Creator Economy Expert | Advisor | Educator

I bridge the gap between brands, creators, platforms, and audiences — translating corporate for creators and keeping brands plugged in to the creators, platforms, and online communities that can help them drive growth

💼 As a corporate marketing consultant, I've provided social and influencer marketing insights for brands such as:
* Google
* Robert Half
* Adobe
* AT&T
* Dick Clark Productions 
* Kik mobile messaging app
* Riot Games
* Viral Nation

~ If you're interested in custom reports, I create internal newsletters for corporate clients. Reach out to learn more.

📲 I've also led creator workshops and personal branding sessions for clients such as:
* Disney's Creator Collab
* Colin and Samir's Creator Startup live community sessions
* Macy's Style Crew
* Riot Games' Game Changers 
* The Costume Designers Guild
* US State Department International Visitor Leadership Program

🎓 I teach social media marketing and influencer marketing at UCLA Extension and have created custom lectures for students at:
* USC
* Zhejiang University
* SKEMA Business School 
* ESIC University. 

📰 I’ve been featured on NPR’s Planet Money and quoted in Business Insider, The Washington Post, Wired, Fast Company, Marketing Brew, Ad Age, The Information, and more. 


👉🏻 Every week, I write a creator economy-influencer marketing newsletter for 45K subscribers across LinkedIn and Substack called ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) that Buffer declared one of the Best Marketing Newsletters 2023, 2024 and 2025.

💻 Along the way, I’ve worked in-house at media and tech brands including: 
* E! News 
* Style Network
* Yahoo
* Livestrong.com
* Fit Body App

⚡ My focus on social media marketing, influencer marketing and the creator economy has led to speaking and partnership opportunities with: 
* Sprout Social
* Linqia
* Kajabi
* Typeform
* Dash Hudson
* Thinkific 
* Arcade
* Mavrck
* #Paid
* The Influencer Marketing Factory
* Influence.co

🎙️ Public Speaking engagements:
* Adobe Max 
* VidCon
* Social Media Week
* CreatorIQ Connect
* State of Social
* Duel Tech's Social Commerce Summit

🔥 What drives me: Translating my expertise into actionable takeaways for people just getting started in their careers (especially women) and supporting anyone who wants a seat at the table.

First official newsletter of the year! First conference attended! And first panel kicking off the Creator Space at CES! 

But also an opportunity to show you all the conferences YOU could attend with a free conference tracker.

I'll keep updating — and also upgrading — the conference tracker so keep checking back. 

And as always, your social, digital and creator marketing headlines of the week:

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

👉🏻 TikTok is splitting its U.S. staff into different companies

👉🏻 TikTok’s global head of creators is leaving the company

👉🏻 A Chinese government statement seems to suggest there is no deal yet

👉🏻 Adam Mosseri went on a weird rant about camera company aesthetics — but one part of his message is worth paying attention to

👉🏻 Pinterest announced a new Roku lifestyle series: Bring My Pinterest to Life

👉🏻 Spotify opened a new podcast and video production studio in Hollywood

👉🏻 Spotify is expanding access to its Spotify Partner Program

👉🏻 Disney+ is launching short-form videos this year

👉🏻 CES Report: The future of storytelling is creators, Gen Alpha and fan edits

👉🏻 Resource: ICYMI 2026 Marketing Events Calendar

Lia Haberman

Hi, I’m Lia. CMO. External Mentor. Advisor. Educator. Here’s my story…

💡 My expertise: I’m external mentor and consultant for organizations or teams who want to accelerate employees' personal branding and professional development and/or take their social media and influencer marketing programs to the next level.

My superpower is understanding business needs at an executive level while translating that vision for internal and external stakeholders to get everyone on board and moving in the same direction.  

🕛 In the beginning: I started as an entertainment news journalist and author of Scholastic books for teen girls before shifting to social media management and audience development. 

More than telling stories, I was interested in how to share stories to reach new audiences and make a greater impact. 

