Forecasting the future feed with Reddit, TikTok and Meta
Social is no longer just about being social. It’s a place where people buy, are entertained, become influenced or even find their dream job. And it’s even poised to be a powerful search and discovery channel – look at Search Ads Campaign on TikTok.
With so much change on the horizon, how can marketers make sense of social’s evolving role in their broader marketing mix? There’s no one better placed to answer this question than the platforms themselves. At SocialMinds LIVE: Future Casting Social’s Next 20, senior marketing leaders from TikTok joined Meta and Reddit to discuss what the future feed looks like and how marketers can equip themselves for the next decade of social.
“Don’t shy away from feedback. You can use negative feedback to improve your product or service. If the feedback isn’t fair, then respond to it.”
Hannah Walker, Head of Mid-Market (UK), Reddit
TikTok’s head of lifestyle retail and ecommerce Dave Morrissey believes creative will be the biggest challenge for brands over the coming decade. “If you look at the brands who smashed it last year, they had 300-400 videos in November alone….now you need to produce a huge amount of content – and the right type of content, too.”
But that task shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of your own channels. By investing in creator partnerships, you won’t just be meeting your content quota. If you do it right, collaborative content will be platform-native, earn more reach and deliver higher engagement versus publishing content on your own channels alone.
And we’re not just talking about using traditional influencers here. There’s a place for everyone to support your brand across the sales funnel. Your employees are effectively your ambassadors; with the right support in place, they could be content creators, too.
Creator partnerships are worthy investments for video-based platforms like Meta, TikTok and especially LinkedIn for employee-generated content, but community-oriented platforms like Reddit hold massive untapped potential for brands in a different form: recommendations. Redditors discuss everything from where to go for dinner to holiday spots, which oven cleaner to buy, and what just happened on the latest episode of Love Island (just watch out for spoilers).
Reddit’s head of mid-market (UK) Hannah Walker says brands are utilising the platform to sway sales decisions. “Consumers who are thinking about buying something will come to Reddit, a platform full of independent opinions, to validate the purchase. Successful brands are showing up in relevant communities to join in conversations about their own products or services. They’re offering authentic guidance, answering questions, and taking feedback in the hopes of encouraging a conversion.”
“Performance marketers have to change. They can’t be spreadsheet warriors anymore. They have to be creatives. And they should be able to tap into automation, shifting capabilities and mindsets to focusing efforts on creation. They have to be more financially literate, too.”
Dave Morrissey, Head of Lifestyle Retail and Ecommerce, TikTok
Dave believes brands need to be more customer-centric going forward. The customer is always right, right? Sounds obvious, but if everything in your organisation is customer-centric – strategic messaging, products, content, customer service – then you’re going to come across as more relatable.
Always think about who your customer is before developing content, agrees Liam Hopton, agency partner at Meta. Take inspiration from the MOBs and Glossiers of the marketing world and use your customers as a feedback loop. Start small – like a poll on Instagram Stories asking about what kind of content they want to see from you – and it could lead to large-scale initiatives like inviting your most engaged fans to an ideation session for feedback on your next product launch.
Then there’s the growing trend of connection through private messaging, with today’s creators posting content primed for shareability. While Instagram and TikTok DMs are thriving, WhatsApp is one of the main channels companies use to engage with consumers in Brazil and UAE. It’s a channel to keep on your radar as Liam predicts ads will become more prevalent on messaging platforms, while – unsurprisingly – AI will help us reach people with ads in new ways.
Hannah, Liam and Dave explore all this and so much more in our penultimate panel in the Mini Cini at SocialMinds LIVE.
Missed the talk or fancy a playback? We have you covered. Watch the video below to discover evolving trends and features shaping the future of marketing, including:
- Why real people are the influencers of today and tomorrow
- How messaging platforms will become hot spots for advertising
- The benefits of immersing your brand in niche communities
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