But decision-makers aren’t only on Google. They’re also using social media search to find answers. That’s why it’s important to optimize for social and search engines.

By merging search intent with social insight, you’ll strengthen both channels and improve discoverability everywhere. Here’s how that relationship works and how you can leverage it to grow.

What is B2B SEO?

B2B SEO is the strategy of optimizing your digital presence so the right decision-makers can find you when they’re actively looking for solutions. The goal is to identify what your buyers are searching for and deliver content and experiences that nurture them through the evaluation process.

Unlike B2C SEO, which targets broad audiences and often aims for quick, impulse-driven conversions, B2B SEO focuses on smaller, highly qualified groups of buyers making considered decisions. B2B customers usually research thoroughly, compare multiple vendors and look for evidence of results before choosing a solution. Because the buying journey is longer and more complex, your SEO and content strategy must answer their detailed questions to build credibility at every step. This starts with knowing the exact questions they’re searching for.

On top of that, to reach B2B buyers, you’ll need to understand not only what they search for but also where they search—and today, that’s not just Google. Social platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube and even TikTok now act as search engines in their own right.

In this respect, an effective B2B SEO strategy connects every layer of optimization across search, social and site experience. Here are the core areas that work together to create a connected, high-performing B2B SEO:

• Technical SEO: These are the optimizations you make to the backbone of your website. It covers areas like your XML sitemap, load speed and a responsive design.

• Content SEO: B2B content marketing for SEO takes what you learn about your audience and their search intent, then turns those insights into content that meets them where they are. That typically involves a cycle of research, ideation, content creation and promotion.

• On-page SEO: This is the optimization of the content itself. On a page or blog post, it includes optimizing the meta description and title tag, alt text on images, and the content’s structure so information is relevant to both the user and findable by search engines.

• Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO refers to the authority your site earns from external sources. High-quality backlinks and positive engagement across the web help signal this credibility and expertise to search engines.

• Social SEO: Optimizing content for social search to drive qualified traffic to your website, reinforcing your visibility and strengthening your holistic SEO strategy.

Together, these layers help your brand meet buyers where they are on Google, social or elsewhere while turning intent into action across every channel.

What’s the difference between B2B and B2C SEO?

B2B and B2C SEO share a goal: helping your target audience find you through search. However, the B2B buyer’s journey is fundamentally different than B2C, and your SEO must reflect those differences.

But it’s not just the way they research products that’s different. In B2B SEO, the audience is smaller, the stakes are higher and the buying process is far longer. Instead of optimizing for quick clicks, you must build trust, nurture intent, and confidently guide decision-makers through a multi-touchpoint customer journey.

Here’s what that difference looks like in action and why it changes how you should approach your SEO strategy.

B2B buyers move more slowly but expect more proof

B2B buyers rarely convert on the first visit. Instead, they navigate research-intensive sales cycles that can stretch across months.

During that time, they’ll compare vendors, evaluate pricing and seek reassurance through case studies, white papers, webinars and detailed landing pages.

Did you know? Dreamdata reports the average B2B deal requires 62 touchpoints across three channels before closing.

Early on, buyers will search for general educational content like “how to automate reporting for finance teams,” for instance. Later, when they have a better understanding of their needs, they’ll look for more specific B2B SEO content, such as “best reporting software for SaaS companies.”

Each search signals a different level of intent. Your content must match each level with proof that establishes your authority and demonstrates you know exactly what customers need.

Low-volume, high-intent keywords win

In B2C SEO, large search volumes often signal success because consumer audiences are broader and decisions happen faster.

For B2B SEO, matching your content to the searcher’s intent is the real growth lever. If you target broad, high-volume keywords, you tend to attract visitors who are still exploring a general topic rather than seeking a solution. That traffic might spike your numbers, but it rarely generates conversions because those searchers either aren’t evaluating vendors yet or they’re not looking for your specific product.

However, when you focus on low-volume, high-intent keywords, you qualify your audience before they ever click. This approach tailors your visibility to the people who are actively evaluating a solution like yours, which means more qualified leads who are more likely to convert.

That’s why long-tail keywords are your greatest asset. When you use longer terms like “project management software for finance teams” rather than just “project management software,” you reflect problem-solution queries from people who already know what they need.

And when you target these specific keywords with answers to the exact problems your ideal buyers are searching for, you’ll attract people who already want a solution like yours.

Content needs to convince a committee

Unlike consumer decisions, B2B purchases usually involve several stakeholders, like executives, practitioners and procurement teams. And each party is looking for different information before signing off.

That means your B2B content marketing requires layered messaging: strategic proof for leadership, product depth for users and clear ROI metrics for finance.

The image below shows some of the types of content that B2B SEO strategies use at each stage of the buying journey:

(Source: Adrienne Smith)

To be most effective, your B2B SEO needs to map the entire decision-making chain. Understanding what each stakeholder is trying to decide at every stage makes it easier to create content that answers their specific questions and demonstrates your authority as an expert on the topic.

Keep in mind: Ranking highly with empty content only damages your credibility. A product-focused, ‘salesy’ approach does the same.

According to the 2025 Sprout Social Index™, customers don’t want “corporate,” pushy content. Instead, a strong SEO campaign builds trust across the buying committee by showing that you understand their challenges and will deliver real results.

How social search reshapes B2B SEO

As mentioned earlier, searchers no longer only use Google to search. Now, decision-makers are turning to social media to ask questions, read reviews and validate vendors before they ever visit your website.

This shift is changing B2B SEO. Visibility now depends on understanding intent across every search channel, not just Google.

Here’s what that evolution looks like in action and why it’s reshaping how marketers think about discovery.

How social search has evolved

Social platforms have quietly become search engines in their own right. Each query reflects what the buyer is trying to figure out at that moment, whether they’re exploring options, comparing solutions or validating a decision. And they’ll go to the platform that best helps them do that.

For example, on LinkedIn, B2B buyers often search for thought leadership, in-depth case studies and content marketing that reflects real-world results. On YouTube, they look for webinars, tutorials and product explainers. And on Reddit and X, they search for unfiltered opinions and peer recommendations.

That’s why your content needs to match how and where buyers search. If decision-makers turn to Reddit for peer opinions, for example, you’ll show up with customer stories. Or if they head to LinkedIn to research solutions, you’ll be able to meet them with practical insights and real results.

When you align your content with the intent behind each platform, your target audience will be able to discover you more naturally in the places that they’re already looking.

Why social and search are interconnected

Social insights help you strengthen your SEO campaigns because they reveal what buyers care about and how they phrase their questions. When you use that data to shape your keyword research and content strategy, your web pages will start speaking the same language as your audience. This means you’ll match how people actually search and will attract more relevant organic traffic as a result.

But searchability doesn’t stop there. If your brand is easy to find on social and your content performs well, people will discover you directly through social networks, too. Then, if they’re interested in what you have to offer, they’ll often head to Google to learn more. That extra search demand boosts your visibility even further.

On top of that, when you optimize your social content with keywords, captions and hashtags, your social posts can start to rank in Google, too.

Effectively, when you shape your organic search strategy using social insights and optimize your social content in tandem, you’ll create a bridge between social discovery and traditional search engine optimization.

How social search diversifies SEO funnels

Integrating social search with traditional SEO gives you a broader, more connected funnel. This is because social platforms often catch buyers earlier, while they’re still defining their problem. When you show up in those searches, your brand becomes part of their consideration before they reach Google.

When those buyers later move to Google to dig deeper, they already know who you are and what you offer. That familiarity gives you an edge, which means your result will stand out in a list of unfamiliar names, making buyers more likely to click, explore and eventually make a purchase.

In this way, social search helps you capture attention earlier in the funnel, stay visible longer and turn early discovery into measurable growth.

The modern B2B SEO strategy framework

Modern B2B SEO works best when search and social strategies are synchronized. To achieve this, you need to build SEO and social content side-by-side so each supports the other.

Here’s a framework to use to connect your B2B SEO strategy across search and social:

Understand intent

Strong B2B SEO starts with understanding what buyers are trying to solve and the context behind what keywords they search with.

Keyword research reveals the exact terms buyers use when looking for information or evaluating solutions. But by truly understanding what searchers want to discover, your content achieves stronger resonance and greater impact.

Create for context

Early in the buyer journey, people are just realizing they have a problem. This is where social posts are going to be most relevant. Posts, short videos or infographics spark awareness by showing a problem, hinting at a solution and linking to more info on your website.

For example, Acoustic’s LinkedIn carousel gives tips on using audience insight to improve marketing performance. It’s quick to digest, sparks curiosity and helps early-stage buyers recognize their problem. The post then links to a detailed blog article that explains how its tools solve this issue.

(Source: LinkedIn)

That link does double duty. It moves potential customers deeper into the funnel, guiding them from curiosity to consideration.

When your content reflects what buyers actually need at each stage, you’ll build trust instead of frustration. That way, you’re not overwhelming new audiences with technical detail or giving decision-makers surface-level fluff. You’re meeting people where they are instead and then help them take the next step.

Optimize for humans and algorithms

Effective B2B SEO is both search-friendly and human-friendly. This means your content should be simple for search engines to understand and index and genuinely useful to the people reading it.

Remember: People read the internet differently than a book. They scan, jump between subheadings, skim visuals, and skip to what’s most useful.And they often do it on a small phone screen. That means your content needs to speak the language of online readers: short paragraphs, clear headers, concise sentences and visuals that guide attention to what matters most.

This same clarity also helps Google. When your structure makes sense, Google can clearly see what your page is about and match it to relevant search queries. Add in the technical details—like descriptive headers, accurate meta descriptions, alt text and schema—and you’re speaking Google’s language.

This combination creates content that performs for humans and algorithms alike, amplifying your visibility while maximizing reader engagement.

Measure and refine

Search intent changes constantly, so your strategy has to evolve with it as buyer language and search patterns shift over time. That’s why strong B2B SEO marketing is a cycle: observe, adjust and evolve.

By tracking performance across both search and social media, you’ll be able to see which topics attract attention, which posts drive conversions and where you need to rethink your SEO marketing efforts. With the right analytics tools, you replace guesswork with data that shows what truly connects with your audience and where to double down.

Tips for creating an effective B2B SEO strategy

The modern B2B buyer journey is complex and spans multiple channels. To ensure your brand is discovered—and chosen—you need a strategy that moves with your customer. Below are the core, actionable steps you can take right now to create a high-performing B2B SEO strategy that drives real business impact.

Build buyer personas using real audience data

You might think you know who buys your product, but data often tells a different story. Maybe you built a tool for IT teams, only to discover that HR uses it to track holiday requests. Or you spent months targeting CFOs when it’s actually the interns who are using your tool to make prettier reports.

That’s why the best buyer personas come from real data, not hunches. Using analytics, CRM insights and social listening, you’ll see who actually engages, who buys and how they behave. After all, the people who are already chasing your product are the real personas. And the easiest audience to win over is the one that looks like them.

When you base personas on real buying and engagement data, you spot how your best buyers search, talk online and interact with content. This process puts you in a stronger position to create more of what resonates to attract more people who act just like them.

Combine keyword research with social listening for smarter insights

Traditional keyword research tells you what people type into Google. Social listening tells you what they’re talking about in their own words. Put them together and you’ll spot intent before it peaks.

For example, noticing increased LinkedIn chatter about ‘AI security compliance’ is your early signal to create content before it becomes the next crowded keyword. By combining keyword data with real-time social insight, you’ll change your SEO strategy from guessing what people might search to understanding what they’re already thinking about. This approach keeps you ahead of demand so you’re not scrambling to catch up.

Social listening adds another layer by showing how your buyers describe their challenges, priorities and pain points in their own language. Creating content with that context can increase its impact and reach to your audience.

Optimize your website for visibility and experience

Signals like fast load times, mobile-friendly layouts and clear structure signal that your site is easy to use, telling search engines it’s worth ranking. After all, who stays on slow sites with messy content?

Clean design, accessible formatting and fast loading speed make your site smoother for readers, while structured data, clear meta tags and consistent E-E-A-T signals show Google that your content is trustworthy and relevant. Together, these optimizations signal to both people and search engines that your site is trustworthy and worth the click.

Create content for every stage of the B2B buyer journey

At every stage of the buying journey, decision-makers are asking different questions. Your job is to recognize what they’re asking and where they’re asking it, then answer in the format that fits. That way, your content will feel less like a pitch and more like a conversation that moves buyers naturally down the funnel.

When you’ve aligned your content to the buying stage, the next step is ensuring you’re visible across all the search channels they use—and today, that includes social media.

Integrate social search into your SEO strategy

Social media search is now part of the discovery journey. Understanding how people compare and validate solutions on social media boosts both your SEO signals and the trust buyers feel when they find you.

That’s why it’s essential to optimize your social content with relevant keywords, consistent posting, descriptive captions and hashtags that mirror how your audience actually searches and talks on social. Doing so increases visibility where intent actually happens and drives people toward your site when they’re ready to dig deeper.

Here are a few ideas on how to use each platform or network:

• LinkedIn: Publish educational posts that answer professional intent queries.
• YouTube: Create long-form explainers that mirror “how to” searches.
• Reddit: Join relevant threads to build trust and earn backlinks naturally.
• TikTok and Instagram: Use short, visual posts for early-stage awareness.

Leverage influencers to expand organic visibility

Influencer marketing is a powerful organic discovery strategy because creators act like human search signals, which helps your brand surface naturally in the right conversations.

When credible voices in your industry share or reference your content, you’ll reach new audiences, build trust and earn backlinks that strengthen your SEO. This process gives you a wider reach and more credibility without relying solely on ads.

To explore how Sprout’s Influencer Marketing Platform will help you find influencers that fit your brand, schedule a demo now.

Measure what matters and optimize continuously

Search intent, algorithms and buyer behavior evolve constantly. To keep your content relevant, you need to move with these shifts.

To do this, track what drives qualified traffic and real engagement, then refine your strategy to align with what performs.

How Sprout helps you connect SEO and social insights

Today, strong B2B SEO depends on understanding how people search, talk and make decisions across every channel. That’s where Sprout Social helps. It surfaces the social insights that show how your audience discusses their needs, allowing you to connect what they say on social with how they search on Google.

Here’s how Sprout helps you turn social insights into smarter SEO decisions:

Listen to what your buyers are searching for

Sprout Listening helps you understand what your audience really wants. It does so by surfacing the exact language buyers use, the questions they ask and the pain points that drive conversation.

These insights offer early intent signals that guide your B2B SEO and social media strategy, which helps you create content that matches how people actually think and search.

Prove impact with analytics

Sprout’s Premium Analytics, an add-on for Sprout’s Analytics, gives you a comprehensive view of how your social content performs across channels and shows what drives engagement, reach and clicks. With it, you see which posts and campaigns resonate most with your audience and which formats inspire the most action.

When you connect Premium Analytics with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), you’ll be able to connect the data story of how your brand’s social interactions influence traffic, on-site behavior and lead generation.

