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Influencer marketing is evolving, and so is the way brands measure success. That’s why Meltwater is proud to announce a new partnership with YouTube, integrating YouTube’s Creator Partnerships API directly into our Influencer Marketing platform.

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Metrics matter in brand management, but you need to be selective about what brand metrics you use to avoid getting lost in a sea of data. Choosing the right brand metrics means you can make more impactful and strategic business decisions. 

Instead of getting bogged down by vanity metrics (looking at you, 10K Instagram followers), you should use tangible metrics that give you insights into how your customers think and feel about your brand.

Let’s take a dive deep into the important brand tracking metrics that will set you up for success.

Brand metrics are the vital signs of your brand's health. They’re essential pieces of data that show how others perceive your brand. They will show you whether your brand is thriving or getting lost in the noise.

Learn more about building and maintaining brand loyalty and brand awareness

With brand tracking, sales figures alone are not enough to measure brand performance — they tell a small part of a much bigger story. You also need to consider brand awareness metrics like brand recall, customer engagement, and net promoter score. 

These metrics expose nuances about the why behind your sales, giving you an inside look at where your brand excels and where it might fall short.

Measuring brand awareness illustrates how familiar people are with your brand. If they don’t know you, they can’t buy from you. And if they do know you, they also need to trust you before they’re willing to purchase.

You can sort brand metrics into a few different categories, including:

Understanding public perception of your brand through sentiment metrics can help you manage your brand’s reputation and monitor for potential crises.

You can track brand sentiment through surveys, on social media, and reviews. Brand tracking software like Meltwater can monitor consumer sentiment in real time and show you how people are talking about your brand online.

Sentiment metrics are based on the general tone around how people view and comment on your brand. 

Want to see Meltwater's suite in action? Fill out the form below for a personalized demo!

A brands performance metrics indicate brand health from a profitability and awareness standpoint. Essentially, it measures how you're pacing against your business goals. Metrics to track for brand performance include:

Strong brand marketing is essential for building customer loyalty, which heavily influencers the other metrics on this list. Metrics and marketing KPIs indicate how well your messaging is resonating with current and potential customers. 

Content metrics (such as time-on-page or pages-per-session)

For more, check out must have marketing KPIs, email marketing metrics, and content marketing metrics

Regularly monitoring your brand reputation means you won't get caught off-guard if a crisis is brewing. Social listening solutions like Meltwater can help you keep tab on your reputation by flagging when a spike in mentions occurs and alerting you in real time. 

Learn more about managing brand reputation

Measuring brand awareness and performance can take many forms. We’ve narrowed down 10 essential brand metrics examples to track as part of your wider brand strategy.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures the likelihood of customers purchasing your brand again, on a scale of 1 to 10. It's calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters:

Scores of 9 or 10 indicate a high likelihood of being repeat customers, or promoters.

The higher your NPS, the more positive your customer experience is and your potential for brand advocacy is increased. This is good news for organic growth through word-of-mouth marketing.

Measuring brand consideration metrics like loyalty reveals how much work you might have to do to get customers to keep buying from you. Loyal customers are those who consistently choose your brand over another option. 

Typically, loyal customers are less price-sensitive and will provide consistent revenue. They’re also more likely to advocate for your brand and share it with others, which can help you drive more organic growth. 

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys tell you how satisfied customers are with your product, service, or a recent experience. Your satisfied customers are more likely to stay loyal and share their positive experiences with others.

CSAT, brand loyalty, and brand sentiment all fall under the brand reputation management umbrella. Comparing these metrics can give you a better idea of whether your reputation may be at risk and help you figure out how you can get ahead of it.

Share of voice refers to how much of a conversation you command compared to other brands. We measure share of voice using social media mentions, PR coverage, and advertising. 

A higher share of voice can indicate how much you dominate your industry. The higher the share of voice, the greater the brand awareness and influence.

