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In the ever-evolving landscape of social media marketing, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter often steal the spotlight. However, there's one platform that's quietly growing in importance for CPG brands: LinkedIn. Often seen as a space for professionals and B2B interactions, LinkedIn is emerging as a valuable tool for CPG brands to connect with their audience in meaningful ways.

In the vast landscape of social media platforms, TikTok stands out as a powerhouse for brands looking to engage with younger audiences through innovative and captivating content. Among the brands that have seamlessly integrated into TikTok’s vibrant community is Heinz, the beloved condiment company known for its ketchup and other iconic products. With their strategic approach to TikTok marketing, Heinz has not only entertained millions but also set a benchmark for other CPG brands aspiring to thrive on the platform.

If you truly want to see your brand succeed through a content strategy on social media, this is what is takes in 2024.

In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, one platform has managed to capture the attention and loyalty of Gen Z like no other is Snapchat. With its ephemeral nature, creative tools, and real-time engagement features, Snapchat has become an indispensable part of Gen Z's digital world.

Social listening is the process of monitoring social media platforms for mentions of a brand, product, competitor, or any other relevant topic, and analyzing these conversations to gain insights into customer sentiments, trends, and behaviors. It involves tracking keywords, phrases, and hashtags across various social media channels to understand what people are saying about a particular subject.

Having a mission driven brand is something that must come natural - typically from the start or something that naturally evolves over time for your brand. So many brand’s today struggle with creating content (mainly on social media) as they truly lack a “brand” or having a stance on, well anything! Having a well rounded brand and voice is key BEFORE putting your brand out there (aka on social media).

In the landscape of social media platforms, X (Twitter) stands out as a dynamic hub of real-time information, conversation, and connection. From its inception as a microblogging platform, X has evolved into a versatile tool for individuals, businesses, and influencers alike.

When I started working in social media in 2012, Instagram was new and Facebook was still fairly new. I mean, do you remember the days on Facebook where you put a status up and people will comment on it asking you direct questions that were honestly no one else’s business? We shared our locations, who we were with, everything in live time - and waiting for people to comment and ask questions that really everyone could see. We would NEVER do that now.

I ask people ALL THE TIME what their favorite brand on social media is. I am always hoping to hear a brand I don’t know about or see a new strategy, but more often than not I hear brands that everyone already knows and sees or that they read in an article that was “the best” brand on social media, Duolingo being one I hear more often than not. I have nothing against Duolingo, I actually use Duolingo daily (currently learning Spanish) , and love their approach to social media. The other side of this is when I speak to brands and work on their strategies we often hear the brands say the same thing - we want to be as big as Duolingo. But the fact is, your brand will NEVER be like Duolingo on social media.

TikTok unveiled its much-anticipated TikTok Shop in the US in 2023. We were SO excited for this - in anticipation of what this could bring US brands, especially after seeing the success overseas (but from what we have learned the Eastern World shops much differently than us). This play into e-commerce signaled a potential challenge to industry stalwarts like Amazon, leveraging TikTok's already robust advertising business, estimated at close to $20 billion in just over five years, and boasting a global user base of over 1 billion active monthly users by the previous summer.

Often, startups are looking for a way to launch on social media with impact, but scaling their efforts (and costs). Typically the questions we get are

“When should we start working with a social media agency?”

“How can we have the lowest efforts with the biggest impact while launching?”

In case you missed it Stanley, who previously did $75 Million a year just did $750 Million in 2023. What happened? TikTok did. Almost everyone in the US knows about Stanley cups and the craze that took over TikTok.

If you haven’t heard of Skims, I’ll give you a quick rundown - It’s a brand owned by Kim Kardashian (and run by Emma Grede - who you may recognize from Shark Tank). What do they sell? Basically they started as an upgraded version of Spanx, and have transformed into so much more - from their recent menswear line, bras and undies, and loungewear. The brand only started in 2019 and has grew to fame quickly - but much differently than all other Kardashian brands - it’s a quality brand that can stand on its own without the Kardashian endorsement - and their partnerships prove it.

The social media landscape is constantly evolving, with new platforms always emerging. One of the latest additions to the social media scene is SPILL, a Black-owned Twitter alternative specifically tailored to the Black community and other marginalized groups.

