Phil Ranta's Linkedin Analytics

When language is no longer a barrier on YouTube, what will happen? It may not be what you expect. A friend of mine received the below email yesterday and asked me what it would mean for him. I said the following: 66% of all content uploaded to YouTube is in English. Yet only 17% of the world’s population speaks English. That means content in popular languages that have less content have historically had a huge advantage. Just like SEO: large market, low competition. Now, when all of this English content is able to be understood in Arabic, Portuguese, and Mandarin, it follows there is a better chance for English language content to be the beneficiary. Now the bad news: I still have yet to hear an AI dub that doesn’t sound like an ATM trying to pronounce my last name (It’s Santa with an ‘R’!!!) But for those who can stomach the uncanny valley, there will be a new universe of premium content turned on practically overnight. Winners: languages with high output and few speakers. Losers: languages with low output and many speakers.

CoComelon is still dominating the charts. Not just on YouTube. On Netflix too. It received millions more views than the highly successful Tyson vs. Paul fight. Great job Jeff Skaggs! But there's a common denominator here: in a year where YouTube overtook Netflix in terms of television watch time, Netflix is starting to be dominated by YouTube properties. So how does Netflix compete when its biggest competitor is their biggest syndication partner? Also in this edition: - MrBeast Claims $5b Valuation - Instagram Reels May Go Solo - Dick’s Sports Goods Plays Ball With Creators - Meta’s $50m Horizon Creator Fund - Job ops from RUTI, Prize Possessions, and HOPESCOPE - …and a dank creator economy meme by yours truly! As always, if you like it please share it in your company Slack!: https://lnkd.in/ggZEH8aW

TikTok is never getting banned. In this edition of 'The Creator Rep' I dive into why TikTok U.S. is moving forward with 'Main Character Energy' Also in this edition: ⚽️ The Sidemen’s Soccer Kicks Butt Again 📁 July Drops a ‘Creator Agency Report’ 💰 Most Creators Are Likely Owed Pandemic Grants 🔗 Link-in-Bios Are All Grown Up 💪🏼 Job ops from Stellar, TikTok, and Airbnb 🤪 …and a dank creator economy meme by yours truly! As always, if you like it, share in your Slack or WhatsApp group with colleagues!

Duo Keyshauna Renee Lingo, Duolingo's owl mascot, is dead. Hit by a Cybertruck. And if you haven't been following and this is the first time you've heard Duo's real full name, you probably think they've gone off the rails. Let's dive into whether this decacorn's absurdist strategy is replicable. Also in this edition: - Zuck has a Creator Problem - Grand Theft Auto VI: Creator Edition - Creator Hubs are Back! - Job ops from SnackCrate, Lemon8, and Agentio - …and a dank creator economy meme by yours truly! And, as always, if you love the newsletter, please share it on your internal company Slack right now! The link to this edition >>>> https://lnkd.in/djxZ5Tjf

How do you keep your social media posts interesting? Most longform videos or posts drag in the middle. And that's because most people don't understand 'heightening.' In this edition of 'Grow 1%' we discuss how to ensure that your content is building to a climax instead of dragging along to the end. As always, if you enjoy the newsletter, shares and reposts are always appreciated!

I've signed up for dozens of 'hack the algorithm' classes. Most stink. And you know exactly why when you look at whether content is human-centric or simply optimized. In this edition, I not only tell you the top takeaways from these classes (that'll save you time and money) but dive into how you should look at human-centric creation and when it's useful to optimize. As always, if you found this useful share in your company Slack, Discord, or send it to your teenager that wants to be a social media star someday!

