Introduction: Why Is Social Transformation™ Vital in the Social Age?
Social media has fundamentally rewired and re-engineered our digital experience. Just as the blogosphere democratized the printing press for the digital age back in the early 2000s, so too have social technologies democratized digital creative. Rich media production capabilities exist in billions of people’s pockets in cell phone form. We’re in the midst of a content revolution with more than 2.5 quintillion (18 zeros!) bytes of data being created and shared by people everywhere, every day.
New intelligent systems, in particular generative AI, are powering a whole new wave of social media innovation. Gen AI tools are already creating the next frontier in text, audio, and video generation. AI is also firmly embedded into social algorithms, powering newsfeeds, content, and follow recommendations, as well as surfacing deeper insights and analytics for marketers than ever before.
The steep adoption curve and speed of evolution has big implications for companies looking to fast track their digital development. The Social Age has shifted digital transformation’s focus from engineering to communications and has presented a myriad of complex new communication challenges. Brands are being held to higher standards of humanness than ever before. That means being good listeners and being in the moment. It means being empathetic, conversational, authentic, and interesting. All this requires a fundamental communications shift—a transformation of priorities, competencies, processes, and activities.
What is Social Transformation™?
At Cosmo5, we’ve seen these dynamics reshape industries, from consumer goods to technology.
Drawing from two decades of social innovation and deep strategic partnerships with global leaders like Diageo, Wella, Google, and SAP, Cosmo5 Group company 1000heads developed its Social Transformation™ proposition.
Social Transformation™ helps clients shift emphasis from using social as a channel to being social as communications first principle. The approach marries 360º social expertise with AOR strategic and creative IQ. Each Social Transformation™ strategy is unique to each clients’ mission but shares the backbone of 1000heads’ proprietary methodology, skills and tools.
| What is Social Transformation™? | |
| 1/ Social as a first principle | Social Transformation™ shifts emphasis from using social to being social as a communications first principle. |
| 2/ Blended Expertise | Social Transformation™ combines 1000heads’ blended services under a single unified approach – marrying data & analytics, strategy & implementation design, community, co-creation and creative. |
| 3/ Expansive Impact | Social Transformation™ uplevels social from a channel vertical to a horizontal driver of broader brand and business impact. |
How Cosmo 5 Group Company 1000heads Helps Clients?
Cosmo 5 Group Company 1000heads guides clients through Social Transformation™ with bespoke solutions – each tailored to their specific needs and priorities. Here are some examples:
| Client | Transformation focus | Results |
| Diageo | Data and analytics focus | Award-winning measurement that helped transform digital marketing ROI evaluation for Diageo’s family of brands. |
| Wella | Community and advocacy focus | Transforming Wella’s social brand, leading to a 600% increase in social referrals to Wella’s digital POS. |
| Digital influence and co-creation focus | Building stronger communities for Google products, leading to hyper growth in social advocacy and co-created branded content. | |
| SAP | Social-first storytelling focus | SAP’s new social brand and content strategy delivered outsized gains in all social engagement metrics. |
Why Social Transformation™ Matters?
Today’s brands are competing for the hearts and minds of a new generation of customers. They not only need to navigate the complexity of the social space but also harness it to create more human connections, display more human values, show greater cultural relevance, and make a more positive cultural impact.
Achieving success requires more than prioritizing social as a media channel. The true goal is to embed social first principles into the fabric of the business and into the heart of the brand. This is an ever-changing undertaking, requiring bold decisions followed by a continuous cycle of adaption and evolution.
By turning social into a transformative force, brands can anticipate trends, co-innovate with communities, build lasting advocacy and foster brand equity.