WELCOME
Communities are really shining online, showing that traditional ways of connecting and bonding can flourish in the digital space. As individuals come together online around common values and special interests, it’s so important to learn how to connect with them and communicate in a way that feels genuine and meaningful.
Let’s dive in.
The Core of Communities
Communities are central to the human experience. Families, friends, and coworkers are among the many essential communities in our lives; similarly, countless communities exist online. Just as people gather in places like coffee shops or neighborhood groups, many have sought out communities in their corners of the internet. Over time, this has led to the growth and increased specialization of online communities. As the internet has evolved into an increasingly complex and social environment, online communities have become among the most important places for organizations to interact with their audiences. From Facebook Groups to LinkedIn Groups, the possibilities for both reaching and creating communities online are nearly endless.
Beyond serving as audiences, online community members also tend to share information, recommendations, and experiences with one another. As a result, these spaces can be valuable for building trust and engagement.
Reaching Existing Communities
To succeed in digital marketing, it is vital to understand the communities that make up your audience. This understanding clarifies how to better serve stakeholders and their needs. Here at Strategic Elements, we understand the importance of communicating at a grassroots level. We provide monitoring services to understand how online communities perceive your brand, organization, or issue, while also working with community members in real life. Learn more here.
Building New Communities
Do you feel it would help your organization to create a community of its own? First, start with your audience. Consider who your organization hopes to reach, as well as your current base. Think about what these individuals have in common and why your organization or issue appeals to them. Help people connect with one another by getting directly involved and sharing their stories through channels such as user-generated content and testimonials.
Whether your goal is to engage with existing communities, create new ones, or both, be sure to focus on relationship-building. Media monitoring is essential for understanding how these groups view your organization and the conversations around it. Also, by connecting with people where they already gather or by creating spaces for them to connect, you can foster trust, authenticity, and stronger engagement.
Meta’s AI Advancements
Meta is leaning further into AI, releasing its new Muse Spark 1.1 AI model. The updated model features improved reasoning and automation, enabling it to perform a wider range of tasks more efficiently than previous versions. Meta reports that the model has also outperformed competitors in benchmark tests. The company hopes these improvements will support its efforts to grow its overall business and subscriptions.
Following these updates, Meta will soon offer Instagram subscription tiers that include AI features. Users will have a limited number of daily AI interactions in the app, while more frequent use will require a paid subscription. Meta has already introduced a paid subscription, Instagram Plus, which provides additional tools and features for subscribers. Current benefits with Instagram Plus include seeing how many times a story has been rewatched, extending the availability of stories from 24 to 48 hours, previewing others’ stories, and more. AI capabilities are expected to be added to these premium offerings over time.
LinkedIn Joins the AI Race
LinkedIn will launch AI-powered advertising tools of its own. These tools include a brand kit option, copy generation, and ad personalization. The brand kit feature allows advertisers to provide LinkedIn’s AI with information about their company’s branding so it can create ads that align with their established look and feel. Copy generation does exactly what it sounds like: it uses AI to create ad copy for users. Ad personalization will leverage job and profile information to tailor ads to specific audiences. Together, these tools aim to make advertising on LinkedIn more efficient while giving marketers greater flexibility in ad creation.
LinkedIn has also shared tips for posting more effectively on the platform. Recommendations include posting two to three times per week, varying content formats, and keeping posts to 200–300 words. The platform also encourages users to frame posts around both a question and an answer, share prompt insights, and lead with the most important information.
X Boosts Authenticity
X has added safeguards to prevent engagement bait. Engagement bait refers to posts created solely to prompt some form of engagement-related call to action. For example, “like this post if ___,” “share this post with 10 friends for good luck,” and so on. These posts usually only serve to get people to interact with them. X plans to address this issue further by using Grok AI to detect engagement bait and filter these posts from its algorithm.
Meanwhile, X is updating its Ads Manager. The platform is currently testing the integration of Grok, its AI chatbot, into Ads Manager. Through this, Grok will generate advertising ideas. This is part of the company’s overall push to increase AI integration into its platform.
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How have you interacted with social media platforms’ AI tools?
Strategic Elements is a full-service public affairs, marketing, and media consulting firm based in Iowa. Our team of political operatives, marketing experts, and media strategists helps businesses, organizations, and causes shape public opinion, influence policy, and drive meaningful change.
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