning Groups, Membership Groups, Analysts, Employees, and Customers.  When defining a strategy for shaping corporate reputation on LinkedIn, there are three key things to bear in mind:   Driving employee engagement and encouraging them to produce Employee Generated Content (EGC) is key - over 61% of all content came from employees  Making physical events work digitally - over 2/3rd of all social posts were about a physical event or moment Positivity first - people aren’t on LinkedIn to criticise, but to promote themselves. Almost 60% of posts were about the author themselves, but gave a positive halo effect to a company  Read our report in full.

Following the launch of the latest HFSS guidance, which bans paid online advertising for the promotion of ‘Less Healthy Foods’ (LHF) , we were interested in understanding what impacts it’s had so far and what that means for brands. What have we identified? It’s very challenging to decide whether items are going against the HFSS guidance, given that their nutritional content is hard to interpret from a visual asset. As such, there’s no guarantee that what a brand posts is compliant (or not). Even so, businesses seem to lack confidence posting food imagery under the new rules - we’ve seen a large decrease (44%) in the number of ads run (which include food) since the ban came into effect, which signals their nervousness at this time. There are exceptions to this, however - for example McDonald’s UK who in the past week have tripled their TikTok ad creative variants running. We’re seeing far more emphasis on brand-owned apps, which leans into loyalty, and as time goes on brand building as an alternative method to food products. What does this mean? Thus far no brands have been publicly rebuked, but expect to see fewer dish-related ads and influencer content in the coming months, with a greater focus on brand and experience. To discuss how your strategy should change, how to create compliant content, and how to effectively use creators for your food or drink brand, get in touch.

The HFSS guidelines on social media and online advertising are ready for their second phase in January 2026. What does it mean for brands? What are the HFSS regulations for online advertising? The High in Fat, Salt or Sugar regulations seek to make less healthy products less visible to UK consumers. There are two main pieces of legislation which feed into this -  Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024  and Communications Act 2003 (Restrictions on the Advertising of Less Healthy Food) (Effective Date) (Amendment) Regulations 2025   which formalised when they’d come into effect. Alongside the pre-watershed TV ban, it mandates a complete ban on online paid-for advertising of non-HFSS compliant products. When do they come in? The HFSS regulations for online advertising come into force on the 5th January 2026. Wait, I can still advertise brands though? Yes - chocolate companies, for example, could still advertise their brand, but the non-compliant products can’t be identifiable in the content.  Do the HFSS regulations ban influencer marketing? Basically, yes, for non-compliant HFSS products. They’re using the same definition as the ASA guidelines on influencer marketing do -gifting, not just payment constitutes paid-for marketing, and therefore means there’s no commercial basis one can engage these influencers and be compliant. Can brands still post their own content? Yes, but you can’t advertise it. It’s paid-for activity, not organic, which is banned. So your brand pages can still post, and there’s no issue with organic third-party recommendations - i.e. customers talking about your products.  Are smaller brands and hospitality chains exempt? Yes, in short, small brands (defined as fewer than 50 employees) and hospitality businesses with fewer than 250 employees are exempt. How do I know if my product is HFSS compliant? Check the guidance!  It’s shifted to a ‘balanced scorecard’ approach, so you need to measure your product across the elements of the HFSS scoring system to see if it clears the threshold.  What are the implications? Strong brands, where the product and the brand are closely related will find it easier. Certain chocolate companies or burger brands, for example, can see sales effects without needing to show specific products. Not all are that lucky Many relatively well-known food brands have fewer than 50 employees - we will still see HFSS products promoted in our feeds  There is potential for some brands to run their paid influencer activity internationally, knowing the globalised nature of social media means it’ll be seen in the UK. This was seen with vape brands, for example, as they established themselves, and is often seen in crypto and similar areas which face tighter regulation within the UK market Some influencers will take a hit in their earnings. Some hospitality brands will have to pivot to more focus on the ‘experience’ and less on the dishes to continue to use online advertising and influencers The shift to brand not product will bring ‘unhealthy’ food and drink in-line broadly with financial services marketing The disconnect with alcohol marketing regulation is marked: you can advertise whisky (within limits) but not a KitKat…

