Welcome back to This Week in Digital Marketing. The series where I round up the biggest updates from the previous week and break them down in a fun, positive spin so they are quick and easy to consume. We’re focusing on stuff that actually matters if you’re trying to build a brand, market a business, or stay ahead of where the internet is evolving into.
One day behind this week as my family spent our Sunday very busy celebrating Father’s Day & I hope you had a wonderful day too however you chose how to spend it!
Instead of one giant announcement dominating headlines this last week, we saw several smaller stories. And at the same time, brands were out in full force for Father’s Day, reminding us that sometimes the best marketing isn’t driven by algorithms at all, it’s driven by emotion, storytelling, and knowing your audience.
So grab your coffee & let’s round up the marketing updates!
AI Discovery Continues to Change Search
What’s not new is that search continues to evolve quickly but what is new is how marketers are trying to figure out visibility with these changes.
Google, ChatGPT, and other AI-powered platforms continue to push users toward conversational discovery rather than traditional keyword searches. More consumers are asking questions, seeking recommendations, and relying on AI-generated summaries to help them make decisions. The interesting part isn’t necessarily the technology itself anymore. It’s how our world in marketing is piecing together how visibility works where users aren’t always clicking through to a website.
The answers and best practices keep pointing back to the same core things we’ve talked about before; expertise, credibility, and content that genuinely helps people. We’re quickly moving into a mindset that “clicks” and “traffic” are no longer the main engagement metric to track. I strongly believe mulit-touch attribution and influence will play a larger factor in piecing together an online world that is becoming more elaborate and harder to track.
So stay focused on the core ways of building but shift your mindset for how you’re viewing successful marketing. Because AI may be changing how information is delivered, but it still needs trustworthy sources to pull from.
Creator Content Keeps Winning
Creator-led content has shown us for a long time it is here to stay and it’s one of the most trustworthy sources of marketing material. Whether it’s Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube, platforms continue rewarding content that feels authentic, personal, and created by actual humans rather than polished corporate brands.
Audiences are becoming incredibly good at spotting content that feels manufactured or copied. With that, audiences are gravitating toward creators who share experiences, perspectives, and expertise in a way that feels genuine and original. The lesson for brands isn’t necessarily that every company needs a creator strategy. It’s that audiences increasingly want to connect with people, not just logos.
The brands finding ways to show more personality continue to have an advantage. Restaurant chain Chili’s continues to be cited as one of the strongest examples of creator-first marketing, with industry observers highlighting how the brand consistently hands the creative reins to creators rather than forcing corporate messaging into influencer partnerships. The result is content that feels native to social platforms instead of traditional advertising.
We even saw the platforms themselves lean into this trend over the past week. LinkedIn officially launched Creator Marketplace, a new program designed to help brands find and partner with creators directly. The move is a pretty strong signal that creator-led marketing isn’t just a B2C strategy anymore. LinkedIn’s own research found that buyers increasingly rely on trusted experts and peer voices when making purchasing decisions, which is why the platform is investing so heavily in helping brands connect with creators.
Whether it’s a founder sharing lessons learned, a practitioner offering industry insights, or a creator reviewing a product, authenticity and expertise are increasingly driving engagement across nearly every platform.
LinkedIn Is Becoming More Creative
That leads us into the next topic of how LinkedIn content is changing. The platform still has its fair share of corporate announcements and thought leadership posts, but creators are increasingly experimenting with storytelling, humor, visuals, and personality-driven content.
A few years ago, posting something playful on LinkedIn felt risky but today, it often feels like the content people remember most. That’s not to say every post needs to be a comedy sketch or personal story but the broader shift is interesting because it reinforces that expertise gets attention, but personality helps people remember you.
This week, LinkedIn announced the expansion of its Creator Marketplace, making it easier for brands to discover and partner with creators directly. The platform also introduced new tools designed to help brands measure the impact of creator collaborations and better connect with subject matter experts who have built trusted audiences.
The exciting part here is this isn’t happening on TikTok or Instagram, it’s happening on LinkedIn. For years, B2B marketing largely focused on company pages, brand messaging, and corporate thought leadership. Now even LinkedIn is signaling a significant shift in preferred content. As AI-generated content continues to flood the internet, authentic voices are becoming even more valuable.
Brands Had a Big Opportunity This Father’s Day
While platform updates tend to dominate marketing conversations, Father’s Day offered a great reminder that some of the most effective marketing still comes from understanding human emotions. Several brands leaned into humor this year, celebrating classic dad behaviors, questionable grilling techniques, and the universal experience of receiving unsolicited life advice. Others took a more emotional route, highlighting fatherhood stories and family moments that resonated with audiences.
What stood out to me wasn’t necessarily which brand had the biggest campaign. It was how many successful campaigns understood that Father’s Day isn’t really about products but instead about identity. The best campaigns weren’t trying to sell a tie, a grill accessory, or a new gadget. They were tapping into what being a dad means and creating content that felt relatable.
Dove Men+Care continued its long-running focus on modern fatherhood, sharing content that highlighted the emotional side of being a dad rather than traditional stereotypes. Instead of focusing on gifts, the brand leaned into stories about caregiving, presence, and the everyday moments that define fatherhood.
The PGA Tour leaned into a simple but effective insight that for many dads, golf is less about the game and more about time spent together. Their Father’s Day social content highlighted family moments on and off the course, creating a sense of nostalgia and connection.
Many Major League Baseball teams shared player stories, father-son traditions, and family-focused content throughout Father’s Day weekend. Several teams featured players talking about becoming fathers themselves, which generated strong engagement from fans.
These holiday campaigns felt like a good reminder that emotional connection is still one of the most powerful tools marketers have.
Final Thoughts From Your Marketing Mom Friend
The platform’s algorithms are becoming smarter by increasingly rewarding the content that feels the most human. Whether it’s Google prioritizing trusted sources, LinkedIn investing in creator partnerships, social platforms rewarding original content, or brands finding creative ways to connect with audiences around moments like Father’s Day, what truly works in marketing continues to stay consistent. People still want to hear from people.
The platforms may continue to evolve, algorithms will keep changing, and AI will undoubtedly become a bigger part of our daily lives. But this week’s updates continue to teach us that the future of marketing may be more personal, not less.
Mom Is Marketing 
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