Social used to be where brands went for awareness. Now it’s where people build community, follow creators, discover products, make purchase decisions, and take part in culture. As those behaviors blur together, brands have a chance to rethink how social drives growth.
At dentsu’s inaugural Social Summit in New York City, leaders from across dentsu joined industry leaders from TikTok, Reddit, Meta, YouTube, Pinterest, Snap, CreatorIQ, NBCUniversal and more got together to dig into what’s reshaping social and what it means for marketers. One theme kept surfacing: winning in social means moving past siloed approaches and toward a connected, audience-first strategy.
Here’s a look inside the day.
Discovery Is No Longer Linear
According to Chloe Wicks, VP of Ads Product Commercialization & Innovation at Pinterest, 96% of searches on the platform are unbranded, signaling that people often begin their discovery journeys open to ideas rather than searching for a specific brand.
That openness showed up across platforms. Nate Barbagallo, Global Strategy & Operations Leads, Search Ads at TikTok, said more than a third of users jump from the “For You” feed into search when they want to go deeper. Michael Greve, Sr. Lead, Global Insights at Reddit, described the reverse move: half of surveyed Reddit users head to the platform from an AI chatbot query because they want to hear from real people.
Search engines are no longer the default starting line. People bounce between social, communities and AI tools, and each one does a different job, whether that’s inspiration, research or a sanity check. The brands that stand out are the ones delivering something relevant and useful at every stage of discovery.
The Consumer Journey Has Changed
The distance between discovering a product and buying it keeps shrinking, challenging the traditional marketing funnel. Sadie Schabdach, dentsu Creative’s EVP, Influencer Marketing, summed it up this way: a social interaction can now lead straight to conversion. Social isn’t just driving awareness; it’s driving business results.
Creators sit at the center of that shift. Creator Hannah Stocking pointed out that audiences spend time with their favorite creators every day, and that familiarity is what makes branded content feel like it's part of the experience instead of an interruption. Leanne Perice, Founder and CEO of Made by All, made the case that community and authentic storytelling are what turn attention into real business opportunities.
Conversations kept coming back to two things: give creators more creative freedom and build relationships that last beyond a single campaign. Creators work best as strategic partners, and when creator, organic and paid media strategies are connected, real influence starts showing up in the results.
Performance Marketing Is Evolving
With AI and automation increasingly at the center of campaign delivery, performance drivers are shifting. There is less emphasis on manual targeting and optimization, and more on what feeds the algorithm: first-party data, audience intelligence, creative and conversion signals.
Panelists noted that pairing first-party data with platform signals gives a fuller picture of complex audiences. It also puts pressure on traditional targeting, since tightly defined segments can limit who you reach.
Creative came up as a performance driver too. Dana Eyde, Director of Solutions Development at Skai, described creative as a signal in itself: the volume, variety, quality and relevance of assets helps algorithms figure out what resonates. That’s why insights need to travel across paid, organic and creator work instead of living in distinct lanes.
The shift is less about optimizing campaign-by-campaign, and more about building a connected system where data, creative and measurement work together.
Culture and Fandom Drive Growth
The lines between TV, streaming and social video continue to blur, and culture and fandom matter more than ever in how brands connect. John Battaglia, Head of Social Video & Creator at YouTube, highlighted how audiences increasingly stream content while simultaneously scrolling through social feeds, moving fluidly between screens, formats and platforms. Leigh Anne Pavia Forbell, SVP of Agency Partnerships at NBCUniversal, stressed the importance of understanding the content people care about and meeting them wherever they engage with it.
Panelists agreed that appearing next to trending content isn’t the same as participating in culture. Brands need to know the communities they are entering and where they can add something authentic. In practice, that might mean working with creators, committing to long-term partnerships, and joining cultural conversations selectively, where the brand has a credible role.
The opportunity lies in building meaningful experiences around the content, creators and communities people love, rather than simply reaching audiences on one channel at a time.
Looking Ahead
If one idea tied the day together, it’s that the value of social goes well beyond attention. Every search, share, comment, and purchase creates signals that help brands understand audiences better, enabling them to make smarter marketing decisions. Unlocking this potential requires connecting insights across discovery, creators, media, commerce, and measurement.
At dentsu, we believe the future of social isn’t about doing more on individual platforms. It’s about treating social as an integrated operating system that informs strategy, connects channels and tactics, and makes the entire marketing ecosystem more intelligent, responsive, and effective.
The brands that lead won’t just keep pace with social. They will continually learn from it, using those insights to build deeper customer loyalty and drive sustained brand growth.
Rethinking your social strategy or exploring what these shifts mean for your brand or clients? Connect with Alec Piliafas, Alec.Piliafas@dentsu.com or Christine Cotter, Christine.Cotter@dentsu.com to continue the conversation.