Mid-career, I also shifted from the world of traditional celebrities to digital creators and influencers as they became the glue that connected online communities. 

💻 Along the way, I’ve worked in-house at media and tech brands including: 
* E! News 
* Style Network
* Yahoo
* Livestrong.com
* Fit Body App

⚡ My consulting work on global marketing, content media and personal branding strategies includes advisory and training roles with: 
* AT&T
* Riot Games
* Viral Nation
* Mavrck
* Dick Clark Productions 
And many others

🔥 What drives me: I teach social media marketing and influencer marketing at UCLA Extension and feel passionately about translating my expertise into actionable lessons for students. 

I also share my insights in a weekly marketing trends newsletter called ICYMI — trusted by 5K marketing insiders — that’s very much geared toward solo-preneurs, small teams or early-career social media managers trying to make sense of industry news and trends.

TikTok is under new management. At least in the U.S.

The platform issued a release Thursday night, announcing the new American TikTok — or as it’s formally known: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.

In this week's newsletter, M&A advisor James Creech talks about what you can expect — at least in the immediate future. And G&B Digital Management reveals how their creators feel about the TikTok switch.

Plus all the weekly social and creator headlines and an insightful conversation with Jordan Sokol, YouTube Creative Optimization Manager across 15 Condé Nast channels. 

Jordan shares what’s working for them on the platform and some common mistakes he sees brands making. 

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

👉🏻 TikTok confirmed the app is under new ownership in the U.S.

👉🏻 TikTok plans to “retrain” the algorithm on U.S. user data

👉🏻 Instagram is testing replacing “following” counts with “friends” counts

👉🏻 Meta is rolling out ads on Threads next week

👉🏻 Neal Mohan’s number one priority on YouTube is “reinventing entertainment”

👉🏻 YouTube creators will be able to create Shorts using their own AI likeness

👉🏻 Pinterest announced a new CMO, former Amazon exec Claudine Cheever

👉🏻 Substack just launched a Substack TV app

👉🏻 Ted Sarandos sees big tech and social as new threats to Netflix

This is peak brand storytelling. Don’t just offer me a free gift with purchase. Tell me about the time-honored Japanese practice of Fukubukuro dating back to the Edo period (1603-1868). 

“As popular demand for shoppable goods increased, specialized retailers blossomed throughout highly populated Japanese cities like Kyoto and Osaka, with merchants experiencing booming business selling their wares. These newly prosperous merchants and retailers launched an annual event to honor one of Japan’s Shichi Fukujin (Seven Lucky Gods).

Inspired by Daikoku, the God of Good Fortune, the new Fukubukuro event served as the first sale of the new year, offering customers a chance to enjoy good fortune for themselves. It’s this same tradition that we honor today.”

Pull me into the lore, make me part of a centuries old tradition and watch me send you all my money. 

I’m sure there are promotions managers or psychologists who could go even deeper on this trigger — please sound off in the commments! 

In the meantime I just wanted to point out how well this worked on me and give TATCHA’s marketing team their flowers.

CES 2026 is in the books! It got me feeling inspired so I booked my travel to SXSW this morning.

I'll be hosting at least one fireside chat — to be confirmed now that 2026 me actually has to circle back and respond to all the emails I kicked forward.

And I'm talking to some folks about hosting offsite events. 

But my calendar isn't booked up yet so let's get creative! 

Last year I produced and hosted a successful creator-marketer brunch with Sprout Social and it ended up being one of my favorite events ever. 

If you want to take clients on a taco crawl, go thrifting, or host a sit-down dinner, HMU! 

Pictured here: 

1. Me and my brilliant State of the Creator Economy panelists kicking off the CES Creator Space programming, Jennifer Cho, RJ Larese and Rene Ritchie. We'll travel as a group — book us for your next party 
2. With our talented MC, Ashley Waxman
3. At a LOST iN - What's Trending dinner with Robin Raskin and Mari Takahashi
4. Thanks to Shira Lazar and Jonathan Skogmo for bringing us all together!

