Trends to Grow Your Brand on Social Media in 2025, with Stephen Jackson

✨ Explore the latest social media trends to grow and monetize your brand in 2025! 📈

Thanks to Riverside.fm for sponsoring this episode. It's the tool I use for all my podcast interviews, and you can try it out with a 15% discount using the code MyTogBlog. Check it out here. (Note: This is an affiliate link, which means I would earn a commission if you purchase using this link.)

In this episode, I sit down with Stephen Jackson, Vice President of Partnerships and Creative Director at Moosylvania. Stephen shares insights from his 17+ years of industry experience, including working with high-profile brands and seeing the evolution of social media as a key marketing channel. The conversation covers practical tips for creators, from measuring ROI to creating relatable content, and highlights the role of community building in achieving success.

Tune in for actionable strategies and expert advice to elevate your content creation game!

Want to get in touch with Stephen Jackson? You can connect with him on LinkedIn
or at Moosylvania. You can also follow Moosylvania on Instagram.

If you'd like to download a free copy of the Audience Growth Accelerator niche finder tool that I mentioned in this video, you can find it here. Just enter $0 as the price, and you can download it at no cost. You can also check out Episode 24 with Tiago Faria for more information on defining your customer avatar.

Thanks for listening! Do you have a comment or question about a topic or episode? I'd love to hear that. Feel free to contact me via Instagram, LinkedIn, or the Contact Us page. You can also check out these links for resources and merch for content creators.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:09 Stephen Jackson's Role and Experience
• 4:37 Influencer Marketing and Opportunities for Small Creators
• 8:46 Measuring ROI and Engagement
• 14:48 In-Person Networking and Building Personal Brands
• 21:41 Creator-Led Content and Long-Term Partnerships
• 25:26 Creators Becoming the Product
• 29:13 Social Media as the New TV
• 33:35 The Value of Niche Content and Personality
• 40:02 What Makes an Influencer Attractive to Brands?
• 50:18 Stephen's Journey and Career Insights
• 54:02 Conclusion: Building a Creator Community

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tim: This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Riverside.

[00:00:03] Hey Everyone, my name's Tim. And before we get started today, I want to tell you about one of the cool features from Riverside that you can try for your next podcast episode.

[00:00:12] And the feature I wanna tell you about today is called Asynchronous Recording. It's available on business plans, where as a host you can share a link with a guest, the guest enters the studio and gets instructions on how to record. And then the guest records as many times as they like until they're happy with the result, after which they can submit the recording. And that recording will be available to you as the host as part of your uploaded videos within that project.

[00:00:37] I see a number of use cases here for creators, including collecting testimonials, doing panel shows where a bunch of your colleagues submit their answers to a specific question, and then you put that together as an episode, or even just getting together with a guest where your schedules are having difficulty lining up.

[00:00:55] If you wanna try this out, check the link in my description and use the code, my tag blog for 15% discount.

[00:01:01] And now, on to the show.

[00:01:02] Intro Music

[00:01:07] Tim: Today, we're taking a deep dive into the latest trends in social media with my guest Stephen Jackson. Stephen is Vice President of Partnerships at Moosylvania, a full service creative agency based in St. Louis, Missouri, that amplifies original brands. With over 17 years of agency experience, Stephen has been at the forefront of innovative marketing strategies, particularly in the beverage sector where he has worked with high profile brands like ENJ Brandy, Taylor Port, Stratusphere Gin, and others, driving customer awareness and loyalty through strategic marketing initiatives.

[00:01:41] And in today's episode, some of the key themes we explore include the value of influencer marketing, opportunities for small creators, as well as how to build creator communities and strategic brand partnerships, plus much more. It's a conversation that I think has some strategic insights that would be valuable for creators of all types.

[00:02:00] So sit back and relax, and let's get into it.

[00:02:03] Hey, Stephen, welcome to the show. 

[00:02:04] Stephen: Happy to be here. 

[00:02:05] Tim: Yeah, really excited to, talk with you. I was wondering if you could tell us about your current role as VP of Partnerships at Moosylvania. It sounds like a really cool job, and you're working with, creators and brands, and love to hear more about how you got into a role like that.

[00:02:21] Stephen: Yeah, that's a great place to start. So, getting into my role as VP of Partnerships has been super rewarding journey. Blending both creative strategy and community building, and along the way I've learned the importance of creating authentic connections between brands and their audiences. I started my career as a graphic designer in 2007 and quickly got involved in digital web, social media, and as you've probably seen yourself, it's been really exciting to be part of this evolution. 

[00:02:50] Tim: Absolutely, yeah. In my role at the college, I oversee a graphic design program, and so a lot of graphic designers, you know, aspiring to get into the kind of role that you're in. i was interested to know what kind of brands that you've worked with and 

[00:03:04] Stephen: Yeah. I've worked with a ton of national brands. ENJ Brandy, Sapporo Beer, New Amsterdam Vodka. Super, highly recognizable brands. 

[00:03:13] Tim: That's so cool. 

[00:03:13] Stephen: I would say maybe at Moosylvania at any time, We could have 20 to 25 different social brands that we're working on. That's quite a lot. And the social space, as far as client need for it, just continues to grow. I'd say Inbounding social media work is one of the biggest places that clients look for us at. 

[00:03:31] Tim: Yeah. What does that mean?

[00:03:33] How does that department work? 

[00:03:34] Stephen: Good question. So, our main goal in partnerships is to earn relevance, reach, and awareness by creatively partnering and collaborating with mutually aligned and even sometimes surprisingly unexpected properties and personalities.

[00:03:49] So we work with around a hundred influencers and content creators annually. Additionally, we work with podcasts like Bellied Up Men and Blazers Bar, Still Sports. We work with sports leagues like UFC and NHL. And then we also work with grassroots groups like Mimosa Club, Random Golf Club. Ultimately, we wanna show up authentically at the moments and places that matter most to our audience, creating a sense of newness and urgency, which entertains current fans and taps into these new markets.

[00:04:18] Tim: Amazing. Yeah. A lot of my people in my audience are, aspiring content creators and they would love to be one of those hundred people that you're working with or working, in the, department that you're managing, and thinking about building a personal brand and defining a content strategy to go along with that.

[00:04:36] One of the things I think be interesting for you to talk about is like some of the trends that are happening in social media today. We're all kind of thinking about how do we adapt our content strategies to align with the latest trends. So what do you see out there?

[00:04:50] Stephen: Yeah. Well, for 2025, let's see if I can bring you five trends. Starting with number one, trend number one is, I'm gonna set the table here with this one, we're gonna see continued content creator, category growth and investment. It's great news for everybody. Yeah, more money will continue to flow and grow this social media creator economy. It's protected to grow 15% year over year to 15 billion dollars. Influencers will become a mandatory strategy, and I underscore mandatory. So it's expected that 86% of US marketers are gonna be using influencer marketing in 2025. 

