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What does it take to win "Social Media Manager of the Year" in a landscape that changes faster than algorithms can keep up? We spoke with Sarah Bricker, Pazanga Healthcare Communications Expert and recipient of the 2024 American Business Stevie® Award for Social Media Manager of the Year, to decode what's actually working in social media right now—and what businesses should reconsider.
What's the latest trend or strategy that's really moving the needle for businesses?
Non-brand presence through employee advocacy, influencer marketing, and customer advocacy are experiencing continued growth and have become critical for success. The other major player is automation—AI-powered DM features allow businesses to scale community engagement without manual staffing, saving budget while amplifying impact.
What content approach is driving results in 2025?
With social channels flooded with content, emotional connection is everything. If content doesn't hit an emotional mark, people won't share it, and it won't perform. We're also seeing a shift toward longer-form content as people increasingly use social for research over traditional news sources.
What new feature or platform shift should businesses be taking advantage of?
If you're not doing influencer marketing and employee advocacy, you're already behind. But the biggest opportunity is AI DM, especially for direct-to-consumer brands. Tools like MiniChat allow you to close the lead generation and conversion funnel right within social platforms. Also leverage the new link features—Instagram is testing links again and TikTok now allows links in posts.
What social media strategy delivers better results than most people expect?
On LinkedIn, personal profiles get three to five times more engagement than brand pages. Tapping into your employee base—especially sales teams attending events—is a huge free resource most companies ignore. Stories across platforms are another underutilized tool for driving engagement and action, especially since you can add links there even when post links aren't available.
What are your top three tips?
First: Build a real team. Social media managers aren't video creators, content creators aren't strategists, and advertising specialists aren't managers. Successful brands like Duolingo have full teams with designers, creators, and videographers—not just one or two people.
Second: Monitor your psychographic demographic more than trends. While you need to stay aware of algorithm changes, understanding your audience deeply will win long term over chasing every trend.
Third: Get crystal clear on strategy and KPIs. Map out for leadership what success looks like—and remember that social media ROI often isn't financial, which can be hard to get sign-off on but is critical to communicate.
What's your best advice to transform a company's social media results?
Start with a full audit of your psychographic demographic. If you can't identify who customers are, how they think, where they live, and how they use social channels, you'll fail. Then cross-reference that with your current presence—are you giving them what they want in the right format?
Remember that what works on TikTok won't work on Instagram. Everything needs to be mapped: copywriting, imagery, delivery method, tagging, and whether it comes from the brand or an influencer. If you're just copying, pasting, and posting to maintain presence, it won't work. Sit down, map it strategically, and act on the data.
What does it take to win "Social Media Manager of the Year" in a landscape that changes faster than algorithms can keep up? We spoke with Sarah Bricker, Pazanga Healthcare Communications Expert and recipient of the 2024 American Business Stevie® Award for Social Media Manager of the Year, to decode what's actually working in social media right now—and what businesses should reconsider.
What's the latest trend or strategy that's really moving the needle for businesses?
Non-brand presence through employee advocacy, influencer marketing, and customer advocacy are experiencing continued growth and have become critical for success. The other major player is automation—AI-powered DM features allow businesses to scale community engagement without manual staffing, saving budget while amplifying impact.
What content approach is driving results in 2025?
With social channels flooded with content, emotional connection is everything. If content doesn't hit an emotional mark, people won't share it, and it won't perform. We're also seeing a shift toward longer-form content as people increasingly use social for research over traditional news sources.
What new feature or platform shift should businesses be taking advantage of?
If you're not doing influencer marketing and employee advocacy, you're already behind. But the biggest opportunity is AI DM, especially for direct-to-consumer brands. Tools like MiniChat allow you to close the lead generation and conversion funnel right within social platforms. Also leverage the new link features—Instagram is testing links again and TikTok now allows links in posts.
What social media strategy delivers better results than most people expect?
On LinkedIn, personal profiles get three to five times more engagement than brand pages. Tapping into your employee base—especially sales teams attending events—is a huge free resource most companies ignore. Stories across platforms are another underutilized tool for driving engagement and action, especially since you can add links there even when post links aren't available.
What are your top three tips?
First: Build a real team. Social media managers aren't video creators, content creators aren't strategists, and advertising specialists aren't managers. Successful brands like Duolingo have full teams with designers, creators, and videographers—not just one or two people.
Second: Monitor your psychographic demographic more than trends. While you need to stay aware of algorithm changes, understanding your audience deeply will win long term over chasing every trend.
Third: Get crystal clear on strategy and KPIs. Map out for leadership what success looks like—and remember that social media ROI often isn't financial, which can be hard to get sign-off on but is critical to communicate.
What's your best advice to transform a company's social media results?
Start with a full audit of your psychographic demographic. If you can't identify who customers are, how they think, where they live, and how they use social channels, you'll fail. Then cross-reference that with your current presence—are you giving them what they want in the right format?
Remember that what works on TikTok won't work on Instagram. Everything needs to be mapped: copywriting, imagery, delivery method, tagging, and whether it comes from the brand or an influencer. If you're just copying, pasting, and posting to maintain presence, it won't work. Sit down, map it strategically, and act on the data.