Funny how everyone on LinkedIn uses the Summary portion as a buzzword garden - you've got the whole experience section for that.

But hey - I've got 15+ years working in agencies, with a heavy emphasis on social, content, influencers, and campaigns. As a Director of Creative Strategy, I've lead Social AORs and campaigns for Microsoft, Beats By Dre, Verizon, Spotify, Minecraft, Bethesda, Rock Band, and a slew more - a bunch of details on all of that below.

Besides that? Huge NBA fan who plays ball 4 days a week, vinyl record collector, colossal music fan, and guy who Postmates far too much. Let's make something cool.

Jack Appleby

Okay, I’ve identified seven ways to know if someone’s using AI to write their LinkedIn:

I actually haven’t, I just think it’s ridiculous that anyone cares. If the content in front of your eyes is good, enjoy it! If it’s not good, scroll on right past. But there’s nothing more silly spending time wondering who’s using AI or having emotions about it.

Social Media / Creator Consultant | Work: Microsoft, Beats By Dre, Verizon, Twitch, Morning Brew, Rock Band, Community (six seasons and a movie!) & a slew of video games.

Should your brand only hire Social Media Managers who have their own personal brand and social following?

OF COURSE NOT. It's okay if social's just a job to them. Not everyone needs to build a personal brand in their free time. Does it help? Sure! Can it help show how someone thinks? Yes! But should it be a determining factor? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

“Industry experience required.”

Easily the dumbest, most self-sabotaging phrase in hiring.

If I'm hiring a social media manager for a shoe brand, they don't need five years of footwear experience—they need to understand marketing. They need to get storytelling, and community, and human emotion, and how to make engaging content.

MARKETING IS A TRANSFERABLE SKILL, FOLKS. What, are we in a post apocalyptic society where whatever task you're assigned in the zombie wasteland is your new career for life? Come. On. 

None of your industries are special snowflakes, folks. Yeah, there will be some industry specific things; maybe it's legalities, or demographic preferences, or who knows what. Any half decent marketer can learn that stuff in 30 seconds. Stop pretending like your field is rocket science. 

What's funny is I benefited from this silly way of thinking! Check my LinkedIn—over half my jobs are in the video game industry because once I had gaming experience, those companies kept on calling me. Funny thing? I wasn't allowed to play video games as a kid. And honestly? I don't think my ~gaming experience~ is what made me good at those jobs—it was my social experience.

So uh, hiring managers and companies? Maybe we get a littleee more creative and a littleee less lazy with how we hire people, yeah?

Welp, I did it. I built a 2nd media business around my 🏀 passion, that’s now a 2nd major income stream.

This is the TikTok payout for How To Hoop Forever last month. That's not counting brand deals or in-kind trades.

I'm being paid to play basketball.
You can follow along: https://lnkd.in/eFHFcG_s

ChatGPT can now turn off em-dashes.

What will the LinkedIn AI Police who wanna scream about "I CANT BELIEVE PEOPLE USE AI" complain about now?

Every. Single. Brand. Should. Post. YouTube. Shorts.

Here's 3 very simple reasons why ↓

YOU CAN LITERALLY JUST REPURPOSE YOUR REELS + TIKTOKS
Short-form vertical video is short-form vertical video. These platforms are the sameeee. You've already made the content, so why not just post the content on another massive social network?

YOUTUBE IS THE 2ND LARGEST SEARCH ENGINE
We've heard a lot about the importance of social SEO—Gen Z loves to search YouTube and TikTok the way us millennials usually google things. Getting your social content on YouTube ensures you're in the mix for searches

YOUR BRAND'S YOUTUBE IS PROBABLY DUSTY
Let's be honest, you probably just dropped old TV spots onto your brand's YouTube. Shorts suddenly give that channel purpose, AND will give your next commercial better lift when you inevitably toss it on this channel!

Why isn't your brand on YouTube shorts? What's stopping you? Lemme know in the comments.

I’m super proud of this week’s newsletter.

I’m writing about moving SLOWER in social.

Why speed doesn’t get us anything, how we’ve held ourselves to a reactionary standard that’s honestly not worth much, and why slowing down and being more deliberate are what get you the best social media results. 

Sub here to get it tomorrow: Futuresocial.beehiiv.com

BIG NEWS: my newsletter Future Social just hit 80k subs, and we've kept a 39% open rate!