[00:05:24] Tim: Yeah. I could see that. Social media marketing and social selling are becoming so big right now.

[00:05:30] Stephen: Yeah, absolutely. And this money is going in a lot of different places. For example, you've got creators finding like new revenue growth places. So, Mr. Beast, we've all tuned in this holiday season as he took his talent from YouTube to streaming TV and what reportedly is like a hundred million dollars budget, Amazon Prime backed game show. and we're gonna see other influencers at varying levels get into these type of opportunities. 

[00:05:55] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:56] Stephen: Some of that $15 billion going to these podcast creators that they really raised their value, at least in the US, they played a huge role in this presidential election . And they just, really showed that they command big power in news, culture and politics. 

[00:06:12] Tim: It's been a trend. It's been, going on for a while, but it keeps accelerating as people shift away from traditional media. I've seen that stat where people are spending more and more time. And more of their TV time is going to YouTube as opposed to regular television. 

[00:06:29] Stephen: Absolutely. 

[00:06:30] Tim: Of course, entertainment time, going to social media versus other forms of entertainment and all that stuff. So yeah, it's, it did, it is creating those huge opportunities for influencers. Do you see a space for smaller creators in this market? 

[00:06:43] Stephen: I absolutely do. I think you're gonna start to see YouTube actually being on your tv.

[00:06:50] YouTube will become a new streaming platform on the tv, just like Netflix. People that are on YouTube are already gonna start to become micro streaming stars like Mr. Beast is. But as you look at the influencer pie, there is kind of a top 10% echelon. Your Mr. Beast, your huge podcast that they were obviously skyrocketing in value. I have seen some surveys in 2024 that said 70% of influencers are earning around 50,000 and below. So there can be quite a range from an entry level influencer to what feels like there's really no ceiling when you're in that top 10% of influencers.

[00:07:27] Tim: Yeah, absolutely. It's almost like real estate sales, right? The top 20% of agents make 80% of the commissions. 

[00:07:34] Stephen: A hundred percent. 

[00:07:34] Tim: Except that, I think there's opportunities for smaller creators if they're creating multiple streams of income and they're leveraging social media in the right way to increase their personal brand and their reach they could, you know, you could see it as something that maybe you're not making, several million dollars, but you're increasing your income, supplementing it, and creating opportunities that wouldn't be there otherwise.

[00:07:58] I was talking to an artist the other day, who was saying, being on YouTube has opened up opportunities for him to go to other cities, participate in all these conferences, and get. feedback from a global audience about what he's creating. So there's all those other opportunities that go out there for smaller creators too. 

[00:08:15] Stephen: Yeah. I mean, maybe you could call those intangibles 

[00:08:17] Tim: Right. 

[00:08:18] Stephen: You referenced an artist. I would say it's really great. This is a great creative outlet for people. And if you can make this about you and your personality, you're really growing your personal brand. No matter if you're in that 70% or if you're kind of breaking out and becoming a macro or mega influencer eventually it's still a great place to be and there's a lot of value for you in building your own personal brand there.

[00:08:42] Tim: Yeah. So what else you got in the way of the trends? 

[00:08:45] Stephen: Well, trend number two, this one's gonna flow from the first one with this increased investment, we're gonna really need to focus on measuring and proving ROI. Which is return on investment for these influencer partnerships, impressions alone won't be enough to sustain increased brand in investment here.

[00:09:03] So I would say for that, brands, agencies and influencers are gonna need to work together to find ways to convert followers to a measurable action. 

[00:09:12] Tim: Right. Absolutely. I could definitely, see that, it's very common where brands talk about, it's not just the number of views you get, but how many are you actually, converting?

[00:09:19] I've seen just in my own efforts to create partnerships, that is one of the questions. It's like, not how many impressions, but how many click-throughs, how many purchases have come from the content that you've created for other brands?

[00:09:32] Stephen: Yeah, to build on that, we should be talking about engagement a lot today.

[00:09:35] Engagement, shares, follows. Anything that could be seen as a transaction with the branded content. positive sentiment is gonna be huge. and rich positive sentiment, not just like emojis and one word answers. And then from the agency side, we really look to bring brand strategy around processes, like including a discount code for purchase.

[00:09:57] That, that's kind of the ultimate, right? Actually converting to a sale. Other things we like to work with is, is there an event where you can go. Face-to-face and meet the influencer with a meet and greet beyond the actual sale email. SMS signups. These are, huge mediums to actually build your community and be able to reach them outside of social. And then of course, for me, a personal passion is co-branded merch and prizes. 

[00:10:21] Tim: Yeah. There's a couple of things I'd love to ask you a little bit more about there. One is, positive sentiment. How do you measure that? How can I prove to a brand, you know, I have positive sentiment in my account? 

[00:10:32] Stephen: That's a really good question that we get a lot. So I would say I would approach that two ways. So there's manual ways and then there's automated ways. And as you have heard from a lot of the different people that talk about AI tools and whatnot, the tools reportedly will get better. At this point, you're still gonna need to have some manual, skin in the game, in my opinion.

[00:10:54] You're gonna need to look through the comment feeds, right? You're gonna need to track, you're gonna need a screenshot if somebody's having a negative or positive statement, if, at this point, tools could have problems differentiating if something is positive or negative and they may just count it as an engagement.

[00:11:12] In the future, I don't think that'll be a problem. I think a lot of this will be automated in a great way because it can definitely be hard, maybe not as hard on your sponsored post. But social listening outside of that, is there UGC being created? Is there social, word of mouth that's being sent out there.

[00:11:29] Like that's things that you need to either track with a hashtag or go out and search. But ultimately some of that should be on the influencer and partner. If you really wanna show success with this partnership that you're in with a brand, you should really be proactive about following up with, I got 10 fans to go purchase this product, or ask me where I could go buy it.

[00:11:53] Tim: Yeah, you just gave me a great idea actually that, screenshoting comments. 'cause I hadn't thought of that before, but I'm working on putting together a media kit right now. Just working with, publicists and starting to understand, well, this is one of the things that they asked for.

[00:12:06] So it's like, okay, I guess I've gotta create this. And, one of the things I could put in there is just like, screenshots of people, having a positive reaction to a post or to the podcast or what have you. That would be a good addition. 'cause uh, because you know, like I think about the times when I go to a product sales page, right?

[00:12:22] And I start scrolling through. One of the things that does influence the buying decision is seeing those people who are real. People and they commented, oh, this has helped me. Or this is a good show or what have you. Testimonials I think is, one of the things influencers or especially aspiring influencers kind of underestimate.

[00:12:40] The value of that. They think, okay, if I'm creating great content and I share it with their brand, they're going to see the value in it. But you gotta think about it. You're kind of getting me to think about it from the perspective of a buyer too. Like the brand might say there's great content, but their next question is, but are people reacting to it?

