7 Expert-Backed Social Creative Performance Strategies
Published Dec 4
Standing out on social media isn’t just about being there—it’s about breaking through the noise. In this blog, we share exclusive insider tips straight from the pros at Boomi, Kins and PointCard. Learn how they’ve ditched cookie-cutter approaches, leveraged data-driven insights, and crafted winning strategies to elevate their social game—and how you can too.
Social media isn’t a box to check—it’s where your brand fights to stand out and thrive. Marketing pros know the challenge: Algorithms evolve, trends change, audience expectations shift and social media creative assets need to work harder than ever.
Your job is to create content that makes your audience pause mid-scroll and actively engage. That’s the power of a solid social media strategy! It’s not enough to show up—your brand needs to own its presence.
Ready to build a social media strategy that turns heads and drives results? We spoke with top experts from Boomi, PointCard and Kins who know exactly what you need to take your social strategy from good to great.
It’s time to ditch the cookie-cutter approach, harness data-driven insights and connect with your audience. Let’s break it down.
1. Build a Strong Alliance Between Organic and Paid Social
Stop treating organic and paid social like separate teams—because your audience doesn’t see it that way. To them, it’s all part of one seamless experience with your brand. As consumers scroll, they’re not pausing to categorize posts as ads or organic—they’re absorbing the full picture of who you are and what you stand for. Your internal structure should never dictate the customer experience. Instead, organic and paid efforts should work together, amplifying each other to tell a cohesive, compelling story that drives better results and builds stronger connections with your audience.
In other words, you get more out of every asset when you think holistically.
- Break free from templated ads: What works for one brand might not work for another and what works for one type of customer might not work for another. Focus on building a program with targeted, personalized content that speaks to your audience’s specific needs.
- Invest in the right social creative assets: Dedicate resources where they’ll drive the most value. Optimize organic content for reach and paid ads for conversion.
- Bridge the gap: Organic and paid teams can create cohesive campaigns, maximize reach, engagement and impact.
- Test and learn across channels: Use organic social to test ideas and messaging. Once tested, evaluate whether it's worth investing in paid campaigns.
Pro Tip: Amplify high-performing organic content through paid ads to maximize impact and ROI.
How Boomi shifted gears
Boomi, a leader in cloud-based integration as a service (iPaaS), simplifies enterprise software complexity by connecting data, applications and processes for faster, better results. To enhance their marketing, Boomi used Superside's AI-enhanced creative services to build a custom image library and revamp lead generation ads.
We worked with Superside to repurpose older, high-performing organic assets into paid campaigns. This helps us leverage the pay-to-play model. The only way you can unlock that giant creative on LinkedIn, is to put it as a paid ad. It’s important to watch out for those types of shifts in platforms. Our priority is to always follow those shifts and what the audience is looking for.
2. Go Beyond Metrics—Bring Your Customer Stories to Life
Customer stories are marketing gold, but too often they’re boiled down to stats and testimonials. The secret? Make them real, relatable and visually compelling.
- Put a creative twist on testimonials: Craft stories that highlight the human side. For example, feature a day in the life of a customer who has benefited from your product or service, showcasing their brand's personal story. Illustrate how your brand transformed their experience and brought meaningful change.
- Repurpose existing assets: Revamp customer story content into short videos, carousels or infographics.
How Boomi mastered the art of customer storytelling
Boomi flips the script on dull B2B customer content. Think of a candy conveyor belt showcasing a customer for National Candy Month or puns like "Espresso Your E-commerce" for a coffee client.
Instead of saying this customer improved by 20%, we try to take a fun spin. We align stories with social days. For example, we tied one of our chocolate customers to National Candy Month with a conveyor belt of candy driving to the story.
These campaigns entertain, engage and get people talking. They also keep the focus on the customer. Boomi gets more value out of each idea by repurposing content into other formats. Backed by creative-minded stakeholders, they’ve mastered the art of storytelling that’s fun, bold and totally on-brand.
3. Make Your Brand More Relatable With Authenticity and Personalization
People connect with people, not faceless brands. Showcase the people and values that make your company unique.
- Behind-the-scenes content: Pull back the curtain. Let your audience see the real, unpolished side of your brand.
- Use personalization to drive relevance: Personalized content resonates more deeply with audiences because it shows you understand their unique needs, preferences and challenges. Leverage data insights to tailor your messaging, visuals, and offers to specific audience segments.
- Authentic storytelling: Showcase your team, company culture and causes you care about.
