Social Soundboard #001

Good news, Instagram has made it easier to measure Creative Performance

It pays to spend some time snooping around Instagram’s Insights section as this is often where the platform feeds tips and tricks to creators. Much like TikTok though, Instagram continues to treat ‘artist’ and ‘creator’ profiles differently, meaning artists aren’t always the first to hear about creator updates on the platform. A big part of how Create Racket helps musicians to unlock passive revenue is through creator-style partnerships with brands. There are endless nuances to the process behind-the-scenes, right down to the different ways you and the ‘Paid Partnership’ tag in the backend of an artist profile, vs a traditional creator account.

Instagram’s is supporting the focus on creativity, however, having enhanced its insights section for professional accounts, emphasising the renewed focus on creative performance. That’s good news for artists, who we find tend to generate above-benchmark engagement as a result of the creative POV they approach content creation with.

Although ‘Views’ became the primary metric for Instagram performance last August, the media world didn’t act accordingly. Even when sourcing creators to produce video-first content for brand campaigns, many marketers and media experts still put a lot of emphasis on follower count and engagement, relying on engagement rate calculations that exclude video views. Now with Instagram pulling more focus on view-related metrics, and the quality of views more specifically, this should surely be your sign to put creator metrics in the right context when you’re planning your next media campaign.

Image credit: Social Media Today

ReelShort is your latest reminder to shift to short-form storytelling

American short-form video app ReelShort is the latest platform to signal some key changes in the way fans consumer content. If you’re a musician, the could inspire you to re-think your next music video or tour content.

It’s no coincidence that ‘Fandom’ has a prime spot on the ReelShort nav bar. Audience behaviour is at the heart of ReelShort’s format: dramatic storytelling made mobile-first, delivered in a hybrid-like format that looks like Netflix but functions like YouTube (we presume).

While we’re not suggesting artists content needs to liv on ReelShort, building on the fan-first approach to content would be wise. Producing content that’s designed to top Trending Topics and influence online chatter (read: trends) just makes sense.

Image credit: ReelShort.com

Instagram is still driving product discovery

TikTok drives trends and Bluesky has seen a sour in engagement, but stats suggests Instagram remains key for getting your product in front of fans (and would-be customers).

Sprout Social survey respondents ranked Instagram (44%) as their priority platform for product discovery in 2025 (44%), followed by LinkedIn (20%), TikTok (18%) and YouTube (11%).

If you’re an artist promoting merch, tickets or co-creating with a brand to help them drive product sales, we recommend keeping these platform in mind when creating content. Use in-platform fonts and features to ensure the posts feel native to each community, meaning you can use the same video with each channel’s shopping functionality overlaid.

💡 Don’t forget to mention the brand name (in full) and show the product you’re promoting in the first 5-8 seconds of your video content, especially if you’re using the video within paid ad spots across any of these platforms.

Meta’s influence hasn’t surprised marketers, by the way. Instagram consistently ranks as one of Gen Z and Millennial’s preferred platforms, and is the most popular platform for influencer marketing.

Don’t shy away from promoting your products on other platforms, though. It actually means you can get more creative with how your merch, music and possible partnership content shows up on Bluesky, Roblox, Reddit and Substack. These are actually the platforms where niche interests can shine, with fans discovering products and brands that share their core values and feel authentic.

Proof that creative prompts don’t need to be complicated

Creative inspiration comes courtesy of Levi’s, proving that the walking transition trends still has legs. 👀 

levis

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This one may hurt but hear us out. The ‘You’re So Funny’ sound has folks sharing and reclaiming some personal trauma on TikTok and Instagram. Lay this sound over footage of you either in the recording studio or on tour and harness the trend to revive an old song (or album??) that didn’t get the streaming love it deserved first time around.