We are just a few weeks in to 2026 and blessed with a plethora of trends forecasting and data for social media, digital and marketing. In this article we highlight five truths and explore what the implications are for social media marketing this year.
1 Social media is 100% here for 2026…and so is AI
First the good news. Social media is now so well established the average time spent each week on social and short videos is higher than broadcast TV, streaming services and radio combined which makes it the leading way to consume content according to GWI. Social media is now less “social” and rather than being used to keep up with friends and make new contacts as it was before, people see it more as a hobby and a way to keep up with celebrities and influencers. This shows us how social media is now an established channel for capturing attention and is exactly why social should lead marketing efforts. Looking back at 2025, there was an undeniable amount of excitement and hype around AI and it has impacted the way advertising and marketing works. According to SproutSocial research, in 2026 marketers want to use AI tools for content creation while conversely consumers are looking for more human generated content. As social networks increasingly highlight AI generated content, there will be a knock on effect as this could potentially turn off fans who are looking for authenticity.
Key actions:
- Look to social as the lead on marketing and how to integrate short video and infuencer content across the mix
- Understand the implications of using generative AI for your creative and keep up to date with AI developments and be mindful of what kind of content consumers are looking for
2 AI is now generic
It’s clear AI is a game changer for marketing automation and the conversation must continue beyond what we already know. Currently we all understand how it has potential to speed up various processes involved from content creation and social media management through to ad optimisation but there is more. Roll forward to January 2026 when the Arts Council England (ACE) announced its intention to recognise Digital Arts as a new artistic artform and referenced AI as an “increasingly ubiquitous general-purpose technology with wide ranging implications for creative production and consumption”. While this is clear proof AI has truly arrived, the fact it is now considered generic poses a problem as it could be taken for granted and inhibit innovation. One study revealed how a social team is using AI to generate Alt descriptions for content which saves much more time for being creative while another reported back on how creators are using generative tools not as shortcuts, but as catalysts to create cutting edge social content.
Key actions:
- Audit your marketing processes and tools to see where AI solutions are useful
- Keep teams talking and learning about AI, experiment and push the boundaries to ensure it is being used innovatively and efficiently
3 Al drives need for intimacy
The unintended consequence of the new AI-generated high volume content streams is our attention spans are thinly spread, or worse, we switch off. One trend we think is really relevant for 2026 is We Are Social’s “intimacy economy” which leverages the power of true user generated content (UGC). It identifies how audiences are looking for something more meaningful to connect with at a slower pace. The concept is one which brings consumers together with brands in a very personal way which is engaging and authentic. This is a welcome antidote to the polarisation we have seen over the last 10 years on social media. They reference two strong video examples; Subway Takes and View from a Bridge which both invite people to express their opinions and views. What’s interesting about these is how they use public space to stage the content and create what is essentially a vox pop with a twist. This means it is a format which is easy to replicate and keeps costs low.
How to use? Video inspiration:
The magic is in posing the right questions or topic to discuss and allowing the subject to talk freely about their lived experience. This does not have to be a fully commissioned series and can work effectively as a one off piece.
V&A East Storehouse published a round up of interviews with visitors about their first impressions of the new venue, which is really compelling and inspiring.
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Visual inspiration:
If your brand is more visual than video focused, the Canva – What’s on my desk campaign is a great example of how people can participate in something fun and relatable. It generates excellent visual UGC for the brand, while encouraging people to use and showcase Canva’s tools. It is also interesting to see they are still using branded hashtags, which have become less popular of late, with the call to action “Create yours, tag us and use WhatsOnMyDesk.
4 Employees as the trusted face of brands
This idea is a hybrid of two of Hootsuite‘s 18 trends for 2026 (Employee advocacy x Brands as creators) which encourages organisations to present a human face to their brand. We think these two are particularly powerful when combined. Research proves what we know already – people trust each other more than they trust faceless brands. They also trust employees more than journalists, influencers, and CEOs which is why employee advocacy is working for social media. This is more than just leveraging your teams and their social clout – this is also putting them front and centre of your social media as a relatable personality and brand ambassador.
How to use?
Hootsuite features Olivia from Opal to demonstrates how an employee as creator supports the brand. She is a corporate influencer with purpose and an expert in her field which makes her highly valuable to the brand and a trusted source of information for her followers.
@olivia.unplugged
Employee inspiration:
For arts and culture organisations we see curators and specialists are doing this very well. This reel from the Natural History Museum features Suzanne Williams, Museum Scientists and she talks about scallops, their highly unusual eyes and how fishermen attract them using LED lights, or in other words, a disco!
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Key actions:
- Employees who have domain expertise and are able to communicate complex subject matter in a relatable way which engages people will be highly effective faces for the brand
- It is imperative employees have a adequate training and feel confident on screen as well as a squeaky clean online reputation to avoid any unwanted controversy
5 Trends and cultural moments dynamics
Cultural moments in social media are the virtual watercooler gone viral. We started the year with the 2016 throwback trend and with awards season already upon us for many organisations it will be tempting to jump on the bandwagon. The same for festival season, and this Summer the World Cup will be extremely high profile. Many brands will be planning creative scenarios for this now if they have not done so already. Unless your brand is part of the phenomenon such as Jet2 was last year, there is always groundwork to be done. Marketing can be spontaneous, but it needs rigour and discipline too. If it is reactive, by the time the copy has been approved and the artwork commissioned, it is very likely the fuss will have died down and it will look out of place. How do you compare to the industry norms? 30% of marketers say their at least half their content is timely or informed by cultural moments and this rises to 44% for sophisticated teams. 75% of marketers get timely content approved in 5 hours or less. If you do not compare, these figures are something to aim for. Navigating the fast moving landscape of social trends is important if you want your marketing efforts to land well and sometimes it is just about taking a risk. The V&A jumped on the #cbat #reddit #redditstories trend and ended up with a hit on TikTok amassing over 26 million views of it’s cheeky video of Greek hero Theseus sitting astride the minotaur which he has just killed with a witty caption as you can see below.
@vamuseum 2 years on repeat #cbat #reddit #redditstories ♬
Key actions:
- Planned spontaneity is achievable – create different scenarios around events you want to focus on such as awards and launches or even better have a bank of ideas which are ready to go at short notice
- Develop a high speed end to end creative process which includes creative production and approval
To conclude
The social media forecast for 2026 is for less of a deluge on the AI front, with more humanity and warmth coming through if we are to believe the trends. This means we will see brands making more thoughtful content to share across the world of social media and here are the five key take aways to take on board:
- Social media is here to stay and especially short form video
- Understand the implications of using AI generated content and what it means to your audience
- With AI now generic and embedded across the marketing and creative sphere rather than a stand alone – it still needs careful consideration and more importantly innovation
- The consequence of AI is it makes us crave what it is to be human and relatable on social media. Successful content must be authentic, credible and human which is why UGC is important too
- To engender trust it is important to give your brand a face so where possible, place your employees front and centre of social media and support them to become credible creators
- When it comes to cultural moments – make sure you are doing it in the right window of time and you are adequately prepared – a pinch of humour goes a long way too
The Home of Social ethos is about well crafted human to human communication with organic content at its core, which in the age of AI is not just content created for branded channels but content which has human-made provenance.
If you’d like to meet us to talk about how we can help you make your social media cut through the noise, please do get in touch eva@homeofsocial.com.
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