I'm so proud of this thing. I've never spent a dime on advertising—Future Social has solely grown from readers sharing my articles & encouraging other to subscribe. Hell, I don't even promote it very much, but I really pride myself on writing strategies & case studies that help our beloved social media industry to keep getting better.

If you're not subbed yet, would love to see ya:
https://lnkd.in/eCGxAWpJ

What are your Social Media Predictions for 2026?

I'm gonna feature my favs in the newsletter!

Here's a list of areas to challenge your thoughts—just drop a comment here with your predictions!

- What’s one big social platform shift you think everyone’s underestimating?
- Which social network is due for a major glow-up… or a major collapse?
- What’s one content format you think is about to explode?
- What’s a trend we’re all obsessed with right now that won’t survive 2025?
- How will AI realistically change the day-to-day job of a social media manager?
- What’s one new feature Instagram/TikTok/YouTube WILL roll out next year?
- What’s the biggest skill social pros will need by 2026?
- What’s a type of content brands should immediately stop making?
- What’s the next “For You Page” evolution? (More personalization? More curation?)
- What’s one creator behavior you think brands should steal?
- What’s a metric that will matter way more than it does today?
- What’s a metric we’ll all stop caring about?
- Will Threads actually become a thing? (Or… lol no?)
- What do you think the TikTok algorithm will look like post–ownership change?
- What’s one consumer behavior shift we’re all sleeping on?
- What’s a category of brands that will win big on social in 2026?
- What’s a hot take about the future of paid social?
- What’s your prediction for UGC creators in 2026?
- What new job title will emerge for social teams next year?
- What’s one way social media marketing will look completely different 18 months from now?

Or pick your own!

There's one major mistake I'm seeing brands make over and over in their Influencer Marketing efforts ↓

Brands are giving influencers unreasonably short timelines to create the content, then giving themselves what feels like eons to approve the content... then turning back and asking the creators for edits within 24 hours.

Influencer partnerships are just that—partnerships. It's gotta be a team effort on both sides. You're immediately alienating influencers when you ask for impossible deadlines, or when your brand doesn't deliver timely feedback after asking influencers to drop everything to make content.

Like, think about it. If you've identified an influencer as someone who can successfully drive business for your brand, you probably wanna do everything to make sure they have a great experience, because the last thing you want is them no longer supporting you!

The solves are simple:
- Be realistic in timelines, for both creators and approvals
- Have a clear approval process on the brand side
- Suggest timelines to influencers, but specifically ask them to feedback on the timeline and see what works for them.

Pink Instagram backgrounds now exist!

Buttt you can’t get them. The details ↓

So Instagram started a very exclusive awards program called Rings—basically the Oscars for Insta. Only 25 creators were selected worldwide for the honor.

Two of the benefits of winning Rings:
- creators get custom background colors
- your IG stories ring turns gold (example on left)

Personally, I don’t love the colors look (it’s hard to read & at a glance, it’s impossible to know why they have colored backgrounds when no one else does), but would you want the option to change your color?

No alternative text description for this image

Hot take: your brand’s social will fail if it’s all trend content.

You need to make real, original IP. Unique content!

Your social strategy can’t just be reacting to whatever’s new and hot on the For You Page. The celeb memes and popular songs you’re using? Yeah, those are copyrighted.

YOU DON’T NEED TRENDS. Your brand is interesting all on its own, I promise! And really, your content should constantly pay off the EMOTIONAL BENEFIT of your product, which really doesn’t need any ~culture~ (oh, I’m yelling again, sorry).

If you want relevance year-round, you need content that’s recognizable, repeatable, and uniquely yours. This is cliche, but the best brands in the world don’t join trends, they leverage social insights to start them.
So, I partnered with Hootsuite to create a simple checklist to help you build evergreen content that’ll do numbers without ever checking what’s trending. 
👉 Head to Hootsuite’s LinkedIn page for the full breakdown: https://lnkd.in/eSa3qpNS

#HootsuitePartner

Brand partnership • Social Media / Creator Consultant | Work: Microsoft, Beats By Dre, Verizon, Twitch, Morning Brew, Rock Band, Community (six seasons and a movie!) & a slew of video games.

Can we stop trying to reboot Vine?

TikTok and Instagram have already won. You don't even want Vine back—you just don't realize it.

The nostalgia for the app is cute, but here's what'd happen:
- you'd log in on day 1 out of curiosity
- you'd love the shortest videos ever again
- by week 2, you'd forget its on your phone as your habits go back to Instagram (where your friends and creators are) and TikTok (where the best algorithm in the world knows what content you want).