Get financial IDEAS from TikTok, but not financial ADVICE. Lately there's been a trend of crying/angry/going insane people talking about losing all of their money from crypto rug pulls, including Hawk Tuah's coin, LIBRA, and, yes, some of the 510,000 people that lost money from our new president's meme coin. Securities fraud? Probably. Consequences? If you think so, you haven't been paying attention! This led me to dive deeply into finance TikTok. And...yikes. I'm not a CPA, but I do know my way around an investment portfolio. And most of the information I found fell into three camps: obvious, self-serving, or flat-out wrong. I actually love the 'obvious' ones. Just because something is obvious doesn't mean the story shouldn't be told. For example, there was one video that showed how investing $100 per month starting at 20 years old led to more money than $500 starting at 40 years old. Awesome! The self-serving side starts to get a little scary. This is huge in the crypto TikTok world, where self-described crypto millionaires take pictures in front of private jets and tell fans to buy into Unicorn Fart Dust coin (this is real). And I have a feeling these creators are influential and smart enough to get their fans to buy, pump the coin, then the creator sells and leaves them holding the bag. Remember: crypto isn't magic money. If someone made $1 billion, that means others had to lose $1 billion. The 'flat out wrong' tier seems to be the most prevalent. These are people that are guessing at financial advice, usually based on their political beliefs. Right now there's a lot of 'the whole market is going to crash' or 'we're about to hit economic utopia' based on how you voted. Or, even worse, it's the 'do your own research' conspiracy theorists who sooth-say around policies that will show dramatic shifts in the market that's GUARANTEED to 10x your investment in one year. Unfortunately, it's all vibes. Then again, sometimes I feel like the stock market is all vibes. But I digress. As journalism dies and more and more people learn from social media, we need to scream from the rooftops: "Don't believe what you hear on social media." It's often the uninformed preaching to the uninformed. But if you hear something interesting on social media, validate through either an industry expert, or do you own REAL research (as in read studies, not 4chan).

You can use push notification strategy to grow your socials. No, that doesn't mean building your own app. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube...they already push out A TON of notifications to users' phones if they have notifications on (that's around 50% of social media users in North America that have some level of social media notifs turned on). And there are ways to maximize your chance of getting notifications to your fans and optimize that opportunity. I break down my top three in this edition of 'Grow 1%'. As always, if you like it, please share this in your internal Slack, WhatsApp groups, or anywhere else digital media nerds congregate! #linkedinnewsletter #socialmedia #creatoreconomy

This is absolutely frightening. The government is making a huge play to control speech on our social media platforms. Thank you Ian Jackson for flagging this post to me. As someone who has worked professionally on social platforms for two decades including as an executive at one of the biggest big tech platforms, let me burst your bubble: These platforms don't care that much about politics. Yes, EMPLOYEES do (data will show that if you have a college degree you're more likely to be a Democrat, so, of course) but the BUSINESS doesn't. It's the reason Zuck so quickly turned his policies from lean-left to lean-right based on the president of the moment. And if a Dem is in next time, he'll swing back. They care about their KPIs. Full stop. And the number one KPI is revenue. Stop talking about 'free speech' as it pertains to social media platforms. It shows that you don't know what that phrase means. If you're still confused: The constitutional right to free speech means the government can't throw you in the gulag for saying you, for example, think Elon Musk is one of the dumbest human beings on Earth...for example... This does not mean FOR PROFIT ENTERPRISES need to allow anyone to do anything they want on their platforms. Nor do we want that. These platforms make money selling ads, and brands don't want ads served next to hate speech. It's called 'brand safety', and it's the reason it's more expensive to buy ads against automotive YouTube reviews than on PornHub. And it's the same reason why if I pop onto Zigazoo, the social platform for kids, and send everyone my favorite curse words, I WILL AND SHOULD be banned. Once the government starts forcing for profit businesses to not only host, but not algorithmically slow any post they want (if they thought for about 2 seconds they'd realize that's not possible without breaking the entire idea of an algorithmic feed), business decisions will stop being about the health of the company and start being about the whims of our Dear Leaders. And that's about as North Korean as it gets. You know what to do. Call your reps and tell them to keep our free market free, and keep the government from forcing platforms, against their brands' will, to platform hate speech and unbrand-safe content. Or make them admit their goal that's now as clear as day, made clearer when the AP was kicked out of the White House press pool because they wouldn't acknowledge the ridiculous name change after 475 years of Gulf of America (Now That's What I Call Unconstitutional Vol. 1): to control all media to be tools of an authoritarian government.

