The social media panorama is more and more fragmented, a results of each regulatory adjustments and evolving algorithms. That is fueling a race amongst manufacturers to determine fairness and relevance in rising digital areas, a prospect that understandably worries social entrepreneurs. For many of them, their greatest worry is their audiences migrating to non-public, closed, or area of interest platforms.
These fears are well-founded, as almost 40% of entrepreneurs report that their viewers has already begun to shift extra of their time in the direction of rising platforms like Threads, Bluesky, Lemon8, and Mastodon, per the Q1 2025 Sprout Social Pulse Survey. And 51% of customers plan to spend extra time on community-driven platforms like Reddit over the following six months, in line with our Q2 2025 Pulse survey.
This shift has been a very long time coming, so why are so many manufacturers nonetheless struggling to adapt? Having labored in digital and social media for 20 years, I’ve seen a lot change on this house — aside from one exhausting reality. Social entrepreneurs aren’t getting the help they should take massive swings on new platforms.
Investing in rising platforms
Staying related on this business requires manufacturers to have a relentless pulse on the place their viewers is most engaged and the place they could be heading subsequent.
Manufacturers focusing solely on established or legacy platforms threat being left behind as new networks emerge. Being an early adopter of rising platforms affords a big benefit, permitting your model to face out amongst opponents and business friends.
I am not saying it’s best to divest from established social media platforms, however diversifying your methods will permit you to join together with your viewers in quite a lot of areas.
Our 2024 Social Media Content material Technique Report discovered that, when customers had been requested the place they needed manufacturers to cease exhibiting up, their reply was considerably shocking: nowhere. Each social media community presents distinctive alternatives for manufacturers to search out and develop their group. It’s because social media customers use completely different platforms to satisfy completely different connection and content material consumption wants.
However realizing you possibly can’t merely transfer your model to each new house, success lies in understanding that immediately’s customers worth genuine, connection-driven engagement over simply having a presence. Even dipping your toes into one or two experimental platforms could be sufficient to diversify your investments and canopy your bases. However this is the kicker: You will have to make a robust case to your management group that it is definitely worth the effort.
Easy methods to advocate for platform experimentation
Let’s be trustworthy: So many social groups nonetheless wrestle to construct belief with their management and make the case for easier content material approval processes or extra manufacturing sources. Efficiently advocating for investing in a brand new community begins with capturing the suitable knowledge and defining a concrete plan.
Use viewers knowledge to tell the place you need to check
Essentially the most refined groups already faucet social knowledge to remain attuned to cultural tendencies and make smarter choices about what content material they create. These insights might be potent indicators to assist decide the place your model wants to begin exhibiting up.
For instance, are you or your opponents seeing viewers measurement declines on legacy networks? Are folks beginning to speak about your model or business in locations the place you don’t have a proper presence immediately? Or are creators related to your business efficiently migrating to new areas?
Collect any obtainable insights to indicate (not simply inform) the place and why you need to experiment. And bear in mind: Nothing spurs leaders on like realizing they’re being outpaced by different manufacturers. Don’t hesitate to floor examples of different corporations which have already diversified their strategy.
Set concrete objectives to maintain your efforts in scope
Exploring new platforms will doubtless require reevaluating the place your group’s time is spent. And that is okay! The hot button is to be upfront concerning the bandwidth you may have to reallocate — maybe 20% — and the way that may regulate your ordinary content material output.
Your strongest argument for this transfer will likely be a transparent, contained experiment with concrete objectives. For example, you possibly can suggest, “Over the following three months, we’ll use this new platform to develop our group by X%.” Keep in mind, metrics like viewers engagement and progress are likely to seize the eye of promoting leaders.
Must you face pushback, encourage leaders to mirror on how way more progress your model can actually obtain on networks the place you are already well-established. Whereas new platforms do not assure on the spot viewers enlargement, they do open doorways to untapped potential. You may additionally suggest leaning extra on user-generated content material and influencer partnerships in your present channels to deal with any dips in efficiency proactively.
Manufacturers staking a declare on rising networks
The excellent news for risk-averse manufacturers is that this: There are companies setting a platform experimentation precedent (and thriving).
For over a 12 months, luxurious vogue home Louis Vuitton has maintained an lively Discord server. They invite greater than 10,000 group members to take part in varied dialog threads — from digital actuality, know-how, and humanities and tradition — whereas sharing unique model content material and, most just lately, an immersive gaming expertise.
Louis Vuitton’s success is an instance of a wider pattern we’ve noticed: Model accounts are popping up on community-driven networks. From Sephora internet hosting Reddit AMAs with their magnificence administrators to Tory Burch’s new Substack, manufacturers are creating areas for genuine group and forging stronger parasocial relationships with their audiences.
Given how unpredictable social networks might be, doubling down on group administration simply is sensible. Platforms come and go, however a vibrant, engaged group is one thing that lasts (and might even thrive!) irrespective of how a lot the social media panorama adjustments.
Should you’re unsure which new platforms to discover, an excellent start line is to search for locations the place persons are already speaking about your model. For instance, right here at Sprout, we have discovered success by actively constructing our group on Reddit, which is dwelling to the second-largest viewers of B2B decision-makers, with three out of 4 saying they plan to make use of it to tell future purchases.
Success on Reddit lies in understanding its distinct, member-centric strategy. As a substitute of blatant self-promotion, entrepreneurs should present real worth and turn out to be lively and contributing members inside related subreddits to foster significant conversations. The platform affords nice perception for manufacturers to raised perceive their customers and inform proactive methods.
For Sprout, Reddit customers speak about their MarTech stacks and supply unfiltered suggestions about our product. Not exhibiting up was a chance price we couldn’t afford.
Embrace change, construct resilience
We perceive: It will probably really feel overwhelming to carve out time to experiment with new platforms, and there is threat in stepping away out of your essential networks. Nonetheless, doing nothing is a higher one.
The social media panorama is continually evolving, and types ought to view occasions of change as alternatives to construct extra resilient ecosystems centered on long-term progress. Social entrepreneurs have already got many expertise wanted to reach these new areas. Leaders want to offer them the help and adaptability to prepare dinner.
Nobody can say for certain which social media platforms will stick round, however one factor’s for sure: placing effort into constructing sturdy, engaged communities will at all times repay.
Comply with Layla Revis for insights on model storytelling and her award-winning work main social technique for Fortune 500 corporations.
Edited by Jigmee Bhutia
