Inner Sircle

A strategic best practice that we preach here at Sircle — and one that’s often slept on — is proactive community management.

Not to be confused with reactive community management (responding to comments and DMs), proactive community management is about intentionally engaging with like-minded brands, creators, and conversations that you want your brand to be associated with. This includes inserting your brand into trending or pop culture moments in a way that feels natural and relevant.

Why it matters: this strategy helps humanize your brand, build relatability, and increase visibility in spaces where your audience is already active. Today, users are constantly scrolling the comment sections to see what’s happening — meaning your brand name and logo can earn easy, organic placement simply by showing up.

For example, if your target demographic is Gen Z women who prioritize a healthy lifestyle, you shouldn’t just engage with other wellness brands — you should engage with the content they love. Think about what they’re watching, listening to, and reading. The new season of Dancing with the Stars has started. Maybe your brand is in the comments of the cast’s posts — subtly showing up where your audience already is and driving additional brand awareness.

At the end of the day, proactive community management is about meeting your audience where they already are — not waiting for them to come to you.

I was reading Lia Haberman’s Substack last week (highly recommended, by the way), and she shared where creativity stands right now — here are my takeaways.

• Takeaways: 

• Design is emotional, not just aesthetic. “Well-designed” doesn’t mean polished or corporate — it means content that connects emotionally, feels human, and is easy to process

• Stop chasing polish; prioritize connection and authenticity

• Gen Z leads the shift. They embrace imperfection, experimentation, and co-creation. Their “creative maximalism” blends memes, layered visuals, and global cultural references

• It’s not about the format, it’s about how it makes you feel. It’s about content that hits an emotional chord. It could be a scrappy TikTok or a graphic carousel 

• Thoughts in regard to Sircle:

• There’s still room for stylized content, but the bar is different now

• There is still a time and place for photography, stop motion, and 3D animation, but they have to do more than “look pretty” 

• Which we have always said at Sircle! Every piece of content needs to be strategic and have a WHY

• The biggest takeaway is that content must feel human, emotional, and connected. A polished stop motion or 3D piece works best when it has storytelling, humor, or surprise baked in

• Content variety is all about balance

• Brands that only put out “perfect” content risk seeming out of touch. But when polished assets are layered into a mix with UGC, scrappy iPhone shots, and trend-based content, they feel intentional and premium, not sterile.

• UGC can be positioned as the always-on content and keep photography/3D/stop motion as the hero moments (launches, campaigns, brand storytelling).

On this episode, I explain the idea behind curated content and marrying that with great created content, to build out your social calendar. It is important to find balance, offer your social media manager some flexibility and autonomy and use content from various sources. Dont ever get too binary, with just one style. Keep it open and fluid.

On thie episode, I provide an updated POV on Threads. Transcript below:

• Let’s talk about Threads.

• On the surface, Threads shows promising user growth. But when you look closer, the daily engagement numbers are still really low compared to its biggest competitor, X. Right now, the average active user spends only about three minutes a day on Threads — versus twenty-nine minutes on X. That’s a huge gap.

• So what does that mean for food and beverage brands? Honestly, maintaining a presence on Threads just doesn’t look like the best use of time or resources. We’ve seen many brands post consistently, but most of those posts get fewer than ten likes, and almost never spark comments or shares. In fact, some well-known brands like Ocean Spray, Aloha, Swoon, and Graza have stopped posting altogether.

• There is one exception: Poppi. Poppi’s posts do get solid engagement. But that has less to do with Threads as a platform and more to do with Poppi’s cult-like following and extremely loyal fan base. Unless your brand already has that same kind of built-in community, you’re probably not going to see much return from investing heavily in Threads right now.

• So our recommendation? Skip it as a secondary platform for now and focus efforts where engagement is stronger.

On this episode I reference a Socialmediatoday.com article about Edits App reach upside and a dispelled engagement myth.

See notes below.

• Reach boost via Meta’s “Edits” app

• Videos created in Instagram’s new “Edits” app currently get a slight reach boost when posted

• This boost is designed to promote awareness and use of the Edits app

• Mosseri is warning people not to upload random or recycled videos into Meta’s new Edits app purely to get the small reach boost that Instagram is currently giving to content made with Edits

• Instagram can tell when you’re only using the app as a shortcut (e.g., uploading fully finished content into Edits without actually editing it there), so you won’t trick the algorithm into thinking it’s “fresh” content.

• Use Edits for genuine editing, not as a hack—Instagram can detect the difference.

MO’s POV / Takeaways:

Right now, Instagram is rewarding videos edited in its new “Edits” app with a small reach bump to encourage adoption. This is temporary and only works if you genuinely use the editing features. Uploading pre-made content as a loophole won’t work, as Instagram can detect inauthentic use. We’re already ahead here, since we’ve been recommending Edits over CapCut given CapCut’s recent T&C updates.