Another slice of the brand consideration metrics pie, brand recall refers to your customers’ ability to remember your brand when they’re ready to make a purchase. The higher the brand recall, the more likely you are to be the first company a customer thinks about when making a purchase.

One of the most overlooked brand measurement metrics, customer lifetime value (CLV) measures the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer over the life of the relationship. 

A high CLV indicates your brand is doing well at retaining customers. This is key for long-term profitability and reducing customer acquisition costs.

Customers need confidence in the products and services you sell. Measuring brand trust will help you see where you stand in building long-term relationships with customers.

When customers view you as reliable and authentic, they’re more likely to continue buying from you and may even stand by you in the event of a crisis.

Engagement metrics can help with measuring brand awareness. Things like likes, shares, and comments show you whether your marketing is resonating with your audience. 

Even better, engagement can also help you grow brand awareness. When people engage with your content, it signals to social media algorithms that people found your content valuable in some way. This can encourage the algorithm to show your content to more people, giving you more opportunities to grow your audience and gain even more engagement. 

TIP: Check out our blog for a deep-dive into the social media metrics you need to keep an eye on.

Brand health metrics like awareness, sentiment, recall, and engagement give you context about another essential metric: conversion rate.

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors or leads that complete a desired action, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a service. A high conversion rate indicates you excel at convincing customers to take the next step. They see something special in your brand and want to be part of it.

What do people associate with your brand? Are they making connections that align with your brand values or are there gaps? Brand associations feed into customer values. If your brand misaligns with what consumers are looking for from the brands they choose to support, you will quickly lose market share and fall behind your competitors. Manage you brand association by learning about your customers with consumer insights.

Of these brand metrics to track, you’ll want to choose the ones that are the most relevant to your strategy. We recommend dialing in on a few key metrics that give you the most complete picture of your brand health without weighing you down in numbers and data points.

Ultimately, you need to decide why these brand metrics matter and how they can help you improve your brand’s performance.

First, we suggest starting with a goal. What exactly about your brand do you want to change?

Rebuild trust after some bad PR coverage?

From sales and revenue to sentiment and share of voice, there are plenty of ways to measure your brand’s impact. The 10 top brand awareness metrics covered in this blog will offer a comprehensive picture of how your brand is performing against your competitors.

10 Brand Awareness Metrics to Measure Your Performance

Mobile is not just a companion screen anymore; it's the beating heart of the gaming industry in South Africa. In 2025, mobile gaming continues its dominance as the most popular gaming platform in the country, outperforming console and PC gaming in both reach and revenue. With an expected market value of R2.4 billion in 2025 and over 18 million users, mobile gaming is not only reshaping entertainment but also creating fresh opportunities for brands and marketers.

This blog explores the current state of mobile gaming in South Africa, key user trends shaping the market, and how brands can leverage these insights to create more meaningful connections with this growing and engaged audience.

Growth of the mobile games market in South Africa can be attributed to three main drivers: increased smartphone penetration, increased internet coverage, and a growing youth demographic.

This is reflected in the 2025 Global Digital Report, revealing that when it comes to gaming devices in South Africa, smartphones (75%) are preferred over PCs (42.5%) and consoles (29.7%).

These preferences are driving significant growth in the mobile gaming market, as highlighted by key 2025 statistics for South Africa:

In 2025, the market is projected to reach US$134m (R2.4 billion)

The number of users is expected to exceed 18 million, reflecting a significant increase in both penetration and engagement.

Today, the average revenue per user (ARPU) is estimated at US$8.51 (R152.85)

1. Puzzle, Multiplayer & Hyper-Casual Games Dominate

South African mobile gamers continue to favour puzzle games like Candy Crush, hyper-casual titles that offer quick, low-commitment gameplay, and competitive multiplayer games such as Free Fire, Call of Duty: Mobile, and PUBG Mobile. These genres appeal to a wide range of players—from casual users looking to pass time to highly engaged gamers participating in ranked matches and clan competitions.

