▶️🤑 Creators, are brand deals for you?

Creators, should you create sponsored posts? This research says YES!

Forget the teens - it's the 30 and 50-somethings dominating social media and driving purchases. A recent Neoresearch report reveals that these age groups are not only spending more time scrolling but are also the most susceptible to sponsored posts.

This means that as a creator, you might want to rethink your target audience. Instagram reigns supreme, influencing 35% of social media-driven purchases. So, while the platform may not be paying you directly, brands are likely willing to shell out big bucks for your influence there. It's time to stop undervaluing your IG presence and start cashing in on those sponsored posts.

Because let’s face it - we've all fallen victim to those "Top 10 Amazon Finds" videos.

As creators, you have an opportunity to capitalize on this trend. Embrace brand deals and sponsored posts that help pay the bills, but remember, authenticity is key. Disingenuous promotions can get you canceled.

The takeaway? Don’t underestimate your influence, especially on Instagram. But tread carefully—your credibility is at stake with every product you endorse. Balance lucrative opportunities with genuine recommendations, and you'll maintain both your audience's trust and your financial success.

YouTube is turning into "Social" Media, and you need to use it

YouTube is no longer just a video platform – it's morphing into a full-fledged social media beast. With the introduction of community spaces, polls, and text posts, YouTube blurs the lines between video content and social engagement. But is this just another time-sink for creators?

Take note: YouTube's community tab is now your new best friend (or worst enemy). It's not enough to just post videos anymore — you're expected to be a content machine, churning out polls and text posts and engaging with your audience 24/7. The platform is even showcasing community posts on the home page, which can work to your advantage.

One school of thought is that YouTube is trying to sanitize its notoriously toxic comment sections by shifting discussions to these "community spaces". On the other hand, this could also be a thinly veiled attempt to keep users on the platform longer, competing with TikTok and Instagram. Either way, creators are caught in the crossfire, and you should adapt.

The harsh reality is that if you're not utilizing the community tab, you're leaving money on the table. With YouTube's algorithm favoring engagement, these community posts could be the difference between success and algorithmic obscurity.

In the end, YouTube's community spaces are a double-edged sword. They offer unprecedented opportunities for fan engagement, but they also demand more time and energy from already stretched creators. The question is: Are you ready to become a social media manager on top of being a content creator? Because, like it or not, that's exactly what YouTube is asking of you.

Creator Spotlight: Impaulsive

Logan Paul's Impaulsive podcast is a prime example of how to play the content game in 2023. With 4.69M subscribers, it's clear that controversy sells – and Paul knows it.

The podcast's success lies in its ability to generate clickbait-worthy content while maintaining an air of authenticity. From Donald Trump spilling secrets to Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, Impaulsive thrives on the sensational. But let's be real: is this truly unscripted or just cleverly disguised marketing? We won’t really know.

What's truly impressive is their content strategy. By breaking down episodes into bite-sized clips, they've mastered the art of repurposing content. These clips contributed an estimated 280K views to a single main episode. It's a brilliant move that creators should take note of – maximize your content's reach without burning out on production.

The future of content is more freewheeling podcast-esque discussions. But with those comes the need to create teasers, highlights, and clips. Create one long-form video and derive many shorter, yet monetized videos from it.

Love him or hate him, Logan Paul has cracked the code of modern content creation. But as creators, we must ask ourselves: Is chasing controversy the only path to success, or can we find a balance between clickbait and quality? 

In other news…

• Instagram is testing super likes - Zuck doesn't mind copying, there's no shame in that. With that DNA, IG appears to be copying YouTube's super-like feature - however, will that come with $$ for creators? We don't know yet.

• YouTube really wants you to create Shorts even though it doesn't monetize well for you. But good news, they're trying to make it easier to make Shorts from long-form videos. Clip selection appears to be manual, but there are options for adding captions and choosing the layouts, which is already a plus.

• "The Bitter Southerner" wrote a dramatic blog post about TikTokers being the "new pornographers". The claim is that we're deep into a Faustian bargain realm which tends to push boundaries just like porn did on the Internet. She also observes that as we scroll, there is a certain tedium to TikTok. Personally, I agree with the last part - I do find regular YouTube videos where I pick what I watch a lot less tedious. Shorts (TikToks) are easy to scroll, but definitely tiring after a while. 

• The Royal Astronomical Society researchers have found a way to identify deepfakes and it has to do with the eyes. They found that the reflections in the eyes of digital humans are inconsistent with physics. Apparently, if you look closer, you'll see different reflections captured in the two eyes of an AI-generated avatar. In real life, both eyes have the same reflection. While this may be useful now, consistency with physics is one of the biggest research areas in AI and I do think this problem will be solved over time. So, we need to find other ways or agree on a digital watermark of some kind to preserve our sanity.

• Instagram is helping researchers study the impact of the platform on teen mental health. I cannot imagine Mark or Adam doing anything but self-serving. So, I bet this study concludes that people who use Instagram are moderately or even very happy 🙃