Guest Lecture: Rachel Karten
The Link in Bio writer on why social media managers quit, and successful brand strategies.
Good morning everyone. Last night I went to a dinner for Spanish-Swedish shoe brand Morjas, and spent the evening discussing the state of men’s retail and my Swedish last name with founder Henrik Berg, plus Chris Black, and Byline’s
(who has a fun new gig at Gap), and . The new dinner menu at Gem Home is really special, they open up reservations on Resy next week.This meme has been sent to me in three different group texts since the market opened this morning. I’m finishing reading Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal’s thoughts on “one of the craziest days ever” over on Bloomberg. Joe said, “It’s funny, a lot of people were (obviously) shocked yesterday, but they shouldn’t have been. Trump has been talking very seriously about this for awhile now.”
Today’s letter includes:
’s thoughts on brand social teams investing in Substack, an exclusive quote from Aspen Vodka about their Yankee Stadium espresso martinis, what Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney has been working on, Puck’s new creative director, and the $10B patch market that Starface paved the way for.Guest Lecture:
This interview is part of a Feed Me feature called Guest Lecture. In this series, I introduce you all to an expert who I’m curious about, and give paid readers an opportunity to ask them anything they want. Past guests have included Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, the founders of Perelel, and my friend who got into Harvard Business School last year.
This week, ’s Rachel Karten answers your questions about her relationship with social media, building an effective marketing strategy, and the brand accounts she has her eye on.
When I was running the Instagram account at The Cut in 2016, Rachel was running Bon Appetit’s account, and I remember looking to her as one of the few people I was both envious of and deeply admired. Eventually, we became friends and I’m very grateful for that.
“Link In Bio fans over here at Leaf! One selfish question: we've played with various product-launch tease strategies on social from longer, months-long lead-ups to build momentum (but harder to carry interest), short spurts within a week (harder to build a story), and surprise drops (harder to own attention for it). Do you have any hot takes on using social to tease and launch a major product release?” - Adam
Like most things with social media, there’s no perfect answer. Merit teased their perfume for 16 days and it was a success. Rhode teased their Barrier Butter for two days and it was a success. I think it’s less about how much time is right, and more about what kinds of unique posts or stories are part of that lead up. I loved how Away let their audience "subscribe" to Close Friends for early access to a new product as a way of teasing. After the 24-hour period on Stories, the brand had a 100% click-through rate to the early access page. Meanwhile, Taco Bell unveiled a new product at a live event and the TikTok of it has 84mm views. I’d say prioritize finding creative ways to tease versus focusing on lead time.
“How do you take your martini?” - RMA
Since the weather is getting warmer, I’ll share my summer martini. Two parts gin (Beefeater), one part dry vermouth (Dolin), and a few spoonfuls of good olive juice (gordal olives are my favorite). Shake it up. Pour it over ice (gasp). Olives and a twist.
“How do you keep yourself anchored when the field you work in is on 24/7 and changes on a dime? (More of a spiritual question if you’ve been intentional about this nature of the business)” - Anu
I know the media trained answer to this is that I go on runs or knit but unfortunately I have a very unhealthy relationship with social media. I’m not working on it but I should be. Something I do every day is cook—it helps take my mind out of scrolling and keeps my hands from swiping.