The data that social media platforms are sharing with both users and advertisers are evolving rapidly.. While some are giving users greater insight into the impact of their own and their network’s activity, others are placing this insight behind paywalls or using it to fuel their own AI and machine learning capabilities This means that while in some places you may be better placed to make data-driven decisions about an exec comms programme, in another you’ve an increasingly limited understanding of your media’s performance. For the C-suite and marketing teams, these changing dynamics impact the feasibility and scope of audience analysis. Understanding of these metrics is key to identify how to iterate and improve. Here we explore some of the recent evolutions in across platforms, exploring two key questions: What’s in it for the platforms? What does it mean for audience-led decision-making? How the moment unfolded Post 1:  “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’ ❤️‍🔥” — 12 images, alluding to her 12th studio album, shared by @taylornation Post 2:  “92%ers, we’re coming back early for a special episode with a VERY special guest” — from Travis and Jason Kelce and their @newheightshow  podcast Post 3:  A teaser clip posted at 12:12 on the 12th, revealing the album name The Life of a Showgirl  in a collaboration post between @taylorswift  and @newheightshow For casual observers, these might seem like unrelated drops. For Swifties, they were easter eggs - the hidden clues they’ve been trained to hunt through years of meticulously seeded details, from nail polish colours to music video props. One post was enough to put them on high alert; by the time the podcast teaser hit, the theories were in overdrive. The result? The podcast teaser clip became the most-viewed video ever by an individual on any social media platform with 167M views in a day The two New Heights’ teaser videos pulled in 2.5M engagements on TikTok — over 1,800% above their per post average The New Heights Podcast gained 300K Instagram followers and 160K YouTube subscribers before  the full episode was even released And here’s the kicker: on paper, it shouldn’t have worked. A male-oriented, sports-focused podcast + a female-centric global pop star = minimal audience overlap. But that’s exactly why it did work - because the mechanics weren’t about the existing overlap. They were about engineering a reason   for one audience to cross into another entirely.  LinkedIn - Democratising Data Comment Impressions Early this year LinkedIn announced that comments made on posts would soon show impressions data to all users (1). This potentially gives authors positive reinforcement when posting and their wider network richer insights into the themes and styles of content which are popular among other users. From our own work in executive comms, we know the potential value of LinkedIn comments for building meaningful interactions. LinkedIn also acknowledge that commenting can “do wonders for amplification”(2) - that is, boost a post (and therefore the author’s and commenter’s profiles) in their algorithm. It’s the first time this level of insight has been accessible for the average user, bringing them closer in-line with the views metric on TikTok and Meta reels content. Personal LinkedIn Analytics They then expanded access to their personal profile API, enabling executive communications to similarly be more accessible than ever before to marketers seeking to consolidate their analysis time (3). While this still requires the expertise to retrieve the data, it marks another step towards enhanced behavioural data which can enhance the standard of content across the platform. (1) https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a7443064 (2) https://www.linkedin.com/business/marketing/blog/linkedin-pages/5-non-obvious-ways-to-improve-your-linkedin-company-page (3) https://www.prnewsonline.com/why-linkedin-opening-the-api-is-a-game-changer-for-executive-influence/ TikTok- Pixel Pioneering Engaged Sessions A key evolution in TikTok’s analytics this year has been the launch of their ‘Engaged Session’ tool, which allows advertisers to track off-platform user behaviour as a substitute for pixels (4). This brings TikTok closer in-line with Google and Adobe, via metrics such as Total Engaged Sessions and Cost per Engaged Session, and marks a move away from the traditional social media platform analytics metrics Given the turbulence in their operation, which stifled ad reach growth over the last year relative to other platforms (2.3% YoY to January 2025, versus 4.3% for both LinkedIn and Facebook), AdWeek’s observation that Gen Z increasingly replace Google with TikTok for search is the likely driver of this innovation. On the user side, there’s been very little development in the insights available - likely based on the lack of visible long-term impact of the proposed US ban early this year, beyond the dip in ad reach. Meta- Optimisation Overdrive Incremental Attribution Meta’s largest focus this year has been implementing automation via machine learning and AI, in a longer-term shift towards allowing the company to analyse performance on behalf of advertisers. One such feature has been Incremental Attribution (5), which uses machine learning models to predict whether a conversion is caused by an ad (6). In behavioural terms, it’s adding insight into the outcomes of campaign settings - helping to understand what creative and formats are resonating with an audience. However, it’s a learning model and that means it’s starting from a 0 base in building the view of optimisation, and Meta itself will likely have a stronger understanding of what’s driving results than the advertiser. Value Rules A similar introduction has been Value Rules (7), which adjusts ad delivery towards criteria and outcomes defined by the advertiser (currently age, gender, location, OS; and select placements and conversion locations). Again, the insight into what advertisers are placing greater value on across these metrics is likely to be more beneficial for Meta than the end user, however it’s a development in analytics that comes built into their offering (unlike TikTok’s Engaged Session tool). In both examples, we see Meta focused on improving outcomes for advertisers, with the role of analysis remaining firmly with advertisers in order to gain the same level of insight into audience behaviours as Meta will be accumulating across their users. What does it mean? As we can see from these examples, platforms are taking very different approaches to data-sharing for performance insights. While LinkedIn are moving towards a greater level of openness in what’s driving content performance, TikTok is focusing more on transitioning out of traditional social metrics, and Meta are developing their own methods of gaining insight (rather than passing these to the advertiser directly). These changes are a response to the evolving use of social for search, as well as changing dynamics beyond social itself - particularly regulatory and economic. The consequences of this span end users and marketers - potentially driving improvements in content quality, while in others doing the opposite for those not willing to pay for the privilege The onus of conducting analysis remains largely on advertisers and those in insight functions, but this may come at a cost for platforms which restrict the access to audience behaviour indicators In this context, it’s increasingly important to: Monitor how people’s interaction with platforms is changing - AI/ machine learning is huge source of disruption on the horizon to the direction of travel we’ve seen in the last 18 months Remain aware of the latest developments in what platforms are opening and restricting access to - it’s likely to continue diversifying in the months ahead Ensure analysis frameworks for audience behaviour incorporate the new metrics available, while establishing the best way to compensate for those which are becoming less visible Place a renewed focus on the conversation itself - as we’ve shifted from the text-heavy era of X to the video focus of today, it’s an often overlooked source of what’s resonating with audiences (4) https://www.adweek.com/media/tiktok-to-roll-out-new-tool-for-advertisers-to-follow-people-beyond-the-app/ (5) https://www.facebook.com/business/help/460276478298895?id=561906377587030 (6) https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2366718460372682 (7) https://www.facebook.com/business/help/535014515741813