"On Pinterest, safe content gets saved. Bold content gets used."

As part of an ongoing social strategy series, I spoke with strategist Gregory Littley and E.L.F. BEAUTY CMO Patrick O'Keefe for insights on how brands should think about using Pinterest this year. 

The "bold" quote above comes from Patrick, while the colorful Collages below come from Gregory, who works across beauty and CPG brands, including e.l.f.

"Elf comes to the table to play," Gregory told me. "I will throw everything from hot pink disco balls to  jelly letters and they lean in completely."

If the Pinterest you remember is bland and beige — or full of 'live, love, laugh' signs — it's time to visit the platform again. The user base, and their preferred aesthetic, has shifted significantly:

📍 Gen Z is the platform's fastest growing audience, making up more than 50% of their global monthly users. 
📍 Gen Z is more engaged than other generations, searching and saving at higher rates. 
📍 Gen Z loves a content remix, making up 72% of Collage creators. They also save Collages at three times the rate of other Pin types.

If you’re not super familiar with Pinterest, this edition of ICYMI’s 2026 Social Strategy series is your guide, packed with insights to help shape smarter Pinterest strategies this year: https://lnkd.in/gAmFHYQc

And let me know if exploring Pinterest is on your 2026 marketing roadmap?!

World Building storyteller - Content & Creator Marketing Leader

E.L.F. BEAUTY

Chief Integrated Marketing Officer @ E.L.F. BEAUTY | LOREAL Leadership | Shiseido | USAF | Disney

Pinterest

Gregory Littley

Alix Earle is not messing around. She launched 2 projects this week. Both equally important in impact.

Maybe you remember her equity deal with Poppi in 2025, and how that got us all talking about creator deal structures?

Welp, here's why we're all going to be talking about media savvy creators who are device, platform and format agnostic.

Just this week, we learned: 

1 - Earle is launching a new talk show on YouTube, “Get Real With Me” (a play on the format she's best known for Get Ready With Me)

2 - Earle will be starring in a new family reality series on Netflix

With the YouTube series, she gets to fully control the narrative, benefit directly from YPP monetization, and expands her resume with another title. 

Beyond creator, business woman and Dancing With the Stars talent, Alix is now a talk show host.

With the Netflix show, Earle gets to reach a broader audience that may never have heard of her before and she can tap into a whole new revenue stream as TV talent.

Plus, she's likely to be listed as an executive producer on the show (see: Kim Kardashian and any series that family has ever done).

With both roles, Earle is likely to grow her audience and become a household name on mobile and living room TV sets, increase her earnings potential and add to her skill set.

It was also a brilliant move to announce both on the same week (not sure if that was by design but it does position her as everywhere all at once). This way she get to bridge social and streamers, showing up on:

📲 The platform taking over the entertainment world (#1 in watch time)

📺 And the most popular global streamer (#1 in subscriber count)

She's a business major so I'm assuming some of this is Earle's own strategic maneuvering but she must be backed by an amazing team as well. It's impressive to watch.

These 3 incredible women dropped by to speak to my influencer marketing class at UCLA Extension last night: Gaby Huezo, harman jeet kaur✨ and Sourma K.. It was meant to be a 45 minute conversation and by the time I looked up at the clock 90 minutes had passed! 

A few takeaways, from student questions to the pros perspective:

Everyone who works in the creator economy watches Real Housewives. Seriously, ask around. 

A student said a brand that gifts nano and micro influencers seems like a “nice person.” There was a lot of consensus from all sides and Gaby said she sees smaller creators as the ones who get most excited and will overdeliver. 

Students weren’t aware that creators are just as likely to reach out to brands and shoot their shot versus waiting to hear from a brand — this was fascinating to me but it’s also a great reminder that being embedded in the industry means you don’t always realize what’s less obvious to outsiders.