Together, Sprout and GA4 give you a data-driven picture of how social activity drives measurable SEO impact.

Turn insights into content that ranks and resonates

When you combine social listening with search analytics, you see not only what buyers are searching for but also why they care and how they talk about the problem. That clarity gives you the language, examples and angles your audience already connects with.

From there, you will shape content that does two things at once:

• Ranks by aligning with the terms and intent behind high-value searches
• Resonates by reflecting real buyer questions, phrasing and priorities

The result is content that performs in Google and feels relevant in social feeds and communities, reinforcing trust, encouraging engagement and strengthening your presence across every touchpoint.

Build a B2B search that drives lasting impact

B2B SEO has shifted from chasing clicks to building a connected presence that supports real buying decisions. The buying journey is now a multi-step process that spans different channels. Combining SEO with social insight allows you to meet high-intent audiences wherever they search.

Sprout Social reveals the language, topics and signals that matter to audiences, allowing you to shape a search strategy that aligns with how buyers actually think and decide.

Try a free demo today and start building a B2B search strategy that drives lasting growth.

The post B2B SEO: How to turn search intent into revenue with a social-first approach appeared first on Sprout Social.

Instagram made a significant shift in how it measures and displays content reach, moving away from the long-standing “impressions” and “plays” metrics to a new, universal “views” metric. This update also includes renaming “plays” to “views”, and applies across all content types, making views the primary metric shown in dashboards and Instagram analytics tools. The aim is to better enable creators in particular to track and measure their success.

This change reflects Meta’s intent to provide a clearer, more unified picture of how often content is actually seen or played, regardless of format—offering brands and creators a more granular look at true audience engagement.

As brands adjust to this new measurement standard, understanding which Instagram metrics to track—and how to interpret them—has never been more important for evaluating content performance and refining social strategies. This article will walk you through what ‘views’ actually mean and 36 other Instagram metrics you can track.

What are Instagram metrics?

Instagram metrics are measurements of performance that help you gauge how your Instagram content is doing and how your audience is responding to it. Instagram metrics include how many people viewed, interacted with and liked your content.

We’ll talk about specific social metrics later on, but some of the key Instagram metrics you should be measuring include reach, views, impressions, engagement rate and connected reach (or follower growth).

Why you should track your Instagram metrics

If you manage your Instagram account without ever looking at your social media analytics, you’ll be left in the dark when it comes to understanding the results of your efforts.

These efforts likely coincide with company or department goals (or even just your own Instagram KPIs), which will naturally help inform which Instagram metrics you should be reporting on.

Therefore, when answering the “why,” you’ll also reveal your key IG metrics to report on. Here are three reasons why you should be tracking your Instagram metrics.

Instagram metrics show which content your audience prefers

If you’re testing different types of content, you need to check out your post metrics to see which types are getting the most attention. Having this knowledge helps you create an Instagram content strategy that resonates with your audience by consistently posting their preferred types of content.

Instagram metrics keep your strategy in line with company objectives

If your current goals are to increase your company’s engagement, you’ll want to make sure you’re actually making that happen. Same goes for if you’re wanting to increase views or post traffic. You need to be able to check the metrics to measure growth to see if you’re hitting your KPIs.

Instagram metrics help you measure specific campaign success

If you’re running a major campaign on Instagram (let’s say for a product launch, holiday sale or important partnership), you want to know how well the campaign is performing. Your Instagram metrics let you see this so you know if you need to adjust your messaging or not.

How to track Instagram metrics

In order to view insights and metrics on Instagram, you need to have an Instagram business or creator account. Once you have a business account you can view Instagram metrics on a social media marketing platform like Sprout Social or natively via the app.

How to track Instagram metrics using Sprout Social

Sprout Social makes it easy to track your performance with clean, visual reports.

From an overview of reach and engagement to follower growth to post-level breakdowns, all your data is laid out in a way that’s easy to understand and act on.

Below is a quick step-by-step for accessing your Instagram metrics in Sprout.

Step 1: Don’t have a Sprout Social account? No problem, start a free 30-day trial with your business email (you don’t need a credit card).

Step 2: Log into Sprout Social, click on Connect a Profile on the right and select Instagram.

Step 3: Follow the prompts to connect your Instagram account to Sprout.

Step 4: From the dashboard, click on the Reports tab in the left-hand menu bar.

Step 5: Select Instagram Business Profiles under the Profiles by Network category.

Here you can track different Instagram metrics like views, engagement and follower growth alongside other useful analytics (like demographics).

And if you want a quick overview of your overall Instagram performance, here’s what that looks like in Sprout’s report:

You can also see your top posts to understand content performance better.

Step 6: Use the filters to select specific Instagram profiles and set your desired date range.

Pro tip: You can also access cross-network reports (e.g. Post, Profile and Tag Performance Reports) in Sprout to analyze how your Instagram metrics fit into your overall social strategy.

How to track Instagram metrics using the Instagram App

There are a couple of different ways to access your insights from the Instagram app. (Keep in mind that these are only accessible on the mobile app and not on desktop.)

1. Head to your profile and tap on the Professional dashboard button. The very first option is your account insights for reach, engagement, followers and content. Tap each category to view specific metrics related to it.

2. You can also tap the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner of your profile and then tap Insights to access them directly.

You can find all of the below metrics inside your Instagram Insights—or you can take advantage of a third-party analytics tool like Sprout Social to get even more in-depth reporting.

37 key advanced Instagram metrics to track

Let’s explore 36 Instagram metrics and walk through what each means. You’ll see these metrics in Instagram’s native analytics, and we’ll share where you can find them in Sprout Social.

Awareness metrics

While several different metrics make up this category, Instagram considers “views” to be the primary metric users should look at to understand how your content is performing regardless of format. Why views? Instagram believes this is a stronger indicator of success over follower count and impressions. This makes sense given reach has a stronger correlation to discoverability, which Instagram’s algorithm and user behavior seem to favor.

1. Views (formerly plays)

The number of times a reel started to play or was replayed, and the number of times a non-reel appeared on a user’s screen. This is the primary metric used across all organic and boosted media on Instagram. The ‘plays’ metric is being phased out and relabeled ‘views’.

In Sprout, you’ll find views in the Instagram Business Profile report, displayed as a chart within the Overview tab.

2. Replays

Distinct from initial views, Replays tracks how many times users watched your video content more than once. This is a new metric if your Replay count is high relative to your Reach, it signals to the algorithm that your content is sticky or loop-worthy, often triggering a push to the Explore page.

3. Reach or content reach

The total number of unique viewers a post has. Reach and impressions are often confused because they are similar. Here’s a quick explainer: If you were to see a post three times, that’s considered three impressions, but you would only count as one person reached.

To find your reach in Sprout, head over to your Instagram Business Profiles Report. Your reach is located in the exact same section as your views. You can see total and percent change right below your impressions metric, making it easy to see both at once.

4. Reach by region

The number of unique users who have seen your content, segmented by geographical location. So you know which areas are more engaged with your content.

5. Impressions

The number of times an individual piece of content was displayed to users. Instagram recommends looking at “views” instead of impressions, and impressions will no longer appear within Instagram Insights. It will continue to be available in other tools, such as Meta Ads Manager and Sprout’s cross-network reports.

In Sprout, you’ll find impressions in the Cross-Network Reporting, where views are included in the Impressions metric. Below is an example of the Profile Performance Report, which includes impressions for all your connected profiles.

6. Profile visits

The total number of times users have visited your social media profile over a specific period. This metric is useful for gauging interest in your brand.

7. Brand mentions

The number representing how often your brand is mentioned on social media platforms. This can include social mentions like direct @-mentions in comments, captions and Stories. It helps to measure brand visibility and engagement.

8. Branded hashtags

The number of times others use the hashtags specifically created for your brand or campaign. This aids with tracking the impact of campaigns or promotions. You can view hashtag analytics in Instagram natively or using a social media management tool.

9. Share of voice

The measure of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors. Share of voice measures the amount of conversations about your brand compared to competitors. It acts as a gauge for your brand visibility and how much you dominate the conversation in your industry. The more market share you have, the greater popularity and authority you likely have among users and prospective customers.

10. Content you shared

This includes any content you’ve posted and shared across Stories, feeds and video.

12. Interactions

Any action users take when they like, share, save, comment or reply to your content. The location of this metric in Instagram Insights has shifted with the introduction of “views”.

12. Saves

The number of times a post has been bookmarked.

Alongside sends, saves is a high-value signal. The algorithm weighs a save significantly heavier than a like because it indicates the user found the content valuable enough to return to later.

To find this in Sprout, head to your Instagram Business Profiles Report. You can view the total number of saves on your posts and Reels here. You can also track the number of saves on individual, high-performing posts by locating the Post Performance section of the report.

13. Sends (formerly Shares)

Renamed from Shares, Sends tracks the number of times a post/content was sent privately to another user. In 2026, Sends per Reach is a powerful viral signal for the algorithm. A private share indicates a personal endorsement and high relevance, which Instagram prioritizes heavily over public likes.

14. Instagram Stories views

The amount of people who viewed an Instagram Story. You can also see replies, impressions and navigation for each slide in a Story.

Engagement metrics

These metrics go a layer deeper, giving you insight into how people are interacting with your content and brand. In Sprout, you’ll get a granular view in the Post Performance Report, where you’ll see a breakdown of the performance for each Instagram post.

15. Engagement rate

This metric refers to the percentage of your following that’s engaged with your content whether it’s liking, commenting, sharing or saving.

16. Engagement rate by follower

This metric calculates the engagement (likes, comments, sends) a post receives relative to the number of followers you have. It provides a percentage to assess how effectively your content resonates with your audience.

17. Engagement rate by impressions (views)

This measures the percentage of viewers who interacted with your content (by liking, commenting, saving and, where available, sending it) after coming across it. With the deprecation of impressions, this is often calculated using “Views” or “Reach” as the baseline for total audience. Unlike engagements per follower, this metric focuses on everyone who actually saw your content, rather than just your follower base.

In Sprout Social, look for the engagement rate metric in the Overview section of the Instagram report. You’ll see the engagement rate (per impression) in a chart, which you can customize to show organic, paid or both.

18. Saved posts

The number of times users save your posts. This metric indicates the value or interest users find in your content because they want to refer to it later.

19. Comments per post

The average number of comments each post receives. This metric shows how much your content prompts conversations.

20. Click-through-rate

The percentage of people who see an Instagram ad and click on it. It helps measure how effective your paid content is at driving action.

21. Average watch time or retention (formerly video completion rate)

Replacing the binary video completion Rate, this metric tracks the average time users spent watching your Reel. With Reels now supporting durations up to 20 minutes, completion is less relevant than retention. A user watching 3 minutes of a 10-minute video is a strong signal, even if they didn’t “complete” it.

22. Accounts engaged

This refers to the number of unique accounts that interacted with your content. This includes demographics information from the profiles you reached, such as top cities and countries. The location of this metric in Instagram Insights has shifted with the introduction of “views”.

23. Accounts reached

The number of unique accounts that have seen your content at least once. This includes the demographic information on the accounts you reached, such as top cities and countries. It also includes your followers and non-followers. The location of this metric in Instagram Insights has shifted with the introduction of “views”.

24. Live interactions

The number of comments and shares for a stream on Instagram Live.

25. Profile interactions

This metric tells you how well your Instagram profile drives action or generates leads by measuring profile clicks. For example, how many people are clicking on your contact button? How many are visiting your website? How many are getting directions to your business location?

In your Sprout Social Instagram Business Profiles Report, you can find this metric in Profile Actions within the Performance Summary or under the Engagement section of the report.

26. Peak concurrent viewers

This refers to the busiest point of the livestream when there were the most viewers.

27. Accounts reached during broadcast

The number of profiles that came across the livestream.

28. Most engaged hashtags

Your top-performing hashtags with the highest engagement. Instagram hashtags encourage engagement and provide another lens on your audience and what they are searching for on the platform.

Other metrics to track

The following metrics provide specific insights in your content and audience that can help you determine the health of your strategy and specific tactics.

29. Total followers

The sum of every profile that follows your account. View your follower growth, top locations, age ranges and times they’re most active on Instagram.

30. Follower growth rate

The percentage rate your followers are increasing over a specific period to the number of followers at the start of that period.

Sprout enables you to analyze various aspects of your follower growth, from a comprehensive growth chart to percentage growth. Select the time period to see the differences in followers gained and lost for that reporting period with the Instagram Business Profiles overview. You can then dive into the Post Performance Report to see what content resonated most (and least).

31. Engagement rate by reach

This metric measures the engagement a post receives relative to the number of unique users who saw the post. It provides insight into how engaging your content is to those who see it, not just your followers.

32. Click-through rate from bio

The number of clicks generated from the links included in your bio relative to the number of profile visits.

33. Story completion rate

The percentage of viewers who watch your entire Instagram Story from start to finish without skipping. This metric is useful for evaluating how compelling your Stories are.

34. Audience growth over time

The amount of followers you lost or gained over time.

35. Audience demographics

The age, gender, location or other characteristics of your followers. Instagram’s native analytics data include audience demographics (age, gender, location). These data points can highlight whether you’re getting in front of your target audience via Instagram or not.

36. Traffic

The number of visitors Instagram drives to your website.

37. Instagram ad analytics

This refers to the performance data available for Instagram advertising. You can check Instagram ad analytics in a few ways, including Ads Manager. It shows your campaign performance overview, demographics, delivery data, campaign spend and cost per result.

Start tracking your Instagram metrics today

With so many different metrics and ways to cut your Instagram performance data, the real success comes from narrowing your focus to the metrics that truly align with your business goals—whether that’s boosting engagement or increasing conversions. Honing in on the most meaningful data points will help you prove the value of your Instagram efforts, optimize your campaigns and ultimately achieve stronger business outcomes.

With Sprout’s Instagram analytics, you’ll be able to customize reports to highlight the specific data that’s translating to ROI, as well as go deeper with competitive comparisons, social listening and more. Our AI-powered analytics will free up valuable time for you to make smarter, more strategic decisions without getting bogged down by tedious data mining. See for yourself by taking advantage of our free 30-day trial.

The post 37 essential Instagram metrics to measure performance in 2026 appeared first on Sprout Social.

For UK universities, this means turning social from a broadcast channel into a community hub where two-way conversations thrive. A strong social media strategy enables alumni engagement teams to build active, personal and measurable alumni relationships.

Here’s how UK institutions can strengthen their alumni ties through social.

Why alumni engagement matters more than ever

Strong alumni engagement fuels every part of an institution’s success, from fundraising and mentorship to reputation and recruitment. But the way alumni keep in touch with universities is evolving. In today’s digital-first culture, those connections increasingly begin and grow on social media.

Here’s how alumni engagement is evolving across the UK.

The state of alumni engagement in the UK

Recent UK data shows that alumni want to stay connected with their past universities, but on their terms. According to the British Council’s Alumni Voices survey of international graduates of UK education, almost 80% prefer to hear from their former institution on social media.

