From viral moments to meaningful action: What brands miss after a spike
After a newsworthy moment or social media blow-up, quick, effective and creative responses are some brands' bread and butter. But, says Kim Martin, Executive Creative Director at Flourish, those same brands' customer relationship management approach doesn't always match up.
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Brands have become highly adept at capitalising on cultural moments. From Nike’s rapid response to Rory McIlroy’s Masters win, to Nutella turning a moment in space into content [below], or Premier Inn building on viral SNL UK characters, the playbook for showing up on social is now well established.
Brands know how to win attention in the moment, but weak CRM strategies often mean that momentum isn’t carried forward.
But where brands often fall short is in turning that attention into deeper, more meaningful relationships beyond the scroll.
Brands know how to win attention in the moment, but weak CRM strategies - the systems and channels brands use to build ongoing one-to-one relationships - often mean that momentum isn’t carried forward. The shift into direct channels tends to feel disconnected, losing the energy that made the moment resonate.
Above: Nutella uses an impromptu moment from NASA's video feed to promote itself.
Building the bridge between attention and action
Viral moments create a window where curiosity is high and audiences are most open to engaging further. Yet many CRM approaches still default to a hard pivot, moving from culturally relevant content into generic sign-up forms, lacklustre onboarding journeys or blunt ‘buy now’ messaging.
It’s a jarring shift that breaks momentum. The opportunity for CRM is to create a more seamless transition between social attention and longer-term engagement.
The goal shouldn’t be immediate conversion, but low-friction participation that keeps audiences engaged while interest is still high.
This doesn’t need to be complex. A simple lead form or lightweight sign-up can create permission for timely follow-up through direct channels. But while the mechanics matter, creative continuity matters more. If the tone, humour or narrative that captured attention on social disappears in CRM, the connection weakens quickly.
The goal shouldn’t be immediate conversion, but low-friction participation that keeps audiences engaged while interest is still high. Netflix demonstrates this well through its 'Tudum' events, where simple ‘Remind Me’ prompts tied to upcoming releases trigger later notifications through push and email without disrupting the experience.
Above: Netflix's 'Tudum' events to remind customers of upcoming events and releases.
Getting teams out of their lanes
One of the biggest barriers to brands achieving this is organisational. Social and CRM teams often operate in parallel rather than in partnership, working to different timelines, measuring success differently and optimising for separate outcomes.
Brands like Paddy Power and Ryanair have built distinctive, engaging voices on social, yet that same tone doesn’t always carry through into their direct channels.
The impact is visible in the experience itself. Brands like Paddy Power and Ryanair have built distinctive, engaging voices on social, yet that same tone doesn’t always carry through into their direct channels, where CRM can feel more functional or muted by comparison. In retail, brands like Currys show a similar pattern: strong, engaging social presence paired with CRM that defaults to product and price-led messaging.
In each case, attention is captured effectively, but not sustained. What works on social isn’t translated into direct channels, creating a fragmented journey where the brand experience resets rather than builds.
Above: PaddyPower's unique approach to social media doesn't always transmit to its CRM channels.
CRM at the pace of social
Solving this relies on better alignment between social and CRM teams, allowing brands to respond faster and more consistently across channels.
Cultural moments move quickly. The relevance of a viral interaction can peak and fade within hours, yet many CRM programmes still rely on static journeys that aren’t built for that pace. As a result, by the time brands respond in direct channels, the moment has often passed.
The relevance of a viral interaction can peak and fade within hours, yet many CRM programmes still rely on static journeys that aren’t built for that pace.
Brands getting this right treat social as the starting point for deeper engagement, not the endpoint. Glossier, for example, maintains a consistent tone of voice from social through to SMS, while Octopus Energy carries its distinctive brand personality across app alerts, email and WhatsApp - even in more functional communications. Nando’s takes a similar approach, using WhatsApp to drive engagement and loyalty rather than limiting it to transactional updates.
Often, the difference comes down to small, timely interventions: a follow-up that reflects the tone or context of the original interaction, rather than resetting into generic onboarding messaging.
Air France offers a strong example of this in practice, using WhatsApp not just for promotions, but for travel updates, boarding information and customer support delivered in a tone consistent with its wider brand experience. The result feels less like traditional CRM and more like an ongoing customer relationship.
Above: "Octopus Energy carries its distinctive brand personality across app alerts, email and WhatsApp - even in more functional communications."
From capability to impact
The challenge isn’t a lack of tools. Most brands already have the platforms needed to sustain engagement beyond social. What’s often missing is the CRM strategy and organisational agility required to respond while attention still matters.
Traditional CRM journeys remain essential for consistency and scale, but they aren’t built to capture fast-moving, high-intent cultural moments on their own. Too often, brands create attention on social only to lose it through disconnected sign-up experiences, generic onboarding or overly transactional follow-up.
Sometimes the role of CRM is simply to maintain relevance, deepen familiarity and create the conditions for a relationship to develop over time.
The brands getting this right treat CRM differently. Rather than forcing audiences into rigid journeys, they use CRM to extend the energy of the original interaction. Creating low-friction pathways into longer-term engagement that feel consistent with the moment people responded to in the first place.
That requires closer alignment between social, creative and CRM teams, alongside a more responsive approach to execution. Because not every interaction needs to drive immediate conversion to be valuable. Sometimes the role of CRM is simply to maintain relevance, deepen familiarity and create the conditions for a relationship to develop over time.
Social may create the spike in attention, but good CRM determines whether that attention disappears or becomes something lasting.