• Dispelled the myth about engagement and reach

• Instagram does NOT require users to engage with content similar to their niche to maximize reach

• Instagram does not use your content consumption or engagement history as a direct factor for audience targeting

• Interacting with similar content is good for awareness and community-building, but it doesn’t algorithmically impact who sees your posts

• Mosseri advises: engage with content you love, but create content your followers love

What surprised me is Mosseri’s confirmation that your personal engagement with similar content does not influence your post’s reach—unlike TikTok, where it does. Instagram’s algorithm isn’t targeting audiences based on what you consume, but rather on how others respond to your content. That said, Mosseri reinforced that engaging with similar content is still valuable for awareness and community-building, which supports our proactive community management strategy.

On this episode, I talk about how Shorter Video Ads on Facebook Get More Replays via Looping

• Today, we’re diving into something pretty interesting about Facebook video ads and how their looping behavior can impact your brand’s exposure.

• So here’s the scoop: Facebook video ads that are 30 seconds or shorter actually loop automatically for about 90 seconds. That means if you have a 30-second ad, it could play three times in a row—assuming viewers don’t skip it. And if your ad is 16 seconds, it could loop up to six times within that same 90-second window. 

• But it gets even more interesting. Meta sometimes adjusts this looping dynamically. So instead of just 90 seconds, your video might loop for anywhere between less than 90 seconds all the way up to 180 seconds. This helps improve the ad’s performance based on how people interact with it.

• Now, while this repetition can really boost your impressions and reinforce your brand messaging, there’s a catch. Too much looping can get annoying for viewers if the content feels repetitive or spammy.

• That’s why, in our work, we always maintain a minimum video length of 7 seconds. We avoid making ultra-short ads—like those 3 to 5 second clips—because they loop too aggressively and risk turning viewers off.

• Also, a quick heads-up: this looping behavior applies only to Facebook video ads. Instagram is different. On Instagram, video ads loop continuously no matter the length, so you don’t have to worry about the same looping limits there.

• So, to wrap it up, Facebook video ads that are 30 seconds or shorter loop automatically for up to 90 seconds, which can increase your brand exposure but also risks viewer fatigue. Keeping your videos at least 7 seconds helps strike a balance between maximizing reach and maintaining a good user experience.

The recent shift from reporting Impressions to Views may be causing confusion and will likely prompt questions from clients.

Historically, many of us considered views to be similar to impressions. But we're now seeing that views account for a wider range of interactions, including autoplay, looping, and multiple frames in a carousel. As a result, views can be up to 10 times higher than reach, whereas impressions typically hovered around 2 to 3 times reach. On Instagram specifically, research shows that views can be 25% higher than impressions, which is important to keep in mind.

This shift may lead to a decline in engagement rate percentages, since the larger view count inflates the denominator. It’s something clients may notice and question. It's also worth noting that an article in The Verge cautions that “views” can be misleading vanity metrics, as platforms often define them in ways that boost perceived performance without necessarily reflecting deeper engagement. For example, the article states that on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, a view is often counted the moment autoplay begins. Facebook even includes views of static text or photos that appear on screen.

To help manage expectations, we strongly recommend flagging this change in your upcoming reports and client conversations. A brief note explaining the shift and why metrics may look inflated can go a long way in providing helpful context.

TLDR: 

• Expect bigger numbers: Views will likely be significantly higher than historical impressions, sometimes by 25 percent or even 10 times reach. 

• Cross-platform comparison improves: Meta’s shift to views aligns with how TikTok, YouTube, and X report metrics, making it easier to compare performance. 

• Context is crucial: A view might be a one-second autoplay or a repeated carousel swipe, not necessarily meaningful engagement. 

• Client guidance: Be sure to flag this shift and explain that it is a definitional change, not necessarily a reflection of stronger or weaker content performance. 

On this episode, I am once again advocating to not be so binary with your content. The hot content style of the moment is good to experiment with, but it should not be the only game in town. Experiment with disciplines, styles, etc. BUT be sure to balance that with great studio content that tells viewers who you are, why it matters, and where I can purchase your product. It is not any one style or message, it is a commitment to trying various styles and messages that works.

On this episode, I offer up the latest on the TikTok ban.

• Background: 

• In June, Trump once again delayed the TikTok ban deadline—this 3-month extension now ends in September unless the app is sold by its Chinese owners. 

• This is the third time he’s chosen not to enforce it, even though both political parties in Congress agreed it was important for national security. 

• Current:

• TikTok is developing a U.S.-only version of the app, internally called “M2,” set to launch in early September.

• U.S. users will need to download this new version by March 2026 to continue using TikTok.

• The U.S. version may exclude TikTok’s current algorithm, which the Chinese government refuses to sell.

• However, President Trump claims he has a buyer lined up and appears intent on finalizing the deal before the law takes full effect.

• What’s to come:

• Sircle will monitor this closely in case any updates are released about the app ahead of September.

• By early August, we hoping to have more clarity to begin prepping clients for potential platform changes.

• TikTok often shares updates directly within the app so Sircle will keep an eye on notifications about new versions or legal developments.

• Closing thought:

• Both the new “M2” app and Trump’s extension are expected to expire around early September 2025, which will be a key turning point.