Past students also value the real-world impact of these connections. In fact, as Universities UK found, 78% of UK graduates agree that support from their university has helped them find a job.

But a significant gap still exists between alumni enthusiasm and universities’ capacity to reach them. Access’s 2024 VAESE report found that budgets for outreach have decreased over the past decade for 30% of alumni relations professionals. That’s despite 65% saying that increasing engagement was their top priority. On top of this, 15% admit that they struggle to compete for alumni attention amid the noise of all other organisations trying to engage them.

With lower outreach budgets and too many messages vying for alumni attention, generic email updates and once-a-year mailers clearly don’t cut it anymore.

This environment provides an opportunity for social. Alumni want you to make it easy for them to see opportunities in mentoring, volunteering, fundraising and attending reunions. Social networks offer the ideal place for precisely this kind of connection.

Social provides a built-in space for genuine, two-way communication in a place where alumni already spend their time. It also lets you share relevant updates, celebrate achievements and spark meaningful conversations that strengthen your public story and bring alumni back into the fold.

What today’s alumni expect on social

Today’s alumni want quick replies, content that speaks directly to them and stories that reflect their stage of life.

But where you reach them matters too. Alumni expect you to meet them where they already are, and that varies by generation. If you’re looking for mentors or donors, for instance, you’ll likely find more Gen X alumni on Facebook. But if you want content creators or event ambassadors, you’ll reach Millennials and Gen Z more effectively on Instagram or TikTok.

The 2025 Sprout Social Index™ UK Edition shows that Instagram remains the network people use most to keep up with what’s current, followed by Facebook and then TikTok. However, different age groups still gather in different digital “hangouts”, so where your audience spends time may vary by generation.

As Sprout’s 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report shows, Instagram tends to pull in Gen Z and Millennials, Facebook remains the mainstay for Gen X, and TikTok’s audience is largely Gen Z.

So your job isn’t to post everywhere. Instead, it’s to map alumni cohorts to the channels they actually use, then serve them content that feels relevant to them and build a community around it.

How to build a social-first alumni engagement strategy

Your university has thousands of alumni, all with different goals, careers and interests. Knowing who they are and what they value helps you celebrate their achievements, support their ambitions and connect them with like-minded peers.

To capture the right alumni attention, start by grouping them based on shared interests, goals and experiences. Then tailor your outreach to deliver the updates, opportunities and recognition that matter most to them.

Here’s how to use social to segment your alumni, tailor your content and create the kind of engagement that lasts:

Segment your alumni audience

Not every graduate wants the same kind of message. Segmenting alumni helps you send the right message to the right person.

To start, use your analytics tools to review patterns in your alumni data. Look at graduation year, location, degree discipline, giving history and preferred social channels. For example, you might find that graduates aged 22–30 use Instagram and TikTok for career inspiration, while donors aged 40–55 prefer LinkedIn and Facebook for corporate alumni engagement opportunities.

Once you know who your audience is and where they spend their time, tailor your content to each group in the following ways:

• Younger alumni: If your younger alumni spend more time on your university’s TikTok, focus on short-form video, Reels or Q&A Story stickers that highlight early career journeys or social impact projects. These formats feel personal and immediate, helping newer grads see your institution as a continued part of their story.
• Mid-career professionals: If this group leans toward LinkedIn, try posting mentorship opportunities, alumni spotlights or career milestones. For audiences that value professional growth and recognition, content that connects their success back to the university strengthens loyalty and pride.
• Older graduates and long-time supporters: If older alumni are more active on Facebook, offer nostalgic throwbacks, event recaps and community recognition posts. These types of content evoke emotion and shared history, which reinforces their long-term bond with the institution.

Remember, you’re aiming to create mini-communities that reflect different stages of life.

Choose the right channels and content

Each social network serves a distinct purpose in your alumni engagement strategy. Understanding the role of each network helps you match your message to the audience and their mindset.

Here’s how to use each social network to strengthen alumni connections across every stage of their journey:

LinkedIn for professional storytelling

LinkedIn is where alumni showcase their careers and build credibility, which makes it ideal for highlighting the professional impact of your institution. Use this network to post success stories and mentoring opportunities. You could also share alumni-led initiatives that highlight alumni achievements and encourage others to take part in the community. Try short videos on how university experiences shaped careers or carousels highlighting alumni businesses to strengthen professional pride and connection.

Here’s an example post of how the University of Cambridge uses LinkedIn to showcase its alumni initiatives:

(Source: LinkedIn)

Instagram for visual connection

Instagram thrives on authentic, emotional storytelling. Post Reels that reflect this authenticity, like alumni life updates, throwback photos or quick polls about favourite campus memories. For example, a #WhereAreTheyNow series will bring faces and stories back to life in a format that alumni will love to share.

Facebook for community and nostalgia

Facebook connects multi-generational alumni through shared memories. Facebook Groups offer the perfect place to reminisce, share updates and keep long-running traditions alive. Try posting reunion albums, “On This Day” throwbacks or old campus photos asking, “Who remembers this spot?” These nostalgic posts invite conversation and reignite lasting bonds.

TikTok for creative engagement

TikTok helps you reach younger alumni through humour and trends, so lean into playful, nostalgic content. Share quick “Then vs Now” videos, post-uni life hacks or glow-up clips. Another option is to run challenges like #UniThrowback, inviting grads to post old campus clips or first-day photos, tagging friends and the university to keep the community conversation going.

Celebrate and recognise your alumni

Alumni engagement grows when you recognise and value your graduates’ achievements. You can celebrate these milestones with posts that spotlight promotions, new ventures, awards and family announcements.

Here’s a great example post by the University of Leeds that shines a spotlight on its Forbes 30 Under 30 graduates:

(Source: Facebook)

To further widen your reach, tag the alumni in the post and encourage them to share it with their networks.

But how do you uncover these stories? Encourage your alumni to share content about their new ventures and use social listening tools to track mentions and related keywords to surface stories that are worth celebrating. Then share that user-generated content (UGC) on your channels with captions that recognise their contribution.

5 alumni engagement ideas for UK institutions

Once you know your audience and platforms, it’s time to bring your alumni engagement strategy to life.

Try these five alumni engagement ideas to turn posts into opportunities to strengthen mentoring, international student recruitment and fundraising year after year:

1. Involve alumni as creators, not just an audience

The best alumni engagement strategies treat graduates as collaborators rather than merely content targets.

Today’s alumni want involvement, not just one-way communication. To meet that expectation, bring them into the narrative by inviting them to co-create stories that show life after graduation. Ask them to contribute Instagram Stories takeovers, short video clips about career milestones or quote graphics reflecting on their experiences during and after university.

For instance, the University of Manchester encourages past students to offer advice to future graduates in Instagram Reels:

(Source: Instagram)

To garner the most attention, encourage alumni to tag your institution or use a branded hashtag. This process helps you build an alumni community that celebrates and recognises graduates, while generating authentic UGC that builds trust.

And remember, alumni are already a trusted voice in their own circles. By tapping into those influential people, you’ll multiply your reach across their networks. For example, if you’re running mentorship programs and need advocates to promote them, reach out to UK student influencers and alumni ambassadors who represent your uni’s values.

Rather than searching for these creators manually, use Sprout’s Influencer Marketing platform (a paid add-on) to find and vet relevant influencers who align with your goals and already engage with the audiences you want to reach. It uses AI-powered data to evaluate creators for brand fit based on the topics they talk about.

The platform also lets you review their performance metrics and build authentic partnerships that expand your alumni network—all while keeping every collaboration on brand.

Book a personalized Influencer Marketing demo to learn how Sprout will help you connect with like-minded creators.

2. Incorporate event-driven campaigns

Alumni engagement thrives when you link your community through meaningful milestones. Achieve this task by anchoring your campaigns around key moments, like Giving Days, reunion weekends, graduation anniversaries or alumni awards. These events already hold emotional weight, but social media amplifies them to help you spread that enthusiasm.

Here are a few ways to build out your content calendar around these peak moments and build a strategy that rallies your alumni:

• Before: Try building anticipation with countdown posts, teaser clips and throwback photos from past reunions. Encourage alumni to share memories or tag old classmates to spark early conversations.
• During: Capture the real-time buzz of events with Instagram Stories and TikTok videos. Post your own content while also encouraging attendees to share on their Feeds and tag their friends and your establishment so their networks see the energy firsthand.
• After: Keep the momentum going with highlight Reels, photo carousels and “wish you were here” moments that create a fear of missing out (FOMO). To nudge people to join the next event, try posting social media contests for free tickets.

Take a look at how the University of Southampton creates FOMO with its Facebook post about a recent networking event:

(Source: Facebook)

This kind of timely, event-based storytelling reminds graduates that their alma mater still values their place in the community and welcomes their involvement.

3. Lean into nostalgia with archival content

Few tactics resonate more than nostalgia. It’s emotional, inclusive and instantly bridges generations.

To nurture that nostalgic feeling, dig through your university archives to create throwback series like “On This Day”, “Then and Now” campus comparisons or weekly trivia posts about past events. Encourage your followers to engage by prompting them to tell stories in the comments. For example, ask questions like “What’s your favourite memory from Freshers’ Week?” or “Who was your most inspiring lecturer?”

These prompts turn wistfulness into conversation and help alumni reconnect with each other naturally.

But to keep this nostalgia flowing, you’ll need a steady supply of past photos, yearbook scans and campus moments—and they need to be easy to find. Sprout’s Asset Library will help by giving you one searchable home for those visuals. So you’re not digging through old folders every time you plan a post.

4. Create peer-to-peer connection opportunities

Your institution isn’t the only voice in the alumni conversation. Alumni engagement should also incorporate other people’s stories as you help graduates connect with one another.

Social channels offer the perfect meeting point to bring these ex-students together. For example, LinkedIn or Facebook Groups offer the ideal hubs to encourage peer-to-peer interaction. There, alumni can network by degree, location or profession.

Here are some of the best ways to create networking opportunities in these groups:

• Run a monthly spotlight series that introduces alumni mentors to current students or peers who are looking for guidance.
• Host virtual coffee chats or Q&A sessions where graduates share industry insights or career lessons.
• Promote volunteer and career support opportunities that encourage collaboration and build long-term trust.
• Feature alumni-led projects or businesses to inspire others and strengthen professional networks within your community.

This kind of network building fuels long-term engagement because once alumni start supporting each other, the sense of belonging grows naturally.

5. Use storytelling frameworks

Behind every engaged alum is a story worth telling. But to truly capture your graduates’ journeys, you need to move beyond simple shoutouts and instead share narratives that motivate action.

Using a strong storytelling framework will help you tell these stories in an engaging and inspiring way. When relaying a graduate’s experience, for instance, start with the challenges they faced, highlight the turning point, detail the outcome and finish with a call to action. This approach will encourage others to join mentoring programmes, contribute to fundraising efforts or reconnect through the alumni network.

Stories like these show alumni what connection looks like in action and why it’s worth staying part of the community.

Prove the value of your alumni engagement strategy

To get more value from your alumni engagement strategy, you’ll need to measure impact and use those insights to refine what you do next. When you track impact in this way, you see what drives action and what needs adjusting so your social media truly supports your wider goals.

Here’s how to measure alumni engagement and put those insights to work:

Define what engagement actually means

To truly define impactful engagement, you’ll need to measure real, meaningful connections, not just vanity metrics. To see where people truly connect, track a mix of:

• Actions (such as likes, comments and shares)
• Behaviours (like career fair signups, event attendance or replies to DMs)
• Sentiment (positive mentions or testimonials)

These signals reveal whether your communications strategy builds genuine, lasting relationships that encourage graduate involvement in real life.

Track the right metrics

Once you know what engagement looks like, you’ll need to know how to measure alumni engagement to reveal both reach and real-world impact.

This simple KPI model links social activity to tangible outcomes, allowing you to measure that engagement at each level of the funnel to see what drives impact:

• Top-of-funnel: Track reach and impressions to understand how many alumni your content actually reaches and which channels drive awareness.
• Mid-funnel: Monitor clicks, shares and sentiment to see how well your content resonates and whether it’s sparking meaningful conversations.
• Bottom-of-funnel: Measure actions like event attendance, donations from social or mentoring sign-ups. These metrics give the clearest indicators that your efforts inspire real participation and support.

Set up a recurring reporting workflow

Consistent reporting keeps your strategy accountable and actionable. By conducting regular content reviews, you’ll see which campaigns drive the most engagement, which audiences respond best and where to focus future outreach.

For a clear view of your performance, you need analytics tools that help you track how different posts, themes and campaigns land across channels. Tools like Sprout’s Premium Analytics (a paid add-on) and Tagging features make it easier to organise that data and pull meaningful insights without manual spreadsheets.

The platform allows you to tag posts by campaign, region or alumni cohort, then build custom reports that highlight post performance trends over time. These insights show you how to refine your approach, communicate results clearly to leadership, and keep your alumni relations strategy data-driven and forward-looking.

Bring your alumni community closer

Your alumni already live and connect on social media, so that’s where your community should grow. This space is where you celebrate their achievements, spark conversation and inspire participation both on and offline.

But to do this well, you need to streamline your outreach, understand who’s active where and measure what works.

Sprout helps you do exactly that by unifying your social data, tracking audience behaviour and revealing which content drives the strongest alumni engagement. Try a free demo today to see how Sprout can help you turn every interaction into a more connected, active community.

The post How to improve alumni engagement with social media: A guide for UK institutions appeared first on Sprout Social.

With over 1.6 billion monthly active users, standing out requires a strategy that blends trending topics with specific keywords.

This guide covers the top hashtags for 2026, the new “3-5 Rule,” and how to use hashtags to rank in search.

What are TikTok hashtags?

TikTok hashtags are clickable keywords used to categorize video content. They begin with the hash symbol (#) and help the platform’s algorithm understand the context of a video to serve it to relevant audiences on the For You Page (FYP) and in search results.

For example, adding #SmallBusiness tells TikTok to show your video to users interested in entrepreneurship. If you also add #packaging, it narrows that audience further to people interested in order fulfillment content.

Looking to enhance your content’s discoverability on TikTok? See how Sprout Social can help you master your hashtag strategy.

Try Sprout for 30-days free

Do TikTok hashtags still work?

Yes, TikTok hashtags still work, but their purpose has changed. In the early days of the platform, hashtags were primarily “growth hacks” used to force content onto the For You Page (FYP). Creators would pile on generic tags like #fyp and #viral hoping to catch a lucky break with the algorithm.

According to Sprout Social’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey, 41% of Gen Z consumers now treat social apps as their primary search engine, prioritizing them over traditional tools like Google.

This evolution has birthed the era of TikTok SEO. Hashtags are no longer just about casting a wide net; they are about indexing.

When you post a video, the TikTok algorithm scans your visuals, listens to your audio, reads your captions, and checks your hashtags to determine exactly what your video is about.

