This week’s newsletter is going to be a little mix of three things: vulnerability, education, and reflection. This August marks my TENTH (!!!) year working within social, but also working and operating as a one-woman show, helping businesses big and small with their online presence.

It genuinely feels terrifying to type that. But sitting with it recently, I realized that running your own business and creating within the world of social media share more similarities than I realized. So, here are some lessons for you.

This is for the social teams who are still trying to crack the code online.

This is for the founders and operators who need a little validation and reminder that none of this is supposed to be easy.

This is for the soon-to-be operators, consultants, or freelancers who may be waiting for the perfect time to get started.

1. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Running a business is not for the faint of heart. It’s filled with the highest highs and the absolute lowest lows. Some days you think you know what you’re doing. The next, you’re wondering if you’re doing the right thing at all, or where it’ll be in a year from now.

When I first started consulting, people thought I was crazy. Heck, people still think I am crazy. When you are working 12+ hour days, choosing to stay in over going out, and putting a lot on the line, people will question it, especially at a young age.

This same notion goes for content. Whether you’re launching a new brand or trying to elevate what you’re already doing, actually doing it is the hardest part. People say they’re “launching” for months, but don’t have the energy to post that one video that could actually be the start of their dream.

Getting started already puts you ahead. Congrats.

2. Building a business and building a brand is like training a muscle.

No one gets better at any one thing without putting in the reps.

That could be posting 100 videos before one finally pops off.

That could be sending 50 cold emails until you get your one “yes, we’re interested.”

It’s never ever a game of luck. It’s a game of numbers and taking risks.

3. Not everything is going to go how you planned, but that doesn’t mean it’s a failure.

Things not going to plan brings my energy down to zero in a matter of seconds. Like anyone, I’ve had to roll with the punches over the last 10 years. I don’t know about you reading this, but I’m also my harshest critic, so for those of you who relate, it took me years to realize that sometimes things just won’t go our way, no matter what you do and that’s a-okay. Even if it’s not, life is too short so choose to be delusional.

4. Overthinking can kill you both creatively + professionally.

I don’t think I need to explain this one. Ripping the band-aid will unlock more than waiting for the perfect moment and playing false scenarios in your head.

5. Look outside the box.

Staying in a bubble limits your creativity, your level of ideation, and your relationships. Go to places that allow you to change how your mind thinks. Meet people you can learn from. Almost always, this is outside of the niche you’re working in.

Even when it comes to content and inspiration, my best ideas are inspired by other verticals.

If I work with a brand in food and beverage, I look to beauty.

If I work with a brand in beauty, I look to fashion.

If I work within tech, I look at all of the above.

6. The work your produce should not be your identity.

   This is one of the biggest lessons I’ve ever learned, and I didn’t realize it until it was almost too late.

   Being proud of your work and what you produce is one thing.

   Letting it be who you are is another.

   When I left Graza after 3+ years, I’d be lying if I said I knew how to exist outside of being called the “Graza Girl.” I am forever grateful for the work I was able to do, but I realized how much of my own worth was tied to knowing what I did, not who I was.

   Life is too short to let a job hold power over you. The traits that made you and make you good at it are yours.
   

7. You will fall victim to your systems.

This doesn’t mean the systems have to saty the same, but how you manuever and adap matters.

8. Time moves fast. You need to move faster.

We live in a world where updates move faster than we can blink. Trends pop up in minutes and before we know it, every brand under the sun is working to create a post within the hour. The “waiting tax” will cost you in this era, whether it’s waiting to get started or waiting trying to make an idea perfect (looking at the legal teams here).

The world doesn’t reward perfect. It rewards just getting it done and building on top of it from there.

9. Understand your why, and keep asking it.

If you’re still reading this, you may have wondered why you do what you for a living. That’s normal. It’s also okay if that “why” changes. So, whether you’re about to start or own a brand, have been working in marketing, or chose to quit your job, I would love to hear your why, if you’re comfortable sharing. Hit “reply”.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks that I want to out you on to. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

Let’s start off strong.

• Drinking: This time of the year, focusing is harder than ever and I have had to find something that helps me stay locked in that isn’t another coffee. That’s where AMA has been a lifesaver.

  Why?

  1. Form Factor. It comes in a very cute glass shot so it’s easy to toss in my bag or keep at home.

  2. Ingredients. I can actually pronounce them. Each shot has about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, but they also use a blend of detoxified Amanita Muscaria and L-Theanine for a kind of energy that can only be described as “flow state.”

     Shoutout to their team for hooking y’all up with a code since I literally can’t stop drinking it. Use the code “KENDALL20” for 20% right HERE.
     

• Eating: Wilde’s new Protein Crackers left me speechless (and wanting approximately 22 more bags). The Hot Honey is my personal fave. Also, 12g of protein per serving is wild. Pun intended.

• Using: IDK about you guys, but I have a candle burning every single second that I am in my apartment. I forgot just how amazing the candles from Snif are so I stocked up on my favorite: Off the Grid. It’s amber-y, citrusy, spicy and guaranteed to get you some compliments.

• Before you go, make sure you…

  • Read THIS Substack from Rachel Karten + Matthew Stasoff all about if brands have lost the plot when it comes to the comment section.

  • Follow these brands on social:

    • Eat Rummies. Rummies was introduced to me one day upon a late night doomscroll. This account is a great reminder that getting your reps in matters more than trying to hit perfection on first go. Swipe over to the Reels tab for a nice reminder as to why you should ABT (Always Be Testing).

    • Sportiv. If you’re a woman who trains in any capacity, you’ll want this in your routine. It’s been some of the strongest creative I have seen come out from a recent brand who is still in build-mode ahead of launch. This video is chef’s kiss.

  • Follow these creators:

    • Aimee France. A personal fave of mine for many years. Aimee is not only an insanely talented baker + creative, but her edge and humor just make it like you’re watching a friend. She’s been on a kick of making homemade uncrustables. If you’re a brand where you sell any form of a protein, condiment or spread, I would be personally sending to her.

    • Mika. If you are in your protein-maxxing era as well, highly recommend following along.

    • Nicolette Wee. A woman of many talents, but her reels always have me cracking up. With more brands trying to balance their own edge + aesthetic, creators like Nicolette could be nice to partner with for some extra entertainment value.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your morning with me. I’ll see you this week for another edition.

If you have any burning questions, hit the “reply” and send them over. You guys have helped me make No Filter a thing so don’t be shy. I hope you have an absolute banger of a week and I will see you in the next edition.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

Hello, friend! How are you doing? I hope you’re prepping to relax this weekend a but. I’m coming to you live from New York City where it’s 100-degrees, the air quality is unhealthy, and you can’t eat lettuce or vegetables or else you may get a parasite. IDK still the best city ever if you ask me.

Yesterday, I spoke on a panel at the Social Commerce Summit (if you were there, hit “reply” and say hi!) and afterwards, someone asked me where I get a lot of my inspiration.

This week, I am following my own advice from a previous newsletter and I hope you do the same.

Time to scroll (thoughtfully).

A Look Inside My Bookmarks

Lately, it feels like instagram is so back despite the weird Meta AI remix thing that we shall not talk about. Everything you see below are things I have personally bookmarked on Instagram.

This exercise is a great reminder that we all have the same real estate to create, explore, and express ourselves and I hope you can walk away after you read this with some inspiration of how to bring your own story (personal or brand) to live a bit more as a result.

Here’s the latest and greatest takeaways I am seeing through content lately:

The Art of Being Vulnerable

The highlight reels must have been left in 2025. I mean, to be fair, Adam Mosseri has literally called this “The Year of Raw Content,” and it’s showing up everywhere. It’s not just coming to life in what people say, but in how they say it. Openness is becoming its own aesthetic. Having a perspective is hot!!

There’s a beauty and level of depth that can come in through taking something that is analog (writing, jounaling) and giving it a life through digital through some of the pieces above from folks like the lovely team at Dieux with THIS carousel or creators like Case or Foray up above.

The throughline across all of it: being too perfect reads as an ad now, in my opinion. Whether it's a mistake named out loud, a handwritten list, or a half-finished paragraph on a screen, people want the human element back. Brands funneling their paid media dollars into Meta have taken that off of people's feeds. They want to feel seen and feel heard again.

Creative Ways to Get Consumer Insights

A simple, highly repeatable format is quietly doing double duty as engagement bait and consumer research: the food personality test. Brands are labeling parts of their own product — the corner vs. the middle of a brownie, how you like your bacon, which bite of a cookie — and asking followers to pick a favorite.

It reads as pure fun, low-lift content. But it’s actually a low-cost, high-frequency way to survey your audience that you can iterate on over + over again for content hot takes and more. It’s cheap to produce, drives top of funnel, and ideally brings in more awareness to you.

The Lo-Fi Hook, Polished Payoff

A format that’s working well right now opens with something that looks almost bystander-filmed using the old-school Snapchat treatment before revealing itself as produced content a few seconds in.

The hook works because it doesn’t look like a brand asset.

Remember: the best ad never feels like an ad, and some of the best brand-produced content won’t feel like it’s coming from a brand handle at all.

Everyday Objects and Motions as the Format

We’ve seen this for years, but the bar keeps rising and sometimes being more creative just means using what’s already in your hand, in your home, or in your bag.Your phone. Your AirPods (wired or wireless). Your sunglasses.

The same instinct shows up in computer gestures whether it’s downloading, double-clicking, zooming in and out — muscle-memory motions we all do without thinking — are getting built directly into content as visual language, because everyone recognizes them instantly with zero explanation needed.

The trend underneath all of it: the most native-feeling content doesn’t invent a new visual grammar. It borrows the one everyone already knows, and repurposes it as a retention tactic.

Carousels Continue To Get a Storytelling Upgrade

With everyone racing to produce more video, some brands are reminding us why carousels are equally important and should be leveraged, especially with what you can unlock from a storytelling point of view with the new per-slide captioning.

You don’t need a whole new new video for every idea. A lot of what’s already shot — product stills, campaign photography, or video content — can be recut and repurposed into a carousel.

What I just wrote should already be a no-brainer when it comes to the art of repurposing and repackaging, but Saucony just gave the rest of the industry a masterclass. Their new “Made for More” campaign didn’t just repurpose assets, it restructured the entire narrative arc across the carousel format, holding tension slide over slide the way a video would hold a cut. See it HERE.

CREATOR ALERT: I can’t get enough of @ffkaushan

Just watch her content and if you’re a brand with a food product or a local restaurant to her, please do something with her.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a tool I am loving. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• What I’m Eating: I can’t stop making fluffernutters and the ripe age of 31 years old. I finally tried Dandie’s marshmallow fluff. Two slices of Sola bread (10g of protein per slice!), some fluff, some One Trick Pony peanut butter and we’re talkin’.
  

• What I’m Using: Creator sourcing is usually the slowest part of any YouTube campaign. It can 2-3 weeks of manual digging before outreach even starts. I came across Scout by Babbl Labs on LinkedIn recently, and it compresses that whole process into one conversation: describe your brand or ideal creator, and it searches 150K+ YouTube channels to return ranked matches with fit scores, real sponsorship history (including competitor placements), and filters across 49+ attributes like price, topics, audience geo, upload cadence, average views.
  

  I took it upon myself and asked the founder, Ramsey, if he’d help out any brands reading this newsletter. So, if you have been wanting to explore Youtube partnerships and you book a demo HERE this week, you get 1,000 free credits (2x the usual), enough to run a few real creator searches end to end before paying anything.

• What I Recently Bought: My standing desk decided to just breakdown so I recently invested in a new desk set-up from Branch and I honestly can’t get enough of it.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Nothing crazy this week, but we can all celebrate that Meta’s AI Remix “feature” was removed within 2 days (via Social Media Today) of being live. Good job, everyone! I wonder when Instagram will gives us features we actually ask for.

That’s A Wrap

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your Friday with me and for continuing to show up here. It really means more than you know.

If you know someone who’d enjoy this newsletter, I’d be so grateful if you shared it with them as we grow this community in 2026. You can hit the button below to share.

Share

As always, if there’s something you want to see more of, questions you’re sitting with, or ideas you want me to dig into, drop them in the comments or DM me on Instagram or Twitter anytime.

I’ll see you soon.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

First off, I want to say thank you for the amazing support, shares, and comments on last week's edition. If you haven't gotten a chance to dive in, you can click here after (!) you get through today's.

As a reminder, there's a small surprise for any of my fellow NYC marketers after you read today's.

Let's get right into it because it's clear that many people shared the same sentiment after I accidentally went viral on LinkedIn on Friday.

If I ruffle some feathers, I am sorry in advance, but hey, you get what you signed up for, right?

I'm going to hold your hand when I say this…

just because a trend is happening does NOT mean you have to jump on the bandwagon.

If it works for you, great. If you know it's a reach, your consumer can feel it. Please think before you create.

Case in point: the Empire State Building banner trend. On July 1st, daredevils Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov climbed to the building’s spire, hung a pro-peace banner, and got engaged 1,454 feet up. Within hours, the photo was everywhere, and brands started editing their own banner copy into it.

(If we want to talk about who “won” leveraging the moment, Doordash did it IMO).

This reminded me how rarely brands use an internal filter to know if a moment is actually theirs or if they're better off in the nosebleeds, watching everyone else force a square peg into a round hole.

Here's the filter I run every trend through before saying yes:

• Are we doing this trend because we have to, or because everyone else is? Stay funny, stay relevant, but don’t try to make fetch happen. Just because a trend is happening doesn’t mean you have to do it the way everyone else does — find a way to make it yours. And don’t take yourself too seriously.

• Can we ship it while it’s still alive? Trends move in days, not weeks. A slow approval chain kills them before they even launch.

• Does the trend make sense for our brand, and will our audience understand it?

• Can we be a catalyst for the trend? At the end of the day, every brand should want to find that sweet spot — early enough to help shape how a trend comes to life, not just follow in someone else’s footsteps.Trends aren’t a social strategy. Trends are just a tactic to support your overall plan.

Trends are a tactic to support your overall plan. Stop making them your every post, and take this as a sign to make more original content this year.

If you’re a brand that consistently trend-jacks, you’re going to end up as one of two things:

• Popular for something other than what you actually sell or want to be known for.

• Asked (if on the social team), “So did this actually sell the product? What is this doing for our business?”

That question doesn’t just haunt trend content, it follows social everywhere across posts, and it gets loudest in influencer and creator work when hiring bigger talent, where “it performed well” still isn’t the same as “it moved the needle.”

DEEP BREATH

Quick break to say that if you’re in social and still getting asked “so did this actually sell product or move velocity?”, especially when it comes to working with popular influencers or even smaller creators at scale, that there is finally an answer and it’s THIS.

However, let’s take a quick moment of silence for all those times we have been asked the above collectively.

That gap – the one between someone discovering your brand online and actually buying it off a shelf — has basically been a black box.

It isn’t anymore.

I’ve had Hummingbirds in my toolkit for a while now, mostly for their local creator network where they have real people finding your product in the wild, trying it, and posting about it authentically. What’s new is that they’ve built a way to actually trace that discovery through to a verified purchase, which we LOVE (and so will your C-Suite).

Here are the mechanics:

• Brands set up Offers linked to specific SKUs and retailers.

• Shoppers find those Offers near them, buy the product where they already shop, snap the receipt, and get cash back. Every redemption is receipt-verified (not a coupon, an actual purchase log). I heard through the grapevine that brands like Goodles have had over 500+ offers go in less than 3 days.

• Brands get real redemption and velocity data back. Not estimates, actual sell-through signal.

• Creators are incentivized via affiliate commission to share the product via content, DMs and more. When someone buys a product and uploads a receipt, the creator earns.

• Creators get to build a “Nest”, a shoppable page of their go-to food & bev picks, kind of like a ShopMy or Amazon storefront, but built specifically for this category and the first of its kind.

If “prove this drove sales” has been the hardest question in your job and finding creators on a local level has taken you hours, you should probably get started here and say hi to Emily and the team.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: Someone help because I cannot stop ripping through bags of Joolie’s Date Sours. Truly one of the best products I have had this year. I love all flavors equally, but if you’re going to get a bag grab the Peach or Blue Raspberry.

• Drinking: Culture Pop Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade. Juicy, bubbly, and refreshing. Summer in a can to say the least.

• Using: Realm. If you appreciate a good-smelling home and you care about what you’re breathing in, Realm is a line of non-toxic fine fragrance that neutralizes odor and lingers beautifully in air and on fabric. I spray the Verbena Santal as often as I can or the Fresh Poplin.

• Before you go, make sure you…

  • Read this. Google is letting you get even more data to showcase how your content works in your favor, especially when it comes to SEO. Proving the point that SEO on social is indeed real. Shoutout to all the haters who said it never existed.

  • Take inspiration from this brand. Ladder's (@joinladder) content strategy resurfaced in my memory after this post of theirs featuring coach Lauren Kanski went live this week. It's a masterclass in sequencing: open with something candid and behind-the-scenes to earn attention, then pivot into editorial substance, and land on the promotional ask without ever feeling like a hard sell.

  • Watch this. I’ve always been a fan of Mark Mastrandrea’s podcast, Open Residency. It’s one of the few I watch or listen to tbh. I’m manifesting a feature one day, but in the meantime, I really loved this episode with Bloom founder, Greg LaVecchia, validating how to get your product across all different niches and sourcing good creators when it comes to influencer marketing.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your morning with me and for continuing to show up here no matter what. It really means more than you know.

Now, quickly for my NYC marketers who want to attend Social Commerce Summit next Thursday, I am giving away one ticket in this newsletter.

All you have to do?

• Share this newsletter with one person who may need it.

• Heart it. It really helps those of us on the platform.

• Comment below and tell me:

  • A bit about yourself.

  • Something you want to learn more about when it comes to marketing as a whole.

  • One thing you’re looking forward to this year (personal or professional)

I’ll pick someone this Sunday to get a ticket on me where we’ll walk through what’s been sitting in my social bookmarks.

Peace, love, and KPIS,

KD

Things are only cooking up over here to say the least. Before hopping in, I want to invite all of my NYC folks to Social Commerce Summit on July 16th where I will be talking alongside some amazing folks in the CPG + DTC Space. If you want to come, I am going to give away a ticket here soon so stay tuned.

Like I said we’re keeping it short + sweet so let's get into it because I have a bone to pick with how most brands still talk about influencer marketing.

With that said, grab said silly little beverage, kick your feet up, and hear me out.

Influencer Marketing Cannot Be Your Only Strategy

Social media is an ecosystem.

Every part of it has to work together for any of it to work well. Most brands treat these as separate work streams. The ones winning right now treat them as one.

Within your ecosystem, you have the following (and to make it fun, I am including a fun reminder that you may dislike, but you know you need to hear the advice):

Organic + Owned Content: This is your Instagram account, TikTok presence and any other platforms you choose to activate on. this is the foundation.

Reminder: Now’s a good time to audit your social accounts, especially if you’re a seasonal based product. Use this down time to your advantage. If you want to be a social first brand, you should also peep this.

Community: In this context, I am mostly talking about community management. We see it every single day that more and more brands are wanting a community manager from day zero. How you show up, where you show up, and how you reward + treat those who support you is more important than ever.

Note: If you have kicked answering comments or DMs off to the side, dive back into your content. Pull the top 3 recurring questions from your comments this month and turn them into your next 3 pieces of content. Some of your best content is right in front of your eyes.

Influencer Marketing: This your paid partnerships and product gifting. This is one of the many trust layers within the echo system and can be a huge driver for distribution, perception, and affinity.

UGC (User Generated Content): This can be content that is produced by customers or that you brief to smaller creators to leverage across organic + paid social.

Paid Social: Your boosting, darkposting and whitelisting. We really need a dictionary for this stuff. This bucket is your amplifier. It takes whatever’s already working — your best performing organic post, UGC content, or influencer content — and puts real dollars behind it so it reaches people who were never going to find you on their own.

Reminder: Please take your best-performing organic posts from the last 30 days and put some $ behind it before you brief a single new paid creative. Your organic content can be your best paid ad. Work smarter, not harder.

Underneath all of this is: Data + Analytics. It’s how you actually know what to keep, what to kill, and where to push harder. Skip this layer and you’re just guessing what above is actually doing the work.

So, this is your reminder to actually become to performance driven instead of doing this for “vibes.”

None of these pieces work particularly well in isolation. Eventually, leaning on one can have implications (ex. brands using paid media out the gate and then wishing they spent time building community 2 years in). That’s not a strategy or a realistic approach.

On today’s topic , I want to flag a problem every (literally) CPG marketer I know is dealing with right now, especially if you’re in retail or headed there. Keep reading because you’ll regret it if you don’t.

You’re putting in the work across channels and you can feel your marketing moving product, buuuuuuut you can’t prove it. Best case, you’ve got estimates, guesses, and some engagement numbers on a few posts. We’ve all been here.

No tool has closed the loop between discovery and a verified purchase at the shelf at Target, Whole Foods, and beyond... until now.

Introducing: Offers by Hummingbirds. If you’re a regular reader, you know Hummingbirds is already in my stack, especially for retail brands who need everyday, local creators to discover products, make authentic content, and share it with their communities. Real UGC, real hyperlocal visibility, at scale. If you say you don’t need it, I don’t believe ya.

