Brandon Russell

Happy Monday! This one is for founders (most PR folks know better): Asking reporters "can you please feature our product/help us out" is the quickest way to guarantee 1) no response 2) no coverage Please do some basic homework to understand how journalism works

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Health privacy is breached every day online. Most Americans don’t realize their Amazon info is being aggregated with Google searches, news browsing, FB/Instagram/TikTok posts & more. So our entire online experience, including health, is being sifted for marketing. Two LDI fellows, Ari Friedman and Matt McCoy, showed how hospitals and abortion clinics are just as likely as others to track users and pass on the info to aggregators. Check out this LDI piece that lays it out. #https://lnkd.in/eetqaPi3

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Love this excerpt from the Rework Podcast. It's a little long, but if you're currently contemplating risks or challenges, take a minute to read this. It's good to question "truths," it's good to push yourself, and it's good to "fail." It's all good, and it's part of the journey. "I think one of the books where just even the title made a huge influence of me was the book, the Half-Life of Truths. This idea that there are all these scientific truths that essentially expire, that they expire because we develop better knowledge, better insight, better truths, and then the thing you knew from 10 years ago is no longer true. And I think if you’ve been in business, we have for over 20 years, undoubtedly we will have taken all these positions about like, oh, you shouldn’t do this or you should totally do that, and they’re no longer true. They were true in 2006. They were true in 2012, not true in 2024. How are you going to find out unless you try? How are you going to find out unless you push it? I mean, I actually think of sometimes if you see that video with the Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics where they try to push the robot over, they even use a stick to do it. Think of the organization as that Atlas robot. Try to push the organization sometimes. It should, not all the time, but occasionally you got to push at it. Is it good? Is it resilient? Can it take a step back? Can it take a step forward? What can it do if you put it under a little bit of pressure? And then again, sometimes you’re granted this pressure for free because crises have a way of showing up at your doorstep uninvited. But when they do great, everything’s great. Invite in a crisis, awesome. Total success, awesome. Flat line for a while. Awesome. All of the outcomes are awesome if you choose to make them so." https://lnkd.in/gkN_6fPu

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Reddit moderators are the new internet overlords. Google crowned them. The weight that Google has given UGC, specifically Reddit, should scare the sh*t out of you. Some Reddit moderators are the absolute farthest thing from a responsible person that you can find. Don't get me wrong - many moderators on Reddit are awesome. They really handle and organize their individual subreddits well. However - THERE IS NO OVERSIGHT. Well, there's kind of some oversight from Reddit, but not really. Reddit mods are basically Reddit Gods inside their individual subs. They can be great people, but they can also be real pieces of work. Which comments stay or get removed? Up to the mods. Rules in the sub? Up to the mods and subject to change anytime. This is the system that Google has elevated in an attempt to get us to stop putting "reddit" after our posts. The thing is - I DO check Reddit for information about a search, but I also know HOW to discern when I've been fed bullsh*t, and I usually still perform a regular search for my answers. If Google becomes UGC (Reddit), we're in some serious trouble. Then again, I've learned that fact-checking isn't something many people really care about anymore, so it may not matter. If you'd rather have *yourM0MLuksGud* deciding which responses stay and which ones go on a particular topic, by all means...but I don't want Google to give them more weight.

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Interviews are a secret weapon for unique content 🤫 Generalist writers are at a major disadvantage when writing about a technical niche. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for subpar content. When we’re working in a new niche we put a lot of groundwork in. Our advanced briefs help our writers level up their content. But they still aren’t experts… The solution? Find an expert and interview them. Interviews are an extremely valuable research medium for a few reasons 👇 P.S. I've been putting together a workshop where I breakdown how my team produces over 400 articles per month. Comment below or send me a DM message and I'll share it with you once it's ready.