By now, most marketers have heard of The Taylor Swift Effect . The idea that anything she touches turns to gold (or in today’s era, orange glitter). But this isn’t random; it’s the product of deliberate planning, deep audience understanding, and flawless execution. This week, that playbook was on full display when three social posts (including one podcast collaboration tease) generated record-breaking engagement before  the main content even went live. How the moment unfolded Post 1:  “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…’ ❤️‍🔥” — 12 images, alluding to her 12th studio album, shared by @taylornation Post 2:  “92%ers, we’re coming back early for a special episode with a VERY special guest” — from Travis and Jason Kelce and their @newheightshow  podcast Post 3:  A teaser clip posted at 12:12 on the 12th, revealing the album name The Life of a Showgirl  in a collaboration post between @taylorswift  and @newheightshow For casual observers, these might seem like unrelated drops. For Swifties, they were easter eggs - the hidden clues they’ve been trained to hunt through years of meticulously seeded details, from nail polish colours to music video props. One post was enough to put them on high alert; by the time the podcast teaser hit, the theories were in overdrive. The result? The podcast teaser clip became the most-viewed video ever by an individual on any social media platform with 167M views in a day The two New Heights’ teaser videos pulled in 2.5M engagements on TikTok — over 1,800% above their per post average The New Heights Podcast gained 300K Instagram followers and 160K YouTube subscribers before  the full episode was even released And here’s the kicker: on paper, it shouldn’t have worked. A male-oriented, sports-focused podcast + a female-centric global pop star = minimal audience overlap. But that’s exactly why it did work - because the mechanics weren’t about the existing overlap. They were about engineering a reason   for one audience to cross into another entirely.  Three lessons for marketers Plan for the moment you want Most of the new audience growth happened before  the main content was live. That wasn’t accidental. It was the culmination of months of carefully curated moments coming together in a series of seemingly unrelated posts, fuelling speculation and ultimately, action. That meant more engaged viewers on day one, higher retention, and faster algorithmic traction. Takeaway: Get clear on what you’re trying to achieve. Create the moment. Then let it go.  Platform behaviour shapes results Even Taylor Swift’s reach doesn’t override intrinsic platform behaviours: Instagram & YouTube: Followers/subscriptions are the gateway to regular content — Swift’s audience took the step to “lock in” updates TikTok: The For You Page prioritises content discovery without following, so viral reach doesn’t automatically equal follower growth Takeaway: Your KPIs for cultural moments should flex by platform — expecting uniform results is a missed opportunity. Cultural borrowing drives disproportionate impact Swift’s audience didn’t just show up; they migrated to entirely new channels to engage. Takeaway: Brand associations with the right partner can open audience segments you’d never reach through paid media alone, but only if you make it easy for them to find and follow you. Ultimately, The Swift Effect isn’t about chasing celebrities. It’s about: Tapping into cultural relevance that already has built-in momentum Engineering anticipation so the growth curve starts before launch Designing moments that drive people across channels Aligning creative and KPIs to platform-specific behaviours - know whether it’s reach, retention, or conversion you’re winning on In a world where attention is fragmented, the brands that win are the ones that know how to ride a cultural wave. And where to steer it once they’ve caught it.

