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- Brand obsession, Creator ROI, and TT carousels
Brand obsession, Creator ROI, and TT carousels
Your weekly social scoop 🏁
Hi CCs,
This week’s issue is packed from the psychology that drives obsession-worthy brands to some content recs, including a highly valuable conversation on modern marketing featuring Creative Director Oren John.
Plus: TikTok carousel inspo, a must-follow brand strategist, and platform updates as always.
Let’s get into it!
㋡ Winter

🔥 Featured Content
Erica of Theory of One dives into the hidden psychology behind the world's biggest brands, people and ideas. She’s one of my favorite YouTubers with bingeable content - highly recommend.

The most valuable marketing conversation you’ll watch in 2025
Creative Director and creator Oren John (who I also interviewed on deepfeed Podcast) sits down with Mark Brazil on Open Residency to discuss building content marketing strategies that work. This episode is packed with value and will leave you wanting to take notes. ✍️

Marketers increasingly pressured to show their creator spend is worth it — with harder metrics
“…there’s still an intangible: influence itself. Measuring it was hard enough when creators were new. Now, in a saturated market, it’s harder still.”

🤳 Content Inspo
“A day in my life” TikTok carousel. [LINK]
An alternative to a vlog, tell your DITL story with text and visuals. This is your reminder that carousels are popping off on TikTok and shouldn’t be ignored.
“Myth or fact” gamified Reel. [LINK]
Great format for expertise content. Interview a team member/founder on frequently asked questions and/or trending topics you see in your niche.
“[Media] I’ve consumed lately” TikTok carousel. [LINK]
Another nice example here. Curate what has been inspiring you lately based on your niche/industry. This can work for both creators and brands.

💬 Tip of the day:

💎 Creator Spotlight
Amanda Sabreah is a brand strategist who posts very interesting analysis and breakdowns of what artists, creators, and brands are doing to stay ahead (or where they go wrong).
➠ Follow her on Instagram and enjoy at @amandasabreah.

📡 On Our Radar
Is Facebook…back? [LINK]
This 29-year-old is crafting Governor Newsom’s viral all-caps posts. [LINK]
With more brands launching social shows, are we witnessing the Mr. Beast-ification of brand social media? [LINK]
TIME releases Girls of the Year list, featuring young leaders inspiring communities around the world. [LINK]
5 trends shaping social media marketing so far in 2025. [LINK]
How experiences turn in‑store retail media into real results. [LINK]
WTF is brands’ new investment in creator-generated content? [LINK]
Doomprompting is the new doomscrolling. [LINK]

🎶 TikTok
Ignoring political noise, TikTok works to own place in organic social hierarchy. [LINK]
TikTok enables livestreamers to perform specific actions for donations. [LINK]
TikTok’s latest feature lets college students find and connect with classmates. [LINK]
TikTok implements hashtag limit. [LINK]
📸 Meta / Instagram
Meta adds more AI-powered ad options for holiday planning. [LINK]
Instagram now lets creators link multiple reels in a series. [LINK]
Instagram considers counting screenshots in Its engagement metrics. [LINK]
Meta merges more data points into views. [LINK]
Meta to unveil Hypernova smart glasses with a display, wristband at Connect next month. [LINK]
Meta rolls out AI-powered audio translations for video. [LINK]
Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models. [LINK]
🤳 YouTube
YouTube just made a shocking move for the Oscars. [LINK]
YouTube adds artists engagement options to music. [LINK]
YouTube launches effects maker for Shorts, new comment controls. [LINK]
YouTube uses machine learning to improve the look of Shorts clips. [LINK]
YouTube music now lets you 'trim silence' from podcasts. [LINK]
YouTube Music celebrates 10 years with new features that compete with Spotify. [LINK]
☠️ 𝕏
X publishes guide to NFL Engagement and Opportunities. [LINK]
Elon Musk’s X may finally settle $500M severance lawsuit. [LINK]
X pulls the ability to like and follow from its developer API’s free tier. [LINK]
LinkedIn outlines new measures to combat fake engagement. [LINK]
LinkedIn adds more post-level analytics updates. [LINK]
The 2025 Pinterest autumn trend report. [LINK]
👻 Snapchat
Snapchat launches ‘Buddy Passes’ to boost memberships. [LINK]

🤖 AI Boom
xAI developing 'Conspiracy Theorist' companions, and more. [LINK]
Google expands AI mode to more regions. [LINK]
Microsoft AI chief says it’s ‘dangerous’ to study AI consciousness. [LINK]
Apple is in talks to use Google’s Gemini for Siri revamp, report says. [LINK]
Elon Musk says xAI has open sourced Grok 2.5. [LINK]
The development of AI companions could lead to significant harms. [LINK]


Winter Mendelson
Co-Founder and Creative Director: Posture Media
Host: deepfeed Podcast

P.S. I will probably have typos in the event that my dad is unavailable to proofread. Sorry in advance.

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