Can B2B social media finally ditch the bots for authentic engagement?

In this episode, Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira returns from maternity leave to explore how the social media landscape has shifted in her absence. We discuss the pervasive role of AI in content creation and why—despite the efficiency of tools like Gemini and ChatGPT—the "human element" remains your most valuable asset for breaking through the noise. 

Learn how to treat AI as a creative collaborator rather than a replacement for genuine brand personality, and don't be afraid to experiment and play with your posts. 

Marketers of the Universe is brought to you by the clever folks at Brew Digital. We’re not your typical digital marketing agency; using an innovative approach to decision-making and collaboration, we help you create an impactful digital strategy that actually delivers results for your business. 

See what we can do for you at brewdigital.com

Transcript

Welcome Back And Topic Setup

Tom Inniss 0:00

You love everything, Tom. I love it. I love it. Yes. Um I'm trying to have a more positive mindset in 2026. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Marketers of the Universe. My name is Tom Innes. I am the content marketing manager here at Brew Digital, and I am joined by Debbie Gocatan, Jardim de Oliviera, who is back from maternity. Hello, Debbie.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 0:23

Hello, Tom. Oh my god, I missed hearing you say that mouthful surname of mine. But hi everyone, I am back from maternity. That's right.

Is Social Media Different Now

Tom Inniss 0:35

It's lovely to have you back. You were gone for seven months, although it felt significantly longer. And today we are going to be talking about social media. We're going to be talking about what's changed, what's the same, your view from the outside, and what it's like diving straight back in. So let's just jump into it.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 1:26

Yeah.

Tom Inniss 1:27

Um looking back at that time period to now, does it feel fundamentally different to you in the social media space or have things pretty much stayed the same?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 1:40

Um, we are talking about social media. And even before I left, things are constantly changing. Shout out to my social media managers out there. I think like part of like a big part of our job is just keeping up with trends, algorithm changes, rollouts, new features, and whatnot. So, yeah, seven months definitely things have changed. If I were to, you know, pinpoint one thing that has impressed me coming back, um, it would be the amount of role AI has played within the social media space. I am seeing, you know, Instagram, for instance, using a lot of like AI and screen aid posts, um, and so on. I also feel like LinkedIn had a lot of like algorithms that they've rolled out, um, and a lot of that has also a lot of use of AI as well.

AI Noise Versus Human Voice

Tom Inniss 2:34

Cool. We were gonna talk about AI a little bit later, but I jump into it.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 2:37

Everyone's talking about AI.

Tom Inniss 2:39

You can't avoid it. You can't avoid it.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 2:41

You can avoid it. It's here, it's never gonna go away.

Tom Inniss 2:44

No. So shall we jump straight to AI then?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 2:48

Oh, shall we? Okay.

Tom Inniss 2:50

Okay. There seems to be like a lot of AI-generated content on the needs nowadays. Um, does that actually matter? And do you feel like social media is just inherently noisy, or do you still need that human element to get results?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 3:07

Yeah, like a very good question, Tom. I think like social media is just a chaos of its own. It's a wonderful chaos. We complain about it, but we love it. Um, that's definitely one thing. Uh, I would say that when I look at a lot of the posts right now, I can immediately pinpoint which one is made by Chat GPT because it is built in such a way. You have your hook, you have your emojis, you have your bullet points, and so on. But one thing that I would say is that these AI agents, um, they are basically crashing these posts because of the algorithms and the best practices that these channels have rolled out. So, what I say is like the noise feels very the same. And I think that that's one thing that I think we need to be weary about. It's not just something robotic and sound, but it's also something a bit less human. It's it's almost a little bit like, you know, a double blade type of um scenario because at the same time, you are building a post that is well easily read by the person who is reading it. So it is kind of like written in such a way, but at the same time, you don't want to feel like you're out of touch. So I would still would like to see more of that human element in there, so not just all of that AI noise we're talking about.

Tom Inniss 4:29

Should human writers be using the rocket emoji? Because I swear to God, on LinkedIn, every post now has a rocket emoji.

Emojis, Format Fatigue, And Context

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 4:39

Of course. I mean, I say that because I use a rocket emoji as well. I mean, I think like emojis is part of our language already, you know, and and you don't only see that on captions, you see that also on the asset or like the design itself, so much so that it's it's really part of how we talk, it's how you express yourself, it makes everything also more fun and engaging. So, by all means, like, you know, don't be scared of the rocket emoji. But I do want to say, like, it really depends on how much you use it or how often you use it. Like, is that the only thing that you're going? Maybe and also what's the context of the post that you're posting? Like, is an emoji even needed? Is a one-liner better than like a massive paragraph? There's a lot of things to think about um when you do this caption. And, you know, I think like it really depends on what makes sense for your audience at the end of the day and what message you're trying to convey.