VINE 2 IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN STOP IT!!!

If you get upset when your brand's social media comments turn negative... you've probably put too much of your identity into your job. 

You're not the company your work for, or the product, or even the social media content you make for the company. It's all work. And sure, you should be proud of when the work does well! But when it doesn't? Or when the company's under fire for some reason that has literally nothing to do with you? That shouldn't bother you.

But I see farrrr too many social media professionals (especially young ones) tie their self-worth to their social media jobs. That's always a recipe for disaster. 

Maybe I'm lucky—my social career began on 3 hated products. I worked community management for some EA video games: Battlefield, Need For Speed: The Run, and Mass Effect 3... also known as a massive game that launched with major glitches, the most hated rendition of a beloved franchise, and the long-awaited trilogy ender with an ending blasted by fans. All 3 got tonssss of negative comments, and I knew up front that those comments weren't a reflection of me.

So please, make sure you're not tying too much of yourself to your brands. Touch grass, as they say.

graphical user interface, text, application

Yeah, you could post memes & lols on LinkedIn...

Anddd it'll do truly nothing to help your career.

I loved a LinkedIn post I saw from Shannon Kelly Ash this morning. She ran a little experiment on her personal account:

"I posted a bunch of unhinged nonsense daily and gained 1,500+ followers and 400,000+ impressions in just over a month. Sounds pretty neat on paper, right? 

Except … visibility ≠ opportunity.

When I used to post polite content tips [3 likes], my inbox was full of job offers and freelance opportunities. Now? With exponentially more reach? Nothing."

This is the number one mistake I see people make in content. We think all engagement is good engagement. We think being the funny guy means we'll get attention... but it's not the attention you want.

You want to be an authority! You want to appeal to bosses & budget holders, not be one of those LinkedIn people who complains about the industry or pokes fun at things. That doesn't get you noticed by the right people.

So please, use LinkedIn, but if you're here to better your career? Share content that shows off that big ol' brain of yours.

And hey, if you need an easy way to start? I've got a $5/month thing I built that gives you daily LinkedIn writing prompts meant to mine your brain for thinking & ideas that are specific to YOU. Give it a look over here if you like: https://lnkd.in/gTTZVf4e

If you're using AI for brand social content, it's gotta be commercially viable.

That's why I'm big on Adobe Firefly—every image is created by an algorithm that's squeaky clean and trained properly without stealing anyone's art! #adobefirefly #adobepartner

What's the best piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to work in social media?

Black F̶r̶i̶d̶a̶y̶
Black F̶r̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶W̶e̶e̶k̶
Black F̶r̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶C̶y̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶M̶o̶n̶d̶a̶y̶
Black F̶r̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶E̶x̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶
Black Existence

Reply with your take, I'm gonna feature a bunch in my newsletter!

Chubb

• Lead strategy for 18 B2B and B2C business lines
• Oversee content creation, calendar, customer care, community management, reporting and employee advocacy
• Conduct monthly personal branding and content creation trainings
• Led strategy, partnerships and execution of events and sponsorships
   o ‘24 US Open: Impressions +94% & Shares +69% vs. 2023
   o ‘24 Chubb Classic: Impressions +109% & Shares +130% vs. 2023 
   o ‘23 Art Basel: Partnered with New York Academy of Art & Design Leadership Network; Followers +60% vs. 2022

AVP, Social Media, North America

Kendra Scott

• Celebrate special milestones and events with customers
• Build relationships with each customer in order to consult on gifting and jewelry needs
• Tell the Kendra story to build brand awareness and loyalty (#dyk she started w/$500 in her spare bedroom?!)
• Support in-store events, fundraisers, and Color Bar parties
• Have personally hosted more than ten #KendraGivesBack fundraisers for seven nonprofits to raise more than $11,000
• Featured in the 2021 holiday marketing campaign

Stylist

Comcast

• Lead the social media strategy for four Comcast Advertising brands + oversight on international marketing team
• Manage social media calendar, community management, analytics reporting, paid social efforts + consult on talent branding social activations
• Partner with stakeholders to create social-first content, including writing, designing and video production
• Oversee employee advocacy program, personal branding consultations and division-wide trainings on content creation
• Highlights: Led 2022 FreeWheel Cannes Lions social media activations + partnerships
• Reach +32.6% and engagements +187.5% (vs. 2019) / Engagement rates: 37% on LinkedIn and 10.3% on Instagram
• Instagram impressions +830% and accounts reached +905% (vs May ‘22)
• Extracurriculars at Comcast: Young Professionals Network employee resource group leadership team, internal TED Talk speaker (Watch here: https://bit.ly/3YUT6P4)