The bottom line: A strong TikTok SEO strategy requires you to treat hashtags as keywords. By aligning your tags with the specific queries your audience is searching for, such as #BestBudgetLaptop instead of just #Tech, you transition from chasing fleeting views to capturing high-intent traffic.

8 Benefits of using hashtags in your TikTok strategy

Incorporating hashtags into your TikTok marketing strategy isn’t just about following trends; it’s about building a sustainable content library. Here a re eight benefits your account gets from a smart hashtag strategy.

1. Increase visibility and discovery (SEO)

On a basic level, adding hashtags in your TikTok captions help the TikTok algorithm index your content. When you use a hashtag relevant to your video, you signal to TikTok exactly who should see it, whether or not they are already following your brand. A well-placed hashtag can land your video on the For You Page of a highly relevant audience that is searching for exactly what you offer.

For example, adding #DIYProject could help your video show up in the search results of people who are searching for the hashtag.

2. Boost engagement

Better visibility translates to higher engagement rates. When your content reaches the right people, they are more likely to like, comment and share because the topic actually interests them.

3. Build community

Branded TikTok hashtags are a great way to create a community around your business and for your audience. Encouraging your followers to use a specific tag (e.g., #SproutSocial) builds a dedicated space for user-generated content (UGC).

For example, #jellycat has generated billions of views by giving fans a place to show off their collections. The hashtag has generated 1 billion views, proving just how popular these videos are.

4. Identify competitors

Just as you use hashtags to get discovered, so do your competitors. You can click on industry tags (like #SaasMarketing) to conduct a competitive analysis, see what offers they are running and identify gaps in their content that you can fill.

5. Get TikTok content ideas

Feeling stuck? Click on a niche hashtag in your industry. You will instantly see the top-performing videos in that category. This is the fastest way to see what TikTok content formats (tutorials, skits, lists) are resonating with your audience right now.

6. Find relevant influencers

Hashtag searches are the best way to discover TikTok influencers you can partner with. If you are looking for a beauty influencer, don’t just search “influencer.” Search #CleanBeauty or #SkincareRoutine to find creators who are already making high-quality content in your specific niche.

7. Surfacing trending topics

Hashtags are the pulse of the platform. By monitoring rising tags in the TikTok Creative Center or Sprout Social, you can spot TikTok trends before they peak, giving you a chance to create content while the wave is still rising.

Discover trends natively in the TikTok app by tapping the search icon in the top right corner of your home feed. You’ll see popular trends as well as topics the app thinks you’ll like based on your activity. Browse TikTok like someone in your target audience might to see what types of content ideas pop up.

8. TikTok monitoring

Hashtags—especially branded ones—are essential for social listening. Using a tool like Sprout Social to monitor your branded hashtags helps you catch customer complaints, praise or questions that might not have tagged your official account directly.

Use a TikTok monitoring tool to gain insights about your target audiences, competitors and brand sentiment.

Top TikTok hashtags in 2026

Curious on how to find the trending hashtags on TikTok? We’ve got some of the most popular TikTok hashtags in several industries for inspiration.

50 Popular hashtags on TikTok

1. #fyp
2. #foryou
3. #foryoupage
4. #viral
5. #tiktok
6. #trending
7. #duet
8. #funny
9. #comedy
10. #love
11. #explore
12. #meme
13. #video
14. #new
15. #dance
16. #music
17. #like
18. #follow
19. #tiktokviral
20. #prank
21. #fashion
22. #fitness
23. #beauty
24. #food
25. #gaming
26. #cute
27. #education
28. #art
29. #travel
30. #pets
31. #humor
32. #challenge
33. #health
34. #lifestyle
35. #tutorial
36. #tips
37. #motivation
38. #smallbusiness
39. #anime
40. #lol
41. #fun
42. #happy
43. #artist
44. #girl
45. #friends
46. #repost
47. #viralvideo
48. #explorepage
49. #life
50. #xyzbca

Top 10 Trending TikTok hashtags

Keep in mind that this changes week to week, so you’ll need to check out what TikTok is saying their trending hashtags are right now.

1. #UFC324
2. #PaddyPimblett
3. #Dallaska
4. #JustinGaethje
5. #DragonBallSuper
6. #AlexHonnold
7. #DeshaeFrost
8. #SkyscraperLive
9. #DBS
10. #PaddyTheBaddy

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for B2B

1. #business
2. #entrepreneur
3. #marketing
4. #smallbusiness
5. #b2b
6. #businesstips
7. #sales
8. #leadership
9. #motivation
10. #productivity

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for fashion and beauty

1. #fashion
2. #beauty
3. #ootd (Outfit of the Day)
4. #makeup
5. #skincare
6. #grwm (Get Ready With Me)
7. #style
8. #fashionhacks
9. #beautytips
11. #model

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for fitness

1. #fitness
2. #gym
3. #workout
4. #fit
5. #health
6. #gymlife
7. #motivation
8. #bodybuilding
9. #personaltrainer
10. #fitfam

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for food and beverage businesses

1. #food
2. #foodie
3. #yummy
4. #delicious
5. #foodtiktok
6. #cooking
7. #recipe
8. #foodlover
9. #chef
10. #dinner

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for technology and software

1. #tech
2. #technology
3. #innovation
4. #engineering
5. #coding
6. #software
7. #gadgets
8. #programming
9. #developer
10. #techtok

Top 10 TikTok hashtags for travel

1. #travel
2. #wanderlust
3. #adventure
4. #vacation
5. #explore
6. #travelgram
7. #nature
8. #traveltiktok
9. #holiday
10. #tourist

TikTok hashtag best practices

Maximizing your reach on TikTok starts with a smart hashtag strategy. Here is how to build a hashtag framework that actually works.

1. Focus on hashtag quality over quantity

Gone are the days of stuffing 30 hashtags into a caption. Current data supports a “less is more” approach focused on precision indexing.

Data from CapCut (ByteDance’s official editor) explicitly states that using 3 to 5 hashtags gives the best results, as fewer tags prevent the algorithm from receiving mixed signals.

2. Use a search-first strategy

Why does “less is more” work? Because user behavior has shifted from passive scrolling to active searching.

According to Sprout Social’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey, 41% of Gen Z now treat social apps as their primary search engine, surpassing traditional tools like Google.

Because users are searching for specific answers, using 30 random tags hurts your SEO. Using 3-5 accurate tags helps you rank for those specific high-intent searches.

3. The “3-3-3” strategy

If you want to use a few more hashtags, use this 3-3-3 balanced formula to target different layers of the algorithm. This means you’ll be using up to 9 hashtags:

• 3 Broad or high-volume hashtags: Think #marketing or #fyp to cast a wide net.
• 3 niche or community-focused hashtags: Such as #SocialMediaManager or #DigitalMarketing to find your specific peers.
• 3 Content-specific hashtags: Such as #HowToWriteCopy or #ContentIdeas to target users searching for exactly what you are teaching.

4. Mix popular and niche hashtags

Don’t only use #fyp. Everyone is competing for that feed. When you use niche hashtags like #B2BSales, you are competing in a smaller pool where you are more likely to be the “big fish” and rank at the top of search results.

How to find the best TikTok hashtags for your brand

Finding the right hashtags is both an art and a science.

You can manually search for hashtags on the app: identifying which hashtags are influencers in your niche or your competitors are using. While these methods can be effective, they’re often time-consuming and lack the data you need to make valuable decisions.

To build an effective TikTok hashtag strategy, you need a more efficient method.

How to find TikTok hashtags with Sprout Social

Sprout Social takes hashtag research from a manual chore into a streamlined advantage. Instead of guessing which hashtags will work, our AI-driven insights will help you find, analyze and add hashtags for every post.

Step 1. Log into Sprout Social.

Don’t have a Sprout Social account yet? Start your free 30-day trial with your business email and test managing your entire social strategy from a single platform.

Step 2. Link your TikTok Business Account to Sprout Social by navigating to Settings > Profiles and click Add Profile. Follow the prompts to authenticate your account and grant Sprout the necessary permissions.

Step 3. Compose your TikTok video post. Select the camera icon and click +Upload a video. Videos must be at least 3 seconds and no more than 10 minutes.

Step 4. Begin typing your caption and add a # to begin searching for relevant TikTok hashtags. Sprout provides suggested hashtags by volume.

Step 5. Schedule your TikTok videos to publish when your audience is most active using our Optimal Send Times feature. This AI-powered capability analyzes past content performance and suggests a time when your audience is most active and likely to engage with your content.

How to add and manage hashtags with Tag Collections

Once you’ve identified the perfect hashtags for your campaigns, you can create and save groups of related hashtags for specific campaigns, products or content pillars using Sprout’s Tag Collections.

Instead of manually typing hashtags for every post or storing them in a spreadsheet, you can save those in Sprout’s Tag Manager as an efficient way to incorporate them into future posts.

For example, you can create a “Q2 Product Launch” Tag collection and a “Behind The Scenes” collection, with relevant hashtags saved within that Tag Collection.

To create a Tag Collection in Sprout:

1. Navigate to Account and settings > Settings.
2. Click Tag Management under Global Features.
3. Click Add Collection.
4. Then, enter a name for the Tag Collection, such as “Summer Launch”.
5. Click Create collection.
6. Once you’ve created a Collection, you can add tags. Click the Tag Collection you just created and want to add tags to.
7. Click Add Tag in the right-hand panel.
8. Enter the tag name and click Create tag.
9. 
10. Now, when you use Compose, you can apply tags to outbound messages on TikTok.

Using Sprout’s Tag Collections:

• Improves efficiency: When creating a post, simply apply the relevant collection to add all its associated hashtags in a single click.
• Ensures brand consistency: Your entire team can use a consistent hashtag strategy, reinforcing your branding and campaign goals across all posts.

How to measure hashtag performance with Sprout Social

Without data, your hashtag strategy is incomplete. To tie your hashtag use directly to performance, use Sprout’s Tag Performance Report.

When you use Tags to your scheduled TikTok videos in Compose, Sprout aggregates the performance data into the Tag Performance Report for every post with that tag, allowing you to see which hashtag strategies are driving the best results.

By analyzing TikTok metrics like impressions, engagement and video views at the campaign level, you move beyond individual post performance. This provides a clear overview of which campaigns and specific hashtags are resonating with your audience so you can alter and adjust your hashtag strategy.

TikTok hashtag generators and discovery tools

Looking for even more inspiration for TikTok hashtags? There are many tools available to help you find the perfect hashtags for every video you publish. These four are the perfect starting points.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management platform that can help you through dozens of tasks—from monitoring online conversations to discovering trends and so much more. Find relevant hashtags as you write content in the Compost box, which automatically suggests hashtags as you begin adding them to your post. Alternatively, use Suggestions by AI Assist to generate copy and hashtags as you compose posts. These AI automation features can help eliminate the guesswork from manually researching relevant hashtags.

Hashtag Expert

Hashtag Expert is an easy-to-use smartphone app that can help you find hashtags based on a starter keyword, a category relevant to your industry (of which there are 35 to choose from) or a group of hashtags you’ve used before. Download Hashtag Expert and start compiling hashtags for your video content.

You can easily get a group of relevant hashtags for your video and save them for later, or copy them right inside the app to then paste into your TikTok caption. Plus, you can get access to daily trending hashtags to help you discover even more content ideas.

TikTok Hashtags

TikTok Hashtags is a basic hashtag generator that can help you find related hashtags.

Start by typing in a hashtag like #style and generate a handful of relevant and popular hashtags that can help increase visibility on your content. This is a completely free tool that’s easy to use for each of your new videos.

For the record, TikTok has no association with this website.

Ahrefs TikTok Hashtag Generator

Ahrefs has a free AI TikTok Hashtag Generator tool as a part of its free digital marketing and SEO tools arsenal. But this hashtag generator works a bit differently than the others.

With Ahrefs’ AI hashtag generator, you can type your video caption or a brief synopsis of your video into the text box and wait while the tool generates a list of hashtags for you to include. Specify the number of hashtags you want, the formatting you prefer, as well as the writing tone you’re going for. Then copy and paste the hashtags right into TikTok.

Make TikTok hashtags work for you

With more businesses using TikTok in their marketing strategies, incorporating the use of hashtags can be a great way to stand out. But just using the right hashtags isn’t enough. You also need to keep an eye on your TikTok analytics to look for opportunities to keep improving.

The post TikTok hashtags: How to use the best hashtags for more views in 2025 appeared first on Sprout Social.

Social media is where that influence takes shape in real time. It’s where your brand can inspire, excite and share its vision through carefully crafted stories and visuals.

As Maxime Bicard, Director of Digital Brand and Social Media at Versace, said on Sprout’s Social Creatures podcast, luxury social media content is “an extension of the way [top luxury brands have] always communicated, which is through being inspirational.”

Below, we’ll explore what makes social media marketing different for luxury brands and how to build an inspiring presence without compromising exclusivity.

What makes luxury social media marketing different

Luxury brands play by their own rules. As Maxime Bicard put it on Sprout’s podcast, “It shouldn’t be social channels that dictate how you communicate about the brand. It’s the other way round.”

Unlike mass-market brands that chase trends or visibility, luxury marketing campaigns deliberately build distance. They communicate to inspire, not to engage for engagement’s sake. The quiet moments matter as much as the loud ones because they reinforce an elevated identity.

Let’s talk about how exclusivity fuels desire and how overexposure can quietly undo it.

The psychology of exclusivity and aspiration

Exclusivity is the engine of aspiration. It makes luxury products feel more desirable and a brand feel more meaningful.

Research published in the Journal of Brand Management (2024) shows that when brands use exclusivity well, it elevates how people think, feel and talk about the brand. In turn, that strengthens functional, emotional and social value.

As a result, buyers don’t just want the item. They want to belong to the world that created it.

The risks of overexposure

For exclusivity to inspire aspiration, it has to be just that—exclusive. If you slip into overexposure, the desire fades.

The same study in the Journal of Brand Management explores this idea, showing that not all forms of rarity build lasting value. Natural rarity, with its roots in craftsmanship or limited production, heightens emotional connection and social status.

On the other hand, virtual rarity, like endless “limited drops” or hype-driven releases, may grab attention, but it erodes prestige when overdone.

Burberry offers a great example of how to balance exclusivity and visibility in your online presence. The brand’s posts are understated, confident and restrained. There’s no push to explain, over-sell or show off the most well-known items.

Instead, Burberry uses captions like the one below: “Signature shapes, reworked for crisp winter walks and cosy pub afternoons.”

(Source: Instagram)

The tone says, “If you know about our signature style, you know. And if you don’t, we’re not for you.”

Even the lack of replies in the comments adds to the quiet sense of distance. A brand like Burberry doesn’t need to jump into every conversation. Its presence sparks conversation on its own.

Luxury brands also demonstrate this through deliberate posting cadence. As Bicard notes, some of the most successful luxury brands now post less often, but with purpose: “I think a lot of brands are trying to get out of this mentality of saying, ‘Okay, we need to post twice a day, we need to post every day,’ because if the content isn’t right, it’s not going to serve you.”

