Latest Talks & Trends

Social media and HIPAA compliance can have a lot of gray areas...does anyone have any online courses (free and paid) that they have found has good resources in terms of DMs, public comments, sharing testimonials and stories, DM automation, etc?

Hello, I work for a mid-sized B2B technology company based in San Francisco and we were curious what other brands were doing with Pride Month coming up in June. Does your brand change your logos to rainbow, or do you avoid that because of rainbow-washing. What else does your brand/company do to celebrate Pride?Similarly, has your company ever changed your logo for anything else other than Pride Month (e.g. AAPI Month, Veteran’s Day, etc.).Would love to hear others’ thoughts on this.

Creating Candid’s annual social media plan is usually one of my favorite tasks. But 2025 threw us a bit of a curveball: the new administration, need to be more careful with language, and the takeover of AI slop content.All of this shifted how I approached our social media plan for this year. While I still analyzed the data thoroughly, I spent a lot more time thinking about what our audience needed. Here are the top trends we’re looking at and how it’s going to drive our 2026 social media strategy (and how you can steal these ideas for you organization).1. Authenticity is the antidote to AI slop: With our 2026 social media strategy, we’re leaning into our nerd side. That means more data, diving deeper into topics that matter most to nonprofits, and debunking misinformation.2. Not every platform is worth your time: We’re doubling down on LinkedIn, because when we put in more effort, we see more growth. It also has our most engaged community. We’ll maintain a presence on other platforms b

CapCut quietly updated their terms and it gives them all the rights to your content including the ability to use, modify, and profit from it!! 👀 I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this on LinkedIn and Reddit. What are your thoughts on this? What other alternative editing apps are you using?

What's up Higher Ed Hub! I'm Angie Villalba, Senior Field Marketing Manager here at Sprout.Yesterday, I had a conversation with our next door neighbor whose daughter is heading off to college this fall. He told me his daughter hasn't met her roommate in person but they send each other posts and snaps all day long. They even started planning what groups to join and events to attend the first few weeks based on what they are seeing on IG.It made me think of my own move-in days at Kennesaw State University (Hooty Hoo!!)! Getting all the free snacks and random swag at the newly built suites.So my question for the teams here: How are you leveraging internal and external partnerships, collaborations, and social to get students to come out to your move-in events and start feeling like part of campus after summer break?? Any fun plans???Can't wait to see them! ​@AbbeyBarrows I saw you manage Kennesaw State's socials, I'm tagging you because I'm sure you are planning something fun! Care to shar

Hey all!  Acacia here from the Sprout team.  I’ve been on the team for 10 years and oversee the West Coast for our Higher Ed customers.  It’s great to meet you all 👋🏼Hoping to kickoff some conversations on my new favorite topic… AIWhat are the most impactful and perhaps unexpected ways AI is assisting you in your dat to day workflow?-Acacia

Hi, now that YouTube Communities is rolling out to everyone, is Sprout Social planning on integrating any of the features/comments into the platform? Seems like a good opportunity that we would be excited to take advantage of for our clients!

I've been hearing mixed perspectives within the industry when it comes to hashtags. While the common advice is to include them in content, I've noticed a disconnect in practice. Whenever I ask someone, “When was the last time you actually clicked on a hashtag to explore similar content?” the response is usually a blank stare or something along the lines of, “Honestly, I can't remember.”So, from a user perspective rather than a content creator's—when was the last time you actively clicked on a hashtag to discover related content?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how a lot of people — both in the social media world and outside of it — have set Duolingo as a kind of gold standard for brand social. Personally, anytime I talk to people outside the industry about who they think is doing it right, Duolingo is almost always the first name they mention.But after their recent AI scandal and the hostage-style skit videos that followed, I’m noticing the sentiment shift online. It feels like the goodwill they built is starting to crack.I’m curious how others working in social are feeling about it — do you think this marks a turning point for how brands approach social media? Is the era of chaotic, self-aware brand voice winding down? Or is this just a bump in the road?Would love to hear your thoughts.PS: slight shameless plug….I have written about it here. 

TikTok announced this month they’re adding enhanced accessibility to to boost inclusivity for all users. Key updates include:Alternative Text for Photos: Creators can add alt text manually or use AI-generated descriptions for screen readers. Increased Color Contrast: Users can adjust text and UI contrast for better visibility. Bold Text Support: TikTok now retains device settings for bold text to improve readability. Auto-Generated Captions & Text-to-Speech: Enhances video accessibility Dark Mode & Animated Thumbnail Controls: Customizable viewing options for greater accessibilityDo these added accessibility features make you more or less likely to want to use Tiktok for your employer or clients (or yourself)? As I get older, I begin to appreciate the visual accessibility features a bit more myself, so I do feel the3se features may be a value-add for some users and some clients in which reaching all users is especially important.

I wanted to share an observation that's been crystallizing through our social media efforts, particularly around our educational content strategy.I maintain a balanced mix of evergreen educational content and timely updates on our Facebook presence. Today provided a perfect example of a challenge we're facing: I posted our "What is Tumor Staging?" educational piece - content specifically designed to inform our audience about this fundamental concept.Within hours, someone commented asking "What is tumor staging?" - the exact question the post was created to answer.This isn't an isolated incident. I'm seeing a pattern where audiences are engaging with our content without actually consuming it. They're reacting to headlines or thumbnails but not reading the actual educational material we're investing time and resources to create.I’m left feeling a lot of things over this, and at the end of the day, the six second attention span (and yes, we write as simply as we can considering our focus

AI-powered content and personas have claimed real estate in one domain after another, and influencers are certainly no exception. There’s plenty of good reading and podcasts out there about this topic (ex. good summary about this topic on Metricool).From your own perspective, what’s the calculus in creating a brand-targeted virtual influencer balanced against the desire for authenticity that may seem more, well, authentic in a human influencer?Personally, I don’t have a fixed stance either way, as I feel some brands may benefit from their own custom-made digital persona while, in many other cases, the unique personalities and idiosyncrasies of an authentic human influencer is what’s needed.

Hi Arb friends! 👋I’m working on a new Sprout resource designed to help social media marketers in financial services navigate the complexities of compliance—and I’d love to include real insights from this community.If you're open to it, I’d love to hear from you on any of the following questions:  What’s one thing you wish you had known earlier about social media compliance? What’s one lesson you’ve learned managing social in a highly regulated environment? How do you train or enable employees or advisors to use social safely? Your experience could be featured in an upcoming Sprout checklist designed to help other marketers build more confident, compliant strategies. (And of course, we’ll reach out before sharing anything publicly.)Drop your thoughts in the thread below—can’t wait to learn from you!