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For the first time ever, I didn’t write this newsletter! I’ve always wanted to feature new and different voices here, but it’s tricky—I wanna make sure I co-sign any strategies I’m publishing, ya know? But we got one!

Meet the wonderfully talented Dakota Rae Lowe. She’s a VP of Social Strategy at Edelman, building social for brands like Hellmann’s Mayo, Degree, Knorr & more. You should subscribe to her new newsletter, too—Recreation might be technically about social, but from a larger lens on culture & life.

I loved her take on building a Timeless Social Strategy, so scroll on down for that, as well as my new Instagram account with more marketing content!

—Jack Appleby

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How to build a Timeless Social Strategy

The one thing we know about social strategy (and, well, life, but that’s for a different newsletter) is that change is inevitable. Platforms come and go, popularity grows and fades, demographics and conversations and trends will ebb and flow.

It’s why our social strategies can’t rely so heavily on the now. We can’t just be reactive and tactical—we have to build on solid foundations with principles fit for any era of social.

I started toying with the idea of timeless social strategy right around the TikTok ban. Between the platform going offline (and quickly returning), Instagram constantly updating their platform, newcomers like Bluesky and Threads, and everyone suddenly talking YouTube, it felt important.

I’ve hunted & gathered a list of 16 principles for building a Timeless Social Media Strategy.

Timeless Social Principles

Great hooks
Grab attention immediately through your visual, audio, and written hooks. Take Dunkin’s Sabrina Carpenter collab content as an example. It immediately captures your attention in multiple ways.

Audience insights at the core
Using a deep, empathetic understanding of your audience’s needs, desires, and behaviors to shape content that feels personal to them. If you don’t know how your target audiences spend their time, take some time to dig in.

Impact over impressions
Speaking of engagement, spend more time measuring the increase in brand love, key business metrics, and customers. If you create a lasting impact, the (right) impressions will come.

Emotion, Emotion, Emotion
Build content that taps into universal emotions—joy, nostalgia, aspiration, empathy—to drive resonance.

Compelling storytelling
Creating narratives that resonate emotionally, feel authentic, and keep people invested will always hit. What’s the build-up, conflict, tension? We still talk about the Michael Cera x CeraVe Super Bowl spot because of the winding story they told us across channels.

Real-time marketing
Capitalize on trends, cultural moments, creators, or news while it’s still relevant—staying agile and reactive (and carving out budget for it).

Real people
Highlighting authentic voices, faces, and stories that feel relatable and human builds trust. We like looking at people a lot more than graphics, and humans will continue to perform better, on average. Make this a requirement in your next campaign brief.

Humor
Use wit and levity. Ultimately, humor makes us like the content and the brand more when executed well. Note that Gen Z places more emphasis on this than any other group, but it hits high for every demo. Timeless!

Personality
A distinct tone, persona, or character(s) can do a lot of heavy lifting and always has. Throwback to when we brought back The Fruit People for Fruit of the Loom, or cue any mascot on TT (Duolingo being the most infamous, of course). 

Amplify your advocates
Elevate the loyal fans, influencers, and employees who organically champion you. Authentic UGC and testimonials are excellent sales drivers from a content perspective, but also, it’s just very human. They’re stress-testing your products everyday — use that. 

Consistency, with flexibility
Staying true to your brand’s voice and values while adapting to platform nuances and audience feedback. To be memorable, be consistent.

Drive participation
Design content to prompt meaningful engagement—comments, shares, debates. Not everyone wants mayo cologne, but a lot of people will share it because it sparks conversation. 

Platform-first thinking
Understand the unique strengths, algorithms, and cultures of each platform and tailor accordingly.

Add value
Going beyond entertainment—educating, inspiring, or providing utility is always sticky.

Quick iteration, with data
Use analytics to refine continuously, learning from what works and what doesn’t. This might be post data, or just what people are saying in the comments. Learn and react. Fast.

Cultural relevance
Whether that’s conversations, trends, brainrot, or the sentiment of an audience at a given time, align your content with what matters now. This was true even before the internet (I hear), but has become even more important.

The thing I love most? All of these are achievable for any brand. Because being a great strategist is not about using a trending TikTok audio (though that’s certainly part of it), but about knowing who you are and what you’re after. And no platform ban can change that. 

Another big thanks to Dakota for sharing her thinking here. Go sub to Recreation, her newsletter covering social, strategy, and everything else, or shoot her a DM her on LinkedIn here. 

Follow my new Instagram for marketing!

I’m finally making the jump into video content! Come follow my new Instagram to get more quick hits between each newsletter—I’m planning a couple series that are gonna be fun, like Why It Went Viral, 100 Brands To Follow, and even some interview content with top marketers & creators!

See you on the gram!