As a consumer, I can't stand AI content right now. I know it will get better. I know people who understand it will have better job prospects in the future. But right now, all I see if low-effort slop. I'm not just talking about social content, though this weekend I saw a picture of Elon Musk sleeping on an office floor in an American flag sleeping bag that most of Facebook seemed to believe is real... (*sigh*) I'm talking about your e-mails, DMs, and texts. Yes, people who I know follow me on LinkedIn. YOUR messages. And whether it's a message or social content, I have the same issue: I don't CARE if it's more efficient for YOU. I'm the consumer. I just want the end product to be GOOD. AI getting you 90% of the way there isn't good enough for me. I don't care if you can get 20 times as many messages out per day. When it's impersonal mass messages, I'm not responding. When your e-mails are long, well-formatted messages that continually repeat points (as AI is wont to do), I'm going to think you're lazy. If you have outright obvious errors as I did in one e-mail today (clearly thought our client Sketch actually DREW PICTURES, like 'sketching', instead of just being his gamertag), I'm going to forever believe you're wasting my time when you pop up in my DMs. AI is a shortcut where the end goal isn't precision. AI is a wonderful organizer of thoughts. And, most importantly, a fantastic way to churn out ROUGH DRAFTS. Treat it as such.

Reddit, Inc. is a sleeping giant. To the tune of 1.2 billion monthly active users. I'm still shocked by how few content creators spend any time on the site. It's like a series of subcultures all hand-raising and defining trends in real time. They're even voting on THE BEST trends within that subculture minute-to-minute. But how to content creators introduce their content without looking like spammers? I go through my simple three step process in this edition of 'Grow 1%'. As always, if you like it, share it around with your colleagues and clients! #linkedinnewsletter #socialmedia #creatoreconomy

🚨 LA CREATOR ECONOMY - This will be the best industry party ever! 🚨 ...if you're a 'Die Hard' fan (like me!) and want to visit Nakatomi Plaza. Thank you Ateliere Creative Technologies for sponsoring and premiering your awesome creator economy live streaming tech at the event. We already have 100 RSVPs from some of the biggest creator economy execs and creators (let us know in the comments if you're going) in the and we're opening up space for 100 more for the community. RSVP fast as this will fill up quickly! WHEN: February 28, 2025 from 5pm to 9pm PST WHERE: The real, actual Nakatomi Plaza What can I expect?: An awesome product demo, selfie spots from the movie, photo ops with our costumed Germans including Hans Gruber himself, food, drinks, great convos, and a few other 'Die Hard' surprises! Here's the RSVP link, and if the RSVP is accepted it will go out early next week. Feel free to share with any other creator economy heroes / creators out there!: https://lnkd.in/g8ehd2wF

DEI is not a trend. It shouldn't be negotiable. It certainly shouldn't be demonized. A 2023 Pew Research study of companies with DEI programs found an overwhelmingly positive response from their team. Chart below-- And a Catalyst report found: - More inclusive cultures foster a 59.1% increase in creativity, innovation, and openness. - Diverse businesses see a 37.9% better assessment of consumer interest and demand. - Overwhelmingly, consumers are more likely to purchase products when advertisements are more diverse and inclusive. - Companies with consistent, inclusive work cultures outperformed the S&P 500 in average annual stock returns during The Great Recession. Oh, and Gen Z cares A LOT about DEI. Did you know 31% of Gen Z identifies on the LBTQA+ spectrum? And 83% said that a company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is important when choosing an employer. And 48% are from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds (non-white). Ignoring DEI will make hiring slower and more expensive, hurt employee retention, and create a less inspired workforce. Seeing big tech, banks, and dang near every major corporation ditch their DEI programs because they're afraid of the 'cancel mobs' or, let's kindly call it an 'anti-diversity' administration, makes me sick to my stomach. The narrative that DEI means underqualified workers will take your job is nonsense. It's an acknowledgement that if you're a minority, you're differently-abled, you're of a different religion than your other co-workers, or you're a military veteran (Yes! That's a very important protected class!), you deserve equal consideration in the workplace from all of the pricks in power that hold deep, generationally-held biases. So if a company you commercially support is abandoning the quest for equity in this upside-down world, send their leadership a respectful note reminding them that there's a whole lot of research showing that they're going down the wrong path. Or blast them on social media. Whatever floats your boat. #dei #equity #diversity #inclusion

