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Social Creative: The keys to stop being invisible on social media.
3 March 2026
If you don’t move, you get left out. In a world like social media, where everything moves at lightning speed and capturing people’s attention is increasingly difficult, just posting for the sake of posting isn’t enough; you have to know how to adapt to avoid being invisible.
Bárbara Ramírez, Head of Social Creative at Good Rebels, tells us what separates brands that merely “exist” from those that truly connect with a purpose. In this interview, we go over the keys to ensuring your strategy doesn’t fall behind and truly understands the codes of 2026.
Q: At Good Rebels, we believe the new approach brands must take on social media is Social Creative. Could you explain a bit what that means?
A: Social Creative is the evolution of social media as we understood it until now. What’s happening is that in a landscape where attention is increasingly costly to get, literally and figuratively, brands need to upgrade their social strategy to be more creative and capture user attention from the very first impact.
Q: The trend “2026 is the new 2016” keeps popping up on social media. From your perspective, how has digital marketing and social media changed over these 10 years? Which changes are your favorites (yes, we can get a bit personal)? And what do you miss about 2016?
A: This whole 2016 trend, which has already run its course, taps into nostalgia. In our recent trend report, we observed how this focus on the past and the nostalgic movement responds to a time when social media was much less hostile, when feeds weren’t flooded with brands trying to sell you things, and when you genuinely felt you were connecting with a community when posting. That’s why back then it was so “cool” to jump in and discover things that truly interested and entertained you.
That’s the most significant change over these ten years, at least from my perspective. Social media has gone from being a place where you connected with people to a place where brands bombard you with endless information and promotions. That’s why it’s so relevant to find that point of credibility, closeness, humanity, and authenticity that social media once had, the source of that nostalgia, which is largely missing today.
Personally, one of my favorite changes in social media over the past few years is the shift from massive, mainstream networks to more niche spaces, like Substack or Reddit, where people are rediscovering that magic we said was missing from 2026’s social platforms.
On these platforms, publishing has become more comfortable, which makes it easier to find valuable content. In this way, users are discovering new ways to connect, for example, through conversations in the comments section of posts, and social media is starting to remind us a bit of what it used to be.
Q: Among the trends that will shape social media in 2026 (digital detox, nostalgia, the new era of influencers, and AI), which do you think offers the most room for brands to improve? And which do you think is already well-established?
A: In my opinion, the one that’s most established, because it comes directly from the user, is the need to disconnect from social media and be more present in daily life, the social detox movement.
The trend that still needs to evolve, or at least find its place so it’s not so intrusive and doesn’t “annoy” users, is the AI boom. Right now, we’re at a point where you either love it or hate it. Brands are experimenting to discover what works best, so I think we still need to find the right balance to fully leverage its potential.
Q: On one hand, we know AI is the future, but we also know brands want to be more human, since authenticity is one of the most important factors for users. How do these two realities coexist?
A: The report includes several examples showing that integrating AI into a Social Creative strategy makes total sense. On one hand, vibe coding can be extremely valuable for a brand because AI suddenly allows you to explore limits that weren’t possible before. And then, there are emerging fantasy spaces that give us the opportunity to be far more creative.
At the end of the day, we have to understand that AI will never replace a brand’s humanity, and authenticity doesn’t come from creating hyper-realistic AI characters, it comes from giving the brand strong storytelling, a coherent message, and a clear voice across all content, whether generated by AI or by people.
@toyota_esp
Q: What is the costliest mistake a brand can make today on social media by not understanding what Social Creative means?
A: I’m not sure if it’s the costliest mistake, but we’re all exposed to the risk of cancellation. As we discussed in the trend report, extreme care is required when selecting profiles, especially when it comes to macro-influencers or quasi-celebrities.
If we don’t conduct a thorough background check, the brand risks being linked to political or social stances it doesn’t represent. That’s why it’s essential not to be swayed only by follower count; the key is ensuring the profile’s values are fully aligned with the brand’s.
Q: If tomorrow every brand in the world had to reset its social media strategy and you could give them only one universal piece of advice, what would your “golden rule” be?
A: For me, the most important thing is authenticity. The advice would be that everything you communicate should be real and provide value, both for the user and for the brand’s reputation. Speak from truthfulness and humanity, showing the people behind the brand; at the end of the day, that’s what truly connects with the audience.
If you want to be among the brands that truly understand the social media landscape of 2026, don’t miss our latest report, The (Social Media) Times They Are A-Changin’. Download it here!
