The Logic, one of Canada’s leading sources of business and technology news, published an article earlier this week detailing how Mobilize Media Group (MMG), through our client, Canada Proud, is “dominating the discussion of the federal election on Facebook and Instagram.” It noted that, in the past seven days, MMG was responsible for 31 of the top 50 most-viewed posts mentioning Liberal leader Mark Carney on Facebook worldwide, 62 per cent of the total. The numbers on Instagram are even more favourable, with MMG being responsible for 36 of the top 50 posts mentioning Carney on the platform in the past seven days, an astounding 72 per cent.
Part of the reason for the success of Canada Proud on the Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) right now is because news pages in Canada are still banned on the site as a result of The Online News Act – with news commentary and pop culture pages now filling that void. Additionally, since 2021, Meta has reduced the amount of political content that users see, but they started rolling back those restrictions in January 2025. Even with these changes, digital success goes far beyond understanding how to use the algorithm. Content that legitimately resonates with audiences is absolutely necessary in order to get eyeballs on your social media posts.
Making this content emotionally resonant involves thinking about every single aspect of your post. The right colour scheme can make people feel a certain way. The right font can help set the tone of your message. The right words can help your message flow properly and remain memorable to viewers, or even signal our own place in socio-political hierarchies depending on the formality of the words you use (‘get’ is less formal than ‘receive,’ for example). Sticking to a recognizable format, template, or style can ensure that your content stands out. But by far the most important part of making resonant content is to have that ‘purple cow’ moment.
A ‘purple cow’ moment is a concept coined by Mr. Beast, likely the most successful content creator alive today. Mr. Beast explains that when you are driving through a rural area, it is pretty common to see cows wandering around in fields. But if you saw a purple cow, you would notice it, you would remember it, and you may even pull over and stop to take a longer look. Scrolling through social media is similar. Every day, thousands of pieces of content come across the feeds of individual social media users, and most of that content is immediately forgotten.
Social media users, however, are a diverse set of people. Not everyone is going to be impressed by a purple cow. Younger audiences may not even be aware that cows are not supposed to be purple! However, one of the big advantages of social media is that it allows you to target smaller groups of people and create that ‘purple cow’ moment for as many audiences as possible. You can target Canadians under 30 who like video games, or you can target women from BC over 55 who enjoy cooking. Similarly, you can create customized content and targeting for specific geographies and employment groups – “Hamilton’s steelworkers need to see this video”. Simply put, messages resonate better when they actually speak to people as individuals, not en masse. Broadly speaking to Canadians just simply does not work when people are less culturally connected than they were even ten years ago.
Recently released data from Toronto Metropolitan University shows that Facebook still remains the most popular social media platform among Canadian adults, with approximately 77 per cent of the population active on the platform every month. YouTube is second at 70 per cent and Instagram is third at 60 per cent. However, across multiple platforms there are influencers and accounts that receive millions and millions of views monthly, whereas CBC News Network, for example, holds only about a 2.0 per cent share of national prime-time viewers. Thus, social media influencers and podcasters have also become key in amplifying messages, as they have loyal audiences and built-up credibility that draws people into their content. Leveraging influencers has become essential in the social media environment we find ourselves in.
New platforms are also emerging. The most well-known platform that has risen over the past few years is TikTok, but other platforms, particularly video game streaming sites, are taking hold of younger audiences. Influencers on sites such as Twitch, Rumble, and Kick are reaching millions of people with their videos.
Not only do these sites allow advertisers and distinct digital creators the opportunity to reach far larger audiences than traditional advertising methods, but it allows pages (or, even more ideally, networks of pages) to microtarget these audiences in the most strategic way possible. You don’t need to create that ‘purple cow’ moment to appeal to as broad of an audience as possible – you can create dozens of them that will appeal to dozens of different, individual audiences in a way that’s far more resonant than general-interest advertising.
Content creators who know how to leverage all of these latest developments in the digital sphere will continue to benefit from online political culture and the Canadian news void, while those who fail to adapt to these changes will be left behind. Even if the Meta news ban is removed and Canadian news organizations are allowed to return to some of Canada’s most popular social media outlets, they will find it difficult to compete in the modern digital ecosystem. compared to the rising power of commentators, influencers and other digital creators.
Jeff Ballingall – Strategic Advisor
English 
French 