Customer engagement platform
Digital-first, omnichannel platform built for enterprises
Digital-first, omnichannel platform built for enterprises
Agent efficiency, automation, and operational insights
Self-service support, education, and collaboration
Content management, publishing, and governance
Create a space for customers to get answers, connect with peers, and share new ideas
Connect with customers on SMS, Messenger, WhatsApp, & more
Chat with customers in real-time or anytime on your website
Start the conversation with automation, increase agent efficiency, triage, & more
Protect your brand & drive loyalty across social media and review site
Orchestrate social campaigns that drive business results
Understand social trends from customers, the market, and competitors
Find, curate, and share the best social media content
Deflect inquiries to messaging channels and self-service communities
Automate conversations with our intuitive drag-and-drop platform
Supercharge agents with AI tools & intuitive workflows
Build brand awareness with a user-generated knowledge hub
Drive higher conversion rates and more revenue
Secure solutions to keep customer information safe
Cutting-edge tech to innovate and inform your customers
Deep insights to keep a pulse on customer demands
Real-time capabilities to stay connected with consumers
An integrated platform to nurture the customer journey
Our in-house experts in social media and community management for Khoros customers
More than onboarding and implementation, this is where our partnership begins
Increase satisfaction and improve product adoption with complimentary training.
CX Confessions, the definitive podcast for digital CX leaders
Guides, tipsheets, ebooks, on-demand webinars, & more
Integrations to connect with your customers, wherever they are
Technical overviews and links to developer documentation
Join us for webinars and in-person events
Insights, tips, news, and more from our team to yours
Case studies with successful customers to see how they did it
Connect with 70K+ customer engagement professionals
A customer experience podcast with Khoros Customers
Check out our social content and follow us on every major platform
20+ years experience, built from Spredfast and Lithium
Meet the team that leads the team
Press releases and other announcements
Data integrations for better customer experience
We’re hiring — come build the future of customer experience
Need anything? We’re here for you
Our commitment to do more and do better
Digital-first, omnichannel platform built for enterprises
Agent efficiency, automation, and operational insights
Self-service support, education, and collaboration
Content management, publishing, and governance
Create a space for customers to get answers, connect with peers, and share new ideas
Connect with customers on SMS, Messenger, WhatsApp, & more
Chat with customers in real-time or anytime on your website
Start the conversation with automation, increase agent efficiency, triage, & more
Protect your brand & drive loyalty across social media and review site
Orchestrate social campaigns that drive business results
Understand social trends from customers, the market, and competitors
Find, curate, and share the best social media content
Deflect inquiries to messaging channels and self-service communities
Automate conversations with our intuitive drag-and-drop platform
Supercharge agents with AI tools & intuitive workflows
Build brand awareness with a user-generated knowledge hub
Drive higher conversion rates and more revenue
Secure solutions to keep customer information safe
Cutting-edge tech to innovate and inform your customers
Deep insights to keep a pulse on customer demands
Real-time capabilities to stay connected with consumers
An integrated platform to nurture the customer journey
Our in-house experts in social media and community management for Khoros customers
More than onboarding and implementation, this is where our partnership begins
Increase satisfaction and improve product adoption with complimentary training.
CX Confessions, the definitive podcast for digital CX leaders
Guides, tipsheets, ebooks, on-demand webinars, & more
Integrations to connect with your customers, wherever they are
Technical overviews and links to developer documentation
Join us for webinars and in-person events
Insights, tips, news, and more from our team to yours
Case studies with successful customers to see how they did it
Connect with 70K+ customer engagement professionals
A customer experience podcast with Khoros Customers
Check out our social content and follow us on every major platform
20+ years experience, built from Spredfast and Lithium
Meet the team that leads the team
Press releases and other announcements
Data integrations for better customer experience
We’re hiring — come build the future of customer experience
Need anything? We’re here for you
Our commitment to do more and do better
In case you needed a recap of 2020: we saw the start of a global pandemic, a racial justice movement, and a historic election. All monumental events that impacted our lives in ways we never imagined. We lived in isolation while trying to make sense of the world around us. For many, the only way to connect was through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok...the list goes on. People came together, shared, and coped. Through all the fogginess and turmoil, one thing became abundantly clear: 2020 was the year that brought back the original purpose of social media — to connect and build community.
