The folks at YouTube have identified three ways marketers can take inspiration from successful creators to make more meaningful connections with viewers:

1. Leverage the power of communities. Over half of Gen Z watches content that no one they know personally is interested in. So, encourage participation—in contests, challenges, and charity fundraisers—from online groups with niche interests to create brand moments that capture public attention.
2. Meet audiences on their own turf. Audience interest continues to span multiple formats and content categories, changing rapidly based on their mindset and the moment. Creators who utilize multiple formats see the fastest audience growth. In fact, 59% of Gen Z  use short-form video apps to discover things that they then watch longer versions of. Simply adding a vertical creative asset to a Video action campaign delivered 10% to 20% more conversions per dollar on YouTube Shorts than using landscape assets alone.
3. Create fun, innovative Shorts. Successful shorts are often designed to recreate the spontaneous feel of viral shortform content of the past, with an immediate hook and deliberate moments of surprise and delight. Embrace the format’s strength and encourage people to watch them again and again.

For examples of dynamic creators who mobilized audiences in 2022, read more from Think With Google.

<bummer> It’s been a bloody January. We thought it might be helpful to share TrueUp’s 2023 Tech Downturn Tracker. Take a look at the number of employees let go and laid off by month and sector, severence data, open tech jobs, announcements, and other useful metrics. OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming. </bummer>

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Uber will promote its Uber One membership this year during the Super Bowl, assisted by a jingle hit by Diddy himself. The funniest part of this teaser isn’t Diddy’s aversion to jingles, but the marketing team eagerly repeating “we’ll take a hit.” Relatable.