What if the key to long-term brand success wasn’t about reaching more people, but building deeper connections with the right ones?
At The Drum Predictions 2025, Duel’s Head of Category & Content, and co-host of the Building Brand Advocacy Podcast, Verity Hurd, took the stage to break down why Advocacy should be every marketer’s next obsession.
In a landscape where social engagement is plummeting, the brands that thrive will be the ones that turn customers into champions.
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Why Brands Need a New Playbook
Social media has changed. Engagement is in freefall:
- Facebook's organic reach is down to just 1.37%
- TikTok engagement has dropped 35% year-over-year
- 97% of TikTok views are passive, and 67% of users never post
Consumers are still consuming, but they’re connecting less. The era of vanity metrics is over.
What’s replacing it?
A fundamental shift toward deeper, more intentional brand relationships. Consumers aren’t just moving away from public social feeds, they’re actively seeking smaller, more engaged spaces where connection feels real.
- 78% of social media users now prefer private communities over public feeds.
- Discord communities grew by 247% in 2024, signaling a major shift toward decentralized engagement.
- Facebook Groups now see 1.8 billion monthly active users, showing that niche, interest-led spaces are where real interactions are happening.
Instead of chasing engagement that no longer drives real connection, brands need to rethink how they cultivate loyalty, Advocacy, and long-term growth.
That means shifting from one-way broadcasting to active participation in the spaces where consumers are already deeply engaged.
The 3 Trends Defining Advocacy in 2025
Verity outlined three major shifts reshaping how brands create and sustain Advocacy in 2025 and beyond:
1. The Rise of the Creator Ecosystem
The influencer model has shifted. While mega influencers still offer reach, micro and nano influencers are proving to be more effective because they foster trust, credibility, and deeper audience relationships. Consumers are increasingly drawn to voices that feel authentic, relatable, and embedded within their communities, making smaller-scale creators more impactful than ever.
In 2025, creators won’t just promote brands, they’ll play an active role in shaping them. Brands are moving beyond one-off sponsorships and embracing creators as partners who co-design products, craft brand narratives, and shape experiences that resonate deeply with their audiences. Rather than chasing mass exposure, brands are prioritizing authenticity, ensuring that every collaboration aligns with their values and strengthens advocacy.
This shift means long-term creator partnerships will replace transactional influencer deals. Instead of paying for fleeting attention, brands will invest in sustained relationships with creators who truly understand and engage their audience, turning influence into long-term brand equity.
Action for brands: Move beyond short-term influencer campaigns and invest in long-term creator partnerships that prioritize authenticity, community, and sustained Advocacy.
2. Designed Connections: From Fleeting Trends to Emotional Brand Moments
TikTok trends now peak in just 3-5 days, making fleeting virality an unreliable and unsustainable strategy. Brands that chase the latest trend cycle risk being forgotten just as quickly as they go viral. Instead, the smartest brands are moving away from reactive marketing and intentionally designing brand moments that create lasting emotional connections and spark real Advocacy.
Stanley didn’t just replace a tumbler when a customer’s car burned down—they bought her a new car, turning an everyday product into a symbol of durability and loyalty.
The North Face didn’t just send a replacement jacket to an unhappy customer—they flew it to her on a mountain, transforming a simple customer service moment into an unforgettable brand story.
Reformation didn’t hop on an existing viral trend, they created their own, casting Pete Davidson as ‘The Perfect Boyfriend’ in a campaign that perfectly tapped into cultural conversations around relationships and humor.
These moments weren’t designed to go viral in the traditional sense, but they did because they felt genuine, surprising, and deeply tied to the brand’s identity. The brands that get this right don’t just create buzz; they create experiences that people actually want to talk about and share.
Action for brands: Move beyond chasing trends and focus on designing meaningful, advocacy-driven experiences, whether through surprise-and-delight campaigns or IRL-to-URL brand activations that create real emotional impact.
3. The Off-the-Grid Community Movement
We’re in the age of the lurker. Consumers are still consuming content, but how and where they engage is changing. Public feeds are becoming passive spaces, filled with algorithm-driven content rather than real conversations. Instead, people are retreating into hyper-targeted, niche-led spaces where they feel a greater sense of connection, relevance, and value.
Platforms like Discord, WhatsApp, Substack and Reddit, along with brand-led advocacy programs, are thriving because they offer privacy, exclusivity, and deeper engagement. Consumers no longer want to interact with brands in crowded, noisy social feeds. They want focused, interest-driven spaces where they can engage on their own terms.
The data proves it:
- 78% of consumers prefer private spaces over public social feeds.
Brands with strong niche communities see higher lifetime value and retention than those relying on traditional engagement.
Action for brands: Don’t just participate, host. Build and nurture brand-led spaces where your most engaged advocates can connect, collaborate, and drive real conversations.
Advocacy Isn’t a Buzzword—It’s a Growth Strategy
For brands still hesitant to invest in Advocacy, here’s the bottom line: this isn’t just a feel-good concept. It’s a measurable, revenue-driving strategy.
At Duel, we’ve analyzed 39 top fashion and beauty brands, measuring how investment in advocacy impacts long-term performance. The results?
Brands that prioritize Advocacy outperform competitors in loyalty, revenue, and retention. Advocacy doesn’t lead to overnight brand booms, it leads to long-term, compounding growth that builds true brand equity.
The way consumers engage with brands has fundamentally changed. Traditional social strategies built on vanity metrics are losing impact, while advocacy, community, and deeper brand relationships are driving sustainable growth.
The brands that will win in 2025 are those that prioritize:
- Real brand advocates, not just followers – Engagement is declining, but Advocacy is rising. Focus on turning customers into champions.
- Creators as partners, not just promoters – The influencer model is evolving. Long-term co-creation beats one-off sponsorships.
- Moments that matter, not just marketing – Virality is fleeting. Intentional, emotionally resonant brand moments create lasting impact.
- Private communities, not just public feeds – The most valuable conversations are happening in high-trust, brand-led spaces.
The shift is already happening. Brands that embrace it now will be the ones that shape the future.
