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Welcome to the Arboretum Book Club, a gathering place for us to unpack the insights from the 2025 Sprout Social Index™️! In this discussion, you'll explore two key themes that are shaping social media in 2025.

What do consumers really want from brands on social media? 

The 2025 Sprout Social Index™️ report digs into the desire for personalized customer care, keeping up with online culture and the role of social media in discovering new products.

  • How do you balance the need for original content with the importance of staying relevant to current trends?

  • What are some ways you use Social Listening to stay informed and engage meaningfully with your audience?

  • How do you manage fast, personalized customer care?

  • How do you ensure your content is authentic and relatable to your audience?

  • How do you balance the pressure to be constantly online?


Building Next Generation Social Teams 

Social teams have a critical need for leadership buy-in and support. There are still many challenges social marketers face in securing trust and resources from executives. The ability to tell your story with data is crucial for securing continued investment.

  • What strategies have you found effective in gaining more trust and support from leadership for your social media efforts?

  • What are some best practices for using data storytelling to demonstrate the impact of your social media efforts?

  • How do you set realistic goals for your social media campaigns, and what metrics do you prioritize?

  • What are some ways you use AI to scale your social media efforts without replacing human creativity?


Join us in the discussion below as we unpack these insights. Share your thoughts on how to apply them to your strategies for a chance to win!

What You Can Win:
Three lucky participants will win an Arboretum branded blanket, a Karst Stone Paper Softcover Notebook, a Moleskin Pen, and Arboretum branded socks.

Grand Prize:
Participate in the Book Club by sharing your best answer. The Arboretum member with the most likes on their response will win our Grand Prize, an Arboretum branded blanket, a Karst Stone Paper Softcover Notebook, a Moleskin Pen, Arboretum branded socks and a Productivity Timer!

Deadline: Join the discussion and submit likes for your favorite response by February 11th.

For full terms and conditions, read here.


 

 

 

Oh my, there’s plenty of food for thought to process and give consideration to. But I’ll focus on one of the points represented in the 2025 Sprout Social Index:

  • What are some ways you use AI to scale your social media efforts without replacing human creativity?

This is an ongoing consideration, since after all, who doesn’t want to automate and streamline some time-intensive processes in a social media workflow? AI, though, can be used as a good copy editor, an idea generator, AI-driven analytics, personalization, content curation, image/video editing, chatbots for some automated engagement, and more. I currently like using AI-powered tools for proofing my own writing and even my copyediting, automating posting, and editing images to spruce them up. 

But I feel it’s critical to make sure that any part of the social media content creation and management process that reflects on the brand, the voice, and a truly personal connection with a customer is human-centered through and through. It’s important to leave AI out of that equation. That allows authenticity a chance to shine. And the effort is important is worth the time in meaningful outcomes.


In response to the question: ‘How do you balance the pressure to constantly be online?’

Here are my tips as someone who manages social for a B2B brand with a global presence (3 LinkedIn pages, YouTube, FB, 😵.

#1 Block out certain times of day to check social (SMMs have meetings, too!) and when I say ‘block out’ I mean, schedule those on your calendar as a re-curring meeting...after all part of your job is seeing how social content is landing with your audience. 

#2 Personally, I try to stick to only using my work laptop to engage with branded social posts throughout the work day. That helps a lot in terms of compartmentalizing personal social use vs. using social for the brand (i.e. work). 

#3 Pick your ‘holy grail’ platform - that’s the one you should be monitoring 2-3 times/day. 
Check in on the others (especially if a post needs tweaks), but zoom in on the platform that yields the best results.

#4 Ignore the noise. There are some days that SMMs have to limit personal social use in order to find some balance on a busy work day. Or, set certain times of the day that you’ll use social for the brand vs. personal. You choose how to navigate this. But for me, limiting personal social media use helps my brain a lot with balance. 

#5 Reporting tools like Sprout Social’s ‘Post Performance’ report offer a great way to check metrics without having to have your eyeballs on every single platform, all day. Instead, synthesize by pulling data right from Sprout. 

#6 This is an important exercise in mental health for all SMMs and it’s incredibly important for preventing burnout. Even if you’re feeling a lot of pressure to constantly be online to monitor engagement or posts, remember that taking a step back will ultimately keep you fresh for tomorrow’s day of posts.

Talking to other SMMs about how they balance their day in terms of content creation, vs. being on social, vs. meetings, etc. is also very helpful. To each their own. Hopefully one of these tips can help someone find more balance!! 


There is a lot to dig into here, but as someone who is new to running social for a non-profit I am going to dive into these two questions:

1. How do you ensure your content is authentic and relatable to your audience?

         - My goal with ensuring content is authentic and relatable is to make sure whatever I’m creating falls in line with our brand voice. Our focus is to educate, inspire and promote. Our driver is storytelling, we can engage with our audience as long as we invest in learning about them. Therefore, creating realistic buyer/donor personas are key. 

2. What are some ways you use AI to scale your social media efforts without replacing human creativity?

        A. Social - I like to to A/B testing with social media copy and images. I create copy first and then tailor with AI suggestions. Sometimes, I find that AI suggestions can help or hurt the messaging process if it’s too generic.

       B. Blog writing - I put my whole blog into AI and see what the suggestions are here. I begin by typing into AI this: “I am a Content Communications Specialist for X company and I am writing a blog to (insert topic). Rewrite the introduction and conclusion of this blog post to reach (x audience).” 

      C. I also use it to give me ideas for monthly planning suggestions based on what I already want to highlight during the month. 


Congratulations ​@MisterP​​​, @Katy4Riskonnect and ​@Sade_HK, you've won our giveaway for participating! ​@Katy4Riskonnect, you'll be receiving our grand prize with the most likes on your response. 

Please fill out this form so we can mail your prize: https://forms.gle/Gwxd1aoYgfzzFET3A


Congratulations ​@MisterP​​​, @Katy4Riskonnect and ​@Sade_HK, you've won our giveaway for participating! ​@Katy4Riskonnect, you'll be receiving our grand prize with the most likes on your response. 

Please fill out this form so we can mail your prize: https://forms.gle/Gwxd1aoYgfzzFET3A

Thank you!! I just filled out the form - FYI it’s from my gmail (kjseverance21@gmail.com) vs the email that I use here on Sprout Social.


Awesome, Thank you! I just completed the form! 


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