You may have the holidays on your mind, but at The Creative Exchange we are prepping for the new year! Here are all the things we are working with our client’s on to level up and refresh their social channels for 2024.

We love working with brands pre-launch to give our feedback on not only how to launch on social, but how they can set up their brand for future social success. This can look like un-boxing experience, UX, etc. Let’s dive into some of our four favorite things to think about when it comes to building a brand that will perform well on it’s on for social media.

If you were like me (one of millions) you may have seen this video from Dyson on TikTok. It really caught my attention. It’s not often you see high production videos come across your feed, and what I loved about this one was it showcased new products in a really exciting way - R&D. Now we know consumers loved getting that BTS look but this video really takes the cake.

I recently had a consulting call with a brand that is launching soon. The topic of the call was developing their social media strategy and determining what growth looks like from the start and things to consider in the future. One item that came up was brand partnerships - partnering with other brands to create a campaign. This could look like a content series, giveaway, collaborating on a product or influencer promotion, etc.

It’s no shocker that brands are seeing Instagram engagement down and follower growth dwindling. While you may have spent years building up this channel, you are probably disappointed in its output right now for your business.

Have you ever heard that Youtube is a parking lot for content? When Youtube started, it was the first (that I know of) hub for people to upload and search video content. Now integrated with Google (although Youtube has always been a search engine) this tool is key for users to find content on - especially how to videos or generally to learn something (via video form).

We have heard “Facebook is dead” several years ago. Recently it’s been “Instagram is dead”, and I haven’t heard this one before but technically Twitter is dead and X is supposed to be charging people to be on the platform (so not sure I truly consider that a social media app anymore). I recently came across this article by Insider Intelligence basically saying that all of social media is dead and discusses what advertisers can do about it.

2023 is coming to a close, and most brand still don’t understand TikTok. While lot’s of brands are finally starting to really invest (especially with the holidays coming up) a lot of you are getting discouraged based on the video views and low follower growth. Just remember it takes time and followers do not equal views and views do not equal followers.

The holiday season is a magical time of year and, of course filled with heightened consumer activity. This is THE time of the year that most CPG brands make a large percentage of yearly sales, and it seems year after year sales and marketing for the holidays start earlier.

The one thing that some of today’s best brands have are that they take content as a media approach. This not only is a social media ploy, but it really begins when building the brand - it has to be an intertwined part and not siloed - what you represent in your packaging, website, and social need to tell a story and even better if you build a dynamic one, that creates your own brand world.

Marketing for the Barbie movie has been over the top, and I have loved every second about it. I was personally not a Barbie girl growing up (but after seeing the movie I am obsessed - it may have changed my life and I encourage everyone to see it). As a marketer, you have to be somewhat excited about this shift and viewpoint on marketing - Barbie was a great example to launch (or push really) this new view of brands and marketing - building worlds and experiences.

When you are creating short form video content for your brand - what are you focusing on? Video length? Trending sound? Hashtags? Have you thought about what qualities your brand has built in to go viral? Or adding a “viral quality” touch to your videos?

If you work in marketing, you've probably been eagerly awaiting the launch of Threads, the latest app from the Instagram team that can be best described as a Twitter-like platform. With Twitter's user experience becoming increasingly cluttered, marketers have been buzzing with anticipation for the arrival of Threads, even though it means more work on our plates.

When launching your brand, you may have spent all your money on building the site, product development, testing, etc. but now you need to launch and market but funds are tight. Here is the best ways to approach marketing your new brand on social media when the budget may not be ideal.

Bloom Nutrition is doing TikTok the right way, and here is how you can do the same

Have you seen Bloom being used in videos all over your for you page? If you’ve not noticed, the product may still look familiar as Bloom has partnered with dozens of creators and influencers to organically integrate their brand and product into the creator’s content.

One thing we love is a solid tool. One thing we hate is having too many tools to navigate. When it comes to making social media happen for our clients, we are always looking for the latest tools to demo and trial - making sure we are evolving our tool collection and continuing to try and beat the algorithms. Here are the latests tools in our catalog as well as the one’s we are dying to put to use.