[00:12:56] Are people. You know, really is it resonating with anyone? And to have those kind of testimonials included in a media kit, that's taking it to the next level. So it's a great tip there. 

[00:13:06] Stephen: I hadn't brought any thought around testimonials to the session today, but you bring up a really good point that I think we all experience when we're shopping, right?

[00:13:16] So obviously we know social and digital. 

[00:13:21] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:13:21] Stephen: Mainly social is like the new. Search engine, right? Yeah. So seeing the positive sentiments on an influencer post that can. Literally turn into a sale. Additionally, like going to Reddit, like right. For me, if I, if I'm going to invest in a new product, I want to go out and find, and maybe a little bit of it is Google's new partnership with Reddit, where they're not only doubling down on ai, but they're doubling down on humans and they're doing that through Reddit.

[00:13:49] So that Reddit populates very highly with Google. And for me, that's a great place to go. Like, I want to be in the, the Amazon. Comments. I want to be on Reddit. I want to know what other people's experiences were. And if it's positive, that's a huge incentive for me to purchase. If it's a negative, that quickly turns me off.

[00:14:07] So managing testimonials, I would say is a huge, major key for any brand. 

[00:14:12] Tim: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:14:15] Stephen: Yeah. 

[00:14:15] Tim: And what was the last thing you mentioned in that, segment 

[00:14:18] Stephen: for what was the trend that I was, 

[00:14:20] Tim: there was one more thing I wanted to pick up on. 

[00:14:22] Stephen: The trend was about increased investment.

[00:14:25] How do you track ROI? 

[00:14:27] Tim: Yeah. How do you prove it? Just, for, brands, I guess testimonials are one way, what else do you look at when you're thinking about, working with an influencer? Looking at testimonials, you're looking at positive sentiment, you're looking at probably total reach.

[00:14:40] Is there any other kind of, intangibles that you. Consider, and it was the in-person part. It was meeting people in person. I thought that was interesting because as digital creators we're often thinking about like connecting with people online, building online relationships or the benefit of the global reach of social media.

[00:14:58] I have something I've been trying to. Emphasize a little bit, my content is the value of in-person networking too, and not overlooking that. So I thought it was interesting that you mentioned that. And why is there value for brand connecting, offering this in-person connection with influencers?

[00:15:15] Stephen: Yeah. I mean, your audience is an influencer. They're having parasocial relationship with you. They feel like they're following you as a friend or a celebrity. So, your personality is what is keeping them there? Hopefully. So getting outside of the digital screen, in my opinion is a great way to extend the campaign. So having a launch event, a meet and greet, 

[00:15:39] Tim: yeah. 

[00:15:40] Stephen: You see this a lot with podcasts where they're going on tour. 

[00:15:44] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:15:44] Stephen: If we sponsor a podcast, we definitely wanna be part of their tour and doing sampling it just unlocks a whole new world of physically engaging with people.

[00:15:54] And I think people need this. People spend so much time on their screens that they just, they need to get out in the real world and be able to interact with people and who better to do it with? Within, these people that they've been like spending time with and laughing with and being educated from. 

[00:16:09] Tim: Yeah, that's great. 

[00:16:10] I'm glad to hear that because I think it's something creators, online creators need to hear sometimes, it's a kind of disconnect or paradox, with some people who are YouTubers or online creators, sometimes they tend to be more introverted, right?

[00:16:24] And so this is their way to connect with the world and with people through their online content. When it comes to, like, you'd suggest, okay, we should do this in person event. There's a resistance to that, even though, their content's been seen by hundreds or thousands of people online.

[00:16:40] Can you go to this event? There'll be like 30 people there. They're like, that sounds scary. Right? 

[00:16:44] Stephen: 30 people is great. 

[00:16:46] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:16:47] Stephen: Also be scary depending on the format. 

[00:16:49] Tim: Right. 

[00:16:51] It's more live, right? 

[00:16:52] And it requires you to be there and it's a different kind of interaction, different kind of environment. It's pushing people in some sense outta their comfort zone. I think sometimes there's a bit of imposter syndrome too. Like, if you're an online creator, it's one thing, but then, okay, here's a bunch of people that you're gonna meet. And they see you as an expert and they're gonna ask you questions in real time.

[00:17:12] You can see why that's a little bit scarier than just creating canned content. And you put it out there and you know there's reactions to it or whatever, but you've got time to think about how you respond and it's not the same kind of real-time interaction. 

[00:17:25] Stephen: I think you took a deep dive into that category. We call ourselves t-shaped people at our agency. and we try to be multifaceted, wear multiple hats. You kind of see that in me growing from a graphic designer to working with influencers and partnerships. What I was hearing from you there is, you know, someone like a Banksy, right?

[00:17:44] Like, he may be online, he may be doing performance art, but, and I say he, but I guess they, yeah, Banksy, they have made, they've made a kind of solid line of there are boundaries that they've set. There are things that they're not going to do. And that's really interesting. And I respect that.

[00:18:00] And I think rule number one is know thyself. You really kind of, you have to know your limitations, but also the cliche is if it's not painful, you're not growing. So you have to find that balance between is this something that I'm really not comfortable and I can't rise to the occasion, or even if I fail at it, there's no losses, only lessons, right?

[00:18:17] I would say with this trend, that that's something I'd recommend for all the creators out there. You're obviously really specialized at what you're doing with creating your content and building your community, but to earn that ROI, what else can you do to add value to your community? And we talked about meet and greets. We talked about how maybe some people may not naturally be into that, and it's totally fine.

[00:18:39] But think of being t-shaped in your process. What can you do to extend that content creation in the physical world? It could be something as small as if you're at a conference, think about hosting a happy hour. If you get five or 10 of your followers there, or like a book signing, or something in person, and that that's something small you can do.

[00:18:57] I've talked about. Mr. Beast, and you know, he's mega celebrity, right? But look at how he gets out into do real person almost stunts, like when he opens up his burger shop. There's so many people out there in line and he's interacting with them and he's still entertaining them and creating content.

[00:19:12] So try to think, what can you do? Think like a podcaster not only do they have their digital downloads, but they're gonna try to go on tour and whatnot and do live recordings. So things like that adds value and it really shows on your resume how many of your fans that you can move to kind of come and experience that live edition.

[00:19:29] Tim: It's very interesting. So when you say T-shaped, you mean like having a broad range of things at the top level? But being able to go deep on a few things. You have your specialization, for example, you're going deep. That's what you mean, right? 