Tom Inniss 5:40

I 100% agree with that. On a very quick detour around AI slop, are you concerned at all about the continued or like the increasing use of AI just splerting out um very anodyne, very boring content? Or do you feel that AI will continue to evolve as consumer tastes change?

Using AI As A Creative Co‑Pilot

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 6:01

I am not concerned at all. Um, I think I have seen how AI has evolved. Um I'm I'm I don't know how familiar or what our listeners are using, but I'm a big fan of Gemini nowadays. I've been using ChatGPT before. I'm now using Gemini. Gemini has gems, and gems are basically like a little Gemini agent that you can teach and you can embed knowledge to them, you can, you know, describe their uh you know point of view, their personality, you can tell them what they should not be. And I think that's so exciting because it then fine shoots the product that we're putting out. And you know, I think AI is here, and I think AI needs to be used for our benefit. So and I'm I'm I'm really up for that. I don't think that um, I mean, of I think it depends on the user. If you really rely everything on AI, of course, it's gonna your your content is gonna sound like very out of touch, but if you use it to basically give you more space and you know time to use what is best about us humans, which is the creative mind, then you are basically utilizing AI to its best possible way.

Tom Inniss 7:22

Yeah. So should we dig into that a little bit more? How are you using AI to like automate or improve your workflow without losing that human touch? Can you give us an example?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 7:34

Oh my god. Okay. Um so I work in a B2B space, um, and we are massive. Um, one of my clients is basically Adaptivist, the Adaptivist Nouveau, and um, they are a very big partner of Atlassian ecosystem. And what is within the Atlassian ecosystem, you might ask? We're we're talking about, you know, DevOps, ITSM, um work management, all of these things. For somebody like me, who do not breathe and you know live on these types of jargons and like tech space, and I'm not an expert at all. This AI is helpful because then I can essentially get, you know, 10 articles related to ITSM and try to get it to like, you know, explain to me in normal terms that I can understand what is ITSM and what is the value that brings to its customers. And then I take that knowledge and I'm able to have a pretty okay conversation with, you know, ITSM experts and try to get to their level and really understand, okay, how do you want me to convey this message in something relatable on on LinkedIn and on social on life? Who are the audiences you want to talk to? Do you want to talk to like as somebody who's an expert like you or somebody who is a project manager, not necessarily an expert, but also, but you know, works with the team that are really on this space. So I think like that's when it is helpful. It's basically like trying to explain these topics that would have taken me like, you know, days on the end. And then I'll I'm able to cut time and I'm able to, you know, tell me how it is in a much more in a way that I'll be able to understand it better. And I think for social media, I hope everybody agrees who does my job. There's also a level of like, um, you know, you know, you write so much copy and captions that at this at a certain point you need a fresh point of view, a fresh copy that inspires you. I don't, I don't want to say that that should be your last copy or final copy that you post for sure. But I'm the first one to say that I do ask for like, okay, tell me some, tell me, craft, craft me a social copy for this one if you want to sound like, you know, relatable. You want to be, you want to be funny, you want to be aggressive, you want to be tongue-in-cheek, you know, all of these things. And then from there you are inspired. Um, so I think like it it almost feels as if like you have a colleague of yours that you start learning from, and then you take what you've learned and you kind of like bring it to another level. So I think like that's how I've used AI, at least in my job.

Maternity Break And Pro Influencers

Tom Inniss 10:18

I think that is a very good way of using it for our kind of jobs where it is a much more about creating content, like coders I know rely on AI a lot. But for us, we have to, especially when we're being pulled in so many different directions, you kind of need somebody who can tell you, okay, this is your starting point, this is what you need to know and what points you need to hit. And you take that and you transform it to be human, to be relatable, to be interesting.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 10:43

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Tom Inniss 10:45

So um let's go back to your maternity leave uh very briefly, um, when you were enjoying the sun. Did you find yourself still checking for like LinkedIn algorithm updates or did you very much disconnect from social media altogether?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 11:02

Oh, disconnect. I would say, like, you know, all moms out there, I'm pretty sure we're all gonna say the same thing. I did not check work at all. Like because I think like um this time of our children's life goes by so fast. Like for me, seven months went by very fast. And all of that I wanted to soak in, especially this was my second child. I feel like my first one, it was, you know, it was a lot of anxiety and questioning if I'm doing the right thing. Um, and so I feel like I lost that moment. I lost a lot of time with that, um, with my first one, just thinking a lot about things. So for the second one, I was very intentional that I was like locked in. Um, but at the same time, I was so exposed to digital content because I was constantly checking out, you know, what is reflux? Tell me more. So yeah.