I’m so excited to be one of the first to give you early access, because for the first time, brands can connect creator-powered discovery to verified, in-store purchases:

1. Brands create Offers tied to specific products and retailers

2. Consumers discover Offers near them, try the product somewhere they’re already shopping, upload the receipt, and earn real cash back — every purchase receipt-verified

3. Brands see actual redemption data and velocity signals. Woohoo for real purchases! To be clear, this is not a coupon app

4. Creators can also build a Nest, which is a curated, shoppable collection of their favorite brands. Think Amazon storefront or ShopMy, but built for food and bev at retail AKA something that has never ever existed before.

Trusted by Graza, Recess, Goodles and more, Hummingbirds has what you need, and then some.

If you’ve been on the hunt for one platform and one dashboard, that takes you from content to conversion at retail, you’ve found your math.

Click here to get started and get to know Emily and the amazing team.

Ok, had to get that off my chest. Now…

Stop Doing These 5 Things When It Comes To Influencer Marketing

1. Nobody’s actually tracking gifting. Product goes out the door to influencers every month and there’s no system tracking what came back, what got posted, or what any of it actually drove. It just... happens, and then disappears into a spreadsheet nobody opens again. You can read more about building a program here.

2. The influencer manager and the social manager aren’t actually talking. An influencer delivers a great collaborative post or a piece of content worth boosting, and it just sits there, because nobody flagged it to the person who should be supporting it with community engagement or pulling it into paid. You fall easily to your systems and can miss easy wins.

3. Influencers aren’t tiered around what they actually do for the brand. Not every influencer is there to drive distribution, and not every influencer is there to build perception, but most brands sign everyone off the same brief and expect the same result, then wonder why the math doesn’t work.

   This one’s big enough that it’s probably its own newsletter all around how to anchor your paid partnerships around a few key creators and let smaller creators build the “I cannot escape this product” feeling. If you want that, hit “reply” and let me know.

5. There’s no actual brief. You should know exactly who you’re going after and why before you reach out, not chase the shiny object because they have a big following. It’s 2026 and we should all be aligned that following is a lagging indictor of success. Do the research on the numbers and other qualities of an influencer first (engagement, do they tend to their community, etc). This is how people get burned. They sign an influencer because they seem right or big enough, not because the data said they were and then on top of that they give them creative freedom. Write a brief and be happier with your investment.

I’ve listed more in a past life.

My only ask to you after reading it to the end (hehe) is to reflect on how you want to leverage influencers and if you truly need to or if you are because everyone else is. If they are useful to you, leverage them and work on a process that allows for the most success across your ecosystem.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: Someone needs to take my credit card because I have been CRUSHING boxes of Simple Mills Sweet Mmm’s. They are perfect in every single way.

• Drinking: Been adding a little something new to my routine and that thing is Plainspeak. Made by friend of newsletter and mentor of mine, Sara, Plainspeak has saved me time + money since it combines every grown-ass woman need to stay strong with 15g Protein, 5g Creatine Monohydrate, 5g Collagen, 100mg Calcium Citrate, and 2000IU Vitamin. If you want a free sample, click here.

• Wearing: The heat wave in New York has me wearing my uniform lately which is an Aritzia Contour Cami with usually a pair of Leset Kyoto Pants (perfect for my fellow petite girls) or these cream-colored jeans from Madewell.

• Product of the Week: Brick (again). Sometimes, you forget just how much the screen impacts you even within the first five minutes of your day, even when it feels “positive.” Bricking my phone for two hours has genuinely given me back my focus and noticeably less anxiety. If you work in social and are trying to actually enjoy your summer instead of doom-scrolling through it and increasing your screen time rather than your sun time. This is your sign to try it, buuuut just make sure you remember to unbrick it before you leave your house. Lesson learned.

• News You Should Know About:

  • If you’re on Youtube Shorts, prepare to change your strategy, according to recent news (via Social Media Today). Recently, changes have been made to the UI on viewer response. Our beloved “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” are no more. Introducing: the heart. If you’re a brand or creator, you’re about then lose your dislike data as a result. Prepare to shift your strategy as you will have to change your approach to performance tracking based on viewer response.

  • Instagram continues to ignore it’s users, but is anyone surprised? The “Your Algorithm” feature and grid reorganization is beginning to turn into a case of a founder creating for themselves and not for those around them. Just give me back the days of a chronological feed and the “following” page and I would be one happy camper.

  • It has arrived! You can now collaborate on a post with your favorite co-worker on Linkedin. This launches during a time where the platform is really leaning into creator monetization as we have seen with the recent launch of their Creator Marketplace.

• Before you go, make sure you…

  • Add this creator to your radar. If you’re a skincare brand or water brand, this creator is slowly on the come up. His content reminds me of the days of when creators like Bach did their makeup on subway platforms.

  • Leverage this format. Aussie peanut butter brand, Drizzy, used their product as a spinner in this reel, letting their audience guess where they’re launching next given the demand. Use this if you’re a US brand finally shipping to Canada or internationally to drive hype, dropping a new flavor of a SKU people already love, or launching into a big (inclusive) nationwide retailer.

  • Take inspiration from this brand. Eme Studios has been a brand on my radar for a minute and this post just cannot get out of my head.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your morning with me and for continuing to show up here despite the slower sends on my end. It really means more than you know and just means I am working hard to come back here and dump all the knowledge I have learned on you in due time.

If you know someone who’d enjoy this newsletter, I’d be so grateful.

You can hit the button below to share.

Until next time.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

-KD

From my soft-launch into consumer tech with Sandbar or learning more and more about how social can support velocity with long-time client, Ripi, the last few months have not only pushed me to have to evolve, but to be okay with being uncomfortable, which is where and when growth ultimately occurs. I have avoided writing because well, coming back to something can sometimes feel like climbing a very steep hill, but you have to do the hard thing and stop overthinking it.

Before we dive into today’s topic, a couple of quick things:

• If you’re new here (thank you for joining and your patience!), you can read all past editions of No Filter for free right here to catch up.

• If you’re new here, I would love to learn more about YOU. After you read today’s, I would love to hear what’s going on in your world or what questions I can help answer. This newsletter has always been fueled by the audience and the work that I am doing day to day. Simply hit “reply” or comment below and say “what’s up”.

Alright, let’s get into it, shall we?

Today, we’re revisiting one of my most written about, requested, and loved topics: the marriage between social media and retail velocity.

After multiple newsletters and spending the last few months helping Ripi gear up for two nationwide retail launches, I have recognized that many amazing brands who have the opportunity to be on shelves still do one thing very often:

They don’t even talk about or highlight the fact that they are in retail!!!!!

They assume that once they drop the news, people will just stumble upon them. Newsflash: they won’t.

If your retail announcement is nationwide and landing on inclusive shelves like Costco, Target, Whole Foods, HEB, I will die on the hill that your launch requires a 360-degree approach across organic social, influencer, and paid media.

To help you get it right, I’m breaking the full playbook down into the three non-negotiable marketing pillars you need to align to drive retail velocity.

• Bucket 1: Organic Content & Creative: Mapping out your hero launch assets, avoiding the dangerous “New SKU” + new retailer trap, and keeping your feed from turning into a boring corporate billboard.

• Bucket 2: Influencer Seeding & The Regional Creator Playbook: How to run hyper-targeted, localized seeding waves to creators who actually live in your new retailer’s zip codes.

• Bucket 3: Paid Media Amplification: Taking your top-performing organic and creator content and passing it to your paid team for geo-targeted ads that drive offline foot traffic.

A Few Words…

We’re in the era where brands who are mostly in retail stopped swinging big and started thinking smart.

For a long time, the “playbook” was simple: find a big creator, cut a deal, hope it moves the needle. But, one partnership (no matter how well it performs) can only reach so far. For retail-focused brands specifically, reach doesn’t mean much if it’s not happening in the right city or right store.

The brands winning at retail right now are doing one thing: driving volume.

More voices, more markets, more people finding the product on the shelf and telling their communities about it. That’s what actually builds velocity, not a single post from someone with a million followers.

The problem? Finding enough of the right people, in the right locations, without burning through your entire team’s bandwidth, is genuinely hard, but it doesn’t have to be with the right tools and support. Most brands know they need local, nano and micro creators to support a retail launch. Executing it is a different story.

I mean, tell me how many of you feel like:

☐ Finding nano and micro influencers in specific cities, big or small, feels like a full-time job

☐ You don’t have the bandwidth to manage 30–40 creators alongside everything else that you have to be doing on a day-to-day basis

☐ Your retail launch window is tight and there’s no time to build an influencer program from scratch

☐ Getting content reviewed and approved is a bottleneck that slows everything down

That’s exactly what Hummingbirds was built for and the way it works is simpler than you’d expect:

1. Build your campaign. Define your retailers, cities, and goals.

2. Choose your creators. Pick hyperlocal creators in your key markets, or let their team match you. They’re real shoppers who already have trust in their communities.

3. Track and reuse. Review performance and repurpose the content across your paid, digital, and retail channels with usage rights included.

Brands big or small like Graza, Carbone, Purely Elizabeth and Yulu Foods are already running retail creator programs this way, without adding headcount or complexity.

So, if you want to get 21 hours back of your time (no, seriously this is a real stat), access to over 50,000+ creators around the country, and a team that can help get real people talking about it in the right places, this is worth a look.

A huge thank you to Emily + the rest of the Hummingbirds team for being a Day 1 supporter of No Filter.

ORGANIC CONTENT & CREATIVE STRATEGY

Your feed cannot become a graveyard of back-to-back corporate logos, dry storefront photos, and boring graphics the second you hit shelves.

Yawn.

You need to keep the content entertaining while being hyper-clear about where to buy.

Production takes time, and being ahead is a nice feeling. While I live by the phrase “pressure makes diamonds” a little too much (I once literally scrapped a nationwide launch post at 10 PM the night before and briefed a whole new concept that ended up crushing), you want your creative ready early.

• Pick your vibe: Are you going high-production like we did with Ripi for our recent Target launch with some CGI or aesthetic photoshoot like Graza just did for their new Chips launch? Or keeping it authentic and low-lift with a founder photo outside the storefront like Laoban Dumplings? All of them work.

• The Tease: Plan a teaser sequence for your channels to boost engagement and speculation a few days before the actual name of the retailer drops or the new SKU that you are releasing.

  

  

  

If you are gearing up for a major retail rollout into giants like Whole Foods or Target, you are probably planning to drop a shiny, limited-edition, retail-exclusive SKU at the exact same time. It’s a classic playbook move. But it also introduces a dangerous creative pitfall: The New SKU Trap.

When you launch a fresh, exclusive item, the temptation is to pour 100% of your creative energy, ad spend, and organic content into that one product. It’s new, it’s exciting, and it makes for great storytelling.

Because here is the retail reality check: If your core, everyday staples don’t move off the shelves, the retailer won’t care how cool your limited-edition launch is. They will look at the lagging velocity of your baseline product and cut your overall shelf space.

To survive the rollout, you have to pivot to a “Hook & Halo” strategy. Instead of making the exclusive SKU the entire show, use it as the clickbait hook to capture the internet’s attention, then visually flank it with your core classics so your everyday staples get the halo effect of the launch hype. Treat a new retail SKU as an expansion of an already incredible lineup, not a standalone event.

When you drop the news, your creative execution needs to be hyper-tactical: clearly state exactly which stores or regions you are live in, tag the retailer so their teams see the digital foot traffic you’re driving, and push people directly to a fully updated store locator on your website.

Here is how that “Hook & Halo” strategy actually comes to life across your social channels during launch week:

On Instagram, you want a mix of high-production announcements, direct conversion drivers, and community proof. Your baseline assets should include 3-4 In-Feed Posts , 1-2 Instagram Story sequences with a direct link to your store locator.

If you need some creative references + inspo for rolling out into a new retailer:

• Ripi’s Target Teaser → Ripi’s Target Launch → Ripi’s New Flavor Highlight → Ripi Founder talks about Target SKUs → New SKU in Use (Creator Content) → Giveaway to boost engagement.

By using the new SKU to open the door, you give your entire product line the stage ensuring that your first month on the shelves isn’t just a flash in the pan, but the start of a permanent retail footprint.

Influencer Seeding & The Regional Playbook

Once your organic strategy is mapped out, it’s time to deploy your influencer network. But to win at retail, you have to completely change how you view creators. You shouldn’t view influencers just as a one-time awareness spike. They are your localized, digital field-marketing team.

Traditional brick-and-mortar field marketing of hiring brand ambassadors to stand by a folding table and pass out tiny samples is incredibly expensive, painfully slow, and hard to scale. That may be a hot take, sorry. Localized influencer seeding is the modern alternative. You aren’t just looking for internet “clout”; you are deploying a digital street team to drive immediate velocity to specific zip codes or chains.

But just like your paid ads, your regional influencer playbook shifts dramatically depending on whether your product lives in the pantry or the freezer aisle.

• The Shelf-Stable Playbook (Targeted Shipping): If your product is shelf-stable, you can execute a hyper-targeted regional mailer. Audit your retail footprint, pick 3 to 5 key metropolitan regions where your retailer has a high density of stores and ship product directly to creators living exclusively in those exact geographic pockets with a customized experience when and where it makes sense.

  
  If you do have a shelf-stable product, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars designing an entirely new custom box just for a retail launch. I took the simple approach when handling Graza’s rollout into Whole Foods and Target.
  

  Instead of overcomplicating things, we simply zhuzhed up the usual influencer mailer with a hyper-targeted custom insert. The moment a creator opened the box, the very first thing they saw wasn’t just the product. It was a beautifully designed card featuring the massive, recognizable logo of the retailer, alongside a clear callout of the specific SKUs they could now find on those shelves.
  

  The Result: That insert became an instant visual hook. 99% of the time, it was the exact first shot creators captured in their unboxing videos or posted on Instagram Stories. It seamlessly forced the retail announcement into the creator’s content without requiring a complex creative brief.

• The Frozen Food Pivot: If you are a frozen brand, remember: do not ship product. Instead of wasting hundreds of dollars on dry ice, insulated boxes, and overnight cold-chain logistics just to mail a creator a frozen burrito or an ice cream pint, you shift to an In-Store Bounty model.

  
  You recruit local creators in your target retail regions, Venmo them cash or send a digital gift card, and pay them to go buy the product directly off the shelf.

  But let’s be real: managing this manually is an operational lift for an in-house team. If you try to scatter-plot this strategy by managing five creators in Dallas, three in Denver, and four in Miami, your team will drown in DMs and the impact will be completely diluted.

  
  Instead of spreading your manual outreach thin, pick one or two key focus cities where your retailer has massive store density, and focus 100% of your internal bandwidth there. A single creator posting in a massive city does nothing for your retail velocity. But if your team manually coordinates with 10 to 15 micro-influencers in Chicago, ensuring they all film themselves grabbing your brand from the freezer aisle of their neighborhood Whole Foods or Target in the exact same week, you create a localized echo chamber.
  

  If you don’t have the time to do this, whether you’re a frozen brand or shelf-stable, there are folks who can help out.

PAID MEDIA AMPLIFICATION

This is where the retail engine actually catches fire. Once your product hits shelves and content starts rolling across your accounts or from creators + customers, you need to turn those assets into a sustainable media loop.

However, your amplification strategy depends entirely on one major logistical question: Does your product live in the pantry or the freezer aisle?

Before passing assets to your growth team, you have to acknowledge the reality of your product category and transparently, I can’t write this section without acknowledging that some categories do not have the pleasure of being able to gift product at scale.

The strategy splits completely depending on your margins and shipping friction.

• The Shelf-Stable Playbook (High-Volume UGC): If your product is shelf-stable, seeding can be frictionless. You can easily ship boxes to 100+ creators, generate a massive library of organic reaction clips, and naturally find your winning creative. From there, you leverage that high-volume footage directly into whitelisted ad campaigns.

• The Frozen Food Pivot (Paid Boosting Strategy): If you are a frozen brand, traditional influencer seeding is a margin-killer. Dealing with insulated boxes, dry ice, and overnight cold-chain shipping means sending a single package can cost hundreds just in logistics with the added risk of your product melting on a porch…womp. Do not waste budget on mass seeding or trying to schedule a ton of Instacart orders to a creator’s doorstep. Instead, source a few high-quality assets (either via internal team content, content that has been uploaded already organically supporting a retailer or paying a handful of local creators to buy the product directly in-store). Then, take that small pool of top-performing creative and reallocate your saved shipping budget directly into paid boosting via engagement and awareness campaigns on Meta.

Promote Organically

Before spending a dollar of ad budget, use team assets to sustain your organic momentum. Get creative or keep things incredibly simple! It keeps the retail launch top-of-mind without making your brand look like an annoying, repetitive corporate billboard. It can be as easy as a quick shelfie 1x/week to remind people where they can find you.

The Paid Media Hand-off

Organic reach has a strict shelf life (no pun intended), but paid spend gives it legs. The second a piece of creator UGC or an internal launch asset outperforms your baseline engagement organically, pass it straight to your performance marketing lead.

Hyper-Targeted Geo-Fencing

Do not run these retail-driving ads nationwide. Instead, run this content as whitelisted or dark ads geo-targeted exclusively to the exact zip codes or a 5-mile radius surrounding your new retail locations.

• The Result: You bridge the digital-to-physical gap instantly. By running targeted awareness and engagement ads right over your physical accounts, you turn a vague online announcement into immediate, repeatable shopping velocity.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: Guys, I have been girl dinner-ing a little too much. Lately, my go-to late night dinner on a busy day is a whole bag of Caulipower Chicken Tenders from Whole Foods with an array of sauces. My go-to sauces lately have been Ketchup (I eat an ungodly amount of ketchup), Kinder’s Hickory Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce, and Truff Buffalo Sauce.

• Drinking: Bloom Pop Root Beer. I cannot stop. It tastes exactly like a RBF (Root Beer Float).

• Wearing: It’s the season of redoing all my basics. My uniform as of late is a good pair of Levi 501 90s Ankle Jeans (great if you are short - I am 5’3!) with a long-sleeve or tee from Leset.

• Product of the Week: If you are someone who has a hard time to trying to organize all of your thoughts and the never-ending to-do list in your head, want to turn your thoughts into action, or just need something to track your to-do list, meet Stream. Stream has changed my life in a matter of months. If you want one, use the code “KENDALL” at checkout for $50 off.

News You Should Know About:

• Meta just added new creator publishing tools (via Social Media Today) Meta launched a new Content Planner element within its Creator Studio tool on the web, which provides a more visual overview of scheduled posts. They also improved the bulk upload option for Reels, which will enable creators to streamline the upload process.

• If you missed it, Instagram took a note out of BeReels’s book and launched Instants, which feels like a UI/UX nightmare and has given me a near heart-attack every time that I am going to accidentally take a photo of myself. You can actually turn them off here.

• TikTok keeps increasing it’s offerings now with TikTok Go, a new way to discover and book experiences in app. TikTok GO surfaces lodging and things to do across the ways people already discover content on TikTok – through videos, search, and location pages. When users find something they love, they can view details, check availability, and complete a booking in just a few simple steps.

That’s A Wrap

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your morning with me and for continuing to show up here no matter what. It really means more than you know.

If you know someone who’d enjoy this newsletter, I’d be so grateful if you shared it with them as we get this thing back up and running as it should be.

You can hit the button below to share.

Share

See you very soon.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

This edition of No Filter is brought to you by the amazing team at Hummingbirds.

I know many of you are headed to Anaheim shortly to tackle Expo West. I unfortunately will not be attending this year, but I will be there in spirit. If you are going, I expect a few deets on what you love and what you did not. You know that I love a good snack or fun lil’ bev so keep me updated.

This week, I am following my own advice from a previous newsletter and going back through some of the recent content from the last few weeks to share them with you. From what I loved about them and how they can inspire your own creative POV to perhaps putting you onto some new creators or brands.

A Look Inside My Bookmarks

2026 is the year creators are giving brands a serious run for their money and the year brands are (hopefully) waking up to the difference between context and content.

What works on Instagram doesn’t automatically work on TikTok. A piece of short-form content is not a piece of short-form content. The platform shapes the meaning, the mood, the expectation. Repurposing without rethinking is just noise.

The brands showing up differently right now have made a choice to invest in that difference. A team, a creative partner, the right tools whatever it looks like, it’s intentional. It doesn’t happen by accident and it doesn’t happen for free.

What follows are the posts and formats that caught my eye lately. The ones that made me stop, look twice, and hit follow or save.

1. You don’t have to overcomplicate your set-up.

Brands like Globe Studios are a great reminder that you can execute engaging creative without spending thousands of dollars. They use their Feed as their “coffee table book” highlighting clean product shots, but use their Reels tab for a the low/mid-fi content showing you how they get some of the shots. The kicker? Most of it is made with a $200 walking pad, a big photo light, and a nice camera.

This is the video that made me follow them.

2. Brands are gamifying the “mundane”.

We’re used to coffee shop or brands showcasing how to make a beverage or giving us the lowdown into a recipe, but in a world, where so many brands are now doing what was cool 2 years ago (more brand ot brand collaborations on social, espcially in food), how do you make something you do every day fun again?