Mobile gaming in South Africa is increasingly social, with players turning to a mix of content and community platforms to enhance their experience. YouTube and Facebook Gaming remain popular for game tutorials, livestreams, and influencer content, while TikTok has emerged as a key space for short-form, viral gaming clips and trend discovery.

Platforms like Reddit are becoming essential spaces for understanding gamer sentiment and behavior. From daily threads discussing gameplay experiences to viral posts about updates and new releases, Reddit offers a real-time pulse on what gamers care about most. These conversations are often candid, detailed, and highly influential within the gaming community.

These social platforms form an ecosystem where gaming is not just something people play, but something they watch, discuss, and participate in. For brands and marketers, understanding this multi-platform behaviour is crucial to connecting with gamers where they’re most active and engaged.

With mobile gaming rapidly growing in South Africa, brands have a unique opportunity to connect with a large, highly engaged, and digitally savvy audience. But standing out in this space requires more than just placing ads within games, it demands cultural relevance and real-time insight into gamer behaviour, preferences, and sentiment.

South African gamers are active across a variety of platforms that extend far beyond the games themselves. From Facebook Gaming, Youtube and TikTok, to Reddit threads, these digital spaces are rich with unfiltered conversations; players share honest opinions, review games, discuss updates, and build communities. 

This is where a social listening tool comes in. By monitoring discussions across platforms such as Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, and niche forums, brands can:

Track real-time consumer sentiment - what gamers love, dislike, or are buzzing about

Identify influencers and community voices who shape opinions within the mobile gaming space

Discover emerging trends early by tapping into viral content and organic chatter

Build data-driven marketing strategies that align with what gamers actually care about

As mobile gaming continues to dominate in South Africa, brands that take the time to truly listen and understand the language, platforms, and preferences of gamers will gain a meaningful edge. With the right insights, marketers can engage authentically, stay ahead of industry shifts, and craft campaigns that genuinely resonate with this dynamic audience. 

Mobile Gaming in South Africa 2025: Trends & Growth Opportunities

What exactly is a brand extension? This is a branding strategy that can help your brand grow by getting in front of a whole different subset of consumers. Let’s look at the definition of brand extension and some great examples of brand extension done right.

How to Build a Successful Brand Extension Strategy

Let’s start with a brand extension definition:

Brand extension is a marketing strategy that uses an established brand to create new products or enter a new brand category.

Brand extensions are used to build brand equity. The more a brand offers (and can do well), the more valuable and indispensable the brand may become.

The products resulting from a brand extension may or may not be closely related to the flagship product for which the brand is already known.

For example, before Apple was the tech giant we know today, it was mostly known for desktop and laptop computers. The company later expanded into portable music players (the iPod), smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, among other things.

Brands like GE dabble in many different areas. Their presence is felt in healthcare, energy, aviation, and industrial data, to name a few. But each of their business units ties back to the brand’s core, which is to further the development of society.  

So, retail brand extension is not just about finding comparable products or categories. It’s also about aligning the company’s vision, mission, and values as they relate to the core business.

When brands achieve this alignment, they reduce the risk of negative associations. What's more, their product line extension is more likely to be successful. The consumer is more likely to accept it and trust it.

When it comes to types of brand extension, some companies like to play it close to home while others use it for expansion into markets that might at first glance seem like odd choices. But these are the kinds of risks that usually pay off when you have strong brand loyalty, brand equity, and a solid marketing strategy.

And then there are companies that have embraced the concept of brand extension to tap into new markets, new audiences, and new opportunities. They’ve expanded their product offering beyond the initial products that built their brand in the first place.

When you choose the right marketing strategy for your brand extension, things like brand equity, a stronger reputation, and higher profits become natural byproducts. Some of the quintessential branding extension benefits include:

Avoid the cost of creating a whole new brand

Catering to a greater number of customer needs and wants gives you more opportunities to expand your audience. Increasing your customer base drives more revenue and will ultimately make your brand more valuable.

