What makes a social brand

At SXSW 2025, Crispin Head of Social Sewa Adekoya sat down with Sarah Zurell, CMO at Chinese Laundry, Emma Gueorguieva, Second Year PHD Student in Social & Personality Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, and Kristina Monllos, Senior Marketing Editor at Digiday to unpack social language. They discussed how can brands be personalized in their communication, while also understanding that language is more universal than ever thanks to social media.

Click here for full recording, and an edited summary below.

Looking at the state of social media today, how would you define what makes a brand successful? Is there a brand that is really nailing it?

It’s a brand that “gets it.” What does “getting it” actually mean? It’s a mix of authenticity, understanding your culture and your audience. 

So many brands' tone of voice today sounds like your “bestie,” but it doesn’t work for everyone.

Reformation is “getting it” across social and the integrated marketing mix. They embed social language throughout all their communications all the way down to email.

Gap is another example. A storied brand that has come back to relevance in so many people’s closets, but also social feeds. They’ve leaned into dance and the language of dance to show how their clothes are moving, creating constant conversation online.

When we’re thinking about social language, what is it? 

Language is a critical aspect of culture and socialization, from the way that we interact with one another to the way we seek empathy. Humans are social creatures who need these bonds and language is a product. Different groups talk to one another in different ways. In order for a brand to think about its voice, it first has to think about how people are speaking to each other.

Influencers bring new words to the table and as a brand you need to decide if you’re going to lean in and “get on trend.” But what happens if the trend goes south, or you align with an influencer that doesn’t uphold your brand values?

It comes back to the brand’s strategy and setting tone and voice from the start.

Consumers are building their own personas through the content they engage with every day. We’re watching brands take those conversations and social language and weave it into their own communications, code-switching from platform to platform. 

But how far can we push this? Not every brand can talk like a “bestie.” How do you decide what is right?

The co-opting of language based on cultural trends by brands happens every day, but it only works when the brand understands the origin of this new social language.

Look at the example of “on fleek.” This originated from a black creator on Vine and circulated within African American communities. One day Ellen DeGeneres said “on fleek” which immediately made the phrase “not cool” and brand safe. Then a toothpaste brand says “keep your teeth on fleek,” and we cringe.

When we saw “very demure, very mindful” enter the conversation last summer, the brand that “got it” was Fenty Beauty, because not only did they understand the origin, they acknowledged it, working with the creator directly.

All of this language has been a response to creators and culture. Brands are often on their back foot, hopping on the trends. When it comes to brand voice, if you are always on your back foot waiting for culture to dictate what you say, that seems like a difficult position. How do you manage that?

If you have to make a pitch deck you aren’t moving fast enough. With a strong foundational strategy rooted in the data, you carve out space to “dance.”

For the brand and agency relationship, trust is key. Trust that your social team speaks the language and “get’s it,” so that they have the space to make judgement calls. And also understanding that social is a space to test and learn. Not everything is going to work perfectly. 

Today’s brands are really risk averse. How do you get trust and room to fail on social?

Devour the internet.

Point back to the tone and voice document. Every social strategy is essentially “live, laugh, love.” It has to entertain. If it doesn't “live, laugh, love” we’re not engaging and there will be another trend in 15 minutes.  

Context. When working to manage up, bring the context and the data to the forefront of the conversation.

Social is fragmented, and our feeds look very different. How do you know that something in your unique feed is right for a brand?

Acknowledge your audience isn’t just one thing. As we’ve seen with the growth of TikTok, we don’t just live in these generational buckets. We’ve splintered into subcultures - Egg Tok, Book Tok, etc.

Not every piece of social content is going to be understood, but that is a part of the development of the brand voice. A legacy brand’s voice changes over the years, but what the brand stands for has remained consistent.

What is your screen time when you are trying to devour the culture?

Less than you think. To be an effective social strategist you do not have to be glued to your phone. Culture doesn’t only happen online, but they are intertwined. Social is the way we talk about what’s happening in culture, online and elsewhere.

Kendrick Lamar stood on a Buick during his Super Bowl performance and Buick said nothing. As a brand, are you leaving money on the table if you don’t recognize an organic moment on social?

Not if it does make sense for your brand’s tone and voice. And you must be able to acknowledge the creator and not just steal from them.

When brands are trying to be a part of culture and it’s something controversial, when is it right?

If at least one person in the room is uncomfortable, don’t do it. Goes to why diverse teams, especially in the social space, are so important.

At the end of the day, the whole point of being a brand on social is not to speak social language into the void, you want to build community and make people feel a certain way about your brand.

So know who you are as a brand, keep the North Star, and go find your people.