Introducing ANMA, a coffee shop in Indonesia. You will see that a lot of the examples I show this time around are actually from brands or shops overseas. I feel like they move different there.

I came across this interactive reel the other day that highlights the step-by-step of making one of their most popular drinks as the cursor clicks each emoji. It’s nothing new, but the format is fresh and applicable to many niches.

3. Why build a brand when you can build a world?

A brand tells people who you are. A world makes them want to live there.

Brand building is about recognition. It’s your the logo, the tagline, the consistent voice that makes you identifiable. It’s important. But it’s also essentially a one-way conversation.

World-building flips that. Instead of asking “what do we want people to think about us,” it asks “what do we want people to feel like when they’re inside what we’ve created.” The product almost becomes secondary. What you’re really selling is a place to belong.

The brands doing this right now aren’t just posting content to post content. They’re using every medium available to deepen the world. And the smart ones understand that different formats do different things.

One of the mediums I have found myself really wanting to work with more is Multimedia.

I came across Talia Blank’s account last week when looking at moodbording for a new client and instantly was taken aback. I am really hoping to get to work with more amazing artists in this field this year where appropriate.

4. Formatting can elevate the ordinary.

We’re used to creators posting their OOTDs, recipes being posted in static images by brands, and just the everyday photo-dump posted by a friend or another influencer, but accounts like

An account like Linda’s is a great reminder that something we’re used to seeing can be made different. She is quite good at showcasing different ways of showcasing her style.

These formats can be adapted to showcase differentiation in how your own product may be used, where it can be used, and more.

If you’re a makeup brand like MPH Beauty, you might showcase different looks that can be achieved.

If you’re a supplement brand like Graymatter, you might showcase the different times + places that the product is good for by changing the environment.

5. Consistency in content formats can bring reward.

This one is mostly for my founder friends or folks just wanting to be creators or test concepts outside of the brand accounts you may run.

We all know consistency is key in whatever way we want to describe that. It may in uploading frequently, the way the branding shows up in content, or just a concept at the end of the day that gets iterated upon.

Some of my favorite accounts that represent the work of putting in the reps are:

• @jakep1911: Jake is a self-proclaimed introvert who highlights his journey of breaking out of his shell to go to stuff.

• @dailyrepsguy: Skye showcases his quick workouts to see if he get get jacked doing 20 minute workouts and documents his daily journey.

• @ipetmydogeveryday: A video is posted everyday petting his dog based on the number of followers the account received.

That’s it for now, but PLENTY more where that came from. I want to make this a monthly edition so let me know how you liked it.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: It’s starting to get embarrassing how quickly I rip through bags of Drizzilicious on a weekly basis. My personal favorites? Cookies + Cream, Birthday Cake, and S’mores. When I finally crave something savory, I am eating a whole box of the new Ripi Cacio E Pepe Ravioli.

• Drinking: For all my non-alc folks, I found us a new favorite sparking wine. Meet Society De La Rassi. I got 2 bottles from a client event and I am selfishly saving them for myself on these cold + snowy winter nights.

• Watching: I cannot get over Love Story. It’s just so good. I would love to go back to the 90s to be honest. Also, anyone else watching season 2 of the The Pitt? Insane.

• Resource of the Week: Great Amateur. If you want an inside look at how some of the best brands across all niches are being built by those who actually do the work, this is for you. I had the pleasure of chatting with Radhika a few weeks ago all about how to build a brand on social. It’s one of my favorite pieces I have gotten to be a part of.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Those product shops you so desperately need for your product pages can now be done in 5 minutes and save you thousands of dollars with the help of Google’s Photoshoot in Pomelli.

  • If you’re a brand or brick + mortar biz trying to hone in your search to work with local creators, TikTok probably was listening to you. TikTok recently launched a “Local Feed”, which will allow people to stay connected to what may be happening wherever you are. This isn’t necessarily new, but if you’re local or need to activate locally, use it while you can (via Social Media Today)

  • Youtube is officially the most watched platform, according to Nielsen. If you have been here for a minute, you know that my obsession with Youtube runs deep, especially when it comes to activating paid integrations with influencers. I cannot say that I am shocked.

That’s A Wrap

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your Sunday evening with me and for continuing to show up here. It really means more than you know.

If you know someone who’d enjoy this newsletter, I’d be so grateful if you shared it with them as we grow this community in 2026. You can hit the button below to share.

Share

As always, if there’s something you want to see more of, questions you’re sitting with, or ideas you want me to dig into, drop them in the comments or DM me on Instagram anytime.

I’ll see you soon.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

Just a bit of housekeeping before we get into today’s newsletter.

If you’re new to No Filter, I genuinely love getting to know who’s here. If you’re comfortable, shoot me an email and say hi! Tell me a little about what you do, what you’re working on, and what you want to learn. Your feedback directly shapes what this newsletter becomes, so don’t be shy.

Now, after talking through how to get back on track with marketing planning and sharing a few practical ways to clean up your strategy heading into the new year, there’s one bucket that keeps coming up again and again across every brand I’m working with right now: partnerships and collaborations.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to speak on a panel (right after Khloé Kardashian, NBD) at NOSH Live in sunny LA alongside Becca Millstein (founder of Fishwife) and Jing Gao (founder of Fly By Jing) on the reality of collaboration.

From why collaborations suddenly feel everywhere, to when they actually work, to when they quietly flop, today’s newsletter is about cutting through the noise and talking about how collaborations function as a real growth lever in 2026 and not just a fun idea brands chase because everyone else is doing it.

In this edition, I’m sharing my notes not just from being in the weeds, but being the one to kickstart partnerships, launch collaborations, and figuring out how to actually give them the love they deserve across social media, but also from learning directly from two brands that have truly dominated in this space.

We’ll touch on:

• When does a collaboration actually make sense for your brand?

• What makes a collab work beyond launch week?

• How should you think about return on your investments without overcomplicating it?

Let’s get cracking.

What Does Collaboration Currently Look Like and Why Are There So Many?

Collaborations didn’t take off because they’re trendy. They took off because they work (when planned correctly). Paid channels are more expensive, attention is fragmented, and brands are realizing that building trust from scratch is harder than ever. Collaborations offer a shortcut not to growth, but to already earned attention.

What collaboration looks like today is also a lot broader than people think. It’s not just a co-branded SKU (though that’s still a big one). We’re seeing:

• Product collaborations where brands create something net-new together or license an existing product into a new category.

  

  

• Content collaborations where brands co-create social media content and tap into each other’s audiences without launching a new product at all. Brands like Graza, Ninja Kitchen, and many more do this quite frequently. Personally, this is the “gateway drug” to something bigger to test community fit and interest.

  

• Distribution-led collaborations where the real win isn’t the product, it’s access. New shelves, new channels, new moments where your brand shows up somewhere it normally wouldn’t. This could look like a co-seeding (product gifting) between brands that allow for a complete experience like how Made In would send olive oil to influencers alongside their pans.

In 2026, distribution is marketing. Getting your brand into a new retailer, a new content ecosystem, or a new community can do more for long-term growth than another paid push ever could, especially with costs only getting higher. Collaborations accelerate that by letting brands borrow momentum to increase their own earned media value (EMV) instead of trying to manufacture it alone.

The brands doing this well aren’t chasing hype. They’re using collaboration as a lever to expand reach, deepen credibility, and move faster in a landscape where attention is expensive and trust is everything.

How To Make Partnerships and Collaboration a Growth Lever in 2026

Collaboration only becomes a growth lever when it’s designed with intention. If it starts as “this would be fun,” and a business goal in mind, it compounds.

The strongest collaborations in 2025 and heading into 2026 were and will be built around one clear objective such as:

• Audience expansion: reaching people you don’t already have access to

• Distribution unlocks: new shelves, channels, or platforms

• Credibility transfer: borrowing trust from a brand your customer already believes in

From there, everything ladders up. The product, the content, the launch timing, all of it exists to serve that initiative.

Where brands get stuck is treating the collaboration like the finish line. The product drops, a few posts go up, and then everyone moves on and usually there some type of disappointment. The brands that actually see growth think beyond launch week. They design collaborations that feed into:

• ongoing content across social and creators whether it’s collaborative content, paid partnerships, or just keeping the wave going through influencer seeding

• a custom influencer experience (PR event, custom gifting experience, etc.)

  • Note: We’re seeing more brands invest in truly custom packaging made specifically for influencers not as an afterthought, but as part of the “story”. At Graza, we did this for Dua Lipa (yes, she eventually posted 6+ months later) and key restaurant partners. We’re seeing brands like Tru Fru use custom packaging to celebrate a packaging refresh, or One Trick Pony create birthday gifts for the influencers who consistently support them. When done well, it turns a mailer into a moment, something worth opening, filming, and remembering, and even possibly keeping.

• retail storytelling and education

• community moments that extend the narrative like how Olipop created a diner last January to celebrate Orange Cream coming back. It wasn’t just for influencers. It gave the broader community a physical place to show up, try the product, and be part of the moment themselves.

This is also where measurement matters. You don’t need perfect attribution, but you do need signals: net-new reach, content performance, retail velocity, repeat interest, etc.

How To Know If You’re Ready for Collaborations + Partnerships

Readiness has less to do with being “big enough” and more to do with being clear enough. I’ve seen small brands run great collaborations and larger brands struggle because the fundamentals weren’t there.

A few practical ways to pressure-test readiness:

1. You know who your customer is (and where they already shop).
If you can’t clearly describe who buys from you today and where else they spend time or money, it’s hard to choose the right partner. Collaborations work best when they expand adjacent reach, not random reach. It feels like lately, everything is a cash grab so I hope 2026 is the year we see thoughtfulness come back.

2. You have at least one hero product or message.
If everything is still a test, a collaboration adds unnecessary complexity. Knowing what you want to spotlight makes partnerships easier to execute and easier to measure.

3. You can support distribution and attention.
Collaborations create spikes in traffic, content, customer inquiries, and sometimes inventory. If your team or systems can’t support that, the partnership won’t land the way it should. Set yourself up for success, not a letdown.

4. You have something to trade.
This doesn’t have to be scale. It can be a highly engaged community, strong content, a loyal customer base, or access to a channel the other brand cares about. If you don’t know what your leverage is yet, that’s a signal to wait. It’s called a collaboration for a reason.

5. You know what success looks like before you start.
Whether it’s net-new reach, creator content, EMV, or distribution learnings, if success isn’t defined upfront, it’s hard to tell if the collaboration actually did its job.

Bottom line:
You don’t need to be massive to collaborate. You need clarity, operational readiness, and a reason to partner that goes beyond “it would be cool.”

What Makes a Collaboration “Work” + How To Measure Success

A collaboration works when it’s built with a clear purpose. Not every partnership needs to do everything, but it does need to do something specific: reach a new audience, unlock distribution, or add credibility in a way that makes sense for the brand.

The collaborations that work tend to be tight on a few fundamentals:

• Clear audience overlap (you’re talking to the same customer, just from different angles)

• Defined ownership and expectations from the start

• A plan for how the collaboration lives across social and creators, not just on the product page

• Support beyond launch week so it doesn’t disappear after a few posts

Success also has to be measured realistically. Most collaborations are designed to drive awareness first, not instant conversion and that’s where Earned Media Value (EMV) is useful.

EMV helps quantify the attention a collaboration earned across social and creators. It gives teams a directional sense of impact: how much visibility was generated, which creators and content formats performed best, and whether the collaboration reached people you wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

Using a tool like Archive (not sponsored, just a proud supporter for 3+ years) makes this easier by tracking creator content tied to the collaboration and rolling it up into campaign-level EMV. Paired with metrics like content volume, reach, engagement, and net-new creators, EMV becomes a practical way to assess whether the collaboration actually moved the needle.

If a collaboration expands reach, creates reusable content, and opens doors for future partnerships and you can see that reflected in the data, it worked.

5 Examples of Brand Partnerships that I Saved in 2025:

To ground all of this in reality, most brand partnerships fall into a few buckets. Knowing which lane you’re in makes it much easier to pick the right partner and measure success.

1. Same Shelf Partnerships
Brands that already live next to each other at retail. These work because you’re catching a customer in an existing buying moment and getting new eyes without needing to re-educate. Think incremental discovery, not net-new behavior.

2. Same Category Partnerships
Two brands in the same category, but with different POVs, price points, or audiences.
These partnerships help expand consideration and reinforce category leadership, especially when each brand brings a slightly different customer or use case.

3. Cross-Category Partnerships
Different categories, same customer. These tend to be some of the strongest partnerships when done right because they introduce your brand in a new context while still feeling intuitive to the consumer.

Example: Ithaca Hummus x Graza

4. Distribution-Led Partnerships
The partnership is really about access to new shelves, new channels, or new ecosystems. Here, the product or content is the vehicle, but the growth comes from showing up somewhere you normally wouldn’t.

Example: Soft Services Mini Buffing Bar Set allowed brands like D.S. & DURGA to make a small entry into Sephora this past fall with their Debaser Buffing Bar.

5. Influencer-to-Brand Partnerships
A creator partnering directly with a brand for reach, credibility, and built-in audience trust. These work best when the creator feels like a natural extension of the brand, not just a megaphone.

Example: Poppi x Amaya from Love Island

Ahead of the Trend

This section is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes it’s a trend. Sometimes it’s a marketing tip. Sometimes it’s about snacks.

TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Reading: I did a terrible job at reading books in 2025, but a fabulous job reading Substacks. If you’re looking for some fresh reads going into the new year, here are a few favorites I always come back to:

  • Full Disclosure by Julia Perez

  • Feed Me by Emily Sundberg (a classic)

  • ICYMI by Lia Haberman

  • Express Checkout by Nate Rosen

  • The New Consumer by Dan Fromer

If you have any, send them my way! Always looking to add.

• Listening: I literally can’t stop listening to Fetty Wap again since he now got out of jail. It really is giving 2016.

• Using: Okay, they got me. I converted and bought a Brick during Black Friday. If you’re someone with an unhinged screen time, this thing will force you to get off your phone and actually deep work. Annoying? Yes. Effective? Unfortunately, yes.

• Brand of the Week: Sult. Why? Well, they just “get” it. This account is such a great example of everything we talk about from taking the audience along for the good, bad and the ugly, repeatable formats that audiences recognize, and focus on education that separates them from their consumer. It’s a different point of view.

HELP! I’m debating turning this into its own weekly moment. Same idea, just more fleshed out and intentional. Would you actually want that to land in your inbox every week, or is this better as a one-off? Tell me what you think (truly).

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday and spending it with me and for still staying tuned in.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this community in 2026. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

I’m writing this from the cozy corner of my couch, sipping on a bone broth hot chocolate (don’t knock it until you try it), and mentally prepping for the week ahead.

As we all ease back into the chaos of real life, I wanted this newsletter to feel simple, easy to digest, and more tip-oriented.

Today, we’re chatting 26 tactics, tricks, tips, and reminders to help sharpen your social media strategy and execution, strengthen your influencer marketing initiatives, and reset your overall mindset.

Quick housekeeping before we dive in: I totally messed up the most important link in my last edition. If you want to get better at planning content ahead of time, you can make a copy of my template HERE.

Let’s get into it.

26 Lessons from the Social Media Trenches

In no particular order.

1. In the wise words of Austin Butler, “Embarrassment is an unexplored emotion. Go out there a make a fool out of yourself.” Whether it’s creating content for the first time or trying a new approach, you will always stand in your own way. If this is the year that you want to invest more in being on camera, writing, or creating in a way that is important to you, you won’t know until you try. Heck, you’ll see me trying to be on camera more here this month and i’d be lying if i said i wasn’t nervous.
   
   Speaking of, if you’re something looking to get good at creating and scripting short-form content, I really recommend signing up and looking into Cut30. I have had the honor of being a guest speaker for over 5+ sessions, but February will be the time that I take it myself to get better at practicing what I preach.

2. Go back to all those Instagram posts, TikToks, and tweets you saved or bookmarked in 2025. There’s a reason they stopped your scroll. Use them as a shortcut: study the hook, the format, the pacing, and the caption. You’ve already told yourself what works so now turn those saves into ideas you can actually build from and utilize.

3. You will always fall victim to your systems. Control what you can by whatever means necessary whether it’s in weekly updates,

4. If growth feels stuck, it’s usually a distribution problem that can be born out of a content or product issue. You (most likely) need more top-of-funnel, more entry points, and more ways for people to “accidentally” discover you. Saying the same thing in more places beats saying new things to the same people. Influencers posting nonstop, content living beyond one platform (or account), through partnerships with other brands, and showing up where new audiences already are that’s how momentum actually builds. Talking to the same people won’t get you far.

5. It’s okay to do things for brand awareness even if it isn’t always able to be tracked. I wrote a bit around why brand awareness is a strategy HERE earlier in 2025.

6. A reminder that social-first content is driving the strongest awareness. Stop leaving your social team in the dust when it comes to company updates, initiatives, and campaigns.

7. If you’re sending product to influencers but feel unsure how to prove impact or you just want to understand how and where your brand is actually being mentioned, start by tracking organic content properly. Tools like Archive help you see what’s already happening, surface potential creators who are posting that could be great fits for your brand, and give you clarity before you scale seeding or spend more budget.

8. Content and context go hand in hand across platforms. Not every piece can just be repurposed even if it feels like the easy way to produce more.

9. Trends are rented. Formats are owned. Invest in formats you can repeat, evolve, and make your own because those are what actually compound over time. Doing trends consistently isn’t a strategy nor is it sustainable.

10. Your best inspiration will never come from the same niche you operate in.

    Step outside your own box. Bring ideas back with intention. For example, this post from Nordic Knots stopped my scroll enough with them leaning into new textures and colors the same way a beauty brand would encouraging their customers to lean into new color palettes that they may highlight in their home.

11. Start a DM group chat with your team directly in-platform. Use it to share wins, drop ideas, and pass around inspiration in real time. It keeps everyone looking at the same feed, the same references, and the same inspiration so you’re actually on the same page, not just saying you are. Plus, we all get served different things so it allows for new perspective.

12. If you’re still needing a watermark removed, use SnapInsta or SnapTik.

13. Protect thinking time. Block time on your calendar every week to let your mind run free. In social, it’s easy to get stuck in the messy middle of half strategy, half execution where nothing feels clear. Sometimes the most important meeting is the one you have with yourself to walk away with clarity.

14. You can’t expect things to change if you aren’t leveraging your own data. Analytics are free!!!! If you’re looking for something that is more intricate, I personally have always been a Sprout Social user.

15. Good marketing can only save a bad product for so long. Invest in what you’re selling just as much, if not more, than the team you’re building to carry a mid product. Marketing should amplify something great, not disguise something unfinished.

16. Just because something may be hard to measure, don’t necessarily mean it’s not “working.” I’ll die on this hill.

17. Ideas and consistency is what will set you apart as a brand and as a human online. Strong ideas, repeated often, in enough places. The brands that win aren’t louder. They’re clearer and more consistent, but also aren’t afraid to try.

    Good ideas get attention. Consistency turns attention into momentum.

18. Showing the process matters more than you think. Behind-the-scenes content builds trust since shows how decisions get made, what goes into the work, and that there are real people behind the brand, but also removes the concept of perfection. BTS lowers the barrier to care. People don’t just want the outcome.
    They want to understand the journey. Process creates connection. Connection creates buy-in.

19. Your community is your most consistent distribution channel.Invest in your community and actually put resources behind it. That can look like featuring user-generated content, inviting your community into photoshoots, hosting IRL events, funding their ideas, or simply meeting them where they already are online through their tagged content + comments. When people feel seen and included, they don’t just support the brand, they help build it. Cava just did this with their new announcement that they are bringing their signature white sweet potatoes back.

20. Top-of-funnel content is still wildly underdone. Brands jump straight to selling and skip the part where people actually discover them. This is the work that earns attention before someone is ready to buy, follow, and fully engage. Go broad on purpose. Not everything needs to convert. It needs to introduce, entertain, and stick.

21. The best brands are media companies. Top of funnel still matters. Views fuel everything, so if you can maximize reach, why wouldn’t you? We’ve seen brands spin up multiple accounts whether it is BTS-only pages, founder-led profiles, “finstas,” and more to capture attention in different ways. Naturally, this is bandwidth-dependent. But if you have the ability to own more surface area and mindshare in your category, it’s worth testing.

    1. Immi created their brand account, but what really made them pop was ramenonthestreet. They leveraged brand likeness through the ramen costume, but didn’t make it feel like an ad. Instead, they layered in something personal and human: deep questions, relatable answers, and moments people actually recognize from their own lives. The lesson? Likeness gets attention. Humanity earns retention.

    2. Bloom Supps recently did this with the introduction of a meme accounts across TikTok and Instagram to drive high-level awareness and views HERE. Sometimes the smartest brand move is not acting like a brand at all.

22. You can’t master every platform 100% perfectly. Stop trying to do the most.

    Get really good at one or two. Lock in a flow. Learn what works. Build consistency and expand. “Mastery” comes from focus, not fragmentation.

23. The social media ecosystem isn’t just about the platforms you post on or the pillars you build. It’s bigger than that. It’s how everything connects.

