Lindsey Gamble’s Post

Feeling fatigued from all the talk about the TikTok ban? Here are other notable updates from this week across social media, the creator economy, and influencer marketing that aren't about the ban that should be on your radar. 💰 There are now over 2 million subscriptions to creators on Instagram. To assist creators in growing and maintaining subscriptions, Instagram has introduced new Subscriptions features. 🔏 Flipside, a "Finsta" feature that Instagram rolled out earlier this year, is being phased out, joining a number of features and tools across social media that have recently launched only to be sunsetted shortly after. 🗄 With over 150 million monthly active users, Threads continues its marathon of updates with a test of post-archiving. This feature has some pros and cons. 📌 Pinterest has added the ability for creators to claim their Instagram accounts and, as a result, receive attribution when their content is shared on Instagram. Based on what I'm seeing on Threads, creators are loving the feature (nice job, Jeremy Jankowski and team). 📧 LinkedIn rolled out a newsletter-specific option for Custom Buttons to help newsletter creators drive sign-ups. (see it in action on this post under my name ⤴ ) 📺 X, formerly known as Twitter is launching a new TV app, following in the footsteps of YouTube and other platforms that are making their way to our living rooms. 🤝 American Influencer Council – AIC and Co. released a new free report that examines the state of brand deals and equity with insights from creators and influencer marketers. I shared why brands should invest in long-term partnerships with creators. Get the details and analysis below and subscribe for next week's edition. #influencermarketing #socialmedia #creatoreconomy

Influencer marketing was once something that was siloed. Fast forward to today— it touches every aspect of a business. This is why there’s more demand from brands for platforms and agencies to become one-stop shops for influencer marketing, along with creative strategy, organic social, paid media, performance marketing, and much more. In an effort to meet this demand, we’re seeing mergers and acquisitions, influencer marketing platforms expanding their capabilities, and traditional ad agencies launching influencer offerings. This brings new opportunities, but also challenges. Phoebe Bain and Gillian Follett provide a state-of-the-state of influencer marketing agencies and the new role they're playing in the creator economy for Ad Age with insight from myself,  Danielle Wiley Arin Schultz Kathryn Winokur Kayley R. Keith Bendes Mae Karwowski Jamie Gutfreund Mona Munayyer Gonzalez and James Nord. Is anyone else fascinated by the growth of influencer marketing? Link for the article in the comments. 🖇 #influencermarketing #creatoreconomy

If you have a newsletter, you’re going to love this new option for Custom Buttons I spotted — ‘Subscribe to Newsletter.’ Instead of having to use ‘Visit my website’ or ‘View my blog’ as the CTA for the button as a workaround, you can use this more newsletter-specific one to drive subscribers to your newsletter via your profile in the feed, search results, and messages. This is one of a few updates that LinkedIn shared in February with Jason Feifer for Entrepreneur Magazine that was coming for newsletters. Note: It’s not showing up as an option for me at the moment, so it may be a gradual rollout.

Nerf, MADE BY GATHER, Jack in the Box, The Duracell Company, OLIPOP PBC, and Ridge—what do they all have in common? They all have hired creators to come in-house in different capacities. John Deere is now jumping into the action with a search for its first-ever Chief Tractor Officer. The legacy manufacturing company is looking for someone to become the face of its social media presence—behind the camera and as talent—in exchange for a nearly $200,000 contract. Since TikTok creator Sophie J. became Nerf's Chief TikTok Officer in 2021 and now holds the same title at Made By Gather, there's been an increase in brands launching initiatives to bring creator talent in-house, often with buzzy titles and big paydays, to grow their social media presence on creator-first platforms like TikTok. Along with acquiring talent, these initiatives also function as marketing and PR plays— offering additional benefits for companies. In the latest edition of my newsletter, I dive into: 💼 Why so many brands are bringing creators in-house 💰 How these types of roles benefit creators (hint: brand deals are inconsistent) 🎉 Why splashy campaigns aren't the only way for brands to acquire creator talent Plus, I cover other social media, creator economy, and marketing news from this week, including: 📸 The launch of TikTok's new photo and text app, TikTok Notes ❌ Why creators need to pay attention to TikTok's updated Community Guidelines 📱 Why we might see creators go back to customizing their Story Highlights 📺 How brands can optimize their Reels-focused influencer marketing campaigns with a new update for Reels shared on Threads Give it a read, share it with a colleague, and subscribe below. #creatoreconomy #socialmedia #influencermarketing