Ultimately, two perfect posts say more than twenty average ones. And in your luxury marketing strategy, restraint offers the ultimate signal of confidence.

6 timeless strategies for luxury social media success

Luxury brand marketing moves at its own rhythm. It’s less about constant visibility and more about long-term influence that balances heritage, creativity and innovation across every social network.

The following social media strategies show how luxury brands can translate timeless values into modern storytelling, while protecting exclusivity.

1. Curate over broadcast

Luxury brands don’t jump on trends. They know their brand personality and they use social to reinforce it. As Versace’s Maxime Bicard put it, “Don’t try to work around the algorithm, try to do what’s best for your brand.”

The best way to do this is to post less but with purpose. A curated approach builds anticipation and protects your brand equity. Tools like Sprout’s Campaign Planner help you build a cohesive, high-end brand presence by letting you visualise long-term campaigns at a glance.

(Source: Sprout Social)

Seeing every post together makes it easier to shape a consistent narrative over time—one that stays true to your creative direction and luxury ethos.

Plus, the built-in approval workflows act like a creative safeguard that helps you catch anything that feels out of place before it reaches the feed. It gives you space to edit, polish and ensure every post strengthens the story your brand is telling, rather than distracting from it.

2. Design premium visual storytelling

In luxury, visuals don’t just show what you sell. They signal exquisite taste, high-quality craftsmanship and a sense of prestige.

As Maxime Bicard explained, even though the increasing use of social means there’s more luxury content in feeds than before, it still carries high expectations: “Everything is amazingly beautiful, so controlled.”

That level of polish is what audiences associate with luxury: consistency, precision and restraint. But that high-class visual language needs to stay consistent across every platform so every post reflects the same standard of elegance.

Tools like Sprout’s Asset Library help you do this by providing a centralised hub to manage and share approved creative assets. This makes it easier to maintain that consistency and catch anything that feels off-tone or unrefined before it goes live.

3. Tell stories that reward attention

Luxury storytelling invites your target audience to slow down and sink into blissful comfort. You’re not oversharing every little detail. You’re creating moments that feel intentional.

Rolls-Royce does this beautifully on its Instagram account, turning each post into a chapter of a larger narrative. Its Phantom Centenary series post illustrates this approach, unfolding the story of craftsmanship and legacy piece by piece:

(Source: Instagram)

Long-form captions, series-based storytelling and behind-the-scenes glimpses all help you achieve this emotional depth without diluting your mystique. And when every post contributes to a larger narrative, followers invest in your brand story.

It’s easier to tell that kind of layered story with the right tools. For example, Sprout’s Publishing Workflows enables you to coordinate messaging across markets and channels. This helps you align every chapter of your story, no matter where you’re telling it.

4. Partner with creators who elevate the brand

As Bicard explains, “Luxury brands are approaching authentic creators rather than typical influencers.” This is because luxury brands pick brand ambassadors for resonance, not reach.

It’s a shift from popularity to alignment. You need creators who embody your brand and whose audience mirrors those influencers. You’re looking for creators whose style, values and following all reflect the world you’re building. When they authentically live the brand, you’re not just reaching the right buyers, you’re defining who belongs.

For example, luxury fashion brand, Barbour, partnered with @maryljean, a high-fashion creator whose polished, luxury-focused feed perfectly conveys the brand’s refined aesthetic:

(Source: Instagram)

For maximum impact, choose your UK influencers carefully. Be sure their content, audience and values align with your brand.

This is where tools like Sprout Social Influencer Marketing (a paid add-on) give you a head start. Instead of manually sifting through influencer accounts, you can identify your ideal creators by region, sentiment and style so that every collaboration feels authentic and brand-aligned.

5. Localise for global markets without losing brand voice

Your brand may be global, but your tone should feel local. Whether your audience is in London or Los Angeles, they should receive the same distinctive core message with a regionalised spin.

But localisation doesn’t mean completely changing your voice. It means adapting cultural nuance, imagery and timing while keeping your brand’s personality and point of view consistent.

The key to regional resonance lies in understanding the values of those local audiences. Social listening tools can help. With Sprout Listening (a paid add-on), you can track local sentiment and trending conversations to intelligently adapt your focus to each place without losing your core identity.

6. Balance heritage with innovation

Luxury thrives on history but grows through innovation. From archive-inspired campaigns to digital fashion, the most forward-thinking brands balance timeless craftsmanship with new media.

Bicard highlights this change in format: “There’s been most certainly a big shift towards video over the last three, four years.” But that’s not all that luxury brands are doing to push the envelope and keep the bold spirit of couture alive.

Huge luxury fashion brands now experiment with augmented reality (AR), immersive storytelling and virtual runways to immerse followers in their aesthetic.

For instance, Stella McCartney brought her sustainable ethos to life with an AR “mushroom grotto” try-on filter for the Vogue x Snapchat “Redefining the Body” exhibition. Through these AR activations, Stella McCartney seamlessly merged storytelling, technology and fashion.

(Source: FashionUnited)

But to experiment with confidence, you need creative freedom combined with control.

Sprout’s Publishing approvals and Tagging let you test new formats and automatically route posts through brand and regional reviewers. This ensures every experiment aligns with your visual standards, tone and campaign goals before it goes live.

How to curate community without compromising exclusivity

Luxury brands don’t create community through mass engagement. They build curated connections. The goal is to make the right audience feel included without diluting your brand’s air of mystery.

You don’t need to reply to every comment or open your DMs to the world. Instead, focus on intentional touchpoints that deepen loyalty while maintaining distance.

Here are a few ways to create an exclusive community on social:

• Use Instagram Close Friends to share limited behind-the-scenes moments with top customers and loyal advocates.
• Host invite-only Discord or WhatsApp groups for collectors or VIP clients to create spaces where access feels like a privilege.
• Spotlight community members through private events or limited-run collaborations rather than public shoutouts.

These quiet, deliberate gestures build belonging without overexposure, turning your audience into insiders who value being part of something rare.

Measure what strengthens perception, not just what performs

Luxury brands don’t measure success through reach and engagement alone. As Maxime Bicard explained: “Engagement or reach [don’t fully represent] the power of your brand message.” Instead, focus on resonance—the way your digital presence strengthens brand perception over time.

Learn how to measure the success of your luxury social media campaigns without leaning on vanity metrics.

Define high-value brand engagement

Rather than counting likes, figure out what meaningful interactions from luxury consumer segments look like. These often include the following metrics:

• Saves
• Branded hashtag usage
• Shares
• Referrals
• Positive sentiment

These actions signal that your brand is inspiring admiration, not just attention. They build what’s known as digital brand equity: the cumulative strength of your brand’s image and influence online.

Build a brand health dashboard

A health dashboard helps you see how people truly feel about your brand over time, rather than simply showing you how many people interact with it.

These dashboards bring together perception, sentiment and reputation metrics so you can understand the real impact of your social presence beyond short-term engagement.

Sprout’s Premium Analytics (a paid add-on) tracks these deeper signals through visual reports that show changes in sentiment, share of voice and long-term brand lift. That means you can make smarter, data-backed decisions about campaigns and messaging instead of relying on guesswork.

When you’re creating your luxury brand health dashboard, include the following metrics:

• Branded share of voice across key markets shows how often your brand is part of the social conversation compared to competitors.
• Sentiment towards creative campaigns or influencers reveals how audiences emotionally respond to your content and partnerships.
• Growth in referral traffic from social to ecommerce tracks how effectively your social presence drives qualified traffic and conversions.
• Engagement quality over time (saves, mentions, re-shares) indicates how deeply audiences connect with your content, not just how often they like it.

When you measure the factors that enhance perception (instead of just what performs), you align your social strategy with brand prestige rather than fleeting trends.

Trends shaping the future of luxury on social

Luxury is evolving and so is the way brands show up online. The next chapter of luxury marketing will balance timeless craft with cutting-edge customer experience to blend heritage styles with digital innovation.

Here’s how those trends are showing up today:

Editorial control in the age of speed

As a luxury brand, you can’t afford to sacrifice your refined image for quickfire posting, even in the high-speed motorway of social media, control matters.

Of course, you need to stay agile and responsive to audience sentiment, but you also need the time and space to make sure every post reflects your brand standards. You can achieve this precision with Sprout’s Publishing Workflows, where multi-level approvals and version control allow you to move fast without losing consistency and finesse.

Digital fashion, virtual try-ons and immersive experiences

Web3 and AR are reshaping how people experience luxury. Virtual showrooms, try-on filters and metaverse events let followers step inside your world. These tools invite interaction without eroding exclusivity.

John Richmond’s Tate Modern showcase at London Fashion Week was a great example of this. The luxury fashion brand used AR to project digital versions of their garments into the guests’ surroundings:

(Source: Graduate Fashion Foundation)

The immersive activation bridged digital and physical fashion, showcasing the brand’s innovative side while preserving exclusivity.

Sustainability and value alignment

Consumers now expect environmental responsibility from luxury brands. Research in the Cleaner and Responsible Consumption journal notes that “the luxury fashion industry now embraces environmentally conscious approaches, reflecting consumers’ changing preferences and values.”

Ken Research supports this with a recent study that shows that in the UK, 64% of shoppers say they’re willing to pay more for eco-friendly luxury goods.

This is especially important if your brand targets younger audiences. According to McKinsey, Gen Z and Millennials are leading the sustainability charge, with 40% agreeing that environmental impact is extremely or very important when making purchasing decisions.

For luxury brands, this means going green and showing your commitment to sustainability on social media so your audience knows your environmental priorities.

Elevate every moment, measure every impact

Luxury brand social media marketing isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being unforgettable. Every post, story and collaboration should reflect intent, craft and control.

With Sprout, you can scale social success without sacrificing precision. Use features like campaign planning, approvals and analytics to keep every asset on-brand and every post intentional, while grounding every decision in insight.

Ready to see how Sprout can help your luxury brand elevate every moment? Book a demo today.

The post Luxury brand social media marketing: Strategies by UK brands that scale globally appeared first on Sprout Social.

Sprout’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey found 37% of users prefer to search on socials for product reviews and recommendations. Social impacts almost every corner of content creation, from online marketing to the production of television shows. More people are using social media as a research tool, meaning its strength as a source of company-wide market research continues to grow.

But the dynamic and rich data source offered by socials isn’t always fully harnessed. You need to use social media market research to uncover critical customer, competitor and industry insights to maintain an accurate pulse on your market while keeping costs low.

We’ll outline what sets social media market research apart from alternative methods and list some of its key benefits. You’ll also see some of the main ways to leverage your social media market research strategy for the benefit of your entire brand.

What is social media market research?

Social media market research is the practice of gathering historical and real-time data from social media channels to improve your business. But it’s more than just monitoring and listening to your social channels; it’s about harnessing the data you’ve collected, and refining the methods you’re using, to create actionable social media intelligence.

While more traditional forms of customer market research are still useful, like focus groups and surveys, social media market research gives you an unfiltered look into audience behavior. It allows you to collect different data points that can be grouped into both qualitative and quantitative categories.

Quantitative data refers to any data you can directly measure. Through social media market research, you can collect metrics like shares, comments and likes on your content and your competitor’s content.

In contrast, qualitative data can’t be directly measured, and includes data like the behaviors and opinions surrounding your brand on socials.

By combining these insights across social networks like Instagram, TikTok, X, Reddit, Facebook and others, you can accurately research how your brand is being perceived online.

The benefits of using social media market research

According to The 2025 Impact of Social Media Marketing report, 80% of marketing leaders are already planning to reallocate funds away from other, more traditional channels towards socials. Market research is no different, and this is because when it comes to customer centricity, content strategy and more, social media offers several benefits over traditional methods.

Becoming more customer-centric

Sprout’s Q4 Pulse Survey found that 55% of all users say most companies do a good job of listening to what audiences say on social media, but they don’t always act on those conversations.

Investing in social media market research clues you in on these audience conversations. It also gives you detailed insight that you can use to adapt to the desires of your audience. This allows you to become more customer-centric over time, and keeps you in tune with what your audience expects from your brand.

Improve audience segmentation

Conducting market research on social media helps you identify different segments of your audience. You can filter audience groups based on demographic and psychographic data like age, gender, location, engagement level, interests and other factors. You can then create a set of target personas based on this data.

Once you’ve segmented your target audience, it’s easier to create personalized campaigns that cater specifically to certain demographics, and measure performance across different segments.

Manage brand reputation

Users are turning to socials for reliable information. According to The State of Social Media 2025, 36% of consumers are more likely to trust information about a brand found on social compared to information found through other forms of search, like Google or AI chatbots. This increased trust in social media means it’s a vital channel for reputation management.

Use social media market research to conduct sentiment monitoring at scale. These insights reveal wider perceptions of your brand, competitors and industry, so you can get ahead of potential crisis points before they happen.

Optimize your content strategy

An effective content strategy is only as reliable as the data behind it. Use the data you’ve gained from your social media market research to conceptualize, guide and measure the performance of your entire online content strategy.

For example, your social research might uncover a new way customers are using your or your competitor’s products. You can harness this insight to design a content campaign around this new value proposition, which affords you a campaign that’s tailored to the demands of your followers.

Effective optimization means continuing to research and improve your strategy. By conducting social media market research frequently, you can continue to reveal new ways to adapt your approach.

Keeping ahead of competitors

Socials are small ecosystems, where you can learn about your brand and analyze your competition.

Social data taps into deep competitor insights, such as what people like about competing brands and how customers respond to them. All of which guide how you can differentiate yourself from the pack if you adapt your insights to impact the wider company. Beyond using competitive intelligence to empower your marketing strategy, these insights can inform your product roadmaps, identify benchmarks, provide insight into new markets and more.

Tap into online culture and predict future trends

There’s nowhere more appropriate for tracking online culture than socials, and it’s an area where most agree brands should be doing more. Data from The 2025 Sprout Social Index^TM found that 93% of consumers agree it’s important for today’s brands to keep up with online culture.

As well as meeting this expectation, social media market research allows you to get ahead of the game and predict future trends. Use social listening and other strategies to predict how customers will adapt to products and brands in the future, and start pivoting towards these movements.

A recurring social market research strategy means you stay ahead of the curve and can prepare your brand for tomorrow’s major cultural shifts. For example, 2025’s summer of celebrity showdowns between jean labels, showing how keeping (or not keeping) a pulse on culture impacts the resonance of campaigns.

How to use social media for market research

It’s one thing to conduct market research, but you also need to learn how to turn your insights into actionable social intelligence. By turning your social media market research into intelligence, you can improve your discoverability, refine campaigns and center your brand around trends and customer voices.

These eight strategies explain how you can use market research and tools to extract social intelligence for your brand.

Identify audience segments

To properly identify your audiences, it’s worth first building out your community management strategy using social networks. Leverage platforms like Reddit to know what your audience is talking about and respond to threads directly.

One example of brands making use of Reddit is Notion. They manage the r/Notion subreddit, and include an easy way for users to communicate feature requests or product feedback through a pinned conversation.

