🎉Welcome to our 100th edition 🎉

So glad you’re along for the ride with us.

Today, you’ll find out why some influencer brands crash and burn (I’m lookin’ at you, Prime Hydration) while others take off.

In today's newsletter:

• The secret behind Emma Chamberlain's success (it’s why she’s just secured another $4.6 mil in funding)

• 'TikTok Symphony' brings AI ads to life (here’s our take on whether that’s a good thing or not)

• Trend plug - Fancy pants over here (time to call out your pretentious coworkers)

• What social metrics are most important? (well, it depends on your goals)

- Charlotte, Editor ♡

Things I need right now: $4.6 million.

Things I don’t have right now: $4.6 million.

Things Emma Chamberlain just secured in funding for her DTC coffee brand: $4.6 million.

LORD, I see the things you be doing for others….😆

All jokes aside, Emma is one clever lady. Over the last four years, she's utilised her audience to build a thriving coffee brand.

And she's not the only influencer who's done very well for herself.

Direct-to-consumer sales in the US are forecasted to reach $212.9 billion in 2024. So it’s no surprise that there's been no shortage of influencer-founded DTC brands in the last few years.

Let's be real, they're popping up quicker than celebs on Ozempic.

But not all that glitters is gold. We’ve mentioned before how brands like Prime Hydration and Feastables started off strong and quickly withered away.

Not Chamberlain though. She aims to raise a total of $7 million in the latest round of funding.

That’s according to a securities filing Wednesday.

So, what sets her apart from other influencers who have tried and failed in the DTC space?

[Keep reading]

-Sophie, Copywriter

‘TikTok Symphony’ Brings AI Ads to Life

TikTok's hopped aboard the AI bandwagon with its announcement of 'TikTok Symphony.' Symphony's a generative AI suite designed to help marketers create ads.

So what's included in TikTok Symphony?

Symphony Creative Studio - This is an AI video generator. TikTok claims the creative studio can create platform-ready videos for you. You only need to enter a few inputs and it does the rest.

The studio also offers ready-to-use videos for your ongoing campaigns. The platform creates these videos based on assets and product info found in TikTok Ads Manager.

Symphony Assistant - This is an AI assistant designed to help you generate and polish your scripts. It can also help you enhance your ad campaigns.

Symphony Ads Manager Integration - TikTok says you can use this feature to give your existing videos a glow-up to help them stand out.

So will this break the curse of TikTok ads or make things worse?

[Keep reading]

-Devin, Copywriter

Trend Plug - Fancy Pants Over Here

We love how this trend is putting pretentious people in their place.

Using a song called ‘The Chat Shenanigans’ by The Nuves, TikTok-ers are calling out snobs by calling them 'Fancy Pants Rich McGee'.

Pretentious infractions include having an automatic ice maker, not knowing how to fend for themselves for dinner, and not remembering where they bought their outfit.

How to jump on this trend

Create your own video using this song. Add text overlay of an exchange between you and someone else who thinks they're better than you.

Some inspiration to get you started:

• 'When the creative team insist on making me use Premiere Pro instead of CapCut'

• 'When the videographer wants to us an actual camera vs. my iPhone 11'

• 'When I see my colleague's colour-coded calendar'

-Abdel, Social Media Coordinator

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Ask the Editor

Q - What metrics are most important for brands to look at on their social channels? - Justin

Hey Justin!

It's hard to isolate just one metric because they all work together. What metrics are most important depends on your goals. If you want to go viral, you're probably going to look at views over anything else. If you're wanting to build affinity for your brand, engagement is a good metric to track.

Right now, our team is working on increasing retention time and shareability. Because those two things have a positive impact on views and engagement. We’re learnt that, if the message we're trying to convey is solid, that will have a positive impact on all fronts.

- Charlotte, Editor ♡