Update on my New Year's Resolution: still on track! Reminder that I resolved to provide 365 meaningful industry introductions with no expected return. Happy to report that I'm now at 90 introductions! And from these, there have been brand deals, consultancies, partnerships, and more than one full-time hires. One thing I've learned: a lot of people want introductions that I don't believe provides an equal exchange of value. So quick note: if you want an intro for a 'brain pick' or have a napkin-idea and you want to talk to Bill Gates, I reserve the right to politely pass. A few thought starters if you have ideas for any of these intros! - An HR/Insurance company for creators - M&A advisory in the creator economy space - A link-in-bio platform focused on directly selling content - A 'pay by result' social media marketing platform - An iGaming platform that pays up to 75% of earnings back to referrers - An AI platform that makes graphic novels for creators - A TikTok Live education portal that's free as long as streaming hours are met - An AI content library licensing company - A 'Mafiathon in a box' technology company - An expert lawyer focused on the creator economy - An AI-driven LeaderTech platform turning insights into action - A white-label cosmetics brand for creators - A micro-surveying tech that pays a CPM to creators for gathered responses - A merch company that includes private communities for buyers - Creator marketing experts in the Middle East - An innovative 'virtual pet' technology with physical products - An AI-driven contract review technology - A creator marketing AI agent technology - A creator network that allows access to tons of viral video licenses - A LinkedIn-focused influencer marketing company - An advance payment platform that takes a small percentage for payments within 48 hours - A bajillion talent managers, agents, and other reps Send me a DM with the framing you'd like for an intro if you're interested!

It happened. My favorite Creator Economy event ever (thanks Ateliere Creative Technologies !) And it shows they understand Internet culture. It was Die Hard-themed and they leaned in HARD! At Nakatomi Plaza. They had actors playing the Germans and taking pictures. They had a selfie station with the famous air vent scene. They had Die Hard themed drinks with rock candy garnish. They demoed their awesome live streaming technology with an interview with a hilarious Hans Gruber improviser (hire Sean Cowhig for EVERYTHING!) They had AJ from The Costco Guys ‘booming’ with people (Michael Gordon is a superhero!) Food was on point, demo stations were on point, attendees were awesome. Too many amazing people to tag that came so I won’t even try. And NEW ZEALAND ICE CREAM from Hokey Pokey LA (seriously the best thing ever). They allowed ‘+1s’. Sounds small, but SO FEW EVENTS WITH AN OPEN BAR DO THIS!!! The game has been upped. Well played Audrey Goman, Luke Lipan, and the whole Ateliere team! If you or your client is doing a ‘Mafiathon’ or ‘Beast Games’ in the near future, check out their tech, save a bunch of money and time, and tell them I sent you so you can push them for a discount! https://lnkd.in/gTYu-YQQ #notsponsored #justexcited

Happy International Women's Day! Here are some of my favorite women in the creator economy to follow: Can I have this post without starting with Jessy Grossman, fearless leader of WIIM (Women in Influencer Marketing)? Great advocate and congrats on the new bey-bey! Lia Haberman's awesome ICYMI newsletter is a must-read and her focus on strategy/tactics make her discussions super actionable. Nicole Rechtszaid knows the industry, knows what it means to be a creator, and has mastered the 'dropping knowledge with a selfie post' (note: it's the ultimate strategy to scream "a human being, ME, wrote this!") Have you been watching what Christina Westley has been doing with her 'Black Influencer Spotlight' video series? Proof that formats work on LinkedIn and she's shining a light on amazing work! Arin Goldsmith knows LinkedIn better than anyone, and her focus on my beloved video game market makes her a must-read. She also writes with heart which is always appreciated! Ashley Sonlin, MBA probably doesn't know this, but her videos are one of my biggest inspirations for me to get off my butt and start doing LinkedIn video! Her non-video posts are also educational and super-entertaining in a meme-y way. Tagging a creator economy reporter feels like cheating, but Kaya Yurieff's is practically my daily newspaper for the creator economy. She's breaking the stories that matter fast! Madison Luscombe is one of the biggest advocates for online content by women, for women, but I could say that about almost anyone in The Creator Society. Follow for hot LTK tips! Robyn Nissim is also crushing the LinkedIn video world. Her posting strategy is perfect! If you want to be better on this strange platform, study her posts! I think by law I'm not allowed to talk about posting about the creator economy without mentioning Taylor Lorenz. Her posts dig DEEP and I learn from her with every post. Taylor, you have to start posting daily on LinkedIn again!!! Monica Khan, is it fair to call you a 'creator economy travel writer'? Always reporting from the front lines! Christina Le, thank you for showing the power of meme-ing in a LinkedIn context! Always a joy! Gigi Robinson, M.S., BFA is another LinkedIn video inspiration and I LOVE her posts about what platforms are popping off. Lauren Schnipper is the best of us, and her podcast is my only 'must listen on the actual release day' in my feed. Bailey Rose King has been a fascinating follow! She's doing tons of content about entrepreneurship in the creator economy as she builds her startup. As a former comedian, Natalie (Corporate Natalie) kills me. Her sketches deconstruct the absurdity of office culture and are ALWAYS spot-on. Let's face it dudes: the creator economy has been overwhelmingly built by women, operates through women, and stars women. And as a fellow dude, join me in saying a huge, "THANK YOU!!!" Who am I missing? Sound off, chat! ⤵️⤵️⤵️ #IWD2025 #internationalwomensday