TikTok Notes, TikTok’s new photo app is now available in select countries. TikTok describes it as “an app for people to share their moments through photo-posts. Whether you’re documenting your adventures, expressing your thoughts, or simply sharing snapshots of your day, the experience is designed for those who like to share and engage through photo content.” Here’s how it works: 🤳🏾You can link your TikTok account is TikTok Notes, which will allow you to navigate between the two using your existing information on TikTok. You can also sign up for a TikTok Notes account if you don’t currently have a TikTok account. 🗂️You can view and filter content by ‘For You’ and ‘Following.’ 🔎You can search for content by keywords and topics. 📸In addition to existing photos from TikTok being uploaded when you link your account, you can post directly from TikTok Notes. You can upload posts featuring 30+ photos and up to 400 characters. Will you use it?

Want more visibility? Leave comments. 📈 In a recent post on the LinkedIn Guide to Creating account, LinkedIn states that commenting once a week can triple your profile views. Some people have become strategic about leaving comments on posts by thought leaders and creators here. This allows them to reach new audiences and increases the chances that their comments will appear in the feeds of others with whom they are already connected, prompting people to check out their profiles. However, because comments can be powerful in driving visibility, there’s been more abuse of them, with some users leveraging AI tools to automatically leave comments on posts, which often are generic and sometimes identical to others. So, if you do decide to comment, it is important to focus on adding to the conversation with thoughtful and insightful comments. But there's actually a bigger conversation that can be made around comments, though. From enhanced visibility of comments on LinkedIn to new comment-related features popping up across other platforms like Instagram and YouTube, comments have slowly evolved into a content format that people can utilize to increase their visibility, collaborate, and grow, when not creating net new content. ➕ While we're on the topic of profile views too... LinkedIn also recently updated the ‘Influencer on LinkedIn’ filter for its ‘Who Viewed Your Profile’ feature. Now when you use this filter, you'll be able to see how LinkedIn designated "influencers" who are viewing your profile, such as whether they're ‘Top Voices’ or ‘senior leaders.' So, is this useful? Yes. 1️⃣ First, it provides additional data to help you understand the type of audience you're reaching 2️⃣ Second, it can be beneficial when pitching to brands for sponsored content or partnerships. If 'Top Voices' and 'senior leaders' frequently view your profile, that could be attractive to brands aiming to reach these types of individuals. If you want to stay up to date on the latest LinkedIn updates and how you can use them, sign up for my free weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ePw7H66j

It's been a few days since news broke that TikTok plans to launch a new app for photo posts called TikTok Notes. 📸 Reactions are mixed. On one end, it's a new place that native photo creators can call home, while on the other hand, it will be yet another app creators and brands will need to keep up with. In the newsletter, I dive into: ▶ TikTok's recent embrace of photos ▶ How creators and brands should respond ▶ Why it's going the standalone app route (and the bigger trend across social media platforms) Plus, other news such as: 🛍 YouTube is helping creators capitalize on the growing interest in shopping content with features like Shopping Collections and an Affiliate Hub 🥙 UberEats is launching a short-form video to help customers discover new meals 💬 How commenting on LinkedIn posts helps with visibility 📚 Flipboard is expanding its fediverse integration to include hundreds of creators (I'm excited to be part of this group) You can read below and subscribe to get future editions.