[00:19:42] Stephen: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:19:43] Tim: Yeah. I think that's very helpful because a lot of creators are solopreneurs or close to solopreneurs, right? And they might have a team supporting them here and there, but there is a lot that they have to do. And I guess what I'd say about that is, yeah, look for things where you can broaden out, stretch your comfort zone, and it's not, it's not taking you a lot of time. It's taking you discomfort. So if you're not used to doing in-person presentations to a group, push yourself to do that a little bit. Things like you're saying that, they take some time outta your schedule, but it's not like, well, I'm not a graphic designer, but now I'm gonna learn graphic design and start doing all my own graphic design. That's trying to go down too far from the t If we can continue to extend that analogy, so like, kind of understand where you need to hire out the helper when you have the income to do that.

[00:20:33] You can still be efficient and get people to help, but also like maintaining that kind of skillset by doing things that are maybe beyond your comfort zone . And really thinking, if we look at the top level of the t, what are the most strategic things that I can do that will help?

[00:20:50] And it's not always about getting in front of the maximum number of people online. Sometimes it's more, like you say, building relationships in person that can matter more. And I'd say it's what you're used to, right? And if you're used to being a digital creator and talking to a camera, that becomes easy. For another person that's not used to it, that would be, you know, unsettling. And, conversely, professors that I work with, for example, they're always talking to a large group that doesn't phase them, but, when some of them first started teaching online and had to create online content, you know, that was a new skill. They had to push beyond their comfort zone to do that.

[00:21:27] For me it's doing lives. Like I find, creating canned content easier. 'cause you can always go back and edit out your mistakes and when you're live, you know, it's like, oh, you just gotta keep going.

[00:21:37] So what about the next trend that you had for me? 

[00:21:40] Stephen: Well, this trend is social platforms are favoring creator led content. 

[00:21:45] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:45] Stephen: Look for brands and agencies to create longer term partnerships and even internal roles for creators that go beyond just sponsored posts. As you dig into that, this trend of brands and agencies working with content creators non-sponsored posts, what you see there is agency have been scouting influencer talent for social media for a very long time. 

[00:22:07] Tim: Right. 

[00:22:07] Stephen: For brands doing this, it really hit my radar when we saw Nerf make headlines for bringing TikTok creators in house to run their feeds because they know how to drive platform results and we're already comfortable with putting themselves out there on camera. So they're camera ready. They're platform experts. Right? These are the people that you want to bring in to help concept or lead at any level. You want these platform experts.

[00:22:33] While it's easy to contract them for a poster or two, building a long-term relationship where you're letting them in on the goal, letting them on brainstorm, or maybe letting them into the execution process at all levels or any levels, these are great people to be part of your team.

[00:22:47] So much so that a personal example is that at Moosylavania we've hired a local TikTok expert ourselves, right? That has proven natural skills on the platform, and we're integrating him on our teams to rub off on us and vice versa. 

[00:23:00] Tim: Excellent. Yeah, it's a great way to show how creators can make that direct connection with brands. What's the role for agencies in the future, given that trend? 

[00:23:10] Stephen: Agencies are always adapting. They've been adapting. I personally have seen, I would say 2015 going all the way far back. I had colleagues that were Instagram experts and they've been scouted to go to coastal agencies, just simply because agencies have already known that, like, let's hire experts that know how to build a community.

[00:23:31] Whatever that platform at the time is. Right now, it's TikTok. In the past it's been, Instagram agencies have already been doing this. I think it's brands that have kind of started to learn how to do that. That will not. Make agencies any less valuable. The fact that brands are learning how to do it, the ability of an agency is, is always gonna be what it is.

[00:23:50] It's able to scale up and down quickly, onboard and off board. And they're able to be more nimble. And, while brands are starting to pick up on this trend, agencies have been doing it for 10 years, so agencies are already starting to test out the next trend for 10 years in the future.

[00:24:05] So agencies, not only are they able to scale up and down their talent houses. They create great processes, they move nimbly, and they know how to source and hold the best talent available. And that's what they're always gonna be able to do. The tools will change, but they're always gonna have the best talent wanting to work with them.

[00:24:22] Tim: That's a great point. Like, bringing an expert in house doesn't negate the fact that you might need outsourced help, especially at scale.

[00:24:31] Stephen: Yeah, absolutely. Some of these brands are portfolios many, many brands. I wanna say like a hundred brands, but I don't wanna overspeak.

[00:24:38] So you mean some of these brands are huge, so hiring experts to work with one of your brands isn't at scale. At our agency in Pennsylvania, we work really well as a portfolio agency that understands all of your brands. And also, not only the social aspect of it, you might have hired a social creator, but as an agency we understand the whole 360 picture of how does this work. To funnel them into SMS, email, web, and retail. So, right. We're thinking about the whole picture as an agency. 

[00:25:05] Tim: Great point. It's about the buyer journey, not just grabbing attention. It's the whole sales funnel. 

[00:25:11] Stephen: Your content creator maybe a specialist at the platform, which is part of the puzzle, but probably shouldn't be your entire strategy. 

[00:25:18] Tim: Once you've engaged the people, how do you get them to take the next step? That's really key too, as I've found.

[00:25:24] So the fourth trend, then? 

[00:25:26] Stephen: The next trend I'm gonna say is creators will become the product. and I'm seeing over 70% of US consumers have already purchased a creator founded product. Think about the things that maybe you bought at the store or bought offline. You'll see even more brands and retailers partner with creators to launch these signature products. 

[00:25:44] Tim: Yeah, small example myself, Mr. Beast, Feastibles, I guess that's his own product. You know, saw at the grocery store and I got it and it was just funny how many people we're picking it up. 'cause, in Canada we didn't see it before. It was really popular and, it made me think too, like what's the opportunity for small creators? And it might be like strategically reaching out to a brand and creating some kind of, like you say, co-created product. I know for example, Riverside has consistency on podcasts guide, and they'll be with so and so creator and it's a win-win situation. Riverside gets a guide created by an expert and the expert is able to associate themselves with the, brand and get further reach through, having this guide out there that's gonna be distributed to Riverside's entire networks.

[00:26:32] Stephen: Yeah, to your point about how can an influencer get involved and maybe somebody that's not like a celebrity, I think the first thing is. Showing that you have true affinity for the product. Prove that you can create some type of signature usage of the product that can maybe start as a small callback.

[00:26:51] If you can prove that your fan base is that excited about how you're using the product, that they're willing to drive to some type of limited edition purchase, or just generally buying the product to use it in this kind of unique way that you've done.

[00:27:04] For example, we helped create and launch this record breaking product called New Amsterdam and Pink Whitney Vodka. 

[00:27:11] Tim: Okay. 

[00:27:11] Stephen: And it started with an initial podcast sponsorship. This Pods podcast sponsorship can be as big or small as you wanna make them.

[00:27:18] I've had podcast sponsorships where I've really had to work hard to get the talent and the manager to go beyond just doing an ad read and sponsored content.