Tools like Sprout Social Analytics determine how users are engaging with your content, and who they are. Combine this with social listening to reveal even more data about their behaviors, and use all this data to identify key audience segments among your followers.

Then, create a target persona for each of these segments, and use this persona to create personalized content strategies tailored to their needs.

Social listening and monitoring

Social listening is its own irreplaceable technique when conducting social media marketing research. Use social listening to find out what your audience really thinks about your brand and content.

Customer comments are often not as simple as “I like [brand]” or “I don’t like [brand]”. Some are indirect, don’t tag your handle or misspell your brand name. A dedicated social listening tool navigates these issues to give you a clearer idea of what customers expect from you and distinct insights on how to address them.

With social listening, you can focus on being active and proactive. Active social listening means adapting based on the data you’ve collected, and using it to inform changes in how you operate. Proactivity then means using social listening to get one step ahead of your audience. Create a proactive strategy for social listening that allows you to get ahead of conversations.

Listening tools can be combined with media monitoring tools, like NewsWhip by Sprout Social, to stay on top of conversations. Once you’ve collected this data, use Sprout listening to look at the long-term impacts of conversations surrounding your brand. You’ll better understand audience sentiments and learn to recognize cultural shifts, which you can adapt to in order to effectively optimize in the future.

Content analysis

You can also use social media analytics to determine which of your content is performing well, and where there’s room for improvement. A social media management tool like Sprout provides granular insights into your content performance, down to the performance of individual posts.

Track this performance across different networks, post types and campaigns to reveal what’s really working for your brand. Then, alter your strategy so you’re creating more of this content, while modifying content types that could do with a refresh.

Trend analysis

Social listening can be used to discover popular trends within your industry and related to your brand. Don’t just focus on short-term changes; look at long-term trends that have evolved over time, and use this data to predict how your audience’s expectations might change moving forward.

Throughout 2025, the UK airline Jet2 found itself at the center of an online culture trend around its slogan. The brand has continued to capitalize on this naturally occurring meme with a series of supportive content campaigns, most recently featuring UK celebrity Rylan. They’ve proven that the best way to keep a trend going is to support its growth with your own content, without going overboard.

Influencer mapping

Influencers continue to play a significant role in social media strategy. As their audiences grow, it’s essential that your social media marketing strategy also involves tracking and reacting to key influencer voices in your market.

With influencer mapping, you can track the most important influencers and voices within your industry, or in communities that matter to your brand. Tools like Sprout Social Influencer Marketing provide more detailed data on these influencers; who they are, what they post about, how they’re performing and the metrics that matter across their accounts.

Mapping these individuals gives you a list of influencer marketing campaign partners who are the best fit for your brand. It also helps you discover and tap into niche communities where these influencers are active, and find ways of joining the conversation with your own content.

Competitor intelligence to know where you stand

Insights from social media market research guide your competitor strategy for short-term and long-term campaigns. The ability for social research to uncover competitor intelligence is one of the key reasons why, according to Sprout’s Q1 2025 Pulse Survey, one of the top specialized roles marketers would like to add to their teams is a social media intelligence lead.

One example of this is Turo, which is competing with traditional car rental companies. They regularly use their social content to compare their service to renting vehicles to explain why they are a better alternative.

Use social media research to understand your competitors’ content and ad strategy, track how the market responds to them and know where you are in terms of audience segmentation. With Sprout Social, you can set up a competitive analysis report across various social networks including review websites, like Google My Business, to track competitor benchmarks and understand your customers’ attitudes toward the competition.

Turn social data into actionable insights

Bring all the data, insights and recommendations from the strategies above together to create actionable social intelligence. This will connect your research to specific business goals, across your marketing department and the wider business.

As a first step, map your data to the key metrics that represent your customers, from how they engage and feel to what makes them convert, which every department cares about.

If you’re struggling with what to focus on, AI capabilities like those found in Sprout can help you transform millions of data points into insights that tell the story of how your brand, industry and audience are converging. Sprout also enables you to create custom reports, which can be downloaded via PDF or shared directly with others.

Build an integrated tech stack

Your social data shouldn’t live in a silo; it should flow through all of your platforms for a holistic view. Use tools that can integrate your social and customer data, so you can get a full view of customer behavior and connect your social media research to business impact.

Sprout integrates with several other leading providers, including Salesforce and Tableau, so you can unify your data and understand each step of the customer journey.

The challenges of social media as market research

Social media definitely isn’t perfect, so neither is the market research that comes from it. Keep these limitations in mind as you’re collecting and analyzing social media data:

• Representation bias. You may have some preconceived notions or assumptions when collecting data. Make sure you’re aware of these, as they could skew your findings if left unchecked. This is particularly important if you’re trying to predict future trends or changes through your research.
• Bots and bad actors. Unfortunately, social media remains vulnerable to bots designed to manipulate conversations and influence public opinion. Try to identify commenters as bots before you place too much value on their sentiments. But don’t dismiss bots entirely; look at the conversations they’re trying to start, and think about how those attempts might impact your brand in the future.
• Cultural nuances. When collecting qualitative data, think about the cultural nuances that might be present from certain commenters. Sarcasm, irony, pop culture references, memes, slang and other behaviors can distort sentiment analysis attempts if you don’t have the right context.
• Data privacy. Consider data privacy measures and laws when collecting any data across platforms. Similarly, make sure you keep your findings and social data protected.
• Fragmented data. Since social platforms are owned by different companies, each network has its own algorithm, and they don’t always share metrics. They also have different policies on provided analytics, which can lead to fragmented data across your accounts.
• Algorithmic opacity. There’s often some level of mystery around how different algorithms work, and each prioritizes different aspects depending on audience preferences and the network’s business goals. Bear this in mind when tracking organic trends across socials.

A social media management tool can help you navigate these challenges. Use a unifying social media marketing tool to bring all of your profiles under one roof, so you can more directly compare the similarities and catch the differences across networks. Advanced analytics tools can also help with mitigating bot data and irrelevant content by filtering the noise from your social engagement.

Lead the era of intelligence

Social media intelligence is no longer the future of effective research—it’s happening now. Brands that have already started to embed social insights into their market research and business strategy can continue to reap the rewards of rich social data, and are better positioned to define the next era of business.

See how you can start making use of the social intelligence at your fingertips by scheduling a Sprout demo today.

The post How to use social media market research to turn social data into strategic intelligence appeared first on Sprout Social.

If you don’t know how the Pinterest algorithm works, you risk wasting your budget on Pins that never surface in search. In fact, adapting to algorithm changes was among the top challenges for marketers that year. This is just one of many social media algorithms that brands must master.

Here’s what you need to know about how ranking on Pinterest works, plus practical steps to optimize your Pins for greater visibility and engagement.

What is the Pinterest algorithm?

Pinterest’s algorithm is the engine that powers its network. In other words, it’s the “special sauce” that determines which Pins land in the places that matter: search results, home feeds and “related Pins” recommendations. A combination of eye-catching visuals, text overlays and user engagement fuels these signals.

As social media search becomes more competitive and visual-first, Pinterest stands out as a network for brands that understand discovery. That’s because, unlike other social media networks, Pinterest acts as a visual search engine that delivers ideas, products and inspiration when people are ready to buy. In fact, 85% of weekly Pinterest users say they’ve purchased something from a Pin. And according to Sprout Social’s 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report, more than half of consumers say that Pinterest feels more positive than other social media networks.

Underneath the Pinterest hood, machine learning takes the wheel. The network’s algorithm tracks what users click, save and engage with. It then learns from those patterns and predicts what they’ll want to see next. As a result, Pins that match genuine interest naturally rise to the top.

How the Pinterest algorithm works: 4 key ranking signals

Pinterest’s algorithm follows a simple logic: reward high-quality, fresh content that resonates. For this, it weighs four main signals—quality, engagement, relevance and freshness—to decide which Pins deserve visibility. Here’s more on how this process works:

1. Pin quality

Pinterest measures each Pin’s quality and engagement, as well as how well a Pin captures attention and drives action over time. It also looks at how many people save your Pins, zoom in on images or click through to your site. As a result, the Pins that keep generating interest, rather than peaking once and disappearing, rise higher in results.

Simply put, high-quality Pins have the following qualities:

• Visually compelling: The most successful Pins use high-resolution, vertically oriented images or videos.
• Engaging: High-ranked Pins generate saves, comments, zooms and click-throughs.
• Popular: The algorithm prioritizes Pins that keep generating interest, regardless of their age.

2. Pinner Quality

The algorithm also considers your account’s overall behavior, or your authority as a creator, to assess reliability. This includes signals like how frequently you post, whether you save your own content and how audiences respond to comments. The network rewards active, consistent contributors.

According to the 2025 Sprout Social Index™, engagement is the top KPI that leaders use to measure social success. On Pinterest, stronger engagement lifts your Pinner Quality and signals to the algorithm that you’re a trusted creator. In other words, the algorithm favors creators whose Pins consistently spark meaningful action over those who post irregularly or rely mainly on repins.

3. Relevance

Relevance indicates whether your content reaches the right audience at the right moment. This is where keywords are critical. Pinterest’s algorithm scans titles, Pin descriptions, board topics and linked domains to understand intent and match Pins to what users are searching for. It also measures topic relevance, or how closely your content aligns with each user’s established interests.

A Pin about sustainable decor, for example, performs best when it does the following:

• Includes relevant keywords
• Lives on a matching board
• Links to a domain that reinforces the same theme

4. Recency and freshness

Pinterest wants to show users new ideas. That’s why the algorithm gives fresh Pins an early visibility boost, especially when they pick up engagement quickly.

Pinterest values a living ecosystem of ideas, not a static catalog. As a result, a steady flow of new URLs will strengthen your domain quality while also improving the visibility of your evergreen Pins over time.

Best practices to optimize your pins

Pinterest stats show that users save more than 1.5 billion Pins every week, which makes this social network one of the most powerful discovery engines in social. But to stand out, brands need to capture a combination of creativity and consistency.

This is where strategy meets art: Pairing search-driven thinking with scroll-stopping design helps you create Pins that perform. Every visual choice, caption and keyword sends a signal to the algorithm about your content’s quality and intent. Small refinements add up here, especially when they align with Pinterest marketing best practices.

Here are a few tactics you can use to help your content stand out in search and feeds:

Master keyword research for Pinterest

Pinterest behaves like Google since search intent drives discovery and keywords power visibility. This is why the most effective brands on Pinterest approach keyword research with a social-first mindset. The approach is similar to SEO but more heavily considers how people browse and save ideas.

To perform your own keyword research for Pinterest SEO, use the network’s autocomplete, related Pins and trending searches to find the language that your audience already uses. High-intent, long-tail keywords carry more weight than broad terms here, especially when they appear naturally in titles, descriptions and hashtags.

A strong Pin also includes the following information:

• A clear title that contains the keyword and states a clear benefit (for example, “Summer outfit ideas for work”)
• A detailed Pin description with context and two or three keyword phrases
• Relevant hashtags that are specific to the content

Keyword-rich Pins enhance visibility, especially for e-commerce brands. They also surface extra details like pricing or product information, which drive more click-throughs and signal value to the algorithm.

Create engaging Pins: Video, idea and rich Pins

Research indicates that people retain a staggering 95% of a message they see in a video compared to just 10% from text. This is why video Pins and Stories tend to hold attention longer, which helps the algorithm recognize stronger engagement.

To try it out for yourself, test these high-engagement Pin formats:

• Static Pins: A staple on Pinterest, these Pins are perfect for clean, eye-catching visuals that stop the scroll. They perform best when designs are simple, text overlay is clear and images tell a story at a glance.
• Video Pins: Short, vertical videos of products and tutorials capture moments and stories beyond the static image. They also encourage longer watch times and repeat views.
• Idea Pins: This multi-page format (formerly Story Pins) is excellent for step-by-step guides or collections. Additionally, the algorithm heavily favors these Pins for building engagement.
• Rich Pins: These Pins automatically sync information from your website to your Pins (like price, availability, ingredients or article headlines). This adds a layer of context that the algorithm loves, which makes your Pins more relevant and trustworthy.

Optimize your posting cadence

Post timing affects how quickly your Pin gains engagement. Pins that perform well in the first few hours signal quality to the algorithm, which can further extend their visibility. This early traction also leads to wider distribution across the network.

That’s why timing Pins for when your audience is most active helps your content reach more people. To identify those windows when users are most likely to engage with your Pins, lean on insights from your analytics or Sprout’s ViralPostⓇ feature.

Post consistently with a Pinterest content calendar

Consistency on Pinterest matters too. That’s because the algorithm notices how often you show up, not just what you post.

A consistent posting cadence builds your Pinner Quality and indicates that your brand contributes reliably to the network. When your Pins follow a clear theme too, you’ll help the algorithm understand your niche and recommend your boards to the right target audience.

A content calendar makes this kind of consistency easier by turning your Pinterest presence into a growing library of ideas rather than just a pile of one-off uploads. Over time, that rhythm will help both your audience and the algorithm know what to expect from your brand and keep users coming back for more.

Measuring and adjusting your Pinterest strategy

Pinterest’s search algorithm is always evolving, so your strategy should too. Staying relevant now means paying attention to what’s working, testing new formats, spotting early shifts and adjusting before performance slips.

This kind of adaptability depends on measurement, but that’s where many teams hit a wall. According to Sprout’s data on social media ROI, 97% of marketers say they can communicate the value of social media to their brand, but only 30% feel confident about proving their return.

Using Pinterest’s built-in business account analytics alongside Sprout’s cross-platform insights helps social teams close that loop. By analyzing performance and iterating on what resonates, marketers can spot shifts early, experiment with new creative and refine their Pinterest strategy as the algorithm evolves. After all, the brands that treat iteration as part of their process, not a reaction, are the ones that stay ahead.

Below are three more ways to further fine-tune your Pinterest strategy:

Track metrics with Pinterest analytics

Pinterest analytics reveal what’s really powering your visibility with metrics like impressions, saves, Pin clicks and click-throughs. These show how your content connects with people and where engagement starts to fall off.

Each metric also tells part of the algorithm’s story:

• Impressions measure reach.
• Saves show interest.
• Clicks signal conversion potential.

Performance isn’t about big numbers alone, though. Understanding which boards, topics or creative styles sustain engagement also helps you refine your focus. When certain formats consistently outperform others, for instance, that’s a sign that the algorithm has found a strong relevance between your content and your audience.

Use A/B testing on Pin types

Optimizing your results on Pinterest starts with testing. To do this, compare formats like static versus video or carousels versus Story Pins to see how your audience interacts with your content. Insights from these tests will highlight what catches and sustains their attention.

Sprout’s tagging feature simplifies this process by labeling posts for direct comparison across campaigns. This makes it easy to identify high-performing patterns and helps you decide where to invest your creative energy. When trends start to take shape, building on them helps your Pins gain momentum and increasingly grows their visibility.

