Brands competing for attention on social media need to offer audiences entertainment and experiences worth engaging with, rather than simply promoting their products, according to a new report by Tactical Digital.
The report, titled World Building Report, argues that brands can no longer assume audiences will pay attention to their content simply because it appears in their social media feeds. Instead, the brands that break through are those that create distinctive worlds that capture attention and encourage people to spend time with them.
“Audiences couldn’t give two flying falafels about your brand on social,” the report states, before making its central argument: “UNLESS IT ENTERTAINS.”
The report highlights the crowded and unpredictable nature of social media feeds, where branded content competes with posts from friends, creators, football highlights, celebrity news and breaking events. In this environment, brands must offer something that audiences actively want to watch or engage with.
From advertising to audience engagement
The report’s central idea is that brands should approach social media as spaces where they can build ongoing experiences around their identities, rather than treat platforms merely as distribution channels for advertising.
It describes these as worlds that people “take notice of, and spend time in”, suggesting that brands need to develop content capable of holding attention amid the constant flow of competing material.
This approach places entertainment at the centre of social media strategy. Rather than relying exclusively on product messages, brands need to give audiences a reason to engage with their content on its own merits.
The report frames this as a playbook for building a presence in the social media environment, where attention must be earned rather than assumed.
Competing in the social feed
The report’s argument reflects a fundamental challenge for marketers: branded content appears alongside material that users seek out for personal, social or entertainment reasons. Promotional messages therefore compete not only with other advertisers but also with the wider culture of online content.
For brands, the challenge is to create social media identities and content that audiences recognise, return to and choose to spend time with.
The report positions this shift towards entertainment-led engagement as central to building a more meaningful presence on social media.