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I think this will be a train wreck for ads. You think it's more ad inventory. I think it's a sign of the end for Meta. Here's my take. Zuck and his board are sitting in their board room trying to figure out how to make more rev dollars. They see brands spending less than usual. Market conditions, inflation, and competing platforms are eating away at their user base. Meta's making more money now but not because more people are spending more time on platform. More brands are spending on other channels because Meta ads has been widely volatile. So Zuck and his board are asking, "how do we squeeze more revenue out of what we have?" It's either - more inventory to deflate CPMs - jack up CPMs - subscription model - live selling - more users to spend more time on platform They're doing some of that except optimizing for "time on platform" Here's why this is bad for biz. 1. Forcing ads on someone is ONLY GOOD for Meta....short term. They are forcing a user to consume an ad to watch what they want. Before, a user could swipe past what they do vs don't want. Meta will get more ad dollars now by cheaper CPMS so brands will spend more. Users will get a worst experience. Ads in these new placements will have the worst engagement, CVR, and CTR's you've ever seen. Ever run on Youtube, Display? 2. We should be scared for Meta. Yes they are having great profits at the moment but when you screw with the users experience they will go else where. It's a sign of the end. This to me is screaming Meta is prioritizing profits over experience. And they see the only real path to keep growing is to force ads on people. - they can't get more inventory by having people stay on the platform longer - so they have to force more inventory Why do I say that? Ever been on Facebook lately? They have non-skippable ads on some videos and it's horrible. It makes me not want to watch the video I intended to watch and I literally leave because I don't want to be forced to watch. I spend the least time on Facebook than anything other platform. 3. Users will see your ads as an invasion vs a shoppable interest. Right now users get to control what they watch. Like walking down a mall with friends. You can pick where you go. Yes they get ads but they don't have to watch it. They can scroll right past it. They are in control. So when they do watch an ad they chose it. - they liked it - it intrigued them - they feel in-control It's the most fair mutual experience for advertiser and users. With non skippable ads they lose that choice. You must not know human behavior. When we get to choose what we like we think it's our idea and are more likely to take time watching "what we are choosing" Forcing it on people is an invasion. Saying, "you must do this" people don't want to do it. Ever had kids? lol Not good for ads or experience. I am an advertisers. A very good one. I love having cheaper CPMs. But I don't see how this ends will for both long-term.

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Why you want this job: -You'll captain a squad of scary-talented writers, content designers and creatives. -You will be my boss. -You'll steer the voice of the world's leading platform for athletes as we grow into our next chapter. -You can make me get you coffee. -It's a company you can feel GREAT about working for. We're motivating the world to be more active, and everyone at Strava is passionate about that mission. -You can make me come to San Francisco to give you your coffee. (You're the boss!) -This team. Seriously. The brains and the passion here are pure idea accelerant. I've done the best work of my career at Strava because of an environment where nothing is off the table, egos are cast aside and everyone has ideas that improve the output. As a creative leader, this place will be your super-shoe, your aero bike, your Hugh Bradner wetsuit. (Bonus if you get those references, though that's certainly not a requirement.) -We have a company-wide Slack channel dedicated to pictures of our dogs, which you can peruse while sipping the coffee I got you. -As usual, Michelle says it better below. If this is you, smash that Apply button. We can't wait to hear from you.

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Just read a fascinating (and affirming) deep dive into Reddit data from Stacked Marketer. For those of us who have anecdotally noticed that Reddit is now everywhere, or seen the referral traffic spikes from that site under pages we manage, you can rest assured that it wasn't all in your head. Reddit's traffic has been exploding, primarily from Google Search. According to the data, clicks from organic search has tripled in the last quarter, compared to the three previous ones. If you're running a website with niche products, services, or content, you really should be looking into a relevant subreddit where you might be able to post engaging content and watch the clicks come in. As far as marketing on that platform with paid ads, well, that's a whole other story. Another data point I recently saw suggested Reddit users were more adverse to seeing and interacting with ads than the average web user... https://lnkd.in/gKqyFSDB