Stay updated on algorithm changes

Even small tweaks to Pinterest’s algorithmic ranking logic can shift what performs almost overnight. It’s the teams that notice those changes early that will be able to maintain strong visibility while others struggle to catch up.

As an early warning system, use social listening tools to surface trends and detect shifts in language, imagery and search behavior across social and the web. Reporting dashboards then translate those signals into measurable data points that guide next steps. Sprout’s combination of listening and reporting in this area also helps social teams pinpoint new opportunities and catch drops in performance.

How Sprout helps you succeed on Pinterest

Behind every strong Pinterest strategy is a system that keeps everything organized, consistent and measurable. That’s what Sprout does—it helps teams plan smarter, post on time and see what drives results with clarity, rhythm and data that elevates your content in Pinterest’s algorithm.

Here’s how you can use Sprout Social to achieve your Pinterest strategy goals:

Plan and schedule Pins with publishing and calendar tools

Sprout’s social media publishing and calendar tools give you one central place to plan across Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok and the rest of your social media ecosystem. Seeing the full picture in this way will help you align your timing, creative direction and campaign pacing.

This cross-channel visibility also reduces guesswork and helps you manage recurring content, reuse high-performing assets and stay agile without losing structure. Fewer moving parts here mean stronger Pinner Quality and a workflow that scales as your brand grows.

Optimize timing with ViralPostⓇ

Visibility depends largely on timing, which is why Sprout’s ViralPostⓇ is so important. This feature studies engagement patterns across your audience and recommends when content is most likely to perform well. That way, instead of relying on trial and error, you can let the data guide your scheduling so every Pin gets a fair shot at discovery.

Then, when your Pins go live during peak windows, they’re more likely to earn early engagement. This, in turn, helps the algorithm recognize high-quality Pins and extend their reach across the home feed and related search results. As a result, you’ll end up with a more consistent, predictable rhythm for publishing.

Measure success with Premium Analytics

Every platform promises insights, but few deliver a complete view of ROI. Sprout’s Premium Analytics dashboards, however, connect activity with outcomes. This makes it easy for social practitioners to see which Pins drive traffic, which boards sustain engagement and which creative themes convert best.

Performance tracking becomes simpler when everything lives in one view, whether that’s comparing results across channels, tracking growth over time or identifying where to adjust. That’s why clear analytics transform data into decisions that directly improve visibility and impact.

Inform your Pins strategy with social listening

Trends on Pinterest often start on other networks, like TikTok and X, or in the broader culture. Sprout Social Listening monitors these conversations across the web, helping you spot emerging keywords, seasonal themes and creative directions before they peak on Pinterest.

Instead of guessing what to Pin, you can use these cross-platform insights to shape ideas that resonate. This ensures that your Pinterest content calendar is always relevant and ahead of the curve, which allows you to create Pins that meet demand, rather than just react to it.

Master the Pinterest algorithm with a data-driven approach

Winning on Pinterest is about consistency, not hacks or luck. The brands that rise are those that treat Pinterest like the visual discovery engine it is and refine their approach through testing, data and creativity. That way, every insight becomes a building block for stronger performance, from keywords that convert to visuals that hold attention.

Sprout’s features turn this process into an optimization engine with clear data and easy visualization. This helps you spot what’s working, adjust quickly and keep the momentum going.

Ready to see how your Pins and repins perform more clearly, fine-tune your strategy, and keep your content visible where it matters most? Request a Sprout demo today to learn more.

The post How to win with the Pinterest algorithm in 2026 appeared first on Sprout Social.

As marketing trends and practices evolve, B2B brands must adapt. One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen so far is that social isn’t for sterile product showcases anymore. Instead, these networks serve as vehicles for sharing insights, building relationships, and authentic storytelling. B2B brands have realized this potential, with many steering brand storytelling through thought leadership.

In this article, we dive into why B2B brands need to hone in on their brand narratives, and share key insights from Kara Redman, CEO and founder of brand strategy and activation agency, Backroom, on tips for mastering B2B brand storytelling through thought leadership. Over the course of her career, Redman has helped founders raise over $10M in funding, supported Fortune 500 mergers and worked with brands like DC United, Volo City and Maka Media.

Why B2B needs to tell better stories

B2B companies tend to lean on facts and stats in their social marketing. But oftentimes, hard figures alone don’t captivate or convert—emotional marketing and compelling narratives do.

That’s because humans are at the heart of every business, even B2B brands. Whether you’re marketing to small local businesses or multinational corporations, you’re talking to people. And on social, people want to be safe, seen and understood.

According to Redman, the best B2B brands “understand first what the pain, the emotional pain and the fear of their customers are. Then, they create experiences and stories that make those prospects feel safe enough to buy and for their customers to feel satisfied enough to stay.”

That’s why human-led storytelling and customer-centric social strategies are so effective: you’re conveying that you know who they are, what they struggle with and how to solve their problems.

“I personally reject the idea that B2B brands or B2B buyers are rational versus consumer brands. The reasoning is that people aren’t suddenly non-emotional because they’ve clocked into work,” explains Redman. “We make choices as humans that feel safe. At its most primal core, we want to feel safe and validated in the decisions that we make.”

By crafting brand stories, you’re appealing to decision-makers’ emotional and logical needs. For example, seeing these narratives play out on social could help reduce the anxiety or perceived risk of a high-ticket purchase. “While sales cycles tend to be longer, that storytelling component matters more earlier on in the long game because we’re setting the stage for what the customer is going to experience,” she notes.

Additionally, as AI-generated content becomes more prolific, human-driven storytelling can earn consumer trust.

While users don’t inherently trust AI bots, algorithms or logos, they do trust people—and they’re hungry for more person-to-person connection on social. Per the Q4 2025 Sprout Social Pulse Survey, the majority (32%) of respondents said they most want brands to prioritize human-generated content on social in 2026.

Effective storytelling humanizes your brand by showing the “why” and the “who” behind your solution. From there, you can bridge that trust gap, build a strong community and drive revenue.

Not to mention, building a consistent brand narrative framework is crucial for SEO and social media search. When you repeatedly focus on the same themes, issues and messages, it’s easier for search engines and social algorithms to identify what your content is about. And when these platforms understand your content, it can show it to the right audiences in SERPs and social feeds alike.

Regularly publishing content about your niche also signals in-depth expertise, which is crucial for building topical authority. Over time, search engines and social networks learn that your brand isn’t a one-hit wonder—it’s a reputable voice in the industry.

Make B2B thought leadership a core part of your brand story

B2B thought leadership is vital for ensuring that your brand story is credible and compelling.

Sharing opinions, insights and predictions indicates that your brand truly understands what’s going on in your sector. With that said, it’s not enough to simply share a PDF or regurgitate statistics. You need to provide unique perspectives on industry opportunities and challenges.

Rather than simply recapping industry news, emphasize why these updates are important. Instead of reflecting on trends of the past, forecast what’s to come.

No one is better positioned to deliver these kinds of insights than leadership. When founders, executives and subject-matter experts show up on social, the brand is seen as reputable. More importantly, it’s seen as relatable. It reassures users that there are real people who understand their problems behind the curtain.

As Redman shares, that sense of relatability can bolster your B2B brand storytelling strategy.

“When you see a thought leader, a CEO or a head of marketing building a personal brand through the lens of their company, and you think, ‘They’re really cool; I want them in my sphere,’ or ‘She’s just like me,’ you’ve found a thread of relatability,” she explains. “Whether it is lateral relatability or aspirational, that’s where we start to follow and build trust.”

Most importantly, Redman adds, continue your brand storytelling even after a purchase is made.

“After the purchase, we have to continue telling that story through the product, the experience and the service. Storytelling is perhaps longer-tail with B2B, but it is still very much tied into an emotional decision point,” she emphasizes.

Founder and CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cessario, is proof that humor and edge can be effective tools in cultivating that sense of relatability. While Cessario often shares promotional materials and industry insights on LinkedIn, healso lets his cheeky side shine through, particularly when exploring the trials of starting and growing a business. This brand storytelling approach reinforces the human side of the business.

In one LinkedIn post, he shared an email that he received in 2020 from an unhappy customer claiming that, if Liquid Death was still operational in five years, he would pay the owners $100. Five years later, Cessario highlighted key business wins while lightheartedly sharing that email with his LinkedIn community.

5 ways to build a B2B storytelling framework on social media

While it’s crucial to understand the importance of B2B storytelling, it’s even more vital to know how to execute it. Below, we explore key tactics for crafting a brand narrative framework on social media, complete with best-in-class examples.

1. Adopt classic story arcs

It’s the arc that guides every great story. The protagonist embarks on a life-changing adventure, faces a series of trials and ultimately finds a way forward. And if you thought these narratives were exclusively for the movie screen, think again, because they’re incredibly effective for B2B brand storytelling.

Here’s how it works: Your customer is the hero and your solution is the tool they use to surmount their challenges. This approach highlights the tangible value of your product or service while building an emotional connection with your audience.

In Wix’s social media stories, their “heroes” are small business owners. The restaurateurs eager to share the joy of great food. The personal trainers motivating people to become their healthiest selves. The bookworms turning their love of literature into a brick-and-mortar business.

The challenge they all face is getting noticed. Having a great product or service isn’t enough if people don’t know you exist. And without a marketing background, figuring out how to spread the word can feel daunting.

That’s where the hero’s solution comes in: a website. One that’s easy to build, simple to maintain and visible to the right audiences.

Wix doesn’t frame itself as the main character. Instead, it plays a supporting role. It proves that it understands the challenges entrepreneurs face. Then, it gives them the tools they need to connect with customers, drive revenue and make their dreams a reality.

That customer-centric storytelling approach is ideal for building relatability and driving sales, says Redman.

“People are people, whether they are buying a Voice over IP service or paper towels. We buy what requires the least amount of effort and feels safest, all centered around a true problem we have,” she highlights. “At the core, if you do not know what your people are suffering from and you cannot talk about it in a relatable, useful way, nothing else matters.”

2. Leverage employee advocates as primary storytellers

Odds are, your staff is already online, so why not leverage that digital presence for your own B2B storytelling?

Amplifying the voices of senior leaders and C-suite executives is a proven social media strategy that can elevate your brand. That’s because these higher-ups are ideally positioned to provide expert insights and conduct thought leadership storytelling. Think behind-the-curtain knowledge, industry predictions, quick wins and interesting anecdotes.

Deloitte uses this strategy on LinkedIn. The consulting giant recently rounded up its leaders’ predictions on the AI shifts that will define 2026. In its post about the predictions, Deloitte tagged the leaders, prompting them to share the insights with their own networks.

But great employee advocacy doesn’t end with leadership. Interns, graduates and other junior staff can also play a role in brand storytelling on social.

An example is day-in-the-life content, which is particularly popular on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. For instance, TikTok user @withashleyyy shared a day in her life as a new graduate starting her career at Deloitte. In the video, she gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at working for a “Big Four” firm, including collaborative training sessions, free meals and professional headshots.

Whether it’s the CEO or an intern, on LinkedIn or TikTok, employee-led content needs to feel natural. The priority should be sharing authentic, relatable experiences, not corporate jargon or contrived scenarios. With that in mind, avoid putting strict rules in place; instead, let your staff’s creativity guide them.

“Freedom with guardrails—that is [employee advocacy] in its simplest form,” says Redman. “We talk a lot about relatability, but you can’t force relatability through a framework. What you can do is say, ‘Hey, anytime you’re posting about our company, here are the guardrails for what’s approved and what’s not. Have fun with it.’“

It feels scary because, as leaders, we can’t control what goes out, but that is kind of the point. You are building so much social currency, social proof and trust in your brand if you allow employees to truly be themselves while carrying the right brand message,” she adds.

Achieving the right brand message is made easier with the appropriate tools. For example, Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social empowers employees to share brand content with a few clicks, while staying compliant with pre-approved copy.

You can also use it to compile content in newsletters or broadcasts and send them to specific team members. They can then explore and follow topics relevant to their roles, ideate content and post across networks like LinkedIn and X.

3. Use social listening to meld industry commentary with online culture

A core component of B2B brand storytelling strategy is keeping up with online culture and participating in it.

Per the 2025 Sprout Social Index^TM, this was the #1 priority users wanted from social marketers.

So, ask yourself: what are people talking about on social? What pain points are plaguing your industry? What cultural events or moments could you capitalize on in your content?

Use social listening tools to find the answers to these questions. For instance, Sprout Listening uses AI-powered technology to track millions of conversations on key topics. Say you run a SaaS company offering a social media management tool; you might track queries around specific platforms, algorithm updates or policy changes.

Rather than sifting through the data yourself, you can send Trellis, Sprout’s AI agent, questions or prompts, such as “Explore sentiment spikes in under-16 social media bans”. Trellis will then provide contextual answers in plain language to inform business decisions.

Similarly, NewsWhip by Sprout Social enables your business to anticipate trends with the help of predictive intelligence. This real-time media monitoring tool detects changes, decides what matters to your business and delivers those alerts directly to you.

Once you’ve put your ear to the digital ground, you’ll know what your audience is talking about. Then it’s time to contribute to the conversation.

This is what Amazon does on LinkedIn, using the platform to discuss one of the most prolific, transformative and controversial topics in the global workforce: artificial intelligence (AI). In its posts, the brand explores things like innovation, infrastructure and education in the AI space, often in creative formats.

For instance, one “This or That” style of video saw Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, Panos Panay, try to distinguish AI-generated content from human-generated content.

Incorporating the topic into its social strategy is undoubtedly a direct response to the AI boom, specifically the emergence and widespread adoption of tools like ChatGPT, CoPilot and more. As these tools have become mainstream, so too have discussions about their use, ethics and impacts on productivity.

Put simply, Amazon didn’t have to invent the story; its audience was already telling it. The company simply tuned into those conversations and found ways to contribute that felt timely and impactful.

4. Master zero-click content

Every brand wants to provide value to its audience. But oftentimes, the user has to work too hard to actually reap that value. Think clicking through to a blog post, downloading an eBook or subscribing to a newsletter just to get to the point.

That’s where zero-click content can help you stand out.

As the name suggests, zero-click content delivers the “aha!” moment up front. Instead of teasing social users, you tell the whole story right where they are: in their social feeds. That could be in the form of an image carousel, in-feed video or long-form caption.

“Zero-click content is the most important content, in my opinion,” says Redman. “Because I think we have to move away from this obsession with attribution modeling and click relationships. It is very short-sighted to put content out simply to get immediate revenue.”

Australian workforce management brand, Deputy, regularly embraces no-click content on LinkedIn. To promote the data from its “Better Together: How AI and Human Connection Will Transform Frontline Work” report, the company posted a series of carousels showcasing its most salient statistics.

While each post gives users the option to click through to the full report, the key is that they don’t have to. The carousels themselves provide meaningful, bite-sized takeaways so users can pinpoint relevant findings in a matter of seconds. In sharing this content, Deputy proves that it respects users’ need for in-depth insights and their time.

