Social Savvy: How social media strategy is shifting in 2026 and what you should do – Jan 2026
By Irene Williams
Welcome to a new year and a new chapter in the use of social media for business. Of course, the turn of the calendar doesn’t equate to a perfectly clean break from old to new in how social media operates; the changes I’m about to share have been in the works for a long while. However, the fresh slate of a new year makes for a natural opportunity to review, refresh and revamp strategy and tactics.
Survey the vast social media landscape with a business eye, and you’ll note that shifts are seismic, not subtle. Today’s playbook for socially savvy marketing is a significant rewrite from the one we were using even just a couple of years ago. Here are a few pillars to focus on in support of your growing business.
Post and found: Make your socials searchable. How do your customers find what they need online? Though Google and ChatGPT are the anchor go-tos for search, social platforms serve an ever-growing, prominent role. Research shows that people rely on Instagram and YouTube for daily searches, Facebook and TikTok for weekly queries, and Pinterest on the regular for visual-based searches. Notably, Reddit has grown in relevance to search because its content now appears in Google searches. LinkedIn trails as a tertiary source (because the platform has a long way to go to be competitive in terms of search). What does all this mean for you and your marketing strategy?
If you don’t have a YouTube channel, consider launching one. (And if you do have one already, optimize it for search.) YouTube has ranked as a viable search engine for many years, and all stats indicate it’s only growing in this regard. Ninety percent of users report they’ve discovered new brands and products thanks to the platform. Since you’re likely already creating and posting video content across all your social platforms, why not utilize it strategically on YouTube to become more findable by the people who seek what you have to offer?
Product demos, how-tos, Q&As and customer reviews are naturals for YouTube and show up well in in-app search results. In addition to longer form videos, YouTube accommodates “Shorts,” so you can repurpose clips from your other profiles in this environment with relative simplicity and, potentially, maximum search benefits. Thoughtful keyword-rich descriptions/text can support appearance in search results. Use of YouTube’s shopping features may be viable for converting viewers into customers (e.g., let people shop for product samples or one-on-one consultations).
Speak to the seekers on all your socials. Tune into what your potential customers are looking for and engaging with across all your social platforms. It’s a fair bet they’ll search and stop their scrolls to watch snippets of the product demos, how-tos and customer reviews you’re producing in longer form for YouTube. These practical posts typically outperform glossy, highly produced marketing content, so concentrate your creative efforts on them.
Optimize captions and comments, too. Though the role of hashtags varies by platform, it’s advisable to use a few carefully selected tags to aid in your content being found by your audiences. For geographic targeting, consider adding locations to your posts when possible. Also, explore opportunities to mention, tag and/or collaborate with influencers, existing customers or your own salespeople to give your social posts more visibility and amplify their reach.
Unify and conquer: Concentrate your posting strategy. Social media is more fractured than ever before (the same is true for all forms of media, but that’s a topic for another article). The fracturing isn’t really about the number/variety of available platforms; it’s about algorithms creating entirely different experiences for each user within the same platform. Customer A sees nearly all your posts because she “trained” her socials to prioritize what you share, but Customer B only sees occasional posts from you because of his unique algorithm. Though you can’t dictate algorithmic activity, you can focus your efforts with the intention of speaking to the most common and fruitful user interests.
Modify and optimize content for each platform. Take time to style and format content to work best for whatever platform you’re posting to. The same video clip may be uniquely edited with minor modifications to help it perform best on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. This effort not only helps your content comply with the formatting parameters of each platform but also meets the expectations and affinities of the users of those platforms. For example, there are often subtle variations between what performs well on Instagram versus TikTok.
Focus efforts based on existing measurable results. While it’s advisable (and relatively easy, thanks to auto-scheduling tools) to be present on just about all social networks, you may stand to gain by pinpointing the one or two socials that garner the best results with your target audiences, then focusing your efforts accordingly. You may have observed some brands rise to prominence with a “nearly all eggs, one basket” approach, going full throttle on a particular platform because that’s where its audiences tend to gather. This is a helpful way to maximize your time and labor while honing your creative output for greater impact.
The key here is to intelligently identify those one or two socials through quantifiable metrics, such as user engagement (likes, comments, shares, DM inquiries) and trackable lead capture (email signups, campaign opt-ins, etc.). By knowing the social networks that are most attractive to your audiences, you actually get to know your customers even better through demographics and psychographics revealed in platform preferences.
AI, AI, oh! Stay informed regarding the AI effect. All of the above-social search and platform optimization-are inextricably intertwined with AI, which is now infused into all social platforms. Integration of AI is foundational for YouTube, TikTok, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram (as well as Threads), et al. And I’m not just referring to the AI functionality that users actively engage with for in-app content creation and search. I’m referring to the behavioral data that all that user activity populates into the AI. Social networks are serving up increasingly hyper-personalized feeds/extremely filtered algorithmic outputs based on this data.
While there’s honestly not much you can do in relation to this, it is vital that you be aware of it-both as a brand leader using social media for business and as a general consumer. The use of AI is ubiquitous, and we all need to stay apprised of its roles, influences and capabilities in our marketplaces, interpersonal communications and everyday lives.
Keep core content real. You can differentiate your brand and business simply by using only real people, voices, language and images in your content. Neuroscience tells us that our beautiful human brains can detect the difference between AI and real life, even without conscious awareness. Actual human content activates neural networks associated with memory, empathy and social cognition, a great contrast to the error detection and heightened alertness triggered by AI content. In other words, brain science confirms the benefits of defaulting to the real thing in our content creation. Save the AI tools for productivity functions; there’s a plethora of AI options that can lighten your workload and open time for you to keep the humanity in your core content creation, communications and customer service interactions.
Prioritize real-life, real-time connections. Now more than ever, your business can gain from in-person opportunities and in-the-moment, live interactions. Whether you go live on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram; host events on location; or book one-on-one appointments, you can stand out in the marketplace, deepen customer relationships and nurture loyalty that lasts by being the brand that prioritizes the human touch.
THE AUTHOR
Irene Williams is a marketing consultant with 25+ years of experience in the flooring and building-products industry. She’s also a coach, speaker and author on personal and professional development and digital wellness. Learn more and get in touch at irenewilliams.biz.