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My Tab-Tastic Productivity Hack! 🔍 Who here has fallen victim to the K-Drama cliffhanger vortex? ‍ You spend five minutes researching LinkedIn optimization, then suddenly you're three episodes deep, desperately needing answers (seriously, those shows know how to keep us hooked!). Well, this K-Drama fanatic turned freelance fighter has a secret weapon to combat procrastination that deserves all the kimchi. Here's the magic: I keep all my essential resources open in separate tabs, and then, when it's time to power down, I close Chrome entirely. Why the dramatic exit? Because the next morning, a quick Ctrl + Shift + T brings me right back to my focused workflow, surrounded by my open tabs. No more K-Drama distraction black hole! ‍ ▶ But wait, there's more! I do indulge in my K-Drama obsession, but only after crushing my to-do list. And knowing that I have a reward waiting makes me even more productive!🏆 Share your best productivity hacks in the comments.

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Oh, the new lows. You're a #casino operator. You have your own #marketing team and a great budget. Off you go and create a new FB ad, using the lamest AI image generator out there, without even realizing how to prompt and fine-tune its results. If you're going to use #AI to leverage your content - you can and should, mind you - please take a few minutes a day and learn how to use it effectively. On that note, in a recent point of view regarding #iGaming Facebook Ads performance, a simple note: Facebook is SATURATED with ads, to the point where it's no longer a social network. Most of the intended target audience has moved on, and you could do better with that budget at hand and invest across other channels. Who'll disagree? Facebook Ads experts, naturally. And so you should! 😎 _________________________ I write about #iGaming and #contenmanagement in a #remotework universe. Follow me for a crying shoulder - you're not alone!

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Great #AI insights from Das & N2 Communications’ AI team on why human creatives are essential “to turn technological capabilities into real-world value.”

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Sometimes, I see a graphic-heavy brand send a plain text email and wondering if they're reading my humble blog... Probably not, for most of them. But I HAVE seen a brand I did an Email Breakdown for shift to: 1.) More emails 2.) More copy in the emails (with some graphics, still) 3.) A personal approach (emails mostly come from one of the cofounders now) Which are all things I covered in the Breakdown of their email. Interesting... And good on them, because they sell a whole host of products. The more products you have, the more potential that email marketing offers. #emailcopywriting #emailmarketing #ecommercecopywriting #ecommercemarketing #copywriting

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Last year, The Freelance Coalition For Developing Countries shared a report highlighting the diversity gap in the SEO world. Using data from the top SEO publications in 2022, only 18.46% of authors were BIPOC. This year, that number jumped to 28.7%—a big leap of 10.24 percentage points, or about a 55.47% increase! It's a great step forward, but we still have more work to do. According to jadesola kareem's piece, here's how the numbers look across 6 SEO publications: - 𝗪𝗶𝘅: 26 BIPOC authors wrote 34 articles; 27 white authors wrote 34 articles. - 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵: 28 BIPOC authors wrote 158 articles; 65 white authors wrote 270 articles. - 𝗦𝗘𝗝: 21 BIPOC authors wrote 77 articles; 63 white authors wrote 186 articles. - 𝗦𝗘𝗟: 14 BIPOC authors wrote 18 articles; 95 white authors wrote 484 articles. - 𝗔𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘀: 10 BIPOC authors wrote 81 articles; 17 white authors wrote 195 articles. - 𝗠𝗼𝘇: 29 BIPOC authors wrote 40 articles; 51 white authors wrote 106 articles. 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹: - 𝗕𝗜𝗣𝗢𝗖 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀: 𝟭𝟭𝟴 - 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀: 𝟯𝟬𝟭 For every 10 authors, about 7 are white, and just under 3 are BIPOC. Or, flipping it, for every 10 white authors, there are about 4 BIPOC authors. To the companies paving the way, thank you! Your dedication to diversity is making a real impact. The progress we've seen is worth celebrating. For those who haven't made this a priority yet, this is your nudge. Make a conscious effort to drive diversity in authorship. It's not just about the numbers—it's about bringing a rich mix of perspectives and voices to our industry. Together, let's keep building a more inclusive and diverse SEO community. Find the original piece in the comments. #DiversityInSEO #InclusiveAuthorship #SEO #DiversityMatters #ProgressAndPathAhead