Digital Marketing Manager

Vanguard

• Oversaw social media strategy for Brand channels, with oversight and consulting on 25 global social channels
• Led high priority campaigns, stakeholder trainings, and social best practices playbook for global marketing teams
• Wrote and produced social-first video content in partnership with media team (and acted as talent in videos when needed)
• Led corporate social media statements and crisis communications strategy, working team, and • • • Oversaw executive, DE&I, community impact, and product social media communications
• Consulted on paid social campaigns and engagement strategies + agency management 
• Led the organic social strategy for the 2019 ‘How Radical’ brand campaign, which was featured in an Ignites article

Social Media Content Strategist

•	Engaged with over 1.5 million fans across six social media channels on a regular basis through creative content and customer interaction
•	Worked to drive new business to Vanguard through organic creative and educational social content (more than $20 million from 2016-2021)
•	Partnered with New York & Missouri state 529 plans to connect clients and prospects with resources to help them achieve their goals to save for higher education

Social Media Manager

•	Coached, developed, and managed a team of 11 Investment Professionals
•	Managed resolution of elevated client situations with portfolios up to $1 million
•	Drove department dashboard metrics from the team perspective
•	Lead Retail Services WILS Planning and Development team
•	RIG Ambassador, One RIG interviewer, Supervisor Mentor for new hires

Supervisor, Retail Services

•	Vanguard Unmatchable Excellence (VUE)/Project Management team
•	Supported department strategic projects: Voice Verification, SoftPhone, NPS/NFS program, VUE advocate program, 2012 and 2013 VUE Business Unit of the Year presentations and celebrations

Project Manager

•	Educated and assisted clients with Vanguard products, news, and website 
•	Assisted with social media efforts and visual environment enhancements
•	Contributed to VUE Business Unit of the Year preparations, presentations, and celebration

Investment Professional

•	Intern with the Vanguard Gives Back initiative with the Office of Culture and Diversity in HR
•	Supported corporate volunteer programs: Project NEXT, T.E.A.M. Vanguard, Fresh for All, My Classroom Economy, Sponsor-A-Child, Junior Achievement

Vanguard Gives Back Intern

Pennsylvania Prison Society

•	Researched and wrote grant proposals; Responsible for $137,000 of grant monies in FY2010
•	Assisted with launch and management of organization’s Facebook and e-mail campaign
•	Aided preparations, proposals, event space arrangements for 2010 statewide conference
•	Managed 2010 two-day statewide conference; 250 attendees

Development Associate

SJ Magazine

Wrote, edited, interviewed, photographed, managed mailing last and e-mails, coordinated events

Editorial Assistant

You can learn more about me here: https://www.tamarascott.co/

I'm a creative professional with more than 10 years of client, consulting and communications experience. I currently specialize in social media content strategy and development. I thrive in autonomous, yet collaborative environments. I work hard to manage projects from concept to creation. From start to finish, I see them all the way through to deployment, learning debriefs, and measurement. I have formal leadership experience, extensive public speaking experience, and experience working in both the B2B and B2C worlds. 

As a creative strategist, I focus on what people want and need, and how to meet them where they are to make life easier -- and more exciting when possible. I'm passionate about connecting others to new information, opportunities, and each other. I do this through strategic and compelling storytelling, creative solutions, and meaningful partnerships.

I'm an outgoing person and love to express my creativity through fashion, home decor, problem-solving -- really anything! I love to try new things and am a forever student seeking to learn. I'm fairly adventurous and a pescatarian. One thing to know about me is that I'm all about community and giving back. I'm a professional volunteer and regularly participate at local nonprofit events, but also through skills-based volunteering. I've served on corporate volunteer leadership teams, as well as the young professionals board and giving committee at the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Currently I dedicate a lot of my time to Fred's Footsteps. I helped form their young professionals board called Friends of Fred's two years ago. I now serve as Chair, in addition to serving on the Fred's Footsteps board and completing their fellowship program. In two years we've been able to host nine events and raise about $30,000 while garnering more than 500 new supporters.

taplio

The Battle

Jack Appleby

Tamara Scott

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJack Appleby's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Jack Appleby

Tamara Scott

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jack Appleby's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJack Appleby's LinkedIn Performance