24. The best social media content calendars allow for both planning AND flexibility. I personally think having a fully flushed out calendar 2 months in advance that is approved down to the content + copy is a way of shooting yourself in the foot. Sure, You know what’s coming, why it’s coming, and what matters most, but you should want to still leaving room to react to trends, culture, and performance in real time.

25. You will never have the perfect equipment. Just press record. If you do need equipment and don’t know where to start though, I just picked up these DJI mics and have been loving them.

26. Social media is called social media for a reason. Be social. Engage, respond, participate, and show up where the conversation is already happening or create your own. There’s a reason outbound community management is becoming a key pillar in social strategies.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for spending a few minutes of your Sunday evening with me and for continuing to show up here. It really means more than you know.

If you know someone who’d enjoy this newsletter, I’d be so grateful if you shared it with them as we grow this community in 2026. You can hit the button below to share.

And as always, if there’s something you want to see more of, questions you’re sitting with, or ideas you want me to dig into, drop them in the comments or DM me on Instagram anytime.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Also, if you’re in NYC and wellness is your thing, stay close. I’ve got something coming in late January and spots will be limited. Reply to this email if you want first dibs on an invite.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

First, for anyone who took the time to leave a comment or write to me personally after the last piece: thank you. That piece took more out of me than I expected. But it also feels like I pushed through to get here and have a real fresh start.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday rotting on the couch, watching Heated Rivalry, or picking up some random new hobby you’ll either stick with… or absolutely abandon by February.

As everyone gears up to plan for the year ahead, it feels important to pause and acknowledge where social media, marketing, and everything in between are actually heading.

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing a handful of newsletters I wrote during my little newsletter sabbatical. They’re meant to help you think more clearly about how to plan for 2026 whether you’re operating at a high level or deep in the trenches every single day.

Let’s get into it.

Before we get into it, I do have to acknowledge that the theme for 2026 for many brands is not only going to be “content”, but “community”.

That’s why today’s newsletter is brought to you by my fake family over at Superfiliate, a proud supporter of the newsletter for the last 2 years and also the one of the only tools I have proudly used for 3+ years within the influencer + social space. It’s what has allowed me to help scale and build six-figure affiliate programs like I did for Graza.

This tool is legitimately everything you need and nothing you don’t.

If you’re a brand looking to:

• Have one place to actually manage your influencer + affiliate program
  No scattered links. No spreadsheets. No guesswork. Just one hub where everything lives.

• Have creators who feel like real partners, not one-off posts.
  Give creators a home where they can grab links, track performance, and stay looped in without constant back-and-forth.

• Clear visibility into what’s driving revenue (and what’s not)
  See who’s converting, which links are working, and where sales are coming from without stitching together five tools.

• An easier way to scale affiliates without losing control
  Onboard more creators, manage payouts, and set expectations all without your program turning into chaos.

Superfiliate could be your solution for building an affiliate program that feels organized, scalable, and actually measurable.

Now, what sold me on Superfiliate? Well, you can make custom landing pages for your creators, which personally have helped me achieve a 7X Return on Ad Spend (Influencer Fees).

These cobranded landing pages create a personalized experience for your next potential customer as every page has its own unique content, curated products based on what your creator love, reviews from the creator, and more, which can help drive higher conversion rates.

SEE AN EXAMPLE RIGHT HERE FOR ONE OF MY CREATORS

The kicker? Their teams builds these out FOR you with no extra effort on your end. Isn’t that wild? I hope you’re shaking your head “yes.”

If you just want to chat with the team, tell them I sent you right here.

Now, back to our unfiltered thoughts.

Social media planning doesn’t have to be hard.

As I was saying, social media planning doesn’t always have to be hard.

Every January, brands panic about social.

New year. New goals. New platforms to “double down” on (usually with not enough support to do so).

New pressure to magically be more organized than you were in Q4 when you were just trying to survive holiday.

Here’s the thing I wish more teams understood: Social media planning isn’t actually that hard. What is hard is trying to plan without first understanding what’s already happening.

Before you open a single content calendar, pitch a new series, or commit to posting “5x a week,” you have to audit what exists today.

Not in a scary, 40-slide, over-engineered way. In a clear, honest, “what’s working vs. what’s not” way.

Because without that baseline, you’re just guessing.

Audit!

A social audit doesn’t need to be complicated.

At minimum, you should be able to know the answer to things like":

• What formats are actually driving reach (not what you wish were)

• Which posts drive the most engagement across the key KPIs for the brand

• Where you’re over-investing energy with little return

If you want a more tactical breakdown of how to audit your social (what to look at, what to ignore, and how not to overthink it), you can reference it here, but the important part is this:

The audit is the unlock.

Once you have it, planning becomes lighter. Faster. More aligned. Why? Because you have data to back up why the plan for 2026 is what it is.

But, the real problem isn’t ideas. It’s alignment.

Here’s where most brands actually get stuck.

It’s not a lack of ideas.
It’s not a lack of creativity.
It’s not even a lack of effort.

It’s that too many people have a hand in: content, ideation, approvals, execution.

…and no one is aligned in one place or at one time.

Marketing has ideas.
Social has ideas.
Creative has ideas.
Founders have ideas.
Leadership has opinions (always).

So what happens?

You end up reacting instead of planning.
You build the plane while flying it.
You change direction mid-month.
You redo work that already existed.
You feel behind even when you’re technically “on track.”

Sound familiar?

The Solution? A Monthly Brainstorm.

The fix isn’t some insane new tool or a 12-month locked content roadmap.

It’s a monthly brainstorm that happens 1-2 months before the month you’re planning for.

That’s it.

One intentional moment where:

• Everyone who touches content, brand marketing, influencer + partnerships is all in the same room (in person or virtually)

• Priorities are clear before ideas start flying with knowing what key initiatives are being focused on during that specific period

• Constraints are acknowledged upfront

• Social isn’t treated like a last-minute add-on

All you need to get started? This document (please make a copy!).

This sheet may look a little scrappy, but it’s been one of the most helpful workflow tools I’ve built.

I’ve used versions of this with clients like Curology, and it’s genuinely helped with team involvement, alignment, and planning ahead. Everyone can look at a full calendar and know that content was briefed with enough time, had room for feedback, and wasn’t rushed or reactive.

The point of the sheet is focus. You start by calling out what actually matters that month maybe it’s a new product launch, a retail moment, or a big partnership. Once those priorities are clear, everything else has a place to land.

From there, it’s broken down by team member and by bucket. This example is made for a food brand, but the structure works across categories. It gives every team a way to contribute ideas whether that’s social concepts, trends worth testing, partnerships or activations that need support, community moments, or influencer and affiliate ideas without things getting siloed or lost.

It’s not meant to be perfect or precious. It’s meant to create a shared source of truth so everyone understands what’s coming, why it matters, and how their ideas connect back to the bigger goals for the month.

From there, it’s a meeting of the minds on alignment and confirming what ideas move forward to be able to build out a calendar across social and more.

Why This Matters

In social, you’re almost always building the plane while riding it. That’s just the reality of the job. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s reducing friction wherever you can.

When priorities are clear early, teams aren’t guessing. They’re not reacting in silos, duplicating work, or scrambling at the last minute because something “suddenly” became important. Everyone knows what the big moments are, what needs support, and where their lane actually is.

That’s when execution gets cleaner. Not because people are working harder, but because they’re working with each other instead of around each other.

It also creates space for better ideas. When timelines are visible and expectations are set upfront, creative isn’t rushed, feedback is more thoughtful, and content actually has a chance to be good, not just “done”.

At the end of the day, this isn’t about controlling creativity. It’s about giving teams enough structure to move faster, stay aligned, and ship work that ladders up to something real.

The Highlight Reel

If you’re heading into a new year thinking: “we need to be more organized”, take three small steps.

Start here:

1. Audit what you already have across platforms.

2. Based on your audit, revise your strategy for Q1. Are you leaning into new content pillars? Are you changing your approach to a social media channel or perhaps removing one completely?

3. Start a monthly brainstorm that allows you to stay ahead.

Social media planning doesn’t have to be hard, skipping these steps is what makes it an exhausting guessing game.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Snacking: Guys, since I have been “away” my snack game hasn’t improved too much so I might need you guys to send me some recommendations. So, hit me with what you’re loving lately.

• Drinking: Guys, I am so addicted to Graymatter. If you’re goal is to really lock in, then you’re missing the main thing that will help you do that. For all my folks who also have ADHD, do yourself a favor.

• Creator(s) of the Week:

  • Have a brand that needs some education around it or just in the mood to learn something new? Meet jamesdurkin2. James learns a new thing every day without the help of AI because well, not everything needs to be automated.

• Resources of the Week: Air’s 2026 Trend Report. Wondering what's next in the land of marketing and creative? Industry insiders and creative visionaries look into their crystal balls to reveal 2026's most provocative predictions.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Instagram puts a limit on hashtags via Social Media Today.

  • IGTV has made it’s comeback, but with a different look. Episodic + shareable content should be on your list to trial if it isn’t already.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me and for still staying tuned in.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this community in 2026. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Other than that, I will see you guys this week where we’ll be chatting what I think the theme is for 2026, how to approach brand partnerships + collaboration in the new year, and some solid reminders + learnings from 2025 that you can take with you into 2026.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

This newsletter is brought to you by Superfiliate.

P.S. If you see typos, please let me live.

Where do I even begin?

First off, I hope Q4 is treating you as kindly as it can. If you’re staring down a massive Black Friday / Cyber Monday push, consider this a deep breath delivered straight to your inbox. I’m sending you energy and empathy.

Because today’s newsletter is about something we don’t talk about enough:

Loving your work and accidentally losing yourself in the process.

For the founders who are the business.
For the social leads whose brains don’t shut off when the laptop does.
For the ambitious people who genuinely care… sometimes too much.

The last few months have been exciting… but also personally challenging.

When I finally sat down, opened Substack, and hit “Create New Post,” it didn’t feel right to jump straight back into marketing lingo and highlighting what’s going on in the world of social media like nothing happened.

That’s not why I write this.

I talk about doing the thing, shipping the work, and sharing what I’m learning in real time, but it also applies to the life and identity of being someone who runs their own business and is a human being trying to make it all make sense.

Because the truth is:

Work doesn’t pause when life gets heavy.
And life doesn’t pause when work demands everything.

Most of us are building careers we’re deeply invested in, sometimes to the point where it becomes hard to tell where the job ends and we begin.

So before we dive back into the marketing world next week, I thought I would open up a bit, especially since I know so many people are in the same spot. If this newsletter can help one person feel seen, heard, or understand, it did it’s job.

I love this industry. I love what I do. But let’s be honest for a second, when you live and breathe your work, there’s a fine line between passion and self-sacrifice.

The long nights bleed into early mornings.

The “I’ll take a break later” turns into “wait, did I even eat today?”

Relationships quietly get the version of you that’s running on 2% battery.

Your creativity flatlines because your brain hasn’t had anything to feed on except Slack notifications.

And your health? Yeah… you guessed it.

Working for yourself sounds like freedom and in many ways, it is. But it’s also carrying the weight of knowing that if you don’t show up, nothing moves. There’s no off-switch. There’s no “someone else will handle it.” , especially as a solo operator.

It’s accountability, pressure, pride, joy, panic, and fulfillment all wrapped into one job title that somehow becomes your entire personality.

And the wild part, whether you’re a founder or choose to work in a demanding industry is: we chose it.

That’s the part no one prepares you for: when you care this much, the thing you built can start to quietly take priority over the person building it.

And if I’m being even more honest, that level of intensity catches up with you.

Burnout doesn’t always show up as a dramatic collapse. It’s caring so much that everything starts to feel like too much.

And here’s what I keep reminding myself lately:

We are not performing brain surgery.
No one’s heart monitor is beeping in the background of a UGC brief.
We are not saving lives — even though our bodies sometimes respond like we are.

But the reason it feels that intense — especially in marketing and social — is because we’re measured every single day. There’s no “quiet wins.” The work is public. The stakes feel emotional. The numbers talk back. And when something doesn’t land? It feels personal. Because a little piece of us is in every idea we ship.

Yet… despite all of this… we show up.
We try again.
We keep building.
We keep caring — maybe too much, but caring nonetheless.

Because underneath all the chaos is purpose. There’s pride. There’s the rush of making something that didn’t exist yesterday. There’s connection. There’s creation. There’s the belief — the audacity — that our work means something.

And it does.

But so do we.

And here’s what I want to be transparent about: this newsletter means a lot to me. It always has. It’s the one corner of my work that feels like mine. It’s my space to actually say the things we’re all thinking, to share what’s happening in our industry, to connect with the people who get it because you’re living it too.

But over the last couple of months, my brain was… full. Between client work I care deeply about, travel, launches, life, and just trying to be a functioning human, I didn’t have anything meaningful to write here. And I’d rather hit pause than publish something that sounds like everyone else.

That’s the reality of running your own business: you juggle what’s in front of you and try your best not to drop the pieces that matter, but sometimes you just need to put things on pause.

I missed this.

I missed having a place where my thoughts didn’t need approval or analytics attached to them.

I missed writing for the sake of writing and not because something was due. (If you write a Substack, you know that we all put fake due dates in our head)

So I’m giving this space what it deserves again.

Not because I “should,” but because I truly want to.

I’m glad to be back and I hope you feel that in the coming weeks as I have spent time working on pieces I really care about.

If you’re still here, I deeply appreciate you.

If you’re new here, don’t be shy. Hit the “reply” button and say hi.

And, as always, if there is something you want me to write about, I am all ears.

Until next time…

Peace, Love, and KPIs

-KD

P.S. If you’re going to be in California the week of December 4th, I will be speaking at NOSH. For all my food + beverage folks, hope to see you there.

This edition you’re about to read was a community-favorite the other month. With that said, we’re diving into my saved folder in my phone.

Do you ever just save and save and save different posts on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter for inspiration and just literally never look at them ever again? Well, I realized that I am almost always on a saving spree, but it’s been a minute since I looked back so why not do it together every month and dive a bit deeper into the trends I am seeing.

Alright, let’s dive in. Oh, and if you’re not subscribed and just here to join along, welcome!

What’s In My Social Bookmarks And Why

No judgement please.

1. Everyone is working to own their own community. Brands are finally realizing they need to own what they’ve built. After years of building massive audiences on social, everyone’s starting to think about what happens when you don’t control the platform.

   Sephora just announced it’s building its own ShopMy-style affiliate platform so creators can link and earn directly inside the Sephora ecosystem instead of relying on third-party apps.
   
   Condé Nast is working on new community and commerce platforms that give their editorial brands more control over audience relationships.
   
   Tools like Rediem are helping brands build loyalty and community programs that turn customers into community members all on their own websites as seen here with brands like SunBum and their Bum Club.

   The trend is clear: if you’ve spent years building an audience on social, you need a way to own that connection off of it. Whether that’s through an app, a newsletter, a founder-led channel, or your own version of a marketplace, the smartest brands are finding ways to bring their community closer and keep it theirs.

   

2. Sometimes you just need to step outside your niche. If all you do is look at other brands in your category, you’ll end up recreating the same content everyone else is already posting. The best inspiration usually comes from outside of your niche as I have written maybe about 55 or 56 times at this point. Lately, the creativity that is coming restaurants, coffee shops, and more are the ones that have been making me laugh and/or hit the “Follow” button.
   

   They’re not overthinking. They’re just creating and seeing what sticks. They post what feels real. If you want to do brand social right, stop scrolling other brands’ feeds.

   

   

   
   

3. Do one thing and do it really well. Whether you’re a brand or building a personal brand, that’s the common thread across the accounts taking off right now. The era of trying to do everything is over. The accounts that win pick one thing: a tone, a format, a perspective nail it, and keep doubling down on it.

   We’ve seen it with the account I featured the other week, @stickthefence, but also with creators like @adamnkilla. They’re consistent, clear in what they will provide from a content perspective, and are not chasing trends. They’ve built something recognizable by doing one thing over and over until it sticks.

   That’s the energy more brands need to tap into. We see it with brands like Brightland who always start a new month with their Monthly Produce Guide that garners thousands of likes and shares.

4. Creativity feels like it’s lacking. Sorry, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say a lot of things feel copy + paste lately. It happens. I didn’t save as much as I usually do, but we’re definitely in the era of iteration. If something worked for someone else, why reinvent it when you can tweak it just enough to make it your own? I get it. But with more brands putting real budget behind content and creative heading into the new year, I’m excited to see how the next wave of brands shows up online with fresh ideas, new energy, and their own take on what creativity and original content looks like.

5. Transparency doesn’t have to be boring. It’s not one of my newsletters if I somehow don’t acknowledge Merit in some capacity. The posts below from Merit and Crown Affair are good reminders that being transparent doesn’t have be or look boring. You can make it emotional, visual, and celebratory and it still builds trust while feeling aspirational.

   

   

6. Women’s sports activations are only getting started. Watch this space. This is a space where beauty brands are about to work haaaard to take it over in the next few months. We’re already seeing it from brands like Milk Makeup and Tower 28.

   For example, here’s a quick little article about Milk’s involvement in the Nike After Dark event in LA a few months back.

7. Influencer shippers still matter. Even in a world where everything’s digital-first, that physical unboxing moment still hits. The best influencer boxes don’t just look pretty; they say something. It’s a first impression to those who you want to talk about you, but also to the future and potential consumers you may gain through those creators. Every detail is a chance to show what makes your brand worth remembering and talking about.

   ---

Your Resource of The Week: Doss

As you may know, Q4 starting means you have to be prepared for anything and literally everything. From the random onslaught of orders that happened because a big influencer posted your product to that ad performing out of the blue, it’s the season where growth feels amazing until your operations and systems crack under the pressure of it all.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably juggling a Third-Party Logistics portal to know how much inventory you actually have, Shopify for all of your order updates, and Quickbooks for all the fun finance and adulting things.

Imagine a world where you do not have to play leap frog from portal to portal anymore. Did you know that your portal jumping actually leaves room for error on your end across potential missed updates, overselling, and an inbox full of pissed off customers?

Given the season and the fact that so many brands have been asking me around how to handle operations with their influencer seeding and product gifting, I want to remind you guys about Doss. Doss gives you the operational backbone your efforts deserve. It connects the dots between your campaigns and your systems so when growth spikes, nothing breaks….like ever.

Just ask brands like Eight Sleep, Sauz, Mike’s Hot Honey and Magic Mind, who have been able to save up to 12 hours per week (!!) on influencer gifting and order processing.

If you want:

• A Clear Way to See Return On Your Investments. See which influencers, codes, and campaigns actually drive sales to your brands.

• To Never Oversell or Sell Out of Product Again. Real-time inventory shows exactly what’s in stock across every channel.

• Orders Handled Automatically. No more scrambling when a post blows up.

• An Ops System You can Actually Rely On. Ops that move as fast as your marketing does.

Doss should be your new home for your operations.

Don’t let your backend be the thing that costs you growth this quarter.

See Doss in action here. And for friends of No Filter, Zach and the team are giving 15% off plus free implementation just in time for the holiday rush. Click here and tell them I sent you.

Now, it’s time to get Ahead of the Trend.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Snacking: Lately, I have been living at Paolina in Williamsburg. They only sell falafel pitas and platters. When I am not there, I have been snacking on the newest Siete Habanero Hot Honey Chips to add a little bit of spice to my work day.

• Drinking: Another week, another Something & Nothing soda flavor I start obsessing over. This week? Mango and Thai Basil.

• Creator of the Week: @writers.cramp. If you’re having a weird day or weird week or just are in a weird season of life, do yourself a favor and watch his videos. This man is a GEM.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Your Instagram Feed might change. Your feed may now start opening directly to your Reels tab instead. It’s been rumored that Instagram is testing this new UI in Instagram via Social Media Today.

  • If you have ever wanted to try an Erewhon smoothie, they can now ship them straight to your door with all the ingredients (cups included!!) here.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this little community every week. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

If you’re based in NYC and work at a brand full-time in E-Comm, Marketing or Community, be on the lookout because I might have something up my sleeve.

Other than that, I will see you guys this week.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

This newsletter is brought to you by Doss, Inc.

Today’s newsletter was sparked by a text chat with content king (and friend of the newsletter) Oren.

More and more, I’m seeing brands get their wires crossed when it comes to strategy and it’s putting an unfair amount of pressure on social and influencer teams. Lately, I’ve been in back-to-back conversations with founders who admit they feel totally lost about who they are as a brand and how to show up online. Sometimes, that’s because they’re clinging to tactics instead of building a real strategy. But other times? It’s because they don’t even know what their brand is.

They know what they sell. They can pitch you the product in their sleep. But ask them who they want to be talking to, how they want to show up ad where, or what role they want their brand to play in people’s lives and it’s… crickets. Without that foundation, everything else feels off. And that’s exactly why social media plans end up missing the mark.

I’ll be honest things have been a little crazy lately (aren’t they always?), but that’s exactly why I wanted to sit down and write this one. Because if I’m hearing the same “we don’t know who we are” problem over and over again, I know some of you might be feeling it too.

