We went to Adweek 2025, so our clients didn’t have to.

TL;DR (for busy leaders)
  • First-party data is the fuel; AI is the engine; human relevance is the destination.
  • Treat TikTok and social as “search” for exploration and evaluation.
  • Build the mid-funnel now to lower future CPA.
  • Use AI to scale; keep humans in control for brand voice, transparency, and QA.

What Changed and Why It Matters

picture of the engine bay of an old car

If Adweek 2025 had a headline, it’d be this: data is the fuel, AI is the engine, and human relevance is the destination.

Across sessions from Meta and TikTok to Reddit, LinkedIn, and Amazon, the consistent advice was to strengthen your first-party data foundation, leverage AI for speed and scale (not as a replacement for people), and design creative that respects how buyers actually discover, evaluate, and decide today.

You might be asking, “What does that mean for my team and resource planning for 2026?”

The answer is to invest time and resources into conversion APIs and AI tools to help avoid bottlenecks and speed up workflows for your team.

If you need a fast diagnostic of your data, creative, and channel mix, our Marketing Audit is a good starting point.

The Big Themes You Can’t Ignore

a person standing in front of a data stream display

First-Party Data → AI Performance

Platform AI is only as good as the signals you send it. Server-side events, clean IDs, and consent-aware tagging improve match rates, bidding, and personalization, enabling the algorithm to learn.

What to do:

  • Map 5–7 priority events (view content/product detail, add-to-cart or lead start, purchase/SQL)
  • Turn on a conversion API (Meta CAPI, TikTok Events API, Google Enhanced Conversions). Need help with Meta? Our Facebook Ads Management covers implementation and optimization.
  • Unify identities (hashed email/phone from CRM → ads; dedupe client + server events)
  • Respect consent (tag only what’s allowed; document data flows)
  • Close the loop (feed back offline conversions, opportunity stage, LTV)
  • QA signals weekly (match rate, event quality, drop-offs)

Why it matters: Your platform AI can’t optimize what it can’t see.

AI for Scale, Humans for Truth

Use AI to speed the busywork—variants, cutdowns, localization, intent tagging—while people own voice, context, and judgment. 71% of executives think AI will revolutionize their business [AI & the New Rules of Connectivity, Adweek 2025], and 78% of marketers (and social users) want clear AI disclosures—scale is great, trust is greater [GenAI Creative & Disclosure Trends, Adweek 2025].

What to do:

  • Set the split (AI for production; humans for strategy, narrative, final edit)
  • Prompt with guardrails (tone guide, examples, banned claims, do-not-generate list)
  • Disclose when relevant (short GenAI note where AI materially shaped the asset)
  • Edit like an editor (fact-check, de-dupe, keep it sounding like you)
  • Measure speed and quality (time saved, CTR/engagement lift, downstream lead/purchase quality)

Search Is Everywhere (Especially TikTok)

Discovery no longer starts on one engine. TikTok acts like a search layer for early research: 1 in 4 users start a search within 30 seconds of opening the app, and 84% of TikTok searches happen in exploration/evaluation [TikTok Market Scope, Adweek 2025].

What to do:

  • Build for search-like intent (creator POVs, short how-tos around real queries)
  • Use keywords on-platform (titles, captions, on-screen text that mirror search phrasing)
  • Answer comparisons directly (side-by-side visuals, pros/cons, “which is best for _”)
  • Close the loop on-site (comparison blocks, FAQs on landing/product pages)
  • Measure multi-touch (assisted paths, high-intent visits, branded search/direct lift)

The Mid-Funnel Is Undervalued

Buyers compare before they convert. Treat the mid-funnel as the place where you remove doubt and help them choose. Keeping key pages fresh matters—see our guide on How Often Should You Update Your Website.

High-intent consideration audiences can show 14–16× higher conversion within 30 days when activated [TikTok Market Scope, Adweek 2025].

What to do:

  • Use human-first creative (comparisons, pricing clarity, FAQs, social proof, creator POVs)
  • Map content to evaluation questions (what is it, how does it compare, is it worth it)
  • Measure what matters (consideration objectives, assisted paths, branded search lift)
Digital Marketing Funnel - MOFU Highlighted

Platform AI Is Powerful—And Sometimes Glitchy

New features (e.g., Business AI, click-to-message flows) can drive lift, but they also misfire—especially right after release.

What to do

  • Pilot in cohorts (small budgets, one objective, clean control)
  • Set guardrails (bid caps, frequency caps, GEO limits, spend ceilings)
  • Instrument properly (server-side events, clear conversion hierarchy)
  • Create fallbacks (parallel non-AI campaigns, standard lead routes)
  • Log failure modes (outages, CPA spikes, learning resets) and scale only after stability

From Insight to Impact: Three Moves for 2026

an image of the number three made from a neon tube

If you’re mapping these moves against your overall plan, our guide to Top B2B Digital Marketing Strategies lays out how the channels work together.

1. Modernize Your Data Spine

Prioritize event mapping, consent review, and cleaning up CRM/CDP to sync with ad platforms so you can see the full impact of digital.

How to apply: Use native conversion APIs in your stack and engage an implementation partner to accelerate setup and QA.

2. Build a “Search on Social” Lane

Treat TikTok, Reddit, and LinkedIn like search: publish short Q&A videos across paid. For B2B, our LinkedIn Ads Management helps you stand this up quickly.

Use TikTok Ads to scale reach, target intent, and learn faster; reuse the same scripts on channels that prioritize video.

How to apply: Pair paid social with paid search by turning top search queries into short video topics, then run them across multiple channels.

If you’re structuring budgets/creative across channels, this guide helps: Paid Social Media Advertising.

3. Make the Mid-Funnel Measurable

Close the gap between brand and performance by putting UX and the customer journey first. Understand pain points and accelerate the path from consideration to decision.

How to apply: Invest in content, product/landing pages, and reporting that tracks evaluation behavior and assisted conversions.

Platform-by-Platform Highlights

Meta logo

Meta: Business AI pilots, click-to-message flows; test in controlled cohorts and log failure modes. See our Facebook Ads Management for buildout and guardrails.

TikTok logo

TikTok: Treat as search; pair Smart/automation with creator content and explicit keywording; measure assisted conversions.

Reddit logo

Reddit: Pair paid with light community engagement; mine threads for FAQs and objection handling; great for mid-funnel proof.

LinkedIn logo

LinkedIn: Short-form B2B video and POVs; lead gen + website conversions with CRM feedback loops. Need structure? See our LinkedIn Ads Management.

Amazon Ads logo

Amazon/CTV: AI helps small teams scale creative; CTV access is widening beyond big-budget brands into all vertices.

Pick Your Partner and Prepare to Scale

two people pointing at a laptop screen making a marketing decision

Turn this playbook into results with our standard 6-month growth program. We’ll help implement conversion APIs and clean event tracking, launch highly relevant, results-driven ads across all channels relevant to your prospects. You’ll get a clear dashboard, bi-weekly calls, and accountable outcomes: stronger signals, higher-intent traffic, and more assisted conversions.

🗓️ Book a 30-minute call to lock your kickoff date.