Lessons in Brand Responsibility from Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Over 126,000 posts across three platforms

Throughout the month, over 126,000 posts were published across LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok around Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

• LinkedIn led the way in volume, as professionals and companies shared their support.

• Instagram followed closely behind, with a strong presence from brand accounts and non-profit organisations.

• TikTok, although far behind in total posts, generated three times more likes than LinkedIn and Instagram combined.

This data underlines an important lesson for brands: even when a platform seems less relevant to a campaign, it can still be the centre of online attention and emotion. TikTok, in particular, remains a critical space for public sentiment and viral reactions.

LinkedIn: where brands show their support

LinkedIn was the top platform for corporate communication around the awareness month. Major brands such as Dior, Guerlain, and Amundi took to the platform to share initiatives ranging from internal awareness events to fundraising campaigns and donations.

Among the top-performing posts, an individual creator Jerson Fernandes  stood out, highlighting a growing trend on LinkedIn: individual voices driving engagement alongside corporate ones.

(Visibrain platform - top posts on LinkedIn)

TikTok: a reminder of how fast crises can spread

While TikTok hosted fewer posts overall, it became the stage for one of the month’s most viral moments, and its biggest controversy.

A group of influencers attended W Korea’s Breast Cancer Awareness event, which quickly went viral for the wrong reasons. Videos showing the event’s luxurious setting sparked backlash, with users criticising the apparent disconnect between the campaign’s purpose and its presentation.

Within hours, TikTok users flooded comment sections, questioning whether the event’s tone trivialised the cause. The criticism spread rapidly across the platform, illustrating how quickly a brand can lose control of the narrative on TikTok.

(Visibrain platform - crisis posts on TikTok)

This incident is a reminder of TikTok’s power as both an engagement driver and a reputational risk. For brands and agencies, a social listening tool with a good alerting system is crucial to detect and respond to crises as they emerge in real time. 

Three key lessons for brands

The online conversation around Breast Cancer Awareness Month shows that even the most positive campaigns require careful listening and strategic communication.

Here are three takeaways for brands planning to engage in awareness events:

1. Engagement beats volume
   TikTok’s engagement dominance shows that success isn’t about how much you post, but where and how audiences interact with your message.

2. Authenticity wins on LinkedIn
   Genuine posts, whether from brands or individuals, resonate far more than polished campaigns. LinkedIn audiences value transparency and sincerity above all.

3. Be crisis-ready on TikTok
   Emotional responses spread fast. Setting up social listening alerts can help brands monitor sentiment shifts and take action before criticism becomes a full-blown crisis.