Tom Inniss 12:03

And were you getting that information on social media then?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 12:06

Yeah, yeah. I I I I follow certain um I follow mom influencers, um, pediatricians. So that's another interesting thing that I've noticed. Um, there's a lot more professional influencers on Instagram account nowadays. Like I would say that's very common to see on LinkedIn, because that's a big um poll of LinkedIn. It's like influencers of um thought leadership and so on. But having seen influencers of professionals, like pediatricians, um, there's a speech therapist, uh psychologist uh for children and so on. Like I thought that was an impressive um thing to see nowadays.

Tom Inniss 12:47

And the way that they communicate, do you feel that that's very similar to how your typical B2B um influencer might communicate on those platforms? And was there anything that annoyed you?

Why B2B Still Sounds Robotic

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 12:59

You're meaning to say, like um looking at the ones that I've seen that are G2C versus B2B. Yeah. Okay, so something that I feel B2B communication that is very different from, you know, like somebody who's talking to a customer or B2C as you would say it, is that they B2B is so much more robotic and corporate. And I think that there's still this perception that, oh, we're talking to a C-level person, and they should be speaking this way and that way. But I feel like you are basically ending to sound like you are a robot, and then you top it off with like an AI-generated best practice embedded copy, and that's essentially what you get. And it's so frustrating to see that. The thing is, what what I think people tend to forget is at the end of the day, human psychology is the same, regardless of where they are or what they're doing, and so on. It's like you are talking to a human at the end of the day, and humans want to talk to humans. And in the age of AI, I think that people are smart enough as well to see and recognize what is an AI-generated copy. So that's what frustrates me because how much more relatable B2C people are. I've it's so hard to see B2Bs becoming relatable nowadays.

Tom Inniss 14:24

I would agree. So on that point, you weren't here over Christmas, but you did still make an appearance on our podcast.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 14:32

Oh, I did.

Tom Inniss 14:33

You did, yes, because we were looking back at our predictions from 2024, where you called out the rise of employee-led content, um, and that's all more human and relatable content. So now we've started to really see that come into effect. Um, how does it feel to see that happen? And why do you feel that B2B is still struggling to make that transition?

Avoiding Generic Employee‑Led Content

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 14:57

B2B is just so awkward. Like, I feel like they want to be professional because they're talking to other professionals when in fact, like people need to just let loose. They don't experiment, they don't test, they put themselves in a box. That's what I think. And I think like individuals who are talking to other individuals have that freedom to basically be themselves authentically, which I feel like when you are in a corporate setting, it's just a bit hard for you to do that. Um which is why I feel like there's a very big need for us social media managers to work with them much more closer because we can encourage them to test other things, to not be afraid to put their personal spin on things or like get that personal, personalized voice out of that. But I just want to call out though, Tom. Although I'm so happy to see that employee-led content looking out there, I'm also starting to get annoyed by how people are everyone is starting to look quite generic. I know I told you not to that I won't be ranting, so but this isn't bedded on like observation. But you know how you go on LinkedIn and everyone, and it's just like everyone is just like minimalist. It's just this sort of background, sort of post, sort of lighting, and then their tagline is like, I do X for X, I do business, and then it's a very cliche type of title as well. You know, I I move I improve teams, I make you do better. And I'm like, and I'm just like yeah, but tell me more, or like how how does that make you a bit more different from everyone else? I'm not saying that all of a sudden you, you know, you you change your whole persona just so everybody notices you, but again, like we can sometimes pick what is not authentic and what is authentic. And so I feel like again, the the way that B2B posts or also B2C posts are becoming generic with AI content. I feel like employee-led posts need to also think twice about okay, how do I become a bit more authentic here and not just sound like you know, a generic, generic type of person.

