Inner Sircle

Urban Outfitters’ Head of Brand Marketing and Communications, Cyntia Leo, wrote the obit for follower counts during one of the first sessions Monday morning: How Brands Are Winning With Creator-Led Strategies in 2025.

“This is really a time about the algorithm,” said Cyntia. “Creators help us be in the algorithm, not just being in the platform.”

The idea that follower count no longer holds the value it once did echoed throughout the week.

Prop CEO Joseph Perelli drove the point home in a panel on creators and performance marketing: “Obsessing over followers is the biggest mistake marketers make.” Between fake followers, poor audience targeting, and limited organic reach, follower count is no longer a reliable metric — for creators or brands.

Takeaway: If leadership still insists on hiring creators based on follower count, it’s time to let them know the game has changed. Smart marketers are prioritizing deep content alignment and leveraging creator content for paid media opportunities.

Now that our feeds have changed from who we’re following, to what they’re talking about, follower count matters less than a topic alignment, said Sprout Social Vice President, Outbound Product Management, Brittany Hennessy.

Brittany pointed to Loewe and how they opted for the “cucumber guy,” TikToker Logan Moffitt, instead of a fashion or beauty creator when the company launched a cucumber-scented candle.

There's a lot of conversation about topic-based marketing, agreed Nya-Gabriella Parchment, UTA’s Head of Brand Partnerships.

When you understand what your consumer is talking about, what they’re truly interested in, what movies they’re watching, what podcasts they listen to, that’s when, “you can understand who's leading that conversation to tap into and work with,” Nya recommended.

Takeaway: Topic alignment is another way of saying ‘Don’t focus on follower count.’ Instead, brands should prioritize creators who are actively driving conversations around consumer interests — like cucumbers.

I got to speak with Lindsey Gamble and Adweek’s Senior Tech Reporter, Kendra Barnett, on a panel titled: Creator Content Only Belongs on Social... Or Does It?

Spoiler alert: Creators are being effectively deployed up and down the funnel and across every channel.

“Creator-featured ads do much better,” echoed Snapchat's Global Head of Public Figures, Francis Roberts, during a panel on Building a Brand That Lasts.

The benefit of creators isn’t purely for advertising purposes. With more brands launching personality-first projects — like Substack newsletters — creators are becoming even more indispensable for their creative skills and audience insights: these are partners who understand the type of content audiences want to consume!

Takeaway: You’re not just paying for assets or access to an influencer’s audience, said Lindsey: “What I'm really excited about is bringing them in as consultants, bringing them in as creative partners. That leads to more co-creation and collaboration, as opposed to just, ‘Here's a brief, go create a video.’

“You want to lead with a content-first approach.”“Brands want to be humanized, and creators can help them.”

• Athlete Alignment: Prioritize athletes who genuinely align with brand values and naturally integrate products into their daily routine

  • Focus on authenticity over follower count, as relatable content drives higher engagement

• Content Creation Capability: Ensure athletes are skilled content creators who can produce high quality, engaging lifestyle content

  • Just because an athlete has a large following, doesn’t mean they excel at creating compelling content - prioritize those with proven content creation skills

• Regional Targeting: Leverage athletes with strong regional or local followings to enhance brand presence in targeted markets

  • Ideal for brands with specific geographic goals or regional distribution

• Brand-Athlete Alignment: Identify athletes whose personal stories or interests align with the brand’s mission (health, sustainability, performance, etc)

  • Consider creative campaigns that tie athlete names or personas to product names for memorable partnerships (Angel Reese worked with Reese’s, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs worked with Raid)

• Flexible Campaign Structures: Design campaigns that allow athletes to showcase products in authentic settings, such as game-day routines, training sessions, or everyday life

  • Encourage long-term partnerships to foster brand loyalty and deepen consumer trust

Meta Looks To Bring Back ‘OG Facebook’ With Revamped Friends Tab

Notes:

• Facebook’s New Friends Tab:

• Focuses on friend-only content (posts, stories, Reels).

• Includes birthday reminders, friend requests, and online status.