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Life lesson: consider how large industry shifts impact the businesses of those whose counsel you seek. 4 out of 5 agencies when I asked about SGE making us all a bit bearish on SEO a year ago: “Whaaaaaaaaat no!!! Google’s never actually going to roll that out, baby doll! Hey, here’s an idea: let’s do an AUDIT.” Me today, hearing their hot takes that the rollout to millions is not really going to change anything and of course we should all still go whole hog on search: #SEO #contentmarketing

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😊 Great things that happened last week 👇 🔎 Loved working with a new agency client. Interesting content and great editorial discussions. 🔎 My post on hyphens, en dashes and em dashes from Thursday has 422 reactions and more than 66,000 impressions – and counting. (And, yes, I'm counting. It's Bonkers McConkers.) 🔎 I noticed someone who I first chatted to more than three years ago was reacting to my posts, so I got all big and brave and sent them a message ... we had a chat on Zoom the very next day! THEY'RE READY. We begin working together in July. Over the moon. 😊 👏 My daughter, Tess, is Form Captain this term. 👏 My boy, Alby, was finding top set maths too fast and was moved down. He got 80% in his recent assessment, and his teacher says he's thriving. (And he can stay where he is, even if he's doing better than top set kids. PHEW.) 👏 Tess played in her first football tournament. She's not confident and won't tackle but loves being part of a team. This was a big thing. 👏 Alby and my partner went to Wembley Saturday for the FA Cup Semi-Final. Free tickets again with my partner's Blue Light Card! All of that offsets the not-so-good things. 👇 👻 Yep, I've been ghosted. I thought the call went well. We had good DM chats. I even wrote and said if things have changed your end, no worries. Not heard back. Maybe they've a lot going on. 😷 I've got some grim throat infection and am hoping to see a doctor today as it's been 10 days now. 👏 One more good thing – I'm writing this at 7.10am and my daughter, who doesn't sleep through the night, SLEPT THROUGH LAST NIGHT. Still asleep 11 hours on. Hurrah! Just as well, as I was coughing and awake during the night. Now to get them both up... good old Monday. What have you got to shout about from last week? #proofreading #editing #copywriting #ContentWriting

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There's an interesting freelance writer job posting trend I've noticed over the past 6 to 12 months. I generally see an uptick in activity toward the end of the month. I'm not sure why this is the case, but my best guess is that publishers and editors are looking to get their ducks in a row for the coming month. Now that we're in the last full week of April, I hope this trend holds true again. I'll keep you posted on my findings. And in the meantime, check out these two top opportunities: ✅ 🇺🇸 Draft.dev is hiring freelance writers to create content on technical topics ($300+/blog post) https://lnkd.in/gYGg6yQr ✅ 🇺🇸 Morgan Cutolo is hiring freelance writers at ConsumerAffairs https://lnkd.in/gqYHexPK Find more gigs in today's edition of Freelance Framework: https://lnkd.in/gYi3mjjn

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Did you catch Bumble's relaunch campaign? 👀 read the room Celiabcy is a personal choice and its not one that should be used a joke to get people back onto your app. Consider the following factors: In the US women are being stripped of their rights for appropriate and safe reproductive care. Not all women and people want to engage in premarital consummation. Dating apps have left people feeling more lonely and distant than their original intention I think using women's choice to be celibate in order to gain audience buy in was the wrong choice. While an apology is always appreciated- it makes me wonder who on the team approved this? What testing was done to ensure that this was the right move? What research did they have that suggested "celibacy" was a pain point?

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