[00:27:27] But working with the Spit and Tick List, the podcast, they took the initiative to bring a signature cocktail to it. So the talent like authentically created this great signature cocktail using our product. And as an agency, we listened in. And then we saw this happening and we were able to help turn this authentic signature cocktail into a collaboration.

[00:27:46] And we were just seeing so much user generate content of people saying, Hey, I went out and got my new Amsterdam vodka and mixed with the pink lemonade. So what we did is actually took out the middleman of the pink lemonade and bottled it. And it has been one of the fastest growing beverage products of all time. So you can even get it up in Canada. We've crossed borders with it. 

[00:28:07] Tim: That's a cool example of creators contributing to the creation of something new that then can be marketed through their audience. And also just, you can imagine it's even people who have, maybe not even heard of the creator necessarily, but they're like, oh, this is cool and it's created by this podcast.

[00:28:25] Maybe I'll try it. It adds some extra dimension to the product. It's not just the liquor mixture and no story behind it. It adds something to it. 

[00:28:34] Stephen: It's funny you say it like that because there is an authentic story behind it, and it drives most of the sales. But there are a lot of people that may not be in the target audience. they might be a consumption artist or a consumption target who, they're consuming it, but they're not kind of the typical person that we thought we were targeting.

[00:28:53] So in short, a lot of people are super into the product just because of the flavor itself and maybe don't even know. So they start with the color of the liquid, the flavor. And then they learn about the story afterwards. Versus originally it led with the story and then the flavor. 

[00:29:08] Tim: Some really cool, opportunities there. 

[00:29:11] Stephen: Yeah. 

[00:29:11] Tim: How about your next one? 

[00:29:13] Stephen: All right. This is a big one.

[00:29:13] Social's the new tv. Videos transform social media as we know, and it continues to grow. So, for example, time spent watching social media video content is up 33%. 

[00:29:24] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:25] Stephen: So what we're gonna see here is creators are gonna focus on episodic series based content. That attracts a sustainable community that continually comes back rather than focusing on simply going viral.

[00:29:38] Tim: I think this is an awesome one for, 2025. I've talked a lot on the show about, AI generated content and the impact that that's gonna have with the increased volume of, stuff that's out there and the competition. How do you stand out and how do you get people coming back?

[00:29:54] And that's kind of merging with this other trend that we're seeing on Instagram. And I think it's spreading to other platforms and that's people being a lot more stingy with the follow button, because, the algorithms are so good now they know I'm gonna be served up stuff I like whether I follow this person or not.

[00:30:10] And so what's the reason to follow a creator and. The series based content that you're talking about is one of those reasons. You have not just consistency in what you're offering, but there's a story arc or a series of things that you're doing. Like, it's repeatable. People are gonna be interested to come back and keep seeing it. 

[00:30:29] Stephen: I think a good point to underscore what you're saying is, you know, as a creator, rather than waking up every day trying to figure out what one-off trend that you're gonna create, like how stressful is that?

[00:30:39] It's an always on everyday thing. Creators will think like Hollywood producers and they'll test out creating different recurring episodic series, and these series will be long haul investments. Something that they stick with, even if the viewership isn't there immediately.

[00:30:54] So the major key is, because brands and agencies often give up too soon on content ideas, when they don't get an immediate response is give it some time. A Hollywood investor or producer, they may like a pilot episode and see how it goes, but you really want to invest into like a full kind of season. Make eight episodes and let it ride before you bail ship on it. 

[00:31:15] Tim: I have a cool example here from Canada, which is one of the, creators that connected with on Instagram, James Masi. He's a video creator and he created this series like a hundred dollars or a video.

[00:31:28] He would go into small businesses and he'd offer to give them a hundred dollars, like on the spot, or he'd create a video for them for their social media. People would always take the video and he would then, film, showing what he would produce. Then he'd put the video out there and it, the first few did okay, but over time he kept doing it and it really took off 'cause people were coming back and seeing like, okay, now he is going into a bakery, are they gonna take the a hundred dollars? It's like, no, they want the video, go to a restaurant. You know, just all these different places. And that was one of the things that really grew their video account. 

[00:32:01] Stephen: That's a really cool example and something that I've talked about internally is that in the past, the social plan, some social channels really favored photographers and graphic designers.

[00:32:13] But what you just told me, that's really sophisticated writing. I love how this current trend that we're getting into, and we talk about Hollywood producers and how much of that is from writers and punch up writers. And what you told me about there, is there some suspense?

[00:32:28] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:32:28] Stephen: There's a drama that's being played out, right? Immediately like, within five seconds of getting into it, what's gonna happen? Are they gonna take this or that? It's almost like a game, like a miniature game show. And I just, I love that about this new channel social. 

[00:32:41] Tim: They turn down the a hundred dollars and you wanna see, well, did they get their money's worth? And it's like, you know, of course they do. James, having him show up and saying he'll do a video just by not taking his a hundred dollars is a good deal.

[00:32:54] Stephen: What a great way to immediately show the value of his work. . So while, and I don't know his execution or production style, but it could be filmed on an iPhone. Like I'm seeing a lot of like production styles. Right now people want real raw and relatable, but they still want it to be scripted.

[00:33:08] And written in a very succinct and intentional way, so you can't skip on the writing. But people really want the visual production to be quick ephemeral, like of the moment. 

[00:33:19] Tim: Yeah. Totally. There's so many good examples of this and I think it's just increasingly important.

[00:33:23] 'cause as you say, it's like it's a reason to get people to come back and adds personality adds, storytelling. There's so many great things, that you can do with that. And, I think about my own consumption habits. Just going back to the macro aspect of this, I definitely don't watch TV as much and where some of that time has gone has been into social media.

[00:33:45] But part of it is, I think, I was thinking about this as I saw your notes and I was like, you know, when I think about tv, cable TV especially, it's very broad, very generic, designed to appeal to everyone and therefore it kind of like appeals to no one. Increasingly, I think, whereas like with social media content, you can find, if you're into photography, like, let's say I wanna learn composition in photography. I can't find that from tv. Okay. I wanna see someone doing point of view photography videos, like , it's fairly niche, but the point is that the niche is there, the hyper-focused content is there, and I think that's why it's being more successful in getting people's attention, right?

[00:34:24] Stephen: Yeah. Social media, it's almost a proving ground for TV at this point. Maybe you have a hundred TV channels, but millions of social media channels and you can really test out these niches. And you do see a lot of people, that are social media first, getting picked up to run a TV show, cable show, or especially a streaming show.

[00:34:48] I've definitely been into a lot of Netflix shows that they went and found a social media creator. Specifically, there was one about, it was almost like a workshop with like crafting and whatnot and the star was a past toy designer, and every episode would have kids draw a toy, and him and his crew would have the episode to make this outrageous toy. And it was pretty fabulous. It was, social media on steroids. 

