Features & insight
Features and insight
Expert analysis, reporting and long reads on the platforms, people and strategies shaping social media.
Social overtook TV as the world's biggest news source. Brand content just got a lot more complicated.
The 2026 Reuters Institute Digital News Report confirms what the trend lines have been promising for years: social and video platforms are now where most people on earth get their news. For social media marketers, that shift isn't just a media industry story. It rewrites the rules of tone, timing, and trust for every brand posting into a news feed.
Heineken's WhatsApp Bot Just Won the Social & Creator Grand Prix. Here's the System Behind It.
At Cannes Lions 2026, Heineken took the industry's top social prize for turning irritating voice notes into free pints. The mechanic is deceptively simple. The strategic logic behind it is one every social team should interrogate.
LinkedIn is testing topic-based suggested feeds at Cannes. B2B social teams should pay attention now.
LinkedIn is piloting a new suggested feeds feature with Cannes Lions attendees this week, surfacing posts by topic rather than by network. Backed by a March 2026 LLM algorithm rebuild, it's the most significant organic reach shift on the platform this year, and the implications for B2B social strategy are immediate.
Pinterest's 'Less URL, More IRL' Manifestival is the sharpest platform positioning play at Cannes 2026
While every other tech company at Cannes Lions is pitching AI tools and attention metrics, Pinterest has built a phones-down, hands-on beach activation that does something far more strategically interesting: it turns the platform's core product tension into a live brand argument. Here's what the mechanism actually is, and why brands should steal it.
Your LinkedIn brand page isn't showing up in AI answers. Your executives might be.
New Meltwater data, published May 2026 and amplified by LinkedIn itself, shows the platform has become the second most-cited source in AI chatbot answers for B2B queries. Three quarters of those citations come from personal profiles. For marketers still pouring resource into company pages, that's a strategy problem.
Cannes Lions 2026 tells the industry: showing your AI workings is now compulsory
The festival has introduced AI Craft subcategories across its craft-led Lions that require entries to prove AI genuinely changed the outcome, not just that it was used. For social teams making the internal case for AI-assisted content, Cannes just handed them the language to do it.
Social Media Marketing Awards 2026: Categories, How to Enter and Key Dates
The UK and Europe's free-to-enter social media marketing awards return on 8 October 2026, on a boat that sails through Tower Bridge. Here are all the categories, who can enter, and how to get your work in before the 11 July deadline.
TikTok's Symphony Agent lands at Cannes: what social ad teams need to decide right now
TikTok has announced Symphony Agent at Cannes Lions 2026: an AI tool that builds TikTok ads alongside advertisers through a chat-led process, turns prompts into video, matches creators to campaigns, and sits across three of the platform's core ad products. It's TikTok's most ambitious attempt yet to fold AI into the whole campaign pipeline, and it forces a real question for every ad team: how much of the creative process do you hand over?
Social Media Industry News Roundup - 22 June
This week in social media industry news: LinkedIn shares new B2B marketing guidance, Instagram expands personalised recommendation controls into the main feed, Pinterest adds Amazon storefront linking, YouTube broadens in-app messaging, Edits rolls out expanded analytics and AI restyle tools, and the UK considers stronger restrictions on teen social media access. Here's what social media marketers need to know.
Cannes Lions 2026: the sessions to see if you work in social media marketing
Cannes Lions runs 22-26 June 2026 with 150+ hours of content and around 500 speakers. If your job touches social, content, community or the creator economy, these are the talks, stages and beach takeovers worth your time.
The Social Media Career Ladder: Why There's No Clear Path, and What Actually Gets You Promoted
Most social media professionals can't see the next rung. Here is what the people climbing the ladder told us about progression, pay, the skills that actually move you up, and AI. Early findings from The Sauce's Social Media Career Ladder survey.
The Social Media Role Is Evolving. Inside a Global B2B Organisation, Here's What It Actually Looks Like.
How social media roles are evolving inside large B2B organisations, from the conductor model to social-first video, based on an interview with AXA XL's Head of External Communications.
Social Media Industry News Roundup - 15 June
This week in social media industry news: Instagram rolls out profile grid rearranging, LinkedIn expands post analytics, Instagram opens Reels post view ads to all advertisers, Meta moves towards deeper off-site personalisation, Snapchat shares new video ad insights, and TikTok announces Community Fest 2026. Here's what social media marketers need to know.
Why the Algorithm Is Making Your Brand Forgettable, and What to Do About It
Tommy co-founder Marcus Foley took the Social Media Fest stage with a question that stings: how much of what you made last week does anyone actually remember? Here is his Anti-Algorithm Formula.
SocialDay Social Media Fest 2026: The Industry Has Grown Up
What Just Happened? The social media marketing industry gathered in Shoreditch on 19 - 20 May, and the two days that followed produced something rare: a sustained, honest conversation about what this work actually is now
How to get your team to start creating content on LinkedIn (without forcing them)
Employee-generated content helps you activate your team's voices and network to support your brand, but how does it practically work? Where do you even start? Here are some tips to consider.
Pinterest wants you to close the app. The campaign that's making a case for inspiration that actually leads somewhere
Pinterest has launched a campaign built around an idea that most social platforms would never say out loud: the best thing an app can do is give you a reason to close it and go and live your life. The rollout began on 1 May across TV, cinema, out-of-home and digital, and Pinterest is positioning it as its most ambitious paid media campaign to date.
Social media job titles: why every door has a different name
Most social media professionals at SocialDay Social Media Fest 2026 carry a job title nobody else in the room shares. Here is what that means for hiring, salary benchmarking, and the case for a social media career ladder.