Jasmine Enberg’s Post

A year after launch, we know what Threads isn't, but we don't know what it is. Here's the good and the bad from year 1, in reverse order: ✨ The lack of a unique identity is #Threads' biggest hurdle to achieving real staying power. Its primary identity is still Meta's Twitter rival. But Meta has been clear that Threads isn't a place for politics, so it's not X, both in terms of content and audience. I keep thinking about Zuckerberg calling out #TaylorSwift joining the platform on Meta's last earnings call. It was a way to position Threads as culturally relevant, more pop culture than politics, but she hasn't posted since April 28. And that appeared to be a cross-post from Instagram. Without a clear purpose and original content, Threads runs the risk of becoming another also-ran in the race for social user attention. It needs a breakout moment and #creators to drive conversations - whatever those may be. ✨ Threads still needs Instagram for engagement. Reaching 175 million monthly users in less than a year is impressive. But user growth has dropped off since its heyday. And Threads has struggled to maintain engagement after the novelty and excitement about a new #Twitter rival wore off. I also suspect that many of those users are accessing Threads through #Instagram, which bombards me with notifications to check out a "thread I might like" or suggests them in my main feed. EMARKETER estimates that 29.1% of US Instagram users use Threads monthly. ✨ Advertiser interest in Threads is high. "Everybody's asking about Threads," Alvin Bowles, Meta's VP - Global Business Group told me when I asked about his conversations with advertisers at Cannes Lions. That’s partly due to an overall desire to diversify and to be among the first to experiment with a shiny new toy. But it’s also because Threads could offer a safer, less cluttered option that’s tied to #Meta's powerful ad ecosystem. If and when Threads starts to monetize, that could be a big draw for advertisers, who are finding it harder than ever to break through the noise on social media. Thank you Will Oremus and Naomi Nix for including my thoughts in the The Washington Post.

#VidCon hot take: The absence of brands was a red flag for the future of the conference and a missed opportunity for creators. ✨ The big theme on the industry track this year was the maturation of the creator economy and how creators can scale their operations. “It’s the end of the beginning,” said Tubefilter's Joshua Cohen. ✨ Words like “adulting,” “investment,” and “retirement” were common in conversations and on stage, where three creators who run 7-figure businesses referred to themselves as “CEOs” when asked by Jim Louderback what they consider to be their titles. ✨ Creators and executives stressed the importance of revenue and platform diversification, because of both the possibility of a #TikTok ban and to insulate creators from changes in platform algorithms and brand budgets. Yes, but: ✨ Brand deals remain the No.1 income source for creators. Without them, the conference was missing a key component of the creator ecosystem. EMARKETER expects sponsored content to account for 59.4% of the revenues creators generate from social media this year. ✨ Many #creators expressed frustration about the scarcity of “ad dollars” when talking about both paid ads and sponsored content, demonstrating a lack of understanding of how brands operate. Advertising and influencer marketing are increasingly merging through tactics like content boosting, but generally remain separate line items. By the numbers: ✨ Both #influencermarketing and ad dollars are flowing nicely into the creator economy. We expect US influencer marketing spending to rise by 16.0% to $8.14 billion this year. We also expect US social video ad spending to overtake linear TV ad spending in 2025. ✨ Some of the ad and brand deal drought is because of the sheer number of creators in the market. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of #GenZ now identify as creators, per YouTube’s latest Culture and Trends report, which means that competition for those dollars is fierce. The big picture: The creator economy has gotten so big and diverse that it’s hard to talk about it as a whole. Top creators now command communities and businesses that rival or surpass traditional brands, but the long tail of creators live in a very different reality. Many are struggling to monetize effectively, partly due to a lack of business acumen and a roadmap for success. More on this in tomorrow's Marketing and Advertising Briefing. Thank you to everyone who came to watch me, Kaya Yurieff and Megan Lightcap talk "Creator Economy Economics" on the main stage!

LTK has emerged as one of the most innovative and resilient creator economy companies. Here’s my take on its latest feature, LTK DM. Instagram is unlikely to let the DMs slide, but the value LTK, creators, and brands can generate in the meantime is massive. “I have zero doubt that [LTK DM] will get turned off at some point - or dinged, or damaged,” CEO and co-founder Amber Venz Box told me at a recent LTK event. ICYMI: LTK DM sends an automated DM with an LTK link to any user who comments “Shop” on an LTK creator’s Instagram post, similar to ManyChat. It wouldn’t be the first time that Instagram has gone after LTK. In 2021, Instagram rolled out its now-defunct native affiliate program as part of its push to bring shopping tools in-house. That caused LTK to pivot its focus to its standalone app, which launched in 2017 and provides a curated space for creator shopping. It also explains why LTK has been relatively quiet about its growth. We “anticipated that Instagram would eventually move in,” Venz Box told me. Today, LTK has more than 40 million shoppers and generates over $4 billion in sales. That's still much smaller than Instagram, which will have 46.8 million buyers in the US alone in 2024, per EMARKETER. But the more LTK can direct those buyers to its own app, which is becoming increasingly more social, the more it will give Instagram a run for its money. (I predicted LTK would become a contender to the social commerce platforms in 2022). And as Instagram looks for ways to monetize its messaging features, including via new marketing message tools released for Messenger at Cannes, it’s only a matter of time until it releases an in-house DM feature. How long until Instagram moves in? Taking guesses in comments below!⬇️ https://lnkd.in/dfgjCYUJ

Curious about how money is flowing in and around the creator economy? Come see me, Kaya Yurieff and Megan Lightcap discuss LIVE at VidCon Anaheim! “Follow the Money: Creator Economy Economics” will take place on Thursday at 2pm. I’ll also be moderating a session on B2B influencer marketing featuring Brendan Gahan, Pete Cashmore, Jeremy Boissinot and Ruben Hassid. “LinkedIn: The Sleeping Giant of Influencer Marketing” is also on Thursday at 12.45pm. See you there!! PS. It’s my first Vidcon Anaheim so comment/DM with all the insider tips!

#CannesLions hot take: AI didn't win the show. Creators did. Last year’s unbridled excitement over genAI gave way to more muted enthusiasm and more serious conversations about risk and results on the Croisette this year. That makes sense: 12% of award entries used AI this year, per Cannes Lions. Without clarification on how entrants used the tech, or a 2023 comparison, it’s hard to put this figure into context. But it is clear that current applications of genAI are behind where advertisers expected (hoped?) the industry would be: AI generally isn’t developing creative assets for public distribution, for example. Instead, most CMOs cited scale, efficiencies, and personalization as the top AI use cases again this year. Meanwhile, it was almost impossible to take two steps down the Croisette - which felt younger and edgier than ever - without bumping into a creator. What’s more, “Social and Influencer” was a fast-growing award category, with entries rising by 21% YoY. That’s largely because creator content was accepted for the first time. On stage, the B2B Grand Prix went to a creator-led campaign by Ogilvy. It was likely a humbling moment for much of the media and ad industry, which has long viewed creator content as less-than. That’s despite the fact that influencer marketing spending has grown by double digits every year, and is expected to close in on $10 billion on social media alone in the US next year, per EMARKETER. My takeaway: Advertisers can still get away with “lagging” on genAI. They now have no choice but to embrace creators. More on this in today’s newsletter, sponsored by FreeWheel. Will post link in comments when it’s live.