CEO TL;DR (for Media CEOs scaling $10M–$100M in MENA & APAC)
Save this if you’re responsible for Revenue, not just Reach.
If your growth plan is still reach-first, you are likely over-investing in people who will never convert and under-investing in the only segment that can still move your top line.
The highest-leverage growth segment in 2026 is the Movable Middle: switchers, fence-sitters, and neutrals who decide based on trust, context, and relevance.
Social is no longer a distribution channel. It is an intent and consideration layer, where decisions happen privately through saves, forwards, DMs, and closed groups.
Creators now function as revenue accelerators, not just audience drivers, especially in fragmented MENA and APAC markets where trust travels peer-to-peer.
The strategic mistake most mid-market media businesses make is spreading budgets thin instead of committing to 2–3 creator-led formats that compound trust over 6–12 months.
One line to anchor your 2026 plan:
The job of social and creators this year is to convert undecided demand into repeatable revenue.
Most brands say they want growth.
Then they sign off on media plans designed for a simpler era, where:
reach was the main story, and
social was the main stage
But 2026 does not reward “BIGGER.”
It rewards More Movable.
The real opportunity now sits at the intersection of two shifts happening at once:
the Movable Middle (the buyers you can actually change), and
the creator economy (the distribution format that actually changes people).
This shift is especially pronounced in MENA and APAC, where social behaviour is evolving fast and intent signals are increasingly private.
The growth segment most plans ignore: the Movable Middle
The Movable Middle is the group that:
sometimes chooses you,
sometimes chooses a competitor,
sometimes is neutral, but open.
They are not your loyalists.
They are not your rejectors.
They are your swing voters.
And the reason they matter is brutally practical.
They are the part of the market that can still be moved at scale, without wasting spend shouting at people who already love you or will never choose you.
This is what “efficient growth” actually means.
Not smaller budgets, but smarter precision about who can still be shifted.
If you work in MENA or APAC, you have seen this pattern play out:
dashboards plateau,
CAC rises,
conversion gets harder,
yet briefs still default to “broad awareness.”
That is not a media problem.
That is a targeting problem.
It is the plan you write when you do not know who you are trying to move.
Social in 2026: from main stage to intent layer
Here is the second shift.
Social has changed.
People no longer live on platforms the way they used to.
They visit them.
Identity now comes from work, hobbies, niche communities, and creators who actually teach, explain, or entertain. Social has become a companion layer, not the centre of life.
And the most important detail:
Engagement did not die.
It moved into places brands can barely see:
DMs
saves
WhatsApp and private shares
closed groups
story replies
Public likes and comments are increasingly weak signals.
Private actions are where consideration is happening.
For the Movable Middle, this is exactly where decisions get negotiated.
The forwarded Reel.
The creator review sent to the family group.
The message that says, “You should try this?”
Social is also quietly functioning like search.
In Riyadh, Jakarta, Mumbai, and Dubai, people search TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and even LinkedIn for practical answers long before they search Google.
They want demonstrations, explanations, and proof from real people.
That is not brand-film territory.
That is creator territory.
Why creators move the middle better than brands do
If your audience is undecided, they do not need a slogan.
They need three things.
Social proof from someone who feels like me
Not celebrity distance. Familiar proximity.Context and coaching
Not “buy this,” but “here is when this is actually right for you.”Consistency and familiarity
One-off influencer drops do not compound. Recurring formats do.
Creators live where the Movable Middle lives.
In the messy middle of curiosity, comparison, and social validation.
What “Movable Middle + Creators” looks like in practice
Most companies say they want this.
Then they do “always-on social” and call it strategy.
Here is a cleaner spine you can adapt.
1. Define your Movable Middle signals
Map mid-probability audiences using:
occasional buyers and lapsed users in your CRM,
category browsers who have not converted,
competitor engagers,
“neutral but open” survey or tracker segments.
The point is not more data.
The point is a specific definition of who you are trying to move.
2. Brief creators for switchers, not fans
The most effective creator briefs sound like:
“If you usually buy X, here is when Y makes more sense.”
“I tried three options so you don’t have to.”
“Here is what I wish I knew before spending money in this category.”
That is how real people decide.
3. Optimise for private actions, not public vanity
If engagement has moved, KPIs need to follow.
Track what actually signals consideration:
saves,
shares,
profile taps,
DM replies,
search lift,
creator-driven click-through to deeper content.
4. Treat social as search, creators as your best answers
Build around the questions your market is already typing:
“Is this safe for fasting?”
“Which option works in Dubai heat?”
“Best choice for freelancers in Manila?”
“How do I cancel this subscription?”
Win the question.
Win the consideration.
5. Scale winners like an easy button
When you find the creator formats and segments that reliably shift mid-probability audiences:
build cohorts,
replicate formats,
refresh creative faster than media,
expand distribution through paid.
Creators are the narrative engine.
Paid is the amplifier.
The brief you need for 2026
This is the line I keep coming back to:
The main job of social in 2026 is to move the middle.
Not to “be present.”
Not to “go viral.”
Not to collect engagement confetti.
To move a specific segment that can actually change outcomes.
If you are rewriting your 2026 plan this quarter and want a sharp working session on Movable Middle strategy across MENA and APAC, I am open to a private exchange.
No deck.
No pitch.
Just operator-to-operator notes.
