Steve is Social

Community Lore:

www.tiktok.com/@leta_bitchk...

Group 7 meaning explained. This is a masterclass on marketing! 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽 #g7 #group7 #group7explained #sophiajames #sounfair TikTok video by terrica ❌ TTS 🌸Lifestyle🌸UGC

Here’s the trend breakdown if you want to dive in:

www.tiktok.com/@genx.terric...

www.tiktok.com/@ellyzkei/vi...

US artist Sophia James dropped 7 TikToks at once to test the algorithm. The 7th blew up — now #Group7 is a full-blown fandom. Love how online communities build stories from a single spark.
Are you team #Group7? 😄

#TikTokTrends #CreatorCulture #DigitalCulture

Blue graphic with coral Reels icon at top. Large white text reads "REELS FIRST. FEED SECOND." Below in black text: "Instagram's new interface puts video at the centre." Three mobile phone mockups show Instagram's interface progression: left phone displays traditional feed with Stories at top, centre phone shows full-screen Reels view in dark mode, right phone shows Following feed view. All three phones display time as 5:26 with full signal and WiFi indicators.

Instagram is testing a Reels-first interface. Open the app, land on Reels first. Not your feed.

3 billion users. 50% of time spent on Reels.

Video isn't optional anymore.

#Instagram #SocialMedia #Reels

Blue graphic featuring a quote from Cat van der Werff, Canva's Executive Creative Director. White text reads: "One of the biggest shifts we're seeing is that design is moving beyond perfection — it's often about imperfection with intention. Gen Z especially is pushing back against things like algorithmic polish and sameness (a byproduct of AI) and instead craves content that feels incredibly human, culturally relevant, and sometimes even brutally honest." Key phrases "incredibly human, culturally relevant, and sometimes even brutally honest" are highlighted in coral boxes. Attribution at bottom reads "CAT VAN DER WERFF, CANVA'S EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR" in black text, and "VIA ICYMI BY LIA HABERMAN" in white text.

Cat van der Werff (Canva's ECD) nailed it:

"Design is moving beyond perfection. Gen Z craves content that feels human, culturally relevant, brutally honest."

Real beats polished. Every time.

(Via @liahaberman.bsky.social's ICYMI newsletter)

#SocialMedia #ContentDesign #GenZ

Teams need wins they can celebrate. Even tiny progress keeps people motivated and experimenting. So: run more tests. Track the learnings. Celebrate the small wins.

In social, those micro-choices matter. The first three seconds of video. Your caption hook. Thumbnail colours. Small stuff, big impact.

Bartlett also talked about the 1% Rule. Sweating the small stuff. Background music. Lighting. Air fresheners. Tiny details that compound over time into massive results.

For social teams making brand content, this changes everything. Stop chasing perfection. Start running more tests. Every low engagement post is feedback.

The goal? Fail faster than the competition. Because the team that learns fastest wins.

Steven Bartlett's company has a Head of Failure. An actual person whose job is to run experiments, kill what doesn't work, and capture the lessons.

I've been thinking about failure a lot this week. Not the kind that crushes you. The kind that teaches you.

#SocialMedia #ContentStrategy #CreativeTeams

The TikTok deal isn't just an American story. UK creators are caught in the crossfire.

US takeover means algorithm retrained on US data only. UK creators seeing 40% of views from just 15% US followers. That reach is about to vanish.

Time to diversify.

The moment authenticity becomes a methodology, it stops being authentic.

RIP vibe. You deserved better than becoming an Office 365 feature.

These words (like "slay" from Black/queer ballroom culture) carry history. When they're commodified without context, we're not just killing vocabulary. We're erasing the communities that created it.

AI tools for "vibe consistency" emerge

Microsoft makes a press release

Word = deceased

But it's worse than corporate cringe.

The pattern is exhaustingly predictable:

Word emerges from authentic culture (1960s counterculture, in this case)

Social media adopts it because it's actually useful

Marketing spots it and thinks "let's make this a STRATEGY"

Microsoft just killed the word "vibe", and honestly, it was a mercy killing at this point

"Vibe working." That's what they're calling their new AI Office feature. VIBE. WORKING

Before this: Meta's AI video app "Vibes" and tech's "vibe coding" trend

#CorporateCringe #MarketingFails #LanguageDeath

We don't want to see what our friends post anymore.

Instagram hits 3b users, but we're shifting away from friend feeds to algorithmic recommendations. Social media is now about entertainment over connection.

How do brands show up authentically?

#SocialMedia #DigitalStrategy #ContentStrategy

Part 3

Part 2

The Gen Z research just dropped and honestly? We’ve been doing this all wrong. There are two Gen Zs hiding under one label.

Same generation, different planets.

Your one-size-fits-all strategy just became obsolete.

Time to choose: which Gen Z are you actually talking to?

Daily office ritual: I keep affirmation cards on my desk to share with colleagues who need a boost ✨

Each day, someone picks a card for their desk. Simple way to spread positivity!

Who doesn't love a sassy frog in boots? 🐸👢

Brands turn to Discord servers as a means to reach niche influencer channels in their own 'communities' As Discord asserts itself as a marketing platform, brands are increasingly approaching it using the classic influencer marketing playbook.

Check out the article here:
digiday.com/media/brands...

Your action steps:
🔎 Research Discord communities in your sector
🙋‍♂️Identify active server owners
🥳 Propose genuine value partnerships
🧪Test small community sponsorships

Which communities could teach your brand authentic engagement? 👇

The real power lives in the communities they create.

When you're in someone's Discord server, you can't fake genuine interest. The community spots inauthentic brands immediately.

One insight changed my thinking:

"Discord is the first platform where communities get monetised, not individuals."

This shifts everything. We've built influencer marketing around personalities.

The data backs this approach. Discord has 200 million monthly users. 44% of Gen Z gamers use it regularly. 20% of all Gen Zers are active on the platform.

Netflix, Samsung, Good Good Golf are experimenting now.

Jack in the Box partnered with Discord servers. They didn't broadcast to 100,000 people. They joined conversations where Fortnite fans already gather.

What worked:
✅ Direct partnerships with server owners
✅ Sponsored gaming tournaments

Community marketing is changing. Discord proves it. 💬

I've watched brands chase impressions for years. They miss the real opportunity. Gen Z builds tight communities on Discord whilst we obsess over reach metrics.

#CommunityMarketing #MarketingStrategy #SocialMedia #InfluencerMarketing