For manufacturers, connecting with numerous audiences in resonant methods requires sustained group constructing. More than ever, that begins with giving extra energy to the folks in these communities. That’s what specialists at Social Media Week 2026 mentioned onstage Thursday.
“Brands can’t own culture—even if they want to, they can’t. People own [culture], and actually, people own brands, because at the end of the day, we are buying, we are consuming, we are the audience, so we make the decisions at the end of the day,” mentioned Alejandra Salazar, founder and CEO of the women-led artistic company Croing. “So when a brand really wants to be part of the community and participate in the culture, what they need to try to do is get themselves immersed into that culture.”
And the quick monitor for manufacturers to turn into a part of a particular tradition or group, Salazar mentioned, is to lean on the specialists: the artistic folks and leaders shaping that house. “But [marketing decision-makers] need to care enough to then listen to you and understand what you’re saying.”
One of the voices shaping tradition throughout the deaf group—and much past it—is Jackie Gonzalez, a deaf content material creator with 1.9 million Instagram followers, recognized for her viral lip-reading movies of celebrities. She echoed Salazar’s emphasis on leaning into and trusting key voices inside particular communities. “Take a step back and just let the culture be, let whoever you’re bringing on be one voice for that culture, allow them to have input.”
Gonzales believes manufacturers must accomplice with their creators. In her expertise, Gonzalez mentioned, it may be troublesome to navigate model partnerships when manufacturers are overly prescriptive, whether or not by making an attempt to dictate to her the way to behave as a deaf individual or demanding a particular variety of model mentions inside a video. In these sorts of negotiations, she mentioned, “the best I can do is say, ‘okay, well, in my experience, that may come off like this,’ and then, it’s up to the brand to take that and decide what they want to do next.”
Brands ought to really feel empowered to embrace particular cultures, however in a means that’s well-meaning and genuine to their very own ethos, mentioned Joy Ogunneye, international innovation and model comms lead at Aveeno Face, Sun and Hair.
“We can smell when [a brand] is trying to create culture, and so it’s important for brands to ensure that it’s in line with who they are as a brand,” she mentioned, including that “it’s a fine line” between investing in a tradition to applicable or extract from it and investing out of a real dedication to “make a difference.”