Tom Inniss 17:17

Bland is the word. And yeah, and generic would be my follow-up word as well. It is becoming so boring. And at like I love anodyne as a word as well. There's just no personality there. And I when you said everybody's the same, I immediately had this vision in my head of like, you know, that sort of minimalist podcast setting where there's lighting and a sofa, sort of like where you are now to some extent.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 17:40

I did make mine, you know, it's so funny. I complain about this, but personally, I do love the aesthetics, you know. I do love certain things and so on, but it's just an interesting thing. But but you know, you know where this stems from? It's because somebody who has an opinion to say would like to go into the social media space and put it out there. Fair enough. And they just don't know where to start. And then, so where do you go to see where you start? You look at best practices, you look at stuff and so on. So you end up putting yourself out there without not sounding like yourself, but sounding like everybody else. And I think that's what people people miss out. And the one of the common mistakes for somebody who is trying to, you know, make a space for themselves or have their online brand out there, it's that they're starting to sound like others. When in fact, sometimes I feel like, you know, this best practices and that that is coming out, it's like also not a good thing because it just people just get stuck within this box. They are very helpful, but they need to be again like AI, just a guiding light.

Tom Inniss 18:51

So, how do teams break out of that sort of generic feeling video content? What would you suggest they do if they were to start making videos this year?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 19:00

Okay, uh Okay, well, first of all, I think the first step is acknowledging if well, okay, going back, I think the first step is looking at the content that you've put out and auditing it and honestly asking yourself, is this true to my value? Is this true to my brand? Is this true to the message that I want to put out there? And is this how I want my audience to see me and to see what I'm trying to convey? And if the answer to that is yes, I would say go out and test different types of content, test what resonates more, uh, you know, play on that a little bit and so on. And if the answer to that is no, then go back to square one. Going back to square one is first of all, like understanding what is your tone of voice, what is your look and feel, what is your value message, what is your USB, what is your selling point, how are you different from all your competitors? And then look at your competitors. What does your competitor look like? How are they gonna be, how are they presenting themselves? And so how do you power with them and so on? When you have done this research and preparation, I feel like that's when you can start like building yourself and having that look and feel, and then go out there and start creating content immediately. When I say starting created content immediately, I think like people are also, they just want to create like amazing content with great lighting, looks commercial, and so on. When in fact, people sometimes tend to like, you know, respond better as well to something that looks very natural and authentic, shot on phone, not even that highly edited as well. Um, there are basic things that you need to hit, like you should be audible, you should have natural lighting, your message should be concrete, it shouldn't be too long. We don't want a five-hour video. Um, you should there are basic things that you need to hit, but I think like that's the first thing that I say. Like, don't too worry too much about the look at like the is it highly edited or not? Like, just create content already out there and then see what happens, and then you learn from it.

Tom Inniss 21:11

Just do it.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 21:11

Yeah, just do it.

Tom Inniss 21:13

Yeah. Okay, so a couple more questions. Are we gonna go back to AI because it is the unavoidable topic of the moment?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 21:20

How do you run away from AI, but AI still is there?

Tom Inniss 21:23

Waiting. It's everywhere, it's pervasive. You've got to stick it in everything, otherwise, your um your market cap doesn't rise.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 21:32

Exactly.

Tom Inniss 21:33

So, with AI agents now handling more direct interactions with customers, how do you feel that the role of a social media manager will change in the next year? So by 2027, what is a social media manager going to be doing if we're handing off more stuff to AI?

The 2027 Social Role: Strategy First

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 21:49

Oh, I I hope it's gonna be all just thinking and creative and talking to your clients much more. Um, I really enjoy. Really like sitting down my clients and trying to understand the thought behind their brief or their incent or their tickets and trying to pre-prepare and try to like, oh, did you think about this? Did you think about that? Like, I'm seeing the bigger picture than what my client is seeing. I'm seeing opportunities from you know other parts of the business that they might not be able to spot because they are, you know, bombarded with a lot of things on their plate. So I hope that social media just really goes on that level, that we become a strategist for them and a creative and a good link to other parts of the business.

Tom Inniss 22:39

You want to be like a central spoke.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 22:41

I'll be just like the master of it all.

Tom Inniss 22:44

I talk about all social media managers, Debbie, not just your personal ambition.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 22:49

The thing is, like our pain would not like keep up with like this vision of my stroge social media manager.

Tom Inniss 22:56

I want to rule it all.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 22:58

I want to do it all.

Tom Inniss 23:00

And why not? Why not? You can do it all. Riding off of the back of your excellent prediction in 2024, um, I want to sort of pull out another um another little prediction or insight from you. So, what do you think is a piece of expert advice um that social media managers are following at the minute that you feel will be proven wrong by the end of the year?