TikTok has been busy pushing different formats like photos and longer videos, but that isn't stopping others from trying to recreate its short-form video magic. Weeks after LinkedIn started testing a short-form video feed and days after Facebook announced a new vertical video player that mimics TikTok's For You Feed, Uber Eats is the newest to bring TikTok-like videos to its app. The delivery service is testing a short-form video feed with customers in New York, San Francisco, and Toronto ahead of a global rollout. 🥙 How it works: The videos appear as carousels throughout the app. When clicked, users are directed to a full-screen, vertical feed where they can swipe through videos showing dishes prepared from restaurants within delivery distance. 🍲 What it means: With this new experience, restaurant managers can share short-form videos to highlight dishes and reach new customers, similar to what they can do on TikTok and Instagram, where 40% of young people say they are discovering places to eat. There is the added benefit, though, of users seeing these videos when they are ready for a meal, which can lead to higher conversion rates for restaurants. Adding video content of this type can also replicate the experience of customers ordering in person, as they will be able to see how dishes are made, their portions, textures, and more. 🍲 Opportunities for creators: The "TikTokification" of the world can be taxing, but one of the great things about it is more opportunities for creators and brands. In this instance, restaurants can partner with local creators to produce video assets to upload to this short-form video feed, giving creators another route for brand deals. The more time I spend in the influencer marketing world, the more I look beyond social media platforms as destinations for creators and brands to come together. It doesn't matter whether it's an app, a website, an in-store screen, or a billboard; any touchpoint for customers is a place to bring creators into the mix -- whether it's through their content, their name, image, likeness, creative ideation, or expertise. That is one of the most exciting things about the future of influencer marketing. For more about innovation within the social media, influencer marketing, and creator space, sign up for my free weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ePw7H66j

A new app from TikTok is coming soon. 🤳🏿 According to in-app notifications, TikTok will soon launch a new app for photo posts called TikTok Notes. Existing and future public TikTok photo posts will appear on TikTok Notes, with users able to opt out. Given the app's name, the captions accompanying photo posts will likely be prominent. This would tie into TikTok' search and discovery ambitions, as photos and text are often easier to categorize and index. ▶ Why the move? Apart from longer videos, photo posts have been another content format that TikTok has been encouraging creators to share. They highlight the benefits of photo posts for creators, such as "1.9x more likes and 2.9x more comments than videos on average.” Despite the current popularity of video content, photo-first creators still desire a dedicated space for photos. Instagram seems to have recognized this as well, despite fully embracing Reels. They've been testing the ability for creators to upload 15 frames in a carousel and include photos in their bonus program, which compensates creators based on the performance of their content. With a pool of photo-first creators who are somewhat underserved, it makes sense for TikTok to cater to this demographic. However, launching a standalone app might not be the best strategy, despite it aligning with the trend — for example, Meta launched Threads, Pinterest launched Shuffles, and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance launched Lemon8. Launching a dedicated feed for photo posts would be a better alternative, as it provides a destination for this type of content while eliminating the need for users to download another app. Also, with the potential ban of TikTok (which I don't think will happen), launching another app just draws more attention. Get more insights like this via my free weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ePw7H66j

What happened this week across social media, the creator economy, and AI: 🤳🏿 Facebook adds a full-screen video player that brings together Reels, long videos, and Lives, resulting in more of a TikTok-like experience. This move highlights a shift in how social media platforms are approaching video. It's not about being a destination for short-form videos or long-form videos, it's about being a destination for all types of videos. 🛎 Instagram helps creators encourage followers to sign up for post notifications with a new sticker. With the sheer amount of content shared daily, creators only reach a fraction of their followers, but this new feature can help increase the chances that their content reaches the people who actually want to see it. ✍🏿 Threads starts incentivizing creators to post through an invite-only bonus program. As seen previously, these programs often change or shut down, so eligible creators should take advantage of them sooner rather than later. 📚 Spotify adds creator-led video-based courses as it continues its expansion beyond music. After adding audiobooks and music videos, Spotify is entering the video course business through partnerships with learning platforms like Skillshare and Thinkific. 🤖 ChatGPT adds links to publishers and creators in responses. There are concerns about AI tools using other people's work for their large language models without crediting them. This small addition might ease the concerns of publishers and creators by giving them credit and allowing people to click through to their websites. 📸 VSCO® gets more social with Discussions. The photography app continues to be thoughtful about adding more social features, helping to maximize the benefits for creators and minimize the potential harm. Full details and the impact of these are in the newsletter below -- sign up to get notified for future editions.