Meta has started rolling ads into Threads timelines globally from late January 2026. That’s the moment Threads stops being a side app and becomes a paid, recommendation-led public square. Threads has passed 400 million monthly active users, and Meta has put daily actives at around 150 million. The strategic implication for B2C and B2B is the same; distribution gets easier to buy, credibility gets harder to earn. Threads rewards coherence in public conversation, how you answer, how you sound, how specific you are. Treat it as a trust surface, because that’s where decisions get shaped now.

I don’t read a lot of marketing books cover to cover. Most get a flick-through, a speed read (or even a Blinkist), then quietly shelved. But Marketing & Psychology by Dr Tom Bowden-Green and Luan Wise, I read it properly. With a…

2016 is when social stopped being “posts in a feed” and became a ranked system that decides what gets seen, shared, trusted. In 2026 that same logic sits everywhere, in-platform search, Google snippets, and AI overviews that summarise your brand before anyone clicks. Ofcom says around 30% of UK keyword searches now show AI overviews, and 53% of adults often see AI summaries. The uncomfortable truth is that buyers get a machine-written version of you, then sanity-check it with humans in DMs and group chats. Brands win when their claims are clear, proof is easy to find, and real people show up consistently.

B2B marketing feels slower because you’re selling to a buying group, not a decision maker. Forrester says the average buying decision involves 13 people and 89% of purchases involve two or more departments. Add three generations with different trust cues and you get rework, internal debate, and “one more version” forever. Buyers are also doing more research without sales, which makes guessing expensive. This LinkedIn Live with Tejal Patel is about buyer behaviour, trust cues, and what social is doing in research and validation, so you can build one narrative that travels across the group and saves your team time.

Buyers are hunting answers, and social is deciding who they trust The short answer Mahoosive behaviour change for customers is already here. Search is being replaced by an answer layer, and social is feeding it. When Google’s AI Overviews show up, people click less, sessions end sooner, and your carefully-crafted…

We’re closing on 24 December and back on 5 January. Before we switch off, a straight take on what 2025 proved about social, what actually worked, and what we think will matter most in 2026.

Your 2026 plan is hiding in your 2025 panic I have spent the last couple of months sat with marketers who are knee deep in 2026 planning. Everyone is wrestling with the same mix of fear and ambition. Budgets are flat or shrinking, targets are going up, AI is quietly…

Community isn’t a channel, it’s how your social actually works Over the last few weeks I have lost count of how many marketers have said some version of this to me: “We’re thinking about community for 2026.” Often it comes with a hopeful look, as if community will magically fix…

The hidden AI layer between your brand and your buyers Every marketer I speak to is talking about how they use AI. Very few are talking about the AI they cannot see. While we are all busy playing with tools and prompts, LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, X, Snapchat and…

How can CMOs stop Q4 paid social costs from spiralling? CMOs cannot change Q4 seasonality, but they can change how exposed they are to it. Instead of leaving all budget in live auctions when CPMs peak, use Meta’s Reservation buying to pre book key Q4 reach at fixed prices, then keep a smaller auction budget for agile tests and trading. Lock creative and plans earlier in the year, use Q2 and Q3 to find winning hooks and formats, and use AI to build CPM and ROAS scenarios. You turn Q4 from a chaotic bidding war into a planned portfolio with clear risk and upside.

Buyers decide early. Your funnel is late. Social Day B2B this year made it crystal clear the rulebook has changed for marketers under pressure to prove growth from social. Session after session, the same message landed from different angles. The funnel you have in your deck is not how buying…

Oh, it’s so easy to talk Thought Leadership  It’s not so easy to make it happen  Thought leadership is how you build trust through expertise. You show your working, go deep on the messy bits, and nudge behaviour change over time. It’s the essential core of the way modern buyers…

Be relevant, spend smart and go synthetic on social Relevance is everything in social. If the post doesn’t feel made for them, it’s gone in a flick. Knowing your audience is the difference between polite impressions and commercial impact. Synthetic personas let us speak to the audience before the audience…

Social is scary enough: October’s frights that unlock Q4 growth I was going to write a Halloween screamer. But honestly, social is terrifying on a normal week, even when you’re not under pressure for Q4 growth. Algorithms lurch like zombies. AI keeps creeping around in corners. So, before I ham…

Social Snapshot 22.10.25 banner, blue globe background, bold white title and date. Newsletter issue on long-form social video with platform specs, paid limits, YouTube TV viewing, TikTok Creator Rewards (>1-minute), Instagram 3-minute Reels, measurement and AEO tips