November 2025 – it is a paradox as good as the rest of them – if a media platform is useful because it is so popular, how can you make your voice rise up above the crowd? It appears to be an art form. And all art is subjective.
In our latest pulse asking senior leaders working for the UK’s membership and trade associations, 60% say they view social media as the best comms platform to achieve a ‘cut-through’. So social media’s utility remains unrivalled – no surprises there.
But 81% of those we pulsed asserted that achieving ‘cut-through’ against a background of continual noise is their biggest communications challenge. For senior leaders, LinkedIn’s ~134 million daily users make it a necessity and ‘by far and away the best communication tool’. Yet 21% still rely on ‘good old email.’
Social media’s massive audience capability clearly overrides any of the difficulties of using it. However, as one Director points out, ‘nobody (has) the time or attention span to read anything.’ So when does singing becomes shouting?
For many, it is a fine balancing act that is ultimately subjective. 30% of membership organisations/trade associations run a 24/7 news cycle with 45% sending out a form of communication every couple of days. 20% communicate with their members once a week.
In today’s world, everyone sings at different volumes and are looking for their own harmony inside the din of social media. The benefits of adding a voice to this online shouting match are clear but the issues are twofold:
– how to create the most singular voice?
– how much time and capital to invest in doing so?
The answers to both? 35% (one in three) say they test and measure different content formats to see what works on a regular basis. So what does this tell us? It’s all in the data…