We saw this come to life through cultural trends like the Fleetwood Mac x Ocean Spray TikTok, the How It Started/How It’s Going meme, the How the Email Found Me trend, the 2020 Challenge, and the What is Cake trend. These real-time trends and cultural moments provided a way for the world, while living in isolation, to find connection and community with like-minded people over similar passions, interests and humor. Connection and community came to life in many ways. For some, it meant purely entertainment - levity, laughter and to find relief. For others, it meant finding like-minded individuals so they could feel understood and heard.
@oceanspray Rolling into the weekend like... @420doggface208 @mickfleetwood @tiktok #dreamschallenge #cranberrydreams
♬ original sound - Ocean Spray Inc.
@brayslacks Never forget where you came from. #howitstarted #slackline #trickline
♬ When you dont get tagged by popular creators - ✌🏽️
@vs.dreams 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝑖 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝗖𝗔𝗞𝗘🎂
♬ jaylaelised original sound owner - ✨𝙫𝙨.𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮☁️
So now, as the world slowly starts to emerge after the pandemic, what role do brands play in continuing to build community and create connections through culturally relevant moments and trends?
Being culturally relevant means connecting with your audience by thoughtfully participating in the conversations they’re having and the communities they’re building, especially around cultural moments. When this happens, it signals that you, as a brand, understand and care about your audience. Not as customers, but as people. Being culturally relevant is about building trust and creating long-lasting relationships with your audience — and the way to do that is to engage in conversations that your community cares about.
These lasting relationships will help you create customers for life.
This shift (or refocus, rather) towards connection and community building around cultural moments has forced brands to reassess how they engage with their audiences on social media. Brands, now more than ever, need to be aware not just of what’s going on in culture but also how audiences are responding to it. And, where it’s appropriate, they need to participate in the important conversations that audiences care about. It’s not enough anymore to simply stay silent; it’s crucial to be an active participant when important topics come along.
At Khoros, we’ve led several of our customers across varied industries through the process of creating a cultural relevance program that’s woven into everything they do — especially how and where they show up on social media. This process helps make sure they’re always showing up and participating with their audiences in an authentic manner that’s relevant to them.
We all know defining your target audience is the crucial first step for building out any marketing campaign. But when you want to engage in culturally-relevant conversations, you need to go deeper than the surface-level understanding of who you’re talking with. You need to understand what your audience cares about. What they’re most passionate about. What conversations do they engage in, and what conversations do they avoid. It’s table stakes for brands to have an intimate understanding of their audience to know when, where, and how to engage. This can only occur when you know your audience well.
Once you’ve clearly defined your audience, you can then be intentional about engaging in the right conversations at the right time. Root your strategy in your existing marketing objectives and understand that not every cultural moment is right for every brand. For example, Amazon Pay received backlash when they posted a Bernie Sanders mittens meme on Twitter promoting signing up for Amazon Pay. The backlash was so immediate that Amazon Pay deleted the tweet by the end of the day. This slip-up could have been avoided if the company had been more intentional about how the tweet would be perceived and responded to by a public audience.
Being intentional often means thinking from the perspective of your audience and what the perceived intent behind your brand’s actions are. Mixing Bernie Sanders (who’s often critical of Amazon’s policies) and signing up for Amazon Pay isn’t showing an intentional act, which is why it was later deleted.
Embed yourself in culture and walk the walk. We’ve learned the most effective way to build brand equity and humanize a brand’s voice is to talk like a local. In other words, speak your audience’s language. Whether you’re engaging with music fans or participating in Super Bowl conversations, your team’s knowledge and style should reflect the topic. These team members can create copy that references niche fan knowledge and speak the language of the locals. It’s this authenticity that helps your brand create real connections with your audiences.
Even with this framework, we know that inserting your brand into conversations around cultural moments can feel intimidating and risky. And it’s true: while many fans will embrace you in conversations, some will point out your missteps. And that’s okay. It’s okay to feel that way. Being culturally relevant is about taking thoughtful risks, testing and learning, reiterating your strategy based on the results, and above all, being authentic. Users want a brand they can trust, and when you build that trust with consumers, they'll reward you by being loyal to your brand.
With a solid cultural relevance program in place to lay the foundation, brands have the opportunity to show up, connect, and engage in a way that’s authentic to your audience.
Still not sure how to develop a content strategy for social media that fits your brand and your audience? The experts at Khoros Strategic Services can help.
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