[00:35:12] Tim: It's a proving ground for concepts and it's a proving ground for creators too. Like it becomes part of your portfolio. And I always encourage students to think of it this way. Every piece of content you produce can be part of your portfolio and show that like, you know what, you know,

[00:35:28] employer's always gonna ask, what can you create? What can you do? Having something like that to point to is, that's the proof, right? 

[00:35:34] Stephen: Yeah. And as a creator, like, this should be your personality. It really should live or die by you. I think in the past people have talked about, a company shouldn't be, shouldn't make or break by one person.

[00:35:45] Right. That doesn't make the company scalable. We've heard those narratives like even up, up until recently, but what we're seeing now is actually the reverse of that. We're seeing so much growth from the show or your feed. Or the company living or dying and greatly benefiting from the recognizability of you.

[00:36:03] And while for investors, that may be tough because taking you out of the equation. Right. Could make or break the company. It may not be where the investors wanna be, but you're seeing everybody respond really well to, you know, mark, mark Zuckerberg is starting to come, become the face of his company again.

[00:36:19] Elon Musk, famously fired his PR team years ago. He is, kind of, that show. Joe Rogan or even, going, so, so far back is like Burt's Bees, right? Burt is a person. That story matters, right? You shared one of your, kind of favorite episodics.

[00:36:35] I have a couple episodic ones too. 

[00:36:37] Tim: I'd love to hear 'em. 

[00:36:39] Stephen: So I think a bigger frame of reference that more people might understand is called Recess Therapy. This creator reimagines the classic man on the street style interview that's super like popular right now. I know, in brainstorms, I'm always bringing up the man on the street interview style. So the way he does it is he interviews children playing outside of New York City. And the creator's original series premise was taking big topics that he himself was struggling with to children, getting candid advice from them. And on Instagram, he's able to create these bite sized cutdown episodes for each kind of full episode that's on YouTube, much like a podcaster would do. 

[00:37:17] Tim: Very interesting. It sounds like a cool concept and you could apply it to anything.

[00:37:22] Like you could do the traditional man on the street. You know, I've seen ones in photography, and they're often very successful. Photographers walking up to strangers and asking, can I take your portrait? And then, you see the reaction and then you see the results of their work.

[00:37:36] Stephen: Yeah, there's some famous, like there's a people of New York, there's some other street photographers that are super famous for it, and some of them just did it as a hobby becoming the celebrities themselves.

[00:37:46] Tim: What you're saying before about, personality because it's like, it's the person's personality. They're not trying to be someone else. And that I, I find that's one of the hardest things for creators. Like, 'cause you probably have your favorite creators as a creator. And when we all, when we start out, we all kind of start emulating our heroes in a sense, you know, or the people that we think we want to become what they've become. But then that, but that is not the route for you as a creator 'cause you're not that person, right? So. You probably see this with brands too. Like, we want to be like that brand. It's like, actually you don't 'cause you, that's not you. 

[00:38:21] Stephen: It's, it's funny, I talked earlier about how people have always been, there's a whole theory, I don't have it memorized what the theory is, but it's like it's around, not having your business depend on a hero or one person. Because there's a liability in that.

[00:38:36] I was listening to a famous YouTube podcast talk about hot Ones, and how they're up for sale, and how their trajectory has grown exponentially. And in that, they talked about literally that theory of how the main host, he doesn't own the show. I'm not sure if he created the show or is a co-creator, or I believe somebody else might have created the concept and casted him.

[00:39:01] But he actually feels at this point, like the owner of the show. And while they've tried to do spinoffs where they do Hot Ones without him though different, like they have celebrities kind of ask each other hot questions or whatnot. They've tried to spin it off in different formats.

[00:39:16] At the end of the day, people know that host as the face of this brand and this podcast talked about how that's a liability. However, they did just get sold in a very big way. I don't know exactly the terms, but I believe that host has earned quite a bit of equity and they know that the show Hot Ones does not live without him.

[00:39:37] Tim: Right. 

[00:39:38] Stephen: I think we're seeing that you need ambassadors for your brand and you need to get them quickly and you need to keep them in the fold and not think about them as negotiation liabilities, but they're, they possibly are the show and they are the brand. 

[00:39:51] Tim: Yeah, that's a great point to, maybe segue to our next topic. 'Cause I, because I think there's a couple of themes we can pick up on there.

[00:40:00] So in terms of what makes an influencer attractive to a brand. So if you want to be that person who the brand says, yeah, I want this person associated with my brand as well.

[00:40:12] What's the value proposition? 'Cause I think a lot of times people think of it as like, I have the ability to produce viral videos, but I imagine that's only one component of it. 

[00:40:21] Stephen: So the good news here is that your follower size mm-hmm. Isn't the main thing. You don't need 1 million followers. We're looking for creators that have earned an engaged community.

[00:40:31] Mm-hmm. And have a proven record of driving them to action, to, to your point, it doesn't need to be a viral video that, that kind of took over the internet for a week. We're looking more for consistency. Right. And people that are coming back time and time again to use, so, mm-hmm. This is gonna help.

[00:40:46] Spotlight all the micro and macro level influencers out there, rather than all ultimately having to go straight to the mega and celebrity influencers. While it's easy to identify them in searches, sometimes it's nice to start with mega influencers, kind of like a beacon to say, Hey, we want somebody like this and didn't do lookalike searches from there to find micro and macros.

[00:41:06] Now as we're looking at these micro and macros, I have some behind the scenes tips for you for how we audit and vet influencers. So the number one thing here. We're looking for is your engagement rate. 

[00:41:18] Tim: Mm-hmm. 

[00:41:19] Stephen: This is super important here. The best influencers will have authentic, deep and quality community engagements. so not just a fire emoji, not just hey, I like this. So we're not only looking for engagement rate, but quality engagement. 

[00:41:33] You put great content out there. You may get views, you may get likes, but how do you get that actual engagement? And to build on that, social platforms are prioritizing creators, right? So right by that, we're meaning that. Creators tend to have content that's more authentically relatable.

[00:41:50] And that creates real conversations with positive sentiment. So one big way that they measure this is if content is being shared between friends in the dm. So if an influencer is either able to report, or in some cases some platforms are actually, like Instagram, showing how many shares a post is getting.

[00:42:07] When we see a high frequency of posts shares, it's a huge mark of success for us. We saw the, president of Instagram go on several podcasts lately, talk about when a piece of content is authentic and relatable to him or to other people. It may be super niche to him, he's gonna share it to his friend group that it's relatable to.

[00:42:27] Right. So it might be a, for him, it might be a soccer podcast for me, it might be a business article or something with gardening or cooking, so everyone has their personal interests and if it's not just like, click bait, you know? That's just out there to get people to put in a comment or whatnot. Things that are actually making a statement that's worth sharing. 

