The GeoCities to social marketer pipeline
The GeoCities to social marketer pipelineJoellen Lu, who has led social at Reformation, Nasty Gal, and now OUAI, on why we should be posting less.
Good morning! I’m so proud of the campaign digital teams, many of whom read this newsletter, for their important work this election. A quote from my interview with Melted Solids has been knocking around my head for the past 24 hours: “We recognize that well-produced media is a weapon in any fight, and we’re happy to give folks the tools to amplify messages that would otherwise go ignored.” The ads. The aura edits. The creator collabs. The HQ accounts. The long-form videos. These posts create an alchemy of momentum that, if done right, moves people. Investing in social media is investing in your message. More on all of this next week with a very special guest. Today’s newsletter is also with a very special guest! Joellen Lu ran Reformation’s social for six years and is now the Director of Social Media at OUAI. I’ve gotten to know her over the years and, put simply, love the way her brain works. Below we talk about posting smarter (not more), follower count no longer being a gatekeeper of reach, and the “hi-fi era” of social media. If you enjoy free interviews like this one, you can upgrade to a paid Link in Bio subscription. You’ll get weekly strategy newsletters and quarterly trend reports, along with access to the Discord community. This newsletter is an educational resource and can likely be expensed through your company. I have even written a handy template for you to use when asking!
Rachel Karten: If you had to write a logline for your social media philosophy, what would it be? Joellen Lu: Any successful piece of social media content needs to elicit an emotional response, and my emotion of choice on social is humor. Rachel: We’ve worked in social media for roughly the same amount of time. Take me back to the Nasty Gal days. So iconic. What initially drew you to working in social media? Joellen: I love grassroots, word-of-mouth connection, and that’s what early social media—and the internet in general—made possible at a scale and speed we’d never seen before. I was on social before it was called social—LiveJournal, Xanga, GeoCities. Basically anywhere you could share a photo or a thought online. I’ve always loved the entrepreneurial nature of the internet and how it democratized the ability to put yourself, your business, or your ideas out into the world. I think that’s part of why TikTok became so beloved so quickly, and what IG is now trying to replicate. And you’re right! You and I started in social during one of the first waves of what a modern social media manager looks like, which feels crazy looking back. I actually got my Nasty Gal job by tweeting something snarky at the founder. It feels like a perfect full-circle coincidence to start my career by standing out on social. Rachel: We first met when you worked at Reformation. Is there a campaign or post from your time there that stands out as your magnum opus of that job? Tell me about it. Joellen: A singular biggie was Pete Davidson. Our marketing and creative teams had established him as our Official Boyfriend, and my team built the social rollout around the language of modern dating announcements: the soft launch was the initial tease period, followed by the hard launch with the campaign announcement, and following support. Our Being Naked series was an iteration of our tagline, which coincided with a time when everyone was spending more time at home (and probably wearing fewer clothes) during the first wave of lockdowns.
But honestly, my favorite posts were a very specific kind of rage bait. Being a sustainable brand attracted all kinds of audiences and opinions, and I loved finding ways to play with that tension. The ones involving babies were particularly fun for me. Like this tweet roundup and when I shared this famous photo to promote our Patagonia drop. I love babies, promise. Rachel: A lot has changed since we started working in social media. How would you describe the current era we are in? Joellen: The biggest shift, I think, is from follower growth (and engagement) to views. Growing a following is so much more difficult than it used to be, but in turn, getting your content in front of new audiences is easier than ever. The follower count is no longer the gatekeeper of reach. The pendulum is constantly swinging from lo-fi to professionally shot content, and I think we’re firmly in our hi-fi era. I also think the creator ecosystem is fascinatingly fragmented. There are creators who can have hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers, and it’s a coin toss whether the general public has any idea who they are. Previously, someone could have 20K followers and feel like a household name within internet culture. Now, the landscape is so vast that you can be incredibly famous in one corner of it and completely unknown in another. Rachel: What “works” in this new era? Joellen: In this new era, the single most important thing is getting strangers on the internet to care about what you’re making. Back to my logline, the best way to do that is to make someone feel something. People act on emotion. That might result in a view (or more), a share, a save, a comment, or *gasp* a follow. OUAI-strology is our way of entering the tried-and-true (and emotional) conversation of astrology in an ownable way. From a brand POV, I think it’s really cool when brands care for and cultivate their community, taking that connection offline and actually investing in their people. At OUAI, we interact with, surprise & delight, and reward people across our community—from celebrities who organically reach out to us, to someone whose post got 10 likes about having their Leave In Conditioner confiscated at TSA. The size of someone’s audience means very little to us in that respect. Rachel: You’ve previously said, “Post smarter, not more”. Dig into that for me. Joellen: With views being a major metric, especially for brands, it’s tempting to post more simply to accumulate more views. I believe prioritizing higher-quality pieces of content that actually resonate and build toward your brand’s values, memory, and equity is much more valuable than posting for sheer volume. For me, views per post over absolute views, even when the math technically favors the latter. Rachel: Tell me about CHOPPED, your social show with Victoria Pedretti! Joellen: Even before I started at OUAI, the team knew they wanted to experiment with a scripted short-form series, and I was immediately on board. Once we came together to figure out what that could actually look like, we landed on a horror-comedy as a fun and unexpected vehicle for product storytelling. We wanted to bring OUAI’s brand personality to life while educating people about our products, without making it feel like contrived education.
