No thoughts, just vibes: the importance of vibe marketing on social media

Brand marketing is not what it used to be. There was once a time when big names could simply create a narrative and consumers would comply (Gillette’s decision to start selling female razors in 1915 comes to mind, which continues to impact billions of women over 100 years later.)

Thankfully, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction over the last century or so, meaning that everyday people have a lot more awareness and agency over how they spend their money. So much so, that now, the ‘moods’ brands express towards global issues and pop culture moments matter more to the public than ever before—which has likely prompted searches for ‘vibe marketing’ to grow exponentially by 686% over the last year alone.

Essentially, it’s a method of positioning brands based on vibe-driven, emotionally resonant content as opposed to transient trends. Effective mood-based social media marketing relies not only on understanding consumer sentiment, but the feelings and energy surrounding certain topics. This is used to forge deeper connections with audiences and strengthen brand identities.

A great example of a brand who have continued to do this well is Spanish luxury fashion house, Loewe, who are famously brilliant on TikTok. Using a blend of reactive content strategies (such as designing a tomato-shaped bag after a post of an heirloom tomato that looked ‘so Loewe’ went viral) and relatable interview clips from diverse models, the key to their online success lies in their understanding of how the platform works: they regularly adapt their brand to meet the audience where they’re at.

And this doesn’t only pertain to content—using ‘vibe culture’ to set the tone for your brand’s community management strategy can also prove highly effective. It showcases the ability to react and express your brand’s awareness of what’s happening in the world, whether that’s by responding to a viral trend or leaving a meme reference in another brand’s comment section. Creating content isn’t the only way to be part of the conversation.

But how do you apply this to developing a social media marketing strategy?

According to Hootsuite, 62% of marketers use AI social media listening tools to track moods and vibes online, and list this as the second-highest priority for their strategy (behind engagement.)

Here are some of the most popular tools available:

Sprinklr is a strong social listening platform that boasts the tracking of over 30 social and digital channels. Using advanced AI and generative AI capabilities to analyse text, images, and videos, it offers deep audience sentiment tracking and insights into emerging social media trends. This allows brands to stay ahead of consumer emotions and adapt to shifts in mood-driven marketing.

Brand24 provides AI-powered social listening with a unique ‘AI Brand Assistant’, blending ChatGPT insights with media monitoring data. This tool helps marketers track brand mentions, monitor sentiment, and spot social media trends in real time, offering an immediacy to vibe marketing strategies that other tools lack.

Mentionlytics is an AI-driven listening tool that tracks online conversations about brands, products, or competitors. Offering sentiment analysis and trend identification, the tool enables brands to develop mood-driven strategies based on real-time audience feedback and emotional responses to content.

YouScan is a more advanced social listening tool that uses AI to perform visual content recognition and sentiment analysis. By monitoring visual conversations and trends, it helps brands create emotionally engaging content that taps into the mood of the audience, ensuring resonance with emotional triggers.

However you choose to approach vibe marketing on social media, there are a great number of innovative tools out there to help you reach your goals. Whether you’d like to lean into emotions, jump into trends in real time, or simply hear what’s being said about your brand online, integrating sentiment tracking tools could transform your strategy.

For more information on how to excel on social media, Get in touch.