[00:42:44] Tim: Yeah, for sure. It does add a higher bar to what you need to do to be successful, I think, because like likes are pretty freely given. Comments as well now. Like, 'cause you might support somebody 'cause they're also supporting your content. You might save stuff just 'cause like, oh, maybe I want to come back to that. But shares that really says you're connecting yourself with that piece of content then, right? Like you're telling your friends, this is worth looking at.

[00:43:09] So the question, for creators, becomes how do you make shareable content? I don't know if you had any thoughts about that from the brand perspective? Like what have you seen that's been successful

[00:43:17] Stephen: The anecdote I said with the president of Instagram is that relatability is the number one thing. So we, we have a really cute miniature dachshund dog and my wife is constantly gonna share me on any kind of 15, 30 second Instagram reel where they're making fun of a dachshund not wanting to go out into the rain or there, there's so many kind of funny ways that you can play with that situation. And, I think it comes down to, in some cases, writing that hook, writing that joke. Kind of taking down something that happens in your life that's funny. And saying this, this might be something that is relatable to other people. Other people might have experienced it. That to me is the number one fastest way to go from idea to execution is start with something that other people might, relate to and think is funny as well.

[00:44:04] Tim: I think, yeah, humor is definitely relatable. And who doesn't like to share like a joke with their friends?

[00:44:10] Stephen: Yeah. And being super niche. Right. So not everybody is gonna think a dog is funny. Not everyone's gonna think a dachshund is funny, but having that kind of prop of like actually having the dog it, it really helps. And you're probably creating episodic content at that point, right. You're probably creating a series of different jokes relating to dogs or dachshunds.

[00:44:30] Tim: And it goes back to what we were saying about being more niche maybe because the relatability, it'll be people who are also into that. We'll understand it immediately. There might be a large group of people that don't care about it, but it's actually more important to probably get like five shares rather than 50 likes.

[00:44:48] Right. 

[00:44:48] Stephen: Absolutely. There, there's definitely a trend of, it's called niching down. So get down to your niche. So you definitely wanna do that. I think the formula there is yes, niche down, but find ways that it's still about you. People know that you're behind the camera, even if it's about your dog.

[00:45:04] Let them know who you are so they can fall in love with you and take that concept of sing down, but niche out, right? So what we talked about with episodic content, where you wanna try out . Several different episodes and different series, think about how to have different series either on your feed or in your bio.

[00:45:21] Hey, I'm the creator of this feed, but I also have these other feeds you can check out and try to make these other episodes with you being kind of the center of it.

[00:45:29] Tim: Yeah, absolutely. Alright, what else you got in terms of how you look at creators 

[00:45:36] Stephen: We're looking at audience demographics. These are super important for proving that we'll be reaching and being relatable to our target audience. So this is a huge point here. Instead of brands trying to earn mass impressions, they need to focus on reaching the right people. With the right message, right? Reaching the right people is better than just reaching more people.

[00:45:56] That's another reason why I opened up with, you don't need to have a million followers or be a mega celebrity. It can actually help if you're kind of in the middle tier and you have a core audience that is of a certain demographic, it helps us even target and say, okay, with this influencer, we're gonna reach this specific audience and this influencer has earned that audience by being very relatable to them. So we know that whatever we make with this creator is gonna be relevant and relatable to them. So we're gonna reach the right people and we're gonna have the right message to them because we're working with the right creator.

[00:46:32] Tim: So yeah, it's about the having the right audience, not necessarily the biggest audience. Makes a lot of sense. 

[00:46:38] Stephen: Look at your metrics. Learn who your audience is. Learn why you're engaging with them.

[00:46:43] Tim: Anything else that you'd put in that category? 

[00:46:46] Stephen: Yeah. The next thing I'm gonna look at is your average Reel play count. This helps prove your reach potential, of course. But the best influencers here are gonna have consistent Reel play counts that don't fluctuate low to high.

[00:46:59] So speaking of viral. You can have a lot of influencers that are having million, 1000, 2,000,500, 200. So as I look at the average, if you're kind of spiking and going up and down, while that may be totally fine for your business model as a brand, it doesn't give me a lot of trust. I could get 500 views or I could get a million if i'm gonna contract with you. It doesn't gimme a consistent feel of what I can expect to earn from working with you.

[00:47:25] Tim: Yeah. It's interesting. It gives you maybe a pause for thought as a creator to, you know, double down on what, what's working and like being a little more consistent with what you're producing. And I, I guess I say it almost is something you consider in phases, right? Like we're at the beginning, you might have to experiment a whole lot more.

[00:47:44] And you're gonna have those kind of bigger fluctuations, and you're gonna understand that you're kind of going through that phase. But as you get, you know, bigger, as you get more kind of figuring out what you're doing, it's, it's almost like you want to do more of what's working. Keep building those numbers and maybe doing, still doing some experimentation, but maybe clearly, you know, flagging. Okay. That was my standard series gets this, I kind of did that other video that's an outlier, but it's like, I was just experimenting. You know, you have that ability to explain that.

[00:48:13] Stephen: To your point, if you have a specific series that's doing really well, but you're trying out other series that aren't doing well, yeah , that's totally fine. Like, that might be just for us as an agency, kind of connecting you with brands as long as we're working with that series, that's doing really well.

[00:48:27] Tim: But it does kind of just come back to that when you have a stream of stuff that's working or a concept that's working, do more of it.

[00:48:34] And, I think sometimes creators lose sight of that. They think that went really well. Now I'm gonna try this other thing. And because I've. Been successful with this over here, probably this will do well too, and it doesn't really, my experience, it doesn't really work that way at all. You kind of have like the things that you're you, you start to learn the things that you're good at and the things that resonate with your audience.

[00:48:55] And then if you really are serious about, you know, scaling up. You do have to do more of that. I encourage people to still experiment, but to understand that what they're doing when they're deviating from that is experimenting. And, it's not necessarily gonna produce the same results.

[00:49:12] Stephen: You gotta pilot some new new content, you gotta workshop it, whether you start a new feed to try that or, do it on your main feed. , I think as long as it's about you, your audience is gonna understand like, oh, this is my favorite creator, and they're. Work shopping something new. Let's give them feedback. See if this can grow as big as their other episodic content. 

[00:49:30] Tim: Yeah. And if they like you and it's reasonably aligned, you can often bring people along on that different journey . 

[00:49:38] Stephen: Exactly. That's the goal. Being able to pivot between niches, bring them with you because they believe in you, not just your viral video that you did.

[00:49:47] Tim: Yeah. And that becomes key. 'cause even with an episodic series, every product has a life cycle, right? So just doing the same thing all the time, it'll eventually get old for your audience and they'll either leave to find another creator who's doing new stuff or, hopefully, if you're also doing new stuff, , they'll stick with you and see what else you got for them? 