Extending your brand gives you more ways to interact with your customers and more customers with whom to interact. This means more conversations and more marketing touchpoints to help drive top-of-mind awareness of your brand.

Launching a new product or service gives people another reason to interact with your brand. More engagement and more opportunities to impress your audience can help you support your brand image as a whole. Investing in strategic brand management can help you make this goal a bigger reality.

When you can tie in your new product or service idea with your current brand, you can avoid the time and cost of developing that same product under a new brand. A brand extension allows you to use the same brand messaging, marketing channels, and advertising budget to promote your new idea. 

As you extend your brand into new markets, sectors, and niches, you may find it easier to gain initial traction every time. That’s because you have a ready-made audience that is familiar with your products and services, and most importantly, your reputation. It’s easier and cheaper to win over existing customers than to acquire new customers. They may easily buy into whatever new item you launch simply because they’re familiar with your other products.

Despite the benefits and potential of a brand extension, not all efforts to expand a brand are home runs. In some cases, the wrong approach can dilute your brand, damage your company’s existing image, or lead to confusion about what your company does.

Take Colgate, for example. The company makes perfectly fine toothpaste, but in the 1980s, it also created one of the biggest brand extension failures in history when it launched a beef lasagna. Its image as a minty fresh personal care products brand didn’t translate in the convenience food market.

It's the same story with Cosmopolitan yogurt, Pillsbury’s frozen microwave popcorn, and Cadbury’s instant mashed potatoes. These things just didn’t make sense for the brands and never took off with their intended audiences. 

The best and most successful brand extension ideas start with consumer insights. Getting inside your ideal customer’s head can help you develop a brand extension strategy that will resonate with your target audience.

A consumer evaluation can answer everything from what people want to buy, when and how buyers are searching for products, to how much they’re willing to spend, among other things.

Working with a partner like Meltwater, experienced in to collect and leverage consumer insights can be invaluable to a brand extension strategy. Contact our team today to learn more about how Meltwater can grow your brand in the right direction! Fill out the form below to get started.

If you are feeling like your brand has traveled as far as it can go, then it might be time to explore a brand extension. It might be the exact type of fuel you need to go above and beyond your existing market. Consumer research can help you find out if a brand extension is the right step.

Brand Extension Explained: How to Make It Work for Your Business

AI is quickly reshaping the marketing world and the influencer sector is no exception. For example, the technology is streamlining operations on the back end with AI-powered discovery and vetting tools. And on the consumer-facing side, AI-generated influencers are changing how brands connect with their target audiences. A type of virtual influencer, AI-generated influencers are created, and sometimes operated, using data and algorithms. 

Though this may seem like a futuristic concept, the virtual influencer world already has its superstars in the form of Lil Miquela, launched on Instagram in 2016, Shudu, created in 2017, and more. There’s much excitement about how AI influencers can save brands and retailers money, but there’s also a fair share of concern around transparency, manipulation by bad actors, impact on brand trust, and even digital blackface.

With so much industry chatter about the potential impacts of AI influencers, we used our social listening and analytics solution to take the pulse of the social media discussion so far this year.

How big is the online discussion about AI influencers?

Mentions of AI influencers across 17 social media channels (including X, Reddit, and Bluesky) from January 1 to May 31, 2025. 

In the first five months of 2025, there were more than 114,000 mentions of AI influencers on social media, a 50% increase compared to the five months prior (August 1 to December 31, 2024). 

On January 3, 2025, the biggest day for the AI influencers conversation, mentions spiked 7x higher than average as social media users discussed, and largely criticized AI influencers on Meta platforms. The top four most engaged posts were on X, all about the same AI-generated influencer Liv (@himamaliv), a “Proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller.” The top post, which generated more than 3,500 engagement actions, was a critical one that included a screenshot of one @himamaliv post about spending New Years’ Day doing community service. Comments on the AI-generated influencer post and the X post critiquing it noted its inappropriateness as no real community service had taken place. 