• Aims to shift focus from AI-recommended content back to personal connections.

• Meta’s Goal:

• Bring back Facebook’s original purpose of connecting friends and family.

• Zuckerberg acknowledges Facebook moved away from its early social elements.

• Plans to reintroduce “OG” Facebook experiences throughout the year.

• Challenges:

• People post less on Facebook now, leading to low engagement in the new tab.

• Most users won’t navigate away from the main feed to check the Friends tab.

• Shift to private messaging makes public sharing less appealing.

• Conclusion:

• Meta is trying to revive Facebook’s nostalgic social experience.

• However, user behavior has changed, making success unlikely.

• Overall, many doubt this will significantly improve engagement.

MO Thoughts:

This feels like Meta trying to recapture nostalgia without addressing why people stopped posting in the first place. Facebook became less about personal connections and more about ads, divisive content, and passive scrolling. A dedicated friends tab won’t magically bring back organic sharing when users have already moved to private messaging and other platforms. Unless they rethink how people want to engage, this update is more of a nice idea than a real solution.

On this episode, I break down Lia Haberman's: When To Adopt and When to Abandon a Channel - March 2025

Exploring New Platforms

• First step: Download the app, create an account, and explore its functionality.

• Understanding a platform is different from committing to creating and maintaining content.
  

Two Approaches to Adopting a Channel

[1] Reactive Method (Not Ideal)

• Many social media managers feel pressured to adopt new platforms due to external influences.

• Common scenario: A company executive reads about a new platform and asks why the brand isn’t on it.

• Leads to rushed decisions without a strategy.

• Simply having a presence on a platform is not a valid goal.

• Constantly chasing new platforms can lead to:

• Burnout

• Reduced content quality

• Mental health concerns
  

[2] Strategic Method (Recommended Approach)

• Creating an account should be the last step, not the first.

• Strategic adoption aligns with:

• Organizational goals

• Audience needs

• Available resources
  

Key Questions to Consider Before Adopting a New Platform

1. Understand Your Goals – Does the platform help achieve business objectives?

2. Know the Audience – Research platform culture, user behavior, and preferences.

3. Content Fit – Can content be adapted naturally to the platform?

4. Examine Resources – Can the team sustain consistent, high-quality content?

5. Evaluate Competitors & Peers – Are industry leaders seeing success on the platform?

6. Develop a Content Management Plan – Ensures consistency and engagement.

7. Track Progress – Regularly assess performance and adjust strategy as needed.
   

Conclusion

• A thoughtful strategy prevents wasted effort and resources.

• If a platform isn’t delivering results, reallocate efforts to more impactful channels.

Here is a thought leader worth following to help feed your brain.

A Vertical Grid - LINK (and our Sircle document here) - ALREADY LIVE ON IG

• Posts on your grid are now vertical instead of square, and Instagram’s added an editing tool so people can adjust their thumbnails to the new grid size

2025 Algorithm Priorities - LINK

• At a high level, there are two types of ranking on Instagram:

• Connected reach (accounts that follow you)

• Unconnected reach (accounts that don’t yet follow you)

• For both, the top three signals that matter most for ranking are:

• Watch time

• Likes

• Sends (shares)

• So when looking at your insights, pay close attention to average watch time, likes per reach, and sends per reach

• One nuance: likes are slightly more important for connected content, and sends are slightly more important for unconnected content

Edits App - LINK

• Instagram is launching a new video creation app that includes editing, insights, project management capabilities, a better-quality camera, and the ability to share drafts with friends

• It’s a full suite of creative tools

• There will be a dedicated tab for inspiration, another for keeping track of early ideas

• A much higher-quality camera

• All the editing tools you’d expect

• The ability to share drafts with friends and other creators

• If you decide to share your videos on Instagram — powerful insights into how those videos perform

Highlights Tab - LINK

• Looking to move highlights into the grid and add them as a tab

Grid Control - LINK

• Building a tool so you can re-order your entire grid and make it whatever you want

• Adding the ability to post directly to your grid, in case you want to bypass feed entirely

Instagram has rolled out Trial Reels and I think brands should experiment with them. It's a great opportunity for brands to test messaging ideas, learn more about how non-followers engage with their content, and provides a chance to appeal to new demographics or experiment with different tones and styles to see what resonates outside their current audience.