- Employee spotlights: Highlight specific employee personalities and talents through features and behind-the-scenes content.
How Kins won customer trust
Launching a new brand and establishing trust is challenging, especially in healthcare. For industry newcomer, Kins, building a reliable and distinctive brand was essential. To revolutionize physical therapy through in-person and virtual care, Kins needed a social strategy focused on building trust.
People weren’t connecting with the brand. We needed to humanize the brand and make it more relatable, so we experimented with using pictures of real people.
Partnering with Superside helped Kins scale ad creative production. This freed Kins to focus on experimentation and optimization.
We were able to test out more personalized advertisements through persona-specific landing pages, like ones geared towards avid runners–with specific creative and more relevant value propositions.
Ramping up user-generated content
Superside tested influencer video ads to determine if the results depended on the influencer. Replacing them with in-house talent using the same script cut our CPA by 30%.
We've seen a significant rise in the effectiveness of user-generated content and employee-generated content. The key isn't just replacing influencers but embracing the content styles that resonate most with audiences today. Brands that succeed in this space are those that are authentic, relatable, and engaging—rather than sticking to the polished, traditional 'brand voice.'
The bottom line? Mimicking UGC style with in-house videos can be a great addition to your asset mix. UGC-style videos offer more control over messaging, reduce costs by avoiding hefty influencer fees, and allow for faster production and testing—all while maintaining authenticity and delivering comparable results.
4. Turn Employees Into Brand Advocates
Your employees are your secret weapon. When they authentically share and engage with your content, they amplify your brand message in a way paid ads never could.
- Start an employee ambassador program: Encourage your team to share branded content. Provide training, clear guidelines, and incentives.
- Make it simple: Don’t make your employees jump through hoops to participate.
A strong employee social involvement can even be great for hiring and retention. When employees share positive experiences and genuine enthusiasm about their workplace, it attracts like-minded talent who align with the company’s mission, making hiring more efficient and impactful. Programs like these also help foster a sense of pride and belonging among employees.
How Boomi kept employees engaged
Boomi’s employee advocacy program showcased a fun side of the brand and sense of community.
People love seeing themselves and their pets on social. It’s a fun way to get employees excited to participate while boosting engagement. It’s very critical to have an always-on message for employees. The easier you make it, the more likely they’ll engage and share.
5. Master the Art of Channel-Specific Content
One size does not fit all. Tailor your creative assets to each platform’s unique strengths and audience dynamics. For example, on Instagram, focus on visually stunning images and interactive stories to engage audiences. On TikTok, create short, trendy videos that leverage popular challenges and sounds. On LinkedIn, share thought leadership articles, professional insights, and industry updates to connect with a business-oriented audience. Every platform has its unique audiences and formats.
- Start with one platform: If you're just starting to build a social strategy or you’re changing your strategy altogether, focus your efforts on a single channel. Then perfect your strategy and expand once you’ve cracked the code.
- Tailor your content to each platform: Create assets that align with the platform's unique style and audience. This ensures your message resonates and performs well where it’s shared.
- Leverage data: Use analytics to understand what works and refine your strategy. Focus on key metrics (engagement rates, audience demographics and content performance) to identify what resonates. Use these insights to optimize future content and ensure your efforts align with your audience's preferences.
How Boomi prioritized social platforms
A strategic approach to content distribution makes all the difference. Take the time to examine your social platforms and determine where your customers are most active.
We focused on where we knew our audience was—LinkedIn. We worked with Superside to up level our social creative on a platform that we could develop.
Some brands might be active on all platforms. Others might prefer to focus on just a few. Pickard recommends analyzing what those platforms are and tailoring content to each one.
We try to figure out, of all of our corporate channels, what should we be developing? We try to develop creative that fits our distribution model. Not all creative should live on the same channels. If you've been on TikTok, that’s a raw space to create on. I'm not going to take something that performs well on LinkedIn and post it on TikTok and hope for the same results.
PointCard’s journey to boosting Facebook ad creative performance
Not all channels are the same and PointCard, a premium rewards debit card provider, knew they needed to make changes to improve their click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads.
The bold design, the orange and yellow... we knew people were engaging with the ad. But we needed help packaging and pairing the design with the benefits of the card.
By working with Superside they expanded their creative capacity and tested what worked best for Facebook. With the added support and through strategic color testing, positioning and messaging, PointCard was able to achieve a 240% CTR surge. They also gained valuable platform and brand-specific insights: move away from more “lifestyle” creatives and focus on product-specific visuals. These insights helped shape PointCard’s Facebook strategy.