In this edition, you’ll walk away with:

• A clear definition of what brand strategy is (and what it’s not)

• Why skipping the creation of a brand strategy breaks social and influencer plans every time

• A checklist for spotting if your brand is operating without a real foundation

Before We Get Into It: Your Resource of the Week

As you may know, Q4 is the wild west for CPG. Demand spikes overnight, influencers post at random hours, and one viral TikTok can wipe out your inventory in 24 hours. It’s the season where growth feels amazing until your operations and systems crack under the pressure.

If you’re reading this, you you’re probably juggling the following stack:

• Your 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) portal to know your inventory levels

• QuickBooks for updates around all things finance

• Shopify for order updates

When orders are flying and you’re portal-hopping, it leaves room for error across missed updates, overselling, and angry customers.

To keep you all safe from angry customer service emails, I want to introduce you to Doss. Doss gives you the operational backbone your efforts deserve. It connects the dots between your campaigns and your systems so when growth spikes, nothing breaks.

Backed by small and big brands like Mezcla, Sauz, and Magic Mind, these teams have been able to save up to 8-12 hours weekly on sample management (think: influencer gifting) and order processing, process orders 30x faster, and so much more.

If you want:

• To never oversell again. Real-time inventory shows exactly what’s in stock across every channel.

• Orders handled automatically. No more scrambling when a post blows up.

• Clear ROI. See which influencers, codes, and campaigns actually drive sales.

• Systems that keep up. Ops that move as fast as your marketing does.

Q4 is make-or-break for most brands. Don’t let your backend be the thing that costs you growth.

See Doss in action here. And for friends of No Filter, Zach and the team are giving 15% off plus free implementation just in time for the holiday rush. Click here and tell them I sent you.

Now, let’s get back to our regular programming.

What a Brand Strategy Is and Isn’t

A brand strategy is your operating system. It’s not the pretty stuff, it’s the wiring that makes everything else run efficiently. If you don’t have this, everything will not flow how you wish. At the bare minimum, it should give you:

• Positioning → Where you sit in the market, who you’re for and who you’re not for.

• Differentiation → Why someone should pick you over the 10 other similar products.

• Audience clarity → Actual humans you could describe like a character: how they spend their day, what they read, how they talk.

• Values → The principles that guide your decisions.

• Voice & Point of View → The way you talk, the language you own, the cultural codes you lean into.

• Vision → Where the brand is going.

Let’s cut the noise. Brand strategy is not:

• A logo, color palette, or fonts. That’s identity, not direction.

• A tagline you came up with in the shower.

• A Pinterest board or a moodboard. Cute, but not a strategy.

• “We’re for everyone.” Translation: you’re for no one.

It truly matters at every single level.

• At the top: It makes your brand something people can rally around.

• For social: It gives your team clarity on what’s in-bounds and what’s noise.

• For influencers: It ensures creators amplify the same story and buy into a greater mission.

• For community: It creates identity and community that people want to belong to.

• For paid: It makes every ad dollar more efficient because the message is sharp.

Why Social & Influencer Marketing Fail Without a Brand Strategy

If you don’t know who you are, why you exist, and what you stand for, your social team is just guessing and your influencer budget is just lighting money on fire. Social isn’t meant to invent your identity. It’s meant to amplify it.

Let me be blunt: when a brand doesn’t have a strategy, social turns into chaos. You see the symptoms all the time:

• Influencer partnerships fall flat. Brands send product to creators who “look like the demo” without asking if they actually belong in the brand world. The result? A random unboxing, maybe a post, but no real impact.

• Social content blurs into noise. If you’re only chasing trending audios and recycling meme formats, you’re not memorable. You’re disposable. Without your own point of view, you’re not building equity, you’re just filling feeds. Now, is there a way to make a meme or a trend your own? Absolutely.

• Community never forms. Strategy is what gives people a reason to gather around your brand.

• Paid ads drain budget. Weak positioning creates weak creative. Ads feel generic, spend goes up, results go down. The problem isn’t the algorithm. It’s the fact you don’t know what you’re saying.

• Teams lose alignment. Founders want one thing, agencies pitch another, social managers scramble to connect the dots. Without strategy, you get marketing that feels like ten voices yelling at once and no one actually hears you.

A brand strategy prevents all of this. It aligns your team, filters your creative decisions, and ensures every dollar spent on social or influencer is building the same house and not 10 different ones.

The Brand Gut Check

The fastest way to find out if you actually have a foundation (or if you’re winging it) is to put your brand through a gut check.

1. Can you explain why you exist in one sentence without naming your product?
Purpose check. If your answer is “we sell X,” you don’t have a brand. You have a product.

2. Who exactly are you for and just as important, who are you not for?
Positioning check. If your target is “everyone,” you’re actually for no one.

3. What cultural tension are you here to solve?
Differentiation check. Great brands take a side in culture. What fight are you picking?

4. Would your audience miss you if you disappeared tomorrow?
Equity check. If they’d just buy another version, you’re a commodity. Have you worked hard enough to retain customers even if you do sell a commodity product (ex. Graza)?

5. Could your social team instantly decide if something is on-brand or off-brand?
Clarity check.

6. Do influencers + customers know how to talk about you?
Consistency check. Is the messaging around your brand, what you sell, and more clear eough for anyone to talk about it?

7. Do you have 3 non-negotiables that guide every brand decision?
Values check. Without guardrails, you’ll say yes to everything and stand for nothing.

8. Can you describe your brand voice in three words your team actually uses?
Voice check. If your captions read like corporate filler, you don’t have a POV.

9. Are your values visible in daily choices or just written in a deck?
Authenticity check. If they don’t show up in partnerships, content, and community, they’re empty words.

10. Can you clearly say where your brand will be in 3 years beyond selling more product?
Vision check. If your only goal is “bigger revenue,” you’ll always feel like you’re starting from scratch and never reaching a goal.

A Brand Strategy is Permission to Scale

A brand strategy isn’t just “nice to have.” It’s what makes every other marketing effort worth doing. Without it, you’re just burning money on tactics that won’t stick. And no, your brand guide with your fonts, colors, is NOT your brand strategy.

When your foundation is clear:

• Community builds itself. People don’t rally around products, they rally around identity. A defined brand strategy gives them something bigger to belong to and that’s when word-of-mouth starts compounding or interest is peaked.

• Influencers don’t just post. They extend your world. When the story is clear, creators amplify it consistently (and on their own time.)

• Social content doesn’t feel random. A defined voice and point of view means every piece reinforces the same identity across multiple channels, but you’re also able to know what content needs to look like to connect the brand world wherever it lands.

• Paid becomes efficient. Strong messaging and understanding of data reduces wasted tests and dollars.

The brands that win aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the biggest teams. They’re the ones with an identity so sharp that every single post, partnership, and ad feels like it was cut from the same cloth.

Social and influencer aren’t the foundation. They’re the amplifiers of a bigger message. If you skip brand strategy, you’re asking your team and creators to invent your identity for you.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Snacking: If you’re a protein fiend like me, you need to get a box of the Equip Prime Bars. I have only tried the Mixed Berry, but looking forward to trying their new Peanut Butter flavor. 21g of protein, ingredients you can easily pronounce, and perfect for those long days where you need a little quick treat.

• Drinking: Something & Nothing Orange and Mandarin Soda. An adult version of orange soda without all the sugar.

• Wearing: Lore’s Disfruta. If you have been here for a bit, you know I am OBSESSED with fragrances. I snagged a travel size and fully plan on buying a big bottle. It’s perfectly fruity, sweet, and smokey.

• Brand Activation of the Week: Starbucks took over the L train in Brooklyn to help their push for PSL season and decked out all train cars (see here). Credit to my friend, Andy, for this one. No notes.

• Creators You Should Know About:

  • @stickthefence: If you have a product that can be throw onto a fence, these are your guys. Every single day, they throw a random object out the window and see if they can stick the fence. If you have a few hundred bucks to spend, could be worth it for a little awareness.

  • @ome1official: Some of you might disagree here, but Ome is a Michael Jackson impersonator and unfortunately, these videos are simple, but effective and funny. Have a brand that has a has a double E or ends in an I? Could be worth having him pronounce it for some extra awareness like this video he did for Gucci.

  • @ellareames: Elle and her boyfriend, Billy, popped off with their signature series where she presented decks of things to see if Billy could name them and get them right. This is a great awareness and brand education play if you have some budget. Clinique already got in on action.

• Brand Account of the Week: You probably would not have guessed it, but it is Lenovo. THIS video absolutely sent me.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Oh TikTok, get your s*** together. The deadline has now been extended to December. If a deal is reached, TikTok users in the United States will have to download a new app. If you are a brand, new or old, this period of time is important in understanding where to spend your time or where you want to drive your audience to retain them.

  • Youtube has dynamic ad insertion launching which is a HUGE deal. You know I love me a Youtube partnership and I love that they are actively working on tools to support creators and brands. You can read more of the Youtube updates that are rolling out here.

  • Pop off on your Instagram Stories without taking a hit on your reach. FINALLY. [via Engadget]

THAT’S A WRAP

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me. I hope you have been blasting “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire all day long.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this little community every week. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Not subscribed and here because someone sent it to you? Click below to subscribe.

Subscribe now

If you ever need anything, have questions, or want to an edition about a specific topic, you know where to find me. All your answers come directly to my inbox so fire away!

I’ll see you later this week.

P.S. If you’re in NYC in October and you work for a brand full-time on the social, marketing or community side, stay tuned :)

Peace, Love and KPIS,

-KD

I hope you’re all continuing to participate in the Great Lock In of 2025 as we are almost half way through September (yuck). With September flying by, holiday will be here before you know and our inboxes will be getting pummeled with discounts and “ONE MORE DAY!” subject lines.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a certain illness spreading through the marketing world. The symptoms? Brands claiming they want to be ‘social-first’ while leaving their social team out of every major conversation. You can’t build a social-first brand if the people running social are the last to know.

This week’s newsletter is your reminder. If you’re on a social team, consider this the thing you forward to your boss or founder to prove why you need to be in the room. And if you’re a founder, take it as your nudge to make sure your social and brand-adjacent teams have the access and information they need to actually succeed.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Before We Get Into It

As we head into Q4, User Generated Content (UGC) is one of the biggest unlocks for your organic and paid channels… if you actually do it right.

Based off the last 6 weeks of consulting calls I have done, it is one of the top workflows that every brand is desperate to scale right now. But, let’s be real: running influencer campaigns and UGC programs can feel like herding sheep. Sourcing and vetting creators, writing briefs, chasing content, reviewing assets, handling payments, managing endless email threads, and then actually getting content live? It’s a full-time job (times ten). That sentence alone just gave me anxiety.

Here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be.

If you’re ready to take control of your UGC and influencer campaigns without drowning in spreadsheets and actually get hours (no exaggeration) of your time back it’s time to meet Elijah and the team at Vidovo.

Funny story: Elijah and I met at a happy hour in NYC a few months ago. After he gave me a peek at Vidovo, I immediately started treating it like my own secret weapon. And since it’s his birthday today, consider this my gift to the class: you should know about it, too.

As someone who has used TONS of platforms to get content made for paid ads, organic social media channels, and more, here are just some of the reasons that I have loved using it:

• The Creator Pool is Legit. 10,000+ vetted creators and influencers on the platform, with Elijah personally overseeing the process and have been trusted by brands like Notion, Momentous, Goodr, Physician’s Choice, and many other brands. See examples of content and creators here, here, and here.

• Operations Stay Tight. You can source, vet, brief, communicate (before payment!!) and then pay (if you work together) all in one place (without losing your mind).

• Content Comes Fast. Scale output for your paid ads and organic social channels, move quickly, and walk away with full content ownership.

• Creators Are Treated Like Partners. Which, if you’ve followed me for a while, you know is my golden rule for UGC success.

So if you’re looking to…

A) Source vetted creators and influencers without breaking your budget
B) Build briefs that actually get results (and set clear expectations)
C) Communicate and collaborate with creators in one spot
D) See portfolios, past work, and pricing upfront
E) Pay creators seamlessly
F) Stop wasting hours just trying to manage the chaos

G) All of the Above

…then Vidovo has you covered. In honor of Elijah’s birthday, he’s giving all No Filter readers a secret offer. To get a free 2 week trial and a 15% lifetime discount (!!!), you can click right HERE and let them know I sent you.

So, You Want To Be A Social First Brand…

Well, to be social-first, means that your social media team should know what is going on in order to create and optimize for the platforms that your brand is on.

Social is:

• The first touchpoint most consumers have with your brand.

• The loudest feedback loop you’ll ever get (for better or worse).

• The cultural translator making sure your brand doesn’t sound like a robot.

• The connective tissue between product, marketing, retail (if applicable), influencers, and community.

It’s not “just a channel.” It’s the lens your brand is seen through in 2025.

If you reduce social to “just post this,” you miss the strategy, the data, and the culture that lives inside of it. And that’s exactly why the team running it needs a seat in every single room.

… Here’s What You Have To Understand

1. Social is the First Touchpoint

• Why it matters: Every conversation around a launch, partnership, or campaign has to include social from the jump. They’re the ones translating what happens inside the brand into something your community actually sees, feels, and cares about. Without that seat at the table, you risk big brand decisions never making it past the boardroom. With it, you get strategy that naturally flows into awareness, momentum, and consumer action.

• Risk of exclusion: If social teams aren’t looped in early, the launch content ends up feeling like an afterthought or worse, totally disconnected from the rest of the campaign. That’s when you get posts that look like filler instead of fuel. Social should never be an add-on at the end or asked to join creative conversations at the last minute; it’s the channel that takes your big brand moments and makes them land.

• Takeaway: Every conversation about launches, partnerships, or campaigns needs social at the table from day one. Why? Because at the end of the day, they’re the ones responsible for building the bridge between internal brand decisions and actual consumer awareness. If social comes in late, you end up with a disconnect: big brand moves that never fully translate into culture, community, or conversion. Bring them in early, and that bridge is solid. Strategy flows naturally into awareness, excitement, and action.

  2. Real-Time Consumer Feedback Loop

• Why it matters: No other department has the same direct line to consumer sentiment as social. They’re in the comments, the DMs, and the mentions hearing every single day what people love, what frustrates them, what confuses them, and what they’re craving more of. That’s real-time market research you can’t buy. Ignoring that feedback loop means you’re missing the clearest signal of how your brand is actually landing and how you can carry those insights across other channels within the business.

• Risk of exclusion: Without those insights from the social team, brands fly blind. You miss the chance to tweak product messaging before it falls flat, adjust creative so it actually resonates, or catch blind spots before they turn into full-blown problems. Social isn’t just surface-level chatter. It’s the early warning system and the shortcut to making sure that what you’re doing is correct and not upsetting people in the process.

• Takeaway: Social isn’t just a megaphone. It’s your always-on focus group. Every comment, share, and DM is free insight into how your audience thinks, feels, and behaves. Not having that voice in the room means you’re leaving cultural intelligence on the table. Social teams can surface patterns that shape everything from your next e-mail campaign to how you position paid ads, packaging, or even product. Why wouldn’t you want that feeding into the bigger picture?

3. Preventing “Damage Control Mode”

• Why it matters: When decisions get made without social in the room, the team is left playing defense and scrambling to craft responses, chasing down answers after the fact, and putting out fires that could’ve been prevented. Instead of being proactive and strategic, social becomes reactive and rushed and that’s exactly when mistakes happen, tone feels off, and opportunities slip through the cracks for something that could have been stronger.

• Risk of exclusion: A 24-hour delay in alignment might not sound like much, but on social it’s everything. That window is all it takes for confusion to spread, narratives to get away from you, and a small issue to spiral into negative press or viral backlash. Speed and clarity matter.

• Takeaway: Loop social in upfront and the whole game changes. What could’ve been a crisis becomes a planned, proactive moment. They can shape the narrative from the start, build trust with your audience, and making sure the brand shows up with confidence instead of panic.

4. The Retail & Product Rollout Connection (if applicable)

• Why it matters: Retail expansion is one of the biggest milestones a brand can hit and social is the channel that turns it into a moment. It’s where you build hype, drive people to doors, and make the news feel bigger than just a line on a press release. But if the social team isn’t looped in, that opportunity gets wasted. Instead of energy and urgency, you end up with a post that barely scratches the surface of what the milestone could’ve been.

• Risk of exclusion: The brand finally lands on shelves, but online? Crickets. No one’s talking about it, no one knows to look for it and consumers walk right past because the moment never made it to their feeds and the awareness phase wasn’t able to be invested in. Retail wins don’t drive themselves; without social building anticipation and pointing people to the aisle, the launch slips under the radar.

5. From “Execution Arm” to “Strategic Partner”

• Why it matters: Too often, social teams get treated like order-takers to just post what the founder or creative team hands them. The truth? They’re sitting on the sharpest insights about culture, timing, and messaging, and those should be driving strategy, not following it.

• Risk of exclusion: You can’t expect your channels to actually work if you’re dictating their future from the top down. Social only thrives when the people who understand it (the social team) are trusted to lead it. Otherwise, you end up with channels that feel forced, reactive, and disconnected from what your audience actually wants. There’s a reason that I often say “Create for your consumer and not for your C-Suite.”

• Takeaway: Social shouldn’t sit underneath marketing, comms, or product, it should sit right alongside them. Social is the connective tissue between all three: it feeds product with real-time feedback and launch momentum, it amplifies comms through crisis management and announcements, and it powers marketing by testing creative and fueling campaigns. Treating it like a sub-function strips away the influence it already has across the entire business.

6. Influencer & Community Dependence

• Why it matters: Social teams are the ones who actually own the influencer pipeline and community relationships. They know who’s been seeded, who’s engaged, and who’s ready to be activated. If they’re not looped in, those networks sit dormant instead of being tapped in a smart, strategic way. You end up missing the chance to turn relationships into reach, or worse, activating in a way that feels forced because the history and context weren’t there.

• Risk of exclusion: When influencers aren’t briefed in time, UGC misses the mark, and ambassadors get left out of key moments, you’re not just dealing with sloppy execution, you’re putting real equity at risk. The content looks disconnected from the campaign, the community feels ignored, and the people who should be your loudest advocates end up quiet. That’s how you lose momentum, waste spend, and damage relationships that take months (sometimes years) to build.

• Takeaway: Influencer and community strategy isn’t plug-and-play. You can’t just flip a switch and expect it to work and it’s not something anyone can just work on. It takes coordination, planning, and consistency to make those relationships show up in the right way. And that only happens if social has a seat at the table from the start because they’re the ones who actually know how to connect the dots between brand priorities and community activation.

7. The Cost of Exclusion

• Why it matters: Late adds always cost more than you think. Rushed briefs lead to sloppy execution, last-minute content never lands the way it should, and expedited production eats into budget that could’ve been used strategically. Beyond the dollars, you’re burning opportunity because instead of building anticipation and momentum, you’re stuck scrambling to catch up.

• Risk of exclusion: When social isn’t brought in early, you lose the chance to build the correct anticipation. Instead of a layered rollout that teases, engages, and builds real momentum, the team is left making one rushed ‘announcement post’ and of course it underperforms. Not because the idea wasn’t big enough, but because the runway to make it land was never there..

• Takeaway: The earlier social is looped in, the further your marketing dollars stretch. How? Well, content gets planned with intention, influencer seeding is timed to build momentum, and campaigns ladder up across channels instead of competing with each other. That’s how your spend becomes not just efficient, but effective because every dollar is working harder, amplified through the channels your consumers actually pay attention to.

8. Social Teams as Culture Translators

• Why it matters: Social is the team closest to how your audience actually talks and what they care about. They know if a meme or trend has already burned out, if a phrase feels cringe, or if the tone is off before it ever goes live.

• Risk of exclusion: When social isn’t trusted to lead, brands end up sounding robotic, off-brand or late to the party. Instead of showing up like a brand people actually want to engage with, you come off as the brand that doesn’t get it. And once your audience decides you’re out of touch, credibility becomes harder to keep.

• Takeaway: Social teams aren’t just marketers, they’re cultural translators. They’re the ones turning brand language into something your audience actually wants to hear, share, and rally behind. Without them, your brand risks slipping into irrelevance because if you can’t show up in culture, you won’t show up in conversation, and that’s where relevance is built.

THAT’S A WRAP

Alright, alright, alright. As always, thank you for taking a few minutes from your week and spending it with me. I know there’s no “Ahead of the Trend” for this one, but I hope there was a lot to takeaway here.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this little community every week. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Whether you’re a reader or you reply back, thank you for your constant support. If you ever need anything or have questions, you know where to find me and don’t shy away from asking anything.

I’ll see you this weekend.

-KD

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Speaking of getting back on track, as some of you might know, September to December officially marks the time period known as the Great Lock-In, a season where people focus, optimize, and commit before the year ends across their work, health, and anything else that is important to them. But, how can this apply to brands?

September hits and suddenly everyone remembers they have a brand to run or a job they have to do. Summer’s over, attention is back, and Q4 chaos has arrived.

Here’s the thing: the brands who win don’t wait until November to panic-drop discount graphics. They lock in early.

That’s what this newsletter is about:

• Auditing what’s working and cutting what’s fluff.

• Reintroducing your brand so both new and old audiences know who you are going into the final months of the year.

• Executing in waves so you’re not scrambling when things may not go to plan.

