• by Geoff Gates , September 3, 2025

The shift from connection to discovery is a strategic inflection point. Here’s what marketers must do to drive growth in this new model.

For more than a decade, the recipe for success on social media remained the same: build followers, nurture the community, and rely on organic reach. That model is no more. Over the past five years, social platforms have undergone a profound shift, from the Social Era, where distribution depended on who you knew, to the Discovery Era, where users discover content via algorithms that surface what you’re interested in.

TikTok may have been the catalyst, but today every major platform is built around discovery-first, interest-driven feeds. Distribution is now decoupled from followership.

For marketers, this is not a tactical nuance. It’s a strategic inflection point that changes how brands must show up, invest, and measure success.

Every social post is now an entry point for potential customers. In this new discovery environment, many post-by-post impressions will come from people who have never heard of your brand. That means content must be created not just for followers or those who know and love your company, but for strangers encountering you for the first time.

Winning brands map clear pathways from first impression to deeper engagement, using creative that earns attention, calls-to-action that guide behavior, and measurement frameworks that prioritize broader awareness.

Content is no longer a byproduct of strategy; it is the strategy. Algorithms reward signals of interest, not brand reputation. This means the most successful brands don’t shout about themselves; they create content that feels native to the feed and relevant to the audience’s curiosity. They make the customer the protagonist, not themselves.

Brand consistency must evolve into contextual fluency. The old model prized uniform tone and rigid adherence to guidelines. In the Discovery Era, agility wins. The strongest brands flex their expression (educational, emotional, relatable, etc.) while staying anchored to a clear promise. The governance challenge for leaders is deciding where the brand voice must remain uniform -- and where it can adapt to platform culture.

So how should executives act on this shift? Three imperatives stand out:

Audit your social presence: Look at your ratio of follower vs. non-follower views. If most of your reach is still follower-driven, you’re lagging competitors.

Redesign for discovery: Build campaigns where each post is optimized as a stand-alone entry point. Ask whether it would feel at home in a friend’s feed, whether it delivers value before asking for attention, and whether it can spark engagement without paid support.

Rethink measurement: Move beyond vanity metrics. Focus on discovery-driven growth: new audience reach, engagement quality, and the conversion pathways that follow.

The Discovery Era is not a trend. It’s the new operating system of social media. For leaders, the question is simple: Will your brand be discovered, or overlooked?