LinkedIn really is (still) a great tool for creators to identify and reach out to marketers. But don’t target the executives, find the influencer marketing managers who are doing the work Souma told the students.

Fun fact: When Gaby worked in-house for a retailer, influencers would show up at local stores and ask how they could be considered for campaigns. The stores would then call Gaby at HQ to pass along the info. Odd but I respect the hustle of a creator showing up in person.

We talked about where campaign inspiration comes from (see: CeraVe mining Reddit for its award-winning Michael Cera work). Real talk: There is no single solution. Harman shared a story about working for Duolingo. When Season 1 of Squid Games came out, there was a 40% increase of users learning Korean on the app. That data inspired the Duolingo x Netflix partnership for Season 2 which resulted in Duo the owl dancing in a related K-Pop music video and wove Squid Games terms into the Korean language lessons.

ICYMI, the BBC said it would be producing new shows to premiere on YouTube. 

Let that sink in: A broadcaster is planning to debut shows on YouTube. 

This is a BFD. 

It's also a signal to brand marketers that they need to figure out their own YouTube strategy. 

In 2025, YouTube hosted a creator showcase aiming to connect advertisers and creators around integrated partnership opportunities where “you’re not just an ad; you’re part of the show.” 

A YouTube rep told me it was also meant to educate advertisers, “especially those used to traditional TV buying.”

It would be easy to get TV and YouTube confused. YouTube dominates the entertainment landscape:

👉🏻 It will be the new home for the Oscars® starting in 2029 (ABC has been broadcasting the Academy Awards since 1976).

👉🏻 It’s emerging as a sports lover’s destination with its YouTube TV Sports Plan.

👉🏻 And for the past 17 months, YouTube watch time has beat out Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and every other app out there.

But YouTube is not just a TV dupe. 

Brand marketers need to re-examine how they show up on YouTube beyond the ad breaks — whether that’s through TV-style programming on their own channels, through creator integrations or something else entirely. 

This week's bonus ICYMI newsletter is a YouTube Playbook with data and insights into what's working and what audiences are looking for 👇🏻 👇🏻

https://lnkd.in/gxkFtqNT

“I see a lot of scripted content doing very well on Instagram Reels — much, much better than TikTok” Fallen Media CEO and Co-Founder Sol Betesh told me as part of a special platform strategy series I'm publishing today. 

I asked where he sees the biggest Instagram opportunities in 2026, and he kept coming back to one thing: high-quality, scripted storytelling. 

Success will belong to those who think less like advertisers and more like showrunners. 

Even though Fallen Media distributes shows across all platforms, Sol says Instagram stands out because the audience still responds to elevated visuals and more intentional narrative formats.

“I think it’s a carryover from the sunsets and the fancy pictures — there is a quality that does well on Instagram, more than TikTok,” he said. 

Shows like Fallen Media’s 15 Second Film, which performs “Ok” on TikTok, crush it on Reels...

For the rest, you'll need to head over to Substack. It's completely free there thanks to my friends at Sprout Social, Inc. 

And trust me, you'll want to read this. Especially if you're just catching up from over the holidays. 

It includes: 

👉🏻 the interview with Sol
👉🏻 a brand spotlight on the Scottsdale Public Library and librarian Jennifer Wong-Ortiz
👉🏻 a conversation about paid social with goodhelp's Jenny McCoy
👉🏻 5 key areas of Instagram to focus on this year 
👉🏻 5 types of brand content social users are most likely to interact with

I'll leave the link in the comments — if you do read, please let me know what you thought!

The 2016 trend but make it professional

Here’s a time capsule if you worked in social and influencer marketing in 2016: 

Everyone in LA wanted a Twitter mirror at their events. 

Facebook Live was just taking off and doing big numbers. I built an entire creator program flying around the country to do FB Lives with people. 

Doing Snapchat takeovers with creators was a great way to grow our presence on the platform - back when people still followed company accounts. 

I started working with “influencers” around 2014-2015 but 2016 was  the year I started building out more ambitious programs with a lot of inspiring women who would shape my perception of the industry. 

