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Marketers are casting wide nets, but struggle to hook audiences
Consumers are clear: They plan to be highly engaged with brands on social media in 2026. Four in five say they will interact with brand content more or the same as they do now.
Marketers are answering the call by investing in new social media networks. 87% say they want their brand to show up on more networks in 2026, though leaders are more likely to say it’s a good idea than individual contributors. This isn’t surprising given individual contributors’ first-hand account of the effort required to expand to new networks. Yet, even sophisticated teams that already have extensive cross-platform presences want to expand to new networks, especially emerging ones.
With new networks dividing attention and unpredictable algorithmic shifts impacting who sees what where, teams struggle to reach and engage with their target audience on social. Unsure which networks are central to their audience’s content consumption, marketers are going everywhere. With a finite amount of resources, marketers need social intelligence that delivers deeper audience insights to make the best use of their time and talent. Without them, brands risk over-investing in the wrong places, while leaving space for competitors to swoop in on the networks that matter most to their audience.
For this report, we surveyed over 2,300 consumers in the US, UK and Australia to find out what users actually want from brands on social, and how their responses differ from network to network. We surveyed another 1,200 marketers in the US, UK and Australia to compare how brands’ priorities differed from consumer expectations. These findings reveal what kind of content social teams should prioritize in 2026, and how to deliver the greatest return on investment from your social media efforts.
Marketers are casting wide nets, but struggle to hook audiences
Consumers are clear: They plan to be highly engaged with brands on social media in 2026. Four in five say they will interact with brand content more or the same as they do now.
Marketers are answering the call by investing in new social media networks. 87% say they want their brand to show up on more networks in 2026, though leaders are more likely to say it’s a good idea than individual contributors. This isn’t surprising given individual contributors’ first-hand account of the effort required to expand to new networks. Yet, even sophisticated teams that already have extensive cross-platform presences want to expand to new networks, especially emerging ones.
With new networks dividing attention and unpredictable algorithmic shifts impacting who sees what where, teams struggle to reach and engage with their target audience on social. Unsure which networks are central to their audience’s content consumption, marketers are going everywhere. With a finite amount of resources, marketers need social intelligence that delivers deeper audience insights to make the best use of their time and talent. Without them, brands risk over-investing in the wrong places, while leaving space for competitors to swoop in on the networks that matter most to their audience.
For this report, we surveyed over 2,300 consumers in the US, UK and Australia to find out what users actually want from brands on social, and how their responses differ from network to network. We surveyed another 1,200 marketers in the US, UK and Australia to compare how brands’ priorities differed from consumer expectations. These findings reveal what kind of content social teams should prioritize in 2026, and how to deliver the greatest return on investment from your social media efforts.