Zero-click content can also have a more playful twist. As Redman highlights, “entertaining, highly relatable, ‘oh, that’s so me’ shareable content” is integral to building trust over time.

“That [trust] leads to higher ticket sales, less churn and a shorter sales cycle because it amplifies the brand voice,” she says.

“Even among people who are never going to buy from you—perhaps they just want to work there or they just like your content—you are building social proof. Social proof makes people feel safe. [And] feeling safe as a customer is what it’s all about.”

Graphic design tool Canva often shares funny and relatable posts aimed at corporate workers. Tapping into those recognizable moments humanizes Canva’s brand and grabs users’ attention—without asking for a single click.

5. Partner with external thought leaders

Collaborating with outside creators, influencers or brands can help build credibility and expand reach.

As with any form of influencer marketing, the key is to partner with people and organizations complementary to your brand. That is, those who actually use your product or service, have direct access to a shared target audience or share similar values. Doing so will result in collaborations that feel seamless, authentic and honest.

Per the Q2 2025 Sprout Social Pulse Survey, honesty is a top-of-mind trait among consumers; they associate it as the top trait for “bold” brands.

With that said, collaborations can take many different formats across many different platforms—meaning B2B brands should think outside the box.

“Content partnerships can be between an influencer and a brand, but they can also be between two influencers or two thought leaders. It could even be a head of sales and an incumbent CEO talking about upcoming changes in a company.”

“Doing content partnerships with them can be a lateral move, such as a LinkedIn Live with a high-profile client or appearing on a podcast with a peer to talk about industry problems,” explains Redman.

Thinking outside the box is exactly what Slack did in its recent partnership with social media giant MrBeast. Known for his extravagant competition shows and giveaways, MrBeast is a slightly unexpected partner for a corporate communication tool like Slack.

But with over 665 million social followers, MrBeast is running a mammoth content business that specializes in large-scale productions. As a result, his teams must collaborate constantly—which is where Slack comes in.

For Slack, the collaboration achieves two things. Firstly, it enables the brand to tap into MrBeast’s enormous, highly engaged audience that it may not have reached otherwise. Secondly, it showcases its product in a fresh context. Instead of positioning itself as a corporate tool, it’s framed as the communication pillar for fast-moving, larger-than-life businesses in any industry.

The result is storytelling that feels natural, not promotional. In the video, MrBeast isn’t overexplaining the product or forcing a sales message. He’s simply highlighting how it fits into his professional ecosystem and the value it provides.

According to Redman, that subtlety is essential in B2B brand storytelling.

“Ultimately, it is about how you build a community with peers, thought leaders and media personalities to create an ecosystem. If you are selling something all the time, no one is going to listen to you. It is annoying, whether you are at a party, a networking event or online. People can intuit it right away and they shut down,” she says.

“Relationship building is much more important, and you achieve that through partnerships and thought leaders tapping into each other’s networks to amplify a shared message.”

3 key B2B thought leadership takeaways for leaders

Kara sums up her biggest takeaways for leaders in these three key insights.

1. Lean into empathy marketing: Redman says, “[Customers] do not care if your product has three more features than your competitor’s. Using brand storytelling and thought leadership as a tool to better understand customers and insert yourself into existing conversations is the whole point. If you’re doing it just to be famous, you won’t be.”
2. Engage in community forums and conversations: “If you’re obsessed with what’s happening in the market and the conversations people are having around your solution, you’ll never have to write a single post asking people to buy from you. People will trust you and realize on their own, ‘Wait, what do they do? Oh, they can solve my problem.’ They will find it. If you are looking to start a personal brand or thought leadership in a B2B space, be obsessed with the conversations already happening, participate in them and learn from them. That is what makes people feel safe and related,” Redman advises.
3. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty: “‘Roll up your sleeves’ is a great term here. Our best clients are leaders who will load up their own cars to drop something off at a client’s location because it has to get done. I don’t see authority as a means to do less work; I see it as more responsibility and a privilege to be of service to the market. If that’s who you are, you’re going to do well with this strategy,” Redman concludes.

Start writing your B2B brand story

Armed with these expert tips and strategies, you’re ready to write the first chapter of your brand story.

In doing so, remember that the focus of B2B brand storytelling should be less on business and more on people. Humanize your brand by empathizing with your customers’ pain points, sharing leadership’s expert insights and encouraging your employees to share authentic content on their profiles.

When done well, humanizing your brand doesn’t just create a more compelling social story; it accelerates sales cycles, boosts loyalty and drives long-term revenue impact.

Take the first step in crafting your B2B brand storytelling strategy with Sprout’s LinkedIn business worksheet. Use it to refine your brand voice, map your content pillars and brainstorm ideas for employee involvement to help your brand show up on social with clarity, cohesion and confidence.

Download our LinkedIn for Business Worksheet.

The post How to ace B2B brand storytelling through thought leadership appeared first on Sprout Social.

But compared to other channels where brand accounts and corporate content has become the norm, Reddit remains a haven for peer connection. Here, the voice of users reign—and they aren’t afraid to be vocal when other users (brands or not) violate community guidelines.

Success on the platform requires ongoing research and a thoughtful approach to content creation. Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to building your Reddit marketing strategy, with tips our social team has learned from our foray into the network.

Why brands need a Reddit marketing strategy

We frequently advise social teams against jumping onto a new network just for the sake of it, especially when resources are stretched thin. That said, recent audience shifts and the ongoing evolution of search point to a future where Reddit will play a vital role in brands’ marketing efforts.

People are opting-in to community-driven spaces

One of the top things global social users want brands to prioritize in 2026 is interacting with audiences in smaller spaces, according to the Q4 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey. Users no longer settle for just being posted at—they want brands to interact meaningfully on social, and create spaces where they can connect with other individuals around shared interests.

Subreddits and AMAs naturally scratch this itch, giving audiences a place where no topic is too niche for rich conversation.

Audiences are already talking about your product there

Reddit has quickly become a top social network for product discovery. The company estimates that roughly 40% of all posts and comments on the platform are product-related.

The two top ways audiences want brands showing up on Reddit is by providing customer service and sharing educational product information, according to Sprout research. This makes Reddit a wealth of insights to better understand how your brand and products are perceived, and a forum for connecting directly with active buyers.

Reddit plays a key role in social search and AEO

Social search is growing fast and Reddit is a huge factor: More than 40% of Gen Z turn to social media when searching for information, their #1 source over traditional search engines and chat-based AI tools. The platform is in the top 10 for websites visited worldwide, and #3 in the US alone.

Reddit’s API partnership with Google has resulted in an explosion of organic search traffic to the network, not to mention it is becoming a top citation source for AI engines like ChatGPT. Large language models tend to favor recency and length when it comes to the content they cite. The long-form nature of many Reddit posts make them even more valuable answering users’ queries.

Reddit continues to roll out new brand-facing features that prove the network’s commitment to social search. For example:

• Reddit Pro Trends launched in 2025 to help marketers stay on top of trends and conduct keyword research across subreddits.
• The recently expanded “Smart keywords” tool makes it easier to detect brand mentions accurately. Our team noticed a 40% increase in Sprout Social mentions since this rolled out, helping flag subreddits we need to pay attention to.
• Reddit Ads (including the newer AMA ad format) show up directly in discussions people are already having, naturally weaving your brand into the conversation.

Ensuring your brand is discoverable on Reddit ultimately has implications for your reach beyond the network.

4 steps to building a Reddit marketing strategy

Here are four actionable steps brands (regardless of industry or audience) can use to create a strong Reddit marketing strategy, informed by our social team’s experience building our presence there.

Step 1: Outline a “crawl, walk, run” approach

It bears repeating: Reddit is incredibly community-driven, and each niche within the platform has its own norms and expectations for brand involvement. You can’t expect to go from zero to engaged Redditor or subreddit moderator overnight.

We recommend developing a “crawl, walk, run” approach, with distinct goals and plenty of time in each phase to test and iterate before progressing. This might look like:

• Phase I: Set up your account. Decide if it makes sense to create a branded user or an individual “persona” to build your presence around. The bulk of this phase should be spent researching and listening. Find the subreddits where your target audience or existing customers are active, and get familiar with the community guidelines, moderators and active voices in each. Monitor conversations already happening about your business or industry, and start compiling relevant insights to share back with other teams internally. You should start commenting or answering questions to build Karma (Reddit’s proprietary user reputation score), so long as you’re not doing so to plug your product or service.
• Phase II: With plenty of research under your belt, you can start becoming a more active Reddit contributor. This is where the experimentation truly begins. Start posting original threads (e.g., comment on trending topics relevant to your audience, share proprietary survey data or insights). There are a variety of formats to begin testing here, including AMA-style prompts, resource breakdowns or case study stories. Begin tracking engagement metrics like upvotes, comments, shares and saves to identify what’s working best.
• Phase III: This phase is all about running with what you’ve learned and scaling up. Now is the time to tackle larger content opportunities (e.g., hosting your own AMA with a company leader or brand ambassador) and formalize your internal Reddit workflows. You might also consider paid Reddit Ad opportunities.

Step 2: Conduct keyword research to find your niche

To break through on any platform, you have to start with research. Make this step more manageable by identifying a short-list of the subreddits most relevant to your brand, rather than only investigating specific keywords. Within this list, there may be some subreddits where you primarily listen and others where you’ll want to actively participate.

Our team has primary and secondary subreddits. Our primary subreddits (6 total) are where we want to become known as valuable contributors. Our secondary subreddits (7 total) are solely for Karma building and monitoring industry conversations. This works for us, but 10-15 is the sweet spot because it gives you a wide enough net to learn, explore and test.

While this research can be done manually, there are a variety of tools available to expedite the process. For example, Reddit Pro’s Trends feature lets business users create and monitor both standard and Smart keywords. The latter (which are only currently available for certain brand names and categories) offer expanded insights such as conversation volume and related keywords.

Tools like Sprout Listening and NewsWhip by Sprout Social scale your research over the long term. NewsWhip by Sprout Social helps teams catch emerging conversations about your brand or products before they make their way to other networks (or the media). With Sprout Listening, you can monitor conversations and brand health trends over time.

Step 3: Master community guidelines and remember the 90/10 rule

Once you start actively posting on Reddit, be prepared to follow community norms. Users who don’t risk having comments removed or being banned altogether.

Follow the 90/10 rule: Aim for 90% of the content you share to be educational, and 10% promotional. Once you’ve done your research, it will be tempting to weigh in on every thread that mentions your priority keywords—resist that temptation. Sharing relevant content is more important than hitting a certain number of posts or upvotes.

The tone of your posts is equally important as the content itself. Messaging that you used to share a corporate update on LinkedIn likely won’t land with Redditors. Relying on AI-generated responses sends another red flag to users already skeptical of bot-driven posts on the network.

Astroturfing (posting content that appears to be organic but ultimately is self-promotional content) is also largely discouraged across Reddit. Some communities may be more accepting of brand interactions than others. If your research into a specific subreddit doesn’t turn up past posts or comments from brand accounts, you may not want to break that precedent.

Even if you do follow these guidelines, there’s a chance your comments might get removed or your account could get banned—it’s the name of the game when experimenting. But you can work with your Reddit Pro rep to appeal if you think your content was wrongfully flagged. They can also help navigate your overarching strategy and Reddit Pro functionality.

Step 4: Resource your strategy appropriately

You should consider how you’ll resource your Reddit research, content and engagement plans on top of other team priorities.

At Sprout, we established rotating Reddit shifts across our in-house team members. This gives everyone an opportunity to get comfortable with the platform’s community expectations and content nuances. As a small team of three, shifts help us not only manage the workload but also understand our audience better. This setup also enables us to maintain a strong relationship with the Product team, with our learnings informing the Reddit product roadmap at Sprout.

Brands whose Reddit marketing strategies we admire

Looking for inspiration? These are some of our favorite brands that have embraced the power of Reddit.

Grammarly (now a part of Superhuman)

With 13,000 weekly visitors to the r/Grammarly subreddit, it’s no surprise that the AI writing platform has a multi-pronged Reddit marketing strategy. This includes two corporate accounts: u/GrammarlyOfficial and u/Grammarly_Support.

Through u/GrammarlyOfficial, the company hosts AMAs with executive leaders including their CEO, Shishir Mehrotra, and Jenny Maxwell, Head of Grammarly for Education. The account has earned over 600 Karma in less than a year.

The u/Grammarly_Support is one of five moderators of r/Grammarly, where their team frequently responds to product questions and feedback. In just one year, the account has made over 1,200 contributions and racked up a 100 Karma score.

Dove

In April 2025, Dove rolled out a branded subreddit for a specific purpose: the Dove Hot Seats campaign. To drive awareness of their new Dove Whole Body Deo collection, the company launched a Reddit-based scavenger hunt. Audiences were directed to the subreddit to pick up on digital clues that would lead them to a chance to win tickets to Charli xcx concerts, Lollapalooza and more.

Beyond this particular campaign, the u/Dove account has since started experimenting with Reddit to source feedback about new products.

Litter-Robot

Pet tech company Whisker is on a mission to make life better for cats and their owners. Their Litter-Robot product was one of the first-ever self-cleaning litter boxes to hit the market.

Cat parents are fanatical about taking care of their felines, and Litter-Robot mirrors that support for their customers on Reddit. The company maintains a corporate account that serves as co-moderator of r/litterrobot, which sees 66,000 weekly visitors and nearly 2,000 weekly contributions. The content ranges from troubleshooting questions and cat pics to folks swapping litter brand recommendations.

Taking it a step further, Whisker CEO Jacob Zuppke gets in on the conversation as u/CatPoopMan. Zuppke has gone so far as to offer his own email address to help get customer issues taken care of and share company updates (like Litter-Robot becoming HSA/FSA eligible).

Toronto Public Library

Libraries continue to write a new playbook for how traditionally offline organizations can engage audiences online—and the Toronto Public Library’s Reddit account is no exception.

The library is an active contributor to a variety of local Toronto subreddits, including r/Toronto and r/Torontoevents, where they regularly share upcoming free activities across their various locations. They also tap into their vast physical and digital archives to spark conversations around timely moments, like when they showcased this 1977 Blue Jays ticket during the 2025 World Series:

They also use the platform to respond to local patrons’ questions and shed light on internal processes (like ebook and audiobook purchasing), proving that a branded subreddit is not mandatory to delivering thoughtful customer service.

Get closer to your audience with a Reddit marketing strategy

If peer connection and smaller community spaces are the future of social, Reddit is where brands will need to be. No topic is too niche for the platform, and the depth and breadth of available subreddits means no brand is off-limits for user conversation.

But remember: This is not a place marketers can rush into. Instead, take the time to learn Reddit’s nuances and audience expectations. Then you can start building a long-term Reddit marketing strategy that brings your brand closer to customers, and to insights that can impact your entire business.

Ready to get started? Take a deeper dive into these strategies for Reddit social listening.

The post Building a Reddit marketing strategy: Lessons from Sprout Social’s team appeared first on Sprout Social.