Sourced from Forbes
With reels, stories, livestreams and immersive experiences competing for consumers’ attention, brands have to decide not just what content to make, but where to show up. Every platform promises reach and every format claims to be the next breakthrough, so deciding where to invest your creative energy can feel overwhelming.
To generate real ROI, marketing leaders must understand where their audience actually engages, which formats align with their message and how each channel contributes to broader brand goals. Below, Forbes Communications Council members explain how they evaluate emerging formats and determine which creative investments are truly worth the effort.
1. Start With The Outcome You Want
Chase outcomes, not formats. Start with the job to be done—awareness, consideration or conversion—and invest where your audience already spends time. We see the best ROI from content that is discoverable and allows for meaningful engagement. – Yael Klass, Similarweb Ltd.
2. Match Formats To Your Audience Behaviour And Message
Brands should focus on the formats that match their audience behaviour and message rather than chasing every trend. Short-form video continues to show strong ROI because it drives engagement and sharing. However, immersive or interactive content works best when it deepens brand storytelling and creates an emotional connection that leads to loyalty. – Maria Alonso, Fortune 206
3. Run Small, Concurrent Experiments And Follow The Data
With the pace of change, the process is the strategy. Apply agile methodology and run small, concurrent content experiments. Don’t follow trends; follow your data. The highest ROI comes not from a specific format, but from the speed at which you can pivot creative energy to meet customers where they are now. – Reyne Quackenbush, Thoughtworks
4. Deeply Understand Your Ideal Customer Persona
It starts with deeply understanding your ICP—their interests, pain points and motivations. People engage with content that reflects their world. When brands build creative around what their audience already cares about instead of what they want to sell, every format becomes more effective, authentic and worth the attention. – Cody Gillund, Grounded Growth Studio
5. Develop A Centralized Content Strategy With Clear Ownership And Analytics
The most effective brands today balance reach with engagement, using reels for discovery and stories for trust-building. The winning formula is simple: Test, analyse, optimize, repeat. A centralized content strategy with clear ownership and analytics ensures consistency. Long-form content builds depth while short-form video delivers impact. Voice-of-customer, contextual insights should guide format selection. – Anshuman Dutta, Cognizant
6. Balance Innovation With Consistency
New social media tools may be flashy, but proven methods can still drive lasting results. Focus your creative energy on balancing innovation with consistency, exploring brand-new tools while continuing to invest in those that you know already perform well. A strong strategy paired with ongoing performance analysis can help you pivot quickly and efficiently while maximizing your ROI. – Victoria Zelefsky, Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation
7. Know How Your Offering Fits Into Your Audience’s Journey
When you become obsessed with how, when and where your audience seeks information and how your product or service fits into that journey, the formats reveal themselves. Reels, stories, immersive experiences or long-form content are just the vessel. ROI comes from meeting people where their intent lives, regardless of format. – Stephanie Bunnell, Local Language
8. Go Where Attention Is High And Friction Is Low
It’s not “reels versus stories versus VR”—it’s under priced attention. If your buyer watches 300 stories a day, what are the odds your two get noticed? Near zero. Go where attention is high and friction and competition are low: TikTok Live (real-time Q&A and conversion); YouTube Shorts around how-to searches; LinkedIn carousels for B2B; and triggered email and SMS. Test fast, kill losers and scale winners. – Sanel Mezbur, Juice Ai
9. Build One ‘Big Idea’ And Atomize It
Start with the audience and job-to-be-done. Map goals (awareness to conversion), run two-week tests and double down on winners. Short video for reach, search-led articles for intent, email and SMS for conversion and customer stories and webinars for high-consideration are paying now. Build one “big idea,” atomize into formats and kill low performers fast. – Heather Stickler, Tidal Basin Group
10. Address Human Wants And Needs Over Product Features
Our focus is on creating standout content and moments that escape the sea of sameness and address human needs and wants, versus a laundry list of product features. Custom, real stories, audio and imagery work best because no one else can tell your unique story. We’ve included our own team members in content. Those deliverables tend to generate the most engagement. Because remember: No one is you. – Melanie Draheim, Fox Communities Credit Union
11. Go Where Emotion Meets Attention
Great creative energy doesn’t chase every format; it follows where emotion meets attention. ROI comes from depth, not novelty. A reel that evokes feeling will outperform an AR gimmick that wows but fades. Choose platforms that amplify your story, not just your visibility. – Anand Sankara Narayanan, Finance House Group
12. Measure Performance With A Social Analytics Platform
If your team has heavily invested time and resources into a social media strategy, it is crucial to use a social analytics platform (which there is no shortage of in 2025) to measure. Actively monitoring social performance will provide key insights into which types of posts and channels are the highest performers. This data will guide you to getting the maximum ROI from your social efforts. – Alexi Lambert Leimbach, Xcellimark
13. Invest In What Moves Your Audience Closer To Action
The best format to invest in is the one that moves your audience closer to action. When you measure everything in one place, you see what truly works and stop solving for tactics or even individual channels—you start solving for a holistic experience. Connecting insight with measurement turns creative energy into a growth engine. – Paula Mantle, Branch
14. Focus On The Intersection Of Attention And Intent
Brands should focus creative energy where audience attention and intent intersect. Test formats—reels, stories, immersive—based on engagement data and conversion metrics. Short-form drives reach, and immersive builds depth. Real ROI comes from formats that move audiences from awareness to action while strengthening brand recall and emotional connection. – Namita Tiwari, Persistent
15. Ask Yourself If The Format Deepens Connections
We choose formats where emotion lasts, not just where attention spikes. ROI comes from resonance—when people feel something, they remember. We test new spaces, but always ask: Does this deepen the connection or just add noise? The best format is the one that turns a scroll into a pause and a viewer into a believer. – Barbara Puszkiewicz-Cimino, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
16. Follow Consumers, Not Channels
Creative energy follows the consumer, not the channel. Content and medium choice must reflect brand architecture and the dimensions that build emotional, functional and experiential connection and identity within the product category. Coca-Cola’s 3D hologram wall with the Cincinnati Reds evokes joy. BMW’s live driving experiences channel performance and luxury identity. This is how brands drive equity. – Toby Wong, Toby Wong Consulting
17. Understand What Your Audience Is Doing When They See Your Content
Format follows context. The best use of creative energy starts with understanding what your audience is doing when they come across your content. Are they in browse mode, research mode or decision mode? Short-form video often works well for discovery, while carousels or long-form build depth. What matters is how well the format supports the behaviour it’s interrupting. – Christina Mendel, ChristinaMendel.com
18. Pick Formats That Let Your Essence Shine
Place your brand where its heart meets consumers’ heads—the “Heartbeat ROI.” Pick formats that let your essence shine where your people already live. Obsess over them—solve real needs or surprise them with needs they didn’t know they had. That sweet spot (Heart plus Head equals Heartbeat ROI) drives real attention and measurable returns. – Natalia Kowalczyk, The CXOnsiglieri Company
19. Mix Formats Intentionally
Focus creative energy where your audience actually engages, not on every trend. Short-form video (reels, TikTok) drives awareness and quick wins, while longer or immersive formats deepen storytelling and loyalty. Mix intentionally: Spark interest with quick hits, then guide audiences to richer experiences that convert. Test, measure, repeat. – Kurt Allen, Notre Dame de Namur University
Feature image credit: Getty
