By Ashley Cooksley and Linn Frost, co-CEOs of Social Element
There’s no denying it: Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for connection, communication and change, but with this power comes great responsibility. That’s why, during Advertising Week New York 2024, we explored the concept of “Making Social Better and Building Purposeful Brands Along the Way” to help demonstrate how forward-thinking brands and agencies can make thoughtful use of these platforms—creating positive spaces, engaging with their communities and staying aligned with their core values. In other words, we wanted to quantify and qualify how we, as a collective, can do better—for everyone’s benefit.
Over the course of a jam-packed half hour which we moderated, Kathryn Holl Fernandez, Head of Dove Purpose and Engagement North America, brought the much-needed brand perspective alongside Jayvee Nava Brady, Director of Community at Bubble (former VP, Community at Peloton) who shared valuable insights from a community point of view, and Bridget Schwartz, Senior Content Manager at Betches Media and expert content creator. Together, they highlighted why it’s crucial for brands to proactively contribute to intentionally creating a safer, more authentic social media space. Because, the way they explained it (and something we wholeheartedly believe as well), when brands help improve social platforms, they not only succeed toward their main goals but also create a legacy by shaping a healthier, more positive digital environment. Because we’re smart enough to know by now that this isn’t something any one of us can solve independently—it’s going to take a village to build and a village to maintain.
Current events and recent trends have underscored the urgency for everyone involved in social—brands, agencies and platforms alike—to take action toward building a more positive digital space. With five billion people spending an average of four hours a day on social media, the stakes have never been higher.
It was a point expertly made by Dove’s Kathryn Holl Fernandez, who has led the brand’s mission to promote real beauty and positive body image. Reflecting on the challenges social media poses, she said, “With social media, the proliferation of new platforms, new apps, new access, it started opening up a lot more unrealistic images of beauty and unrealistic beauty standards. And when you factor in the fact that nearly 90% of the content we see online will be AI-generated by 2025, we could see the perpetuation of more toxic beauty ideals than ever before..” Dove’s response? A commitment to staying true to its purpose while adapting to the changing landscape: “We were the first beauty brand to commit to never using AI to replace real women in our advertising or marketing efforts,” she added.
This sentiment of responsibility was echoed by Bubble’s Jayvee Nava Brady, who highlighted the importance of brand values when building communities online: “Not only are these values your guiding principle, but on social media, that’s where it shows up.” Nava Brady’s previous experience of growing Peloton’s community from zero to millions highlights how important it is for brands to align their values with the needs of their audience, especially when facing negativity. “There’s a lot of pressure that the audience would want out of a brand,” she said, but added that brands must listen and decide when to take a stance.
Another important issue discussed was misinformation, a significant challenge in today’s social media environment. Betches Media’s Bridget Schwartz shared how they strive to maintain authenticity in an era of fake news: “I think there is so much misinformation and disinformation in social media that gets picked up really quickly… It’s almost like translating it into another language to get it on social media, and say it in a way that connects with Gen Z and millennials.”
In terms of what comes next—or what the future of social media might look like—we all agreed on a few things. One, it’s our collective mission to make it better; to make social more human, more connected, and more emotional. We need to help brands be social in real life and online, with the understanding that genuine, human connection is key to building brands that resonate deeply with their audiences—and will be for years to come. Two, we believe that brands, platforms and agencies all play a part in shaping the future of social media—that brands can help steer social media towards a more positive, authentic future is the driving force behind our work. And three, we all agreed that now’s the time to take the power back from platforms and put it in the hands of the community.
