You’re overthinking Social. Pizza Hut proved it.

Plus: 9 weird brand collabs & LinkedIn personal branding for dummies  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

November 03, 2026   |   Read online Future Social is officially a twice-a-week newsletter! I’d have said bi-weekly, but we gave that word two meanings… bi-meanings… okay, anyway… I’m thinking I’ll drop case studies like this on Tuesdays, then meaty thought pieces on Thursdays. Think that balance gives you case studies & brands to learn from between my wild speculations on our industry. So today, we’ll hit on: How to get more social views with less creative ideas A bunch of weird viral brand collabs How to start writing about your career on LinkedIn —Jack Appleby I love me a weird brand collab. It’s such an easy content win (plus you get two budgets joining forces). I broke down nine of my recent favorite brand collabs over on Instagram—just click the below. If you’re a marketer, you know you should be writing on your LinkedIn. The problem is you open a blank doc, stare at it for 10 minutes, then decide you’ll “do it tomorrow.” (Tomorrow never comes.) That’s why I made Break an Egg. It’s a $5/month thing where I send you one writing prompt for every work day. Not “post inspirational content” prompts—actual questions that help you dig into your own career and realize you’ve done way more interesting stuff than you think. If you’ve been telling yourself “I really should start writing,” this is the lowest-pressure way I know to do it. Sign up right over here.  Pizza Hut's simplest Instagram post just hit 1 million views If I grab a slice today, it’s entirely Angela Darnell’s fault. She’s the Social & Influencer Lead over at Pizza Hut, unapologetically tossing cheese pulls into my feed (while I’m trying to get in shape, so rude). It’s not just my feed, though—this one’s hit 1 million views of ooey gooey goodness. But let me tell you what Pizza Hut taught me about B2B Marketing (kidding). Angela wrote a great social strategy POV about the viral pizza post on her LinkedIn. Give it a read below. “Social is saturated with brands chasing cultural moments, posting memes, and racing to be first to the next viral trend. And while cultural relevance matters, I think we sometimes lose sight of a more fundamental question: Why do people follow brands in the first place? In QSR, people follow us because they love the food. They want to see the product, crave it, and be reminded why they love the brand. Will a pizza post about Love Island or Taylor Swift's latest album drop be the most groundbreaking thing on social? Probably not. Will we be the first brand to comment on the latest cultural moment? Definitely not. Cultural relevance matters, but it’s what everyone is doing. Building craveability is what turns attention into action. Sometimes, the biggest opportunity isn’t chasing the next viral moment. It’s getting back to the basics and giving people more of what they came for: PIZZA. 🍕 When so much of social is about chasing the next big thing, 26K organic likes on a simple pizza post is a reminder that we don’t always need to overcomplicate it.” 10/10, no notes. A couple quick elaborations from me: Sometimes Social-First means Product-First. Listen, I love a good hook & great creative idea, but also, sometimes your product is the creative idea. We’ve convinced ourselves every post needs some internety creative idea when sometimes, the people just wanna eyeball your product. Clear, compelling looks of what your company actually sells should be core to any social strategy. I’m a basketball guy. When the NBA teams reveal their jerseys, I don’t want these crazy high concept videos, I just wanna see photos of the new jerseys! Same for hoops shoes. Same for cheese pulls. You get my point. Every brand should put together professional photo + video shoots of their product specifically for social. Have a couple of visually-compelling angles in mind, then shoot. Just that thing you sell, styled beautifully. You’d be amazed how much your audience digs it. More product-centric content frees up your creative time. One of the biggest mistakes I see from social teams is giving every post equal creative brainstorm energy. A much better use of time: find a few formats that are easy to make + generate above average results, then spend those freed up hours focusing on big swings and highly creative content. Most brands still want daily content. Imagine if 2 posts a week were visually-compelling product posts? You just made 28% of your weekly content plug-and-play, with content that’ll still get engagement, because it’s the product that inspired them to follow you in the first place. Now you can get in the lab & brainstorm crazy ideas while cheese pulls earn likes. You gotta fall back in love with your brand. Before you tell me that pizza’s easy for social, I’ll say that I truly don’t believe there’s such a thing as boring brands. People like your brand & product! That’s why people followed it! Your brand doesn’t need memes, trends, or even cultural ties—just more time asking yourself why people love what you’re selling. Chasing trends is easier than sitting with that question. Why do people love your product? How do they use your product? What does your product bring to someone’s day? The answers to those questions will always make better content than whatever’s TikToking that day. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna see if Mom left pizza money. (Also, go give Angela a follow for writing such a great take).   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Future Social 228 Park Ave S, #29976, New York, New York 10003, United States Powered by beehiiv