Serious question: how do you hire a 'generalist' role? I need someone who is part project manager, part social media wonk, and part team scaler/leader and I don't know what to call it. 'Head of' is what ChatGPT tells me. But that's not right. I need a 'Builder of' first, a 'Head of' second, and an 'Optimizer of' third. The type of person who sees a new initiative as a chance to be the CEO of their portion of the company. General manager? Department lead? Entrepreneur-in-Residence? If this is you and you're interested, send me a DM and what it should be called!

New funding, new role! I'm stepping into the role of Chief Business Officer at Fixated, where I will oversee all commercial and business development aspects of the business. Want to unlock the creator economy in the right way? Let's talk!

Digital talent representation is broken. Always has been. Not-so-hidden secrets we all know: - Agents and managers have, for the past 15 years, done the same work: securing brand deals (primarily inbound). The only difference is the percentage taken (10% vs 20%) - This becomes EASIER as the talent grows. A talent with 50m followers gets so much inbound, negotiation and opportunities are a breeze. 50k followers is more work for less money. That means incentives are massively misaligned. - Most managers have little or no experience or mentorship, giving reps a terrible reputation to both talent and brands. - Most managers and agents have never made a YouTube video and, frankly, don't advise their talent regarding content. - Most reps will literally don't even answer inbound e-mails promptly or at all, which is the BARE MINIMUM they should do. At Fixated, we've grown and raised money so quickly by saying this quiet part outloud, then addressing it. We over-invest in content, strategy, and distribution. We hit the upload button. We ideate. We have shared accountability roadmaps with talent. And we stick to them. Kudos to the Fixated team and my partners Zach Katz, Jason Wilhelm, and Ali Adab for knocking the past 1.5 years out of the park. Also, I'm taking on a new role as Chief Business Officer and Partner for the company, where I'll be overseeing all commercial aspects of the business. Brands, talent, managers, platforms, if you're ready to plan out what's next, my DMs are open! Press release here >>> https://lnkd.in/gXYkFXkX

Our company is scaling crazy fast. We don’t have an office. We’re 100% remote. That’s a lot of workstreams and zero time for 1:1 conversations with everyone. Here are all the project management features I wish I had: ✔ Clear visibility into accurate project statuses at all times, with one click. Most update meetings could AND SHOULD be e-mails. ✔ Auto-reject tasks when they interfere with lunch or school pick-up. Picking up the kids is sacred. No calls with kids in the car. ✔ One reporting dashboard that’s updated dynamically with all of the dependent projects. Trying to get bits of information in one place is a royal pain. ✔ AI schedule optimization based on task priority and time to completion. Something always comes up and I don’t want to ‘do the math’ of prioritization. ✔ Automatic task assignment suggestions based on skills, role, and experience ✔ KPI impact measurement by task contribution for each part of the workstream ✔ Built-in AI notetaker integration that creates tasks in real time and shuts off the meeting when nothing is getting accomplished. (maybe not literally shut off the meeting, but you get it) ✔ Agentic AI that, upon entering a task, gets as much research and rough drafting done as it can. Do the easy stuff for me. ✔ Unlockable ‘prizes’ when I hit milestones or goals (think Dave & Buster’s tickets, but preferably food-based) ✔ Auto-texting apologies to my wife when work pushes into dinnertime And Motion (my lovely sponsor for this post) already has the majority of this covered! Let’s all move faster with AI. Motion is a step in that direction. Check it out for yourself: https://lnkd.in/gsgTfKcp