This is The Great Lock In: Brand Edition, the playbook for how to actually prep for Q4 instead of just surviving it.

Why locking in now actually matters.

Think of September like preseason. If you’re not tightening your systems now, you’ll be outplayed when the real games begin in November.

• Attention resets.

  • Summer is slow. People are offline, traveling, and are checked out. When September hits, there’s a collective back to business moment. Your audience is more tuned in, routines come back, and consumer habits sharpen.

• Competition heats up.

  • By November, every brand is screaming for attention with discounts. If you’ve already primed your audience in September/October, you won’t have to compete on just promo codes.

  • Reintroducing early helps you build familiarity before the holiday noise hits and the cost of paid media skyrockets. This gives you time to build an organic base and build upon what you have already established organically.

• Your audience has changed.

  • Follower bases grow, shift, or churn. Some people following you today weren’t around last Q4.

  • Use this time to bring new followers up to speed and remind long-time fans why they followed in the first place.

• Seasonality = context.

  • Fall and holiday naturally carry themes of reflection, tradition, and gathering. Reintroducing your brand story against that backdrop lands harder and you’re tying into cultural rhythms instead of fighting them. For example, if you’re a brand where education is a huge component, can you go back to the basics around what niche yoo’re in?

Step 1: Reset the Foundation

Before you sprint into the rest of the year, clean your house. Locking in starts with knowing where you actually stand across the platforms you’re showing up on and how your consumers are really seeing you.

If you’re a brand that wants to grow, compete, or just make smarter choices with your time and budget, a social audit isn’t optional. It’s essential.

An audit helps you:

• See what’s actually driving performance (and what’s just noise)

• Spot the gaps or the places you’re over-investing

• Realign your strategy with where your audience actually is

• Save time and money by cutting what doesn’t work

Most importantly: it gets you out of the guesswork.

I wrote a Substack walking through exactly how to do this step by step read it here.

📌 Remember: Clarity is what lets you move fast when things inevitably get busy.

Step Two: Recenter Your Brand

Once you’ve cleaned house, the next move is pulling focus back to your brand story. Q4 isn’t just about selling. It’s about resetting attention. Before the discount codes start flying, you need to remind people who you are, why you matter and why they should buy from you.

This is where top-of-funnel content becomes non-negotiable.

“Wait! Kendall, can you define what top-of-funnel content is?”

Sure can.

It’s the kind of content that introduces (or re-introduces) your brand to people without asking for anything in return. Think of it as your front door: it’s what people see first, and it sets the tone for every interaction that follows.

Examples:

• Educational: Teaching people something useful tied to your category. This video for D.S. & DURGA was one of the first top of funnel pieces I ever did for the brand and it ended up being the best performing reel in the last 2 years.

• Entertaining: Relatable, cultural, or trend-driven content that earns attention. Here are some examples from brands like Graza I made back in the day: HERE, HERE and HERE.

• Storytelling: Your brand origin, founder POV, or “why we exist.” This is a take I’ve applied to D.S. & DURGA as each fragrance has such an amazing backstory and origin. You can see an example here.

• Awareness Builders: User Generated Content, Influencer Mentions + Community Shoutouts, Press Features.

📌 Note: The point isn’t to sell. The point is to make people stop, notice you, and start caring so when you do sell, they’re already warmed up.

You can’t expect conversions if you’re not consistently showing up with content that introduces (or re-introduces) people to your brand in the first place. Awareness is the thing that makes the rest of your funnel work harder. If anything, creating good top-of-funnel content is something most brands still don;t do.

Now, if you’re established or you’re a brand new brand on the market, how you do this might be a bit different.

If you’re an established brand:

• Remind people why they cared. Not everyone following you today was here last holiday season. Lapsed customers and new followers both need a reset on your “why.”

• Show your evolution. Expanded into retail? New SKUs? Sharper positioning? Say it clearly. People won’t connect the dots for you.

• Build equity before promos. If the first time you show up in November is with a sale, you’re just competing on code. The story you lay down now is what makes discounts hit harder later. Remember: It’s a funnel. You need to work your way down.

If you’re a newer brand:

• Launch ≠ recognition. Just because you announced doesn’t mean people absorbed it.

• Lean into the season. Cozy, gifting, gatherings. Fall is the easiest time to connect emotionally. Use it.

• Differentiate early. By December, feeds are chaos. Reintroducing now carves out white space and positions you as the brand to watch.

📌 Recenter your brand = top-of-funnel reset. You’re re-establishing who you are, spotlighting what’s new, and building awareness that primes the pump for everything coming later in Q4.

Step Three: Build in Layers

The Great Lock-In isn’t a one-week sprint. It’s waves of momentum that stack on each other. First comes awareness. Second comes trust. Third comes sales (hopefully).

September → Early October: Awareness Reset

This is your reintroduction window. Attention is fresh after summer, so use it.

• Top of funnel only. Remind people who you are, what’s new, where they can find you and why you exist.

• Tell your story everywhere. Don’t assume people remember the launch or the last big push. They don’t. Sustaining is a key part of a good social strategy.

• Get in the hands of press or influencers. Their content becomes the credibility layer. If you have a product that you can send to influencers, do it, but do it thoughtfully.

If you have been wondering how to get product to influencers, I wrote this guide to Influencer Marketing for you. If you ever wonder what NOT to do when working with influencers, I also wrote this for you.

Mid October → Early November: Community & Consideration

By now, people know you’re around. The next step is proving you’re worth keeping up with. This is where consistency matters: regular content and building your community both more deeply and wider.

November → December: Conversion & Scale

If you’ve played the first two phases right, this part feels less like begging and more like momentum. The deals land better because there’s already context. You know what content works, so you scale it with ads instead of guessing. And when cultural hooks pop up, you can move fast because you’ve already built the foundation.

The brands that miss here are the ones that skipped the setup. The ones that win are just pressing on the gas.

📌 Once again, not to sound like a broken record, but think of the waves like a funnel in motion:

• Wave 1 = Awareness (Top)

• Wave 2 = Community & Trust (Middle)

• Wave 3 = Conversion (Bottom). Note: Conversion can mean different things from finally becoming a follower to purchasing in-store or online.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Snacking: Last weekend, I did my monthly walk through Pop-Up Grocer with one of my best friends. We stumbled across Dateworthy, a frozen treat that consists of dates, chocolate, almond butter and banana all put together in one perfect bite. We finished the bag in less than 5 minutes. I will definitely be going back to get more.
  

• Watching: Someone please tell me they watched the Unknown Number: The High School Catfish documentary on Netflix because literally what the f***.
  

• Drinking: As someone who often talks about having ADHD, I am always on the hunt for things that can help me focus a bit better. One of those things so far as been Greymatter’s Bright Mind. I’ve been liking this because it gives me smooth, sustained focus with a mix of natural caffeine with L-Theanine, nootropics for memory + attention, and adaptogens that keep me calm enough to actually stay on task and not stare at a screen confused about where to start.
  

• Influencers + Creators of the Week:

  • In Food: @bens.bedtime.bites. Ben reviews snacks before bed. Simple premise, perfect execution. If you’re a snack brand and he’s not on your radar, that’s a miss.

  • In Parenting : @obrienbois. If “Coop on a stoop” doesn’t ring a bell, we need to talk. Cooper and his dad have basically taken over the FYP.

  • In Lifestyle: @samantha.j.f. She accidentally kicked off a viral series by doing everyday tasks with her eyes closed starting with her morning coffee “just in case” she ever goes blind. It’s way more captivating than it sounds written out.
    

• News You Should Know About:

  • Important: We must not let Facebook bring back the Poke. If you didn’t experience this period of time, I am jealous of you.

  • I think I am on my 10th mention, but if you are not on Threads, what are you doing? If it’s a platform that could potentially make sense for you to be on, give it a go. Instagram is consistently investing in it given the success. The latest update? A 10,000 character count for longer threads via Social Media Today.

  • If you’re a creator on Reels, make sure to take advantage of the new Retention insights.

  • Instagram for iPads and iPad Kids has arrived and to no one’s surprise, short-form content is being pushed like crazy.

THAT’S A WRAP

Alright, alright, alright. As always, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this little community every week. You can hit the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

We’re inching towards having 4,000 of us. How insane is that? Whether you’re a reader or you reply back, thank you for your constant support. If you ever need anything or have questions, you know where to find me.

I’ll see you this week.

Peace, Love and KPIS,

-KD

When I thought back on the week, one key question kept coming up in conversations with founders: “what’s the ideal flow for influencer gifting?” A lot of them admitted they currently ask influencers to post upon the initial DM. The shock on their faces when I said, “that’s so not what you should be doing,” said it all.

So, today’s newsletter is dedicated to exactly that: what not to do when working with influencers.

Before we get into it, running an influencer program usually means dealing with at least one of these:

A) You’ve got 12 tabs open across spreadsheets, DMs across multiple platforms, random tools and still feel like you’re losing track.
B) You can’t actually answer the question “So, what worked?” without shrugging.
C) Every campaign ends up a one-hit wonder instead of something sustainable.

If you nodded at any of the above, that’s exactly what today’s sponsor (and long-time supporter of this newsletter), Superfiliate, helps fix. I’ve used them for over two years with clients like Graza and they’ve consistently made influencer programs easier to manage and measure.

If you’re heading into the holiday season feeling a little lost on influencer strategy or just want to get your feet wet, their Influencer Field Guide is honestly one of the best free resources I’ve seen for the basics. I might be biased since I contributed, but they really did bring together some of the smartest voices in influencer marketing with insights from brands like Chomps, Caraway, Made In Cookware, Thrive Market, and more.

The guide covers everything from:

• How and why creator programs should support your marketing strategy

• The different types of creator partnerships (and when to use each)

• How to source and vet influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube

• Negotiating with influencers and booking the right kinds of content

• Building creative briefs, content do’s and don’ts, and contracts

• The key metrics worth tracking and best practices for reporting

If you have been looking for an end-to-end influencer marketing hub, Andy, Anders, and the rest of the team have you covered.

If you want to take a peek through their Influencer Field Guide for free just click HERE to see how brands are running influencer programs that actually scale. If you’re in the market and looking for some optimization and structure within your current program or upcoming, click HERE and the team may just give you the No Filter special of one month free. Thank you again to Superfiliate for sponsoring.

5 Things To Not Do When It Comes to Influencer Marketing

Mistake #1: Asking Influencers To Post Before They Have Even Tried Your Product

Too many brands reach out offering to send product, only to flip the script the moment a creator says yes. Suddenly the “we’d love to gift you” message turns into, “Thanks! Can you post a Reel in exchange? Also, here’s a discount code for your audience just in case you like the product.”

This isn’t how you build relationships. It’s how you kill them. As someone who’s been on the influencer side, I can tell you that nothing kills excitement faster than realizing the “gift” comes with hidden strings attached.

Here’s the truth: creators aren’t transaction machines, they’re people. Talk to them like you would a friend.

Seed first. Let them enjoy it without obligation. If they genuinely love it and share it because they want to then that’s when the conversation can pick up.

Mistake #2: Brands Think Influencer Marketing Should Only Be Conversion-First.

Too many brands go into influencer gifting with the wrong mindset. From the jump, they’re expecting sellouts or hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales off of one round of product sends. It’s the same outdated thinking some brands still have about social media that one post equals guaranteed revenue. Womp.

Influencer marketing doesn’t work like that. It’s a funnel:

• Awareness → Getting product into the right hands.

• Consideration → Creators post, share, and genuinely engage with your brand. It makes their audience more intrigued to learn more.

• Conversion → As relationships deepen, influencers move into ambassador roles or paid partnerships where results can compound from an in-feed post to working with you to create content for your paid media channels and more.

When you skip straight to the finish line, you set yourself up for disappointment. The brands who win play the long game by nurturing each stage of the funnel instead of demanding overnight results.

Mistake #3: Spraying and Praying is not a strategy.

Here’s the classic move: brands send product to 100 random influencers, then wonder why nothing sticks. No UGC (User Generated Content) coming in, no consistent posting, no meaningful results. And then they write off gifting altogether as “ineffective.”

The problem isn’t the seeding*. It’s the lack of intention. Spraying and praying can only get you so far. Yes, there’s power in numbers, but there’s even more power in being thoughtful about who you send to, why they’re a fit for your brand, and when it makes sense in their world.

Tip: Know your evergreen audience first. These are the people who align with your brand DNA and will always be the right fit. From there, layer in a clear community goal for each wave of gifting. This way, it allows you to dabble in niches that may be a whitespace, get in front of eyes your competitors may not have had the chance to yet, and truly give that “Dang! I keep seeing that brand everywhere.” effect.

Quality > quantity, every single time.

*Note: Sometimes, the product just may not be good. That’s a harsh truth, but if you do not have a good product, you cannot expect people to share.

Mistake #4: No Communication After Sending Product

Here’s the thing: influencer marketing is built on relationships. Yet so many brands treat influencers like a number by sending the box, crossing their fingers, and then disappear until a post goes live. Why would an influencers want to work with a brand that doesn’t even check in, engage, or acknowledge them unless they’re getting something out of it?

If the only time you show up is when they post, you’re not building a relationship, you’re running a transaction and they can feel that.

The fix? Do better. Follow up. Engage with their content (even when it’s not about you). If you want them to support you, support them.

Mistake #5: Forgetting They’re Human

It’s wild how many brands still treat influencers like production machines by piling on deliverables, enforcing rigid timelines, or dictating every last detail of how a post should look. When you do that, you strip away the very thing that makes influencer marketing powerful: authenticity.

Influencers and creators are pros at knowing what resonates with their audience. That’s why they do it in the first place. Trust the people you choose to work with. Give them creative direction, not a word-for-word script. Let them bring your brand into their world in a way that feels natural.

At the end of the day, influencer marketing only works when it looks and feels real.

In Summary:

❌ Don’t ask for posts before they’ve tried the product.
✅ Send first, let them experience it and see how much they genuinely talk about it and then talk a partnership.

❌ Don’t slip in strings after offering a gift.
✅ If it’s a gift, let it be a gift. Build trust before asking for content or shilling codes.

❌ Don’t spray and pray.
✅ Curate your seeding list. Know your evergreen audience + set a community goal for each wave to ensure that you’re being thoughtful in who gets your product and that they are actually a good fit.

❌ Don’t expect instant sellouts or sales.
✅ Play the long game. You cannot sell a product before people are aware it exists. Be patient.

❌ Don’t ghost those who do support you and like your product.
✅ Follow up, engage, and build the relationship beyond just sending them a gift or checking in to make sure they received it.

❌ Don’t treat influencers like they are below you.
✅ They’re the pros. Give creative direction, not a script. Trust who you work with. After all, you’re the one paying them.

If you’ve fallen into any of these traps (and let’s be real, most brands have), now’s the time to course-correct. The brands winning in 2025 aren’t the ones blasting out discount codes or chasing quick wins, they’re the ones treating influencers like are a friend, not a walking billboard. They play the long game.

And the smartest ones? They’re going even deeper, turning their own communities into powerful influencer networks. I broke that down here.

Ahead of the Trend

Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

This week’s is pretty short and sweet.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Snacking: I posted this one my Instagram Story, but I personally believe that a warm tortilla is a very good snack. I have always thought this and always will. If you agree, can you please let me know I am not alone?

• Watching: Love is Blind UK on Netflix.

• Listening: The new Dijon album is still on repeat over here.

• Drinking: I don’t know why I ever stopped ordering an iced cortado, but we’re back on the train. I cannot pay $7 for a cup of a milk anymore. The days are gone. I also should not even be writing that as I should be a responsible adult and use my Breville I bought to “save money”, but what’s a girl supposed to do on a perfectly warm summer day?

• Influencers of the Week: I found so many awesome faces this week, but here are three I want to share:

  • @gageolder - Gage is going viral for his “that’s what’s up! what’s up with that?” series. it’s simple, he’s always right, and there is room for a fun iteration that brands can be do that can be inspired by him.

  • @scottpropandroll - Scott is a film and TV prop master who posts across Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. I feel like my mind has been blown about 55+ times by his video. Plus, if you’re a brand, these are key hacks you might need on set one day.

  • @salmoncreekliving - Justin is a homesteader that randomly showed up on my explore page. Homesteading is one of those niches that I feel like more brands can play in, but just haven’t yet. When I worked with homesteaders on Youtube for Graza, they were some of the top performers.

• Resource of the Week: It’s almost the end of the month so you know what that means! Monthly Reporting is almost due. HERE is a free template for you to make a copy of. If you’re trying to highlights the wins and learnings of your work in an easy and efficient way or just want your team to even start, this is for you.

• News You Should Know About:

  • If you’re a brand or creator making multi-part content, you’re about to be blessed by Adam Mosseri. Instagram is going to be adding a link button so that your followers can watch your series in the order they are intended to be watched. You can read more here.

    

• No, you’re not crazy. TikTok really did implement a hashtag limit on videos now via Social Media Today TikTok has now instituted a five hashtag limit on posts.

• Do you think screenshots of your content should be a metric? Well, Instagram might consider adding it via Social Media Today.

That’s A Wrap

Alright, alright, alright. That’s it for this weekend.

Thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it as we try to keep growing this community of awesome folks. You can click the button below to share.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

If you want to catch up on past editions of No Filter, you can read them all for free right here.

If there are any burning questions that you want to ask that you want to see a deep dive on around anything related to social media/content/influencers, you know where to find me.

See you this week.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

That actually leads us into today’s topic. Do you ever just save and save and save different posts on Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter for inspiration and just literally never look at them ever again? I realized that I have been on a saving spree, but it’s been a minute since I looked back so why not do it together and dive a bit deeper into the trends I am seeing. This is inspired by my friends Oren and Clayton at .

Alright, let’s dive in.

What’s In My Social Bookmarks And Why

In no particular order.

1. Brands are starting to realize that time is part of the marketing mix. In beauty and wellness especially, launches don’t just happen on launch day anymore. They start weeks in advance by seeding secret samples to insiders, community members, or top customers. Ritual just did this with their new Magnesium+ powder by sending it out with named labels, letting creators build hype, and by the time the official launch came, audiences already had trust built in. It’s about shifting perception: the product isn’t “new,” it’s proven before it even hits shelves.

2. Creativity is possible no matter what niche you’re in. The best accounts online are finding angles that make their space interesting. Creativity is no longer optional; it’s how you cut through the noise. And before the complainers chime in with “but my industry is too boring / regulated / serious”, that’s exactly the opportunity. If no one else in your space is pushing the creative boundary, you stand out even faster. Boring is a brand choice. The audience doesn’t care about your internal roadblocks, they care about how you make them feel. I have lately been getting hit with many reels highlighting local business ranging from libraries to cafes to offices and some of this content is literally top tier. One of my favorite accounts lately is the Scottsdale Public Library.

3. Everyone can use some positive vibes so here are just some of the quotes and reminders I saved incase you need them too.

4. Fragrance is going to be the thing in 2026. We’re already seeing the category bleed into wellness, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle at large. In 2026, expect fragrance to be less of a “beauty” buy and more of an everyday accessory just like sneakers or jewelry. The whitespace? Fragrance brands building community around identity, rituals, and culture. Whether it is brands like Rare Beauty launching an EDP or Boy Smells catering to a more Gen-Z/Sephora shopping consumer with their new body mists or rebrand, we’re about to see more and more brands extend into this space in some way. I mean, Malin + Goetz has been on a tear of introducing fragrance to brands that might not get the chance to do it on their own like announcing their collaboration with Carbone and their recent collaboration with the Rocco team all surrounding their famous tomato scent.

   

5. Being able to get BTS (Behind the Scenes) content is a win as a brand. From your production process to the process that goes into making a new product, audiences eat it up. Why? Because it makes your brand feel human. If you’re not documenting the messy middle, you’re leaving one of the easiest brand-building tools off the table.

6. Out of Home (OOH) marketing is having a resurgence and not just for reach, but for content. A well-placed billboard is no longer about drivers on the freeway; it’s about TikToks, photoshoots, and Instagram posts that can be made. Brands know this and that’s why we have seen it with interactive elements for that extra boost from brands like Billie. I also have loved takes on it by local spots like Good News Coffee to acquire new customers.

   We’re seeing more investment in OOH because it multiplies. It lives on your own feed, your influencers’ feeds, and your customers’ feeds long after the media buy ends.

   

7. The Hold and Scroll Trend on Instagram carousels is living its best life. Instagram carousels have become their own form of storytelling. The “hold and scroll” format allows every slide to pull the consumer in more and is dominating right now. Over done? Maybe, but it’s not just a post. It’s a mini experience. If you’re a brand, stop thinking of them as throwaway multi-photo dumps and start thinking about narrative and how you can leverage formats. Beauty brands like The Ordinary and Bubble have leveraged it like crazy to announce a new product. Meanwhile, brands like Siete have found a way to use it to bring their retail partnerships to life.

8. I do this need this trend to stop though. Some trends to be left behind (you know the ones). It’s worth remembering: just because a trend exists doesn’t mean your brand needs to be in it. In fact, restraint is a strategy.

