Which of the 3 A's in your feed is scoring an A today?

Forget K3. What gives brands wings on social media goes by the name A3: Advertising, Artificial Intelligence, and Authentic content. But which of these 3 A’s has the potential today to turn your marketing into a real hit machine, from Africa to America?

Drumroll in your feed

The answer might surprise you. It’s not (just) advertising. Nor is it (just) AI. It’s… authentic organic content. Applause, and a brief explanation. Oh, yes!  

The A-score for authentic content might sound strange in an era where online ad budgets are rising and AI tools are booming – and meanwhile clogging up your channels with words and images. But just check your own feed.

You open LinkedIn or Instagram and see a series of sponsored posts go by. Cleverly targeted. Professionally made. Often suspiciously similar, too (hello, ChatGPT). Your brain recognizes the pattern immediately. Ad. Scroll. Ad. Scroll. AI-drab. Scroll. Until suddenly, something else appears.

An employee proudly sharing a project. An entrepreneur sharing a personal lesson from their week. A behind-the-scenes photo of an organization. No campaign. No slogan. Just a genuine story. Okay: sponsored, but genuine. And what do you do? You stop scrolling – you even read the caption and might even click through to the creators' site, for heaven's sake!

From authenticity to authority

That longer attention span is no coincidence. In a feed that is becoming increasingly crowded with ads and AI-optimized content, authenticity stands out. More and more brands are seeing that organic posts with an original look and feel generate more awareness, and certainly drive more engagement. People simply respond more strongly to something that… feels human.

You can see it happening everywhere. We, too, feel that authentic organic content is performing exceptionally well on social media and has everything it takes to build stronger brand loyalty, establish authority, and gather a loyal community around you. The videos featuring the employees of Land Rover dealer JLR Van Vaerenbergh are winning hearts like crazy. The influencers we deploy for AEG share their experiences with the brand's cooking appliances at will. Their followers love it, and that’s something AEG really appreciates.

The great appeal of organic content does not, of course, mean that advertising or AI are redundant . On the contrary. They remain indispensable tools for increasing your reach and making campaigns smarter when used in the right mix. But they only gain power when supported by something that cannot be automated: authenticity.

So perhaps the real question for the digital marketer today is not so much how to advertise better or work smarter with AI. But rather: which stories within your organization are worth telling and sharing with your community?

‍

‍

Was this insight helpful?  

Or would you like to dive a little deeper into this topic? Let us know. At D’M&S, we’d love to help you explore how an audit and/or the right strategy can give your marketing an extra boost this year.

‍