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