Prediction: Stop Chasing Algorithms

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 23:30

Oh my god. Okay, this this ties so nicely um with all of the things that we've discussed today, which is I feel that social media managers and people who are also not social media managers are really chasing algorithms nowadays and really looking at best practices um hand in hand with that algorithm in order to chase it. And I think like it's we're we're basically trapped in this limbo. And first of all, I think that's very helpful because again, it's a guiding light for us. I think it's very interesting because it makes me it makes me want to do better for my clients nowadays, right? Like I'm I want to give them the best service possible, and that service needs to be, you know, embedded by data, by information, and all these information are are things that I take from like um social channel updates and also from like best practices articles from other sources. But by the end of the year, I have a feeling that we're gonna throw at least algorithm chasing out the door. I think that when we chase the algorithm more and more, we sound generic. And there would be, I hope, a need for us to stop and think a while, but sometimes getting that algorithm is not the point. Maybe what we want is for anyone who just happened to pass by our brand page to see that actually there's a human posting this and they're actually quite funny and they're witty. And this one-liner is something that is so smartly written, or there's not even a uh a caption to this, it's just a wonderful piece of you know information or a wonderful um content. Ah, let me say this, let me look at it again later. So I think like potentially I would I'm gonna go back at the end of this year and maybe eat my words and say nothing has changed. It's even worse. But um, I'm I'm hoping that you know we don't get so obsessed by the algorithm chasing um by the end of the year.

Tom Inniss 25:34

I am fascinated by that. So you think that social media platforms are going to allow posts to organically find an audience and that we don't need an algorithm to grow? Or are you saying that people are more likely to what reject the algorithm and just come across content naturally? Or we shouldn't like we just shouldn't worry about the algorithm at all?

Make Space For Play And Personality

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 26:01

Um, almost I feel like I want to say just yes to everything that you just said. Um, it's a combination of all of these things. It's a natural, like I I in an ideal world, it would just be nice for uh an ideal customer to stumble on your brand page, right? But at the same time, it also would be nice for like not a customer or a partner who just happen to like, oh, I just want to check out what they're up to, and just realize, like, oh, they're actually quite in their social media, it's interesting, it's fresh, it's different, it's not the usual type of like content I see with the other brand pages. So it would be nice to have that type of like um human touch, I would say. Um but of course, like we are a business. I'm pretty sure that this is not gonna be true for all of your content, but for I hope that there's some some space there for us to have fun.

Returning To Work With Fresh Eyes

Tom Inniss 26:54

Yeah, that that's a really nice line, actually. Just more space to experiment, more space to have fun and be more personable would be really good. Cool. Well, uh, my final question for you then is what has been your like best tip for getting back into the swing of things after taking an extended period of time off?

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 27:17

I would say for anyone who's going back to work, whether you're on the turn into leave or you went sabbatical or you just needed to take a break from like, you know, work itself, is it's been really helpful for me to just catch up with everyone, to just catch up and talk to your colleagues, um, see what everyone is up to, see what their concerns are, what they've been proud of or working, read what's out there, see what your competitors have been posting. Because I think if there's anything nice that I'm that is good about coming back to work um after such a break is that you do bring a fresh perspective to things. You do notice, you know, some icks and like wins there, and you do get very grateful for certain things as well, but also you flag things much more quickly because you do have that fresh perspective. So don't lose that and lean on that, I would say.

Tom Inniss 28:11

I really like that you didn't feel the need to immediately throw yourself back into work and you sort out that connection with your colleagues first who try and no doubt get some gossip, but also just to understand what's changed and what's developed over time as well. I think that was I think that's a really valuable moment to stop, pause, evaluate and feedback as well on the things that you've seen today.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 28:37

Yeah, for sure.

Tom Inniss 28:39

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today. And thank you, Tom. It's always lovely to speak with you. It's great to have you back on the team. We'll have to have you on the podcast more often. Woo!

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 28:50

I I am here, so invite me. Or not, it's also fine.

Tom Inniss 28:56

No, no, no, we'll bring you on. You have such wise words, Debbie.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 29:00

Again, mother of two.

Tom Inniss 29:02

Mother of two. That's it for Marketers of the Universe this time. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed this content. If you did, please give us a review and subscribe. And if you didn't, pass it on to somebody you don't like so that we're not both disappointed. Uh, I'd just like to thank Debbie once again for joining us today. And if you are enjoying these insights, please do check out brewdigital.com forward slash resources for even more marketing insights. I've been Tom Innis, and this has been Marketers of the Universe.

Debbie Gacutan-Jardim De Oliveira 30:08

Do it well, and you know, try to see the positive.