A straightforward video about hair damage and the product that remedies it isn’t necessarily the most exciting thing someone’s ever scrolled past. But package that same message into a multi-episode horror-comedy, timed to a major cultural moment for the genre, starring a bona fide scream queen–we’ve now given people a reason to care about the story before they even realize they’re learning about the product. That’s what interested us about CHOPPED, and hopefully what interests both new and existing audiences. Rachel: Many brands are considering a short series like this. Any surprises or big learnings? Joellen: The boring surprise (that’s never a surprise) is budget. I won’t sugarcoat it—going from content produced entirely in-house with influencers to a full SAG production comes with a very different price tag. But it was a big swing we’re so glad we took. What I loved most was that this was a social-first production from the beginning, with my team’s objectives driving the creative decisions, rather than a traditional brand campaign where social comes in as an afterthought. Every piece was developed with its specific social placement in mind, instead of trying to scrap together a teaser or retroactively squeeze subtitles into TikTok’s safe zones. It sounds like a small distinction, but building something for social versus adapting something for social makes a huge difference in the final product. Rachel: Get out your crystal ball. What does social media look like in three years? Joellen: 🔮 The pendulum will continue to swing, and I think we’re already starting to see the return of the clever commercial. We went from DSLR blogger photos to scripted vines to increasingly elaborate TikToks, and in three year’s time I think we’ll experience what feels like Instagram Premium 2.0. (Can you tell I’m an avid LIB reader?) By that time, views will be more important than ever—I see them being visible on all posts and becoming the new vanity metric. There will always be room for fun, lo-fi moments, but as AI makes it easier to produce an endless amount of content, I think genuinely clever, creative work will become even more valuable. I hope we see brands respond by investing in stronger ideas, more original storytelling, and the kind of commercials people actually want to watch. What I’m scrollingInstagram is now warning users that a Story is about to expire. Peyton Dix, co-host of podcast Hung Up, tweeted “some girl with a crush is working her ass off at meta”. Edits is now available on desktop. Figma turned wild postings into collectible posters. I asked Yo Kim, Director of Brand Marketing at Figma, to tell me more about it. “Our OOH campaign celebrates Hello Kitty and Friends’ iconic characters and design coming to the FigJam canvas. With collectible posters, we shared a little joy in an unexpected way and invited fans to take home a piece of their favorite character ahead of the pop-up.” Apple TV is hiring for lots of social media roles right now. Including Senior Social Lead, Brand, Brand Social & Creative Editorial Lead, Social Lead, Sports, and more. This is one of my favorite conversations I’ve had about the state of social media. Come for the advice, stay for the pigeon getting eaten by a seagull. 
NYGov posted John Pork to remind people to vote. 198K likes and one comment that says “I’ve never felt more patriotic”. Meta hired the former managing director of global head of content, creative and events at BlackRock to lead their in-house content studio. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rich Latour will be running Meta’s social and content teams within the company’s communications and public affairs division. I got excited for a second but then remembered it’s actually Blackstone (not BlackRock) that has a surprisingly good social media presence. Join a call for social media managers in non-profit policy! It’s hosted by Link in Bio reader Kate Kohn, who leads digital at the Federation of American Scientists. Check out the Link in Bio Job Board
The Link in Bio Job Board features all of the best social media roles in one place, updated daily. Right now there are roles from places like Perelel, Washington Post, JetBlue, and more. If you work for a brand that’s hiring within social media, this job board is for you too. Post your job listings to get in front of talented social media marketers. Interested in partnering with Link in Bio? Email rachelkartengroup@caa.com for more details. You’re currently a free subscriber to Link in Bio. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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