The bar for social has moved. What worked even last year doesn't always land now, and the teams getting it right keep evolving how they approach the work. In a conversation on social media best practices, three founders who build these strategies every day shared their expert insights. We heard from Ali Grant, Co-CEO of The Digital Dept.; Leora Novick, Founder & CEO of Persephone Social; and Renee Ogaki, Founder & CEO of OGAKI. They covered what they're seeing work across their client rosters, how teams are resourcing content, what's earning real engagement versus vanity metrics, and where brands, creators and thought leaders should be focusing their energy.

The takeaways: 

• Polished, beautiful content is no longer enough on social. Audiences are tired of seeing the same thing everywhere, and the brands standing out are telling stories only they can tell.
• Chasing trends rarely pays off anymore. By the time a creator partnership is approved, the moment has usually passed, so the real question is whether a trend fits the brand at all.
• People now use social as a search engine. Answering common customer questions in content and captions, in a natural voice, helps posts get discovered on platforms and in AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
• Personality wins over faceless content. That can mean a founder or team member on camera, or simply a brand identity so clear you’d recognize it without seeing the name.
• Serialized content is the standout format right now, giving audiences a reason to follow and come back each week. One creator’s series gained more than 100,000 followers in about a week.
• With consumers more skeptical than ever, expert-led content is working well, especially in beauty, where dermatologists and other pros can make science engaging.
• Brands still script creator partnerships too tightly. Creators are hired for their voice, and the best results come from letting them lead.
• Saves, shares, and thoughtful comments are the clearest signs of real engagement, with follower growth ideally keeping pace. Metrics should tie back to a clear goal, and questions that keep coming up in comments often make the best content.
• AI is most useful behind the scenes, for data analysis, reporting, brainstorming, and checking content against brand guidelines. Writing, taste, product results, and relationships still need people, and AI-written outreach to creators is obvious and ignored.
• Owning your audience matters more than ever. If a platform disappeared tomorrow, would the business survive? 
• Substack is becoming a go-to for creators and thought leaders with something to say, and for brands willing to offer value rather than sell.
• Quality beats quantity. The brand posting most often is rarely the one winning, being great on one platform beats spreading the same content across five, and “best times to post” matter far less than they used to.
• Each platform still deserves its own approach. For example, Instagram carousels tend to reach existing followers while video reaches new ones. 
• Creative drives performance. Brand content and paid media shouldn’t live in separate silos, and organic and paid teams should be learning from each other.
• Some of the best inspiration comes from outside your industry. Looking beyond direct competitors to brands in entirely different categories can spark ideas the usual echo chamber won’t.