• Adam Mosseri shared some quick tips to help improve your IG content performance in his weekly Q and A session on IG Stories 

• Reposting your Reels to Stories will expand your reach

• Collab Posts will see better performance when the account with a bigger following sends the collab request

• “In general, the ranking system for Collab posts biases more towards the original collaborator than the person who accepts. It really shouldn’t matter, but right now it matters a bit, so if the original collaborator is the larger account, that will help on the margins.”

On this episode, I talk about how Instagram Updated its Metrics to Focus Creators on Views over follows, likes, and comments. I reference this post and more can be found in this article.

Highlights:

• Instagram metrics are shifting focus from followers and likes to reach.
• Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri has been advocating for creators to prioritize reach over follower count.
• Instagram is reforming its analytics, making "Views" the primary metric across all formats (reels, live, photos, carousels, and stories).
• Reels Plays are being relabeled as “Views,” and “Views” will become the main metric for photos, carousels, and stories.
• Insights will now feature a “Views” icon, replacing metrics like “Accounts reached,” “Accounts engaged,” “Interactions,” and “Watch time.”
• Repeat views of content will be counted, similar to how plays and replays are counted for reels.
• The change aims to shift focus from follower counts due to the evolving behavior of Instagram users.
• Over 50% of posts in the IG feed are now shown through Meta’s AI recommendations, not from profiles users follow.

On this episode, I talk about Lia Haberman's newsletter from the week of 7/15 and Adam Mosseri's focus on shareable content and the importance of short form video that is likely to be passed along to others. I reference this.

On this episode, I explain why I am bullish on Instagram. Adam Mosseri put out this post which is a nice insight into how to think about looking at "performance".

On this episode, I offer up a POV on The Future of Facebook. I reference this article.

On this episode, I talk about influencer pricing and the perspective around it. I highlight this post from my friend Sabina Gault, The Founder of Konnect.

Short and sweet one here, encouraging people to get involved with TikTok Ads. I reference this article.

On this episode, I once again encourage brands to not sleep on community management. I reference this LinkedIn Post.

• Instagram

• Instagram is testing a new feed called “Blend” - Reels recommendations based on Reels you’ve shared with friends and your Reels interests

• Essentially, trying out a more integrated way to facilitate Reels sharing, by tapping into the user behavior of sharing Reels via DM

• Instagram isn’t live testing this as yet

• Instagram is testing out a new way to comment on specific images within a carousel post

• The new option enables users to @mention the number of an image within a carousel to append their comment to that specific image or video

• Facebook

• The TikTok-ification of social media more broadly continues, with Facebook rolling out a new, consistent full-screen video player, which will see all videos posted to the app expand to the TikTok-like vertical format

• When you tap on a video anywhere on the Facebook app, you’ll now consistently see a fullscreen, vertically oriented video

• Previously, depending on the length of the video or where you were watching, you may have seen horizontal videos or videos that played in a Feed-like player

On this episode, I talk about how Instagram Chief Says Follower Counts Are Not a Good Indicator of Account Value. I reference this article.

On this episode, I talk about TikTok engagement (and reach being down) and I reference this article.

On this episode, I talk about a potential TikTok Ban. I reference this article.

• Gift card-based brand collabs (like this and this) continue to perform well and are a good way to “sweeten the pot” outside of just giving away products + they serve as retail support content and hopefully drive people in-store.

• Out-of-the-box sweepstakes can be a great way to drive email subscribers in addition to engagement/followers on IG, this Remedy Fall Adventure Sweepstakes brought in 16K email subscribers.

Essential Dos and Don’ts for Social Media Marketing in 2024 and I reference this article.

On this episode, I provide an update on Instagram Live (and POV on Live in general). I reference this post.