[00:50:06] Stephen: That's a really good point. I would say most, most episodic content comes to an end. Unfortunately, you know, how sad are we when our favorite show ends?

[00:50:13] Tim: So, uh, Stephen, this is hugely helpful. All the things that you've been sharing today. Could you tell us a little bit more about your story, about how you got into all of this. 

[00:50:22] Stephen: Getting into my role as VP of partnerships has been super rewarding, journeying, creative strategy and community building together. And along the way I've learned the importance of creating authentic connections between brands and their audiences.

[00:50:35] I started my career as a graph designer in 2007 and quickly became involved in digital web and social media. It's been really exciting to be part of their evolution from super small niche platforms into major marketing channels today.

[00:50:47] My own initial passion for social media and content creation grew when I started sharing my own photography on Instagram. I became hooked on this positive feedback loop of fan engagements and growing my community. And I'm sure a lot of content creators out there can relate to this experience that social media, dopamine hit feeling. And then in my early agency client work, simple things like Photoshopping branded merchandise for props, and seeing fans be reactive in this two-way engagement by asking where they could get the items really sparked a passion for like actually producing branded items for them. That came to fruition when I got to work on social media for major national brands like E&J Brandy.

[00:51:25] I got to reach out to partners and collaborate with streetwear brands like Forties and Shorties. That experience taught me a lot about brand partnerships, influencer marketing, and creating engaging content. From there, I got to partner with iconic brands like Cougie, Carl Kana, content creators like NFL Player turned comedian, spice Adams. Sports leagues, big three and TBT. And with all that comes bigger experiences like organizing events and creating deeper consumer engagement strategies.

[00:51:51] Tim: That's amazing. I love that story. It shows how you started with a discipline specific expertise, branched out with that, got partnered with a company and I think creators should really look at that as a viable career path. A good career option. , Because when you're working with large institutions, or larger organizations than you would like as a solo creator, you have so much more reach and so much more things that you can do, you've got colleagues you collaborate with and you see, right? There's a lot that you don't necessarily hear about from the other side, because I find like so much of the advertising and the information that's out there targeted at creators is all about become a an independent content creator.

[00:52:33] But there are other ways to be engaged in this kind of creative work. And, I think, your career is a good, good example of that. And so what are you working on right now in your role?

[00:52:42] Stephen: Oh, social media change is rapidly, so we are focused on. On practicing how to think and act like creators and evolving our own content creation process. Constantly. We partner with local influencers, including hiring a local TikTok influencer to work with us in our office to keep us thinking different and continuing to evolve that.

[00:53:00] We're also continuing an ongoing tradition of building our own Moosylvania agency brand. And we do that through branded merch, original product innovations, PR collaborations, book writing and thought leadership publishing.

[00:53:13] So all the things that we do for our clients, we need to put into practice for ourselves. I think that's something content creators should. Keep in mind and other agencies as well. For example, we just recently celebrated our 21st anniversary and we did it in a big way with a limited edition iPA collaboration with a local brewery. . And we have lots more collaborations cooking in 25.

[00:53:33] Tim: Amazing, congratulations on all that. Thank you.

[00:53:36] If creators or brands want to get in touch and wanna work with you, how do they do that? 

[00:53:41] Stephen: Well, first of all, as content creators, we love, if you joined our feed on Instagram and TikTok, our handles at Moosylvania. We also just launched a brand new website that is www.moosylvania.com and you can find me and Moosylvania on LinkedIn.. 

[00:53:57] Tim: Thank you very much, Stephen. It was great, spending some time with you today. Thanks, Tim.

[00:54:01] As we wrap up, let's reflect for a minute about this key theme of community building from today's episode.

[00:54:08] Because a lot of what Steven and I touched on centered around this theme of creator communities as being key to success in growing an engaged audience as a content creator, and for creating effective partnerships with brands.

[00:54:21] So what do we mean by the concept of a creator community? Well, it does start with a community based around shared interests, which translates into the content strategy of having content pillars or the consistent themes you cover as a content creator. I.

[00:54:37] But in fact, it goes much more beyond that. It's also about trust, alignment of values, people feeling seen and heard within your community, and the sense of being part of a larger mission.

[00:54:49] That's why I think that long form content, like podcasts and YouTube videos, can be so valuable in terms of exploring topics in greater depth and building those kind of connections. You can also build on that by engaging with the audience through comments, polls, dms, as well as doing lives and in-person events and so on.

[00:55:09] In other words, making how you engage with the audience more of a two-way conversation rather than a top-down expert delivering knowledge kind of approach. We see this in the education sector where there's been a move away from chalk and talk style lectures towards more active learning in the classroom.

[00:55:27] We also see it in the creator community where some of the best courses are often built around a specific objective. And have communities built around that course where people can share their struggles, wins, and challenges.

[00:55:41] That brings us to this idea of having a larger overarching mission or story arc, which can be a very powerful connector. For example, Lyndon Chasteen's, Amplify Views community is built around the idea of helping a thousand YouTubers get to over a hundred thousand subscribers. And if you're a YouTuber trying to build your channel, that's gonna sound like a great mission to be part of.

[00:56:03] So this might be something that you want to think about in terms of how you pitch your own brand or creator profile. What burning problem are you solving? Who are you solving it for, and how are you specifically going to solve it? Articulating these things in a very specific way can be a powerful foundation for building a community. However, it has to be very well defined and credible to be effective. If you just say that you're helping creators and you don't have the social proof to back that up, it's not gonna work because it's not specific enough, it's not really a mission per se, in terms of being a clear one at least. And, you know, if you don't have the follower account to show that you've done it yourself, it's gonna be hard to get other people to be engaging with you as the expert in doing that.

[00:56:50] This is part of what makes the challenge of defining a niche as a creator so challenging. There are so many things that need to line up in order to make it work, and honestly, continuing to work on this challenge myself as a creator. My Instagram profile right now is an example of this. My bio talks about turning creator chaos into content empires, and I'm sharing tips, tools, and strategies to help with that. It kind of builds on the notion that as a part-time creator myself, one of the things I have been able to do is produce a fair amount of content consistently because I've built good systems to support that. And that's something I think that I could help other part-time creators with. And I'm trying to supplement this with a build in public approach to the podcast, YouTube channel and merch store that I'm working on.

[00:57:35] Which will provide that larger story arc and also creates the basis for gathering real-time data and insights that I can share.

[00:57:43] As creators, defining our niche could be one of the hardest things that we do, but as today's episode suggests, it's also one of the most important foundational aspects for creating a creator community.

[00:57:56] That's why it's worth checking out my episode with Tiago Faria, where we explore this topic in depth, and also looking at my Audience Growth Accelerator, which is a free resource I've created to help myself and other creators in defining their niche. You can find that in the link in the description.

[00:58:12] Thanks for watching. I hope you have a great day. We'll see you in the next video.