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I’m prettyyy tired right now. I’ve been working ‘round the clock on something pretty big for y’all, that I know will help so many marketers advance in their careers & find more fulfillment creatively, but I’m a little fried & feeling the winter weather. Injuries don’t help, either (my google search is all plantar fasciitis remedies as I prep for three (!!!) championship rec league games).

But to infinity & beyond and hakuna matata and I can go the distance and all the other Disney catch-phrases, yeah?! Because big news next week.

BUT HEY, let’s talk about social media careers today. We’ll hit on:

• Putting the marketing back in social media marketing

• Wicked’s 400+ brand partnerships

• The TikTok Ban ruling is this week?!

—Jack Appleby

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I worry that Social Marketers are hurting their careers by caring more about social than marketing

It's been so ridiculously cool to watch the Social Media Industry blow up. There are more social jobs than ever with more created every day. Most brands know they've gotta hire specialists if they wanna be effective with social.

But I worry that Social Media Marketers are starting to hurt their careers by caring too much about social media, too little about marketing. And I think we’re about to hit an industry inflection point that’ll leave a lot of young social pros wondering why they can’t find promotions.

We gotta care about the business, not just our social

Most young social media professionals enter the field because they're fascinated by social media! That was certainly me as I palled around early 2000s Twitter, searching for other emo aficionados to form a music blog. And now? With TikTok and Instagram and YouTube's rapid rise? Content has inspired a whole new wave of aspiring pros to get into the industry.

But what I'm seeing more and more: a lack of curiosity about the marketing side of working in social. Lots of interest in making content! Lots of interest in generating likes and comments! Not as much interest in understanding consumer psychology and purchasing habits, or what motivates a loyal consumer abandon a brand they've always purchased for your brand, or how to inspire trial in a product that's a nice to have, not an essential—the marketing stuff.

If we as social media marketers don't appreciate marketing, we surely can't explain how our content contributes to a brand's success—saying "it got a lot of likes" doesn't mean anything.

We have to entertain in a way that sells our brands

Don't get me wrong—the greatest sin of social is making content that doesn't perform at all. We've all seen "boring brands" out there, whose 312 views and 7 likes make it clear they're not driving cultural interest or business.

But our whole job is to drive cultural interest in our brands & products, not just cultural interest in our content—an important distinction. Getting engagement on content that doesn’t have anything to do with our brands & products doesn’t really do us any good.

Our job is to creatively and strategically show the world why they should care about our brand. Our brand content should always help someone understand why our products benefit their lives. That should always be our north star. And we should challenge ourselves to deliver on that within the majority of our content.

Sure, have a trend here or there, make a play based on a separate interest set of your audience. Those have value, especially when they’re easy plays that cost nothing (like how Nothing copied Jaguar’s Copy Nothing for a cool 10 million impressions across their last 3 tweets) (that was a mouthful).

But those should be a fraction of your content. They’re icing, not the cake. We have to be just as excited to find entertaining ways to make content about our brand’s benefits, because that’s 99% of the job. It’s a big reason I’ve been so loud about Dunkin’ recently—by making their donut into a character, they made their product go viral. That’s what we should aspire to—being creative with our products, as a means to sell.

As you get promoted, you’re gonna be expected to know more than social, even as Director of Social

That's where the career part of this comes in. You're probably not asked a whole lot about ROI or business objectives in your first 5ish years working in social—your business wants you focused on pumping out content.

But if you want to elevate in your career? Become a director?

A huge % of your job is explaining why your approach to social media works; how your social is driving business success. And if your content doesn't tie back to traditional marketing principles and an understanding of your brand's reasons to believe (RTBs), you're not gonna be able to make a case for yourself. Saying you got a bunch of likes isn’t good enough—you gotta have a strategic reason why you think those likes will drive sales, or least consideration to purchase.

So yes, let's keep making compelling content! But let's make sure we have a great appreciation for marketing and consumer behavior, so our content drives our businesses (and our careers) forward.

Social Cues

There are so many social big thinkers out there, writing all kinds of amazing strategies, analysis, and breakdowns. All ships rise with the tide, so here are a few reads from other places I think you could learn from.

Inside Wicked’s Marketing Blitz (Variety)

Big movie marketing campaigns have become so fun to watch & analyze. Wicked’s inspired debate around if they actually did too many partnerships (which I find very silly, spend the budget you got, baby). Here’s an interview with Universal CMO Michael Moses about their strategy.

What to know about the TikTok Ban Ruling coming this week (Forbes)

If I had to guess? I’d expect we just see another extension and that TikTok isn’t going anywhere. But we’ve never had a situation like this, Trump’s flip flopped a few times, and we’re all gonna hold our breath until we know for sure. Here’s an explainer with the latest.

Last chance to submit your 2025 predictions! (Future Social)

Drop a reply in my LinkedIn (linked above) or reply to this email with your predictions! I’m gonna feature reader takes in the upcoming predictions issue.