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Um⌠Shaq shared my content on his Instagram?! Like, Shaq. The Big Diesel. My childhood hero. And Mark Cuban joined in? And Time Magazine wrote a piece about my social analysis? Right after I gave my first Keynote talk? |
Itâs been a seriously unreal week, and I canât thank you enough. Reading the newsletter, sending it to friends, engaging with the tweetsâIâm living an absolute dream right now, and itâs only because of your support. |
Okay, thatâs a whole lot of Sappleby. How about we talk social? |
A perfect TikTok from Adobe The first email from Twitterâs new CEO Instagramâs new Reel downloads feature
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A perfect brand TikTok from Adobe |
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Iâm always excited to write about great TikToks from brands because, well⌠most brands arenât exactly nailing TikTok. The contentâs too producty, or too insidery for an interest-graph social network, or the brandâs just not on TikTok at all. |
Canât say the same for Adobe. I came across their TikTok totally organically, scrolling the For You Page, probably while procrastinating on writing a newsletter. Considering it earned 4 million views, Iâm clearly not the only one who loved it |
Letâs dive into Adobeâs fantastic content series and why itâs perfect for TikTok. |
Hereâs your sign |
I could excitedly describe a TikTok to you, or we could just watch it together. Click that play buttonâweâll start digging in once youâve wrapped. |
 | Watch now on TikTok | @adobe | The ending had us like 𼲠@cool_lookin_bug #RandomActsOfKindness #PosterDesign #AdobePhotoshop |
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I need an actual bulleted list to get through all the reasons I love it. |
Itâs story first, product second Itâs creator made, shared on the brand + creator pages It shows the product within a human use case Itâs a repeatable series Iâd gladly watch again The core idea is wonderfully charming The upfront hook is very relatable
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I could keep going, but should probably dig into some of these individual points. |
Story first, product second |
If you want to win on social in 2023, you need to appeal to human emotion. Donât just promote your product and its featuresâcontextualize them with a regular joe use case. |
âHereâs how to make a sign in Photoshopâ wouldâve flopped hard, but âredesigning signs in New York City without anyone asking me toâ went viral. The content accomplishes the same task, showing how Photoshop can design posters, but the published version shares a relatable moment. Weâve all seen those terrible telephone pole garage signs, weâve all made those signs, and weâve all wished we were more creative. |
Note that the 51 second video doesnât mention show an Adobe product for 14 seconds, and doesnât even say the word Adobe. You donât have to cram the brand down someoneâs throatâeveryone can see who posted the video! |
Creator made, creator promoted |
Most brand social content is either made by in-house creatives or an advertising agency, but thereâs a great new trend emerging: creator-made brand content. Why hire a grumpy 20-year-vet agency creative director when you can hire a chipper 20-year-old TikToker whoâs got farrr more platform success? |
Check the caption of the Adobe TikTokâyouâll notice @cool_lookin_bug is tagged. Heâs an NYC artist with 314,000 TikTok followers of his own. Heâs also the creator who made Adobeâs TikTok, hired by kvell, a social agency hired by Adobe. Itâs no surprise that creator-led content put up big numbers here. |
Even betterâit looks like Adobe/kvell worked out a deal where Cool Lookin Bug posts the same content to his own TikTok. So for one agreement, Adobe got original content thatâs true to TikTok + influencer content, exposing them to a new audience. Thatâs real content + budget efficiency. |
Series thinking |
Good ideas can get you TikTok views and engagement, but if you want someone clicking the follow button, youâve gotta give them a reason to return. The best way to build repeat viewers: make a repeatable content series. |
Adobe got the dream reaction when Man With A Van went viral: a user commented with âI need this to be a series.â That allowed Adobe to use TikTokâs âReply with videoâ feature to add a user comment to their next sign videoâa double whammy, confirming to the audience thereâs more to come and showing the brand reads their comments. |
 | Watch now on TikTok | @adobe | Replying to @senpaio6 You asked, we delivered...What should @cool_lookin_bug redesign next?! đ #RandomActsOfKindness #PosterRedesign #Fly... See more |
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Iâd certainly join this band. |
My only tweak: Adobe should lean into this. Every post from the series has gone viralâthey should hire Cool Looking Bug and/or additional creators to increase the frequency of this idea. Currently it goes up seemingly once a monthâthis should be weekly, if not daily until the juice runs out. Diversifying your content is overrated, especially when youâve got a hit on your hands. |
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Social Cues |
There are so many social big thinkers out there, writing all kinds of amazing strategies, analysis, and breakdowns. All ships rise with the tide, so here are a few reads from other places I think you could learn from. |
Read the new Twitter CEOâs first email to employees (The Verge) |
Linda Yaccarino says her goalâs to build the âworldâs most accurate real-time information sourceââwhich, hey, I kinda love as a vision line. Can they pull it off? TBD. |
Instagram now allows users to download public Reels (TechCrunch) |
Let people steal your content. Itâs free promotion, and now itâs even easier on Instagram. Very smart addition much like TikTokâs download feature. |
Why MrBeastâs new video became the 2nd most-watched in 24 hours in YouTube History (Time Magazine) |
When MrBeastâs new video went viral, I wrote a Twitter thread analyzing various storytelling mechanics from the contentâthen Time interviewed me about it! One of those âmomâs gonna think this is coolâ moments. |
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Some Personal News |
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So Iâm really loving doing talks and panels on social mediaâturns out itâs such a fun format for teaching the intricacies live. Hit on influencer marketing authenticity at iPX 2023 (pictured above), then gave the closing keynote at Agorapulseâs Agency Summit! |
If youâre looking for a speaker for conferences, events, or internal lessons, gimme a shoutâyou can reply directly to this email. |