Gaby Dalkin, My Nguyen, Cassey Ho, Anna Victoria and Sophie Gray   —  I still follow all of them. Some of them have even become friends. 

What really stands out to me is how far ahead of the game all these amazing women were in 2016 and how successful they went on to become in the next decade. 

People sometimes dismiss influencers-creators — or joke about how they all they do is take selfies. That’s never been my experience.  

These women are all incredible creatives, business people and entrepreneurs. My definition of an influencer/creator was established with them and I’ve carried that with me ever since.

At some point, leadership is going to ask whether you should launch a brand podcast this year — I've gathered some data and expert insights that could help you answer that question 🎙️

Plus all your social and creator headlines this week.

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

👉🏻 New data shows LLMs are citing LinkedIn sources more than before

👉🏻 TikTok released its TikTok Next 2026 Trend Report

👉🏻 Meta has naming rights to UFC’s combat sports venue in Las Vegas

👉🏻 TW: YouTube is updating its ad policies to allow monetization on controversial issues

👉🏻 Pinterest announced its 2026 Palette — 5 trending colors drawn from the ideas people are searching, saving, and exploring on the platform

👉🏻 A L'Oreal study revealed character-driven stories outperformed product-led content by 55%

👉🏻 Reminder: the 2026 ICYMI Marketing Events Calendar is live

How do you build a genuine relationship and maintain ongoing communication with your influencers?

I asked my three guest speakers at UCLA last night. The incredibly wise Sarah Grosz, Ashley Weimer and Rafy Evans.  

It was part of a larger conversation on campaign management and sourcing and screening influencers.

So many actionable tips were shared. This is just some of the advice they shared with students:

Sarah run bi-monthly webinars to talk about products with her influencer/affiliate community. “They get to have their problems and questions answered, and I create a sense of community and one-to-oneness, while also being one-to-many.”

Rafy uses Instagram as a check-in tool. “I swipe up on people's stories. I'm constantly commenting on things. The reminder of someone's name can really do that for you. But I'm never direct to talent when it comes to business. I use professional channels. So when you get an email from me, it’s probably a good thing.”

Ashley credits scheduling coffee dates and hosting intimate events as a way to get to know creators and understand the kinds of partnerships they’re looking for. “There’s a rising trend of influencer dinners that are very intimate events where creators get to know each other.”

Maybe it's just me, but I can't tell you how many insights decks I've shared with clients that just get filed away and never see the light of day.

So when a client not only listens but executes beyond what you could have imagined? That deserves some recognition.

At the end of 2024, after months of discussion and strategy mapping, Robert Half launched a LinkedIn newsletter called Market Moves. The first day: 78K subscribers. Within 2 weeks, they had 370K global subscribers. A year later: just over 1M subscribers.

This kind of success doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you have:

→ A leader like Katie Jenks, Director of Social Media, who hires people and then empowers them to do what they do best

→ The platform expertise of Morgan Chapman Starr, Senior Content Creator, who runs the Robert Half LinkedIn page with intelligence and humor

→ The writing chops of Matt Farley, Social Media Comms Manager, who takes dense reports and white papers and distills them into actionable, digestible content

But here's what really matters: This wasn't about jumping on a trend.

Everyone's calling 2025 "the year of the newsletter" — and yes, I've encouraged plenty of brands to launch on Substack with a personality-led approach.

But with Robert Half, we all understood something more fundamental: 
‣ Their customers (business leaders and hiring managers) were already on LinkedIn. 
‣ The platform was heavily prioritizing newsletters. 
‣ And the hypothesis was that B2B folks would engage with content tailored to them if it was easy to consume during their daily scroll.

Right place, right time.

So instead of chasing the hot new thing, the decision was made to meet their audience where they already were.

This is what it looks like when you turn insights into real results. It's a dream partnership and the team deserves all their flowers for making this happen.

https://lnkd.in/gPjHi9kt

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