Helloooooooo and happy turkey week to all of you wonderful readers!

What are your Thanksgiving traditions? As long as it’s not setting your house on fire with a deep-fried turkey, I’m probably ok with it. I for one am spending the holiday away from family for the first time, but I’ll be with some of my closest friends so I’ll make some new traditions while still feeling the communal vibes. ❤️ 

Being that Thanksgiving is this week, you know what I’m about to do. Imma be thankful. 🥲 🦃 

Thankful for working in a field that I absolutely obsess over, thankful for having the opportunity to be creative on a weekly basis, and thankful that I have you incredible readers supporting me on this journey.

Being a founder and a creator is no easy game. It’s lonely, the goal line is constantly moving, some days are up, and others are down. But what makes it all worthwhile is you folks. Yeah, you, reading this right now; YOU are the reason I keep doing this week in and week out! You listen to my ramblings every week, you provide feedback on format, content style, coverage, and beyond, you share my stories with your friends, and you share your stories with me; it’s a beautiful thing. So again, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you readers.

Now go eat too much food, watch too much football, and fall asleep on the couch at 4:00 PM. ‘Tis the season!

Happy Turkey Day everyone.

Creator Marketing Report Break Down

• LTK partnered up with Northwestern University’s Retail Analytics Council to analyze some of the biggest marketing trends in the game. As always, I’ll take the biggest pieces and give you a little breakdown below, but if you want to check out the full report, you can find it hyperlinked here. 🤝 But honestly, they pretty much ask for everything but your soul, just a warning!

• In Creators We Trust: 73% of Gen Z, 68% of Millennials, and 57% of the general population look to creators to make purchase decisions. It’s also reported that 98% of brands are using creator content outside of their socials.

• Upping the Budget: According to this study, 80% of brands increased creator budgets in 2023, and 92% of brands plan to increase creator marketing budgets in 2024. Is that the creator middle class I hear? I can only hope!!

• Creators, Unsurprisingly, Positively Impacting Biz: From increases in repeat purchases to brand and product recognition, finding new audiences, improving brand perception, and beyond, creators hold the key to customer trust.

• Creator Strats: Brands are investing in creators to maximize their impact across channels and focus on driving audience growth, awareness, and sales.

While these points may feel a bit general, it’s super uplifting to hear these stats in relation to creators making more dough, and gaining more trust from brands. This report reaffirms my constant sentiment that creators will encompass almost every aspect of business in the coming years. So, creators and creative souls, this is your weekly reassurance that you’re on the right path and grinding on the right things. Just keep pushing!!

Content Will Never Be the Same

• Welcome to the weirdest reel that you may have ever seen! In this Reel posted by the big Zuck himself, Meta showcases an all-new AI tool, dubbed Emu.

• This AI has two main abilities, the first being editing images through text prompts, as you can see in the imagery above. And the second being videos created based on a text prompt.

• Meta seeks to integrate these AI features into both Facebook and IG.

• In my eyes, this shift marks a major turning point in the mass adoption of AI. Get ready for your parents to send you some cursed AI-generated videos, because it’s easier to use than ever before, and baked right into their favorite platforms.

• This feature is going to turn even more individuals into creators, it will open up new niche opportunities in the creator ecosystem, and I’d be willing to wager there will be monetization opportunities for prompting these bots, just as other savvy folks have been doing with ChatGPT.

• Do you think we have anything to worry about here, or will it be a flash in the pan? Personally, I think it’s going to change A LOT in the ecosystem, but only time will tell.

• Search for the opportunities and don’t be afraid to leverage this tech, it’s not going anywhere soon!

YouTube Gets A Little NSFW

• Let’s get spicy. YouTube has just announced that it will be expanding its monetization eligibility for “adult content”, allowing creators to earn ad revenue from videos featuring "non-sexually graphic dance" and breastfeeding content.

• So what does this even mean, and why is it important? No, they’re not trying to compete with hot tub streamers; they’re allowing EVEN MORE creators to monetize, and I’ll never complain about that. 😎 

• Let’s break it down, starting with what’s considered "sensual dancing."

• From the mouth of YouTube, sensual dancing is “non-sexually graphic dancing involving rhythmic body movements, such as twerking or grinding, as well as dance featuring fleeting minimal clothing.”

• Bring in the dancin’ lobstas!

• YouTube didn’t stop there, mommas get revenue too!

• Breastfeeding videos can now earn ad revenue, but only in videos “where a child is present, even with visible areola.” You heard it here first folks, no kid = no nipples.

• Breastfeeding thumbnails can also be used, so long as there’s no “visible areola” in the image.

• This is incredible news for these creators who have been demonetized since 2017 when these videos first began getting the chop by YT.

• I use YouTube to learn literally anything that I don’t know how to do, so why not allow moms or dancers to learn the ropes from a creator that they love? And why shouldn’t that creator be paid?! In my opinion, this change should have come about years ago, but better late than never, right?!

Good Music, Better Vibes

Meet 232 and the various artists performing under this channel!

232 is a channel from South Korea, and they are providing us with IMMACULATE vibes. These videos have been coming out for three years, and while there aren’t many, each upload is a slapper.

Hell, I’m writing this while listening to a mix right this second! These DJ sets have a ton of different genres, from Korean pop to American classics, house, rap, reggae, and beyond, it’s unlikely that you WON’T want to move yo’ body.

With only 5.1k subs, 232 continues to do their thing without batting an eye at numbers, so why not add to those metrics while making your day a little brighter through masterfully mixed music?!

Go check out 232 and let me know what mix you dove into first, I promise you won’t regret it. 🤝 

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

I won’t make you think that hard today, because I know you’ve already shut your brain off for the holiday, and it’s only like 11 AM. So tell me, creators, what are you thankful for? Let me know by replying to this email for a potential feature in next week’s issue!

And if you don’t want to tell me what you’re thankful for, at least settle this debate for me: Is turkey mid? Are the sides the main show at Thanksgiving?

I won’t tell you what side of the fence I’m on here, you’ll just have to find out by replying to this email 😉 

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

If you’d like to keep learning about topics like the ones shared above, be sure to follow and connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter! I’m always excited to meet new creators!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post, see you next week. ✌️