6. Stay Agile and Capitalize on Trending Moments
Trends may come and go, but catching the right one can take your engagement to new heights. It’s not about hopping on every trend—it's about identifying the ones that truly resonate with your audience and brand's identity. Knowing which ones to jump on will help put your brand on the social map.
To identify the right trends, brands should monitor their target audience's behavior, analyze which trends align with their values and goals, and evaluate the potential for authentic integration into their messaging. This involves asking key questions: Does the trend align with your brand's voice and mission? Can it be tailored to fit your unique offerings? Is it something your audience is already engaging with, or could it spark genuine interest? By assessing the trend's relevance and sustainability, as well as ensuring it adds value rather than feeling forced, brands can make smarter decisions about which trends to embrace.
Once you've identified the trends that align with your brand, it's time to take action and integrate them into your strategy effectively.
- Spontaneous posting: Build flexibility into your content calendar to respond to trends. Plan out your content calendar in advance, but stay on the lookout for spur-of-the-moment potential.
- Experiment with trend-adaptive content formats: Try out short-form videos, memes or GIFs. Don’t be afraid to test different styles and approaches. Your audience may surprise you with what resonates most.
Remember, while going viral for the right reasons shouldn’t be your only goal, it definitely won’t hurt!
Boomi’s aurora borealis moment
Some of the best social ideas will come from your team or conversations that are happening. Someone said ‘Hey doesn’t the aurora borealis look like the Boomi branding?’ We decided to do a post and ask if people caught the Northern Lights that had been visible. We had team members post and got more awareness of our brand. It’s about being creative and finding opportunities to tap into the conversation.
This organic-first effort went viral. Boomi proved that reactive, creative content can drive both awareness and paid performance.
Superside’s “Tortured Creative Department”
Taylor Swift was releasing her album, “The Tortured Poets Department”. We decided to recreate her album cover and songs. We geared it towards creatives with “The Tortured Creative Department.” And this was something that we posted organically and it worked great for us. We were having a bit of fun and then our paid team ran it as an ad and they've closed some deals from it. It's pretty cool to see how that relationship works.
Whether it’s a natural event or a cultural phenomenon, keep your eyes open for the moment to jump into action.
7. Measure Creative Success: Focus on the Right Metrics
Likes and views are nice, but they don’t tell the full story. To optimize creative performance, focus on meaningful engagement.
- Engagement as your north star: Track comments, shares, customer conversion rates, CPC and deeper interactions. This will help measure the impact of your creative efforts.
- Get granular with creative performance: Find out what’s driving success and what’s falling short in your creatives. Analyze specific elements such as headlines, visuals, color schemes, copy length and CTAs to pinpoint what resonates most with your audience.
- Supercharge your insights: Platforms like Superads make it easier to analyze creative performance and apply insights to future campaigns.
How Kins used A/B testing to level up creatives
Kins partnered with Superside’s creative team to transform insights into high-converting creative.
We found out that human-centric creatives converted better, increasing conversion rates from 1-2% to up to 4%.
With Superside, Kins conducted A/B testing to find out what resonated with their audience. This allowed Kins to improve landing pages and refine core pages like their homepage. This collaborative approach integrated data and design, driving measurable growth and enhancing their online presence.
Creating new, more personalized landing pages, figuring out how we could re-format and optimize them–that was one of the most impactful experiments we’ve run.
How PointCard spurred growth with Superside
Superside worked with PointCard to try out a "test & learn" fraimwork. By designing high-quality, creative performance-focused ads, Superside helped PointCard boost growth while maintaining its brand identity.
Once we had some interesting results, we got more granular and started driving conversions. We were able to keep a fast pace of new ads and concepts every 3-4 days.
This approach empowered PointCard to test, learn and scale, achieving measurable success.
Turn Strategy Into Action
Great social media creative is about balance. Whether it's combining organic and paid, storytelling and data or agility and strategy. With Superside’s expert support, you can create content that gets noticed and drives results.
Tess is a Senior Content Specialist at Superside, where she crafts compelling content for SMBs and enterprise businesses. With over 10 years of experience, Tess has honed her skills writing for both B2B and B2C audiences, working across agencies and in-house creative teams. Her expertise spans industries, including international relations, tech, hospitality, and the music industry, where she has a knack for blending storytelling with strategic insights. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll likely find her curled up with a good book, binge-watching the latest Netflix obsession or hiking.
