We sat down with senior account manager, Wendy Chung, to grill her about how we approach paid social for our clients. For Wendy, our strength is in looking at campaigns from the perspective of both the client and their audience so we can create the right moment, message and environment to deliver results.

What do you wish everyone knew about paid social?

Paid social naturally offers a more relaxed environment for receiving information compared to paid search, where users are proactively looking for information with a specific intent. This is where the social element comes into play. As consumers, we are immersed in social platforms every day, often without recognising how much information we absorb unconsciously as we scroll. We move between different platforms intuitively and adapt to the ways in which each platform shapes how users discover and consume content.

For advertisers, understanding audience mindset is crucial. Often, advertisers want to prioritise channels based on their larger user bases or stronger returns. However, audiences rarely engage with just one social platform. Instead, they move across multiple platforms. Therefore, it is important to understand where we position our clients across these platforms within the different stages of the funnel, and how we can create experiences that feel natural, relevant and that genuinely resonate with audiences.

What is the biggest opportunity for advertisers in paid social this year?

AI is constantly evolving, and we are continuously adapting our best practices to keep up. With AI now embedded across paid media, from Advantage+ on Meta to AI Max on Google, the question is no longer whether we use AI, but how we work with it effectively.

AI can help us expand reach, optimise performance and generate stronger signals, but it doesn’t replace strategic judgement. While platforms increasingly automate audience targeting and optimisation, we still need to consider creative, placement, context and brand sensitivity. These are areas where AI is stepping up too, but it demands more human attention. The opportunity is to work with AI, learn from its signals and recommendations, while maintaining strategic control over how and where we use it.

How can media agencies get the most out of paid social for their clients?

Understand both paid and non-paid activities happening at the same time. Reusing content across channels can create a more connected journey as audiences encounter different touchpoints. For example, we have boosted clients’ organic content through paid social, using additional messaging that may not have been part of the original paid activity. Looking beyond advertising also helps us understand what clients are doing to achieve their wider goals. We can then determine where those activities can be leveraged within paid campaigns, particularly at the awareness and engagement stages. Ultimately, it is about understanding both what the client wants to deliver and how audiences will receive it. Creating the right moment, message and environment by looking at the campaign from different perspectives.