Instead of a one-size-fits-all message, brands should create hyper-relevant content for different demographics (e.g., high school football teams, working moms) on the platforms they use (e.g., TikTok, LinkedIn). This decentralized approach builds a stronger, more resilient brand than a single campaign.
Don't mistake hyper-personalization for effectiveness. Running hundreds of tiny, account-specific campaigns is inefficient and hard to measure. A more successful approach is to group accounts by industry or shared pain points and run fewer, larger campaigns for better data and stronger engagement.
Acknowledging that "relevance" is subjective shouldn't lead to creating generic, one-size-fits-all campaigns. Instead, it demands a high-volume creative strategy that produces dozens of distinct assets, each tailored to be hyper-relevant to a specific consumer segment or "demand state."
Social media has shifted from 'social' to 'interest' media, where the algorithm targets users based on the content they consume. Making hyper-specific content for your target audience is the most effective form of targeting. Resist making broad content for vanity metrics, as it won't reach qualified buyers.
Traditional strategy forces "either/or" choices due to resource constraints. On social media, where distribution is cheap, the best strategy is "and." Don't choose between two brand names or content pillars; create content for both. This allows you to test what resonates with different audience segments without artificial limitation.
The reason a customer "needs" your product is subjective. Instead of a one-size-fits-all ad, create multiple versions that speak to different core buyer motivations. One ad might appeal to logic and data, another to time savings, and a third to team efficiency, ensuring you resonate with a broader audience.
Gen Z consumers curate different personas across various social channels (e.g., TikTok vs. LinkedIn), making brand positioning exponentially more complex. A brand's purpose must serve as a connective tissue, agile enough to be tweaked for different channel-specific identities while maintaining a core consistency.
The common advice to chop up a single video or blog post for every social platform is a myth. Each platform's algorithm and audience expectations demand native content. True growth comes from mastering one or two channels with tailored content, not from thinly spreading repurposed material across many.
The traditional "one-to-many" broadcast model no longer delivers sufficient reach or engagement. Unilever now uses a "many-to-many" approach: the brand develops multiple message expressions, then activates creators to communicate them authentically to their respective audiences.
Stop creating broad content to chase views. Algorithms are so effective that creating hyper-specific content for your ideal customer is the most efficient way to reach them. The content itself is now the targeting mechanism.
The old strategy of a single brand account across multiple platforms is obsolete. A more effective modern approach is to supplement the main account with numerous persona-driven accounts (human or AI-generated). This distributed model creates a more authentic presence and multiplies the chances of content going viral.