The false narrative that spread on January 3, that Meta was just beginning to test AI influencers on its platforms, was partially sparked by a December 27, 2024, article in the Financial Times titled ‘Meta envisages social media filled with AI-generated users’ that drew renewed attention to AI accounts on the platforms. In fact, as NBC News reported, the AI influencers, including Liv, had been on Instagram and Facebook since 2023. Nevertheless, Meta quickly removed the AI character accounts, saying in a statement to reporters, “These were managed by humans and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters. We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue.”

In contrast, subsequent spikes in the social media conversation about AI influencers this year were caused by mentions of new AI influencer-generating tools, comparisons of real influencers to virtual ones, and AI influencers’ potential impacts on society.

How do social media users feel about AI influencers?

Sentiment of mentions of AI influencers across 17 social media channels (including X, Reddit, and Bluesky) from January 1 to May 31, 2025. 

Negative mentions of AI influencers largely discussed lack of transparency, job displacement, algorithm manipulation, and the potential impacts of deepfake technology on individuals and society. The most engaged, negative post questioned the need for AI influencers at all. 

However, for every negative mention there were about four positive ones, many being posts from real-life tech influencers and thought leaders promoting specific AI influencer-generating tools. 

Undoubtedly, social media opinions about AI influencers are polarized, but there is much more optimism and promotion of new tools to be found. On X at least, we’re in a gold rush moment when AI influencer generating tools are clamoring to attract not just companies and brands, but also average social media users with the promise of developing a new income stream.

AI influencers, virtual influencers, computer-generated influencers, whatever you want to call them, are a sensitive but growing topic among social media users. Tech-savvy audiences may be the most receptive to the concept, so the brands that cater to them may be best positioned to find success with innovative campaigns featuring AI influencers.

At the same time, transparency, authenticity, and ethical usage should be top of mind for any organization looking to capitalize on the strong buzz around virtual influencing. As the “Liv” fiasco from earlier this year shows, lack of transparency leaves room for false narratives to take off quickly. Any misstep around AI influencers has the potential to do major damage to brand reputation and consumer trust.

The Rise of AI Influencers: What the Data Says About Consumer Sentiment and Interest

AI is completely transforming education as we know it, from how students learn to how teachers teach to how schools operate. One global survey found that 86% of students use AI tools to do their work, while about 25% said they do so daily. It’s safe to say that society has reached a turning point when it comes to the presence of AI tools and creations in our daily lives, but users are still working to understand how best to implement it, especially when it comes to learning. Education, in particular, remains a controversial arena for AI, with educators raising concerns about cheating, stymied development of critical thinking skills, and incorrect information. Nevertheless, OpenAI’s recent promotion offering free access to ChatGPT Plus for college students in the United States and Canada attempted to show students the way. 

The promotion, which lasted from April 1 to May 31, 2025, took a multi pronged marketing approach to appeal to students preparing for their end-of-semester exams. Billboards, podcast ads, digital ads, and collaborative social media posts demonstrated how users can prompt the software for assets like study guides, summaries, flash cards, and other “hacks” to get through finals. We used our social listening and analytics solution to examine the campaign’s impact on social media conversation and see what it can teach marketers about this moment in the new era of AI.

How big was the online buzz about ChatGPT during final exams 2025?

Mentions of ChatGPT and “exams” and related keywords on social media April 1 to May 31.

Over the past two months (from April 1 to May 31), there were about 6,800 mentions of ChatGPT and exams and related keywords across 17 social media channels including X, Reddit, Bluesky, and Pinterest. This represents a 134% increase compared to the two months prior, meaning that the discussion has grown significantly. By comparison, overall mentions of ChatGPT increased by 36% in that same time period, a meaningful jump but nowhere as high as the exams-focused conversation.

