The brand walks. The influencer burns.
In the Ferragni and Balocco case, 96% of journalists' tweets were about the influencer. Consumers followed the press, and the brand barely got mentioned.
Marketing in 3 · Topic
10 issues of Marketing in 3 on Social media, newest first. Each one explains a new peer-reviewed study in plain English, with steps to apply it.
The label does not read as artificial. It reads as lazy.
Posts carrying TikTok's AI label collected 7% to 8% fewer likes at the same reach. Not because people distrust AI. Because the label says the creator did not try.
Busy enough to be interesting, tidy enough to be read
Thumbnails with a middling amount going on won the clicks at 5.48 out of 7. Middling colour harmony lost them at 3.41. Two dials, pulling opposite ways.
Write the post for them and they will send it
Handing customers a ready-made post lifted sharing from 0.4% to 2.1% in a real gym campaign, and quietly stopped unhappy customers posting at all. How to use it, and where it gets uncomfortable.
The dislike button that made people post more, and shout less
A noticeable drop in reputation made Reddit users 8.5 points more likely to post the next day and softened their strongest opinions. What that means for ratings, scores and community design.
Test your ads in the feed, not on a slide
The same airline ad scored lower (4.31 vs 4.82 out of 7) when placed among flood posts. How to pretest social ads in a realistic feed, for free.
The liveness lift: why people stay for live video
Telling viewers a video was live made them more likely to keep watching (5.19 vs 3.59 out of 7) and to follow the creator. When going live pays off.
Why half-sponsored influencers get the least engagement
Influencers who post mostly ads or almost none get the most engagement; those at around 40–50% sponsored get the least. How to pick influencers by endorsement rate.
When brand memes sell, and when they flop
In a field test, a meme ad doubled click-through (1.40% against 0.65%) and raised ROAS from 1.14 to 1.52. Memes work only when mature and for mainstream products.
How to answer customers who praise you online
Replying to a 5-star review by downplaying the praise made 60.8% of people choose that business over one that repeated the compliment. Wording that works, and what to avoid.