I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. This week the whole list is free! I’ve worked hard wading through all of the halloween costume content, which I DO enjoy. Amelia Dimoldenberg’s costume was definitely my favorite celeb costume.
I’ve noticed that the Instagram reels feed is serving me the same content and creators over and over. This is in stark contrast to TikTok’s fyp serving me fresh content infinitely, for the most part. My theory is that Instagram’s algorithm is overcorrecting for my attention: This user saved this video or interacted with this profile’s content, so let’s try to show it to them again to squeeze out more views, engagement, and screentime. As you can imagine, this is very unhelpful for my research for this newsletter. Seeing the news about Instagram also lowering the quality of videos that aren’t ‘performing’, is really making me despise the platform more than usual. Classic Meta bullshit being hypocritical, saying they ‘champion small businesses and creators’ and then lowering the quality of their videos for the sake of stakeholders.
One of my favorite creator partnerships I saw this week was this lovely collab reel between Loewe and textile designer Yuri Himuro. I love the whimsy, the subtle branding, and unique visuals this achieved. Currently sitting at 2.2M views (this jumped 1M in one day as I was drafting this post!).
As of now, every other newsletter will be free, and the rest will be for paid subscribers. Twenty creators each month for free subs, 40 creators each month for paid subs. Smash that share button if you like this newsletter and want to help me spread the word and potentially expand this further in the future!
Let’s get into it.
The list follows this format, numbered in no particular order: Handle Linked to example post (if they are on Substack I’m trying out tagging them here too) | Category or short description | My two cents
Haruko Hayakawa / @harukohayakawa | CG Artist | Haruko is a talented CG artist and Creative Director who’s done a lot of product work for brands like Poppi, Cometeer, and Fly by Jing, but I noticed there aren’t any collab reels on her feed with any of these brands. There could be an opportunity for a social-first campaign focused on content, with a collab reel, potentially BTS content, and using her skills for visual eye-candy on social vs. just packaging where she’s more behind the scenes as a creator. Customers like to see the artists behind brand creative!
Sean Solomon / @foreversean | Musician/Mixed Media | I think more brands should contract artists like Sean to create custom tracks for their brand’s content, particularly on social. His post singing an original song against a VHS back track has reached 850K views on TikTok (it doubled in two days as I’ve been drafting this post!), and not only that he paired an animation he created to go with it. Unique, thumb-stopping, and a perfect trifecta of music, art, and nostalgia.
@mariahwinterr | Cooking | Mariah creates cinematic cooking videos in a way I haven’t seen done before. Her editing and style is soft yet bold. A lot of comments mention Wes Anderson but honestly I think she shouldn’t be minimized by being compared to male directors. Her creativity and visuals truly stand on their own. Her engaging narrative voiceovers and sound design create an entirely different universe inside of her kitchen, and it pulls the viewer in as well. Sitting at only 34.4K followers on TikTok, I know she is on her way to blowing up.
@niasalterego | Interviews/Food & Wine | Nia Renée Hill is an actor, writer and producer but most recently the founder of a social-first interview series called ‘At The Table with Nia Renée Hill’, where she highlights Black culinary culture in the fine dining and wine space through intimate interviews, all shot vertically. I actually found her through this recent viral video featuring her husband, Bill Burr, no big deal, but I’m more interested in this series she just started, because although it’s in its infancy, I could see it evolving and growing since she clearly understands the value of TikTok and strategically formatting her interviews for social.
@quida._ | Fashion | I love the short hair + impeccable style combo and Ida represents this demographic so well. Full transparency, I couldn’t determine if she is US-based, but with high reach reels, not an official sponsor in sight, and a talent for curating carousels with sound, Ida could be your next fashion creator.
@socially.awkward22 | VFX | Truly a vibe, this content is ethereal, and my thought here is this would be more of a VFX collaboration where this creator might be involved in directing a brand sponsored post that captures this same feeling, but with some brand storytelling involved. The right brand is already using this kind of visual in their branding, someone like perfume duo DS & DURGA feels right.
@by.regiina | Fashion | Jessi not only hits the style mark, but I love her creative mind. She shows her outfits in really fun ways that take a ton of setup and post-production. Although she has done some sponsorships, I’d want her to take more of a creative director + model approach for a social-first commercial for a brand.
@nolanculver | Comedy | Comedians are really leaning into social strategies these days as a way to promote their tours and I commend them for this. Nolan has gone viral multiple times on Instagram for his ‘affirmations whilst falling’ content, and I could see an outdoor brand contracting him to make something like this for their own feed, or even as a paid social ad. I’ve seen entertaining/humorous creator content do huge numbers in paid social for some of my clients, especially for prospecting campaigns.
@virgin_honey | Art | Another artist of whimsy and children’s book author, Sabine creates tiny little sketchbooks, trash art, painted stones, among other creative and sustainable pieces of art. I really love the mini sketchbooks and envision a brand tasking her with creating one inspired by their product, service or brand as a whole. Nature/outdoor/sustainable-leaning brands preferred!
@saadiiie | Lifestyle | Sadie is an up-and-coming lifestyle creator who caught my attention with her impressive nail art, and complimentary sponsored post with Olive & June (one of the few on her feed), that her audience loved. She’s real, helpful, and has been gaining a following slowly but surely. She’s got a great eye and a super engaged audience that’s always asking where she gets her clothes, accessories, etc.
Thanks for reading! Have any feedback for me about this newsletter? Better yet, did you end up working with one of my suggested creators? I’d love to hear about it as I’m just getting started. My goal is to help professionals in social and influencer marketing discover new people or just get your creative wheels turning for the week. I also love supporting creators! Let’s get these talented people paid.
Disclaimers:
PAY CREATORS FAIRLY. Never expect free work, we don’t live in a ‘product for post’ world anymore.
I’m aware of my internet bubble, but I aim to dive outside of it each week to attempt to plug all different types of creators and walks of life.
I am a 32 year old woman living in the US so most of these recs will definitely fall in the gen z/millennial demographic in the US, but not always.
My creator recs will mostly be on TikTok, Instagram and sometimes YouTube, but there may be other platforms featured.
These are my personal opinions. I am in no way paid, associated or sponsored by anyone in this list including their agencies, unless I explicitly say so.
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