From what they are, to what they can do for your brand, here’s what you need to know…  With the recent buzz about Meta’s AI Superintelligence team, it would be easy to forget that social platforms and their algorithms are in fact driven by real people. Not artificially intelligent ones.  As the Instagram platform continues to evolve and be guided by the people who use it and the content they consume, they’ve rolled out three new features. Introducing Reposts, a Friend Map, and a customised ‘Friends’ feed in the Reels tab.  But what are they?  Reposts - allow you to do just that: repost content to appear on your page. The feature sits on your account page next to your tagged pictures. The key difference is it enables you to curate an owned feed of third party content by reposting specific UGC or influencer content there Friend Map - probably the least useful feature from a brand perspective, this is much like the Find My Friends , enabling followers to see your live location - and you theirs. We don’t recommend turning this on  ‘Friends’ feed in Reels tab  - is the most notable of the updates. For consumers it’s a markedly different way to engage with your Friends (the people you follow) content, what are they watching and engaging in? For brands, it opens up a unique possibility for audience/customer insight with a snapshot into what our followers are actually  engaging with  These features serve as a timely reminder for brands and creators alike (yes, even brand accounts can utilise them!). Social platforms are inherently that. Social. It’s a place for people to connect with each other, their favourite brands and the latest creators filling their feed.

It might surprise you to learn that searches for “webinar” peaked in February 2024 (1) , and not during the height of their pandemic necessity. Searches remain 41% above their average since Jul 2021 , demonstrating webinars’ increasingly essential place in the B2B marketing armory. A recent report from one AI-powered video content company (2)  compared their platform’s B2B webinars between 2023 and 2024. The findings reveal the scale of just one year’s growth in the use and value of webinars for extended campaigns. Below are the key learnings, as well as our take on what B2B brands should be implementing now to maximise their value. What’s the scale of YoY growth? 225% growth in total webinars, 106% growth in registrants, and 33% growth in attendees Monthly webinars per brand have more than doubled to around 4, with an average of 4 speakers each While highly regulated sectors generally host longer webinars, the average is 45-60 minutes and short-form webinars have risen 8% (now 1 in every 10) What’s changed versus the previous year? 2903% increase in video clips created following webinars (1313K total in 2024) 11464% increase in unique text assets (e.g. blog posts, 94.7K total in 2024)  Blogs, takeaways, social posts were the primary purposes for repurposing in 2023, but in 2024 it was predominantly emails (37%) and blogs have fallen significantly (13%) What’s driving webinar performance? Webinars in series outperform standalone webinars significantly - even just labelling them as “series” increases registration 30% Growth of on-demand content is significantly contributing to performance (26% YoY), representing 80% of all webinars hosted - 31% of attendees rewatch Timing is everything. Webinars are most frequently scheduled on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (each representing about 28%), though Mondays’ are best attended (38%), followed by Tuesdays’ and Fridays’ (34%) Overlaying this with office attendance data suggests hybrid working isn’t a strong predictor of success. Monday is the most mandated in-office day (65%), which would suggest it’s an in-office activity, however Friday is the least mandated (46%) and joint-second best-attended. Webinar attendance is even lower on Wednesday, though, which is the most common commuting day (77%) and probably best avoided There are also industry-dependent days and windows of time which maximise attendance (1) https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=GB&q=%2Fg%2F121ngnmw&hl=en-GB (2) https://www.goldcast.io/ (3) https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/VMO2B-Q1-2025-Movers-Index-Report-1.pdf The view that webinars are the ‘poorer version’ of in-person events is simply untrue in today’s world. Given the budget constraints marketing teams have been operating under in recent years, growth in webinars has only been possible because of the emerging evidence of their effectiveness. To benefit from webinars, teams should: Integrate webinars effectively into part of a lead gen journey Weigh up the benefits of virtual versus in-person from an ROI perspective Maximise the life of webinar content by repurposing into further digital assets, particularly video given its explosion in utilisation Consider the audience’s weekly patterns and habits to maximise attendance You can view the report here .

