2024 Social Media Wrapped: Lessons and Learnings To Take Into The New Year

howdy y’all! happy holidays! this will be the second to last newsletter edition of 2024, which is insane in the membrane. about a year ago, i posted a tweet announcing that I was even starting this so thank you from the bottom of my heart if you’re still here for your support, especially as we head into the new year.

as we speak, i’m in the middle of planning things to chat about next year so if you have any dying questions or things you often wonder about, please hit “reply” and send them over or DM them over to me!

this week’s edition is going to be a round-up around all the things I have learned this year from lessons around social media/influencer marketing/ partnerships, tools that have allowed me to help my own workflow, personal growth in the space and more that you can hopefully take into the new year.

let’s get into it.

also, no i am not doing a trend forecast because there’s plenty of them, but if you want any thoughts on anything ( cough the tiktok ban cough), i’m an open book.

Here’s a song for you to listen to while you scroll and to relax. I literally feel like I am floating every single time. I swear that anything SZA and Kendrick do together is magic.

16 Lessons + Learnings Around Marketing To Take Into 2025

(in no particular order)

1. You can only get so far without systems.

Work smarter not harder. Asana has not failed in being the ultimate helper and organizer for content production, calendar organization for e-mail/sms/partnerships/content, brainstorming, and more. Maybe one day they’ll acknowledge me </3

2. Don’t sleep on long-form content for influencer partnerships.

Youtube is one of the platforms that I don’t like ever shut up about. If you’ve followed me on X or here, you know I like really don’t shut up.

Why?

• Longer Integration Times: 30 seconds-1 min. +

• Long Tail Conversion: A video can continue to perform or regularly uptick seasonally. I've had one creator who has been consistently converting from one YT video that went live over a year ago.

• Great testing ground for working with bigger batches of creators or just taking big swings

• Die-Hard Community: These people CARE. I've had campaigns instantly give a 4-7x on spend within 24-48 hours.

• Different Niches: There are niches for literally everything that make it easy to work with handfuls of creators to test appropriately.

I’ll have a whole edition coming out about how to approach these in January.

3. Schedule time with yourself on your Google Calendar.

Need thinking time? Schedule it. Need deep work time? Schedule it. You wouldn’t miss a meeting with someone else so, don’t miss one with yourself. As someone who is toggling across clients, this has really helped make sure I’m #lockedin.

4. Your community is an unlock.

Throwing money at your content for ads won’t grow a stable foundation from Day 1. Putin the work. Get OFF your account. Outbound community management will forever be a need for brands.

5. If you need help or resources, just ask for it.

Worst case is a “no”, but you can’t expect your team to assume what or who you need.

6. Stop trying to do too much. You need to go slow to go fast.

You don’t need to be on every single platform. You don’t need to rush to increase your cadence. Breathe and be strategic.

7. Content collaborations are so underrated for community expansion.

Get your product seen by other audiences in the click of a button. There are three formats of content collaboration that I look at:

• Brand x Brand Content Collaboration

  • Citius Mag x Olipop

  • Momofuku x Milk Bar

• Brand x Influencer Content Collaboration

  • Ben Gingi x Graza 

  • Katie x Fishwife

  • Aidan x Jagermeister

• Brand x Brand x Influencer Content Collaboration

  • Ex. Fly by Jing x Little Sesame x Christine Han

8. Want to be seen? Get outside of where your brand would usually sit.

Send product to influencers where people would not expect your product, but where it is useable to able to get eyes on it or it can be applicable.

9. Creative production support is the biggest unlock.

This has been one of the most important hires i’ve ever seen. Whether a freelancer/contractor, part-time, or full-time, if you want to go fast, the combo of a social manager who can brief plus someone consistently executing for shoots, tiktok, and more is a great set-up.

10. Remaining scrappy will forever be an underrated skill.

No explanation needed.

11. You don’t need to upload every second of the day to be “successful” on social.

Social is NOT sprint. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot before you even start or if you don’t have the resources and time to sustain it. Consistency of quality and of content that your audience actually wants is they key.

12. (Almost) everything is worth testing at least once.

If it makes sense for your or your brand, do it. Note that a test can mean a multitude of things from testing formats (ex. testing carousels on tiktok vs. 15 second videos) to kickstarting a series on social. Use data to inform best path forward.

13. Don’t underestimate the power of a brainstorm.

As long as things happen after the brainstorm. Monthly brainstorms should be happening consistently to be able to get ahead and know what shoots, content, and more need to be firmed up in advance.

I might release the template I use next year.

14. YT Shorts. Start. Trust me.

I’ve always been bullish on them since 2022 (WSJ). With the pending ban of Tiktok, short-form will move to the places where people didn’t think “it was worth it”.

15. Organic and Paid Media should work as a friendship.

It’s not a competition. Your organic social creative can prove if something will be a good paid ad. Stop having them work solo and see where the teams can help one another.

16. It’s really not that serious.

Friendly reminder: it’s just social media. If something doesn’t perform, it’s not the end of the world. Treat everything as a lesson, not as a flop.

It’s time for Ahead of The Trend.

A quick, snappy ode to the fun things I’m seeing online across creators, social, and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share about marketing. TL;DR: just cool things I’m loving right now.

Brand Account of the Week: Cozy Cookies. Want to see what unhinged brand content looks like? Scroll here.

Product of the Week: Dam Good English Muffins. Shoutout to the best english muffins in the game. These got me through my week. I’ve battled a stomach bug thing (i think tbh no clue what’s wrong lol) and so i was on a pretty plain food diet and the sheer amount of their cinnamon raising and/or original muffins I ate with butter and flaky salt probably set a Guinness world record.

Creator of the Week: Danielle Williams. I found Danielle while just scrolling on my FYP. She’s a smaller creator on Tiktok who has popped off (3.4M views here) because of the boxes that her husband makes her to recreate Chopped, the popular cooking show on Food Network. A great place for brands to act here if you’re in the food space. Jus’ sayin’.

That’s a wrap, folks.

We had some new folks join recently so if that’s you be sure to say hi! If you want to catch up past editions for free? Click right here. 

That’s all from me this week. I hope you have an amazing holiday!

As always, peace, love, and KPIs.

-KD