The first spike in ChatGPT/exams mentions came on April 3, as news of the promotion spread online via prominent news articles. One published day on the Forbes website is estimated to have reached about 76.1 million readers. More high-profile coverage came the following day on April 4, with a The Economic Times article that reached an estimated 15.1 million people, and three separate MSN.com articles that reached about 119 million readers each. However, the biggest mention spike occurred on May 27, at the tail end of the promotion, as discourse on the topic took off on two separate platforms. On X,  one post expressing disapproval of the use of ChatGPT, and generative AI in general, for exams prompted hundreds of engagement actions. And over on Reddit, two questions about the use of ChatGPT for exams and in the workplace prompted hundreds of responses. 

So did the ChatGPT promotion result in increased buzz online? According to the data, absolutely, though it did not get the reaction some AI in education enthusiasts might have hoped for.

How do social media users feel about ChatGPT and exams?

Sentiment of mentions of ChatGPT and “exams” and related keywords on social media April 1 to May 31.

As the above volume spikes hint, though the conversation has grown, it hasn’t focused on the campaign’s vision of AI as a helpful learning tool. The overall social media buzz about ChatGPT and exams during April and May was significantly critical, with more than 1 in 4 mentions having negative sentiment. 

Mentions of ChatGPT and “exams” and related keywords on social media April 1 to May 31 split by sentiment.

For example, the most engaged post of the conversation was a negative one posted on Bluesky. Written by a college professor, the post sparked a flurry of discussion (including other educators) focused on the potential risks of student reliance on AI tools.  

On the flip side, the most engaged positive mentions about ChatGPT and exams came from students praising the promotion as well as the software’s effectiveness. Still, though, there were less than half as many positive mentions for every negative one. So how does social media feel about ChatGPT and exams? Overall, apprehensive.

Cheating overshadows the potential benefits of generative AI for exam prep. Our analysis of ChatGPT’s college finals promotion revealed just how prominent concerns about cheating and inhibited learning are in social media discussions of ChatGPT and exams. Though OpenAI’s finals campaign highlighted assistive ways to use the platform, that narrative didn’t meaningfully pull through. The question of cheating is a big one hanging over AI and LLM companies looking to win over educators and students. In the future, sidestepping or ignoring that concern within this sector is likely to backfire. 

Students and educators are divided. No surprise here. For many Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, using AI-powered tools is a given, while many teachers see it as the downfall of education as we know it. Until the AI-forward generations become teachers themselves, many AI tools will have a hard time winning educators over without demonstrating how they can aid learning, encourage critical thinking, and provide accurate information.

Bluesky is an emerging venue for discussions about higher education. The buzz this promotion generated on Bluesky suggests that there is an engaged higher education audience on the platform. Marketers in and around the education sector should take a closer look at this platform to identify emerging narratives, trends, and thought leaders. 

How Social Media Reacted to the ChatGPT Final Exams Promotion

Instagram is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s a direct connection to celebrities, influencers, the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and can also be a window into those leading the simple life. They’ve inspired countless users about where to travel, what to buy, and who to follow. For brands interested in reaching both global and niche audiences, there’s no better way than to tap the help of the top influencers on Instagram.

Using our Meltwater influencer database, we’ve rounded up the top Instagram influencers based on engagement, audience size, and overall popularity. Learn from them, partner with them, and see how Instagram can take your business to new heights.

How to Find the Top Instagram Influencers

Top 9 Instagram Influencers Based on Engagement Rate

How to Create Your Own Instagram Influencers List

Tip: If you'd like to go more local in your research, take a look at the top Australian Instagram influencers, the top Instagram Influencers in Malaysia, the top Instagram Influencers in Hong Kong, the top Instagram influencers in Singapore, and the biggest Swedish influencers. We also have a list of the top Instagram couple influencers, top travel influencers and top tech influencers for you.

We use our Meltwater influencer marketing suite to discover the top Instagram influencers.

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