Google has begun including Instagram posts from brand and creator in search results. This shift to make search richer, with more social results, complements YouTube’s integral presence in search, and presents brands with more opportunities to use social media for SEO. What has Google done with Instagram posts in results? Instagram is now allowing images dating as early as January 2020, from public professional and creator accounts, to appear in Google search results . This is a shif t, as previously Instagram posts were not indexed and routinely available. Why has Google started showing Instagram posts in search? In a social and visual content world, a full picture of information on a topic needs Instagram and rich image content Some topics and categories (e.g. fashion or beauty) have Instagram as arguably the key channel - not having these risks low quality / less relevant results Instagram results from brand and top creator accounts are relatively heavily policed from a content moderation perspective, meaning the content is relatively reliable and authoritative. This is a shift on where the service was in years gone by, an d decreases the risks to users of Google directing traffic there (note the average users posts do not feature still) Ensuring the continued improvement in search results in the face of AI search, tapping ever more contextually relevant material What does it mean for your brand? Social search is already thriving - this demonstrates it is a two-way street - ensuring visibility within social platforms themselves can also drive SEO  Ensuring captions are written with search-optimised keywords Ideally using alt-text on images - this isn’t just best practice for accessibility, but now will improve search visibility as well Audit and cleanse old posts which might be ‘confusing’ to users if they appeared out of chronological sequence on a grid - e.g. an old version of a product which has the same name as the current edition This all sits as part of the rapidly evolving world of social search  - speak to us to understand how this impacts your brand today and tomorrow.

The future of branded content is digital creators - but it’s not that new. We’re well into the creator era, and it impacts everything from the search results we see, to the way we feel, to the formats we enjoy. We recently hosted an event unpacking just that with experts from brand, to influencer to creator, all leading the discussion on the future of branded content and the interplays between influencing and creating.  Vicky Mazengarb, Digital and Trading within hospitality, she’s workefd with the likes of Marston’s and Mitchells and Butlers.  Oli Paterson, AKA Elburritomonster, he’s the King of crazy food combinations (namely, burritos)  Anthony Campbell, Campo, a rugby player turned social media personality livestreaming daily family life. The key areas of discussion: What are you? Celebrity, influencer, and creator have increasingly defined roles.  The former - famous because of something they’ve done. Influencer - sharing their lives, and the parasocial relationship gives them an ability to shape audience attitude. Creator - makers of digital content. Know which you need, depending on your brief Influence begins in the playground . We’ve experienced influence throughout our lives, from the playground to the office - just now there’s a digital footprint. It’s not a new concept, and you have to take people on the journey. If someone says, “This doesn’t feel like an ad,” great - that’s exactly the point. And that’s the shift When the algorithm stops, search carries on.  Evergreen content is key. Creators can do more than fuel campaigns - they can help brands build stories, and conversations that last, stay relevant and can be repurposed to fuel the rising nature of social search Understanding the data behind who to work with, the strategy that determines whether you need an influencer, a creator, many or few, is essential. Likewise, taking a digital-first and story-telling perspective to content - a world away from the old ‘one creative idea, reformatted for different channels. The world has changed, creators and influencers are leading the new environment for brands. Are you joining them? We have a number of events throughout the year so do get in touch - and if any of the above has stirred thoughts on how to better work with influencers/creators, or we’d love to chat.

We recently picked up a The Drum Award for tackling a real brand challenge: drive relevance with younger audiences and cement Harvester as a nationally loved brand, not just a nostalgic favourite. We went big on flavour — and even bigger on culture.  Partnering with a new generation of creator, TikTok's king of over-the-top food content, Elburritomonster (aka Oli Paterson), we launched a through-the-line influencer partnership spanning social content, in-restaurant activation, and menu innovation.  The content appeared everywhere — from TikTok to table talkers to curated menu flavour profiles. The results?  ⭐️ 12+ million impressions ⭐️ Awareness more than doubled amongst target audience (18-24s)  ⭐️ Thousands of directly attributable bookings  But what actually drove success? Picking the right partner with audience relevancy - and going all in - to build a campaign with impact.  We didn’t just want an influencer. We wanted a creator, someone who could bring energy, ideas and a genuine audience connection.  The right creator doesn't just drive views - they drive footfall, brand love, and cultural clout. If you want to chat more about our data-led approach to identifying and activating influence within the creator era, get in touch.

