Social strategy
Turning audience behavior, platform shifts, and cultural context into clear direction.
Social & Creator Strategy
Helping brands show up in more human, useful ways across social media, creator partnerships, and emerging technology for over a decade.
What I focus on
Strategy for a landscape where culture, influence, and discovery increasingly overlap.
Creator strategy
Building creator partnerships around credibility, creative fit, and lasting value.
AI & discovery
Exploring how search, recommendations, and AI are changing what people find and trust.
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Latest research
New report · 14 pages
What Are Creators For?
An approach to defining the role creators should play in brand marketing.
Creator strategy often starts with a shortlist of people to hire. This report starts one step earlier: what does the brand need a creator to do? It outlines five jobs creators can perform and how each role should shape selection, content, and measurement.
- Attention: reach the people the brand needs to reach
- Credibility: bring expertise, experience, or earned trust
- Explanation: make a product or idea easier to understand
- Creative: make stronger content for the platform
- Participation: help a brand enter a community credibly
Previous research
A Place in the Feed
How brands can earn a meaningful place in interest-based feeds.
Previous research
The State of Discovery 2026
How search, social, and AI are reshaping how people discover information, products, and brands.
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About
Casey Ross
Social and creator strategist focused on how discovery is changing.
I have more than a decade of experience in social media strategy, working across brands including Duncan Hines, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Philips, Woolite, and Finish.
This is a home for my research, strategic thinking, and practical observations on the ever changing world of social media, creators, and AI.
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Latest thinking
Selected observations on social platforms, creator partnerships, culture, and AI.
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Brand Partnerships
McDonald’s and Snapchat are running it back
The renewed partnership revisits last year’s rewards offer and brings Snapchat+ subscriber value into focus. A look at how platform perks can give loyalty members a reason to engage.
Read on LinkedIn02
Creators
A nearly hour-long MrBeast video that felt like ten minutes
The 201-day grocery store challenge is a study in pacing, stakes, and story turns that can hold attention through a long video.
Read on LinkedIn03
Social Listening
Social listening belongs in the daily brand conversation
P&G CEO Shailesh Jejurikar says brands should do social listening every day. A look at why that idea matters as AI speeds up the work behind it.
Read on LinkedIn04
Social Strategy
What does good look like on social?
Start with the objective. Member reach can be a useful primary LinkedIn KPI, with sends, reposts, comments, reactions, and saves helping explain the response.
Read on LinkedIn05
AI + Marketing
What happens to the marketing funnel when AI agents act?
If an AI agent can understand what someone wants and handle the research or next step, the path from awareness to conversion may compress.
Read on LinkedIn06
AI + Social
I tried Meta Muse as my personal AI agent
After ChatGPT got a school lunch wrong, I gave Muse the same family-assistant job. A look at what a different AI agent handles well and where it needs oversight.
Read on LinkedIn07
AI + Family Life
How I used ChatGPT to manage my kids’ school schedules
A practical experiment using Gmail, school calendars, and morning briefings to make the family schedule easier to follow.
Read on LinkedIn08
Platforms
TikTok is making its comment section even more interesting
Why voice comments, polls, photo carousels, and Live Photos could make the conversation beneath a video even more valuable.
Read on LinkedIn09
AI
The recognizable look of AI-generated imagery
AI imagery is becoming easy to spot in everyday life. What that visual shorthand might mean for trust, taste, and originality in brand content.
Read on LinkedIn10
Platforms
A YouTube view now starts with the first frame
Why YouTube’s new view-counting method makes retention even more important and reinforces the difference between exposure and attention.
Read on LinkedIn11
Discovery
Why Pinterest’s unbranded searches matter for brands
More than 96% of text searches on Pinterest are unbranded, giving brands an opportunity to be useful before people have made a choice.
Read on LinkedIn12
Creators
What MrBeast’s latest video tells us about YouTube
A look at how YouTube’s biggest creator uses long-form storytelling, familiar formats, and audience tension to hold attention.
Read on LinkedIn13
Culture
What ‘Ma’am, get your dog’ reveals about how culture travels
A small phrase became a shared language through reactions, remixes, and the recommendation feed.
Read on LinkedIn14
Platforms
Meta is entering its ‘there’s an app for that’ era
What Meta’s growing family of standalone apps says about its approach to attention and discovery.
Read on LinkedIn15
Creators
A large following alone does not make the right creator partner
Why audience size is only one signal when evaluating creator fit, credibility, and impact.
Read on LinkedIn16
AI + Social
Snapchat’s warning to brands about flooding feeds with AI content
AI can expand creative possibilities, but human connection still determines what people value and share.
Read on LinkedIn17
AI
One of the more fascinating AI stories to watch
A closer look at an emerging AI shift and what it could mean for brands, creators, and discovery.
Read on LinkedIn18
Creator Economy
YouTube is helping creators build businesses, not just channels
The Brand Deal Desk series shows how YouTube is investing in the business infrastructure around creators.
Read on LinkedIn19
Brand Strategy
Lowe’s is building one of the more interesting creator networks
A look at how a major retailer is turning creator relationships into a deeper marketing capability.
Read on LinkedInStay in the loop
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