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UNTMD Says Australian Brands Are Losing Audiences by Broadcasting to People Who Want a Conversation

UNTMD

Key Facts:

• 84% of content sharing now occurs through private channels rather than public feeds, and nearly one in three consumers find one-way brand broadcast messaging actively annoying, according to 2026 research.
• Brands optimising for follower counts and reach metrics are measuring an audience that has largely migrated to private communities, direct messages, and group chats where traditional broadcast content does not reach them.
• The SAP Global Engagement Index 2026 found 23% of consumers say batch-and-blast marketing damages their loyalty, with 28% having switched brands due to disengaging content.
• South Melbourne agency UNTMD argues that follower counts are a lag indicator, and that meaningful growth in 2026 comes from tracking responses, private shares, and conversions rather than reach.
• UNTMD's approach focuses on engagement and conversion metrics, building content strategies around the private sharing and community engagement patterns that current data shows are driving purchase decisions.

SOUTH MELBOURNE, Australia — 6 October 2026 — UNTMD, a South Melbourne digital marketing agency, says the clients reporting the weakest return from social media in 2026 share a common characteristic: they are still running social channels as broadcast platforms, publishing content at audiences who have migrated to private, community-based spaces where one-way brand messaging does not reach them.

The migration is documented and accelerating. 84% of content sharing now happens through private channels rather than public feeds, according to RadiumOne research cited in Forrester's 2026 buyer behaviour analysis. Nearly one in three consumers report finding one-way brand broadcast messaging actively annoying, according to Sinch's 2026 customer communications report. The SAP Global Engagement Index 2026 found 23% of consumers say batch-and-blast marketing damages their loyalty, and 28% have switched brands specifically due to disengaging content.

The practical consequence for brands optimising for follower counts and reach metrics is that those numbers are measuring an audience that has already moved. Public social feeds are increasingly where brands talk; private communities, direct messages, group chats, and interest-based platforms are where consumers actually engage. A brand with 80,000 followers and declining comment rates is not reaching 80,000 people. It is broadcasting into a feed that most of those people are scrolling past, sharing elsewhere through channels that leave no trace in the brand's analytics.

"The follower count problem is that it is a lag indicator. It tells you what happened, not what is happening. The brands we see growing in 2026 are the ones that shifted from asking how many people saw this post to asking how many people responded to it, shared it privately, or took action because of it. Those are different questions, and they lead to a completely different content strategy," said Maria Kathopoulis, founder of UNTMD. 

UNTMD's social media marketing work focuses on engagement and conversion metrics rather than reach and follower growth, building content strategies around the private sharing and community engagement patterns that the 2026 data shows are driving actual purchase decisions. The agency holds Google Partner, Meta, Klaviyo, HubSpot, and Semrush certifications and works with clients across eCommerce, services, and scale-up brands nationally.

About us:

About UNTMD

UNTMD is an Australian digital marketing agency providing integrated strategy, SEO, paid media, content, social media, PR, email, and brand services to growth-stage founders and scaling brands. The agency is based in South Melbourne and led by Maria Kathopoulis.

Contact details:

Media Enquiries

UNTMD

1300 009 111

[email protected]