September 22, 2026 | Read online

A Tuesday newsletter? I know things have been a little inconsistent around here, but hey, I’ve been moving. I’m building out an office for my team, I’m consulting more, and shocker, I took on a lil’ too much. But hey, we’re back in action…

And I think we might go twice a week?

4 years into this newsletter and I’m realizing I’ve been doing it all wrong. I should be writing long-form first, then my daily LinkedIn content and tweets, since these can feed that. Dumb boy doing dumb things. So you might get another issue Thursday… but for now, let’s talk about:

An Instagram Carousel strategy you gotta try
An important change in modern Influencer Marketing strategy
3 other essays from other smart folks who talk social media

—Jack Appleby

The 3 types of creators every Influencer Marketing strategy needs

We love a framework, right?

My sponsors over at Later threw me this ideology that makes a whole lot of sense.

Every influencer marketing campaign needs:

ATTENTION: think short-form explainers, infotainment types.
AUTHORITY: the thought leaders (like me!) The expert POV posts, long-form articles & in-depth guides.
ANSWERS: the technical ones. Reviews, comparisons, community Q&As & real-world use cases.

The thinking here: if your brand isn’t thinking about AEO (answer engine optimization) with your influencer strategy, your influencer strategy is missing a pretty big gap. I can’t explain the whole thinking in this quick section, but Later put together a huge doc for you called the AEO Creator Marketing Blueprint, and it’s totally free to download. You’ll get:

crazy stats on influencer marketing (<10% of what AI says about brands comes from brand content?!)
Why follower count has almost nothing to do with whether an LLM cites a creator
A monthly prompt-tracking checklist so you can tell if any of this is working

Download the report right here!

How a Jaws-themed Instagram Carousel hacked the algorithm for Foot Locker

My favorite social media moves combine great creative storytelling with really smart, tactical, social-first thinking.

That's why I'm writing this whole newsletter about a single Instagram post.

When Foot Locker made an Instagram carousel to promote the Nike Ja 4 "Deep Water" colorway, they didn’t just toss up a couple product shots—they used a clever IG mechanic to create a mini-movie that you control with your own finger.

Oh, and there’s a surprise shark attack.

Lemme show you why I love this social media post so much, the engineering behind it, and how to build creative choices based on Instagram’s algorithm.

A quick lesson on Instagram Carousels

Before we get to Footlocker’s shark bite, let’s dig into why, algorithmically-speaking, Carousels have gotta be part of your social media plan.

Instagram Carousels have the highest engagement rate of any Instagram format (yes, even over Reels). Per SocialInsider’s 2026 Benchmark report, Carousels get .55% ER. But even crazier, single-image engagement is down almost 46% year over year.
Instagram gives carousels multiple pumps to the feed. If someone scrolls past a carousel, IG may re-serve it again, but starting with the 2nd or 3rd frame. Reels + single images get one shot, but Carousels have several attempts for taps.
Carousel swipes count as an engagement signal. The algorithm reads each swipe as an interaction, telling said algorithm to show the carousel to more people!

Okay, that’s all the Instagram-specific stuff (but if you want an even deeper dive on Carousels vs. Reels vs. single images, I wrote a guide over here). Now let’s get to how Foot Locker took those guardrails & created content that kickstarts the algorithm.

How Foot Locker used every one of those mechanics

The carousel opens on the Nike Ja 4, floating in water as the sailboat sails away. Immediately, we get some social best practices here:

Cleanly showing the product, aka the whole reason someone follows a retailer’s social media account
Creative idea in line with product. This is the “Deep Water” colorway with a shark-fin looking design, so they put the shoe in the sea like it’s a shark
First little Easter Egg: the sailboat sail’s designed like Foot Locker employees’ signature referee shirts

Now here’s where the mini-movie comes in.

At the bottom of every frame, it says “Hold the dots and scroll.”

These are frames 5-8 of the 11-frame Instagram Carousel.

When you do, the carousel self-animates—with your own finger, you zoom in on the shoe, watch the sailboat sail away, and WAIT WERE THOSE SHARK TEETH?

That’s the magic of this post!

I didn’t just hold the dots and scroll. I held the dots and scrolled back and forthto figure out what I just saw. Turned out I survived a shark attack.

I snorted when I got the joke.

These are Ja Morant’s shoes. They’re called the Ja.

This is the Jaws scene. Like the movie.

Now think about the algorithm. Every time I scrolled back and forth, Instagram read those actions as engagement. So because Foot Locker snuck a clever story into the carousel, I swiped a bunch of times, and now Instagram’s gonna give that post to more people.

And remember the Carousels re-serve mechanic? That “hold the dots and scroll” instruction is on every single frame. That means if Instagram re-serves the carousel, the viewer still knows what to do. Same goes if someone shares a random frame in the DMs.

And again, the product is the star of this whole thing! It never leaves the center of the frame, and the final carousel frame (pictured below) is a full zoom in!

What brands should take from this

The post works because every social strategy + creative choice feeds the next one.

The shoe is the Nike Ja 4’s Deep Water colorway, so they went Jaws-themed. The Jaws Easter Egg drives repeat scrolling. Repeat scrolling drives the algorithm. The algorithm drives reach. Everyone eats.

I harp hard on making the product the star of your social media, and Foot Locker just showed you exactly what that looks like: a creative concept built entirely around the shoe’s design, on a format built entirely on how Instagram works. The product never leaves the center of the frame, and the post is genuinely fun to interact with!