Corporate comms is evolving faster than ever before. To build a function that’s future-ready and remains relevant needs communications leaders to break down silos, blend strategy with agility, and bring sharp commercial insight to the table. The tools may change (hello AI), but the fundamentals - clear thinking, compelling storytelling, and deep business understanding - matter more than ever. We recently hosted a panel discussion with Andrew Cocks, Director of Corporate Affairs at Virgin Media O2, and Sophie Timms, Corporate Affairs Director at Kier, joined by other senior communications leaders. There was clear consensus on what it takes to future-proof a corporate comms function. Those who succeed will be the ones who can flex across disciplines, build trust through relevance, and consistently prove the value of communications in driving business outcomes. Here are our top takeaways from the session: Feeling busy? Perception is reality. The pace of change in corp comms over the last years has been ‘ferocious’, and what’s happened in the last 5 years has matched the previous 20.  All things to all people. Comms needs to be a one-stop shop. The future needs technical specialism but less focus on disciplines of specialism (internal comms, PR, public affairs, sustainability) - you won’t be able to meet the breadth or pace of challenges if you’re siloed. And you need to be able to readily pivot between tactical, strategic and big picture – often in short order. The press release is dead.  Well, not really, but many people entering the industry have never written one. Or pitched a journalist. But ignore the craft behind that at your peril - clarity of thought, demonstration of understanding, ability to distil information, and a deep understanding of the strategy - all backed up by data - is what the future needs.  Be commercial. It’s the only way corp comms will get a seat at the top table - AND be listened to. Speak their language - prove the value. Drop the comms speak. Really understand the business and its challenges. Is reading the secret sauce?  Building trust (and relevance) with senior stakeholders means being better and more widely read than anyone else - whether that’s TikTok or the FT. It has to be an embedded behaviour throughout the team.  The biggest unlock for corp comms: everyone understanding the business challenge. (And therefore writing better briefs). It’s frequently underestimated how little some members of a corp comms team - and external partners - understand the overall problem and why it needs to be solved. This leads to poor-quality briefs and a rush to plan tactical outputs that don’t deliver good outcomes. Don’t ignore the politics.  Politics will always exist. If you don’t get a handle on it, it will hamper future progress. No one except the in-house team can understand, navigate and mitigate this. Do the things only your inhouse team can do. We are still storytellers. It builds trust for both internal and external audiences. Facts and data need to be woven in but we shouldn’t lose the balance of comms - and that’s both emotional and rational. When done right, it can fundamentally change how people interact and view your business or brand (and comms!).  Comms vs Marketing. Who owns the brand? The business does... Ultimately, we have shared missions, shared objectives, but different levers to pull to achieve it. Temporary ‘soft’ structures or ‘centres of excellence’ around topics can be effective at creating a shared purpose without impacting the overall structure.  We were historically ‘scared’ of the impact of spell check. AI may change how we do comms, but it won’t rip everything up. It will raise the bar of what passes as ‘acceptable’ for outputs and deliver more opportunities, just as Google did for the minimum standard of knowledge. But interrogation is needed, and to keep a firm eye on how the human brain can enhance it.

TikTok for brands is exciting - not least as it offers the prospect of going ‘viral’ in a way long-vanished on Facebook and other platforms. TikTok for brands is exciting - not least as it offers the prospect of going ‘viral’ in a way long-vanished on Facebook and other platforms. But, as TikTok gets ever-bigger, does the promise of brand-viral TikToks still hold up? We dived into the data from a sizeable basket of TikTok accounts, focussed solely on organic (rather than paid) impact on content performance. We quantified this virality as how many times greater a video performed than the average for that account. We found: There has been no meaningful shift in the rate at which posts do x2 better than the average for an account However, above x5 performance for views vs the brand average TikTok performance has seen a considerable decrease What does it mean? To ‘blow up’ (x10 performance) on TikTok for a brand  is nearly half as likely as it was a year ago - reducing some of the potential benefit for brands. This could be corrected for by increasing post frequency, or by evolving tactics to optimise for virality. The single biggest predictor of virality is the share rate, giving direction as to the behaviours a video needs to trigger. The other route is to reset expectations, and measurement. Adjust KPIs to reflect the decrease in virality, and the steady (likely longer-term) drift towards brands seeing reduced organic distribution. It’s a path well-trodden for social platforms as they mature, forcing monetisation through ads to brands who see it as a core platform, hooked on the organic reach. In short - level up your tactics to continue enjoying the TikTok viral vibes.