Webinar Recap: Brand Loyalty Dies as Search, Social, and Reputation Converge

Lis Fetty

Brand loyalty isn’t what it used to be. The days of consumers sticking with a brand simply out of habit or preference are fading fast. Convenience, search visibility, and social proof now play a bigger role in purchasing decisions than ever before.

This shift was a key topic in the recent webinar, CMO to CMO: The 2025 Outlook for Multi-Location Businesses, featuring Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi, and Ellie Doty, founder of High Impact Marketing and former CMO of iconic brands like Burger King, Chili’s, and KFC. Their conversation explored the biggest challenges facing multi-location brands in 2025 and how to stay ahead of the curve.

In this recap, we’ll dive into three critical takeaways from their conversation. Let’s break it down.

Brand Loyalty Decline Shifts Search Behavior

Gone are the days when brand loyalty alone guaranteed customer retention. Today’s consumers prioritize convenience and relevance, often choosing the first option that meets their immediate need. Six out of 10 consumers said they would choose a more convenient alternative over their usual preferred brand.

“The consumer today…we call them the empowered consumer,” Ho explained. “They like to keep their options open.”

For multi-location businesses, this means the digital experience—especially in search—matters more than ever. Branded search terms, while still top contributors, are starting to wane as long-tail queries – sentence-like searches such as, “New fancy restaurants near Austin, Texas,” – are on the rise.

“Knowing what you’re great at, what you’re differentiated on, what your brand stands for, and how that is useful and relevant to your guest, becomes even more important because you’re literally answering their search,” Doty said.

How to Win in Search as Brand Loyalty Fades:

Tools change, evolve, and become even smarter, but the basic principles of branding don’t. Ensure you have brand clarity – know your category, what you stand for, and how you differ from the competition.
Treat social more like search: find your most important long-tail search terms and post content around those keywords, just like you would to catch potential customers searching on Google.
Make sure your locations show up consistently and prominently in local search results. Optimize each listing with accurate information, engaging photos, and up-to-date hours. A proactive approach to search ensures you’re not just an option but the obvious choice.

Everyone’s a Skeptic

Trust has become a scarce commodity these days. Consumers now scrutinize everything, from social media content to online reviews. And, while user reviews are more important than ever, if you’ve seen your number of five-star ratings drop, you’re not alone: Google has been deleting “fake and incentivized reviews” as part of an effort to maintain its integrity. These aren’t just one-star reviews with no details, either. One study found that 73.1% of these deleted Google reviews were five-star ratings, making reviews from real happy customers even more essential.

Still, it’s no longer enough to have great reviews on your Google Business Profile; consumers now want validation.

It’s important to build trust with your customers, so they know your reviews and recommendations are authentic, Doty noted. “Part of this loyalty decline is that guests are looking to other sources besides the brands as the source of truth to get the answers to their questions,” she said.

How to Earn and Keep Consumer Trust:

Build out a reputation program that includes promptly responding to and monitoring reviews – after all, 88% of consumers will overlook a negative review if a business has responded and addressed the issue, according to Yelp. SOCi’s AI agents can help you do this by scaling your review management.
Don’t slack on review management. Consistency across all channels builds trust, and trust keeps customers coming back.
Build relationships with micro-influencers to validate your brand. Cultivate authentic relationships with people who understand your brand and how it’s differentiated from competitors.
Your employees can be your most passionate influencers. Get them promoting your brand with incentives, or just by making it easy for them with an internal communications plan. Even a simple weekly email or post to the internal company chat with updates on the latest company activities and links to current social posts to share can do a lot.

Continued Convergence of Channels in Search

The lines between search, social, and reputation are blurring. A potential customer might discover your brand through a TikTok video, confirm it via Google reviews, and make a decision based on your Instagram presence. For multi-location brands, this convergence means your digital channels must work together seamlessly.

Another factor making this convergence even more important is the rise in AI overviews. About 21% of searches are answered with AI overviews on Google, making the sources of these overviews the most important. While web pages are not always optimized for the descriptive queries leading to these overviews, social content is.

Align search and social teams to ensure cohesive messaging.
Curate your content and message for each channel to maximize performance.
AI agents can help you create, post, and engage with social content, but remember that AI is only as smart as the data you feed it. Integrate data across channels for better results. “What you’re learning in search, you’re learning in social, and vice versa,” Ho said.
As always, maintain consistent branding across all digital touchpoints.

The 2025 Imperative: Visibility, Trust, and Adaptability

In an era of declining brand loyalty, rising skepticism, and converging digital channels, one thing is clear: brands that adapt will thrive. Consumers are more empowered than ever, making split-second decisions based on convenience, relevance, and trust.

By staying proactive, breaking down internal silos, and embracing AI-powered tools wisely, brands can turn these challenges into opportunities. The path forward is clear: be visible, be trusted, and most importantly, be ready to meet customers wherever they search.

Want to watch the full conversation? The on-demand version of CMO to CMO: The 2025 Outlook for Multi-Location Businesses is now available. Watch it here.