That’s it for now. I’m thinking I’ll make this a little monthly addition. Let me know what you have been saving lately.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

If you’re new here, Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: If you’re someone who sometimes forgets to eat and also wants to get something high protein in easily, the Trader Joe’s Pulled Chicken Salsa Verde has been a lifesaver. You can microwave it and easily get 50g+ of protein.

• Drinking: Explorer Cold Brew Concentrate. Please keep in mind this is a concentrate so don’t chug it. I also just love Explorer because they have options for everyone whether you love your daily dose of caffeine or are on the caffeine-free train.

• Reading: Still reading The Guest by Emma Cline and perfectly brain numbing with its plot. I just bought the The Big Swiss for my next read.

• Wearing: As you might know, I am a fragrance hoarder. If there’s one perfect scent for August though, it’s Debaser by D.S. & DURGA without a doubt. Yes, they are a client, but I have been a Debaser wearer for the last 3 years and it’s an instant compliment getter. If you want something fruity, deep, sexy, it’s everything and more.

• Resource of the Week: Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions through here and on calls about ways to better track the efforts of gifting product to influencers. One of the only tools I ever use when I work on a client is Archive. I started using it around 2+ years ago and brought it onto clients like Graza, point of beauty, and more. Plus, they have a creator search that has saved me so much time. I am pretty sure you’re able to do a trial for 7 days for free.

• Campaign + Launch of the Week: Billie’s take on the Chia Pet deserves everything and more.

• Influencer of the Week: @RankinReviews. Known for her “Can I Nail It?” videos where she tries to get the straw through the lid of a fast food soft drink on the first try, this woman is just so genuine and chill to watch. If I was a chain or local spot, I would use her to help support the launch of a new drink on the menu.

• Job Of The Week: So, this week we’re introducing the Job of the Week. With many looking for their next gig or brands looking to hire support, I want to do my part in being able to potentially bridge something new for someone. This week’s job is brought to you by one of my favorite electrolyte brands, Magna. They are hiring a Social Content Creator. If you’re interested, you can click the LinkedIn posting or send your resume to community@drinkmagna.com!

THAT’S A WRAP

That’s it for this fine Sunday.

As always, thank you for taking a few minutes of your evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with friends, co-workers, or a stranger. You can click the button below to do so.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

If you ever want to catch up on past editions of No Filter? Read them all for free right here.

See you this week before I am off to the Hamptons on Friday. If there are any burning questions that you want to ask that you want to see a deep dive on about anything when it comes to social media or influencer marketing, you know where to find me.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

Since we last saw each other, I decided to fly to Boston for a few days to celebrate a friend/client’s housewarming, but to also try and take a few days to destress, which is quite hard for someone like myself. After spending way too many hours tanning at the pool, the thought and realization hit me that August marks nine (!!!) years of working in this crazy thing called social media, but also working for myself.

I don’t often talk about the side of my life that is truly operating as more or less a one person show and the wins, losses, and everything in between that has come with decided to drop out of college in my junior year to just go with what made sense in that moment of my life.

As I celebrate this work anniversary and small win of making it this far, I thought I would spend today to share some of the tips and reminders I have learned along the way, whether you work in social, are starting a brand, or just want to say f— it and do your own thing.

The Lessons + The Learnings

In no particular order, here are just some of the things I have picked up along the way.

1. If it was easy everyone would do it. When I decided to leave school, I had no idea what I was getting myself into besides the fact that I knew it would be stressful and that I was responsible for my own future. For the first three years, I worked running around New York City working with family-owned restaurants. Once COVID hit, I pivoted to the brand side. The minute that happened, my life changed, but the journey to where I am writing this has been filled with smiles, tears, days I cannot wait to wake up and work, days where I wonder if it’s all worth it, and just about every single emotion that exists. Deciding to work for yourself or in client services is not easy. If it was, everyone and their mother would be doing it. Similar to choosing to work in social, if everyone wanted to learn how to do it, everyone would.
   

2. You need time to think. When you’re working in businesses and on your own, it’s hard to zoom out. Whether you’re working on a strategy or just ideating some original content, schedule thinking time with yourself. Put it on your calendar every week and don’t miss it. You would not miss a call for call so why would you even try to miss one for yourself? One of my first brand clients has a CMO who was the one who told me to do this and it’s a good reminder to get back into this as a I write it. Slowing down isn’t a bad thing when it’s intentional.
   

3. Ask or you’ll never know. Simple as it sounds. If you don’t ask for what you want, you will never know what could have been. As someone who is insanely shy, I have had no choice but to ask for what I want or what I need to do my job. Man, it was tough the first few years, but it definitely gets easier. Even if the answer is “no” or “not now”, it’s not bad. So, if you’re reading this and thinking “I have been wondering if….”, just go ask. Whether it’s about budgets, resources, just do it.
   

4. It’s lonely. The side that many don’t often talk about. Working for yourself is so f-ing lonely. Yes, it’s a choice at the end of the day, but the unfortunate truth is that being your own boss can really screw up certain parts of your life if you let it across your health, wealth, and relationships.

   Yes, I have unfortunately let work get in the way of friendships from making new friends to keeping up with old. It’s something that I am not proud of, but something that I am officially trying to work on fixing and revisiting my own past a bit. I think this is what truly gets me the most when it comes to my list of patterns and regrets.

   Also, while we’re here, one side I have never actually written about or really spoken about is how working for yourself and finding success (in some degree) actually makes dating harder. I have found men to be intimated by me because of the work that I do and the accomplishments I have mad or use it against me that I work a lot and enjoy it. Finding people who just “get it” whether it be friends, acquaintances, or more is hard, but when you do, hold onto them.
   

5. You can take a step away from your laptop and phone and things will be alright. When you work in social, you hold your world in your hands and it’s hard to escape. There’s this pressure to always be on literally every single second of the day, but working in social media doesn’t mean you just should be scrolling your life away or spending every waking second doing your job. It has taken me literal years, but I am here to tell you that you can walk away for a bit for a break and the brand you’re working on won’t burn down.
   

6. Nothing is ever enough. Whether personal, work-related, or financial, hitting goals is cool until you keep wanting the next thing and fall into the endless spiral of never being happy with what you did accomplish. When you’re working for yourself or on a business, success changes every second of the day. You’re either celebrating for two seconds to just move onto the next win, wondering how to get there or where you went wrong.

   Not to sound cringe, but enjoying the journey is something I wish I truly took time to do when I was in my early 20s. It feels like life flashed before my eyes. I am someone who always wants more and am willing to outwork anyone to get there even if it takes a toll on me. Is that healthy? Probably not, but I am grateful that it’s a skill I have. If I could go back and tell my younger self to live a bit more, I would.
   

7. It’s okay to not have the answers to every single thing in life. “I don’t know” is an answer. In a world where people are expected to just always know why engagement is down or where spikes happened and why, sometimes you just don’t and that’s okay. The inner people pleaser in me used to hate sayin it, but it just is the way it is sometimes.
   

8. Don’t be so hard on yourself. This edition is literally turning into me reminding myself of all of these things. No, but seriously, it’s easier said than done, but putting pressure on yourself has upsides, but more times than not, it will just lead to burnout and animosity towards the work that you are doing.
   

9. Your work is not and should not be your identity. I have to write a whole one on this. In March of this year, I experienced the biggest test there is for a consultant: stepping away from a client that was a very large example of the work you’re able to do and work that was crucial in a brand’s success to where people know you as a person who had a huge hand in said work. That’s right. I stepped away from Graza. I’ve debated typing it for months, but this newsletter is truly about showing you the in’s and out’s of running it all and the work I do, whether from the point of view of a consultant running my own business or inside the brands I get the honor of working on. Guys, it was the biggest throw of emotions. It still is. It has been such a great reminder that you should not connect your worth to the work you do because it is so not worth the mental rollercoaster. I don’t think I’ll ever master this one, but baby steps, right? After 4 years of consulting on the brand, leaving taught me a lot of the above and that change is sometimes what you need to grow.

Anyway, I am finishing this in the back of an Uber heading back into Brooklyn from the airport and trying to not get carsick. I really love being able to open up more on here and if you enjoyed this, please comment or let me know. I love talking about social media and stuff, but at the same time, we’re also humans and it’s important to acknowledge the feelings and thoughts that occur when working in this field.

Ahead Of The Trend

If you’re new here, Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: It’s always sweet treat o’ clock in my house. I was reminded of how fast I can clear a bag of any Siete cookies this past week. I personally love the Mexican Wedding Cookies or the Strawberries and Cream ones. For all my grain-free folks out there, time for you to pop off. Ok wait, but also their Dairy-Free Elote Corn Tortilla Chips are summer in a bag.

• Drinking: It’s a Leisure summer. You cannot go wrong with any flavor. Personally, I have always been a Lemonade stan, but I love the Tropical Mango. Highly recommend stocking up next time you’re in Whole Foods.

• Launches of the Week:

  • Graza launched their glass bottles. It was very cool to know about this project and then seeing it come to life. What will the haters say now?

  • Rare beauty launched four Fragrance Layering Balms that pair with their new perfume. Talk about the perfect upsell.

  • I truly cannot get over how perfect the launch of the new Vomero Plus was with support coming from Milk Makeup and Dick’s Sporting Goods announcing their bundle offer available at all DSG locations featuring a limited edition Milk Balmade shade that matches the new colorway. Also, if you’re looking for a new running shoe, I highly recommend. I live in my Vomero 18s.

  I know there were more (Ex. Outdoor Voices), but was there one launch that you really can’t get off your brain? Hit “Reply” and send it on over and tell me why or comment it below for everyone to see.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Please turn off your location on your Instagram. Yes, it’s optional, but let’s be smart here. Learn more here to turn it off. Also, Instagram is doing too much. Use Find My Friends and call it a day. There’s zero reason for strangers to know where you are.

  • Instagram’s editing tool, Edits, keeps on getting updates. They are moving fast here with a new feature that allows you to simply make sure your ideas can turn into content with their new Stickies-To-Teleprompter feature and more.

That’s A Wrap

Alright, alright, alright.

As always, thank you for taking a few minutes from your evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with them as we grow this little community every week.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

We’re inching towards there being 4,000 of us. How insane is that?

Whether you’re a reader or you reply back, thank you for your constant support.

Since I am sure you wanted to know, I’m now finishing this section from my balcony sipping a non-alcoholic beer (Bero has been my fave lately) and enjoying the sunset.

I’ll see you this week.

Peace, Love and KPIS,

-KD

Today, i walked across the Williamsburg Bridge, which never fails to give me some main character energy, and got to thinking about what I wanted to write about. With so many new brands prepping to reveal themselves online or are gearing up for a rebrand or relaunch in the new year, it hit me.

“If I was starting an Instagram page from scratch (brand or founder-owned/personal), what would I do?”

With that said, welcome to today’s topic. Let’s get into the nitty gritty from account set-up to content ideation and more.

Before we get into it, this edition of No Filter is brought to you by my friend, Claudiu, and the rest of the team at Videowise.

Friday’s edition spoke all about influencers. I touched on the ways to work with them, when, and how you can keep that content living on your page or channels (if you have the correct usage rights.)

If you currently feel like you have so much UGC (User Generated Content) from influencers you have sent product to or customers to just love your product, but zero time to put them to work, Videowise fixes that and here’s how:

• Videowise allows you to import content from TikTok, Instagram, and your Google Drive or Dropbox seamlessly.

  • They also have their own widget that they can add to your site like they did with this brand that allows you to collect content from your customers, influencers, affiliates, or brand fans.

• No Organizational Nightmares.

  • You’re able to save hours each week by keeping your content in one spot so that you can deploy it whenever you wish. You can simply tag and categorize your content by product, theme, or campaign. Need to manage creator rights tightly? Not an issue.

• Publish UGC where it matters (and see what actually works).

  • You can simply add shoppable video widgets to your product pages, which has shown to help brands on the platform see up to a 21% (!!) lift on conversion.

  • Showcase customer video reviews for that little bit of extra trust.

  • Create curated video galleries on your homepage, collection pages, or on a dedicated video hub as you can see here.

  • With an easy analytics dashboard, whether you have been selling online for years or just new to this, you’ll be able to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what can change so that you can double down on specific content formats and placements that convert. Incase you were wondering, the Videowise team mentioned that shoppable videos have been a key for many brands and have seen up to 17% increase in average order value.

So, if you want to save time when it comes to managing and publishing your user generated content or want to test new ways that you can leverage it, Videowise is offering No Filter subscribers 1 month for FREE to show you what they can do to help you. Click here to get started and tell them I sent you their way.

Alright, now on to the reason we’re all here.

Things I Would Do If I Was Building An Instagram Page From Scratch

Buckle up.

1. Profile Set-Up

• Username: Whether you’re brand owned or a founder wanting to post their own content, you’re username should be your full name, business name, or perhaps a mixture of the two so that people know you’re affiliated with that brand. As we know, getting a brand name these days can be kind of tricky. So, get creative. Is there a verb that can accompany what your brand is? For example, we see this frequently with beverage brands where it is drink(insert name of brand). If you need an example, here’s @drinkghia, one of my favorite non-alcoholic beverages.

• Your Tagline [Name]: Think about how someone would search. This should be your name and ideally what you sell.

• Profile Picture: Make sure it’s clear. Whether it’s your or your logo, make sure the people can actually see it.

• Your Bio:

  • Here’s an easy framework that you can follow:

    • What Do You Sell?

    • What Separates You?

    • Some form of credibility → Were you featured in multiple press outlets? Did you win a huge award in the industry?

    • Call To Action that positions people to the link in your bio.

• Your Link:

  • If you’re a brand that sells online, link it to the homepage or a landing page, if you have one. For example, D.S. & DURGA has a great fragrance sampler quiz to help new customers learn what fragrances might be the best for them.

  • If you’re a brand that is retail heavy, but has a website, I would personally aim to push people to your store locator.

2. Understand Your Niche

Study, study, study.

Pay attention and spend time researching best performing content from others brands, influencers, founders, or marketing teams that brought the views in. I think in this day and age there is pressure to always have to have every single concept to be “original”, but there is always a way to make something else your’s whether it’s with your perspective, your knowledge, etc. When starting out, there’s already enough pressure to make things work so make it a bit easier on yourself so that you can be off to the races.

Ok, anyway. Now you’ll write down your niche and 4-8 subtopics to go alongside it.

Here’s what mine might look like if I started a new page:

Niche: Social Media Marketing

Subtopics (Things I Can Talk About):

• Social Media Marketing

• Content Marketing

• Influencer Marketing

• Growing on Social Media

• Content Creation

• Content Ideas

• App + Software Recommendations

• Influencer Recommendations

From here, jump on over to the Instagram Explore Page (or even your TikTok FYP) → search up a subtopic → click the reels tab and save videos that have over 500K+ views. Do this for your subtopics and save enough videos so that you essentially have a library of inspiration and ideas. If you’re a brand that perhaps doesn’t have video resourcing fully covered then don’t worry. I would click into the Posts section and see what graphics may be cool for inspiration as you work on your content strategy.

By the way, I was not joking when I said you have to study.

Whether you want to use ChatGPT or pretend you’re in college again, I would recommend adding these videos into an easier spot like a Google Sheet.

In this sheet, you can create a tab for each subtopic and start populating the video links accordingly. Here’s what you should include on each sheet:

• The Video Links

• The Hook: In a column next to each link, add a column titled “Hook”. As you may or may not now, a “hook” is those first 3-5 seconds of a video that pull you in. So, what are these best performers saying or doing that is getting people to keep watching? Jot it down.

• Type of Video: Was is a talking video? A Green screen or “floating head” video? A Carousel? A Stitch?

• Metrics: Add the views per video just so you remember why it was worth saving in the first place.

• Did You Try It Out? Link Your Video and the Stats to support.

3. Get To Work

Start scripting your videos out for a smoother system and so that it’s easy to go into each filming session with a mission.

Start briefing designs in (if you have a designer on your team).

If you’re don’t know how to write a script, here’s a quick method:

1. Pick a Topic.

2. Choose Your Hook or Hooks → (Don’t be afraid to post the same video with different hooks!) → Note that hooks can come in different formats. They can be verbal, written on the screen, or performed visually.

3. Structure It → There are a ton of different ways that you can structure a video from comparison videos to step-by-step tutorials to List Structures and more.

4. Format → Are you choosing to do a voiceover? A Reaction Video? Green screen? A Multitasking Format (aka like this)?

5. Provide the VALUE → Use your knowledge and experience to help establish your brand as a leader in the category or if you’re wanting to give advice to other founders.

6. Call To Action → Where can they learn more about you or your brand?

Now, You Can Get Started.

With anything, there’s more that needs to be done to refine your strategy to get you to a place where you know how to iterate on what works, what platforms you wish to create on, and more. However, if I was told to start tomorrow and had to build it as a go, this is the quickest way.

Inspiration to create your next piece of content or get the right awareness for your brand is right in front of your face if you search well enough.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

Keeping today’s pretty short, sweet and more lifestyle focused. If you’re new here, Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: Give me all the bags of Fruit Riot in this weather. Don’t ask me to pick a favorite.

• Reading: It is (unfortunately) a rare occurrence that I read and I have been trying to change that. I started The Guest by Emma Cline this weekend and it’s been great to turn my brain off and not read books about business.

• Wearing: I have been living in Relax Lacrosse shorts since they are super light and can be dressed up or down. I wear the 5-inch. If I am going to see friends or a client, I have been OBSESSED with Leset. The Kyoto Carpenter Pants paired with their Margo tee is *chef’s kiss*. I am 5’3 so for my short girls, trust me when I say that their pieces are so worth the investment.

• Resource of the Week: Since I mentioned why looking at your data over time while posting on social media is so important, it felt right to make sure that you have an easy reporting template. HERE’s a free template for you to make a copy of. If you’re trying to highlights the wins and learnings of your work and effort in an easy and efficient way, this is for you.

Ask of the Week: I want to hear from YOU. What do you want to learn more about? What burning questions do you have about working in marketing, social media, etc.? Hit “Reply” or comment below on this post.

That’s A Wrap

That’s it for this fine Sunday.

As always, thank you for taking a few minutes of your day and spending it with me. If there were typos, please don’t judge me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it with friends, co-workers, or a stranger.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Want to catch up on past editions of No Filter? Read them all for free right here.

See you this Tuesday and Thursday. If there’s any burning questions that you want to ask that you want to see a deep dive on, you know where to find me.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

This edition of No Filter is brought to you by Videowise.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been blasting Taylor Swift’s “August” on repeat today. Fun fact: you could listen to it 110 times between 9 AM and 5 PM.

On my end, I just signed a new client who’s gearing up for a September launch, and I’m helping them supercharge their influencer seeding. Diving into their program reminded me of one of our most-loved past issues, Influencer Marketing 101, so I went back through the archives and gave it a full 2025 refresh. This current market demands more than “send and pray” campaigns or blanket discount codes.

Below, you’ll find a hands-on, step-by-step guide to everything you need before you slide into those DMs—and tactical playbooks for every stage of your influencer journey. Let’s do this.

We’ll chat:

• Why should you work with influencers and why they can support your biz

• How to find influencers that can support your brand and initiatives whether online or offline through retail (and how to talk to them without sounding like a robot)

• When you should work with influencers for your brand (hint: always)

Before, we get into it today, if you’re a brand running any type of influencer marketing, whether it be product gifting or pay influencers to post, but are struggling to scale due to your operations, I have a solution. The day has come that you can now better understand which creator drove demand, stop living in Google Sheets for maintaining your inventory, and avoid selling out of inventory and avoid future customers getting upset.

Introducing: Doss. Doss gives you the operational backbone your efforts deserve. It connects the dots between your campaigns and your systems so when growth spikes, nothing breaks. Backed by small and big brands like Mezcla, Sauz, and Magic Mind, these teams have been able to save 8-12 hours weekly on sample management and order processing, process orders 30x faster, and so much more.

If you want:

• Real-time inventory visibility across every channel to make sure there’s no more overselling when a post takes off.

• Automated order management so your team isn’t scrambling when demand floods in.

• ROI that actually makes sense AKA influencer codes, costs, and campaigns all tracked in one place.

• Systems built for speed that can move as fast as your marketing does.

Doss is how you do it. See it in action here. If you’re wanting to give a test drive, Zach and the team at Doss is so kindly gifting the friends of No Filter 15% off here and free, fast implementation (you don't pay until your build is live!) to get you up and running smoothly. With Q4 being here before we know it, it’s a deal I wouldn’t pass up.

A special thank you to Zach and the team at Doss for being the sponsor of today’s edition of No Filter.

“Why Should I Work With Creators?”

You don’t need a seven-figure budget to get started. You just need to be thoughtful and strategic. Here’s why activating influencers should belong in your mix if you’re looking to get your brand exposed to new communities or need more awareness that you even exist:

1. Boost Brand Awareness: More hands = more eyeballs (and a little FOMO never hurts). Every creator that you activate should have a purpose, a community, and an opportunity to get your name out there. Some may convert more than others. Some may drive more awareness to your accounts. At the end of the day, being told by people that you’re literally everywhere has its perks.

