When Social Impact Meets Social Media: What Holds, What Crumbles

By: Poojani Ruwanpura

Not long ago, organizations told their stories of social impact through polished annual reports and carefully worded press releases. Today, those stories unfold live, online, and often beyond the organization’s control. A customer’s TikTok, an employee’s LinkedIn post, or a community’s hashtag can quickly confirm your organization’s social impact narrative, or rip it apart, exposing the gap between what you promise and what you practice. 

The real measure of social impact isn’t in what leaders declare, but in what audiences see, share, and scrutinize in real time.

How Social Media Makes or Breaks Your Credibility  

Social media puts your impact in the public’s hands to judge, share, and challenge. Campaigns that sparkle but lack substance unravel as quickly as they trend. And when it comes to social issues that matter to your stakeholders, saying nothing can be just as damaging as saying the wrong thing. 

Take American Eagle’s recent “Great Jeans” campaign with actor Sydney Sweeney. Marketed as a domestic violence awareness initiative, it leaned heavily on sexualized imagery and a wordplay monologue about “genes.” Critics called out everything from tone-deaf innuendos to echoes of discredited eugenics (Forbes). The campaign didn’t spark dialogue on domestic violence; it sparked controversy about the brand itself.

Coach offers a different model. Its Dream It Real program wasn’t designed to go viral; it was designed to change outcomes. Over the past seven years, the initiative has provided scholarships and mentorship for under-resourced students. The results are hard to argue with: a 97% on-time graduation rate, 94% first-generation students, and graduates with significantly less debt than their peers (Forbes).

One brand engineered attention and got it … for all the wrong reasons. The other built trust by aligning purpose with practice. Both went viral, but only one will still hold credibility when the feed refreshes. 

The difference? American Eagle treated social impact as a campaign, Coach treated it as a commitment. Social media didn’t cause one to fail and the other to succeed; it simply revealed the substance behind each approach. 

Why This Matters Now

Trust in leaders is at an all time low. According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, 62% of Canadians believe business leaders mislead the public. But at the same time, as Imagine Canada notes, expectations are rising: 87% of Canadians believe businesses have a responsibility to support the communities where they operate, and 85% expect them to minimize environmental impact.

In other words, Canadians don’t just want promises – they want proof. And in the age of social media, proof is visible and shareable. Social platforms have become both megaphones and microphones: amplifying impact when it’s real, and exposing missteps when it’s not. 

For leaders, this is no longer about managing reputation. It’s about weaving impact into strategy, culture, and operations, so what’s promised outwardly is sustained inwardly and delivered consistently. 

Lessons for Leaders

The lesson from both American Eagle and Coach is not one about fashion. It’s about strategy. 

• Strategy, not slogans. Social impact isn’t what you post, it’s what you practice. The kind that lasts doesn’t come from a campaign, it comes from the choices leaders bake into how their organizations decide, invest, and grow.

• Proof over polish. Credibility is built on evidence, not optics. When results are meaningful, they travel further and ring louder than any tagline.
• Assume the echo. Every commitment will be repeated, reinterpreted, and retold by employees, customers, and communities. The question leaders face isn’t “What story do we want to tell?” but “Will our actions hold up when the story tells itself?” 

At MacPhie, we help leaders turn social impact from a communications exercise into a strategic advantage. If you’re ready to make social impact more than a campaign and embed it into the way your organization thinks and acts, let’s connect!