It’s been yet another huge 12 months in the world of social media and marketing. What 2025 has in store still remains to be seen but, as per our annual tradition, members of our global leadership team are kicking off the year with their thoughts about what’s around the corner, from social SEO to Gen A’s online chaos. This is the first of two blogs, with a second to follow tomorrow.
Reputation reckoning: social media’s impact on corporate comms
Suzie Shaw, CEO, Australia
2024 was a turning point for corporate reputation. From Cloudflare’s ex-employee recording her firing, to CrowdStrike’s very public outage, social media emerged as the definitive stage for corporate crises to unfold. Brands face a stark reality: their reputations are no longer theirs to control but are shaped in real time by the voices of consumers and stakeholders.
Social platforms have transformed reputational management into a high-stakes, always-on game. No longer passive, audiences now hold extraordinary power, challenging companies to rethink how they connect and communicate. The rules have changed—and so must the strategies.
However, traditional corporate communications teams often lack the social-first expertise needed to navigate this dynamic space. Modern leaders are stepping up, using their own platforms to bypass media gatekeepers. By speaking directly to their audiences, they’re crafting unfiltered, impactful narratives, building trust and authenticity at scale.
One of the most exciting trends is the rise of employee-generated content (EGC). When employees become advocates, sharing their genuine experiences, organisations unlock a level of credibility that traditional advertising can’t achieve. This highlights the need for businesses to invest in a strong owned-channel strategy, enabling them to harness EGC, drive conversations, and foster community.
To stay ahead, companies need to adopt a proactive, social-first approach to communications—one that combines leadership presence, employee advocacy, and cultural insight. In this environment, corporate reputation isn’t just managed; it’s built from within, shaped by the voices of leaders, employees, and engaged communities.
Search beyond the search bar: why social SEO is non-negotiable in 2025
Dana Neujahr, U.S. Managing Director
It’s no secret Gen Z and younger audiences are heading straight to TikTok, Instagram, and even Pinterest to search for everything from product recommendations to life advice. In 2025, this trend will only accelerate, making Social SEO a non-negotiable for brands.
Forget just optimizing your website; your social content needs to be search-ready too. Think keyword-rich captions, strategic hashtags, and even incorporating relevant text within your visuals. Why? Because Google is catching on.
Their “What people are saying” feature, previously a gateway to text based forums like Reddit, is now pulling in short-form videos from platforms like TikTok and YouTube. To win in this evolving search landscape, social posts need to be optimized to rank high – not just on the platform itself, but on Google too.
In 2025, Social SEO isn’t just a trend, it’s the key to unlocking visibility and driving meaningful engagement.
Gen Alpha will drive chaos on social
Paul Greenwood, Global Head of Research & Insight
In 2025, Gen Alpha will impact social by continuing to use it as a playground of chaos, connection, and creativity. In short, social is going to become a whole lot weirder.
Gen Alpha thrives on the unexpected. Content that “just makes sense” feels like eating plain toast—it won’t cut it. They want randomness, humour that feels broken, and punchlines so “out there” it doubles as plot twists. If a video can’t be shared, reshared, and memed back into existence, it’s irrelevant.
Social is their entertainment ecosystem, but it’s not just one identity on one app. Gen Alpha juggle multiple accounts, each projecting a different “them”—a curated main, a chaotic spam, and a hyper-niche burner. DMs will become the real stage. IG group chats? That’s where fandoms, trends, and subcultures collide in endless conversations that feel like a dopamine-fueled sleepover. Moreso comments will become the heartbeat of the experience, transforming content into a scavenger hunt of perspectives, humour, and chaos.
Audio memes will rule as the new cultural currency—memes are out, remixed audio snippets are in. A single phrase or a quirky sound will ripple across platforms, getting chopped, recontextualized, and reshared in bizarre, hilarious ways.
For Gen Alpha, the formula is simple: If it’s weird, shareable, and remixable, it wins.
Brands will compete to get heard as AI joins the conversation
Gabriele Cucinella, Ottavio Nava, Stefano Maggi, Italy CEOs & Regional Leads EU Area
In recent months, people’s behavior in discovering and deciding what to buy has shifted dramatically. AI-powered chat tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are becoming alternatives to traditional search engines, fundamentally altering how people search and decide. Unlike search engines, these tools lack traditional advertising formats like banner ads, pushing brands to rethink their visibility strategies in this new landscape.
Key strategies for adapting include:
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Crafting clear, authoritative content optimized for AI tools, while prioritizing visibility on platforms frequently referenced by AI, like Wikipedia and trusted databases.
APIs: Seamlessly integrating brand services with AI assistants, such as Instacart’s GPT-enabled shopping lists. This paves the way for AI-driven agents offering enhanced user experiences.
AI Ads: Emerging formats in tools like Copilot subtly align with user intent, appearing as non-intrusive suggestions or integrated questions.
Collaborating with creators and fostering genuine conversations helps ensure brands are represented in AI-generated responses. Reviews, comments, and organic discussions play a crucial role in shaping AI’s outputs.
The future of discovery is about purposeful, meaningful storytelling. AI is transforming behavior, but trust and authenticity remain the foundation of successful brand visibility.
Influencer content in programmatic advertising shifts up a gear
Brittany Wickerson, Global Head of Media
In 2025, we’ll see a rise of brands using creator content in place of traditional creative assets in programmatic ad inventory.
Working in this way could extend the lifetime and value from a partnership/piece of creative, while also creating greater consistency and therefore association and recall across platforms.
It can also give brands a cost effective solution to creating a bigger bank of content to access, and content from influencers can often be more relatable and authentic. Placements like the Outbrain Moments or even Spotify have socially-led experiences, so translating social content to other platforms is less of a leap now.
When planning their inventory, brands should have a mixture of branded and influencer content, as we know this performs better (on social) than brand or creator only. The right mix would drive additional brand equity and intent. There is also the opportunity to do A-B testing between brand assets and influencer assets to measure the effectiveness of both.
Influencers can be a significant investment for brands, and this gives the opportunity for this content to extend further than, for example, a single post on a creator’s page.
Thought Leadership
