Sloan Social’s Digital Marketing Lessons for 2026

2026 is truly upon us, we’ve defrosted from the festive slumber and now we’re back at it. January is the time to not only think about personal growth and goals, but work on your business strategy, this is where I come in! I’m Amber Sloan, the latest addition to the Women in Business blogging team and I’m here to help you with all things digital marketing; Social Media, Advertising, Influencer Marketing, Content Creation and Email Marketing.

In this era of constant social media updates and short lived trends it’s almost impossible for business owners to keep up with what’s going on in digital marketing. Don’t fret - I’ve got your guide to what’s really important for your online presence in 2026 - let’s dive in!

Community Over Audience

Whether you have 100 followers or 1,000,000 followers it means nothing if you’re talking to no one. You might be thinking - hang on here if you have 1,000,000 followers how can you be talking to no one - what I mean is you aren’t relating to your followers, you aren’t fostering their loyalty or engaging their interest. You may have an audience, but you don’t have a community.

Community is the only thing AI can’t replicate, it’s a space or an experience that you craft specifically for your followers. Community backing is what businesses look out for when they are searching for creators to collaborate with, this is why so many successful campaigns have leveraged the communities of emerging/micro influencers.

So how do you create a community? You can encourage interaction, create private groups for the most active members of your audience, ask more questions, direct conversation into channels, emails, DMS.

Get Your Face Out There

In an ocean of AI, how can your brand stand out? Simple, make your brand YOU. The best part is, your users crave human connection because of the mountain of AI content they are consuming through social media on a daily basis. Showing up as yourself and posting real content is the best way to stand out from the crowd. 

I understand that this concept isn’t achievable for everyone or every industry, so if you can’t speak for yourself, let others speak for you! Think about what your target audience would get value out of, this could be asking current customers to record a testimonial, collaborating with creators, reposting user-generated content or even asking your employees to get involved with employee-generated content initiatives.

The Age of the “Lurker”

What is a lurker you may ask? They are passive members of your audience, who may see what you're posting, buy your product, learn from your content but who do not interact or engage with your social media channels.

On any given social media platform there is a rule, coined by Nir Zicherman from Medium, “The Rule states the following: Given any online community, 1% of users will create new content. 9% of users will engage with that content. And the remaining 90% will passively consume the content, or “lurk”.”

While these users don’t add to your engagement metrics they might be adding to your bottom line. Your metrics may be telling you one thing, but your sales could show you a different story - don’t let vanity metrics stop you from showing up consistently on social media, because these posts may be benefiting your sales more than you realise! Metrics that may be more helpful to track these lurkers are your Profile Clicks, Website Clicks, Shares and Saves, as a silent watcher is likely to save something for later or share content by DM or through off channel methods. 


Quick Win: Including Your Customer in Your CTA (Call To Action)

I find the quick wins so you don’t have to! This month’s Quick Win is something simple that businesses can apply to their social media captions, website buttons or email CTAs.
Simply, change your CTA word to a first-person phrase. Why? Your audience wants to feel included in the full customer journey, right the way through to the conversion decision. An easy way to do this is by simply changing the language you use, for example make it more specific by changing your Call to Action word “Apply” to a first-person phrase “I’m ready to grow with Sloan Social”.

Founder Jay Schwedelson from SubjectLine.com found a 20% increase in clicks to website, when first-person was used and things like job titles, specific services or interests were applied to a Call to Action phrase.

Some other examples include:
●    Instead of "Download the PDF" ➔ "I want my 2026 roadmap."
●    Instead of "Book a Discovery Call" ➔ "I'm ready to scale my social."

As we navigate the landscape of 2026, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of "perfect" AI-generated content. But remember: the one thing an algorithm cannot replicate is your story, your perspective, and the unique way you serve your community.
At Sloan Social, I’m passionate about helping female founders find that sweet spot between strategic growth and authentic connection.

I’m so excited to see how you take these trends and make them your own. If you’ve found a spark of inspiration here, don’t be a stranger—I’d love to hear which trend you’re tackling first!

I’m ready to grow my community—let’s connect:

Instagram: @sloan.social
LinkedIn: Amber Sloan / Sloan Social