2. Build Community: Don’t chase only the big names. Use influencers to plug into unexpected niches and reinforce your core audience. I love setting community outreach goals every month for clients to ensure that we are actively trying to “take over” that micro-community enough that it becomes an evergreen community that we can start seeding to regularly. This ensures that you’re getting fresh voices every month talking about your product, highlighting how it helps them in their life, and potentially showing up in the places where your competitor hasn’t even thought to yet.

3. Acquire Authentic UGC: Real people, real opinions. Leverage creator reviews (while maintaining proper usage rights) across organic social, emails, paid ads (whitelisting, etc) to let social proof do the heavy lifting.

4. Drive Traffic, Conversions & Sales: Start with awareness → drive traffic → end with conversion. If you’re reading this and expecting that every single influencer you do anything with needs to convert, you are going to be let down from the start. Don’t expect instant return on day one; focus on reach then optimize where your most engaged fans live online and IRL or who those top influencers are that already speak about you. Another thing to remember: more followers ≠ more dollars.

“When Should I Begin Working With Influencers?”

From the start, if it makes sense for your brand.

I know some products are more expensive than others to ship.

Some products are only made for retail with no DTC support.

So, it might not be the easiest for everyone, but you should still be building out your yearly plan thinking how you can use influencers to support key initiatives as mentioned above.

For example:

• Think about how you can integrate influencer posts into your marketing plan overall because it’s one part of a blanketed approach.

  • If you have a great product with great branding, it will want to be shared. Product gifting at scale can allow your brand to be perceived that is is in everyone’s hands. That should be the goal.

  Note: If you’re a product that has multiple servings or multiple uses, you have an upside. This is why it’s easier for snack brands, condiment brands, etc. where you have more chances you have to be shared versus a beverage brand.

• If you’re in pre-launch or launching a new line, start early. Build relationships. Get people hyped. For context, I usually start sending product about a month out before a launch to smaller influencers who can help drive early awareness and some traffic back to the brand’s social channels.

• Back again with testing influencers outside the spaces where people would NOT expect you to be. This diverts from the norm and can force a pause when scrolling. There is always crossover appeal. People have many interests, you don’t need to give your life to just one niche!!!!!

There is a way for everyone to unlock this channel.

“Ok, But Now How Do I Source These Influencers?”

Strategy plays a bigger role in sourcing than brands realize.

If you choose to say “yes” to every single DM you get that just asks for free product and call that your strategy, you’re doing it very wrong.

You have to think about how the influencers you choose to send product to or pay can support the upcoming initiatives for your brand. This could like getting the word out around a new partnership, a new product launch, an event that is happening, or a campaign that helps educate consumers about your product.

DM’ing anyone and everyone with a pulse isn’t going to fly in 2025.

With that said, when it comes to actually building these influencer lists out, here are a few ways I do it without losing my mind:

1. Use the “Suggested Follows” features on TikTok and Instagram. For every person you love, you can find another ten or more you might similarly want to send to. Also, yes, it’s manual work. In my opinion, diving in yourself sometimes brings you across talent you didn’t even know existed.

2. Make the communities that influencers have built work for you. Scrappiness is one of the best qualities any marketer can have. Roll up your sleeves, go through their comments to see who else is commenting on their content and who those creators are also following to find like-minded folks.

3. Leverage who would share a space with you. If you’re a food brand or a beauty brand, think about what other brands would your ideal customer or influencer also own. Find them, see who they are following or who has tagged them, and boom!

   If you have some budget, here’s what I would do:

4. Virtual assistants can change your life. For the last 2+ years, I have worked with a virtual assistant who helps me source influencers based on criteria I give, handles outreach, shipping orders via Shopify, and more.

5. Use tools and play around with free trials. Save time, stay organized, and scale your efforts faster than being the only one doing it all. I wrote a newsletter back in the day featuring some of my favorite tools for nfluencer marketing. You can read it right here.

“But, What Do I Say To Them?”

In a world of “Hi. My name is Kendall and I work for ____. We love your content! I would love to send you some ___ to try. If interested, just let us know the best address.”, you need to stick out.

From my point of view, if you’re sending the same generic copy and paste messages still, you cannot complain that people aren’t answering you. People want to know that it’s a real person behind the screen. Be a human, get specific, form a connection.

If you’re building lists all day and are ready to get product out the door, I am sure that messaging 200+ people might feel like you’re about to climb up a very large mountain, but it doesn’t have to feel like that.

Here are a few ways that I increase output when it comes to reaching out to influencers:

1. Keyboard Shortcuts + Saved Replies. I don’t get why people don’t use them more. I like personally having a few outreach messages for each client that I work with to keep things fresh, funky, and fun. To be able to maximize outreach, I can simply type “outreach” and one of those prompts will load immediately in. When working on Graza or Zab's, I liked having prompts for the first initial outreach, the moment they received their package, a 1-2 week follow-up or check-in to see how they like it, some small talk here and there, and then an easy prompt to drive someone to become an ambassador or affiliate a few weeks later. You can do these so easily in Instagram and make other prompts ones that relate to different parts of the business (CX, wholesale, FAQ’s).

A Note: When it comes to my outreach, I am a huge fan of asking a question that is rhetorical or just making a very forward (and appropriate) statement. Your goal should be to get an instant “yes”. There’s a reason that Graza used the same outreach line for 2+ years.

Here are some example of prompts I wrote for past clients:

Via Carota Craft Cocktails: “*first name*, let’s we have a drink together?”

Graza: “How much easier would life be if your olive oil already came in a squeeze bottle?”

Please realize this should not cancel out when you see a situation of a creator posting something where you could act. It all goes back to being a human. You cannot plan everything in how you communicate. Influencers can tell.

Also, if you’re a brand looking to instantly try and have influencers convert at the first second of interacting with them, please stop forcing affiliate links and please fix your expectations. They don’t even know if they like you yet.

Had to get that off my chest.

Anyway, product gifting, as we know, is not the only way you can work with an influencer. You can pay them to post on their channels about your product. You can have them film content just for your organic and paid channels. You can involve them from a community point of view whether it’s hosting an event or inviting them.

Getting to this level after they have tried your product requires one thing: honesty.

If you want to save your time because you’re probably strapped for bandwidth trying to send DM’s out, just be honest. If you want to work with an influencer, tell them in what capacity, what you can offer, what you’re expecting, all in one e-mail.

When it comes to organizing paid partnerships with people who have enjoyed a client’s product or if I just know they are going to be a good fit, this is the blueprint I use to reach out:

Quick Format Below:

[INTRODUCE YOURSELF]

[WHAT DO WE WANT TO DO WITH THEM]

[WHAT CAN WE GIVE THEM IF THEY PARTICIPATE]

[CREATIVE EXPECTATION] [REMEMBER TO ATTACH BRIEF TO EMAIL]

[ IS THERE A DEADLINE? ADD IT]

Speaking of a brief, please have one. If you’re working with someone, you should have a clear document that highlights who the brand is, what they sell, the SKU(s) that the influencer is highlighting, the deliverables the brand is looking for, notable timelines, do’s and don’ts, etc.

If you don’t have a brief, the odds that you don’t get what you were hoping for increase. Be smart and brief it. If you need help, start here.

TL;DR: Influencer marketing is a cheat code for reach. Think of it as buying into pre-built communities instead of building from solely scratch. The right creators:

• Spark Trust: Their recommendations feel like a friend’s, not an ad.

• Accelerate Awareness

• Feed Your Content Engine: Influencer-made UGC can powers your socials, emails, and ads without extra shoots and can help decrease acquisition costs.

• Boost Conversions: Trackable links and codes turn their recommendation into measurable traffic and sales.

Start small and learn fast. There’s no perfect moment to get started so build that list, send those messages, and see what happens.

AHEAD OF THE TREND

If you’re new here, Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: JAMS. Think that other crustless, frozen PB&J brand, but with some added protein and no seed oils. I have eaten two of them while writing this newsletter. You can find them in Walmart locations nationwide.

• Drinking: It’s happened. I have been converted to join the Once Upon A Coconut cult.

• (Kid) Influencer of the Week: @laimabeann. Meet the first toddler barista. If you’re a coffee brand or tea brand, easy send.

• Brand Launch of the Week: Rare Beauty did a masterclass rollout on their new fragrance launch. I am excited to stop by and scratch and sniff their billboards around NYC. From teasing it, to the launch rollout, to the out of home ads, to the paid partnerships, to the community offerings (ex. teaming up with Pantry to create a drink), they just never fail.

No, I don’t want to talk about the new American Eagle campaign with Sydney Sweeney.

• News You Should Know About:

  • Instagram has provided a chart to highlight when you should use certain post formats here. If you’re on a brand team constantly saying that you need to create more top of funnel content, this should help.

  • Instagram Lives are no longer allowed for accounts with under 1,000 followers.

  • Youtubers can now collaborate on actual videos. This could be major for brands looking to grow their long form content. This is literally breaking news as I write this.

  • Not major, but I am going to launch my Substack Chat next week. So, if you’re down, I would love to see you over there. It will feature hot takes, fun content ideas you can try, recommendations and in real time learnings, and so much more (aka non-work things).

That’s A Wrap

Alright, alright, alright. That’s it for this week.

As always, thank you for taking a few minutes from your evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it as we try and get acclimated to Substack.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Want to catch up on past editions of No Filter? Read them all for free right here.

See you this Sunday as we play catch-up. If there’s any burning questions that you want to ask that you want to see a deep dive on, you know where to find me.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

KD

This edition of No Filter is brought to you by Doss:

Let’s recap veeeeery quickly. On Tuesday, I got to celebrate the re-launch of a client’s fragrance with a tennis match. On Wednesday, I had the honor of having breakfast with other writers and the team from Substack, which has me so excited to really put more energy into bringing you more content here. Thursday and Friday, I was down for the count.

Speaking of Substack, we have so many new faces! If you’re new here, hit “reply” and write back with a little bit about you, your latest snack find, and perhaps what you’re wanting to see from this newsletter.

Now, onto today’s topic because it’s one that I am loving see come to life this year.

Brands are finally waking up to the fact that their own community might be more valuable than the influencers they’re chasing.

Everyone’s trying to get into the hands of the same 20 people in their niche. And sure when influencer marketing is done well, it can be great. But let’s be honest: it’s also gotten crowded, repetitive, and kind of expected.

Meanwhile, there’s a group of people that brands are sleeping on: the ones who already buy the product, tag it, talk about it, and recommend it without being asked, who aren’t posting because they got a check, but because they genuinely enjoy it.

These are the people smart brands are paying attention to. Not just because it’s more authentic, but because it adds another layer to a successful brand strategy.

So, today we’re talking about:
→ Why your community is more powerful than you think and what it takes to build one
→ What brands like point of view, Cocokind, Elwood, and more are doing differently
→ Tactical ways to turn your community into an effective marketing channel

A Quick Word

Everyone says they want “community,” but most brands don’t actually know what that means or what it takes. They’ll say they want to “do gifting” or “launch an ambassador program,” and next thing you know they’re drowning in spreadsheets, chasing down addresses, and manually tracking who’s even active. It’s a mess. And eventually, the towel gets thrown in.

I get it. Seeding at scale can spiral fast. Getting hundreds of creators and customers into one program with codes, links, commissions, restocks, and communication? Sounds stressful even just reading that last sentence back.

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be this hard. That’s why it’s my goal to introduce you to the tools I’ve lived by, have helped me and continue to help me stay sane whether I’m a one person show or working within a team.

If you're serious about turning your followers and favorite creators into actual ambassadors (online and offline), meet your new secret weapon (and today’s sponsor): Superfiliate.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you already know Superfiliate is one of my go-to tools when it comes to community and creator programs. It’s the hub I used to scale Graza’s influencer and affiliate program into a multi-six figure channel without crashing out.

If you’ve been looking for:
A) An easy solution to find and discover new creators who can join your ambassador program or creator program over time
B) A seamless way to recruit said creators without having to send hundreds of DMs manually and spend time you don’t have
C) A way to manage all communications with your influencers and creators in one spot
D) Handle product seeding in less than 2 clicks and have access to them along the whole gifting journey
E) A solution to creating custom landing pages for the people in your programs so you can increase conversion and give a customized experience
F) Track and report on your top creators, data, revenue driven, traffic, etc. all in one view
G) An easy way to pay out your creators for their hard work and commission they earned
H) A tool that makes your life easier by integrating with your tech stack (Klayvio, Attentive, Recharge, Shopify, etc)
I) A streamlined way to push top-performing creator content directly into paid media, track results, and easily see what’s live, pending, or paused

J) All of the above.

Superfiliate is everything you need and nothing you don’t. To see it in action (and get a free month on me), you can click the link right here and tell them I sent ya. A huge thank you as always to Andy, Anders, and the rest of the team.

Now, let’s get back into our normal programming.

Why Community is Becoming More Influential than Influencers

The Definition of Community

I cannot start writing this without hitting on one thing: the definition of community. When we talk about “community” in marketing, we’re talking about groups of people who share a common interest around your brand whether that’s the product itself, a lifestyle, or a shared mindset.

A strong community isn’t just about customers only interacting with your brand, it’s about them connecting with each other as well. A strong community in this day and age for a brand may look like getting tagged in content frequently, being referred whether on social media or by word of mouth, giving feedback to better inform the steps your brand might need to take, etc. A strong community allows everyone to feel like they belong.

When done right, community builds trust, loyalty, and long-term relevance. Your job as a marketer is to give them a reason to keep showing up whether it’s through valuable content, IRL events, an exclusive chatroom, or just creating a space where they feel seen.

Too many brands are so focused on getting more followers or customers that they forget about the ones who already bought in and show up for them on a daily basis. If you’re not going to retain the people you’re working to acquire, what’s the point?

Community: A Channel for Influence

When it comes to community-led marketing vs. influencer marketing, it isn’t an either/or convo.

Influencer marketing still matters, especially when it’s thoughtful, aligned, and actually creative. There are creators who can move product overnight, build serious credibility, and tell your story better than you can. Getting your product into the hands of a bunch of the right people, big or small, can make it feel like your brand is everywhere and get serious awareness. It works. I’m not here to argue that.

But more often than not, what we’re seeing is that the content that feels the most genuine, the most believable, and the most likely to drive action is coming from regular people. There’s a reason brands invest in User Generated Ads after all.

That’s where community comes in. And lately, it’s becoming the more influential channel, not because it has the biggest reach, but because it has the most trust.

The tension point lately is that a lot of brands say they want to build community. They want the User Generated Content. They want thousands to talk about them for free. They want to say that they are consumer-centric, buuuuuuuut they don’t want to do the work it takes to do it or they just view each person with multiple dollar signs behind them.

But here’s what the best brands are doing:
They’re treating community like a long-term strategy and not a “moment.”

What Does This Look Like In Action?

The shift has been happening for a while, but it feels like this year, I am seeing more and more brands put out posts that favor their followers or have shifted their tone on social to talk with their followers versus at them.

Here’s what it looks like when brands don’t just talk about community and actually stand on business. Sorry, I had to.

The Community Casting

Elwood and Topicals have all opened up casting calls to their community inviting real customers to be the face of their campaigns.

Early Access To Launches

Brands like Dieux are doing this right with their community platform to give their followers early access to launches, samples, and intel. It creates hype and a sense of ownership. People want to be first, and they want to feel in on something. This same reason is why we actually launched a slack channel for point of view. I am lucky to work on an account that has such an insane community thank to Mikayla, but we wanted a place where Meta didn’t own what we’re in the process of building.

I also love how Dieux highlights thoughts and feedback from their community channel to give that FOMO effect, but also that they are showing real results, thoughts, and more to their audience who can trust that it wasn’t #sponsored.

Exclusive Events

I am going to chat about a client on this one. I have had the honor of working with the point of view team since before launch. One thing that has always been key in how we build out the brand is the community. With that said, a franchise called pov labs was created internally, which would be a dedicated community event series put on by the brand around the country. Why? Many beauty brands will drop 100K+ for influencers for brand trips, events, and more, but won’t do the same for the people who show up and show out. This event is a masterclass about skin prep and make-up with the make-up side being brought to life alongside some of the best brands in the world.

Our first one was in Boston with Rare Beauty with fifty folks coming to spend the day with us and get their glam on.

You can watch Mikayla’s video here to understand a bit more about pov labs and our mindset (worth a watch!) and you can see our recap here so you can see exactly what I mean.

Sending PR Boxes + More

Brands like Cocokind aren’t replacing influencer marketing. They’re complementing it by giving their community a seat at the table. Let’s look at Cocokind, who quite literally has “a community brand” in their Instagram bio.

Cocokind has always been a brand that I have admired over the last 7+ years. They truly do mean it when they say they are community-first. This year, the brand has launched multiple mini customer-oriented activations from the PR Mailer Program to bringing together customers in local cities to support launches like they did here to having Priscilla, the founder, pick up customers from the airport instead of sending them a car to getting box seats for their highest LTV customers and long-time creator friendlies for the Beyonce concert. I could literally keep going.

They are writing the playbook for community-led marketing right in front of your eyes.

Plus, it’s a solid reminder that doing things that don’t scale is cool.

How to Actually Leverage Your Community

As you can already get from the above, building community is about giving the people who already love your brand more ways to show up and making it easy for them to feel seen, valued, and part of what you’re building.

You got some examples from brands in the space, but here are ways that you can start putting it into practice:

1. Start with who’s already here for you.
Before you build anything, audit what you’ve already got. Who tags you often? Who’s a repeat buyer? Who’s sending DMs, replying to emails, or commenting with real feedback? Take note.

Start a simple tracker with usernames, engagement touch points, and purchase behavior. You don’t need to start from scratch, you just need to start noticing. If you’re balling on a budget, just use a google sheet.

2. Invite them in.
Don’t assume people know they’re welcome to participate. You have to ask. This could be as small as adding a certain call to action on a post or e-mail. Remember: Talk with and not at those you want support from.

Inviting them in also allows you to create content that they actually want to see based off certain data points. For example, I just put this into work with a reply series for D.S. and Durga on TikTok. You don’t always need to get original. Some of the easiest content for you to create is right in front of your face.

3. Create moments to connect.
Sometimes, the best content comes from experiences. That’s why IRL or digital gatherings matter. A dinner, a co-working session, a casual Q&A with the founder, all of it builds trust and connection that shows up later in content and retention. Sure, dinners might seem overdone, but if that’s what you can do, then do what works and makes the most sense for you.

4. Build a lightweight system to track and engage.
If you want this to scale, you need structure. Create a system where you can track key community members, what they’ve engaged with, what you’ve sent them, and where they’re most active. This makes it easier to follow up, send thoughtful gifts, or tap them for campaigns when it actually matters. This is also why I have used apps like Superfiliate (sorry, perfect plug).

5. Feature their content like it matters.
Don’t just repost to Stories and call it a day. Put community content on your product pages, in ads, email flows, landing pages, and even packaging. Show that their content has value and that it shapes how you show up. When people see themselves reflected in the brand, they’re more likely to keep showing up for it.

6. Let them shape what comes next.
This is where most “community efforts” fall short. If you’re only asking people to post, you’re missing the point. Ask for feedback. The data is at your fingertips. Let them be part of building what’s next vs. just reacting to what already exists.

Ahead of the Trend

I have been hearing that many of you love this section. If you’re new here, Ahead of the Trend is a quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. Sometimes, it’s about snacks. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now or things you should know.

In no particular order, let’s dive in:

• Eating: Truthfully, it’s been one of those weeks where I just don’t have an appetite. So, Glaze Teriyaki has been coming to the rescue if you’re in NYC, but otherwise, you’ll usually find me with a Koia in hand because #protein.

• Drinking: Hate on me all you want for saying this, but an ice cold Strawberry Banana Electolit Zero is refreshing in this weather. I never saw myself as someone who adventured that much flavor wise, but this one opened my eyes and my mind.

• Influencer of the Week:

• Social Announcement of the Week: I think it’s pretty impossible to work in social and not acknowledge that David, the protein bar that quickly took over your feed, launched Frozen Cod due to the constraints with EPG. What are you thoughts? Good stunt? Bad stunt? Pretty smart to also team up with a well-known face in the fish space, Kyle, who is the founder of the Alaskan Salmon Company as their help in sourcing the fish.

• Resource of the Week: It’s almost the end of the month so you know what that means! Monthly Reporting is almost due. HERE’s a free template for you to make a copy of. If you’re trying to highlights the wins and learnings of your work in an easy and efficient way or just want your team to even start, this is for you.

• News You Should Know About:

  • For the 15th time, get on Threads if your brand as the voice and capacity to do so. Meta is pushing it as they just literally hired a Chief role for the platform [via Social Media Today].

  • Youtube has officially started rolling out their A/B Testing feature (Test and Compare) for headlines and thumbnails. If only Instagram could give us more features that help with data and insights like Youtube does. One could dream.

That’s A Wrap

Alright, alright, alright. That’s it for this week.

As always, thank you for taking a few minutes from your Sunday evening and spending it with me.

If you know anyone who you think would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean so much if you could share it as we try and get acclimated to Substack.

Share No Filter by Kendall Dickieson

Want to catch up on past editions of No Filter? Read them all for free right here.

See you next week. If there’s any burning questions that you want to ask that you want to see a deep dive on, you know where to find me.

Peace, love, and KPIs,

-KD

This edition of No Filter is brought to you by Superfiliate: