How Creator Partnerships Changed Digital Marketing in 2024
TikTok's legal fight in the US pushed brands to hedge creator budgets across platforms in 2024, and long-term deals kept replacing one-off posts.
Social Media Marketing
Social
Social media marketing, influencers and community: reach engaged audiences where they already are.
The Rise of Creator Partnerships
By 2024 creator partnerships moved beyond sponsorship deals into platform infrastructure: TikTok Shop, YouTube's revenue share and MrBeast-style owned brands.
Why TikTok SEO Matters for Your Bottom Line
A senior Google executive admitted young users often search TikTok before Google. Here's the actual business case for optimizing videos to be found there.
The State of Influencer ROI in 2023
Measuring influencer marketing got harder after iOS privacy changes and a tighter ad market forced 2023 budgets to justify themselves.
The Creator Economy: A Playbook for the Platform-Fund Era
By 2022 platforms had launched their own creator funds. Here's how brands adapted their partnership strategy to that changed landscape.
The Rise of Social Commerce
Social commerce didn't start with Instagram. It started with Chinese platforms years earlier, and that order explains why TikTok Shop is expanding as it is.
Influencer Marketing Trends Shaping 2022
The specific shifts in influencer marketing during 2022: platform creator funds under fire, BeReal's rise and Reels chasing TikTok.
A Practical Guide to the Creator Economy
Creators now make money through at least six distinct mechanisms, and most brands only understand one of them. Here's how the whole system works.
A Practical Guide to Social Commerce
A step-by-step path to setting up in-app selling on Instagram and TikTok in 2022, from picking products to fixing fulfillment before it wastes the sale.
A Practical Guide to Influencer Partnerships
2021 rewired how brands work with creators: swipe-up links disappeared, Apple's privacy change made trust harder to fake and the FTC got much less patient.
A Practical Guide to Community Building
Most branded communities are just audiences with a Discord server attached. What separates a real community from a broadcast channel, and how to build one.
The Creator Economy Trends Shaping 2021
A snapshot of the specific developments that turned 'creator economy' from a niche phrase into a mainstream business story in 2021.
Building a Social Commerce Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step guide to setting up native shopping on Instagram and Facebook in 2021, from account setup to your first sale.
The Rise of Influencer Partnerships
From mommy bloggers to Fyre Festival to the ambassador programs brands run today: the real history of how influencer marketing became influencer partnerships.
How Community Building Changed Digital Marketing in 2021
2021 was the year Clubhouse, Discord and paid newsletters pulled brand audiences out of public feeds and into private spaces.
The Creator Economy: A Playbook for Independent Creators
How brands built real partnerships with independent creators in 2021, the year Substack, Patreon and OnlyFans made creator monetization mainstream news.
Common Social Commerce Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The mistakes that quietly sank in-app shopping setups on Instagram and Facebook in 2021, and how to fix each one.
A Practical Guide to Live Shopping
Live shopping is already a massive channel in China and it's now landing on Western platforms. Here's how the format works and what running one requires.
How Live Shopping Changed Digital Marketing in 2020
2020 was the year US retailers seriously tried livestream shopping, borrowing a model that was already huge in China, with mixed results.
Why TikTok Marketing Matters for Your Bottom Line
TikTok is still young and its ad tools are unfinished, but the reach it offers for the cost is unlike anything else in 2019: the business case and the risks.
Mastering Micro-Influencers: A Marketer's Playbook
A step-by-step process for building a repeatable micro-influencer program in 2019, from finding creators to measuring results.
9 Micro-Influencer Strategies That Work
Nine concrete tactics for working with micro-influencers in 2019, beyond just sending free product and hoping for a post.
Common Stories Marketing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The recurring mistakes brands made with Instagram and Facebook Stories in 2018, and what to do instead.
A Practical Guide to Influencer Marketing
How influencer marketing works in practice: what a brand pays for, how creator tiers differ in price and performance and where the FTC's disclosure rules apply.
Case Study: Winning With Stories Marketing
An illustrative 2018 case study of a small retailer using Instagram Stories, once polls, question stickers and swipe-up links had matured past pure novelty.
How Influencer Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2018
2018 was the year the FTC started enforcing influencer disclosure rules, and it forced the entire industry to grow up.
The State of Influencer Marketing in 2017
How the FTC's April 2017 warning letters and the Fyre Festival collapse forced influencer marketing to grow up, and what that meant for brands by mid-year.
Influencer Marketing ROI After the 2017 FTC Crackdown
Why the ROI case for influencer marketing held up in 2017 even as disclosure compliance, pushed by the Lord & Taylor FTC case, became a real cost of business.
Instagram Stories Trends Shaping 2016
How Instagram Stories, launched August 2, 2016 as a direct answer to Snapchat, changed what brands posted in the second half of the year.
Influencer Marketing's ROI Case as Ad Prices Rose in 2016
The 2016 cost-efficiency case for influencer marketing, as rising Facebook and Instagram ad prices pushed budgets toward creator partnerships instead.
Mastering Instagram Stories: A Marketer's Playbook
An operational playbook for running Instagram Stories, the disappearing photo and video format Instagram built as its answer to Snapchat, day to day.
Influencer Marketing: What Every Business Needs to Know
A 2016 decision framework for business owners weighing influencer marketing, covering budget realities, audience fit, measurement and disclosure obligations.
The Rise of Live Streaming
From Justin.tv's early days through Twitch's rise and the March 2015 launches of Meerkat and Periscope, how live video became a mainstream marketing channel.
Building a Live Streaming Strategy From Scratch
A practical 2015 guide to getting started with Periscope and Meerkat, both launched in March that year, for businesses new to live video.
Building an Influencer Outreach Strategy From Scratch
A 2014 step-by-step guide to finding and pitching bloggers and early Instagram influencers, from vetting real engagement to staying inside FTC disclosure rules.
Common Influencer Outreach Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Six mistakes that undermined influencer outreach campaigns in 2014, from chasing follower counts to skipping FTC disclosure, and how to fix each one.
The Rise of Social Customer Service
How customer support moved onto Twitter and Facebook between 2008 and 2013, from Comcast's early experiment to a standard part of doing business.
Building a Social Customer Service Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step 2013 guide to setting up support on Twitter and Facebook, from choosing response time targets to training the team that answers.
12 Social Proof Strategies That Work
Twelve concrete ways small businesses used testimonials, reviews and third-party validation to earn customer trust in 2012, from Yelp to Pinterest boards.
The State of Social Proof in 2012
A snapshot of how businesses were building trust online in 2012, from Pinterest's retail boom to Yelp's IPO and the rise of star-rating widgets.
Social Media Strategy Trends Shaping 2011
Five real developments changed social media strategy in 2011, from Google's entry into the space to a design overhaul Facebook announced for every brand Page.
The Rise of Customer Reviews
From Amazon's controversial 1995 decision to let anyone criticize a product to Yelp's near-monopoly on local search in 2011, how reviews became a fixture.
Mastering Social Media Strategy: A Marketer's Playbook
An operational playbook for running social media as a coordinated function in 2011: setting goals, assigning ownership and measuring results with real tools.
Why Reputation Management Matters for Your Bottom Line
The first page of a Google search for your business name now doubles as your storefront window. Here is the financial case for managing what shows up there.
The Rise of Twitter Marketing: SXSW Buzz to Paid Ads in 2010
From a side project at a podcasting company in 2006 to a platform selling its first ads in 2010, the real timeline of how Twitter became a marketing channel.
A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing
A mechanics-level look at how Facebook, Twitter and YouTube worked for business in 2010, and how to pick platforms instead of running all of them at once.
Online Reputation Management: What Businesses Need to Know
A 2010 decision framework for how much a business should invest in monitoring reviews and mentions, built around what mattered that year on Yelp and Google.
Building a Twitter Marketing Strategy Before You Tweet
A step by step process for setting up a Twitter presence in 2010, from choosing a voice to building a listening habit, with no prior experience assumed.
How Social Media Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2010
A year-in-review of 2010, when Facebook passed 500 million users, the Like button left Facebook's site and a viral Old Spice campaign rewrote real-time ads.
Why Social Media Marketing Pays Off: Dell and JetBlue
The 2009 ROI case for social media: what Dell, JetBlue and other early movers got back in sales and support savings, and what it cost them to find out.
A Practical Guide to Twitter (X) Marketing
How Twitter works in 2009: the mechanics of tweets, replies, retweets and hashtags, and what businesses can do with them before any ad product exists.
The State of Online Reputation Management in 2009
A 2009 snapshot of online reputation management, from viral backlash reshaping how brands handled complaints to the first monitoring tools businesses used.
Social Media Marketing: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for business owners weighing whether to invest time in Facebook and Twitter in 2009, and how to tell if your business is a fit.
Why Facebook's Self-Serve Ad Targeting Mattered in 2009
Facebook passed 300 million users in 2009 and opened Facebook Ads to any business with a credit card. Here's what that shift means for revenue, not just reach.
How Twitter Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2009
A look back at 2009, the year Twitter went from niche microblogging tool to a marketing and customer service channel that companies could no longer ignore.
Twitter Marketing: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for whether a business should bother with Twitter in 2008, given how few customers were on it yet and how thin the tools still were.
The State of Social Media Marketing in 2008
A snapshot of social media in 2008: MySpace still ahead of Facebook in the US, Facebook's new ad platform and a campaign that changed what was possible.
A Practical Guide to Twitter Marketing
A mechanics-first look at how Twitter worked for businesses in 2008, from its 140-character SMS roots to the few companies using it for support and sales.
Why Social Media Marketing Matters as Facebook Opens Pages
Facebook opened its doors to businesses in 2007 and Twitter was still finding its footing in 2008. Here is the business case for paying attention now.
Social Media Mistakes as Facebook Platform Opens Up
New mistakes are showing up now that Facebook has opened its platform to outside developers and businesses are racing to build apps and pages without a plan.
Building a Twitter Marketing Strategy After the SXSW Spike
Twitter tripled in usage during SXSW this March. Here's how a business gets started on it now that it has a real, if still small, audience.
Case Study: Winning With Social Media Marketing
An illustrative look at how a small retailer could turn a modest MySpace and Facebook presence into steady, low-cost customer growth in 2007.
The Rise of MySpace Marketing
From a Santa Monica startup in 2003 to News Corp's 580 million dollar acquisition and the most visited site in the US, how MySpace got here.
Building a Social Media Marketing Strategy From Scratch
How to allocate effort across MySpace, the still campus-only Facebook and YouTube in 2006 without spreading a small team too thin.
How Twitter Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2006
Twitter only opened to the public a month ago. Here's what its launch means for marketing, and why the honest answer right now is not much yet.
Why Social Networking Matters for Your Bottom Line
The business case for social networking in 2006, measured against what it costs to reach an audience this size through traditional media.
Building a MySpace Marketing Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step approach to building a MySpace presence in 2006, from profile customization to the Top 8 and band-page tactics that worked.
Social Media Marketing Mistakes on MySpace and Facebook
The specific ways businesses were misusing MySpace and the still campus-only Facebook in 2006, and what to do instead.
The Rise of Twitter Marketing: Odeo's 2006 Side Project
From an internal side project at a podcasting startup to a public service built around one question: what are you doing right now.
A Practical Guide to Social Networking for Business
How Friendster, MySpace and the early professional networks worked in 2005, and the specific ways small businesses used them to build word of mouth online.
How Social Networking Changed Digital Marketing in 2005
The year News Corp bought MySpace for 580 million dollars, YouTube was founded and social platforms stopped being a side project for marketers.
Social Networking: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for deciding whether Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut or the new Thefacebook are worth a business owner's time in 2004.
A Practical Guide to Social Networking
Hands-on notes on Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut and the newly-launched Facebook, and where a small business could reasonably spend time in 2004.
How Online Reputation Changed Digital Marketing in 2001
The year search results, eBay feedback scores and archived newsgroup posts started mattering more to a company's reputation than its own marketing copy.
The Rise of Online Reputation
How eBay feedback scores, Amazon reviews and Google's 2001 purchase of the Usenet archives turned online reputation into something businesses had to manage.