Why Social Should Be the Starting Point for Every Marketing Strategy
A lot of businesses still think about social at the end of the process.
The campaign gets approved.
The TV ad gets made.
The landing page goes live.
Then someone asks, “Can we get some social posts out of this?”
That approach made sense when social was mostly a distribution channel. It doesn’t anymore.
Today, social is the world’s largest live focus group. Every day, millions of people openly explain what they want, what frustrates them and what influences their decisions. The opportunity is learning from them before you build anything.
That change is reflected in how people spend their time. According to DataReportal, there are now more than 5.3 billion social media users globally. The average person uses 6.5 social platforms every month and spends 18 hours and 36 minutes every week on social media. It’s where a huge part of people’s digital lives happens.
Source: DataReportal, Digital 2025
If your audience spends hours every day telling you what they care about, why would you wait until the campaign is finished before listening?
Social isn’t where campaigns end anymore
Marketing has changed. People don’t move neatly from awareness to consideration to purchase. They bounce between TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, AI search and Google.
Someone might discover your brand through a creator.
Research it on Reddit.
Watch three YouTube reviews.
Ask ChatGPT what people think.
Search TikTok for real experiences.
Social now influences every stage of the journey.
Research backs that up. 50% of adult social media users say they use social platforms to learn about brands and see the content they publish. For Gen Z and younger Millennials, that figure is even higher, making social one of the first places people go when they’re researching a purchase.
Source: GWI via DataReportal, Digital 2025
Which means strategy should start where behaviour is already visible.
The best research department in your company is already free
Most brands pay for research, then ignore millions of conversations happening in social. Every day people are asking on Reddit:
“Which air fryer should I buy?”
“Is this mattress worth it?”
“Has anyone used this bank?”
“What’s the catch?”
These are strategy opportunities. Every comment is proof. Patterns in conversations reveal consumer demand, objections, misconceptions and unmet needs long before they appear in a research report.
Social tells you what your audience actually wants
The bigger question is why so many marketing teams still ignore it. Most planning still starts with assumptions, stakeholder opinions or historical research, even though customers are sharing fresh insight every minute.
If hundreds of people keep asking the same question on TikTok, that’s a content idea for you.
If everyone on Reddit keeps complaining about the same experience, that’s product feedback.
If creators naturally explain your product in a completely different way than your website does, that’s a messaging insight.
This changes more than your content
Social-first is one of marketing’s most misunderstood ideas. It doesn’t mean making TikToks before TV. It means starting with human behaviour before deciding what to make. Being social-led changes how you approach:
SEO: Use social questions to build content people are already searching for.
PR: Spot emerging conversations before journalists do.
Creative: Build ideas around behaviours people already enjoy watching.
Paid: Test messages organically before spending media budget.
AI Search: AI systems increasingly learn from the same conversations your customers are having. Reddit discussions, YouTube reviews and creator content all help shape how AI explains your category. Social is influencing the systems people ask before they make decisions.
In short, social media feeds every discipline.
What happens when social arrives last?
We’ve all seen it. The campaign is finished. The TV ad gets cut into six shorter videos. Someone resizes the key visual for Instagram. A LinkedIn post gets written. TikTok receives the leftover assets.
Nothing feels native because none of it was designed for the platform. So they flop.
Because you’re competing for attention. People are choosing between your content, creators they follow, entertainment, sports highlights, podcasts, friends and family updates, and everything else filling their feeds.
A simple way to know if you’re thinking socially
Before you make anything, ask four questions.
Would someone choose to watch this?
Would someone search for this?
Would someone send this to a friend?
Would someone learn something useful?
If the answer is yes to at least one, you’re probably heading in the right direction. If not, go back to the brief.
Social has become marketing’s fastest source of behavioural intelligence
This is the part that excites us most. Social is now where brands learn. It helps you understand:
what people are searching
what language they use
which creators shape opinions
what trends actually matter
what competitors are missing
what AI systems are likely learning about your category
Google has recognised this too. It recently expanded Search Console reporting so creators can better understand how content from platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube appears in Google Search. Even Google is treating social content as an important part of the search ecosystem.
Source: Google Search Central / The Verge, 2026
What should marketers do next?
You don’t need to rebuild your organisation overnight. Start with three changes:
Invite social into campaign planning.
Not after the creative is approved. At the brief stage.
Use social conversations as research.
Spend as much time reading comments as dashboards. The comments often explain the numbers.
Build ideas for the platform they’ll live on.
Every channel has different behaviours. Start there instead of adapting later.
The Takeaway
Social has become much bigger than a place to post content. It’s where people tell us what they’re looking for, what they’re confused by, what they love and what they wish brands would do better. Those conversations happen every minute, whether brands are paying attention or not. If you’re only opening social once the campaign is finished, you’re missing some of the most useful insight you’ll get.
That’s why I think social deserves a much bigger role in marketing. It can shape the brief, improve the messaging, inspire better creative and uncover the questions people are already asking before they ever reach Google or your website. It can even influence how your brand is understood in AI search. Social is helping us build better ideas.
Maybe it’s time we stop thinking about social as another marketing channel. It’s become one of the best ways to understand people, and marketing has always started with understanding people. The brands that bring social into the room from the very beginning will have a much better understanding of their audience, and that leads to better decisions across every part of the marketing mix. That’s why I believe social belongs at the start of every marketing strategy.
Want to dive deeper? Join my Reddit Visibility webinar on 23rd July, register here - https://kaizen.co.uk/events/mastering-reddit-visibility-webinar
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This is a spot-on take. Treating social media as an afterthought instead of a primary source of audience insights is a massive missed opportunity for modern brands. The non-linear customer journey is very real, and starting where the audience actually hangs out and talks is the only way to build campaigns that resonate today.
Since we both write about digital marketing and campaign strategies, I would love to connect. Let me know if you are open to swapping subscriptions so we can support each other and grow together!