Even before there were brands and advertising, there were communities and word of mouth. Because relatable peers and familiar faces are critical beacons in times of uncertainty, brands must find their place within the right communities to remain culturally relevant in 2026.
Reframing brands’ role in social spaces
In today’s Algorithmic Era, feeds are optimized by the shares, saves and likes of the content that connects most with people. To make an impact in this highly competitive landscape, brands like Unilever have pledged to spend 50% of their budget on social channels, and retailers like CVS now partner with platforms like Reddit to let brands use shopper data across communities. Yet, brands must tread carefully to build genuine credibility and connection with audiences.
For example, people increasingly turn to video reviews from real users rather than polished ads or perfect product demos. This trend explains TikTok’s rise as a search destination for user-generated content, and why promotional content from creators can hold attention longer and drive greater uplift in consideration than brand ads.
As such, brands cannot simply elbow their ways into communities by blasting ads. Neither should they aim to keep absolute control over what is said about them. No one understands a follower base better than creators themselves, so marketers should focus on the value their brands bring to audiences’ passions, rituals, and identities, and let creators take the lead in delivering this value to communities.
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Impact over reach
Influencers serve as trusted voices across communities, from mainstream to niche interest groups. As different demographic cohorts engage with different types of creators, brands must avoid assuming that the follower count determines campaign success.
For example, Gen Z are more likely to engage with mega-influencers (1M-10M followers), while Gen X tend to favor nano-influencers (1k-10k followers). Overall, twice as many people engage most often with influencers under 1M followers than people engaging most often with mega-influencers. (Dentsu, Consumer Navigator: Influencers, Global Data, September 2025)
Investing in a diverse group of smaller creators with authentic ties to the brand can bring alternative ways to build advocacy cost effectively, rather than relying on one big name with less genuine connections.
Most consumers also follow influencers across multiple platforms, and people discover new creators in different places: Gen Z significantly over-index on using Twitch, Apple Music, and Discord, whereas Boomers favor LinkedIn and Facebook. (Dentsu, Consumer Navigator: Influencers, Global Data, September 2025) Thismeans brands should broaden their scope of creator strategy, from passion-based platforms like Substack and Roblox to how they show up on YouTube on television.
Moreover, brands are increasingly recognizing that creators lead full lives. A creator known for car-related content is not only interested, interesting and influential around cars. They also eat out, they might wear vintage clothes, go on solo vacations and so on – all the more opportunities for brands to be relevant and meaningful to the right communities.
What’s next?
As content creators and communities take a leading role within media strategies, more sophisticated measurement capabilities will emerge to evaluate the full extent of their contributions to business growth (e.g., impact on retail, footfall and attention) allowing brands more creative planning and more accountability.
Reach out to Dentsu Influence
Dentsu Influence is a next-generation influencer and creator team integrating precision data, transformational creativity, and measurable business outcomes. Anchored by its revolutionary operating system and strategic partnerships, Dentsu Influence enhances dentsu’s existing influencer marketing capabilities globally. It offers brands a full-funnel, impact-driven influencer marketing solution for today’s digital landscape, from organic social strategy through to paid media amplification execution.
This is the fourth of ten trends discussed in dentsu’s Human Truths in the Algorithmic Era | 2026 Media Trends report.
Download your copy of the report here to see all ten trends.
